Antagonist Protection Service-Chapter 153 - Meet the Spirit

153: Meet the Spirit

153: Meet the Spirit

Meeting face-to-face with the Spirit of the Illusory Library for the first time, it would be a lie to say I wasn’t surprised.

Honestly, I don’t know what I expected a spirit to look like, but a woman wasn’t it, and certainly not an adult version of the Librarian.

Not only that, but the words she spoke to me, as if she was already familiar with who I was.

It was a turn of events that answered one question, but which sprouted ten more in its place.

I knew those questions would all be answered eventually, but regardless, it was a lot.

“Then, would you like to sit down and talk?”

Likely seeing right through what I was feeling, the Spirit, who introduced herself as Leinth Eupraxia, lightly waved her hand―as she did, the room around us changed, transforming from a dilapidated ruin into a pristine, contemporary establishment.

Quite literally, it was a modern café.

“Here, is this not more comfortable?

Come sit, quickly.

Your coffee will get cold.”

Calling me with a gentle voice, I turned only to see her already sitting down at a table, two cups of something lightly steaming placed before her.

“…”

Staring at her for a moment, it took me a few seconds to process what exactly was going on.

In my defence, I had already been up for almost a full day at this point, and my body was still recovering from being quite grievously wounded.

That, plus whatever was going on now, made it more than I expected to take in.

Still, grabbing firmly ahold of my focus, I managed to hone it on the situation at hand.

Giving just a small sigh, took my seat opposite the Spirit.

“Thanks for the offer, but I don’t like coffee.” freёwebnoѵel.com

Saying that as I sat down, she simply returned me a smile.

“Juice then?”

“Juice…?

I mean, sure…”

Glancing down at the cup, which was still letting off a faint trail of white steam, I half-expected it to suddenly turn into a carton of apple juice or something, but no matter how long I waited, it remained the same.

Somehow feeling her stare fixed on me even through her thick blindfold, I started feeling nervous for no reason.

“…What is it?”

“It’s juice.”

“…”

I doubted her words, only seeing an identical cup of coffee in front of me as what she had in front of her, but deciding to trust the ridiculousness for a moment, I picked it up and took a sip.

“Ah.”

‘It’s orange.’

Whatever magic she used I didn’t know, but although the cup was hot in my hands and letting off visible steam, and even when I took the lid off to see the contents all I could see was brown coffee, the instant it entered my mouth, all I could taste was orange juice.

Setting the cup down, I glanced at her, who took a sip of her “coffee” at the same time.

“What’re you drinking, then?”

“Coffee.

I never learned what the different variations are, but I simply like whatever has the most caffeine in it.

We never had coffee in my world, so it is quite intriguing.”

“Your world…?”

At the mention of ‘her world’, I thought we could finally be starting the real conversation, and all my attention gathered on listening to her next words.

“Certainly.

It is not surprising, is it?

That I am from another world than your Earth.”

“Not particularly.

Is it, uh…”

“My world no longer exists.”

“…”

Before I could even ask my question, she answered me candidly like so.

At those words, I didn’t think I needed to ask any more to figure out what happened, but of course, hearing it from her mouth delivered a more powerful message, and I’m sure she also would like to convey her story in her own words.

“The Antagonist of my world fell.

Thus, it ended.”

Things really were as simple as that.

There was no more explanation that needed to be given, nothing more to be said at all.

The world just…

came to an end.

The Protagonist won.

“…I’m sorry.”

“No, fret not.

I myself hold partial accountability.

I could have…

I should have done many things.

Of course, there is no saving it now.

That is why I simply do my best to ensure such a fate does not reoccur and once again befall some innocent world.”

She faced me, and although I couldn’t see her eyes, I could certainly feel their pressure.

Bearing down on me like none other, a force akin to responsibility.

“――That is why I brought you here.”

The realisation of what having this ‘job’ really meant.

“Right…

Excuse me for asking, but if your world collapsed, then how did you manage to survive?”

Taking a momentary pause, she answered.

“That is…

something you perhaps will be shown in the future, but the simplest answer would be with magic.

You see, the Illusory Library exists in a space of its own, a sort of pocket dimension that only those with the ‘key’ can access.”

That was something I already knew well.

“Because a world that meets its end really does collapse to the fullest extent, there is usually nothing one can do to survive it―utter annihilation.”

“Unless you can separate from the essence of the world itself, you will inevitably be caught up with.

No matter what or who you are, it is nigh impossible to escape that fate.”

Then, the Library was a safe haven, a place of security and protection she created in order to hide while the world collapsed…?

Seemingly reading my mind like the Librarian, she shook her head.

“Not entirely…

I do wish I could show you what you desire to see, but alas, I simply do not possess the resources for it.

It takes a certain quantity of World Stability to maintain the Library, and because the collapse of my world is still chasing after me, to regain bodily consciousness and talk to you like this also exhausts a vast amount.

Listening to her words, I realised what exactly she was saying.

“Huh?

Wait, you mean the destruction of the world is still affecting you?

Even though you escaped and it’s over?”

If that was the case, then was there really nothing you could do to survive…?

“Certainly, that is correct.

I only survived the initial collapse thanks to the Library, but even after that, you must understand that everything existing inside the world’s essence is subject to decay and perdition by the fall of the world.”

“It was fortunate that I managed to capture some of the stolen World Stability and use it to separate my existence from the essence of my world, but even with that, it seems I failed to erase absolutely everything.

There is still a trace of the essence of my world within me, and it’s because of that essence that the corruption still chases me, even now.”

I see…

So, the reason that she was in hibernation for so long and required such a large amount of World Stability to be woken up was because of that―she needed it to maintain her existence while she was both in the crystal and as herself like this, but being awake took so much more World Stability that she had no choice but to save her energy as much as possible.

In the end, even right as we spoke…

“Certainly.

Using magic like this is only possible in small amounts, such as the illusion you see around you.

You have my sincerest apologies for this being all I’m able to do, Enki.”

“…”

…The Spirit of the Library was still facing the consequences of her world falling.