"I know is useless to ask but...why the fuck do you always keep on getting in dangerous situations?!"
We were all mad at Nayuta right now, seeing her return injured and with such a nasty scar on her arm was distressing for us. She who always puts us as a priority, often puts herself in danger for that very same reason, and is horrible to see her get hurt because of us.
Sophia was the most worried of us all and along with Haruto immediately started treating her, they wanted to use a healing vial but she stopped them because she didn't think it necessary, so they instead just applied basic treatment like disinfecting the bruises she got. Meanwhile, I was scolding her.
"Just why in hell did you do something so dangerous if you knew something like that could happen!?"
"I wanted to get some more meat for all of you, is good for your health and is tastier than old vegetables"
She looked unnafected as she said that. Is because of this that is so hard to be mad at her, when it comes to herself or other people she doesn't care even a little bit, but with us, she goes so far as to hurt herself just for us to be comfortable or enjoy something.
"Look I get it and we all appreciate it...but do you not care about your own life? You could have died"
"No, not really, it wasnt that dangerous"
...this is going nowhere. I guess I already knew it would be like this though, she simply doesn't care, and there's not much I can do to change that. She looks so unbothered by her wounds and also so satisfied with her hunt that I can't scold her anymore
"Forget it, I'm just glad you're safe"
As Sophia and Haruto finished disinfecting her bruises and bandaging her up, she immediately threw a relatively small leather bag towards me. I caught it in the air and noticed its weight, which made me curious, so I naturally opened it.
As I opened it I was delighted to see a pair of books and a scroll, the dagger looked expensive but I was not interested in it in the slightest after all my sword was way more convenient than a small dagger that didn't even seem meant to be used as a weapon. The books were in good condition even though they had accumulated some dust, the scroll on the other side, was heavily damaged and riddled with moisture stains, which given the good state of the books indicates that the damage happened long ago before being in the leather bag,
"I know how much you like books, so I thought this would brighten your day"
A smile appeared on my face as I heard Nayuta's words. I didn't waste any time as I opened one of the books immediately, although it didn't have any cover or title, I quickly recognized what it was.
"An encyclopedia..."
To be more precise it was a combination of an encyclopedia and a dictionary. The dictionary contained three languages and their translations to a fourth one with which I was already somewhat familiar, the same language that had been engraved in the stone slabs. The three languages were English, Japanese and the last I didn't recognize, but I assume it is the language of the original owner of the book. Even though the presence of Earth languages here was weird, both in the dictionary and in the few texts we have found before, there is no way that I can find an explanation so is best to just ignore it.
The encyclopedia also contained knowledge of many things we have already encountered and some we haven't. Instead of being a normal encyclopedia, it seems to specialize in this tower. According to the book, this tower is divided into one hundred floors, each one of them being a completely new reality or world.
"This looks like bad news..."
Everyone looked at me with curiosity as those words left my mouth. The fact that this place has one hundred different floors probably means that to escape, we'll need to pass through all of them, that is if it's even possible to escape.
I'll ignore that and don't tell them, it could ruin everyone's already bad mood and cause problems later on. The encyclopedia also contains information about monsters, first of all the zombies we encountered in what I know was the first floor. Turns out they weren't living corpses, but mutated humans just like what we fought on the second floor.
Information about the guards on the second floor was useless since we already deduced it from the diary we found, however, it did say something interesting..."they mutated because of the power of a god". I refuse to believe in the existence of gods, but this would be the second time we encounter a mention of a god in a book.
As for the strong monsters that we found guarding the doors, there wasn't much information. Apparently called the Gate Guard, it was the author of the diary I found on the second floor, how the writer of the encyclopedia knew that is beyond me though. As for the knight that was guarding the entrance to the dungeon chief, it was the dungeon chief itself. However that doesn't seem to make sense, the diary clearly said that they killed the chief along with the soldiers and nobles.
"Maybe it was a zombie this time?"
The inconsistencies are weird, but everything here is weird so is not that surprising. Sadly there wasn't much information on the Beorn Kingdom or the town on the first floor. However they detailed the way out of each floor, and it was the same for the third floor.
Apparently, the third floor suffered the same affliction as the first two, something mutated its inhabitants and probably the land itself too. Along with information about some mutated animals, like the deer Nayuta killed or some weird kind of giant wolves, there was also a mention of the exit, located inside a cave far to the northwest. There wasn't any concrete information about the fog, just the mention that the monster usually didn't leave it and that fires repel it, things that we already knew.
There was also information about some miscellaneous things, like herbs and fruits, which I greatly appreciated since some of them were needed for certain recipes of the Alchemara.
As for information about the fourth floor and beyond I decided not to read it. The pages dedicated to the second floor recommend bringing torches to the third floor, and the ones dedicated to the third recommend gathering a lot of food for the next floor, so I know what to prepare, but I don't want to see the information about the fourth floor. Even though I'm curious I know that I shouldn't worry myself about it and instead focus on our current situation.
