Published at 26th of August 2019 7:03 pm

Chapter 7 - The Forbidden Archive and the Book of Joseph

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

In a certain fishing village on the north end of the island named Irland, none of the fewer than one hundred residents knew of the disappearance of the Grandel Kingdom or the rapid expansion of the Britannica Kingdom.

The village’s primary industries were fishing and running the inn. Their only pride was the one inn that was nearly falling apart but was known for being “where the great warriors stayed 600 years ago” after some passing adventurers demanded to stay there.

Yoko hated her home village where the only pride was in the distant past and people only ever discussed older times.

“Ha ha! The witch is out again!”

“Check out the vampire girl!”

“I’ll defeat you with my hero’s sword!”

A small rock hit Yoko in the head as she walked along a generally deserted beach. She looked back to find the unruly brats she loathed of the village she loathed. They were holding sticks and rocks to pretend at being heroes.

“I am not a witch!”

She opened her red eyes wide and raised her white eyebrows in anger and revealed the blood-red inside of her mouth as she yelled at them.

“Whoa! The witch is mad!”

“She’ll eat us!”

“R-run away!”

“Don’t call yourselves heroes if you’re going to run away!”

She shouted abuse at the children from a distance, but only the crashing of the waves answered her. No one in the village, adult or child, would actually speak with her.

She knew why: her white hair, white skin, and red eyes. On sunny days, her skin grew swollen like it was burned, so she could only go outside on cloudy days like this one.

She hated this rural place, the children who teased her, and the adults who did not know what to do with her because she was so weak and unable to do any real work.

But most of all, she hated her own condition.

“Sigh…”

The waves washed up to her ankles and she viewed her reflection in the water.

Her “grandma” who had taken her in had said her hair, eyes, and skin were more beautiful than anyone she had seen while living in the big city.

But that one family member had passed away and no one had said anything nice about her since.

“Curse this village.”

The rural villagers had made no attempt to accept her in the dozen or so years they had been given. …Not that Yoko herself had done anything to convince them to accept her.

She had been an outsider ever since she was born. And of course she had. She had come from “elsewhere”.

She pulled out the charm she kept in her chest. Her chest was growing larger every day and it only got in the way of the work she could do, but the cleavage was convenient for storing things.

“Sakuragi Yoko.”

When her grandma had found her on the beach as a baby, this had been her one and only possession. She still did not understand the form of writing it used and she had never seen it anywhere else, but her grandma had said it was her name.

It was apparently the writing of a country far, far, far to the east of Irland.

She did not know how her grandma had learned that language, but that small charm was the one proof of her own identity and the one remaining link to her grandma.

“I guess I should head home.”

Moping on the beach while staring at her name was only a waste of time. The village’s adults would be back from fishing soon.

She did not want any more cruel comments or to have people view her like a nuisance, so she wanted to get back home. But…

“Eh?”

A beam of light dropped from the cloudy sky and stabbed into her.

She thought she had been struck by lightning and collapsed on the beach, but she quickly realized something was amiss and sat up.

There had been no thunder and she had felt no pain. She had simply sensed “something” that shined brightly.

“Wh-what!?”

She was relieved she was still alive and she viewed her surroundings and her own body. What had happened and what was that light?

As she worked her confused mind, she noticed something. There was a mark on the back of her left hand.

“What is this?”

She did not remember getting a tattoo, yet the faintly glowing Mark of the Hero was displayed there on her left hand.

“Now, it is time to go, Sakuragi Yoko.”

“Wh-who’s there!? Where did you come from!?”

She got to her feet and looked around, but there was no one there. But she had heard a voice. A noble and dignified female one.

“The world is already growing distorted. We cannot ignore that man and we cannot ignore Gelwess.”

“Gelwess?”

Yoko did not know what was happening, but she was starting to panic.

It was not the painless lightning strike, the mark on her left hand, or the woman’s voice ringing directly in her brain. No, it was the bright sunlight shining through a gap in the clouds that scared her.

She had to get home and out of the sun. If not, her skin would burn and she would suffer.

“…!?”

That was when she saw a miracle.

Sunlight had brought her nothing but pain ever since she was born. Its warmth was like a poison that pierced her skin. And yet…

“It’s…so warm.”

It no longer hurt her. She bathed her entire body in the sunlight, but she could now feel its warmth like any other person.

A tear fell from one of her red eyes.

And on that day, Yoko vanished from the village.

The adults rejoiced at the disappearance of that nuisance and the children smiled along with them despite actually missing her a little.

But Yoko’s smile was the biggest off them all. She had a spring in her step as she walked away from there.

Yoko now had Brave Burn and the ability to live in the light of the sun. No one knows where she ended up.

The island of Irland was a large place with a variety of terrains and ecosystems.

The island told a legend of a Calamity Dragon that appeared about 600 years before and the Four Warriors who defeated it. One of those was the knight king who was Makina’s ancestor.

The Britannica kingdom was located in the very center of that island with such a long history. The Britannican capital of Londomern was surrounded by tall walls and boasted one of the highest populations on the island.

Two groups of adventurers were currently saying their goodbyes in that metropolis.

“Okay, we’ll be going now. Thank you for everything!”

“No, no! We didn’t do anything.”

They were in busy area in front of a large hospital with the most advanced medical techniques and equipment anywhere in the kingdom or on the entire island. Saya bowed deeply with her long blonde twintails dangling.

She was the daughter of the Griffoth territory which had left Grandel to join Britannica. Her father had joined the larger kingdom so their small territory could survive, but an impossible task had been forced onto them to prove their loyalty.

However, that mission had been cleared.

“No need for modesty. We never could have completed this mission without your help, Princess Makina and Sir Tet.”

“We’re shuper grateful!”

Saya’s childhood friends and subordinates, the spearwoman Solaris and archer Kyna, also gave their thanks.

“It was not our power that ended it, though. That was thanks to all of you…and Seiji.”

Makina shut her eyes as she answered and a heavy mood fell over them.

The boy named Seiji was a childhood friend of Saya’s party who had claimed to carry the Hero’s power. That power had been real and he had used it to defeat the giant tree boss monster.

But he had been badly wounded in turn. They had managed to save his life, but he had yet to regain consciousness. He had been hospitalized ever since. Even if he did recover, it was unknown if he would ever walk again. In fact, the Londomern doctor had said there was very little chance of that.

“Was this for the best, I wonder?”

Tet spoke to a boy his own age.

He was another of Saya’s subordinates, Seiji’s childhood friend, and Solaris and Kyna’s brother: the dual-wielding swordsman Rick.

“I don’t know.”

After some silence, Rick spoke in a heavy tone.

He was the only one who knew that his beloved master, his sisters, and Grandel Princess Makina had all had sex with Seiji. But he was not allowed to criticize the boy for that.

He had saved his life and had his life saved in that giant forest.

He carried some complicated emotions inside but still wanted to stay with them. If he had to put that to words…

Rick gave his answer while looking Tet in the eye.

“But I am still everyone’s friend.”

“I see…”

Tet and Rick exchanged a solid handshake and did not say much more.

“Okay, we really do need to get going.”

The group from Griffoth had to provide a report at Britannica Palace. With the giant trees gone, their territory would likely have peace.

Makina and Tet would also focus on their original objective of resurrecting Grandel. They were headed for the royal library to discover the truth of Gelwess, the sex curse magic used by the mysterious mage.

“If anything happens, feel free to come to us. We don’t belong to Grandel anymore and we might not be much help…but we will still act in the name of Griffoth to help Grandel and help you two.”

“Yes! Thank you very much! Until we meet again!”

After saying their goodbyes, Makina and Tet resumed walking.

The Royal Magic Library was located on a street corner in Londomern.

But the white-walled building was much too ornate to call a library and looked more like a wealthy person’s estate. It was a way for Britannica to display how strong and advanced they were.

“I-it’s so big!”

“But so ugly. I do not like this place built up from the books and artwork stolen from invaded kingdoms.”

Grandel had had archives and libraries as well, but Makina was honestly surprised by the incomparable scale of this one.

Meanwhile, Tet knew how the military nation of Britannica had come about and what their foreign policy was like, so he criticized its exterior and culture and he frowned upon walking inside.

“Welcome to the royal library. Are you returning something? Or are you looking for something?”

As soon as they set foot inside, a young woman with glasses greeted them from the reception desk.

Her long, dark blue hair was worn in a ponytail and swept over one shoulder. Her uniform was a long robe reminiscent of a mage and she gave them a warm smile. She had an intelligent look to her that was right at home in a library.

“Yes, there is something we are researching. Um, Gellwe-…”

“We would like to read some books related to magic. And some history books as well.”

Tet cut off Makina and pretended to be an ordinary adventurer.

Tet still saw Britannica as an enemy kingdom and this was their capital. They were effectively behind enemy lines.

He wanted to avoid revealing the crucial terminology that might give away their identities and allow word of their presence here to reach the higher ups in the kingdom. Grandel and Britannica had never had an amicable relationship.

“Oh, u-um, yes. Magic books!”

When she heard Tet’s prudent decision, Makina realized how careless she had been while also realizing again how reliable Tet was.

“Magic books and history books? Understood. I will show you the way. My name is Iris and I work as a librarian here. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.”

The woman named Iris spoke politely and guided them through the library.

She looked young, but she was very much a professional. She did not hesitate at all as she walked through the vast library and its mountain ranges of tall bookcases.

“This is the magic book section. And the very next area contains the history books. If you are looking for a specific book, you can use the search magic engine to locate it. Using it requires permission from a librarian, so please visit the reception desk.”

“Thank you very much.”

“Hm…”

Tet placed a hand on his chin and looked up at a bookcase that towered above him. He was viewing the thick books covering its shelves.

“Now, how about we start the search, Tet?”

“Yes. We know the magic that mage used is called Gelwess, but performing a search or asking about it directly might be dangerous. We should start by searching through books of old magic, Princess.”

They kept their voices low so as not to bother the other guests and they felt like they were finally approaching the truth.

They had arrived at the library with more information than anywhere else in Britannica’s capital or on the entire island.

The princess and knight of a lost kingdom worked up their motivation and dove into the endless sea of books.

Makina and Tet had dived into the sea of printed text to find the single tiny pearl of Gelwess…but more than five hours had already passed.

“No luck.”

“None at all.”

That was the result. The both breathed a heavy sigh that sounded loud in the silence surrounding them.

Night was falling outside and the library would be closing soon. Many people had visited the library throughout the day, but now there was only a scattering of guests and most of them were preparing to leave.

“I never expected us to find nothing at all.”

She knew it was indecent, but she slumped down and pressed her cheek against the table.

There was a large stack of thick books on the table. The tower had grown as tall as a young child, but they had found no mention of Gelwess anywhere in there.

They had checked the latest encyclopedia of magic and a book describing different old magics that had fallen out of use. They also used a translation dictionary to check some books on foreign magic, but they had not found what they were looking for.

“All I’ve done is learn a lot more about magic.”

“Isn’t that a good thing for you, Princess?”

“Not without some information about Gelwess. Ughh.”

Makina had not read through this many magic books since she had been learning magic back in Grandel, but she was not interested in general knowledge right now. She wanted detailed information on one piece of magic in particular.

Tet had always focused exclusively on sword techniques, but he did his best to help out by reading through the history of Irland. But that too only served to improve Tet’s history knowledge.

