The Otherworld Antique Bookstore is a Life-Risk Prologue

 

Prologue

 

We are currently at a place called "The Tower of the Witch of the Lost Kingdom," located about two days' journey south of the royal capital by carriage. This is actually my third visit to this tower. The previous two visits were as an escort for a certain merchant, but this time I'm here for my own business dealings.

Unlike usual, there's no maid to greet us at the base of the tower today.

"Hello again, I've come to purchase books," I call out in the ground floor hall, but there's no response. Still, I'm certain someone's home.

With no other choice, I lead the four adventurers I hired for protection and cargo handling up the long, massive spiral staircase.

We reach a hall in the middle section of the tower without incident. I try calling out again, and finally, the voice of the tower's mistress echoes through the hall.

"My, who could it be? Oh, it's you. Hmm, so you're one of those people."

"Those people...? I'll leave that to your imagination."

"Well then, let's see if you're worthy of handling my books."

"What? Test us...? I didn't hear anything about this!"

My voice echoes in the suddenly silent hall. Then, as runic letters light up across the floor, a giant centipede-like monster suddenly appears before us.

"A Giant Centipede! This is beyond our capabilities!" The rabbit-eared girl, who is the adventurers' leader, quickly regains her composure and starts giving instructions to her companions.

"Rita x Rita, try to hold it off somehow. Gamo, take Yuki to a safe place and retreat. Don't let go of her no matter what."

As soon as she finishes speaking, the rabbit-eared girl, Lulu Lun, casts a defensive spell on the two Ritas and then chases after the warrior Gamo.

The two attackers, Rita Brian of the white wolf tribe wielding unique dual blades, and Rita Brown of the black wolf tribe gripping a spear—collectively known as Rita×Rita within their group—deliver a powerful blow to the giant centipede using three-dimensional movements that utilize the walls and ceiling. However, their attacks are deflected by its hard exoskeleton.

The giant centipede writhes in surprise at this attack. Seizing the opportunity, the two turn their backs and flee at full speed.

How did it come to this? There's so much I want to say, but now is not the time.

 

Currently, I'm being carried under the arm of Gamo, the burly half-ogre warrior, as we flee from the giant centipede's attack. Racing down the tower's massive spiral staircase is a thrilling experience that rivals any roller coaster, and all I can do is scream.

We burst out of the tower we had just climbed, with Gamo carrying me, followed closely by the robed rabbit-eared girl, leader Lulu Lun.

"Are you alright? What happened up there?" Shima, the cat-eared member who had stayed behind to watch the carriage, casually asks us as we gasp for breath.

After a while, the wolf-tribe duo known as Rita×Rita tumble out of the tower in tatters, but the giant centipede doesn't pursue us outside.

We take a short rest before heading back to the royal capital in our now-empty carriage.

"Um, Ms. Yuki. Does this mean our mission has failed?" It's understandable for Lulu, the adventurer party's leader, to ask this. A failed mission would lower their evaluation and affect their chances of ranking up or receiving future work.

"Don't worry. The mission was to escort me and the cargo we were supposed to buy at the 'Tower of the Witch of the Lost Kingdom.' Not obtaining the cargo was my fault, so as long as you safely deliver me to the royal capital, the mission will be complete."

As I answer, the five adventurers breathe sighs of relief. They start to joke around, reflecting on the day's events.

"A giant centipede is impossible for us. You'd need multiple C-rank or B-rank adventurers to defeat something like that. Man, I'm just glad we're alive!"

The Rita duo laughs together, while Gamo and Shima, who serve as the driver and lookout, listen with smiles. Only leader Lulu Lun gives me a slightly apologetic look, but this failure was entirely due to my mistake—they're not to blame.

My name is Yuki.

I'm ostensibly the head of the antiquarian book department at White Trading Company, the most prominent merchant house in the royal capital of the Kingdom of Calito. We have a main store and two branches in the capital, dealing in general books as well as life magic books and magic tomes approved by the Magicians' Guild.

There's also a separate business of purchasing higher-level magic books called grimoires, including dangerous forbidden books, but this is classified as underground work that we don't usually deal with directly.

However, this time I got involved in that side of things.

