Published: February 1, 2026
The Astarnia Royal Palace library is by no means spacious.
However, abandoning ease of use and convenience for searching, the bookshelves densely fill every gap, boasting an unusual number of volumes. The design descends via stairs when entering, both to prevent the strong sunlight of Astarnia from ever reaching the books and to lower the floor to create a higher ceiling.
The walls, extended to great heights, are completely concealed by densely packed books. Inevitably, the shelves are filled with books placed so high that even the tallest person cannot reach them, so ladders are scattered throughout for retrieving volumes from above.
These ladders have almost no incline, perhaps for space efficiency. Yet Rizel skillfully climbs them to heights where a fall would cause injury and begins reading right there, while Arim smoothly ascends and descends as if sliding along, all in a bundle of cloth.
These ladders resemble staircases and are placed flush against the sides of the bookshelves — just like the library in Rizel’s house back in her original world. That library even takes aesthetic considerations into account.
The palace’s grand hall-like library is spacious and open to the ceiling, with a luxurious staircase rising from the center to the second floor. Although called the second floor, it only has enough planking as footing for selecting from the books lined tightly along the walls, with occasional desks and chairs for reading.
The first floor contains numerous neatly aligned bookshelves, flawlessly arranged with no gaps or irregularities in spacing or angle, classified clearly by genre. The silence here compels everyone to remain quiet, and to the locals, it truly deserves the name "Great Library."
Yet few realize that this space is just the tip of the iceberg. The fantastical underground book space is Rizel’s most comforting place.
What these two share in common is, above all, the sheer number of books filling their view.
Rizel reads incessantly. Of course, she eagerly reads books she’s never encountered before, but even rereads familiar ones with joy, feeling fortunate to encounter worthy books again.
Though it would be easier to ask Nahas to bring books from the library, and such permission would be simpler to get, Rizel prefers to visit the royal palace library. Even if spatial magic were usable in her original world, she wouldn’t use it for book storage—she simply likes the sight of her own books and the space surrounded by them.
“It’s torture…”
But that assumes she can actually read those books.
“He’s way too down.”
“The leader was really looking forward to it.”
Rizel and her companions were currently visiting a certain labyrinth.
It had just been discovered recently. Labyrinths tend to increase at a pace of one every two or three years per country, while older labyrinths sometimes disappear. When that happens, adventurers inside are safely returned to the former location of the gate.
It’s lucky that a new labyrinth has appeared in Astarnia following Parteda, but for adventurers traveling between countries, this isn’t too unusual.
All adventurers aim to be the first to conquer the new labyrinth and visit it daily. Rizel had previously shown no interest but now was here because adventurers who began exploring the labyrinth reported back information on the very first day.
“It was so full of books, my head almost hurt.”
She had to check it out.
“I expected this, but I really can’t read any of it.”
“You’re probably better off not reading it—even if you can’t move, you won’t suffer.”
“Library of the Non-Human Beings”—that was the name given to the newly appeared labyrinth.
Its interior resembled an ancient library, with bookshelves lining both sides continuously, even along the corridors. Some shelves were packed tightly, others had gaps causing books to topple.
Rizel had tried pulling and pushing the books to somehow read them, but finally gave up, letting go. No matter how she tried, they did not budge.