Chereads / A skeleton's journey / Chapter 26 - Another reading session

Chapter 26 - Another reading session

Huh? Margaret's guards are here. That's convenient, they'll take me right up to her without me having to make complicated appointments. Alright gotta intimidates them so they don't think i'm a pushover. I pretend to not have heard the mage guards and walk to the prince's headless corpse. I then take the brigand's greatshield and slam it straight down the hip with all my strength that the guards could hear the sickening crunch as the body got cut in half. But i'm not done yet, i then reach inside the pieces (gross but necessary) pulling out the intestines and wrap them around the torso before wildly swinging like a flail flinging it into the wall further brutalizing the corspe into red mush. I slowly turn my head towards the guards who looks sickly green with some of them already emptying their lunch out on the ground.

Me: What do you want?

Guard: Ma-dame Mar-garet wants t-o see you. *vomit*

Arriving at the tower with my knights i look behind me to see the guards who were supposed to be escorting me, cowering 5m away from me. Did i go too far? Nah, that prick deserved every inch of it. The moment i step into the tower, all of the guards following me immediately run away leaving me completely alone with my 2 knights. Real professional work right there. Good thing there's a receptionist down here.

Me: excuse me i believe Madame Margaret wants to see me right now.

Receptionist: Oh what's your name sir?

Me: Yosif, mayor of Gobi.

Receptionist: ah yes, she does to see you. Take the 3rd platform from the right, it should take you straight to her office.

Platforms? I look around the room to see small rituals inscribed onto the stone floor next to the walls. Teleportation circle, i would be surprised if they didn't have this and instead spent time and effort to make insane curly stairs. The circle glows as i step onto it and with a small flash of light, i find myself standing Madame Margaret's office or more accurately, the grand fucking library. The whole room looks like it's made of books; the walls are shelves, the chairs have book-holders, the tables have stacks of it and the floor have hatches filled with even more books. What the fuck is this nightmare i'm standing in. Suddenly i heard shuffling, at the table on the far end of the room, a pile of books shift and fall apart to reveal Madame Margaret? I can't tell if it's her or a book zombie, her face looks absolutely miserable with bags under her eyes and messy hair that would make Sadako Yamamura envious. It takes her a couple of a minutes of her rubbing her eyes and slapping herself before she fully wakes up and notices me in the room. She blushes before quickly tidying the desk (shoving all of the books to the ground) brush her hair a bit before nervously greeting me. She still looks like a hikikomori who hasn't seen the sun for far too long with her black hair still tangled (though it is less so than before) disheveled red robe and drowsy violet eyes tiredly looking at me.

Margaret: eheh sorry you have to see that. I've been busy working lately and i haven't really slept well. You must be mayor Yosif, i'm Margaret Magnolia, the arch mage and leader of Canvastor and representative of the Church, please to meet you.

Margaret Magnolia

Level 59 arch mage

Hp: 1632

Atk: 495

That's the most powerful person i've seen so far though Sergei could probaly beat her if he can dodge properly. I wonder what is considered arch mage level spells, maybe there's a book about resurrection somewhere in here that i could use to raise more undead than 10 skeleton knights a day. But no way in hell am i digging through that mountain of books anytime now, hell naw.

Me: *ahem* yes it's nice to meet you as well, what did you call me here for? Is it because i eviscerated the prince beyond recognition?

Margaret: no it's not because... EEEHHHH? YOU DID WHAT?

Me: Oh i decapitated the little shit and cut his body in half before painting the walls of the arena with it.

Margaret: WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!

Me: Why wouldn't i do that? Do you know the shit he's been doing?

Margaret: ummmm... no?

Me: He's been buying slaves and using them for pleasure as well as bullying the common folks, and dishing out outrageous requests driving businesses to dead-ends. Not to mention Bribing, Sexual Harassment, Pedophilia, Kleptomania and a lot more crap. You've been ruling this city and you don't know how it's fucking dying on the inside?

Margaret: i'm sorry i was busy with more pressing matters.

Me: What the fuck is more pressing than the fact the church sacrifice beastmen and elves for their so-called religion?

Margaret: THEY'VE BEEN DOING THAT? OH MY GOD I DIDN'T KNOW! WHY AM I REPRESENTATING THOSE SICK SCUMBAGS!

Me: Where the hell have you been living, what rock is big enough that you don't know anything outside your office?

Margaret: it's because of these ancient documents i've discovered, they mention a great monstrosity that will threaten all life should it be freed. Yet i only found the later parts of the documents talking about the monster and the ways to traverse the traps in the prison it's trapped in, the first one containing the location of the prison is nowhere to be found.

Me: Ok and what does that have to with me coming here, did you find the thing and needed help to kill the beast?

Margaret: weeeeelll... no. I haven't found it even after reading through the archives for the past month. The only thing keeping going is this new wonderful drink that has just been made so i need your help here in finding the document lost between all the books in here.

