Tropes. They're the base of any popular piece of modern media. You would be hard pressed to find any form of entertainment that didn't use some tropes. As much as that was tiresome.

They're used to convey frequently used settings, themes, people, in a way that a reader or watcher would understand at a moment's glance. They convey information in a way that doesn't require much thought put into it.

Using tropes can be a good thing. Myself, and I would guess a good portion of the human race in my world, enjoy what I enjoy. That is to say, I would read light novels that peak my interest, with that interest born from my previous readings.

Humans as a whole are like that. We stay safe in our own little bubble, content with not being disturbed by outside forces. It's the same with all media.

In that sense, tropes can be both good and bad. Good, in that the common chuunibyou can get their power fantasies without bothering the rest of the people around them. Bad, in that it gave those very same people the fuel to continue their fantasies.

Even then, that wasn't the worst part. Tropes, by their very definition, were popularly used. Too much so. Oversaturation of the market in my modern world was rampant. Every season, an isekai. Every light novel, a harem story.

And right now, I was seeing one of the oldest, most saturated tropes of them all.

"What are you looking at, I suppose?"

A fucking loli baba.

I fucking hate this place.

…

The concept of being older than you look dates back a while. Even before I was born, really. Sometimes, the case could be as simple as being mistaken for a highschool student when you were in college. A common enough misconception, one that could occur in the real world.

The problem with fiction, as always, was that they took it too far.

Oh, here's a little kid that looks barely out of elementary school. What's that? They're actually a three thousand year old dragon that took the form of some kid they found at the time? Oh, what about this one? He looks like he's in middle school right now. Oh, he's some god of death that's over a few hundred years old?

Shit like that sours the experience.

Forgive me when I say that I didn't, nor do I, want to be associated with lolicons or shotacons. I may have been a productive member of Japanese society, being nothing more than a loner, but I at least didn't stoop to that level.

"You're Beatrice, I'm guessing?" I asked. Natsuki had led the two of us around the mansion, looking at doors repeatedly. Had Mathers not told me the guardian of the library was using some form of yin magic that basically used the doors of the place as their portals, then I would've looked at him in abject pity.

There was only so much time that one can watch someone inspect a door as thoroughly as Natsuki did.

Still, he was helping me by doing all the physical labor. The least I could do was humor the kid. I really didn't want to look as stupid as he does.

Finally, after a good half hour, he opened a door. I realized then that that was the first time he'd actually done that. All the other times, he'd just look at a door without doing anything else.

I was expecting the room beyond was just another path to wherever Natsuki was leading me. I was wrong. It wasn't a path, but our actual destination.

The library was beyond impressive, by this world's standards. Just standing at the entrance, I could see practically hundreds of books lined neatly on their shelves. On top of the shelves themselves, tome after tome, big enough that they wouldn't fit anywhere else.

That wasn't even putting into perspective the tomes that were too heavy to be anywhere but the floor. Hell, I wasn't even sure I could call stone tablets tomes at that point.

All of that, surrounding the sole occupant in the room.

Blonde. Check.

Drills. Check.

Weird eyes. Check.

All that described a girl that looked barely out of middle school. I swear to whoever is listening, and I'm sure there is, Zaimokuza is having the time of his life. All his damn kinks on full display here.

For a moment, my question was left unanswered. The girl looked at me and Natsuki in abject suspicion. I held out hope that this girl wasn't the guardian of the library. Maybe something would start making sense.

But no, it wasn't even the girl that ruined my hopes. It was Natsuki himself, nodding with his arms crossed, "Yep, that's Beako alright!"

"Who even are you? How did you find this place?" As Natsuki made to come closer, the girl leaned back as if struck. I don't blame her, I'd do the same if I was in her position, "Nevermind, just leave! Your stench is infesting this place already, in fact!"

"Ouch, and I just took a shower this morning…"

"Margrave Mathers told me that the guardian of the library is called Beatrice." I spoke up once more, "He told me that I needed her permission to access the library. Are you her?"

"I am, I suppose." Beatrice glared at me, "What do you want from the library?"

"Research." I answered immediately. There was no need to lie here, doing so would only lower the chance that she'd accept anything, "Specifically, I'm doing research into making a possible new spell. I need access to some texts regarding yin magic to continue."

While I wouldn't lie, it wouldn't be wise to spill everything out. She'd most likely ask Mathers about me, and if I were to say anything about dimension travel. He'd either take too much interest in me, or throw me to the curb.

Beatrice looked me up and down, then Natsuki. The kid gave a thumbs up. The guardian didn't pay it any heed, before approaching him. With one hand pinching her nose closed - really I didn't smell anything, I'll give Natsuki that - she pressed a hand against his stomach.

Natsuki screamed in pain.

A wall of earth ripped from beneath me as I spat out a spell.

Sharp, purple shards formed in the air, shooting down whatever stray debris came near the girl.

Natsuki was still screaming. The girl still had her hand on him.

I strengthened my body, before rushing towards the kid. I may not like him all that much, but I wasn't about to let someone suffer like this. More than that, I recognize what she was doing to him.

Dragging mana straight from your body was a painful experience if you didn't know what you were doing. By the very nature of it, you're forcefully dragging energy straight from your body, with pathways that you have never used.

It would be akin to using your legs right after you woke from a coma.

Especially for people from worlds like mine and Natsuki's, worlds where magic never existed.

So yes, I knew just how painful it was to drag mana out. I also knew that whatever it was that I felt, it was magnitudes smaller than what Natsuki was experiencing now.