I put the encyclopedia down and gave it to Nayuta for her to read. She doesn't enjoy reading as much as I do but is not like she hates it. Nayuta has very good judgment so I want her to share opinions with me later on. I didn't say a word but she still understood and took the book with a little smile.
Meanwhile, I took the other book, this one looked older and the passage of time was obvious, but it was still in good condition. The cover was made of white leather and had no title.
I opened it expecting it to be something similar to the encyclopedia, but the moment I did so everything turned white. I stood up in quiet panic as I observed my surroundings, everything and everyone disappeared in less time than my mind could register, and an infinite white space replaced it.
No matter where I looked, everything remained white with not even an ounce of color in sight. No sound nor smell reached my senses, not even my steps or body odor, I was left alone with nothing but my thoughts.
A thousand thoughts passed through my head as I tried to find a way out, I was panicking and scared. Being surrounded by monsters is one thing, but the prospect of being trapped alone in an infinite white space is something I don't think I can stand.
In the absence of my friends, I feel like it will not take long before I go insane. I read a lot, I know what will happen to a person if it stays isolated without external stimulation for too long. I started walking, trying to find something different, eventually, I started running as I grew desperate.
I'm unsure of how much time passed, at the very least it didn't feel like more than a few hours, but after a while, I saw something appear right in front of me.
A long dark slit appeared slowly, so thin that I almost couldn't see it, as if something or someone had made a cut in space. The ominous feeling emanating from that thing made me want to run away, but I was desperate and curious, so I tried to touch it. Before my fingers could touch the strange phenomenon, the slit opened abruptly.
With a loud sound akin to that of glass shattering, cracks formed in the space around the slit as it opened, revealing its nature. It was an eye, giant, and inhumane. Instead of a normal pupil, it had four conjoined pupils that looked in different directions, all of them were pitch black. The eye itself looked as if it was a 2d object, which only added to the uncomfortable feeling.
The pupils looked around frantically for a second before settling on me at the same time, at that moment a feeling of dread engulfed me. I felt as if I could die at any second under that thing's gaze, but I didn't dare to run, instead, I pointed my sword at the eye, expecting the worst.
"CHILD!"
Those words sent a chill down my spine, my arms started to shake weakly and I felt myself slowly losing hold of the sword. That thing looked at me in the eyes, I could feel its gaze on my body as a cold wind. Is this how Nayuta felt when she encountered that giant dog monster before?
Honestly, I wanted to run. Call it instinct or good senses, but I somehow knew that if I turned my back on that thing I would die, so I gritted my teeth and gripped my sword.
"YOU DIDN'T RUN, GOOD"
As the eye talked I suddenly found myself unable to move a muscle, not out of fear or something like that, I simply lost control of my body.
"YOU WHO NOW POSSESS THE GRIMOIRE OF EYES, I SHALL LEND YOU THE SPELLS CRAFTED BY THOSE WHO CAME BEFORE YOU"
The pupils of that thing glowed red for a split second and I felt a sudden and sharp pain in my eyes. I couldn't avoid screaming as it felt as if my eyes were being burned, it was an unbearable pain far more horrible than anything I've felt before.
Even though I was suffering, I still couldn't move, screaming was the only thing that monster allowed me to do. Eventually, the pain receded and only a mild stinging sensation remained.
"TOO WEAK TO CONTAIN THEM ALL, I SHALL ONLY GRANT A WEAK ONE, THE EYE OF DETECTION SHOULD SUFFICE"
As it said those words the burning sensation returned for a second before vanishing. Before I could say anything the eye closed itself and disappeared, leaving me once again alone in this white space, though not for long.
The moment I blinked I no longer found myself in that strange place, instead I was in the forest, surrounded by my friends and holding the book in my hands, which I now know is something called the Grimoire of Eyes.
I quickly threw it away as I grabbed my chest, I was hyperventilating. Cold sweat covered my face as I tried to calm myself down, however, I found myself incapable of doing so, my heart wouldn't stop beating fast.
It wasn't until I felt Nayuta's arms around me that I calmed down, she had such a worried expression on her face and yet she remained reliable and comforting.
After a while, she broke the hug and grabbed my face gently by my cheeks. She was staring right into my eyes with a confused look on her face, Sophia and Haruto approached us and quickly shared the same expression on their face.
"What happened to your eyes?"
She tilted her head as if trying to make sense of what she was seeing, an action that the other two did as well.
"What do you mean?"
"There is a white bright symbol in your pupil, the fuck did you do?"
Sophia's mocking tone pissed me off, but her words made me recall the horrible pain I felt in my eyes before, that symbol she mentioned was probably the cause of it.
"I...I don't know"