The Otherworld Antique Bookstore is a Life-Risk Chapter 1

 

Chapter 1: My Reincarnation in Another World

 

A black armored carriage races through the dark night, illuminated by flashes of lightning. Two strong dark knights in full plate armor serve as escorts, and even the hooded driver and the four horses pulling the carriage have eyes that glow an eerie red.

Beyond the forest and plains lies a massive fortress city. As the vanguard dark knight silently raises a flag, the city's enormous gates open, and the armored carriage, along with three dark knights, speeds through the empty main street without slowing down.

The city guards stand motionless, watching this ominous procession pass. No one dares to stop the armored carriage bearing the kingdom's flag and the royal family's crest—a shield with a purple flower.

 

* * *

 

Deep beneath the fortress city, in what appears to be an audience chamber, a large wooden box is brought in by shadowy, hooded figures before five people. When opened, it reveals an ice coffin.

Inside the coffin lies a beautiful black-haired woman, seemingly asleep, clutching a great sword to her chest. She was likely a knight in life.

"So this is the Ice Battle Princess who fell in the recent war. How beautiful," sighs the only man among the five, a warrior-like figure. His comment seems to displease the other four women, who narrow their eyes and snort. Though each has unique features, all four are undeniably beautiful.

The robed woman in the highest seat clears her throat softly and kneels. The other four follow suit, bowing towards the seat and respectfully uttering their master's name.

"Lady Laviola, Mistress of the Abyssal Labyrinth."

From behind a veil covering the throne-like seat at the back of the hall, a semi-transparent, ghost-like figure appears.

"Now, in accordance with our contract, we shall perform the ritual to summon a new vassal," Laviola announces, raising both hands to the sky. A magnificent staff adorned with large gems appears in the air, and she grasps it, beginning a chant that sounds like a song.

The words resonate throughout the hall, and as if in response, ominous black shadows rise from the ground like tentacles. The shadows writhe for a while before slowly enveloping the ice coffin containing the female knight.

"Answer my call and awaken. Ice Battle Princess, Yurisha Northernlight," Laviola's voice commands as she thrusts out her staff.

Suddenly, a blinding light engulfs the ice coffin and explodes outward, forcing everyone in the hall to shield their eyes with their arms.

"What's this?" Even Laviola, who is performing the ritual, can't help but exclaim at the light.

As the light fades away, a small girl with black hair and black eyes stands there.

 

* * *

 

As the light surrounding me fades, the blurry scenery comes into focus. It seems I'm in a large hall-like space, probably underground. I quickly process the information coming through my eyes.

In front of me are six figures staring at me. Most are humanoid, but one has a snake body from the waist down, and another at the back appears translucent. The four closest to me are pointing weapons at me with hostile intent, while the remaining two look surprised.

In other words, I'm in some dangerous place and, for some reason, being treated as an enemy.

This is bad.

My only equipment is a thin, white, Japanese-style silk kimono and a gourmet magazine I'm clutching to my chest. At my feet lies an ornate great sword. Am I supposed to fight with this?

(God, isn't this suddenly too hard mode?)

The pressure I feel from the translucent woman is overwhelming; I can't stop my heart from racing.

"Who are you?" the translucent woman asks me. As I consider how to answer, my body reacts independently of my will. What's going on?

"My name is Yuki, my Lady Laviola," I hear myself say. A name I've never heard before comes out of my mouth.

I knelt on one knee and answered as if controlled by someone else, but it seems that was the correct response. The hostility disappears from the four who had been pointing weapons at me, and they rearrange themselves in formation.

"Nagaren, as a former sage, give me your opinion. What happened to my necromancy?" the translucent woman asks.

From the atmosphere, if this is a royal palace, then the translucent woman called Laviola must be the queen and ruler here. The sharp-eyed robed woman named Nagaren standing at the front of the line seems to be the prime minister, and the other four are probably generals or the Four Heavenly Kings.

After some consideration, Nagaren speaks. "I've seen a light similar to that radiance before. It closely resembles the light of hero summoning performed in the Empire."

"Hero summoning? But I can sense the soul of the Ice Battle Princess within this Yuki," Laviola muses.

"Please wait a moment," Nagaren says, stepping in front of me and holding out her hand. A clammy, unpleasant sensation runs through my entire body. I can tell something is being done to me.

"Lady Laviola, there's no doubt that this Yuki is one of your vassals. My 'Penetrating Gaze' indicates as such. It seems that during the summoning of the Ice Battle Princess, something that can only be described as divine mischief occurred."

"Hmm, a soul from another world was drawn in by divine mischief? And that appearance... Kaien, Viola, what do you make of this Yuki?"

"Yes, my lady. Judging by her appearance and Japanese clothing, she seems to be one of the people of Hinomoto," the only man among the Four Heavenly Kings responds. His manner of speech is quite archaic.

"Laviola, there's no doubt she's Japanese. And that book she's holding looks like it's from a time closer to when I was there than Uncle Kaien's era," the scantily-clad woman named Viola says casually to her master.

I'm surprised but somewhat relieved to learn that there are two other reincarnated individuals from Japan here.

Lady Laviola stares intently at me. No, her gaze is focused lower, on the gourmet magazine I'm holding to my chest.

In the end, the only thing I managed to bring from my room was a travel magazine supplement titled "Sweets Tasting Guide." It's full of recommended shops and items but doesn't contain any recipes, so it's probably useless for recreating dishes in this other world.

But come on, I only had sixty seconds. In my messy room, this seemed like the most sensible thing to grab at the time. Can't blame me, right?

"Yuki, present that book to Lady Laviola," Nagaren commands.