My work in the public-facing business was well-regarded by my boss, but the truth is that the antiquarian book business has barely been turning a profit. On top of that, I've been failing my boss's recent requests, so I was aiming for a big turnaround.

Grimoires are incredibly valuable, and I had planned to use them to supplement our business profits. I thought I had a good chance of success.

I'm familiar with the tower's mistress and residents, and it's only a two-day journey from the capital with no dangerous monsters along the way. That's why I thought it would be sufficient to hire low-ranking adventurers like Lulu's E-rank team for protection. Who would have thought we'd need to consider conquering the tower itself?

A friendly witch who's an acquaintance? Yeah, right. And so, my book-buying expedition ended in spectacular failure.

"I'm going to get scolded again when we get back," Yuki mutters softly. From the back of the carriage, she stares at the receding silhouette of the witch's tower and clenches her fist.

"Damn it, just you wait! Next time, I'll definitely buy those books from you!"

Her shout echoes emptily through the peaceful landscape.

* * *

I've heard somewhere that when people die, their souls leave their bodies, pass through the sky, and journey into space.

But that didn't happen to me.

The moment I thought, "I'm dead!" I found myself in a space filled with deep fog.

I was there, surrounded by many blurry shapes that could have been people or animals—I couldn't tell. The atmosphere was like a foggy examination hall.

Suddenly, a gentle female voice resonated in my head.

The voice confirmed that my death was real and apologized for sending my soul to another world.

A long explanation followed, which I'll summarize: Apparently, the numerous existing worlds each maintain a certain mass. Some technologies in these worlds can summon things from other worlds or forcibly send things to other worlds, causing imbalances in the worlds' masses.

If left unchecked, this imbalance would lead to the collapse of worlds. To correct this, they use the souls of the dead—who would normally repeat the cycle of life and death through reincarnation—to adjust these imbalances.

That's why we were gathered here, and instead of sending our souls to other worlds as they were, we would be reincarnated and born anew in our destination worlds.

"We want to accommodate your wishes as much as possible, even though you'll be following a path different from your original destiny."

With these words, something like a questionnaire appeared before me.

I began to read the questions as prompted.

"What kind of world do you seek?"

I love reading books, so I don't want a world without them. Therefore, I wrote "A world where I can read books leisurely." As I wrote this, images flowed into my mind of a world of swords and magic, filled with beautiful and rich nature.

Dragons fly in the sky, and the townscape where people live is just like the Western Middle Ages. It seems this will be the world I'm heading to.

Ah, I see. In a technologically advanced world, physical books would probably disappear, replaced by something like e-books.

Well, I prefer fantasy to cyberpunk anyway. I have no objections to this pseudo-European world.

The next question appears.

"What kind of creature do you want to be?"

I wonder if options like dragons or monsters are available? While considering this, I decide not to write "human." If possible, I'd prefer a long-lived species. That way, I could see and learn more things.

I'm a girl. I don't want to be a bearded dwarf or a hairy-footed halfling.

So my preference would be a mystical elf, but since I don't know what species actually exist in that world, I decide to write something vague that gives an elf-like image.

"Do you want to keep your memories or erase them?"

I don't think I had many unpleasant memories in my previous life. Besides, having life experience and knowledge would probably be more advantageous than starting from zero. Without hesitation, I choose to keep them.

"Do you have any other wishes?"

This is quite a considerate question. I'm sure some chuunibyou types would write in some cheat ability that lets them dominate, but the voice didn't say it would necessarily grant our wishes. So I conclude that they won't just hand out world-shaking abilities so easily.

However, it would be pointless to be in a world with books if I can't read the language, so I write down a request for language comprehension skills, including the ability to speak, read, and write.

I don't have any desire to do anything extraordinary just because it's a different world. My hope is "to live a normal, unremarkable life even in another world," so I add a request for a stable lifestyle.

As the questionnaire-like object disappears, my surroundings change to a familiar place. It seems to be my room.

An announcement says, "You can take one thing with you," and a countdown from sixty appears.

Muttering to myself that this is like some kind of survival game, I look around.

A smartphone is the first thing that comes to mind, but there's no way I could use it there. Before I know it, the countdown drops below ten seconds.

The moment I grab the item that caught my eye, my soul, in the shape of my former self, is enveloped in a dazzling light.

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