The city streets outside the academy, greeted by the weekend, surged with vitality.
The noise of carriages and people, the savory smell of street food, the signs in every color.
It was the first true scene of everyday life I had encountered since crossing into this world.
“Wow! Look at that, Mr. Taesan!”
Yurika tugged at my sleeve and made a fuss.
It wasn’t as if she was usually the picture of old-fashioned refinement, but perhaps because she was even more excited than usual, she cast aside her dignity as a maid and let herself get carried away.
Before the ordinary scenery of the city, she was nothing more than a little girl.
“My lady! Over there, there’s a beauty salon just for summoned beasts! It would be nice if we brought our family head’s Iron Mane there, wouldn’t it?”
Yustia was the same.
She had set aside, for the moment, the mask of the cold-blooded young lady of Rosenhart and was looking around with eyes full of curiosity.
“Why are you two the ones acting amazed? Don’t you usually go out much?”
“That’s right. Before entering the academy, I couldn’t roam around the city freely like this. I may not look it, but I’m the only daughter of the empire’s greatest family. Do you think Father would have let me wander around as I pleased?”
She lingered for a long while in front of the show window of a glamorous dress shop, and also stole glances at a dessert store that gave off a sweet scent.
The sight was awkward, yet quite cute.
“What’s that place?”
My gaze turned toward an open park.
There, people had gathered in small groups and were sitting on the grass.
It was a peaceful scene, as if they had come out for a picnic.
But beside them were their respective summoned beasts.
On one side, little fairies were scattering pollen in the air as they played with children, and on the other, fluffy griffins the size of puppies were fetching discs their owners threw.
“Ah, that’s called a mini battle. It’s not so much an official match as a kind of hobby.”
Yustia followed my gaze and explained.
Just as she said, on one side of the park, two young men were having a light spar with their summoned beasts.
The sight of a fire-breathing lizard and a cat that launched blades of wind struggling back and forth seemed to be familiar entertainment to the people here.
It was an entirely different, leisurely and peaceful sight from the fierce arena where victory and defeat were matters of life and death.
The sight of people and summoned beasts sharing everyday life felt unfamiliar to me, yet it gave me a strange sense of stability.
Here, I was no longer a human weapon or a summoned beast, but merely a foreigner enjoying a weekend outing.
“Not bad.”
The place Yustia led us to was unexpected.
“This way.”
It was not a glamorous shopping street or a famous restaurant, but an old-fashioned building supported by majestic columns.
The place where the noise of the city faded as if it had been a lie was the municipal library.
“What brings us to the library?”
When I asked, Yustia brought her index finger to her lips with a shh.
She walked inside familiarly and whispered in a low voice.
“There are more materials here. Most of the books in the Rosenhart archives or the academy library are specialized academic texts or ancient books. They’re good for in-depth research, but sometimes they narrow your perspective.”
She pointed to the endless rows of shelves and continued.
Under the soft lighting, the smells of old paper and ink mingled, giving a strange sense of comfort.
“But when you look through easy, popular books in places like this, you often gain unexpected ideas or new perspectives. Especially things like picture books on summoned beasts for children.”
“Picture books?”
“Yes. The most basic affinities, weaknesses, habits, and so on are drawn in a simple and clear way. You can see straight to the core without needing to think too complicatedly.”
She pulled out a book from one side of the shelves.
[The Easy-to-Understand Great Encyclopedia of Summoned Beasts]
“Now then, Yurika. Help Mr. Taesan with his letters. I’ll go look through some other materials and come back.”
Yustia gave me a wink, then suddenly disappeared between the other shelves.
“Well then, shall we begin, Mr. Taesan?”
Yurika sat close beside me and opened the book.
The pages were filled with cute illustrations and crooked letters I still couldn’t understand even half of.
I sighed and picked up a pen.
I was laboriously copying a letter I had never seen before into my notebook.
Beside me, Yurika gave advice and giggled.
“No, Mr. Taesan! That’s not ‘pi,’ it’s ‘ti’! You need to draw one more stroke!”
It was right then.
Someone slid out the chair opposite us and plopped down.
“Hmm.”
It was an unfamiliar man.
Resting his chin in his hand, he stared at us with eyes full of interest.
He wore an affable smile, but his gaze was sharply analyzing us.
“Who are you?”
Yurika hugged the book tightly and asked in a voice full of wariness.
A sharp hostility toward an outsider.
As if he found that caution amusing, the man raised the corners of his mouth even more.
“Imperial.”
“What?”
“I’ll introduce myself properly. I’m Ailex, the top entrant of this year’s Eternoa Academy.”
He shrugged and added.
“And I’m also the only first-year currently affiliated with Imperial.”
Yurika’s eyes met mine.
The name Imperial that came from his mouth carried a hostile sense of threat.