“There is nothing in here about magic that turns people into crystals or anything remotely similar, but I am feeling renewed pride in my position after reading the great deeds of the original King Grandel again.”

A fairy tale. History. The original Grandel. One of the Four Warriors.

“…The Hero.”

“What?”

She looked up from the table after suddenly remembering something and Tet responded to his master’s contextless word.

“Tet, you were reading a book about the legend of the Four Warriors, right?”

“Yes, I was. Um, this is the one here.”

Tet searched out and pulled over a thick history book from among the books scattered on the table.

“Tell me the details of the Four Warriors.”

When Seiji had been pierced through the torso by the plant monster’s vine in the giant forest, time seemed to stop and Makina had seen a woman made of a white haze.

That woman had said a few things before rising into the sky and vanishing.

Seiji had claimed to possess the Hero’s power. Since its effects had been very real, she guessed that woman might know something crucial to everything going on.

“The Four Warriors defeated the Calamity Dragon 600 years ago. One of those was Magic Swordsman Arthur Grandel who we are very familiar with.”

Tet opened the book and read through the basics. That was a famous legend that even children were familiar with.

“He was my ancestor. He was the grand and noble knight king who invented the Grandel school of sword fighting and magic.”

“Every knight in Grandel views him as a target of respect and a goal to strive for.”

He had once been no more than the knight of a kingdom, but his chivalrous spirit and unparalleled strength had brought down more and more oppressive kingdoms until he finally defeated the dragon and gained his own kingdom.

His great blood flowed in Makina’s veins.

“Next is Great Mage Joseph.”

“Everyone who learns magic will have heard his name.”

He had systemized the magic that had been passed down separately in different lands and had made it so anyone with talent could learn it properly. For that reason, he was known as the father of all magic.

He had also developed many new forms of magic, so magical history was generally divided between the pre-Joseph and post-Joseph eras.

More than that, he had developed many revolutionary technologies.

After slaying the Calamity Dragon, he had founded a kingdom that remained on the cutting edge of magic research to this day. That great technological kingdom was actively developing the magic engines made from iron and steel.

“The third is Sun Priest Yalta.”

“The original pope.”

That priest had discovered the Hero who would defeat the Calamity Dragon and brought together the hearts of the kingdoms and peoples across the island. He had not fought on the front line often, but he had healed people with a mystical power and was said to have performed many miracles.

He was said to have heard the words of god and he had founded a religious kingdom known as the Holy See after slaying the Calamity Dragon.

“And the last one is…”

“Hero Yuri. You have figured something out about the Hero, haven’t you?”

The Hero had been a lowly peasant, but after Sun Priest Yalta’s prophecy, they had risen to be the Hero who supplied the finishing blow against the Calamity Dragon. Everyone in Irland knew who they were.

They had gone adventuring with their party members with a holy sword in hand and they had saved the world from the threat of the dragon. A few short words was not enough to describe their great deeds.

“No…I haven’t really figured anything out. But…the Hero was a man, right?”

“Yes? That is what it says here and what I was taught.”

Tet looked puzzled and who could blame him? Everyone knew that Hero Yuri was a handsome and muscular man.

Makina had been taught that growing up as well. But the Hero-like person who had appeared from Seiji’s Mark of the Hero had looked like a woman.

“Hmm.”

They had received some bits and pieces of information during their journey and this library boasted more books than anywhere else on the island, yet that did not seem to be enough to arrive at the truth.

No matter how much they dug through the books and worked their minds to the bursting point, they could not find the answer.

“Um, we will be closing soon, so I will help you clean that up.”

“Oh! S-sorry!”

Meanwhile, Makina and Tet had become the last two guests remaining in the library.

Librarian Iris, who had greeted them at the reception desk, approached their table and spoke up apologetically, but they were the ones who still had the books out. They quickly started returning them to where they belonged.

“You really were working hard to find something. Were you unsuccessful?”

When Makina looked around to figure out where one book went, Iris gently took it from her and immediately returned it to the appropriate shelf.

She spoke to Makina with a kind atmosphere that made it feel like she was asking as a person instead of a worker.

“Y-yes, we were! Um, it’s about an old piece of magic…but none of the books mention it.”

She kept the details vague but still tried explaining that they were having trouble.

Iris placed a hand on her chin in thought.

“Hmm. You should be able to find most any magic in the books here.”

If it was not found here, then either an individual had developed it in secret or it did not exist at all. But not just anyone could develop magic and the great mages of the past had needed years of work to create modern magic.

The black-hooded mage who had attacked Grandel had not seemed that old, so it was only reasonable to assume he had learned Gelwess somewhere. If not, they really had hit a dead end and were back at square one.

“Oh, but maybe in the forbidden archive.”

“The forbidden archive!?”

Makina’s eyes lit up at that term. She could not believe she had forgotten all about it until now.

It had been Coltra who worked at the Wells Volcano who had suggested she head to the royal library. He too was a victim of the sex curse and he had told her to visit the forbidden archive hidden deep within this library.

Something like this probably would not be found in the books just anyone could read. But the bizarre and forbidden books known as magic books might be a different story.

“But…”

“We have adventurer IDs! Only D Rank, though.”

Makina hurriedly pulled out her ID, but Iris smiled bitterly and indicated a problem.

“I am sorry, but only some of the librarians here and adventurers of B Rank or higher are allowed in the forbidden archive.”

“I see...”

It felt like the faint glow of hope had been snuffed out. Reaching B Rank would take a lot of time and work.

“But…I have an idea. If you have time, come here again tomorrow. You seem to have some pressing reason, so I will help you.”

“R-really!?”

“You treated the books with care and tried to return them to their proper shelves. And most importantly, you were quiet throughout the day. A library cannot afford to turn away people who search for information in a respectful fashion.”

Makina and Tet had been raised in a royal palace and the behavior they had learned there had often appeared as naivete on their difficult journey, but it had worked in their favor here.

The snuffed-out light of hope apparently still had the faintest glimmer remaining.

The following day, Makina and Tet visited Iris before the library officially opened. They had stayed in an inn near the royal library to make that easier.

“Good morning, Iris!”

“Thank you for your offer to help today.”

“Good morning, you two. I am glad you arrived on time.”

They had used the staff entrance as instructed the day before.

The library boasted more books than anywhere else in the kingdom, but they did not see many other workers there. Iris said it had always been run by the bare minimum of people.

“Are you sure you should open the forbidden archive to adventurers you just met?”

Tet had to ask the obvious question. Gaining Librarian Iris’s permission was exactly what they wanted, but he was ever vigilant and did not want to overlook any cause for concern.

“The forbidden archive is only restricted because it contains some magic books that could cause harm simply by reading them. If people are careful and are given proper warning, there is no real reason to keep them locked up deep in the library. I have been asking the kingdom to relax the restrictions for a while now.”

Iris said it saddened her for useful books to gather dust where no one could read them. If someone like Makina and Tet had need of them, she wanted to let them fulfill their role as books. And not every book in the forbidden archive was actually dangerous.

Makina could tell how much the woman loved books from what she said and the look on her face.

And Tet was not twisted enough to doubt her sincerity. He silently followed after Iris as she guided them with a smile.

“Good morning!”

Just then, a loud voice echoed through the entire library from behind the three of them.

Makina and Tet looked back in surprise, but Iris turned around with a bright look on her face

“Oh, honey. I nearly forgot.”

She ran over to a knight wearing the armor of Britannica’s army.

She pulled a lunchbox from her bag and handed it to the tall and short-haired knight she had called “honey”.

“Honey?”

“You are married?”

“Hello! I am Iris’s husband, Wallace! I work as a knight! …But wait. I thought the library didn’t open quite yet. Are they new workers?”

“They are special guests. And, honey, not so loud. The library is a library even before it opens.”

“Right, sorry, sorry. Hah hah hah!”

Wallace laughed heartily. He seemed like a friendly person and, while he was not quite “handsome”, he had an odd open-mindedness about him.

The two of them had apparently met at the kingdom’s academy and gotten married when they graduated. Wallace had gone on to become a knight whose primary mission was keeping the peace in the kingdom while Iris had started working in the library.

A few years had passed, but they were as close as ever. He would always come greet her like this after his early morning patrol and receive a lunch from his beloved wife before moving onto his next job.

“Time for another day of hard work! I love you, Iris!”

“Again, not so loud! And don’t say that in front of other people. It’s embarrassing… Have a good day, honey.”

This was their usual morning routine, but she blushed when it happened in front of Makina and Tet. Still, when she placed a hand on her husband’s chest as if lightly pushing so he would leave, she had a smile on her face.

“Oh, that’s so wonderful,” said Makina.

“It is,” agreed Tet. “Although I am not quite sure how to feel since he is a Britannican knight.”

When Makina saw that happy couple from up close, it filled her imagination with images of herself in that role someday.

Meanwhile, Tet’s first impression of Wallace was a positive one, but he knew they could have ended up crossing swords on the battlefield if things had been a little different.

“Sorry about that. Now, let’s get to the forbidden archive.”

Iris switched from her identity as a wife to her identity as a librarian and guided the other two into the library’s basement.

Only the librarians and some adventurers were allowed in the forbidden archive. Makina and Tet were led to an old and thick metal door that would definitely work to keep people away.

Iris pulled out a key and unlocked it with practiced hand and got Tet’s help opening the heavy double doors.

“Watch your step.”

The three of them entered the forbidden archive.

The floor was not littered with trash and books, but the underground space had no windows and it was only illuminated by the lamps on the ceiling and tops of the bookcases. It was daytime, yet more of it was dark than lit.

“Otawaaa? Where are youuu?”

Iris called out into the darkness.

She kept calling out “Otawa”, which was likely someone’s name, and finally a man appeared from deep within the forbidden archive.

“What is it, Iris? It isn’t opening time yet.”

Makina and Tet noted a distinctive sweaty smell.

The man wore the same librarian uniform as Iris. He was likely Otawa, but the figure seen through that mage-like robe was nothing like Iris’s feminine curves.

He had black hair with long bangs that hid his eyes, but the nose and cheeks not hidden by the hair were greasy. Very few people would have judged him as more attractive than Wallace who they had met earlier.

“These two are Makina and Tet. They could not find what they were looking for up above, so I am letting them search in here instead.”

“Are they adventurers? What rank?”

“U-um, we are both D Ran-…”

“Huh!?”

Otawa had spoken in almost a whisper until now, but he let out an angry outburst at Makina’s response.

Everyone flinched back, but Otawa seemed truly furious.

“You can’t do that. It’s against the rules.”

“I am just bending them a little. And by D Rank, they are skilled enough to defend themselves. Besides, I do not like picking and choosing who can seek out knowledge.”

“You’re not picking and choosing; you’re following the rules given to you. …And were you planning to force me to deal with them?”

“You know the forbidden archive better than anyone, don’t you? You live in here, so you know what’s dangerous and what’s safe, right?”

“Well, yeah. I do know this place like the back of my hand. Really, anyone calling themselves a librarian should.”

“Yes, yes. You are very right about that.”

It had looked like an argument was developing over whether Makina and Tet would be allowed into the forbidden archive, but as soon as Iris said Otawa was “better than anyone” at something, he got a proud look on his face.

The way he looked down on others with his words and body language did not leave a positive first impression with Makina and Tet.

“Don’t blame me if anything goes wrong.”

“Of course. They will be no trouble for you at all.”

They apparently had reached an agreement. Otawa still looked unhappy, but at the very least, Makina and Tet were allowed into the forbidden archive.