To put it into perspective, all I had done, before getting accustomed to flowing mana through my gate, was drag the equivalent to a glass of mana out. The girl, if she was really Beatrice, was dragging a damn pool out of him.

Not only that, but she was likely using the kid's mana to defend herself.

I needed to get him away from her. I dodged a spear of crystal, before kicking my foot downward. The floor shuddered as dirt spewed out from beneath me. Before I could do anything else, she suddenly took her arm off of Natsuki.

He collapsed immediately.

"Hmph, I suppose." She still had purple mana shards floating up in the air.

"Let him go." I readied a spell, one that wouldn't be too damaging. She still had a veritable hostage, it wouldn't do for anyone to die just because of friendly fire.

"I'm," Natsuki gasped for air, "I'm alright! Please, stop, both of you!" He dragged himself upright, and even then, I could see him wobbling.

"Natsuki, you're a fucking moron." I bit out, "You want me to stop after she attacked you?"

"Attack?" She scoffed, "I wouldn't do something so inane, in fact. I was simply checking his intentions through his mana."

"Don't bullshit me." I slowly circled around her. With Natsuki behind her, I couldn't throw my spells that easily.

"A Great Spirit such as myself has no need to lie, in fact."

Great Spirit? Mathers hadn't mentioned that.

"Regardless of whether or not you're a Great Spirit doesn't change that you assaulted Natsuki." And was looking to do the same to me, if I had to guess.

"Hardly worth the effort." She crossed her arms, an annoyed look on her face, "I only did it to him since he reeked of the WItch's miasma."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Above all else, I had complete surety that Natsuki wouldn't fall into line with Witch Cultists. Barring the fact that he was only a recent resident of this world, his entire personality would likely get him killed within their ranks.

That, and even if he did have the Witch's miasma, then it likely had to do with his isekai protagonist bullshit. It would be a common enough trope, where the hero's power unknowingly comes from their greatest enemy.

"I can hardly expect a human like yourself to sense it, I suppose." The Spirit let the shards fall into nothing. I didn't let go of the spell I prepared, just in case, "He was practically radiating with the Witch's scent. Only Witch Cultists on the level of the Archbishops could rival the sheer strength of the miasma, in fact."

"Even if that were the case, why the hell would you risk coming near him?"

"Are you implying that a Great Spirit cannot defend herself, I suppose?" She was confident in her abilities then, "I could've thrown you two out of the mansion at any time I wanted the moment you stepped into the library, in fact."

"...Tch."

She got me there. Those shards that she produced were no joke. The amount of mana in one of those was more than I could produce without significant time in preparation. It was the reason why I didn't question her status as a Great Spirit. Otherwise, the only logical conclusion was that there was another Mathers-level mage within the margrave's mansion.

Either one could be true, in all likelihood, but the irises gave credence to the Great Spirit status.

Had she truly been an enemy, she could've killed me the moment before I cast anything, "Natsuki, you alive?" I still needed to be sure, just one last time.

"Yeah, just a bit wobbly." The boy stumbled in place as he tried to regain his footing, "Man, that was intense."

"See?" Beatrice smirked at me, "No lasting damage, as I expected."

There was being right, and there was being smug. The Great Spirit was definitely on the latter.

"Fine." I let my mana free, my spells dissipating into the ambient surroundings, "Never do that to me, understand?"

"As if you'd be worth the trouble, in fact." The Spirit scoffed in apparent disdain, "As for my permission, you're free to read whatever you want in the library, so long as you don't take anything out, I suppose."

I gave a grunt of confirmation before I walked past her. That was all I needed. I kept her in my peripheral vision, in case she tried something, but all I saw was a frown of confusion.

What? Was she expecting me to ask for her help in navigating this place?

Had this been a regular library, with a regular librarian, sure. I wasn't above asking for help finding a specific book. I was above asking someone who'd attacked a person right next to me with no warning.

"Yo, Hikigaya, wait up!"

Speak of the devil.

"What?"

"First off, thanks for standing up for me, even if it was all a misunderstanding." He gave me a thumbs up, "Second, need some help?"

I studied him for a moment. I was certain he didn't want to help. His eyes were glancing side to side, his body positioned in a way that Beatrice couldn't see his reactions.

He wanted to talk in private, is what he was saying.

I nodded wordlessly, and he followed me deeper into the expansive library.

It was a good two minutes later, looking and taking whatever I thought might be helpful, that Natsuki spoke, " So, you remember what Beako said, about the Witch's miasma?"

"Frankly, kid, I don't particularly care."

Don't get me wrong. I hate the Cult as much as humanly possible. I would be hard pressed to find anyone, other than Argyle, who hated them more than I did. Their very existence was a threat to everything that I had built for myself. Their interference could possibly spell my end before I could find a way back.

But Natsuki wasn't part of that. He was brash, annoying, loud, and many other things. Witch Cultist was not on that list.

"Even if you smell like Witch shit, then who the fuck cares. Astrea would've taken you down if he even suspected you were a cultist, and you've probably spent too much time near him anyway."

"I-" Natsuki blinked in abject confusion, before laughing out loud. We're in a damn library, for fuck's sake. Keep it down.

Actually, if the librarian was Beatrice, keep it up. Small annoyances were my bread and butter, and I'd annoy the shit out of her for her stunt.

"Thanks for that, Hikigaya!"

"If you want to thank me, then carry that slab over to that table."

…

A/N: If you like what I do and want to support me, check out my P-atreon at P-atreon•com(slash)Almistyor.

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