Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- (Re:ゼロから始める異世界生活)

You did it!

Subaru, that was amazing!

Whoever thought this up was evil!

Huh? That's your first reaction?

There's no way that's fair!

Why give questions only people who know the same sky I do can answer?!

Your master must have been a real jerk!

Aw, c'mon! How can you say that?

You shouldn't say mean things about yourself!

That aside, this sure is a lot of books.

I'm so curious to see what kinds of books they all are.

Miss Shaula described this as a treasure trove of wisdom.

Based on her reaction,

this is the first time she's seen this archive opened.

We'll have to walk around and check everything, I suppose.

But it was you who solved the riddle, right, Subaru?

So is it all right for anyone other than you to touch them?

Oh, yeah...

But if they made it so only the one who answered it can read anything,

why would the rest of you been allowed to enter?

Oh, I get it.

The fact that we got in here at all probably means we're allowed to be.

Oh, look!

The letters are moving around! I can't read them at all!

This one's doin' the same thing.

It's a form of cognitive obstruction.

But I can read the titles, I suppose.

This one says "Noah Libertas."

This one says "Aegon Voller."

They're not in any kind of order, either.

Is it possible those are people's names?

Yes, it looks like they are... but...

At a glance, I don't see any names I recognize.

Of course, that may change if I go around looking at them all, but...

Damn it...

What's the point in a bunch of books no one can read?

Hey, isn't this...

Subaru?

A woman.

There was a lone woman.

One so young that I'd hesitate to call her a "woman," but a woman.

Typhon, let's go.

Her world was all black and white,

good and evil, righteous deeds and wicked deeds.

And the one who divided them up so clearly was her father.

He was in charge of dealing criminals

punishments befitting the gravity of their crimes.

He was the scale that decided what was good or evil in their world.

He tried to teach that to her,

but she didn't understand.

There was no simple answer to judge good versus evil.

Crime and punishment were influenced by many different factors.

And then...

Huh?

I-I'm sorry, Father. I dropped it...

and it broke.

You were right to confess to your crime and apologize.

That was when she finally understood.

The scale that weighed the gravity of a crime

could only be found within the heart of the one who committed it.

Did you do something bad?

Huh?

Are you an evildoer?

Did you do something bad?

Did you do something bad?

Did you do something bad?

Father, are you an evildoer?

Did you do something bad?

Typho—

She understood, and she was content.

She had at last acquired the scale.

The Witch of Pride went on to question people's sins,

deal punishment, and judge criminals.

Subaru!

Are you all right?

You looked like you were in so much pain.

D-Did I manage to avoid getting carried off by it?

I'm still here, right?

Typhon...

Is that a name you know, I suppose?

Y-Yeah.

Hey! Are you nuts?!

Now, that's just rude.

It's no different from the other books, I suppose.

But it appeared differently to you.

That's how I perceived it.

Yeah... but why only this book?

Where did you hear about this Typhon person?

It's hard to explain.

I mean, if you don't know her, that means you didn't meet her...

but it was at the graveyard.

The graveyard?

One of the witches who existed in the past.

The Witch of Pride.

About as young as Beako, but with darker skin.

But she was like the living manifestation of innocent cruelty.

I was able to read that book and experience her... memories? Life? Roots?

Whatever it was, I experienced them vicariously.

It sure didn't feel good, though.

You experienced someone's memories... vicariously?

This is sounding more and more like the trial in the graveyard.

Yeah, except that time, you were facing your own memories head-on.

That was a piece of cake, though!

R-Right! A piece of cake!

Your tough act aside,

this book lets you experience someone's memories vicariously.

Put another way, it could be a means of retracing the past, I suppose.

So the claim that you can find anything you want to know in this library is—

Julius?!

Julius, keep it together!

You can hear me, can't ya?!

Lady Anastasia...

Yes, that's the way.

Just take slow, deep breaths.

You're gonna be fine.

Got a fever from trying too hard to read these impossible books?

Look at you, trying to be clever!

Hey, ow!

Don't be mean!

Julius, are you sure you're all right?

Yes. I'm very sorry for worrying you.

That said, it wasn't particularly good for my own heart.

Wait, you mean... you saw it, too?

Yes.

Balleroy... Temeglyph?

Wasn't there a general with that name in the Vollachia Empire?

A former general, to be precise.

He was a virtuous warrior of unparalleled skill.

I faced him one-on-one and somehow survived,

but only by a hair's breadth.

I knew it.

The books in here can be read by one familiar with their author—

one who has passed, at that—and grant a vicarious look into their past, I suppose.

That seems like a fair assessment.

Wouldn't that mean all the books in this library

are labeled with the names of all dead people in the world, past and present?

If that's right,

it's gonna take forever to find the one book about someone you're lookin' for.

Whoever made this library really was the biggest jerk ever.

Boy, this all feels so overwhelming.

Between this and the riddle,

are you finally interested in being part of this now?

I'm not sure about that.

But basically, the more dead people you know,

the more of these books you can read, right?

There might be quite a few of them for me, then.

Books of the dead, huh?

You're such a terrible man, Big Brother!

That's a lot more painful coming from you than it would be from Ram or Anastasia.

This might be a weird time,

but can I ask you some questions about yourself?

Huh?

I think you have a few too many romantic interests already.

That's not what this is about, okay?!

I'm just kidding.

If there's something you wanna know, go ahead and ask.

I'll take you up on that, then.

How long have you been an assassin?

It's been five or six years since I started this job.

But in my case, it wasn't so much a job

as just following the orders of my mom, the one who took me in.

Hang on... Are you saying...

Oh, yeah, I was dumped as a child.

I was abandoned in some forest before I was even old enough to be aware,

and the mabeasts there raised me.

There are mabeasts that would raise a human baby?

Not normal babies.

But I was born with the ability to befriend mabeasts.

I guess that saved my life.

In fact...

I think my divine protection was the reason my family dumped me.

Kinda hard to tell if it was a good or bad thing, y'know?

Hey, Meili, I'm just being hypothetical here, but...

What?

If your parents' books were in here, would you want to read them?

My parents?

As in, not my mom, but my real parents?

Yeah.

No interest at all.

Really?

Don't get the wrong idea about me.

I'm not mad at them for dumping me or anything.

They're not even worth that, really.

So...

if I'd said I was interested, what would you have done?

I would've looked for them, of course!

It might not happen right away,

but if you look into it and find their names, I could make time to—

You really are an idiot, aren't you?

Why, though?!

Say, I was thinking...

How do these books grow in number?

For example...

if you were to drop dead right here and now,

would your book just appear out of thin air?

Now that piques my interest!

Sorry, but I can't exactly test that for your sake!

Sounds like you two are having fun.

Did you find something?

Unfortunately, no.