“Okay, I will be back at around midday. I hope you will find what you are looking for.”

“Yes! Thank you very much, Iris!”

Iris left the other three in the forbidden archive and the thick metal door clanged heavily shut.

“Now, where are the books related to magic?”

Inside the dimly-lit forbidden archive, Tet immediately asked that question of Otawa because he did not want to waste any time.

Makina was also feeling impatient since the truth seemed so close at hand.

But Otawa gave Tet a cold look.

“Huh? The hell’s wrong with you? I’m not the search magic engine. Go find whatever you’re looking for on your own. Although that area over there is my living space and it has a lot of valuable and dangerous books, so I’ll kill you if you get close.”

The weak-looking man’s threat held no weight when spoken to Tet who had become one of Grandel’s royal knights at such a young age.

But it was still an unpleasant exchange, so Tet wrinkled his brow and decided it was no use dealing with the man. He instead pointed at a nearby bookcase.

“Let’s start searching those shelves, Princess. This is not as large as the upper area, so I will start from the opposite side.”

“O-okay! Understood!”

“Tch. What’s with that guy? Thinks he’s hot shit just cause he’s an adventurer with some chick following him around…”

Otawa muttered an unkind comment, but Tet ignored him and reached for the first book.

Makina was a little worried, but she chose to challenge the stormy waves of countless letters in the hopes of finding a clue about Gelwess.

“Hmm.”

A few hours later, Makina was searching through the thick tomes by magic lamp and occasionally by lighting up the end of her own magic staff.

As a forbidden archive, it contained valuable documents the likes of which she would normally never see and books on extreme magic used to torture people or cast deadly curses.

But none of them listed the magic she was interested in.

This was not going to be easy even with access to the royal capital’s forbidden archive. Did a book talking about Gelwess even exist? Did the magic itself even exist in the first place? Maybe the information they had received was wrong.

But just as that possibility emerged in the back of her mind…

“Princess!”

Tet’s voice was full of excitement for once. And he ran over to her.

She looked up with hope in her eyes. There was only one thing that could make him look so happy right now.

“Did you find it!?”

“Yes! I have yet to read the details, though!”

“Pipe down, assholes!”

Even if they had found what they had been searching so hard for, shouting and running was against the rules. The forbidden archive was still a part of the library.

Makina apologized to Otawa who had to be there beyond the darkness, but Tet kept a serious look and complained: “Why is he such a jerk?”

But Gelwess mattered more at the moment. Tet had brought over a book so old it was falling apart. It contained the word they sought.

“Gelwess. The last magic ever created by Great Mage Joseph.”

“It was meant to enrichen people’s lives, but it poses a great danger and was erased from the official records as a forbidden spell.”

It really was a forbidden magic not spoken of in the official records.

But this book provided no further details or how to remove it. They could not save the people of Grandel with this and it did not tell them the identity of that black-hooded mage.

“But we did finally find something!”

“Yes! Let’s keep searching!”

With renewed hope on their faces, they were determined to search every last nook and cranny of the forbidden archive.

“Makina, Tet. It’s about time for lunch. …How are you doing?”

A while after that, Iris entered the forbidden archive during her lunch break.

She opened the heavy door to find the two adventurers searching through a mountain of books. They must have been extremely focused because they did not immediately respond to her.

“I-it’s that late already!?”

“I am hungry, now that you mention it.”

“Hee hee. Looks like you’re making progress.”

They had found one book that mentioned Gelwess, but they had not found anything else since. Still, knowing it was real was enough to fuel Makina and Tet’s passion as they flipped through the pages.

They had been so focused they did not notice their own hunger, but their legs were weak as they left the forbidden archive.

“Huh? Is Otawa not coming?”

“Oh…he’s fine. He apparently brings his own food in and eats it there. He really should get out in the sun more, though.”

Iris sounded worried and a bit exasperated as she glanced back into the forbidden archive.

Otawa was unkind to the guests and had a bitter personality. He apparently spent all his time in the archive studying and researching something.

“I honestly am not fond of men like that,” said Tet.

“Now, now. Don’t be mean.”

Tet expressed his dislike for Otawa even after they left the library.

Makina did not think they would be around Otawa for long, so she chided her proud and diligent servant as they walked to a restaurant.

“Ah!”

“What is it?”

“Sorry, but I left my staff behind! Go on ahead without me! I’ll be right back!”

She had carelessly left behind the magic staff she had been using as a light in the forbidden archive. The royal capital was a peaceful place, but this was still a major failure for an adventurer.

She immediately turned around and rushed back to the forbidden archive. Fortunately, the door was not locked and her precious magic staff was leaning against a bookcase near the entrance.

“Thank goodness.”

Leaving behind your weapon was the greatest mistake an adventurer could make. She realized she had gotten too excited after finding some trace of Gelwess and she knew she had to hurry back to Tet.

“…?’

But just then she heard a noise from the darkness further inside the dimly-lit and silent archive.

Otawa was supposedly the only one there, but it sounded like two soft things slapping together.

––No, I knew exactly what it was. I also recognized the faint smell hanging in the air. And as soon as I noticed it, I felt a warmth inside me. My lower stomach – and the sex curse there – began to throb.

“Ah♥ Ahhn♥ Nhhh♥”

“…!?”

Librarian Iris had her hands pressed against a bookcase and her long, dark blue hair swaying…while Otawa pounded his hips against hers from behind.

A few days had passed since they began searching the royal library’s forbidden archive in the Britannican capital of Londomern.

Makina and Tet’s days began by waking up in the inn, visiting the library before opening hours to meet Iris, watching the lovely scene of Iris giving her husband Wallace a homemade lunch, and entering the forbidden archive.

Otawa, the man who lived in the forbidden archive, would sometimes complain or insult them (e.g., “You’d better put the books back in the right spot”, “Find what you’re looking for and get lost already”) while they spent all day searching for anything at all about Gelwess, the magic used by the mage who destroyed their home kingdom of Grandel.

But even though this information was crucial to solving the problem of the Gelwess sex curse cast on her own body, Makina was not making much progress in her search.

(Iris.)

It all went back to seeing Otawa and Iris having sex in the forbidden archive.

She had left for some lunch but quickly returned to retrieve her forgotten magic staff and happened to see an intimate scene between those two librarians.

Iris was married to Wallace, who worked as a knight and the way she made him a homecooked meal everyday made them seem like lovebirds, so why had she betrayed him like that? And how long had it been going on?

“Princess? Is something the matter?”

“Oh, n-no! It’s nothing. I’m fine, Tet.”

She had zoned out while reaching for a book on the shelf, which had worried Tet.

She smiled and pretended it was nothing and Tet accepted it in his own way: “I can’t let her stay in this dark and damp place much longer.”

That serious and pure childhood friend would never have imagined she was thinking about librarians having sex.

For one thing, it was not a princess’s place – and more to the point, an outsider’s place – to police other people’s lives like that.

Even if she was cheating on her husband, it was none of their business as ordinary library guests. Plus, they had a more important duty to fulfill.

But still…

(Iris looked like she was really enjoying it.)

That young wife’s curvy body had been illuminated by the lamps of the dimly-lit forbidden archive.

Her hands had been pressed against a bookcase and her breasts and butt had jiggled every time he thrust into her from behind.

Her loose-fitting robe uniform had been pulled up and she had stripped off the mask of a wife to reveal the face of a woman.

Makina had also noticed a sweaty male scent.

With his bangs plastered to his forehead with sweat, Otawa looked like the type who would die a virgin, but he had been fully focused on thrusting his hips. She had caught a glimpse of an impressively thick penis at their union. His usual jerkish behavior apparently made him a rough lovemaker who simply unleashed his lust on his partner.

(It was almost like…)

Every time she recalled the scene she had witnessed, her heart would pound in her chest, she would find herself unable to think about anything else, her face would grow hot…and her womb and the sex curse would throb enough to form a wet stain in her panties.

It reminded her so much of the very first sex she had ever witnessed.

She recalled seeing an unknown man fucking her mother, the queen, on the day Grandel was lost.

Makina had only ever known her as a mother and a princess like her had not known much about sex or even chaste romantic relationships, so the image of them fucking with instincts bared had been burned into her eyes.

The vivid memory of all her kingdom’s people being turned to crystals had been made shortly thereafter, so she found it impossible to restrain her emotions when she saw a man and woman going at it like animals.

“…!”

But she shook her head as if to shake the thoughts from her mind and she tried to focus on the text before her eyes.

She kept telling herself she had to do something. She kept telling herself to keep going. And she kept succumbing to the sex curse.

She had continued her adventure thus far because she wanted to change that. She would find a way to remove the Gelwess sex curse and bring back her kingdom. And she would once more be someone not ruled by lust.

A crucial clue was so close at hand. It was somewhere in this forbidden archive. So now was not the time to be thinking about other people’s physical relationships or her own sexual desire.

“You’re searching for information on Gelwess, aren’t you?”

“…!?”

She nearly screamed and dropped her book when an unpleasant voice whispered in her ear.

But she managed to stop herself and turned toward Otawa who had snuck up on her. She feigned calm, but she could not stop a chill from running down her spine at his creepy appearance and voice.

“H-how did you know that?”

“You two kept talking about it. You sounded very excited. And given the genre of books you’re searching, it wasn’t that hard to figure out. Well, maybe it would be for a stupid monkey.”

Why did he feel the need to insult others in everything he said?

No, that much of a personality flaw was not a huge issue. Nor did she find it particularly disturbing that he had secretly checked what books they were searching and guessed what they were looking for.

Back in the royal palace, she had seen the adults fighting between their different factions. As an adventurer, she had seen plenty of bad and impure people.

So she was not going to look down on Otawa as some pure noble. But when he was this close, his body odor was hard to ignore.

“It is true we are searching for information on Gelwess.”

She was shocked at Otawa’s personal hygiene from living in the forbidden archive, but she still conversed with him as an equal human being.

A normal person would avoid interacting with someone like him if they could. Not even Tet could hide his dislike of the man.

“I am familiar with that magic.”

“Eh!?”

But not pushing him away for being an unpleasant jerk had paid off. Makina’s eyes widened at this unexpected statement.

She forgot all about his body odor and started to call Tet over from where he was searching some texts elsewhere.

“Hold on. Don’t celebrate quite yet.”

But just then, Otawa’s hand pressed against her mouth. The sweaty smell of his palm was overwhelming.

“Nh!?”

“The forbidden archive only has two books that mention Gelwess. The first is the one you found and it really does only mention it. But the other one goes into more detail.”

“Th-then…!”

They could read that book to see the truth. She could not have hoped for anything better. The horrible person in front of her now looked like a sage guiding her way through the darkness.

But as knowledgeable as the forbidden archive’s guardian was, he was by no means a good person.

“But it is a truly forbidden book. It has a powerful magic lock in place. …Now, you’re a mage too, so I’m sure you can unlock it in time. But by time I mean…10 years maybe? It took me 5.”

“That can’t be!”

Some magic books had security measures applied to make sure malicious people could not read the research contained within. Some would attack anyone who tried to forcibly break through and those were designated forbidden books.

“It took me 5 years and I somehow managed to break the seal just when the magic was about to hit me with a deadly curse, so I’m not about to let some weakling D Rank adventurers waltz in here and read it.”

“But we need that information!”

Makina begged him. They had gone to a lot of effort to reach this point.

