691 Soul Books (2/2)

Right when I opened the green wind magic book, I could feel myself being dragged into the book as Joey Stellan's magical knowledge, magical experience, and combat experience were all given to me. I understood and learned everything as if I had personally studied his wind magic and been there for his fights. Apart from the fact that the book didn't contain anything about Joey's personal and daily life, the book was a complete version of his entire life.

”…My 'Library of Secrets' is also known as the 'Storehouse of Soul Books'. Every single soul book here was once an outstanding mage. One-third of my personal disciples are also in here. This is the source of my nickname as the 'All-knowing'…”

Harloys did her best to speak calmly, but the trembling in her young-sounding voice along with an equal trembling in her soul wavelength indicated to me that she wasn't calm at all.

What was she afraid of? Was she afraid that her greatest secret would be known by others? Then why would she show this place to me? As long as she never exposed her greatest secret, wouldn't it be impossible for anyone else to know about this weakness of hers?

What was she afraid of? Was she afraid that I would loathe her? Wasn't she already accustomed to being loathed and feared by others?

What was she afraid of? Was she afraid that I wouldn't be able to accept her past? Then why didn't she simply hide her past from me…?

”Perhaps I'm rather special to her…”

I felt rather helpless as various memories passed through my mind. I was probably getting rather off track as I was thinking 'She really knows how to harvest the seeds she planted. If it wasn't for the fact that I ran off so early back in the day, perhaps I would have become a book in here as well.' Meanwhile, Harloys was standing silently in front of me as if she was waiting for me to pass final judgement upon her.

[…Don't you intend to say anything? As the male lead of this novel, shouldn't you at least console her? For example, say some pretty words such as 'I don't mind your past' or so on.]

”Ha, I never minded such things to begin with, so they wouldn't be pretty words. How many thousands or tens of thousands of mages have died to create these books? Every time I cast Ice Aeon, I've probably killed more than 10 times the number of dead mages here.”

This was the truth, for it was impossible to lie through a soul connection. I truly didn't mind what Harloys had done at all. Harloys was no good person. I had known that from the very beginning. I was also no good person. Both of us were terrible bastards who deserved to go to the Hell that I had created. However, I also refused to believe that we had done anything wrong. Fate had given us such a terrible ending of despair. Were we supposed to just sit around, crying helplessly like powerless victims, accepting the scripted end for this game world?

”…As long as we can turn around this despairing fate, we're willing to use any means. As long as we can obtain power, is there anything that we shouldn't use? Were we wrong? Were we supposed to obediently die while still weak and powerless? Are we not allowed to seek the power needed to obtain revenge when both of us have an entire kingdom to take revenge for?”

Then, if we weren't in the wrong, were Harloys' innocent victims for her soul book library in the wrong? That seemed even more ludicrous, didn't it?

Then if those victims weren't in the wrong, who was? Was the God of Fate in the wrong for arranging such a terrible fate for everyone? (Catio suddenly getting blamed!) Were the Goddesses of Order and Chaos in the wrong for having created life to begin with? (System suddenly getting blamed!) Nobody was able to give an answer. If there had to be an answer, the only one was probably that something was wrong with the entire world.

”Nobody is in the wrong. Everyone simply wants to do their best to survive. That's why I desire to create a world with fewer difficulties, a world where the great majority of people doesn't need to kill each other in order to survive.”

That was why I invented the Concept of Law in this world. That was why I created Hell, an entirely new dimension that would judge all evil. For the sake of an even slightly better world, all wicked villains would eventually meet their judgement.

I laughed as I looked at Harloys. Words weren't needed between us. She understood me quite clearly through our soul connection. When everything was finished, I would go to Hell myself, and I would reserve a place next to me in Hell for the silly cat… But when considering the current situation, it was probably still meaningless for me to think about things which were still so far off.

I admitted that I was a wicked villain who had committed many evil deeds, but before I was punished for my crimes in the Hell that I had created, I felt like there were still more things that I could do for the world. At the very least, I could make it so that there were fewer pitiful protagonists like ourselves.

Meanwhile, the silly cat suddenly smiled beautifully, with tears in her eyes, as if she was quite satisfied with my judgement that both of us deserved to spend an eternity in Hell together.

”Hey, hey, hey, don't come over here, your tears are so dirty… Don't think that I won't beat you up just because you're in the form of a little girl! Don't wipe your snot on my shirt! Hey, hey, hey, don't drool on me!”

Once we stopped messing around, Harloys piled a large amount of blue ice magic books before me. This was the main reason why Harloys had brought me here.

”With your talent for magic, I estimate that it will take a minimum of another 300 years before you can acquire enough magical theory knowledge to reach Level 4 power. The Holy War will probably have ended long before then. That's why we'll have to use some abnormal methods just for you.”