His gaze naturally turned toward Yurika.
“You’re the famous Yustia Rosenhart, right? You look as clever as the rumors say. And next to you is… what looks like a human summoned beast with a lot to say.”
“No, I’m…!”
Yurika hurriedly tried to deny it, but Ailex waved his hand as if he had no intention of listening to her at all.
He drove the conversation forward entirely at his own pace.
“I heard the seniors offered you a chance to join Imperial too, and you flatly rejected them. Why?”
Ailex crossed his arms and pressed Yurika as if interrogating her.
“No, first of all, I’m…”
“Right. That’s answer enough.”
Yurika barely managed to open her mouth, but Ailex shook his head as if he did not want to hear it.
“With the Rosenhart family at your back, what would you have to fear? You probably wanted to show a bit of nerve in front of those proud seniors.”
‘He really doesn’t listen.’
I put down the pen and stared at the man.
I wanted to shut that mouth running on its own right that instant, but this was a library.
“No need for a long discussion.”
Ailex rose from his chair.
His eyes flashed.
“You’re not busy, are you? Then let’s have a match.”
“What? What are you talking about! This is a library!”
Yurika shouted in disgust.
Her flustered voice echoed beneath the high ceiling.
But the back of Ailex’s hand shone like a flash.
At that moment.
Kwaaaaa—!
With a vibration that shook the floor, an enormous magic circle began to glow and spread out from beneath our feet.
Intricate geometric patterns shot outward at the speed of light, covering the entire floor of the library.
“Kyaa! What is happening!”
Yurika screamed, grabbing my arm.
The bookshelves melted away like a wavering heat haze, and along with the illusion of old books scattering, the entire surrounding scenery began to transform.
For a moment, I thought I heard the cry of an enormous whale from somewhere, and then my vision went dark.
It felt as if I were being sucked into the mouth of a gigantic deep-sea creature.
Thud.
The brief sensation of floating ended, and my feet touched solid ground.
The place where we stood was no longer a quiet library.
All around us was like a deep-sea cavern filled with bizarre coral reefs and glowing seaweed, and above our heads, enormous bubbles drifted slowly.
Beyond the translucent membrane surrounding us, the figures of people still reading books could be seen faintly.
“This is…”
“My domain.”
Ailex’s voice rang out from a distance.
“A domain-type summoned beast. Leviathan’s Table.”
Wooooong—
A deep-sea groan resonated above our heads.
When I lifted my head, an enormous shadow was swimming over us.
What entered my vision, now accustomed to the darkness, was a gigantic whale that filled the cavern ceiling.
A hard-looking outer hide, sharp eyes, and an overwhelming majesty as it swam through the air as though parting the sea.
The summoned beast’s gaze pierced straight through me.
“You there, human summoned beast.”
Ailex pointed at me with his chin.
In his voice was not only mockery, but even a trace of pity.
“Surely you won’t be chewed to death by that thing’s teeth, right? I don’t exactly want to commit murder in a library either, so before you die, I’d appreciate it if you surrender and say, ‘Please spare me.’”
“Ha…”
A hollow laugh escaped me on its own.
It was so absurd that I couldn’t even speak.
“Mr. Taesan! For now… please save me first! That person is completely insane!”
Behind me, Yurika hopped in place with a tearful face.
The book in her hands was trembling.
“Yeah. I should teach that stubborn idiot some manners.”
Blue mana began to swirl in his palm.
As a strange incantation flowed from his mouth, the body of the whale swimming through the air was enveloped in a faint light.
“Leviathan. If you’re ready, set off.”
No sooner had Ailex’s command fallen than—
Kwaaaang!
The enormous whale kicked off the air and shot forward like a cannonball.
The pressure stirred up by its massive body cutting through the air instead of water pierced into my skin as sharply as if it would tear it apart.
I stood facing it head-on.
Its mass and speed were incomparable to the Hell Hound’s charge.
I had no intention of dodging.
I contracted the muscles of my right arm to their limit, then thrust my fist toward the exact center of the charging giant.
Puuuuck—!
With a dull impact, its enormous head and my fist collided head-on.
‘Light.’
The bone-rattling impact traveled up my arm, but this much was bearable.
Compared to the Hell Hound’s flaming charge, it was merely a physical shock that was easier to withstand.
However,
“…?”
My body floated into the air.
I was certain I had blocked it.
I had not been pushed back in the clash of force.
And yet my body was flung into the air like a feather and slammed straight into the coral wall behind me.
With a crunch, an impact like my back was breaking came over me.
“…What was that?”
The breath caught in my throat.
The moment my fist and the summoned beast touched, I had felt a strange sensation, as if a large portion of my strength had simply evaporated.
From afar, I heard Ailex click his tongue.
“Is that all? The rumors were exaggerated.”