But as a user of magic, she understood what Otawa was saying. He must have taken on a lot of risk and sacrificed a lot of time to finally open the forbidden book. Humans were not benevolent enough creatures to supply that information for nothing in return. She had learned that well enough in her adventures thus far.

“So I’ve got a suggestion.”

“Y-yes?”

The look in his eyes changed. In that instant, she understood what he was after. He did not even need to put it to words.

She had experienced this many times before. And she had sworn she would not do it again. But whenever those lustful eyes turned her way, she always ended up moving her own hips in the end. She always ended up a prisoner of her own carnal desire.

She had actually guessed where Otawa was taking this a bit earlier. She knew what men were like.

But surely this would be the last time. No, she would make sure it was.

She would offer him her body in exchange for the book with detailed information on Gelwess.

Then she would use that book to remove the sex curse and say goodbye to her days of horniness.

It would end today. By tomorrow, she would have regained her pride as a pure princess.

So…

“This way. I don’t want that black-haired swordsman asshole getting in our way. …That’s fine with you, right?”

“Y-yes.”

When Otawa placed an arm around her shoulder and guided her to his living space, she willingly followed him.

There were no bookcases in the deepest part of the forbidden archive. Instead, a thin mattress was laid on the floor by the wall with a blanket that did not look like it had been washed recently.

Half-eaten food, dirty clothing, and cloths and towels discolored from cum stains were scattered around.

Whether in an archive or a normal room, it was clearly the filthy room of a single man.

And in the middle of the sweat and dried semen smells, Magical Princess Makina added the scents of a noble lady and of an aroused woman.

“Okay, suck my dick. And hold it between those needlessly huge tits. You do this all the time, don’t you? You clearly dress to seduce all the guys around you. And with looks and a body like that, the other girls must hate you.”

He insulted her while looking down at her.

Now, who did the other girls really hate more: Makina or Otawa? The answer was obvious to anyone, but Makina did not have the right to respond at the moment.

There was no around to criticize him for being so rude to the Princess of Grandel. Tet was passionately reading through books near the archive’s entrance. When he was focused on a task, he tended not to notice the background noise around him.

Of course, that Knight of Grandel would never accept exchanging such an act for information. He might very well cut Otawa down in a fit of rage.

But then they would lose access to this information on Gelwess. If she put up with this for a short time, it would solve everything.

“…Okay.”

Whatever their social statues, he had the upper hand at the moment. She needed his knowledge to locate the book and even to open it.

So she could only obey. She kneeled on his filthy blanket and reached for her dirndl.

When viewed from above, her breasts and the deep cleavage between would draw anyone’s eyes. Normally, only the top half would be visible.

But now she bared them herself. She pulled the fabric down and her princess tits were exposed to the air with enough energy to warrant a “boing♥” sound effect.

“Ohh. Th-those are pretty nice. What’d you eat to get them so big? Screw that up and you’d end up a complete fatass.”

“…”

She had long had a complex about the large size of her breasts, so her face grew red when he described them that way.

She should have been feeling embarrassment, a hint of anger, and some unavoidable humiliation, but with every breath she took, her breasts jiggled slightly and the pink nipples grew erect as if to seduce the men around her like Otawa had suggested earlier.

“You’re younger than Iris, but you’ve got a damn fine rack. Hey, get those things around my dick already.”

He could not resist any longer, so he pulled up his mage-like robes and exposed his lower body.

All the blood had already gathered there, transforming his penis into a sharp and thick spear. But a sweaty smell came from his shaft, balls, and thighs.

That made her wrinkle her brow despite the effects of the sex curse. A normal girl might have been too disgusted to continue.

“E-excuse me.”

But she had a goal here and she could not just run away. Or so she told herself while her crotch grew wet and she placed those two soft mounds around his thick rod.

“Ohh. God yes. Kh, you fucking whore.”

“I-I am not a whore.”

She argued back pressing the fat of her boobs together near the base and massaging the penis buried between.

She moved her body back and forth while adjusting her speed, but more than that, he began thrusting his hips a bit without even noticing.

Her skin was smooth and her tits were as soft as marshmallow or the finest sponge.

She felt like they had grown a little bigger recently and they started sweating. That mixed with the precum to act as an obscene lotion.

“Pant, pant, pant! You’re a fucking slut and you know it! You act all pure, but you clearly know your way around a dick!”

“Ah♥”

The sexual scents were already overpowering his body odor and that sweaty scent only smelled like powerful male hormones now that she was aroused.

Then he pushed her back onto the dirty blanket and sat on her.

He reached out his hands to grab her boobs, roughly massaged them, pinched the nipples, and thrust his hips like he was having sex.

“Ah♥ Nh♥ So rough♥ Ah♥”

“Yeah, I’ll be you like it rough! Pant, pant. S-suck it. Suck it and beg for my cum!”

His long cock stuck out from her cleavage and touched her small chin and lips with each thrust.

She looked up at him to see the demanding look in the bloodshot eyes visible through his long bangs.

She returned his gaze with her damp eyes and stuck out her soft pink tongue which was coated with plenty of sweet saliva.

“Nh♥ Nhh♥ Slurp♥ Suck♥ Slup♥♥ Kiss♥”

“Oh, ohhhh!”

She held it between her boobs and sent her tongue crawling along the head that poked out for a combined titjob and blowjob.

It tasted as strong as it smelled. She had blown a few different men before and she had not always had the best food to eat during her adventures, but this was worse than anything she had tasted before.

However, Otawa kept moving his hips. His fingers, palms, and penis distorted her breasts’ shape while he pushed the head against her lips as if begging her for more.

And her tongue responded as lewdly as it could.

“Slup♥ Slurp♥ Nh♥ Slup♥ Hhhh♥ Lick♥ Kiss♥ Slurrrrrrrrrrrp♥♥♥”

“Ah, ahhhh! Kh♥”

Each time her soft lips kissed the head and every time her tongue tip crawled along the hole at the tip, thick precum flowed out and got the inside of her mouth all sticky.

This man was pinning her down, roughly groping her breasts, and violating those breasts and her mouth.

“Slurp♥ Hee hee♥ Slurp♥ Slup♥ Ah♥ Lick♥ Lick♥ Lick♥ Ahhh♥ Nh, slurrrrrrrp♥♥”

Yet a calm corner of her mind found the situation was turning her on and she was actually growing to like the smell and flavor. She was supposedly only doing this because he had threatened her. She supposedly had not wanted to do this.

But all of that faded away behind the pink horniness brought by the sex curse.

“Your cock is so salty and bitter♥ Slup♥ Lick♥ I swear there’s something wrong with my tongue♥ Slurrrp♥ And the smell♥ It’s overwhelming♥ Mhhh♥ Lick♥ Oh♥ Let me have that cheesy smegma♥”

Surely it actually had to be gross and disgusting, but she kept slurping it up like it was the finest delicacy.

Her panties were soaked, her jiggling tits were holding his dick between them, and she was sucking at the tip while experiencing utter bliss.

Her tongue crawled all along the head and even licked up the dried cum caked on below the head.

“Kh, what the hell!? You really are some kinda freak sticking your tongue out like that, aren’t you!?”

Otawa had thought he was using the forbidden book to blackmail a sexually inexperienced adventurer into sleeping him.

Even Iris was only spreading her legs for him for her husband Wallace. He had obtained her lewd body in exchange for a forbidden book’s information on potions and foods to increase physical strength and vigor.

That had allowed her to use special ingredients and cooking methods in the lunches she made every day. Wallace never could have fulfilled his dream of becoming a knight as he was, but those lunches had not only given him that but got him promoted to a position where he could patrol the royal capital with a few dozen other knights under his command.

“Fuck!”

He had expected Iris and Makina to cry and beg for mercy as he fucked them – and it may have started that way – but now they happily begged for his cock.

He felt like they were mocking him when they did that. It did not give him the sense of control and validation he so badly wanted after being ignored by all the girls around him as a student.

“Nh, gh!?♥”

So he forced her to pleasure him more forcefully in order to put her in her place.

He got on all fours while she was lying on her back.

His dick and hips were directly above her now. The tip of that flesh spear was aimed straight down at her.

She wondered what he was doing, but she had her answer soon enough. He made sure of it. He thrust it down into her open mouth and deep into her throat.

“Nhhhhh♥♥♥”

She tried to cry out, but her moan was muffled by the thick sex rod filling her throat to the limit.

It of course did not end there. He roughly moved his hips up and down while on all fours. He moved with the same speed as he might into a woman’s vagina.

“Nh♥ Ngh♥ Oh♥ Oh♥ Gh♥ Nh♥ Nhh♥ Oh♥ Nbhhh♥♥”

His male-smelling hips slapped rhythmically against her face.

She had trouble moving or even breathing while trapped between the blanket and his hips.

“Ah, ah, ahh, ohhh!”

But he kept up his thrusting. In fact, he accelerated it. She was no longer pleasuring him. He was fucking the princess’s throat pussy like it was a sex toy fixed to the floor.

She could only move the part of her below her neck. He slammed his hips into her small face so hard she thought it would break and the rest of her body twitched like a freshly-caught fish each time.

Her massive tits jiggled, her nipples pointed toward the ceiling, her hips moved in time with his thrusting, her legs naturally spread, and love juices sprayed from her vagina.

He had complete control and she could not resist as he fucked her throat pussy.

She grabbed his hips with her hands, but his hips only sped up.

“Gh♥ Ngh♥ Nghh♥ Oh♥ Nhh♥ Nh♥ Ogh♥ Ghhhhhhh♥♥♥”

“Ah, ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!”

His sweaty hips pushed against her pretty face while his desire was released deep in her throat and the milkiness passed down her esophagus to reach her stomach.

“Ah, I-I’m cumming…kh, ahhh.”

“Oh♥ Ogohhhh♥♥”

Semen spilled from the corners of her mouth and the smell of the cum flowing back up drove her nose crazy, but the sex curse made sure it all delighted her more than anything.

As proof, her underwear was too soaked to function and her body demanded further lewdness after squirting in climax.

“Hm?”

Tet suddenly looked up within the forbidden archive.

He had heard a slight sound…no, he had only instinctually sensed that something was not quite right. He had not looked up from his book for any specific reason.

“Princess?”

He realized he had not seen Makina for a while now.

That was not too surprising since they had split up to search for information on Gelwess, but as a knight, he did not want to keep his eyes off his master for too long.

Gelwess was the ancient magic thought to have been used by the mage who destroyed their home. Their top priority at the moment was to search for the forbidden book containing detailed information on that.

His master constantly reminded him to treat her like an equal adventurer instead of royalty. He did his best to do so when they were not alone together.

But she was still the person he had to protect first and foremost. He somewhat regretted getting so caught up in the books he forgot to think about her.

His princess had grown quite powerful as a mage recently. She kept using powerful magic that he did not remember her having learned.

That renewed his desire to grow stronger himself, but it also let him relax some because she was capable of defending herself. But still…

“Princess? Where are you?”

Tet placed the book he was reading on the wrong shelf and walked deeper into the forbidden archive in search of Makina.

Meanwhile, Makina was having sex with Otawa in exchange for detailed information on Gelwess.

She lay on a thin blanket in the back of the forbidden archive with cum dripping from the corners of her mouth, pubic hair stuck to her cheeks, her breasts still bared after the titjob, and her underwear soaked with love juices. Plus, thick fingers were removing that underwear.

