Volume Three: Cast of Characters

[The Library-City Dungeon]

Stands atop a hill, a little over 100 m high, in the uninhabited wasteland of "Adachi."

A tower-type dungeon built by stacking up libraries large and small.

Type: Library (produces books, newspapers, and magazines)

Scale: 6 tier-groups, 44 floors; height approx. 230 m; total floor area 130,000 m²

Number of monsters: 5 (of which Named: 5)

Unique laws: no open flame within the buildings; the Core Room and certain other areas off-limits to outsiders

[The Dungeon Master]

Has no name at all. First-person pronoun: "I." A Beast.

Staple diet: beer, black coffee, chūhai, energy drinks, and the like.

[Marie]

A Rosemary Asura. First-person pronoun: "I."

Slightly tall (163 cm). Has black hair with a blue metallic luster (structural color) gathered into a single bunch, and pointed (but not long) ears. Pale skin; eyes a deep, blue-tinged black (black eyes darkened with blue). Dresses as a woman, though strictly speaking she has no sex, and has no chest whatsoever.

The lightest in body weight of anyone in the dungeon. Note that the Asura weigh less than humans, while the Preta, conversely, are quite heavy. Mainly handles urban planning and agriculture.

[Mint]

A Mint Asura.

Androgynous and a bit short (158 cm). Short hair of a bright-green metallic luster (structural color), with eyes that are likewise a vivid, bright green. Skin a pale brown.

Indifferent to clothing. Mainly handles matters of science and technology.

[Anne]

A Lavender Asura.

Tall (174 cm) and slender, with black hair of a pale-purple metallic luster (structural color) and eyes a deep purple close to black.

Standard outfit: a plain dark-green long dress, a white apron, and a cap. Her work is looking after the Master, Marie, and Mint, none of whom can fend for themselves. Sapien-sensei and Rāja can manage on their own.

[Sapien-sensei]

A Sage Asura. First-person pronoun: "I" or "this old one."

Of ordinary height (167 cm). Hair of a metallic luster (structural color) faintly tinged with green, the base color gray. Eyes a greenish gray. Dressed as a man and giving off a middle-aged-fellow vibe, though of course he has no sex.

Mainly handles medicine and education. Works almost entirely behind the scenes, with little time in the spotlight, but his is important work.

[Rāja]

A Basil Asura. First-person pronoun: "I."

Tall (165 cm) and lean and muscular. Long hair of a vivid, deep-green metallic luster (structural color) reaching nearly to her waist. Eyes black (black deepened from green). Skin brown.

A warrior-general schooled in the naginata and in horsemanship. By her "setting," a graduate of a law faculty. Mainly handles military and administrative affairs.

● Humans and the like

[The Daikan]

Yoshida Nishinoichinojō, equivalent to Junior Seventh Rank, Lower Grade. Never uses a first-person pronoun.

A pompous fellow. On the tall side for these parts, though by no means a giant of six shaku or anything like that.

The Daikan (a non-hereditary lord) of the "Iruma" region to the west of the dungeon-city. Has not eaten rice once since taking up his post in Iruma.

[Echizen-ya] (given name not provided)

A fuel merchant. His first-person pronoun is usually "I" (humble), though it varies with the occasion.

Dreams of dealing in coal. Practically lives at the Library-City Dungeon.

[Okada Tarōzaemon]

Caretaker of the settlers. A half-bald man. His usual first-person pronoun is "I," but with his superiors it becomes "this humble one."

Cannot read or write, but is training furiously to learn.

[Commander Kishi]

Kishi Harima-no-suke.

Head of the warrior band "Kishi Band," which does not possess a single horse. The Daikan mistook "Kishi Band" for "knight order" and brought him along anyway.

His first-person pronoun shifts among "this one," "I," "this old one," and so on. This is common among the humans of this world.

(For reference, the Asura and the beastfolk do not switch their first-person pronouns about much.)

[Haruna]

A horse-beastfolk (horse-legged) come from the Land of Ke. Her first-person pronoun is "I."

Horse from the waist down, plus horse eyes and ears, but a human head. Coat color: bay. Female.

Her face is not an animal's, but since this world's animal realm is the Beast Realm, she is reckoned beastfolk all the same.

Rāja rides her, that is, sits in a carrier-frame on her back. She is faster on foot than an ordinary horse, though slower, naturally, than a racehorse.

● Regions and cities

The compass directions and relative positions resemble those of Saitama Prefecture to a degree, but since this is, of course, another world, they do not match. The distances are entirely different.

[Kasumigaseki]

The Iruma magistrate's office. Three days to the west. Beyond a dried-up river lie the castle and castle town of a provincial lord, and about one ri farther west of those lies Kasumigaseki.

[Furugōri]

The Hiki magistrate's office. To the northwest.

[Fuchū]

The Tama magistrate's office. The center of this country.

[The Land of Ke]

The neighboring country to the north. Home to many beastfolk.

[The Province of Sō]

The neighboring country to the east. To the southeast lies Kōnodai, the Katsushika magistrate's office, and along the Nakayama road, uninhabited land stretches all the way to the border.