CHAPTER 57: THE SHATTERED SWORDMAIDEN [1]

"You two are aware of all the rules, I presume?"

Eula asked, picking up the football-shaped crystal ball from the desk.

Alice glanced at Leon, who was standing beside her.

Leon didn’t say anything, nor did he look the slightest bit confused, as if he had been in this place hundreds of times.

Noticing both of them remaining quiet, Eula sighed and proceeded with her explanation.

"This library is called the Astral-Tale due to its unique nature. Every book you see here was not handwritten by humans, but by the World System itself. This place stores more than a million old stories that have left their mark on history. But it doesn’t stop there; the library has a heart of its own. In each era, it automatically documents great heroes and warriors in one of its books, storing them forever."

Silence fell over them. Even Leon was hearing this for the first time.

’Interesting...’

In the game, it hadn’t been mentioned in such detail.

Eula continued.

"The name Astral-Tale was derived from one of its unique properties. It stores a copy of the great heroes’ or warriors’ souls in each book. Readers will experience the story by witnessing it, by living inside it. The reader’s consciousness will be temporarily shifted into the story."

Leon, curious, questioned.

"The copy of the souls of great heroes you just mentioned. Will the characters inside have all the traits of the original?"

Eula nodded.

"Correct. And because of that, you will experience the real nature of these great heroes, which is often falsely portrayed in public textbooks outside the Eclipse."

Alice asked this time.

"Um, Princess, I heard that Astral Travelling is a dangerous territory. Is it safe for our consciousness to enter one of these?"

Eula turned to her and asked for the first time.

"And you are?"

Alice stiffened. Without acting bratty, she politely answered, portraying a basic courtesy.

"How rude of me. I am Alice Nightson. I humbly greet the second princess."

Upon hearing the name Nightson, Eula’s ears perked up.

"Nightson? Are you related to Headmaster Raizen?"

"Ah, I have heard about you quite a lot." Eula smiled at her. "Headmaster Raizen always brags about you."

"O-oh, I apologize."

Eula smiled.

"No, it’s true. I have read one of your articles about Mana Resonance before, and truth be told, it’s simply brilliant."

"U-Uh... I am honoured, Princess."

Eula must not have noticed it, but Leon did.

Alice was blushing.

"...."

He thought, ’If only she had a filter for her words... haah.’

Leon changed the topic.

"So, what are the drawbacks of Astral travelling?"

Eula coolly answered, "Astral travelling depends entirely on how strong your mental consciousness is. Your brain will suffer the most if you let the story affect your consciousness too much."

"Like how much?" Leon asked hurriedly.

"It’s not much, but your brain will suffer a stroke, and then you’ll be left paralyzed for years."

"..."

"..."

Both Leon’s and Alice’s mouths hung open.

Leon was aware of the drawbacks, but that was in the game and not here. Whenever Ethan and other characters got lost in any book, the game’s mechanism would bring them back to the last save point.

"Now, then," Eula extended her hand toward Leon.

Leon looked down.

"What?"

Eula’s eye twitched, but she simply replied.

"The book. Give it to me."

Leon passed the book to her.

Staring at it, Eula read its title.

[The Shattered Swordmaiden]

"Hm? Interesting..." Eula commented, and then, looking up, she asked Alice.

"Did you choose it?"

Alice shook her head vigorously.

"No, it was him."

She pointed at Leon.

"Huh?" Eula’s eyes snapped to him.

"What?"

Leon blinked, knowing very well what she was about to say next.

"I didn’t know you had such... refined tastes in literature?"

"Wait, what?" Alice reacted, her voice climbing in pitch. "What do you mean by ’refined tastes’?"

Eula lifted the book that Leon had just handed her.

"The Shattered Swordmaiden, tells the story of Lady Lumina Elizabeth Dare, born into the highest nobility but who abandoned her luxurious life after her beloved died protecting her during an assassination attempt."

Taking her breath, Eula continued.

"Consumed by grief and guilt, she took up his beloved sword and began a relentless journey of vengeance against those responsible for his death. She trained under the harshest masters, enduring pain that would break even the seasoned warriors, all while her heart remained frozen in sorrow."

Eula paused, a knowing spark glinting in her eyes.

"She became history’s greatest swordmaiden, but the title ’Shattered’ came from how love and loss forged her into an unbreakable blade... yet left her heart in pieces forever. It’s quite a popular book among young maidens who romanticize the idea of love transcending death."

Leon felt his eye twitch.

Alice slowly turned to stare at him, her expression a mixture of shock and barely contained laughter.

"I had no idea you were drawn to tragic love stories."

"Haah... are you done?" Leon sighed.

"Well," Alice grinned wickedly, "your taste in literature is... surprisingly sentimental."

’Of course, Eula had read this book,’ Leon thought, already regretting his decision.

When it came to romance novels, Eula was the right person to consult. Since birth, she’d had a keen interest in reading, aside from Rinna it was the only thing that kept her company wherever she went, filling the lonely spaces of royal duty.

Moving past the topic, Eula took the book and placed it over the crystal, which was connected to a large metallic apparatus with several pipes extending underground.

Brrrr–! Grumblrrr—!

The Resonator shook once before golden light erupted from its core.

[The Shattered Swordmaiden]

Genre: Romance, Sword Art

Maximum readers: 2 to 5

[Start Astral Travel?]

[Yes] [No]

Eula pressed [Yes].

As soon as she did, she pulsed her mana into the resonator.

The book began to glow, hovering mid-air as its pages flipped rapidly. Both Leon and Alice felt their consciousness being pulled toward the book, as if caught in a powerful gravitational field.

Their bodies started dissolving into streams of light and data.

"Wha—!" Alice panicked.

"Don’t be nervous. I’ll be monitoring you the entire time. Just give me a signal, and I’ll call you back immediately," Eula assured them.

Before Leon’s body completely faded away, his eyes caught sight of a familiar translucent window.

[Unknown Interference Detected]

[Reconnecting to the World System...]

[||||||||||||||||||||.....]

[ERROR]

[World System: Disconnected]

[Searching for a nearby data bank]

[Success]

[Applying rollback]

[Success]

[Reallocating skills and stats]

[Success]

Several lines of code cascaded before his eyes until everything dissolved into pitch black, ending with two final notifications:

[Welcome, Administrator]

[Warning: Due to unauthorized access, the administrator may attract the attention of System Root]