The World Tree!

[Tier-Group 3 Rooftop Garden]

Marie was gazing absently up at the black sky. For all her talk of pressing on, no road forward was in sight. Incidentally, the sky was black because of the altitude. By the dungeon's functions, though, the air pressure, temperature, and sunlight were all normal, and the ultraviolet was moderately filtered as well. Marie's eyes are a near-black blue, so even strong ultraviolet poses no trouble for her, but her skin is fair, and if it took the full force of the ultraviolet beyond the atmosphere it would be a dreadful business.

(Lost in a five-ri fog… but then, this dungeon stands more than fifteen ri tall, so even if five ri of it are fog, there should be something in the rest worth taking as a reference.)

Two million books had been summoned into this third tier-group, and tens of millions into the Imperial Library far below, but reading was a hardship for the present Marie. Even operating an e-book was difficult by gaze alone, and her eyes tired quickly.

(I've become an utter NEET. There are only eight Named slots, so there's no place here for a freeloading Hiki NEET. But doing myself in isn't a solution either.)

Hiki, in this world, refers to the region northwest of the Library-City Dungeon; in the otherworld it corresponds to the vicinity of Matsuyama. Minuma lies in Adachi, so if the Dungeon Master turned NEET, would that make it an Adachi NEET?

(… Somehow my thoughts keep drifting in a more and more negative direction.)

Above the rooftop garden sat a still-higher observation deck, on which the World Tree was planted, but it could only be reached by stairs.

(The World Tree!)

[Tier-Group 3 Rooftop Garden]

"i go up wrld tre"

"Marie-san, what's this all of a sudden?"

"conect drectly"

"Er… go slowly and explain it from the beginning, would you."

(That is to say, the World Tree carries a portion of my memory, so while I'm in direct contact with it I can spare this body's brain a good deal of strain, and what's more, if only I could put out an offshoot of myself the way Mint does, I'd simply operate that… But why is it that Mint alone can spawn an offshoot?)

After all, of the plants that the Named Shiso (Asura) are based on, the only one that forms a great colony joined by underground runners is mint.

"In short, you're saying you want to go to where the World Tree is, Marie-san."

"○"

"Only, there's nothing but stairs up to the observation deck. You can't walk, Marie-san."

"fnd a wy somhw"

"Tacking on an elevator is no small undertaking. We'd have to dismantle one of a fitting size out of some library or other, haul it in, and put it together."

Because Marie is an Asura, her skeleton is cellulose-based, and in place of a stomach and intestines she has a simple sack-like digestive organ, so she weighs quite little; even so, she is heavy for an Asura to carry up the stairs on its back.

(Should we specially bring in a horse-leg and rig up a jinba-gura?… No. None save the Shiso (Asura) and their kin can enter the central core.)

A human of this region would think nothing of walking while shouldering a bale of rice heavier than Marie, and a horse or horse-leg can carry two bales on its back, but an ordinary Asura simply hasn't that kind of muscle.

"thn whut do we do"

"A construction elevator would be quick, but unfortunately we can't get hold of one. The stairs to the observation deck run a good ten meters and aren't even straight, so a stretcher's no good either."

(Named though I am, it would hardly do to lop off just my head and carry that up.)

A potted severed head is written, in the Empire of Korea, as Seoul (首爾). The meaning is "head only."

"If we're in a hurry, about all that's left is to haul you up by main force on a rope over the edge of the observation deck, but there's a legal problem with that."

"a lw say whut"

"To put it plainly: it can't be used on people."

Under the Animal Welfare Act a live animal would be no good either, but the Master didn't know that far.

(If the Saitama Prefectural Police came over from the otherworld, would I insist that an Asura isn't a person? But in the end it's a matter of safety, isn't it.)