The Communication Hero with the Cool Heroine (EP 8): The road to the Grand Library is harder than I thought

“I messed up…”

It’s been five minutes since we started walking down the main street going to the Grand Library and already I’ve been separated from Sonia. We were walking side-by-side but the moment I got distracted by a storefront, Sonia was gone before I knew it.

“So-Sonia…”

I try to call out her name, but I can only make a tiny voice that’s easily drowned out by the voices and footsteps of the crowds around me. And here I thought that victory cry in the grasslands meant my communication troubles were all over…

“What should I do…?”

If I just stay in place, I don’t think Sonia will find me in a crowd like this; however, if I do move from this place, the chances of Sonia finding me get even lower. I thought of how to rejoin her and after a minute, decided to just head to the Grand Library myself.

Sonia said that you could get there just by going straight on the main road, and since it has “Grand” in the name, I’m sure I’ll know it when I see it.

So, I started walking, but after a while… “Huh? W-Weird…”

I should have already covered quite the distance but I can’t find any building that would resemble a “Grand Library”. I started wondering if I’d already passed it by without realizing it… haah… this has turned into such a hassle.

It would have been so nice if I could have just walked straight and reached the Grand Library, but if I already passed it by, my chances of rejoining Sonia would be close to zero. And there’s only one way to find out if I’d already missed it:

“Ah… um! E-Excuse me!”

It was asking for directions from the people walking around the main street. I built up my courage to talk to each person passing by, but no one is willing to stop and help me out.

“What do I do now…?”

My heart broke. But just when I was about to give up on asking for directions:

“Is something wrong?”

I looked behind me and found a woman calling out to me. She was beautiful, with red hair and an outfit that was a bit on the skimpy side. “Ah… um… the thing is, I want to know where the Grand Library is…” I replied.

“Ah, the Grand Library, I know where it is so I’ll just take you there,” she said.

“T-Thank you very much…”

I was a bit wary of her because of her suspicious appearance but she seemed to be a kind person underneath it all. “There are probably a lot more kind people like Sonia in the world, after all,” I thought as we walked. Then, after some time:

“Right, we’re here.”

We were in front of a nondescript building. No matter how you cut it, you couldn’t call this a “Grand Library”. I felt an unpleasant stirring in my gut and started putting a little distance between myself and the woman.

“T-This is the Grand Library?” I asked.

The woman grinned and said, “It’s not.”

She dashed forward and grabbed my left hand. No matter how hard I struggled, I couldn’t shake her hand off at all.

Aahhh, I’ve done it now…!

This world is dangerous. I’m finally wrapping my head around just how wary I should be but it comes too late. The woman drags me into the building with such ridiculous strength for someone of her appearance.

“W-Why are you doing this?!” I yelled.

She ignores my question, makes it clear she has no intention of talking to me. I frantically thought of how to get out of this situation—then I remembered my unique skill.

“Fire Arr—guh?!”

She gagged with a strange cloth. “Don’t play around unless you want to get hurt,” she growled.

I should have expected this; in a world where magic was widespread, criminals had to have anti-magic measures on-hand.

Haa… now, what do I do?

This is the third time I’ve been attacked by criminals since coming into this other world. Up till now, Sonia has always come to the rescue but I’ve got a feeling it won’t be the same this time. I don’t even know where I am in the first place.

I had a bad feeling about resisting any further, so I yielded—I might get injured and things will go easier this way. I don’t know what she’s planning, but I have a feeling it will happen whatever I do.

“Good to see you’re behaving and understand what’s going on,” she said as she took me the dimly-lit back of the building. “Now then, come with me.”

With my mouth gagged with that cloth and my hands soon tied with a rope, I could only walk after her to a door made of solid wood.

“Don’t you can run away,” she said as she pulled open the front. “I don’t want any more trouble out of you.”

The interior was a prison. There were two blocks of iron laying on the floor—no, two corpses, so immaculate it was difficult to tell they were dead at a glance. I couldn’t take my eyes off them, the stench of rot was starting to leak out.

… Why?

I was overwhelmed by all this horror and misery. My body begins to shake, my breath turns shallow, I’m starting to feel dizzy. I unconsciously try to retreat.

“Hey, be a good girl and go in,” the woman says. “I don’t want to hurt you too badly.”

With her words, my mind snaps back to the present, I scan my surroundings: beyond this door is was a cell where the corpses lay. There is nothing on this first floor. Behind me is a locked door leading outside. My mouth is gagged and my arms are tied.

With all that in mind, I rushed to the front door as fast as I could, started kicking the door as many times as my legs could manage.

“Kick all you want, no one’s coming to save you,” the woman said as she came after me. “My friends should have killed that black-haired girl by now.”

I didn’t believe her. Nothing like that would happen to Sonia, and I keep on kicking this door, she’ll hear the sound and come to help. But, there is no sign this door is opening anytime soon.

“Oh, I can barely watch, you poor thing,” the woman says, giving me a compassionate look.

I kept on frantically kicking the door.

“Now, now, just give up already. I don’t have any more time,” she said. “If we wait any longer, I’ll be killed!”

I’m sure this woman is doing this for a reason. With how she grabbed my arm earlier, she should be able to pull me away from the door—but she didn’t.

“Would you kindly… come with me?”

She’s asking so nicely. I stopped kicking the door. I’m sure this woman is fearing for her life. Yes, that’s it, she just doesn’t want to die. But despite that fear, she’s not forcing me, she’s just asking.

…

I was confused for a while, but I’ll follow her after all. It was really scary going over to that door, but now that she’s asking me to, it doesn’t feel that way anymore. I walk over to her as she holds the door open to the cell. But then, when I almost crossed into it–

“Haruka!”

I turn to the familiar voice shouting my name; with my eyes wide from surprise, I see the door busted open and Sonia standing there.