“This is some pretty fancy underwear for an adventurer. Is your boyfriend into that kinda thing?”

His words and gaze were a mixture of scorn and jealousy.

A lot of people made the same mistake, but he seemed to think Tet was her boyfriend.

Anyone would think the same of a boy and girl journeying together as adventurers. That was not actually the case, but Otawa apparently saw her as a fickle adventurer girl. After removing the light blue panties with a small ribbon decoration, he spun them around on his index finger and tossed them to the wall.

He removed his own uniform and lay naked on top of her. The sweaty smell was even stronger without his clothes on.

“T-Tet is not my…♥”

“Shut up and spread your legs.”

“Ah, nhh♥♥”

Tet was not her boyfriend; he was something even more important. But she was not given time to claim this technically did not count as cheating.

Two thick fingers penetrated her bared pussy.

“~~~~~♥♥♥”

Her body was as aroused as could be after the titjob, blowjob, and throat fucking.

Otawa had no experience dating a woman, so his foreplay technique was lacking. But that was only an issue with a normal girl.

With her skirt pulled up to her stomach and the sex curse tattoo glowing with its bewitching light atop her womb, even that unpopular man’s fingering was enough for pussy juices to flow out of her.

“Nh♥ Ahh♥ Ah♥ Nhh♥ Wait♥”

“If you want me to stop, tell your pussy to stop squeezing my fingers so hard I can’t pull them out!”

He smiled cruelly and stirred up the princess’s fleshpot with his unskilled technique.

She spread her legs wide so he could finger her more easily and her nipples and clitoris were hard and erect. The touch of the archive’s stale air was enough for pleasure to race through her entire body.

While in that state, it was only natural for the unexpected movements of the man’s fingers to destroy any rational thought left in her mind.

“Hee♥ Gh♥ Ahn♥ I’m about to cum♥ I’m so close!♥”

“Shoving some fingers inside you is enough to make you cum!? You really are a dumb whore! A monkey in heat would have more restraint than you!”

Her horny display caused his crotch to swell once more and he sucked at her jiggling tits.

His right hand worked her pussy juices into a froth as he continued fingering her, his left hand pinched her nipple and massaged the large breast, and his mouth sucked at the other breast.

With the sex curse magic affecting her body and mind, the wild three-point attack was enough to push her over the edge in no time.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh♥♥ Ah♥ Hghhhhhhhhhhhh♥”

But just then…

“Princess?”

“!”

Her spine froze.

She could have sworn her heart stopped beating for several seconds.

It was like rising toward the climax of pleasure and then plunging into the depths of the abyss.

Tet’s footsteps approached and he kept calling for her.

An unpleasant sweat soaked her body.

(Wait. Don’t come here. Not now.)

It was over. It was all over. There would be no explaining this.

He was going to see her.

“…………………”

“…!”

Tet’s eyes met hers.

She was lying below Otawa on the dirty blanket with love juices flowing from her spread legs and her breasts bared.

She knew this had to be the end.

She had already forgotten all about the sex curse. She also forgot about her home, the dark mage, and even Otawa who was pleasuring her.

She was only thinking about what to tell the childhood friend she had known all her life. What could she possibly say after he stumbled across her having sex with someone else?

“Where did she go? That librarian guy is gone too.”

“…!?”

But when Tet spoke, it was not an insult or expression of shock.

In fact, she was the one who felt shocked by what he said.

“I used Blinded. Just barely cast it in time.”

Otawa whispered in her ear while continuing to caress her nipples and finger her pussy. He teased her erect nipples and noisily stirred up the love juices inside her, but she did her best to focus on his words instead.

When she understood what he meant, she felt relieved, but she also thought it was an awful thing to do.

Blinded was a form of illusion magic. It was a dangerous piece of magic that prevented the target from seeing a specific object or their surroundings or that temporarily shut down their vision altogether. She had learned about it while reading through the magic-related books in the forbidden archive.

It was designated a forbidden magic that harmed others, but there was no one in the isolated space of the library to get after him and he had used it to escape a crisis.

“S-Silence!”

But that was not enough, so Makina cast some magic of her own.

Silence erased all surrounding sounds. She had newly learned it here in the library.

This meant Tet could not see the two of them or hear their voices. The cum around her mouth and the love juices forming a large stain on the blanket would have a smell, but they would be hard to detect among the other smells of Otawa’s living space.

But they were still physically there. A naked man and a half-naked girl were lying on the blanket, so if Tet did approach and try to touch that area, everything would be revealed.

And yet.

Despite the risk, Otawa resumed fingering her.

She had grown pale when Tet appeared, but her pussy seemed to have grown even wetter in response and Otawa’s fingers were pushing even deeper inside it.

He finally had his index and middle fingers entirely buried within her and he used them to stroke and rub the sensitive parts inside her.

“Wha-!?♥ Wait♥ Nh♥ Ahh♥♥”

She tried reaching out a slender arm to stop him, but his hand kept moving like a lusty animal.

He did not have the experience or technique to accurately stimulate just the sensitive parts inside her vagina, but every time his fingers rubbed against her G-spot, the sex curse amplified the sensation several times over.

Her body shook from the pleasure, sweat soaked her skin, a veritable cascade of pussy juices flowed out, and she held her hands over her mouth to avoid moaning.

Tet could not see or hear them thanks to the magic, but she still did not want to succumb to the pleasure and moan with that beloved knight so close by.

Even though she was spreading her legs as wide as she could, even though her hips were shaking with every movement of his fingers, and even though her thighs were trembling along with them.

“Nh♥ Ahh♥ Hh♥ Nhhhh~~~~~♥♥♥”

“You want it that bad with your boyfriend standing right there!? God, you’re such a slut!♥And with such stupidly hot body too!”

He insulted her, she tried to suppress her moans, and the magic erased her pathetic appearance and the obscene sounds.

When his fingers scratched her in an especially sensitive spot, she arched her back enough for it to lift from the ground and her hips and legs convulsed while she orgasmed again.

She came so hard her pussy juices squirted all over Otawa’s fingers, face, and body.

Her beloved childhood friend and knight was right there, but her face was red with arousal, drool dripped from her mouth, and her eyes partially rolled back in her head while she came.

“Is she not in here? Did she head up to the library’s ground floor?”

But Tet could not perceive his precious master’s presence there or the state she was in.

He grimaced at the smell and looked around restlessly, but when he did not see Makina or Otawa there, he turned around to look elsewhere.

“Ah♥ Ahh♥ Ahh♥ Ahhh♥ Tet…♥”

She watched Tet leave with tears in her look of ecstasy.

She reached a hand out toward him, but it was not Tet’s hand that grabbed her hand and intertwined their fingers like they were lovers.

“You sure came hard with your boyfriend standing right there. C’mon, it’s time I stuck it in you!♥”

“Wait♥ Please wait♥ This really isn’t a good idea!♥”

After Tet left, Otawa pressed his penis against her pussy which was wet and twitching in anticipation of a hard cock.

The sex curse tattoo was still glowing brightly. Her body was as aroused as could be and her vagina was perfectly ready to take a man inside it. Whatever her mind might want, her body wanted a penis so very badly.

But despite that…

“What? You’re gonna back out after all this?”

“…”

She normally would have succumbed to the sex curse’s temptation and agreed to have sex. She would have received unbelievable pleasure.

But she had just seen Tet so close by. She had seen his face. Even if he had not seen her there, her eyes had looked right into his dark ones.

That was bound to affect her. She began to question whether she could really continue to betray him like this.

“Don’t you want to know where the forbidden book is and how to unlock it?”

“…!”

She did. Of course she did. That was the crucial key she needed to remove this sex curse and to save her kingdom’s people.

Going from a princess to an adventurer for that had been simple enough. She had put up with plenty of pain and hardship.

But after seeing Tet just now, a feeling welled up inside her and it was even more powerful than the sex curse’s temptation.

She wanted to look after that boy more than anything. Even more than her kingdom.

Continuing to betray that beloved childhood friend behind his back felt unbearably painful.

Even if this would be the last time.

“Tch. Fine, then. Fucking a crying girl wouldn’t be any fun anyway.”

“Eh!?”

She was surprised when Otawa pulled his hips back.

Her aroused body and the sex curse throbbing in her womb dimmed their glow in protest.

“If you care about your boyfriend that much, then take better care of yourself. Just this once, I’ll tell you where the book is and how to open it for free.”

“T-thank you so much, Otawa!”

She felt like she had touched real warmth for the first time in a long time.

She started to believe in the kindness of humans and that no one was truly and irredeemably evil.

“Wait, you actually believed me, you dumb bitch!?”

Right up until his thick cock pushed deep inside of her.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh♥♥♥ No, wait, ahhh♥ Nghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh♥♥♥♥♥”

No matter how much sexual experience she had, her vagina remained as tight as a virgin’s.

Her royal princess pussy was stretched wide by his thick and filthy penis.

“Kh, I didn’t really want some used pussy, but I’ll admit you’re still pretty fucking tight! This is what you really wanted, isn’t it!? Now apologize for pretending to cry, you loose whore!”

“Ah♥ Ahh♥ How could you?♥ Ahhhh♥ Stop♥ Don’t make me feel so good♥ Please don’t♥♥”

The sex curse tattoo resumed glowing as if to say this was what it had wanted, her pussy juices flowed endlessly, and they filled the archive with a lewdly wet sound as they tangled with his dick.

His hips pounded against her, her tits jiggled with each thrust, and he squished them below his weight.

After seeing Tet’s face, she had thought she had finally put an end to succumbing to her carnal desire and having sex with people she had no feelings for, but now Otawa’s face filled her vision and she was kissing him and his bad breath that suggested he had not brushed his teeth in several days.

“Nh♥ Smack♥ No♥ Nhh♥ Ahh♥ Help me♥ Help me♥ Tet!♥”

“Ha ha! Now that’s what I like to see! All you females are the same! You’re a bunch of apes who start moaning no matter whose dick they’ve got inside them! And don’t you forget it!”

While he insulted her, exchanged saliva with her, and stirred up her honeypot’s love juices with his thick penis, he used all his lust to pound her as hard as he could.

This had to be what Otawa really wanted. He only saw sex as a way of getting back at all women because he blamed them for the girls who looked down on him in his student days.

He had studied the books and magic found in the forbidden archive so he would have something needed by the people who were looking for that information. In that extremely limited context, he was second to none. He had only ever wanted to revel in that feeling.

That twisted desire seemed to reach her every time he thrust inside her.

And the action driven by that desire gradually accelerated.

“Ah♥ Ahh♥ I’m cumming♥ I’m cumming♥ I’m really cumming♥ Ohhh♥♥ Ohh♥ Ahhhh♥ I’m sorr-♥ I’m sorry♥ I apolo-♥ I apologize♥ Ahhhhhhhhhh~~~~♥♥”

“It’s too late to apologize now, Makina!♥”

His hands grabbed her small head to keep her from looking away. She was forced to look him right in his cruelly smiling face.

Then he kissed her again. His poor dental hygiene left him with very bad breath and his saliva flowed into her stomach like ditchwater.

And while he held her like that, he pressed his weight down on her all while moving his hips to rhythmically shake her plump and sexy body.

She was not familiar with terms like “kissing sex” and “mating press”, but she could tell this was the position of a woman fully submitting to a man.

