Paradigm Parasite

As I gazed at the scenery in a daze and had nothing better to do, I turned my attention to Heidi, who was still clinging to me.

Usually she is fussy like a child, but for a while now, she seems to be in low spirits.

Or rather, the air is heavy?

It's been about three months since the disturbance at Oldia.

She's been like this since then.

When we arrive in town, the first thing she does is look around the weapon shops and the tool shops selling old books and grimoires.

At night, she would leave the inn and train herself in magic and physical arts.

She is very enthusiastic, but what is going on with her?

The only thing I can think of is the incident in Oldia, but was there really anything that could have caused Heidi that much trouble?

I remember she almost got caught and used as a hostage against me, didn't she?

It wasn't easy, but we were able to fight them off, so I don't think there's anything wrong with that...

Hmmm. Why is that?

I've been in the dumps for a long time, so I'm a bit emotional....

--Why should I think about others when no one is thinking about me?

Suddenly, a memory from the past came back to my mind.

...That makes sense.

I partially agreed.

But now that I think about it, the old me is in full throttle, isn't he?

Let me send these thoughts to the old me, now that I've come here, touched many memories, and realized many things.

If you don't accept others, how can others accept you?

From what I remember of the people I've eaten, I've been more or less open with at least a few people I'm comfortable calling friends and acquaintances, you know?

Did I do that in the past?

The answer is no. I was only thinking of myself.

After all, what can you say to someone who is not willing to compromise?

Well, I'm the same way now.

Currently, I don't need others, so my desire to be needed has been obliterated.

And if I want more hands, I can get more hands. The will of others is irrelevant there.

I'm not sure if that's healthy or not, but so far I haven't felt any inconvenience.

...There's nothing wrong with that...What? Why was I thinking about this nonsense?

I tilted my head inwardly and tried to remember what I had been thinking about earlier, but I dismissed it as ...... well enough.

Well, we should be able to see the royal capital in a few more days....

Urs Laguna, the royal capital.

It is the center and the largest city in the country.

The population is not as large as Willead or Oldia.

When you get close to the city, you can tell how different it is from the others.

The city is surrounded by the thickest walls I have ever seen, and similar walls can be seen inside the city.

I knew that was the wall, but seeing it in person was awe-inspiring.

We showed our adventurer's plate to the gatekeeper and completed the formalities to enter.

Savage decides to go in with us.

There are many high-ranked adventurers here. If we left Savage outside, he might be defeated, so we had no choice but to take him with us.

We let out a sigh at the gatekeeper's reaction when he saw Savage as usual, and entered the royal capital.

...First, we'll have to secure a place to stay.

I tried to say to Heidi it would be fine, but she didn't respond well, so I said nothing in particular and urged Savage to walk.

I had the location in my memory, so the inn was easy to find.

I threw Savage into the stables and my luggage into the room, and headed out into the city.

There are several things to do in this town, but three are mandatory.

I registered my plate at the guild, got new equipment, and finally went to the library to do some research.

The plate registration is the usual one, but after the last one, the plate was lost again, so I had to reissue it.

The trouble was that Oldia stopped working, so we had to turn around and go back.

This may happen again in the future, so I'll be sure to keep up with the registration.

I could have bought new equipment on the way here, but I wanted something nice anyway, so I decided to get it here in Royal Capital, where there is a wide selection of equipment. I am currently wearing a cheap sword and some ragged leather armor.

Finally, the Royal Library.

I intend to research about myself here, but I doubt if there is any information available considering the reincarnation of the "apostle" as Darzain calls them.

In fact, I couldn't find anything involving reincarnated people in my memories of what I've read so far.

...As long as the information is not available to the public, it's a long shot.

I've covered my tracks in Oldia as best I can, but there's a non-zero chance that I'm still being looked into, since I've been spotted by the Holy Knights and surviving residents.

And considering the fact that I was discovered by a joke of a guy called Iger, I'm sure I'll be discovered in the not-too-distant future.

They are said to be collecting reincarnated people, and they will definitely contact me.

I'll have to find a way to pull the wool over their eyes.

Ah...what a hassle.

Why should I bother with them?

All I want to do is just wander around this world until I die as an adventurer, sightseeing at my leisure.

There's no point in lamenting. Let's get back on track and do what I can.

Adventurers' Guild, Urs Laguna Headquarter.

This is not a branch office, but the headquarter of the Adventurers' Guild in this country.

The building is large enough to be called the Headquarter. It is made of stone...or is it brick?

And it is five stories high.

It is one of the largest buildings I have ever seen in my life, excluding castles and forts.

Once inside, I found a long line of adventurers waiting to get in.

It seems that they are there to report their quest achievements or to sell materials to the staff.

I asked a relatively free staff member to confirm that registration and receiving of quests is on the third floor, and I headed that way.

The first floor of this building is for the purchase of materials from monsters and rewards such as quest achievement reports.

The second floor is the bar. Apparently, it also serves as a place to recruit friends.

The third and fourth floors are for receiving quests, registering and reissuing plates.

The fourth floor is for advanced adventurers (red or above) only.

Finally, the fifth floor seems to be a staff-only floor, basically off-limits to outsiders.