Oh no OH GOD NO I AM NOT READING ALL OF THIS! Where the hell do we even start, i lost sight of the teleportation circle too, there's gotta be at least 3000 books in here. Wait a second, what is she drinking. I look towards Margaret to see her holding a glass with the familiar smell of strong alcohol. No wonder she's miserable, you don't drink and study, those two don't mix well at all.

Me: um Margaret put the glass down, it's bad for your health.

Margaret: But it tastes so good, who are you to stop me from drinking it?

Me: Oh nobody, just the creator of the drink itself, alcohol doesn't mix well with sleep deprivation but oh well you're the scholar, CLEARLY you know better.

Margaret: *chokes on Vodka* *cough* *cough* YOU MADE THIS HEAVENLY DRINK? Can i please have a supplier for it, no drinks have ever satisfied me before this.

Me: Sure but stop drinking it now, get some tea or coffee instead. *sigh* where do we start?

Margaret points to the side of the room behind her with hundreds of books that she read stacked there then points to the rest of the room filled with books. This is going to be a major headache for me isn't it. I already have troubles reading 30 books without wanting to fucking die, i'm going to have crippling depression after reading all of these.

[40 days later]

fucking kill me please. I've lost track of how many books we have read by this point, the read pile seems to have a thousand book in it yet the remaining books in the room still look UNCHANGED from when we started. Margaret is an adept mage so doing this isn't that boring for her but me who was previously a gamer... This can go into my top 10 worst nightmares list. I love how many spells i've gained from using the diadem while doing this but i hate how much i want to die doing this. I've mastered all of the elements (except dark and light) to point where i could end all of life with an Armageddon or start a new ecosystem on the moon from literally nothing. Creating 50m tall tsunami or city wide flame/thunder storm and continent breaking earthquakes are well within my capabilities but it's not like i'm doing that anytime soon (too much collateral damage). In fact by combining [create mega golem] with my own style of mixing all 4 of the elements together. I could theoretically create a dragon using my own mana that would have a physical form capable of withstanding armor-piercing tank shells, can breath lightning fire with flight speed that could break the sound barrier. I could be classified as a god with this power as nobody has lived long enough to be able to absorb all of the knowledge from the archives. Which now that i mention it, thank divines that the rest of the books in the rooms were only records of historical events and inventories with mythological and philosophical books unrelated to magic left. My sanity would be depleted if i were forced to read all of those.

Margaret: UGH! i don't get it, we've read all of the magic related books yet we still couldn't find the last document where in god's name could it be?

Me: Margaret why don't we try searching by anything related to the document's name instead of i don't know, SCANNING THE ENITRE ARCHIVE?

Margaret: I've tried that before but the documents don't have a name and the only name written was the writer's name which is captain Lambert, i have no idea who that is.

Me: WAIT A FUCKING MINUTE! Did you bloody say captain Lambert?

Margaret: yes? do you know him?

Is this some kind of sick joke from God, if i knew that i wouldn't have spent 1 and a half month reading through all of this shit. To hell with all these new spells i still feel cheated. I rummage through the ring and find the blasted document still there where i left it so long ago.

Me: Margaret bring out the other pieces, let's see if this match.

And match it did, the pages continue exactly where the first one left off. According to Lambert, the founding emperor was once wise and a great leader but he slowly gives in to his lust for power. Though Lambert and Laurentius was against it, there was nothing they could as they were bound by their contracts. And so they uncover eldritch secrets one after another, conduct forbidden rituals day by day until they summoned it, The Eye Of Despair itself has risen from the portal they created breaking through all of the bindings placed there. The emperor realized his mistake and the fact that he has doomed humanity so with all of his strength, he created a powerful barrier that would trap the creature for centuries but it will slowly fade by time. Lambert gave his life stalling the monster while the emperor casted the spell and Laurentius escaped to erase all traces of the ritual's existence so humanity won't make the same mistake and scatter the document so that only those strong enough to defeat the creature would find it and finally slays the damned thing.

Margaret: so the prison is located in the Argent woods. It is rumored that is where the gods have fought the final battle with the strongest demon lord Ezekiel. The area is packed with high tier demons, we're going to need to gather all the strongest adventurers for this expedition.

Me: No need for that Margaret.

Margaret: why? are you planning to control the beast like the foolish old emperor?

Me: WHAT? Hell no, i'm going there myself to vent all of the built-up frustration from reading those books before i actually explode from the pent up rage.

Margaret: What? but you'll die going there by yourself.

Me: *stares back at Margaret* *lifts visor up* Observe.

Total inventory:

Brigand's greatshield

Enchanted runic sword

Diadem of supreme arcane might

Helm of clairvoyance

Old knight captain's armor

11 slime essence

130 bone powder

10 scrap metal

Crystal of decay

Greater ironskin potion

76 copper 53 silver 39414 gold

Current familiars:

- Sergei the Skeleton Paladin