「Kyaaaa!」

Airi who's watching cries out, and the surrounding adventurers who are also watching exclaim “Ohhh!” seeing the punch.

Souta who receives the punch doesn’t move an inch.The man who punched him is rubbing his fist.

「B-b.a.s.t.a.r.d, what did you do!」

「I didn’t do anything, isn’t your punch just weak?」

「S-s.h.i.+t! Once more, take this! 」

Not learning from his experience, the man punches again, now with his other hand.

This time, Souta stops the punch with his hand before reaching his face.

The man tries to pull it with the power of his whole body, but he can’t move with his fist being caught.

「Gugugu, let go!」

Souta releases him just as he's told. The man who's suddenly released loses balance and falls b.u.t.t first.

「What are you doing!? 」

「No, as you said, I let you go and yet … here, grab it.」

Souta holds out his hand to help the man get up, and he grasps Souta’s hand obediently.

The man tries to stand up by himself, but Souta forcibly raises him up to his feet.

The man recently gained the ability to be C-rank, so he can feel Souta’s strength from the hand he holds.

Just by being held, the man's movement is sealed.

「So what are you gonna do? Still going? 」

「N-No, it’s fine already. It seems to be my mistake, I’m sorry for troubling you.」

「Really? That’s good then. Well then, I happen to have some tasks to do now, so I need to go.」

Souta releases his hand and leaves the guild.

The man, still stunned, checks the held hand by opening and closing it.

When he notices he's attracted everyone's attention, he lowers his head to people around.

「Ummm, everyone, sorry for making a ruckus. It’s just my misunderstanding. Airi-san, sorry to trouble you.」

「N-No, I do not mind, but ……」

Both Airi and the crowd are worried and curious about why the man who had lost his temper and caused such a disturbance suddenly became quiet.

However, as it seemed so strange, n.o.body could ask him.

In the time everyone hesitates to decide whether or not to ask him, the man has already left the guild.

Souta goes straight to the big library after leaving the guild.

Just as Airi said, after walking to the northeast from the guild for a while, there is a big building with 『Library』 written on the entrance.

It’s a stone building with many small windows. The windows seem to have curtains to prevent sunlight from entering.

People don't seem to get in and out much, as there's little traffic.

Souta opens the door with a profound feeling. It’s full of the smell of books once Souta enters.

Countless bookshelves can be seen, and there are also bookshelves lining up on second floor.

Although the place restricts sunlight from coming in, it's kept bright with lighting magic tools installed in various places.

There is a counter to the right and has two librarians as receptionists. A woman wearing gla.s.ses in the back, and a man in the front.

Souta chooses the closest one and goes to the counter.

「Welcome, is this your first visit or have you used the library before?」

「No, today is my first time.」

「I understand, then I will explain how to use this facility.」

After saying that, he gives a piece of paper to Souta.

「I will explain verbally, but if you forget, just refer that paper.」

Souta nods, receiving the paper while listening to the male librarian’s explanation.

「First, we will ask for one gold coin as entrance fee, although it might seem expensive, this is a deposit in case we found damage to a book, it will be returned if nothing is found.」

Although the use of magical tools in various fields is expanding, the progress of technology concerning printing and binding is slow. This makes books expensive.

「Next, we don’t lend books, so in principle the book can only be used inside the building. That’s two of the basic rules.」

When Souta thought that the explanation is lacking, the female librarian also joined the conversation.

「If you have anything you would like to ask about the books, such as searching for specific book or books about specific subject, we will answer.」

Souta takes out a gold coin from his bag.

「First, here's the deposit fee. Also, I’m looking for a book about the state of affairs of each race's countries… can you look for it? 」

「Please wait a moment… ….」

The male librarian starts checking the catalog.

After waiting for a while, the female librarian hands the memo paper to Souta.

「Here is the shelf number and the t.i.tle of the book. It seems that reading those books will give you the information you are looking for, so please refer to it.」

「Ahh, thank you.」

After receiving the paper, a frustrated glare toward the female librarian can be seen from the male librarian.

「The shelf is located to the right on the second floor.」

The female librarian continues guiding Souta without worrying about the glare.

「Oh, thank you. Then, I’ll go.」

Souta takes the stairs and looks at the shelves on the right to find the shelf in the note.

「Umm, this and this …」

Souta takes the book that t.i.tle is written on the memo.

Reading through the book, Souta gradually understands the situation of each country.

In the human territory, there were several old kingdoms that fought for dominance, but in recent years, things have been calm.

The northern empire has the most power, and the Addinal Kingdom that summoned Souta is a small country in the southern region that’s inferior to other countries in war potential.

Because of that, they might be trying to summon the Heroes to turn this around and show their existence.

There are also various other large and small countries.

In the beastman territory, there is a unified state governed by three kings called the Three Beast Kings.

One nation being ruled by multiple kings is rare, but each of them governs the field they are skilled in.

Also, there were many that had negative opinions of the human race regarding the battle a thousand years ago.

However, with the change of beast king, those negative opinions gradually faded. Now, while there are still some who hate the human race, the number is gradually decreasing.

The gnomes who had originally gathered everyone for the battle of a thousand years ago died.

For that reason, now they are scattered all over the place without territory.

The dwarf tribe is located further north of the empire. They have many mines, so many countries purchase ore from them.

Moreover, they have no discrimination against other races, especially the nature of other races. They accept whoever comes, and those that leave don't leave because they are chased out.

Other countries are currently unable to catch up to the smithing ability of the dwarves.

The Dragonkin lost their hero in the fight a thousand years ago, and since then have disappeared from history.

The elves tend to hate the human race for killing their hero, but human race's hero plan to try to improve their relations.h.i.+p.

However, their relations.h.i.+p worsened, not only with the human race but also other races due to their overuse of the Iyas.h.i.+ Trees centuries ago.

Originally possess unsociable trait as a race, they make some restriction on the exchange with other countries that basically closes off their country.

However, some elves are leaving the country because they are disgusted by their race's unsociable nature.

Besides that, a detailed history is also written, but Souta only roughly reads this part.

t/n: the last part about other countries information will be revised later when there is more information to them, at this point, my j.a.panese is not good enough to understand them only from this information

also change dragon races to dragon kin, this is the humanoid dragon, i will use dragon species for actual dragon and dragonkin for dragonoid, the edit on earlier chapter will be done tomorrow

also just to add to your curiousity, next chapter is souta’s memory about the last battle