“Nooo♥ Nh♥ Ngh♥ Oh♥ Ahh♥ Aheh♥ I’ll die♥ I’ll really die♥”

“Then die! Die and be reborn you dumb cunt! I’ll turn every last one of you females into fuckholes for looking down on me! Oh, ohhhhhhhhhhhh!”

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh♥♥♥♥♥”

Then he pumped lots of semen into her womb.

She could not escape or even move as the pleasure caused her spread legs to tense up and her toes to point toward the ceiling in climax.

Otawa had become a master of information so he could use it to control women and that was what he had done to her.

She wept from the guilt of betraying that beloved boy yet again, but she also felt some happiness and satisfaction as all that cum flowed from her vagina and onto the blanket.

The royal library librarian named Iris was a talented woman who had earned excellent grades back in the academy.

She had been raised surrounded by books and she had hoped to become a famous novelist or a magical researcher.

But she had fallen in love with Wallace at the academy and decided to support his dream of becoming a knight, so instead of continuing on the path of a researcher, she had married him and taken a job at the library immediately after graduating.

She did not regret that choice. Work as a librarian had fixed hours, so she could easily do the housework too. This life was not at all in line with her original dream, but she was still happy to have a workplace surrounded by books and to have someone she loved to see off in the mornings.

There had only been one problem with it all: Wallace’s skill.

He had a loud voice and could be tactless, but he was a straightforward and kind person. She could confidently say no one would have made for a better lifelong partner.

But as a knight, he always just barely squeaked by as a student. He did have some talent and he was diligent in his training, but he was the type who never achieved the results he hoped for.

That was not an uncommon thing, but Britannica’s knights would sometimes invade enemy nations and were often pressed to make heartless decisions, so he was always a step away from losing his job.

“I happen to have a solution to your problem.”

It was her colleague Otawa that approached her about that.

That gloomy man avoided interacting with the other librarians, volunteered for the dangerous job of managing the forbidden books, and lived an isolated life in the underground forbidden archive.

On that day, he had come to the upper floor for once. She would not go so far as to call it complaining, but she had been revealing her worries about her husband to her colleagues. It had all started with that one sentence.

Otawa’s “advice” had sent the two of them sinking into the quicksand.

“Come on, Otawa♥ Teach me the secret recipe for today♥”

From that very first day to this day several months later, the young wife had made that “request” for her husband’s sake.

The library had already closed, evening had fallen, Tet and Makina had left the forbidden archive, and about half an hour had passed since the other workers had started leaving.

Yet again, those two were holding their secret “deal” in the forbidden archive.

“Hah. It’s getting harder and harder to tell whether you’re interested in my information or my dick!”

Otawa’s large palm slapped her bare ass. She had removed the clothing from her lower body and gotten down on all fours. She was in such a humiliating position and he left a red handprint on her butt, but she still moaned lustily.

“Nhhhhh♥ No♥ I-I♥ I’m only doing it for him♥”

A few months ago, before it had become like this, she had thought Otawa had approached her out of the goodness of his heart.

She had made that mistake because he had not asked for anything in return. The other librarians had said he was a jerk and just a generally unapproachable person.

But when she told him Wallace was struggling in his job, he had given her a secret potion. And he had told her how to cook food that would make him stronger.

When she tried it, Wallace had started excelling at his job. His sword technique had improved, he had defeated violent monsters and villains, and he had even restrained and arrested a brutal criminal known as the Royal Capital Rapist.

Also, the vigor of his student days had returned to their couple’s time at night and she had enjoyed it perhaps even more than back then.

“Thank you so much, Otawa! It’s all thanks to you that he was promoted to a command position!”

You must not judge a book by its cover. Everyone had their strengths and their good points. It could be easy to misjudge him, but Otawa was a good person and he had saved her and her husband. Or so she had thought.

But she had been wrong. That could clearly be seen in her current situation.

“You’ll probably do it anyway, but if you want me to tell you, start moaning as lewdly as you always do, Iris!”

“Ah♥ Ahhhhh~~~~~♥♥♥”

The young wife was down on the dirty blanket on all fours and Otawa’s penis penetrated her vagina.

It was all for her husband’s sake. Without Otawa’s knowledge, Wallace would return to his original skill level and run the risk of demotion.

To prevent that and to preserve their happiness as a couple, she needed the strength-augmentation and skill-increasing doping techniques described in those forbidden books.

She had to betray her husband and defile her body in exchange, but she did not want to see him fail after finally achieving his lifelong dream of becoming a knight.

“I said moan. Tell me how good my dick is. You were popular in the academy, but you married that fuckup Wallace! Do you have any idea how many guys you disappointed on that day!?”

“Ah♥ Ahh♥ I’m sorry♥”

He fucked her from behind like an animal while whispering abuse in her ear: “You fucked half the academy back then, didn’t you?” and “But you never gave me a second glance.”

Iris had never noticed, but Otawa had actually attended the academy at the same time as her and Wallace. But since Otawa had never had any friends, she could hardly be blamed for not realizing it.

That only threw oil on the fire of Otawa’s dark desire.

“Hh♥ Nhh♥ Ahh♥ Ahh♥ Ahh♥”

She shook her long blue hair wildly as the beautiful face and curvy body that had gathered so much attention as a student was controlled by Otawa, who had stood out the least of anyone in the academy.

“Females are inferior lifeforms that can’t get by without a man around!”

He was the one and only king within the forbidden archive and that pleasant fact numbed his mind.

Knowledge was power. Information was a weapon.

He had ordered Iris to invite in any women who wanted access to the archive even if they were an adventurer of too low a rank. Makina had been a greater catch than he had ever imagined.

As a reward for faithfully obeying her orders, her “master” pounded her with all his carnal desire. He let his instincts take over as he rapidly thrust inside her from behind.

“Nh♥ Heee♥ Otawa♥ So rough♥ Ahhh♥♥”

When he did that, the talented young wife moaned like an animal.

“Ha ha!”

He roughly thrust his hips with an ugly smile twisting his face.

That former madonna of the academy who was now a faithful wife and that busty adventurer who had arrived with a boy both had to do as he said while inside this archive. No one could defy him.

As if clearing away all the frustrations of being bullied as a student and after graduating, he pumped the boiling contents of his balls into Iris’s vagina.

“Oh, ohhhhh!”

“Ah♥ Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh~~~~~♥♥♥”

He pressed his hips against her butt and groped her tits from behind while his thick cum filled her.

He grew high on the pleasure of pinning down and ruling over a woman in both body and mind as he filled Iris with his seed again and again.

Iris was not the only target of Otawa’s ugly and twisted desire after the library closed.

The fangs of that “king” of the forbidden archive had already sunk into the real Princess of Grandel as well.

“What, you’re wet already? What a horny bitch. It’s honestly a little much.”

“…♥”

Inside that dark and gloomy archive, she slid down her own wet panties while he flung abuse at her.

She lifted her skirt with one hand so he could see and she removed them slowly like it was a strip show.

She had bought those purple panties at a shop in the royal capital. They were incredibly skimpy and the strings were almost nonexistent. Worse, the material was so thin they barely functioned as underwear.

She had never worn underwear like that before. After all, it was blatantly designed to seduce men.

“Look at that stain. You claim you’re here for the forbidden book’s info, but you’re actually here for this, aren’t you? How about you stop pretending you don’t actually want to do this?”

After removing the underwear he had ordered her to buy, she handed it to him.

He viewed the wet panties, called her horny again, and then added it to his collection.

“I-I am not here for this♥ You didn’t leave me any choice♥”

“Then how about you act like it? Instead of moaning like a whore the instant I stick my dick in you!”

With her panties, she lifted her skirt again to reveal her pussy and the strings of love juices dripping to the floor.

He started sucking at that as if trying to drink a waterfall. His rough tongue rubbed against her smooth, hairless princess pussy while he smelled and tasted her femininity where it was strongest.

“Ahhhhhhhh!♥ Nh♥ Hhn♥ S-Silence!♥”

The pleasure of the cunnilingus caused the sex curse tattoo to glow while she arched her back and moaned loudly, so she immediately activated that silencing magic.

Tet was searching through texts in a distant part of the archive again today. Otawa knew where the book they wanted was, so she only had to ask him afterwards. Tet’s efforts were entirely wasted.

But that was exactly why she had to satisfy Otawa as soon as possible while making sure Tet could not hear. The sooner she did that, the sooner he could stop wasting his time.

“Nh, slurrrrrp, lick, suck, slurrrrp! Hey, it just keeps flowing out! How can you deny being a horny slut now!?”

He slapped her ass and massaged it with both his hands.

And he continued coating her pussy with his saliva to eat her out until her legs and hips trembled beneath her.

“Ah♥ Ahn♥ Ah♥ But♥ Hee♥ Nhh♥ Ah♥ I’m cumming♥ Ahhhh♥♥♥”

She came and squirted so hard you would think she had wet herself.

She sprayed her pussy juices all over his face, her lower body trembled, and her face flushed with embarrassment and arousal. Sex curse or not, she had never imagined she would be experiencing mind-blowing orgasms in a library.

“Blinded. C’mon, let’s go, bitch! A horny monkey like you doesn’t deserve to wear clothes!”

“Ah, hyahh♥”

He forcibly stripped off her clothing and her body reacted sensitively to his touch so soon after climax.

Otawa gave her a look of scorn and desire while having the naked princess crawl on all fours toward the entrance of the forbidden archive.

“Th-this is♥ Wrong♥ Stop♥ Nh, ahhhh~~~~♥♥♥”

She pressed her hands against a bookcase, stuck her naked lower body back toward Otawa, and he penetrated her.

He did her from behind just like he had Iris when Makina saw them that first time.

But her heart was pounding so hard because Tet was right there in front of them.

“Ha ha. Look at that dumbass! He has no idea his girlfriend’s getting pounded right in front of him!”

“Ah♥ Ah♥ Ohh♥ Nh♥ Nhh♥ Hyahhh♥♥”

Tet was seated on the floor near the bookcase reading a book with a very serious look on his face.

But due to the silencing and stealth magics, he could not sense their presence. The overall musty smell of the archive made it hard to detect the scents of an aroused man and woman.

She had to watch Tet there while she was fucked from behind. Each time his hips slammed into her, her butt rippled, her two large melons jiggled, and large beads of sweat flew around her.

“Conquering another man’s girl is the best feeling ever! Especially when I can look down on that inferior excuse of a man while I do it! Ah, ahh, ahhhh!”

“Ngh♥ Nhh♥ Ahh♥ Ahn♥ Oh♥ Ohhh♥♥ Ah♥ Ahh♥”

Tet was doing everything he could to search for any information on Gelwess so he could help his master, help his party member, and help all the people of Grandel. He was not inferior in any way. He was her beloved knight and he was more wonderful than anyone else.

But she could not argue his case with her face melting from pleasure, so she could only view him through her tears. The way Otawa’s dick made her moan made her feel like she really had become a sex-addicted slut like he claimed.

“Hm?”

Suddenly, Tet looked up from the book and toward them.

“…!?♥”

“Don’t’ worry. He hasn’t noticed us. As long as your magic stays in effect anyway!”

Her heart leapt into her throat and tension ran through her body right alongside the pleasure.

Tet was under the effects of Silence and Blinded, so he could not hear or see them. Thanks to the magic she and Otawa had cast, he would be entirely unable to perceive the sex happening there.

But if anyone else entered the archive, they would be seen. Plus, the magic would stop working if she lost her focus or passed out.

