Those Who Burn Books Will Eventually Burn People

(R-18G depictions are omitted, but please be advised that a pirate is executed.)

[The Plaza Before the Library]

The head clerk was talking with the fuel merchant.

"According to the heretics of 'Asuka, the Temple of Stone,' a Dungeon grows when you offer it human sacrifices."

"… They use an obsidian knife on the 'Oni-no-Manaita' to cut out the still-living heart, and let the blood run down the waterway of the 'Sakafune-ishi,' I hear."

"Since it's a temple of stone, killing upon stone by means of stone is best, apparently. This Dungeon is the fuel-producing type, so for it, burning the sacrifice to death is best."

"Burning at the stake. Is it…"

"That lot has a record of offering many sacrifices at the 'Kameishi,' forming a 'Kame-no-se' against a rival city and sinking it into the mire. Surely this Dungeon… it still has no name, does it… wouldn't reach all the way out here, and being up on a hill like this we'd be safe anyway, but in any case, sacrifices are useful. That said, murder is not a pleasant thing."

Asuka, on account of its name, came to take on Aztec elements and makes heavy use of sacrifices. This has become its supply of Dungeon energy, and it is a Dungeon-city developing at a rapid pace. The merchants' guild city, "Umeda, the Mercantile City," is likewise influenced by its name toward the Shang dynasty, but only to the extent of "pools of wine and forests of meat," and it does not go so far as to sacrifice sheep-beastfolk in place of the Qiang people (whose totem is the sheep); at most it binds and drags off rabbit-beastfolk.

"Shall we commission an adventurer to capture some wanted bandit with a bounty on his head? With an 'Alive Only' specification."

[The Plaza Before the Library]

A while later, the same fuel merchant came escorting a self-important middle-aged man in a crested haori and hakama, with a long sword and a short sword thrust through his sash. Several officials were escorting a single prisoner under guard.

"Hmm. So this is the fuel-depot Dungeon. Echizen-ya, is it true that offering up a sacrifice makes the thing grow?"

"My lord Daikan, there is no proof, but judging from the examples of other Dungeons, it would seem that paying with a life, whether by accident or by sacrifice, makes a Dungeon grow considerably."

"As it happens, we have a pirate in custody. Pirates are ordinarily put to the noose, but in such a backwater it's difficult to prepare a proper method of execution, so there's no problem with burning him at the stake. To begin with, we have no gallows here."

This region's capital-punishment system differs from that of the Edo period in that it has hanging and the like, but, the same as in the Edo period, it is arsonists who are burned at the stake. The reason they are called "pirates" when there is no sea is unknown. Incidentally, an Edo-period daikan had no authority over capital punishment and would be dismissed the moment he caused trouble, but this region's "Daikan," being so very remote, has great discretion, making him in effect a "fixed-term, non-hereditary feudal lord."

At the man's command, the officials bound the pirate to a metal post on the grounds with mud-smeared rope. Of course a library would have no execution platform; in the other world its purpose is as a flagpole, but since it is a Dungeon structure and won't be destroyed even if burned, it is convenient.

Fuel books were piled at the pirate's feet, and fire was set, and…

(R-18G scene omitted)

The pirate's corpse smoothly faded, then vanished.

"If the Dungeon grows from this, will it start producing fuel other than paper, I wonder."

To the head clerk, the fuel merchant said,

"If it's firewood, those lumber merchants are likely to come poking their noses in, so coal would be best. 'Battleship Hashima' has a horde of zombies underground, far too dangerous, and coal can't be mined there; and 'Coalmine Coal Mine' is so far away that even I have never been."

Because the fuel merchant did not know English, he failed to notice that the Dungeon's name, "Coalmine Coal Mine," was absurd, the "Coalmine" part being nothing but "coal mine" all over again.

[The Library Open-Stack Repository-cum-Reading Room]

"A rather fine-looking room, this."

"My lord Daikan, might I suggest that, going forward, the execution of bandits be carried out at this Dungeon?"

"If this Dungeon is to grow, then we might as well go a step further and relocate the village over here."

"A Dungeon has the advantage that garbage naturally disappears, but it isn't well-suited for habitation, as monsters spawn in dim, damp places. Even so, Umeda, the Mercantile City, is for the most part underground, dim and damp with monsters spawning, and yet many people live there.

"This Dungeon, on the other hand, is bright and dry, and has no monsters whatsoever."

"Echizen-ya, you're quite the scoundrel yourself."

"Oh, perish the thought. I am no match for Your Lordship the Daikan."

The Dungeon does not, in fact, belong to the fuel merchant Echizen-ya.