I want to handle this situation as smoothly as possible. If this is what they want, I'm happy to oblige. Without hesitation, I respond to Nagaren's words and step over the ice coffin.

Lady Laviola receives the gourmet magazine and stares at it intently for a while. When Nagaren calls out to her, she suddenly comes to her senses, clears her throat awkwardly, and then composes herself to face forward.

"This book shall be the holy scripture of my Abyssal Labyrinth," she declares.

I want to point out that it's just a gourmet magazine, but the master's decision is absolute.

"As you command," everyone present, including myself, bows their heads and says in unison.

"Now then, due to divine mischief, we have added this Yuki to our ranks of vassals instead of the Ice Battle Princess. Does anyone object to this?" Nagaren asks.

Only one person speaks up: the knight-like woman with a snake's lower body. Her face is half-hidden by a helmet.

It seems she wanted to know how well I could fight before accepting me as a vassal, and the others seemed interested in this too. However, there's one girl about my height dressed in black Gothic Lolita style who's just mumbling something to herself, looking down.

"Oriza, this one seems utterly useless in combat. Instead, she appears to excel in merchant skills such as rhetoric and arithmetic," Nagaren explains.

"Merchant skills..." All of the Four Heavenly Kings look disappointed at Nagaren's words. Sorry about that.

"Then Yuki, you will work on the surface. Show everyone there that you are worthy of being Lady Laviola's vassal by achieving results," Nagaren instructs.

"Yes," I respond.

"Is this acceptable, Lady Laviola?"

"Indeed. I look forward to your performance."

Nagaren looks around and calls out, "Bergana, are you here?"

"Yes, I'm here," a voice responds as countless bats appear from the shadows of the ceiling and walls, merging into the form of a woman in the center of the hall.

"This Yuki will work on the surface. I'm entrusting all arrangements to you from now on. I'm counting on you."

"It is my pleasure and honor," Bergana says, bowing once before turning to me and giving a small wink. I guess that means "nice to meet you."

"Come on, let's go," she urges, and I follow Bergana out of the hall.

"Moving on to the next matter. Kaien and Yoshua, report on the status of forbidden book acquisition in the Magic Country," I hear some dangerous-sounding conversation behind me, but I try not to pay attention.

After walking for a while, we step onto a magic circle and are transported somewhere else.

* * *

 

Although we've moved, the scenery hasn't changed much compared to the first hall.

Bergana and I walk down a vast corridor, occasionally passing carts loaded with books. What's more, these carts are being pulled by skeletons and zombies.

Every time we pass them, I flinch and make a sound, which seems to exasperate Bergana.

"Is this your first time seeing bone people and dead people?" she asks.

"Is it safe? Won't they attack us?" I inquire nervously.

"What are you talking about? They might attack humans, but we're undead. They recognize us as companions," she explains.

"Undead?"

"You were summoned by Lady Laviola, the great necromancer and mistress of the Abyssal Labyrinth, so of course you're undead. It's strange that you're asking about this."

"Are you the same, Bergana?"

"I'm a hired vampire, different from you. But I suppose we're both undead in a sense."

"..."

This is too much. I shouldn't think about it. I'll sort it out later.

"By the way, we've been walking for a while now. Where exactly are we?" I ask, changing the subject.

"This is the management area within the Abyssal Labyrinth, off-limits to adventurers. It's the heart of the surface operations, you could say. Want to take a peek?"

Saying this, Bergana opens one of the many doors along the corridor and beckons to me. Nervously, I peek inside and gasp.

It's a massive cavern filled with bookshelves, like an enormous library. Countless skeletons are moving back and forth, carrying books. In one section, hooded skeleton mages are casting spells on books.

It's a place where innumerable bone people work, probably 24 hours a day without rest.

"Will I be working here too?" I ask.

"Ah, no, no. This is the backyard. You'll be working in the store in town," Bergana clarifies.

"There's a town?"

"Hahahaha, the Abyssal Labyrinth is right under the royal capital, Zero, of the Calito Kingdom. Surface work means running the direct store in the royal capital. We're counting on you!"

"I see. I'll do my best."

After passing through several more magic circles, we arrive in front of a steel gate heavily guarded by dark knights.

As Bergana calls for the gate to open, it slowly does so.

Emerging from a building in the warehouse district of the royal capital's commercial area, I find myself facing a silent night cityscape devoid of people.

"Ah, what a lovely night," Bergana says happily, looking up at the sky. The night sky I see has no familiar moon, but instead, a single enormous reddish star floats in the sky.

Is this a binary planet system? In any case, I understand now that this is a completely different world from Earth.

But there's one thing I really need to know.

"Are we evil? What is Lady Laviola trying to achieve?"

"Lady Laviola's deep thoughts are beyond my comprehension. We simply follow her orders. Our mission is to collect forbidden books and dangerous grimoires that are beyond human handling and seal them within the labyrinth. For this purpose, we fight against those who claim to be righteous and those who are evil. That's who we are. Does that answer your question?"

Well, it's a difficult situation to judge. But as long as we're not absolute evil causing suffering to people, I suppose I can accept it for now.

"Well then, shall we go?" Bergana says, and I begin walking with her along the cobblestone streets at night.

I end up living in Bergana's mansion on a hill at the edge of the commercial district.

I was honestly surprised by the full welcome from the butler and maids, despite it being the middle of the night. I'm given a room on the second floor of the mansion and told to rest until morning.

Bergana said we'd go for resident registration after dawn. Lying down on the bed in my room, I slowly close my eyes

If you like what I do, Please consider donating to my Kofi Page

Join the Discord Here