This was a dangerous tightrope walk, like walking on thin ice.

But Otawa must have liked that because he fucked the princess’s sexy body right in front of Tet and she had no choice but to obey.

“C’mon, moan louder. Tighten your pussy! Cum while your boyfriend watches!”

“Ah♥ Don’t watch♥ Don’t watch, Tet!♥ Ohh♥ Ah♥ Ahh♥ Nooooo♥♥”

“Was I imagining things?”

Tet could not see or hear any of it, so he only could have noticed a faint presence.

But the way he looked up from his book and glanced around felt like he was staring her right in the eye.

It felt like Tet was watching her do it with Otawa…and that turned her on like crazy.

If she orgasmed and passed out, it was all over. She could not lose her focus and let the magic fail either. It was even possible Tet could accidentally touch them.

Tet stood up and approached her while she dripped with sweat, pussy juices, and drool.

“Wait♥ Don’t come here♥ Ahh♥ Tet♥ Ah♥ Ohhh♥ I’m cumming♥ I’m cumming♥Ahhhhhhh♥♥”

“Ah, pant, pant! I’m cumming too! I’m cumming, Makina! You fucking whore! You horny slut!”

Otawa’s hips sped up as he approached climax.

Her vision grew tinged with white and a light flashed within it.

She could not pass out. She could not let her eyes roll back in her head. She had to stay conscious.

Tet continued to approach.

He was within arm’s reach now.

And he reached out his hand.

“Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo♥♥♥♥♥”

Aroused by the abnormal situation, the two animals came simultaneously.

Lots of semen filled her womb and her vagina squeezed his penis as if begging for more.

And Tet…

“Wait, where did this book go again?”

He walked right past the two as they convulsed with pleasure with the hand holding his book still extended toward the bookcase. He seemed a bit worried that he could not remember where it was supposed to go.

“Ah♥ Ahh♥ Aheh♥♥”

The cum glopped back out of her vagina.

The young and naked princess’s thoughts trembled from the pleasure, but she focused on the sensation of the semen flowing out of her to have something to anchor her mind in the realm of consciousness.

If she did pass out, she could avoid experiencing the afterglow of being filled with cum and orgasming so hard, but she was not allowed that at the moment and she could only sit there as Otawa’s pleasure-filled breaths blew on her ear.

Otawa could now spend his days enjoying Iris and Makina to his heart’s (and dick’s) content.

He was grinning and laughing to himself while cleaning up the books in the dark forbidden archive.

“Hah heh heh heh. Hah hee hee.”

It was past closing time and late enough that all the other librarians had gone home.

No one was around to make fun of him for his creepy laughter. Not that the archive got many visitors during the day either.

But two pathetic “females” had come seeking information and ended up under his control.

When he thought about how he would fuck them tomorrow, his crotch naturally grew hot.

That adventurer named Makina had an especially hot body. Her boobs were as large as – if not larger than – Iris’s. He did not have experience with many women, but he could instinctually tell her vagina was something special.

Her skin had the glossiness and firmness of a teenager and her long blonde hair and beautiful face would have gathered as much attention as Iris’s if she had been an academy student.

“I need to enjoy her for a while longer.”

He knew what text had the information on Gelwess that Makina and Tet sought. It had a complex and annoying seal placed on it, but he had spent the time necessary to remove it.

“…”

But his memories of that book were not exactly good ones. Especially when it came to that man.

“Oh, who cares.”

He reached for a forbidden book to distract himself from that unpleasant memory from half a year ago. He opened it to gather the information he needed to give Iris in exchange for the sex tomorrow.

But he made a critical error.

He generally knew the locations of all the forbidden books. He was the king of this archive, after all.

But Tet and Makina had frequently visited over the past few days and they did not always put the books back in their proper locations.

Thanks to that, the book he grabbed was not the one in his memory. It was out of place.

“…!?”

Had he gotten careless because he was fantasizing about Makina and Iris?

It had a similar spine, so he had failed to properly check the title and he cast the wrong unlocking magic.

“Groarrrrrrrrr!!”

The book began to move, a black and gloomy miasma erupted from it, and it produced a bestial roar as if from the depths of hell.

“Fuck!”

He threw the book away and tried to escape from the forbidden archive, but it was already too late.

His screams did not make it out of that archive.

As always, the empty library was filled with nothing more than still shadows and unspeaking books.

“Good morning, Otawa.”

The next morning, Iris unlocked the forbidden archive to let Tet and Makina in like usual.

“Otawa?”

But she sensed something was wrong.

“…?”

Makina blushed as she recalled the sexual things she had done the day before, but she too noticed something was off. That man had always appeared from the darkness to click his tongue and insult them.

But they did not see or hear him today. The lack of any response today seemed odd.

“Princess!”

The first to run forward was Tet. He drew his sword and ran straight to the back of the forbidden archive.

Makina and Iris followed in surprise.

The archive was not all that large, so it did not take long to reach Otawa’s living space in the very back.

“Wha-!?”

“What in the world!?”

“O-Otawa!?”

“H-help me!”

Otawa was so emaciated he was barely recognizable. Thick purple tentacles were wrapped around him and he dangled in the air near the ceiling.

The tentacles gathered behind him to create a monster seemingly formed from large trees or thick blood vessels.

“Groarrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!”

The creepy, plant-like monster had stabbed its tentacles into Otawa’s neck and stomach and it appeared to be gradually sucking out his life force. But instead of using those nutrients to blossom its flowers, a book was opened near the ceiling.

“He activated the protection on that forbidden book!”

Iris was terrified, but she did understand what had happened.

He must have made a mistake while managing the archive. This was unusual for him – in fact, it was a first – but the dangerous result was playing out before them.

“I will cut down that book!”

“I-I’ll use my magic!”

Tet gripped his sword and Makina raised her staff.

The tentacles reacted to their battle preparations by turning toward them.

But the first to tell them to stop was Otawa, even though he had been the one asking for help.

“W-wait! This book…this summoned guardian monster can only be destroyed if the book and tentacles are destroyed simultaneously using both physical and magical attacks!”

He wanted to be saved, but he knew everything about these forbidden books and thus knew there was no saving him.

The book’s author had cast some special magic on it so no one else could read it. Anyone who tried to unlock it the wrong way would be captured by the tentacles and anyone who tried to save them would have to destroy the book along with the tentacles.

The book would be destroyed despite opening it being the original goal. It was a strict and cruel form of security.

“Not a problem!”

But Tet did not care what the book said. He was only interested in eliminating the immediate threat.

“Stay still so you do not get hurt.”

Tet glanced over at Makina and immediately moved forward.

Iris voiced her disbelief and Otawa must not have thought Tet would try to save him.

Tet had in fact received nothing but verbal abuse from Otawa, so he had no positive feelings about the man. His master had even been raped by him, although he was unaware of that part.

But his legs did not stop. A tentacle tried to pierce him, but he evaded with a jump to the left. He then used a bookcase as a foothold to make another jump.

“Grandel Secret Sword Technique!”

He kicked off the bookcase to the left and jumped off the opposite bookcase to reach the ceiling.

His double jump brought him higher than the forbidden book monster and he swung his sword down toward the old tome opened there.

At the same time, Makina cast magic on his sword.

“Crimson Flare!!”

Blazing hellfire surrounded his shining silver sword.

The pair from Grandel had known this was their only option as soon as they heard the book and tentacles had to be simultaneously attacked physically and magically.

This combination attack used both the sharp sword strike and the powerful magic enchantment that was made to not burn the actual blade.

“Crimson Flame Slash!!”

“Crimson Flame Slash!!”

He used gravity to swing the sword from ceiling to floor.

Tet’s sword bisected the forbidden book without harming Otawa.

Makina’s magic burned through the tentacles and book until the archive’s original dim lighting and stillness had returned.

“Y-you saved me?”

“A-are you okay, Otawa!?”

Otawa had never expected them to help him, so his hips gave out and he simply stared at them in disbelief.

“That was our first time trying a secret technique, but it worked out great!”

“And we did not even practice it first. Incredible job, Princess.”

“No, no! It was your sword technique that was incredible, Tet. But…”

“Yes…”

The two of them celebrated their victory, but they had also learned how difficult the technique was. It was a high-level technique that required perfect coordination between the swordsman and mage as well as unwavering handling of the blade and precise control of the magic.

Legend had it Magic Swordsman Arthur Grandel of the Four Warriors had been able to use it all on his own. Also, he had wielded two swords and cast different elements of attack magic on either sword.

“If that legend is true, just how powerful was my ancestor?”

“You could almost call him a monster.”

Perhaps that level of skill was not surprising when he had helped defeat the Calamity Dragon. Thinking on that legendary figure’s skill was enough to remind those two how inexperienced they really were.

“This is the Book of Joseph.”

After everything had calmed down, Otawa brought a book to Makina and Tet. Iris was with them too, so four sets of eyes gathered on the book.

“Technically, it doesn’t have a title, but that’s what I call it since it was written in secret by Great Mage Joseph.”

Otawa explained despite feeling faint after having so much lifeforce drained.

He had intended to use this book to enjoy Makina’s body some more, but he was far too frail for sex now.

He claimed he never wanted to see their faces again, but he did whisper his thanks to Tet alone.

Tet simply replied with “Think nothing of it.”

Otawa must have been impressed by that in some way because he obediently showed them the forbidden book afterwards.

“Anyway, this book is a real pain because it has several stages of defense magic applied. It’s like peeling back several thick layers of skin to reach the edible part of a fruit. But I managed to peel them all away. Even though they were placed there by the legendary Great Mage.”

He sounded a little proud and had regained some of his overbearing attitude. He proceeded to remove the sealing magic on the Book of Joseph while being extra careful to not screw it up like that other one.

“This is the part that talks about Gelwess. That was the final magic Joseph created. You can read the details here.”

“So this is it.”

“This is Gelwess.”

The man who had created the ancient magic of Gelwess was the origin of all mages and one of the legendary warriors who instructed Magic Knight Arthur in magic. He had greatly influenced all magic since and he had left behind many magic books.

But this one had been sealed and never given a title. They were interested in the magic described in the final chapter of that book.

It was…

“Life control magic?”

The book’s description could be summed up as follows:

Gelwess controls the lifeforce that resides within the human body. All humans possess that energy and it is closely connected to physical stamina, willpower, and magic power. This magic gave one free control of that lifeforce.

The lifeforce of a healthy person could be converted into a crystal and used to fill a sick person or a child with life.

Or you could preserve your own lifeforce during the good times in preparation for when your health failed you or you aged.

“The crystallization of lifeforce.”

Makina and Tet recalled that tragic day when all the people of their kingdom were turned into crystals.

Those crystals had not been created by solidifying magic power or freezing the surrounding moisture using ice magic. The lifeforce energy of every single person there had been individually controlled to trap them.

That magic had to have been Gelwess.

(But.)

Something did not make sense to Makina. In that case, what was that sex curse tattoo on her lower stomach?

It provided intense sexual desire and arousal and it increased her magic power when she had sex. Was that a form of life control? It was true sex was a primal urge and everyone overflowed with lifeforce while doing it.

The Book of Joseph did have a passage that seemed related.

“Every magic can become a healing medicine or a deadly weapon depending on who uses it. For one thing, transforming someone else’s lifeforce into a different form is not permissible even for a Great Mage. It sounds like he sometimes screwed up using the magic and lost control. That would be why he only mentions it in this forbidden book.”

