Secretary of the Founder Shiso. Not a Librarian

[Core Room]

Summoning a racehorse would be no use whatsoever to a library.

"From the knowledge I've had since the start, a doohickey like this crystal ball generally sorts itself out if you just concentrate hard enough. The one who manages a library is, let me see, a secretary, was it? No, that's not it, er… a shiso, maybe? Yes, in 'Umpire,' the Shiso were the strongest, I'm fairly sure. Well, even if I'm a little off, it'll work out somehow. Good enough!"

And so the Dungeon Master laid its paw on the metal sphere, focused its mind, pictured something like a secretary-ish shiso, and attempted the summoning. The metal sphere seemed liquid, yet it didn't stick to the paw at all, with a warm, peculiar feel to it.

The Core was saying something incomprehensible, but it seemed the library staffer really was a shiso after all, and the summoning succeeded.

The summoned monster had black hair bound into a single bunch, with a blue metallic luster (a structural color), and pointed (though not long) ears. Humanoid, yet plainly not of any human race. By the look of it, probably female, though there was no chest to speak of, and depending on the species' traits it might be a femboy. There was the faint waft of perfume up the nose, and where the hair was gathered at the back was a hairpin adorned with small dark-green leaves and blue flowers. The skin was white and the eyes a deep, blue-tinged black.

As for clothing, a pantsuit, the sort one might find in an office, not the least bit fantasy-like. Well, she was a library staffer. A name tag hung from her neck, but it was blank.

The monster greeted it in a flat, emotionless tone:

"My race is Rosemary. I have no name."

So she had no name. That would be a bother to call her by.

"If you're a Rosemary, then 'Marie' will do for a name."

The Dungeon Master did not know that "rosemary" was not "rose" plus "Mary," but derived from ros marinus, "sea dew."

The Core said something again, but as it was incomprehensible, it ignored it.

"The Core's been saying something this whole time…"

"Ah, that's English. There are a great many worlds where English is used. If you don't understand English, Master, let's switch it to Japanese. So, the way to do it is, from 'Settings' you select 'Language,' then under 'Add a language' you choose '日本語,' then 'Set as my system language,' and further, you configure it under 'Language options,' and so forth…"

"It's rather cruel that you need to read English in order to switch the menu out of English."

"In all likelihood, this lineage of Dungeon Master can generally use English."

Before it had noticed, Marie's tone had become ordinary.

"So, your 'race' being Rosemary, does that have anything to do with the herb rosemary?"

"I am a race that carries the elements of a plant, called 'Asura.' If it were the elements of an animal it would be 'Beast,' and of a mineral, 'Preta.' Which means the Master is a Beast."

And so it turned out the Dungeon Master was a Beast. Why, you brute!

"I am a kind of Shiso family member, the 'Secretary of the Founder Shiso,' so from the very start I possess both the abilities of a founder and a secretary. That said, while a dungeon monster has no name, it can only do what it is told."

"I was worried this library could only summon horses."

"… horses, you say? The kind that go neigh?"

At the head of the monster list it now read "Shiso (Asura, Special)," and at the very end, "Deathwatch Beetle," "Booklice," "Silverfish."

"Hm? I'm fairly sure the top one was the two-crown horse Corolla Brian, or the father-and-son Derby winner Sledgehammer. Either way it was a horse."

"A horse, in a library? How odd… did you perform some strange operation? I'll trace back through the records."

At the spot Marie pointed to, it read:

So that was why it hadn't been understood at the time, it having been in English. Of course, the intellect was high. Which does not necessarily mean the words and deeds are intelligent.

"A main-line monster is the monster that forms the foundation of a dungeon. For a pirate ship, for example, it's pirates. If the horse has vanished, that means the main line was a horse, which is…?

"But a library's main-line monster being a plain horse seems unlikely. More probably a horse-beastfolk, which also squares with the Master being a Beast. Horse-Head is one of the wardens of hell, so this dungeon may originally have been a Library Hell."

"A Library Hell?"

"There are said to be countless kinds of hell. But what sort of torment would a Library Hell inflict upon the damned? Forcing them to read books all day long?… Would that even be torture? Or the reverse, perhaps, that there are countless books right in front of them but they're forbidden to read a single one?"

"Horse-Head can't be summoned anymore, so eh, whatever, good enough!"

In the end, the truth, that the Master had mistaken "librarian" (司書) for a horse's name, was never uncovered.

"A Named monster is one that has an individual name, like myself. An ordinary monster requires no food or drink and is absolutely obedient to the Master, but can only do what it is commanded. With a name, it can think and act on its own. Furthermore, a named monster, should it die for any reason, can be revived so long as there is dungeon energy. It will, however, require food."

"Sounds like giving them names is the better deal."

"…"

A Named monster carries the risk of fleeing or rebelling. An aide who is sharper than the Master is especially, extremely dangerous.

"… ah, also, in the case of a particularly powerful monster, it may be summoned already named from the start. The Horse-Heads that vanished from the summoning list were Corolla Brian and Sledgehammer, and it seems they were named ones."

Shiso and hisho (secretary) and shisho (librarian) really do sound alike, don't they? She was a Rosemary because there's a big one growing in the garden. It was also said to enhance the memory. That was part of the reason too.

The main line has nothing to do with stars, so it isn't as though there are red-giant monsters or white-dwarf monsters about. Not usually, anyway.