"Are you getting a job?"

While waiting in line for a plate on the third floor, Heidi unexpectedly asks me about it.

I'm sorry, but I have to run an errand first. I don't know about you, but I'm not hurting for cash at the moment.

"No, I have some business to attend to. I'll take care of it when I'm done."

"All right, then. Then we're both free to go, right?"

I was a little surprised at Heidi's suggestion.

I had thought that she would ask me where I was going, but considering the way she's been acting lately,......, I've come to realize that she may not have been so sure.

"Yeah, I'll be back at the lodge tonight."

"Okay. If that's the case, I'll try to be back at night too."

After that, I waited for a while, completed the plate registration, and left Heidi in front of the guild.

Now, what should I do?

Equipment or books?

I thought for a while and decided to go to the library.

Royal Library.

The largest library in the country, boasting the largest collection of books.

It is said that you can find out most things here.

Is that true?

I paid the entrance fee and used my plate as ID to the guard at the entrance, checked in my weapon, and went inside after hearing the simple rules for entering.

Inside, bookshelves as large as the ones you often see in cartoons and comics are lined up in a cramped space.

The bookshelves are almost 15 meters long from the top of the shelves. How did they manage to fit all those books in there?

Oh, you use those?

If you look closely, you will see that there are ladders at equal intervals on the bookshelves, and it seems that they want you to use those ladders to climb up.

I could understand the sheer volume of books in the library, but how do I find the book I'm looking for?

I let out a sigh inwardly and walked around the area to check it out. It seems that the books are sorted by genre, so it's not like I have to look for them without a clue.

...First of all, I'd better look into myself...or rather, the reincarnated person.

There are probably no books with such direct descriptions, but those who were treated as monsters may have been documented in some way.

I should start there for starters..........

I thought so, but I was naive.

I should have guessed from the amount of books in the collection.

"The contents of this one and this one are almost the same..."

There are too many duplicated contents in different genres.

Some of them are the same book. I even want to say, "Isn't this the same book?"

If I may add, there is no such thing as a good printing house in this world.

Everything is handwritten.

I flip through the pages of the handwritten book, which is the size of a picture book, and skim through the contents.

It's quite a feat to write this much.

Well, I guess I'd better concentrate on finding the book I'm looking for.

Let's see, I skimmed through the books and eliminated those that seemed to have the same contents...what remained was...

"Monster Compendium" and "Illustrated! The Ecology of Monsters!" "The Culture of the Subracial Race", "Lore and Ancient Monsters", "The Gnostic Order: Records of the Saints", and "Real? Rare! Unidentified Monsters!" ......, etc.

I spotted the books I'd pulled from the bookshelf and piled them on a nearby desk that no one was using.

Around me, people were stacking books on desks just like mine and staring at them with serious faces.

I quietly take a seat and open a book so as not to disturb the others.

There are many things I want to think about, but for now I concentrate on the book in front of me.

Let's start with "Monster Compendium" for the time being.

Let's see, what is it?

It's a quirky book, and it's called a compendium, so it's moderately detailed, but that's all it is.

Most of the contents were things that most adventurers would be familiar with, but it was good for a review.

Well, there was nothing of interest to me, so I skimmed through it lightly.

I read through the second and third books, but all I found was a lot of discussion of monster ecology and related topics.

Some of them are so badly illustrated that I can't understand what they say.

Books on subhumans are similar to those on monsters, and although the contents are interesting only because monsters have become subhumans, it is not the information I want to know.

Next is "The Gnostic Order: Records of the Saints," which I don't know why it was on the shelves related to monsters and subhumans.

Looking through the contents of the book, I see that it is indeed in the right genre.

It is said to be a record of saints, but to be frank, it was a record of battles fought by cathedral knights in the past against what kind of monsters there were.

I'm not sure if it's a good idea to make it into a story, though.

The content of the book is surprisingly thin.

The story is exaggeratedly written about a battle with a demon, but the only thing written about the opponent is that he is an evil demon, so there is no reference at all....

I read through the book to the end just to make sure, but all I read was about how wonderful the Cathedral Knights were, and it wasn't interesting at all.

I mean, what the heck, he saved the world from destruction by destroying a legion of demons with a single swing of the holy sword, isn't that a bit much?

It says that the army of demons that was killed by the holy sword was huge, even bigger than a mountain....

If there is such a useful thing, I would love to have it. It's so hard to kill that monster.

"Huh..."

It was a waste of time. The content was so biased that I couldn't understand a single thing about it.

The important Cathedral Knight is only described as a knight of the Holy Sword, so the content is even more vague.

...Well, okay.

I put aside "The Gnostic Order: A Record of the Saints" and was about to pick up another book when someone sits down roughly on the seat across from me.

...There are other seats available, so why bother sitting in front of me?

I thought about changing my seat, but I was the one who sat first.

No need to move. I ignored him and continued to read .................

"......"

I stop my hand from reaching for the book.

The guy sitting in front of me swung his leg down.

His foot lands on the book I'm trying to pick up.

What the hell, I turned my protesting gaze to the guy sitting across from me... and I stiffened.