That was Otawa’s analysis of what it said.

Makina started worrying since none of this was the information she wanted. Was this really no more than losing control of your lifeforce? Was the amplification of desire some kind of side effect of Gelwess?

How was it related to the sex curse and how could she remove it?

At this rate…

“This does not mention how to return the crystallized lifeforce to normal.” Tet seemed to be voicing her own confused feelings. “We once rescued some adventurers whose lifeforce had been crystallized. It was the work of a Poison Frog bearing the Mark of Gelwess. They were freed once I defeated the boss frog.”

Otawa looked over in surprise. He had not imagined anyone was using Gelwess in the modern age.

At the same time, it reminded him of an unpleasant memory.

“We also met a monster bearing the same mark. Someone is going around using Gelwess to accomplish something. We either need to defeat that mage or find some other way of removing Gelwess.”

“H-hold on.”

Otawa’s voice cracked. Sweat soaked his brow and his eyes widened in surprise.

“I-I won’t pry, but…don’t tell me you intend to fight him.”

“Him!?”

“Do you know something!?”

Makina and Tet spoke up in even greater surprise than Otawa.

But he seemed utterly terrified and was clearly reluctant to talk.

However, he gave into the pressure from them and talked bit by bit.

“A-about half a year ago…he appeared inside this archive late at night.”

Half a year ago. That reminded them of that fateful day when this had all begun.

“You need a key to get in, but he just appeared like a wisp of smoke. He was wearing a hood and I’m pretty sure he was a man, but he was really creepy!”

“What was that man doing here!?”

“Did something happen, Otawa!?”

“I-I don’t know! But he picked up this Book of Joseph! It took me 5 years to unlock it, but it took him no time at all to open it and start reading it! Then he said just one thing and disappeared as mysteriously as he had appeared.”

Otawa went on to repeat the “one thing” spoken by the man who was likely the very mage who attacked Grandel.

“He said, ‘I will never forgive any of you.’ ”

“I will never forgive…”

“…any of you?”

Otawa did not know anything more and his weakened body had hit its limit, so Iris took him to the hospital.

Makina and Tet had not received even half of the information they had hoped to find, so they left the forbidden archive with heavy hearts. They sat across from each other at a table in the first floor library and spent some time in silence.

(Huh?)

Makina suddenly remembered something.

She now knew what kind of magic Gelwess was, but one thing did not make sense.

The Mark of Gelwess had been carved into Tet when he fought the Poison Frog and Nunna.

For her, Coltra the Miner, and the boy Nero, Gelwess had functioned as a sex curse. It had crystallized the people of Grandel and the adventurers in the mountain streams.

But Tet alone remained unaffected by it.

––And on that day when Grandel disappeared before our eyes, when all the kingdom’s people had their lifeforce manipulated, why were Tet and I the only ones who escaped that fate?

Tet himself would not have the answer as he lost himself in thought across the table from her.

They thought they had found the truth, but it felt like they were as far from it as ever.

The sun set on the royal capital while they still felt like they were searching in the dark.

With the mysterious giant forest gone, the royal city had regained its bright sunlight and smiling people.

But Makina alone looked glum as she walked through the cheerful crowds.

She had offered her body to Librarian Otawa in the forbidden archive and gotten the Book of Joseph’s information in exchange. The book had indeed provided detailed information on Gelwess, but that had not been the definitive clue she had been hoping for.

She had not learned how to return the crystallized Grandel people to normal or how to remove the sex curse tattooed onto her lower stomach.

No. She had actually known one way from the beginning. A very simple way.

She only had to defeat the person who had used the magic.

All magic had to be activated by someone. If that mage was knocked unconscious or killed, the source of the magic power would be cut off and the magic would generally be eliminated.

(But…)

She did not even know that black-hooded man’s name or what he looked like, so searching him out on this vast island of Irland would not be easy.

Not to mention that he was skilled enough to cast magic that covered an entire kingdom and to freely enter and leave a prison or the forbidden archive.

“Sigh.”

Tet had gone to the royal capital’s guild and she was searching all the used book stores to gather information, but they had yet to find anything useful.

It felt like they were back where they had started. She walked down the main street while filled with the same indescribable unease and impatience she had felt when she and Tet had started their journey.

“Eh?”

She suddenly looked up just as a certain person appeared in her field of vision.

She was walking down a road so crowded everyone was jostling each other’s shoulders, but she had spotted someone with a white hood hiding their eyes and holding a long magic staff.

She would normally have ignored them as just some mage, but she recognized this person.

“Wait!”

This was the white-hooded mage she had seen in the giant forest after waking up and finding herself separated from Tet, Seiji, Saya, and the rest.

They had soon vanished into the fog, but that had to be the same person as this one walking along the royal capital’s main street.

“Please wait!”

This mage reminded her of the black-hooded man and she had seen them in that dangerous giant forest.

She could be mistaken and this could be some unrelated mage.

But she was desperate for any clue she could find.

She chased after them but never seemed to get any closer. She jogged down the main street and ran into people in her pursuit, but she was oddly unable to catch up with the white-hooded figure who was only walking.

“Excuse me! Please let me through! Excuse me, I’m sorry!”

She apologized whenever she bumped into someone, but she kept her eyes on the white-hooded mage.

As she continued her pursuit, the white-hooded figure turned a corner onto a side street. It was probably a small and winding alleyway, but she would not run into any pedestrians here.

So she ran into the dark alley, and…

“Hi. I haven’t seen you since the forest.”

“…!”

The small and dark back alley was a dead end. It hit a building wall just a few steps in.

There were no other exits and the white-hooded person had their back to the wall as if waiting for her.

“Do you mind if we talk?”

She asked that while immediately raising her staff to prepare for battle.

This person had been ready and facing her when she entered the dead-end alley. They must have noticed her tailing them and lured her in here.

She could not hear the hustle and bustle of the main street. It was eerily quiet and dark here. She aimed her magic staff at the mystery person as they slowly removed their hood to reveal their face.

“We can talk if you want, but my circumstances will not allow it to be a long talk.”

“…!?”

This was not the black-hooded man. In fact, she was not even sure if they were a man or a woman.

They had long and extremely curly and messy gray hair, but there was a noble light in their silver eyes and their skin looked almost artificially white.

That mage could have been a man or a woman and they could have been aged or a child. They smiled brightly at Makina with no sign of hostility.

But Makina kept her guard up and hesitated because she had not thought up an actual question to ask.

“Do you know something?” she finally asked.

The mysterious white mage’s eyes widened and then they started laughing quietly.

“Ha…ha ha ha.”

“Wh-what’s so funny!?”

“Nothing really. I just didn’t expect that question. I see, I see. That does indeed give you more leeway than asking a more specific but poorly-chosen question.”

Their gender and age were unclear even when they spoke, but Makina could tell they definitely knew something.

“You could say I know everything and you could say I know nothing. But I do not have the right to tell you the whole of the truth you seek. Still, I can give you something of a hint.”

Just as they opened their mouth to speak, their body turned to fog and started to disappear.

“Wha-!?”

“You should go to school. You will surely meet many hardships there…but do your best, Makina Grandel. I…no, we very much hope you can stop him.”

“P-please wait!”

But her pleas and the restraining magic she used failed to stop them. The mysterious white-hooded mage vanished without a trace.

“Go to school?”

Left all alone, Makina could hear the noise of the main street once more and she repeated what that mage had said.

The mage who had attacked Grandel. The ancient magic of Gelwess. That woman who had seemed like the Hero’s ghost. And this white mage who had known her name.

A chill ran down her spine because it felt like she was getting involved in something far larger than simply saving her kingdom.

“School?”

After receiving that information from the white mage, Makina did not immediately rush to school.

Londomern was the capital of the great kingdom of Britannica, so it had well over a hundred specialized educational facilities known as “schools” if you counted everything from elementary schools to universities.

So before trying to investigate them all, she first went to Iris in the royal library.

Iris responded to her question while returning a book to the bookcase.

“There are a lot of schools.”

Librarian Iris had been taken advantage of by Otawa just like Makina, but she made no attempt to bring up that subject. She must not have been proud of offering up her body as a wife to help her husband succeed.

Her husband Wallace had not been performing particularly well recently, but he had apparently said he was prepared to support her even if it meant leaving the knights. …Although to Makina, this only sounded like a woman bragging about her husband.

At any rate, she had asked Iris for advice, but the word “school” was not enough for her either.

“If you are interested in books, then this library has more than anywhere else in the kingdom.”

“Is there a school with a lot of knowledge of old magic?”

“Hmm. The teachers at the academy I attended were all wonderful people…but I don’t think any of them specialized in researching ancient magic.”

“I see.”

Almost all old magic was described in books. If they were not, they were either forbidden spells that could not be made public or magic that was no longer deemed necessary. Ancient magic was simply too niche a genre to research.

Forbidden spells were stored in the royal library’s forbidden archive and she had indeed found the Book of Joseph there. She had received something of a hint from that mystery mage, but she did not even know if they could be trusted.

Was this another dead end? Would she really have to start searching blindly once more? But just as she gave up…

“Oh. Maybe they meant the Underground Library.”

“The Underground Library!?”

Makina’s drooping head lifted up when Iris recalled that term.

“But maybe not. It might not even exist.”

“I don’t care! If you know something, then please tell me, Iris!”

“This is only a rumor, okay? Most any school has its strange rumors and this was one about the Royal Academy I attended.”

She said the Underground Library was a place only a chosen few could enter. Rumor had it a library containing any and all knowledge and information existed in a basement the academy was not supposed to even have.

“I was curious about it since I love books, so I tried searching for it once as a student. Wallace helped me. We searched every nook and cranny of the academy, but we never did find it.”

“A library for a chosen few.”

Makina placed a hand on her lower stomach. She did not know what it took to be one of the “chosen few”, but she did have a tattoo that set her apart from normal people.

“I can’t overlook even the slightest possibility! I am thinking of sneaking in there, so can you please keep this a secret, Iris!?”

“Wait, hold on. Sneaking in? You look like a good girl, but you really are an adventurer, aren’t you?”

She was so eager to make progress that she was thinking of sneaking into the academy in the dead of night with Tet.

“You can just walk in through the front gate, you know?”

“Through the front gate?”

“You saved Otawa and effectively me as well, so I will provide a reference letter for you.”

“You mean…?”

“Britannica grew so large by absorbing many other kingdoms and peoples, so it also has the largest pocketbook on the island.”

And…

“This school uniform feels weird. I am not used to wearing this sort of thing.”

“You might feel more at home in armor, Tet, but just bear with it. And it looks good on you.”

“That looks good on you as well, Princess.”

“Tet, we are supposed to be students now.”

“Oh, wh-whoops! I-I know that!”

Tet adjusted the tie of his dark blue school blazer.

Makina was wearing the white shirt of what was known as a sailor uniform and her blue miniskirt fluttered in the wind.

These were strange clothes she had never seen before, but they were apparently the traditional uniform decided on 600 years ago by the Four Warriors.

Great Mage Joseph had founded the academy to raise the next generation, but Britannica had later stolen it during a war.

“Now, let’s get going!”

“Of course!”

The large metal gate was opened wide to accept anyone of any race or nationality. They even accepted adventurers.

Those two survivors of Grandel walked through the entrance to join the Square School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

They did not know if this path would lead them to the truth they sought, but they could not come to a stop. Not until they had their home kingdom back.

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