TIPS: Treasure-Hunting Meiro-chan

~Respega Underground Labyrinth~

“W-Whoa!”

“Wait! Konoha!?”

After her conversation with Couperin’s Tomb, Konoha had gotten so excited that she accidentally crashed into a wall—and that was where this story began. The Starry Sky Chamber was somewhat dim, making distances unexpectedly difficult to judge. Well, that coincidence ended up bringing them good fortune.

“S-Something moved, Meiro-chan!”

When she pushed against one of the walls of the Starry Sky Chamber, it moved easily, went through a series of complicated motions, and then an entire room suddenly appeared beyond it. Sorry for the crude explanation, but that was essentially what happened. How exactly the room had been created was irrelevant for now; what mattered was what was inside it.

“A kitchen, a bathroom, a library, a recreation room, a bedroom… What even is this place?”

“Maybe it was Couperin’s Tomb-san’s living quarters?”

“That skeleton already has an enormous treasure chest as its living quarters, so perhaps this is more like… a reward?”

“Then they could’ve made it easier to find. Ah! There’s tons of food!!”

The room beside the kitchen served as a pantry, and from the look of things, it contained a decent stockpile of food.

“The eggs, dairy products, and vegetables are all fresh~. Why is that??”

“Magic… is probably the only explanation. This place is now a magical space saturated with the power of Couperin’s Tomb. At this point, nothing that happens here would surprise me.”

“Hmm, hmm… With this much stuff, I might be able to make ice cream.”

“Ah, that dessert you mentioned earlier that sounded like some sort of medicine?”

“It’s not medicine!! It really is sweet and delicious! All right, I’ll make some! You just relax, Meiro-chan!”

And so, Konoha began making ice cream. There was even a box equipped with refrigeration magic, and frankly, the level of civilization in this one place was completely absurd.

No matter what Meiro said to Konoha after that, she received nothing but humming in response, so with nothing else to do, Meiro decided to head straight for the library she had been looking forward to.

“As expected, I suppose.”

Couperin’s Tomb was the First Demon King.

Around five hundred years ago, he had rampaged through the eastern reaches of the kingdom before being defeated by the First Hero, a girl who had been fifteen years old at the time. Since the First Hero’s whereabouts afterward remained unknown, the commonly accepted theory was that they had killed each other. During the defeat of the Second Demon King, Pavane for a Dead Princess, the Second Hero was likewise said to have died together with the Demon King. The history surrounding Heroes and Demon Kings had never ended in anything but tragedy.

But that was not really what mattered here. As for how Couperin’s Tomb, the First Demon King, had preserved his vast accumulation of knowledge, a glimpse of the answer could be found here—in this library.

(These are probably valuable books that are now restricted by the kingdom. Records of those who opposed the kingdom in the past… Though they abruptly stop five hundred years ago. I see. Preserving the records of the rebel side as well… That skeleton really was meticulous.)

Meiro casually flipped through several books nearby before returning them to their shelves. In terms of size, it was more of a reading room than a library, but the sheer depth of its collection was worthy of a true library.

“Hmm, what is this…!?”

One book that Meiro casually picked up was—

“W-W-What a shameless book!! And these are two girls together!!”

—one of Couperin’s Tomb’s treasures.

The cover overflowed with lilies, two girls intertwined with each other, and a title written in an adorable design. It was probably something Couperin’s Tomb had created himself.

“S-S-Something this shameless! It would be terrible if Konoha saw it!! I-I-I’ll have to dispose of it myself…”

Meiro firmly shoved the novel deeper into the shelf. She then tried to leave the library as though shaking away her distracting thoughts—

“…Maybe just a little.”

—but failed.

“T-This is… between girls! H-Hyaaaah! How shameless… Ugh, calm down, my heart! If I’m this flustered, I won’t even be able to turn the pages!”

The illustrations scattered throughout depicted sickeningly sweet scenes of physical affection between the girls. Meiro’s face rapidly turned bright red. She continued turning the pages with her eyes glued to them until she finally finished the entire book… the first volume, that was.

“Damn it!! It ends here!? What happens to Michika and Hana after that!? Asada-senpai got involved too, and it was just getting good with a love triangle! That stupid skeleton, ending it there!”

“…Meiro-chan?”

“Ugh, what even is this burning passion welling up from the depths of my heart!? The second volume. I need the second volume! What I need to do right now is search for it with everything I have—”

“Meiro-chan!”

“What is it, this time…………………………Ah.”

Without her noticing, Konoha had ended up standing behind her. She was holding a container of ice cream. Apparently, it was vanilla flavored. But that was completely irrelevant right now.

“A-Aaaah, aaaaah! N-No, you’ve got it wrong, Konoha!!”

“Huh? Oh, were you reading something, Meiro-chan? Let me see, let me see!”

“Apyoi!!”

“Apyoi!?”

Konoha reached toward the book, and Meiro instinctively pulled it away from her. Apparently, this was the one thing she absolutely did not want Konoha to see.

“Th-This is a dangerous book!! You absolutely must not read it!”

“What!? But you’re reading it, Meiro-chan!”

“Th-That’s… um… Th-This book places a curse on anyone whose name starts with ‘Ko’!”

“What an incredibly specific curse… Come on! Let me seeee~!!”

“I said no, so no!! Kyaaah!!”

Konoha tickled Meiro under the arms as she held the book high above her head to keep it out of reach. Meiro involuntarily let out a sweet cry, but she had no time to care about that. At this point, she was in exactly the same situation as a male student whose mother was about to discover his secret stash.

“Hmph. Fine. I’ll go eat my ice cream first, then. Come over when you’re done reading too, Meiro-chan. It’ll melt, so don’t take too long.”

Apparently realizing that continuing would get her nowhere, Konoha left the library. Meiro breathed a sigh of relief and patted her chest. She had won through sheer persistence.

“Phew, that was close. Well, I am somewhat curious about this ‘ice cream’ too, so I suppose I’ll go.”

She straightened her disheveled clothes and started walking away. But before that—

“Item Box… Yes, there’s still room.”

Having firmly resolved to search for the second volume after she finished eating, Meiro shoved the novel into her Item Box and left the library.