Useless.
Waste of space.
Pathetic.
Cowardly.
Weak.
All were words once used to describe the future King of Mysteries, Cauron J. Thorn.
When he was young, he was abandoned by his foster parents five times, their excuses varying in complexity.
One pair complained that he was too intelligent, that he acted as if he were twice their age and already a scholar.
Another said he was possessed by a Devil; their final act was to throw him into the sea to 'purify' before leaving him to drown.
Of course, he survived such an incident, going on to be left outside the door of the Library of Nautilus at the age of two.
It was not the local librarians who found him at their doorstep, nor was it a visiting professor from a university, nor was it even a scientist.
The man, or more accurately, the being that gazed downward from the massive wooden doorways of the library, was a god.
The Scholar of Heaven, the God of Knowledge and Wisdom, and the one who oversaw the Library of Nautilus and its preservation.
He was the only god who still walked the Dimension of Waves after the Gates of Heaven had been formed and the God Slayer had been sealed.
Left behind during the Dimensional Wars and overlooked upon the establishment of the greatest defense in the universe, he was utterly alone on the human-infested land mass.
Of course, if he felt lonely, he would visit an old friend and his prisoner deep below the Sea of Abyss, yet that couldn't fill the void in his heart.
Only when he gazed upon the tiny child sitting at his doorstep did he, for the first time, furrow his brow in confusion.
He was supposedly omniscient, his ability to know anything and everything surpassing that of all other beings throughout all time.
Whether it be the deepest of secrets or the darkest of tales, he knew it all, a power so overwhelming that the world itself imposed a limit.
At least, that was once he had before being locked beneath the Gates of Heaven and abandoned by his Divine Authority, leaving him only omniscient within the radius of the island of Nautilus.
To the humans of the Dimension of Waves, he knew everything, but to him who had once seen the entire universe at once, it was a blemish upon his name.
While his godly power was mostly sealed, the Knowledge Barrier, forged in response to the God of Knowledge's ascent to godhood, still acted as an information wall against the spread of untimely facts.
Scaling to the level of importance of the knowledge and of its discretion, one could or could not speak of it to an individual.
If he wished to tell a human of the elegance of Heaven, he would be silenced; however, if he wished to tell the same tale to a Sea King, then only bits and pieces of his words would get cut.
Naming the phenomena after himself, the god remained within the Dimension of Waves, keeping watch over the largest storage of information anywhere throughout the universe.
The appearance of Cauron, however, had confused him, a previously omniscient being.
Parting his lips, he spoke aloud to the small child.
"『What an interesting human.』"
As he watched the minuscule creature open its orange eyes and gaze up upon the human form that he had assumed, a smile appeared across its face.
"『How unusual…』"
Gently leaning over and picking the young child up into his arms, he searched the perimeter, noticing a fleeing woman in the distance.
Seeing her thoughts clearly, he witnessed her wish that the deity would kill the small boy when he was found, obviously believing negatively of the god who managed the library.
"『Tsk. Humans are truly vile.』"
Wrinkling his nose and pointing his finger outward, he fired a projectile equal to the size of an atom, its form instantly colliding with the running adult's skull.
Taking a deep breath and turning around, he felt the woman's body explode into pieces, then dissolve into nothingness.
"『To abandon the child you swore to protect is a sin I do not cherish.』"
Snapping his fingers, the massive double doors of the Library slammed shut, the deity and the child now vanishing behind its walls.
The darkness of the night returned upon the land, the future of the world decided by the actions of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom that very evening.
…
"Dad! I'm hungry!"
The sound of a ten-year-old boy's voice echoed through the silent library, the sound of hundreds of hushes instantly resounding through the building.
Beside the young Cauron, a fragment of the deity's body appeared instantly, his face wrought with annoyance.
"『You will address me as a god boy. I shall not approve of you dubbing me as your—.』"
In an act of defiance, the child mimicked the god's own words, laughing as he did so.
Knowledge's rage flared, his wrath subdued by the warning he had been given half a decade ago by his friend in the Abyss.
If he were to cause too wide a disturbance within the human world, then it would be impossible for him to stay and oversee the library, something that he vehemently opposed, regardless of whether it meant he could return to Heaven.
Therefore, as he replied to the boy, he was careful to be calm and reasonable about it.
"『If you do not wish to address me as a god, then you shall do it properly.』"
He paused, taking a rare moment to think of something that he didn't already know.
"『As you have finally begun to speak instead of that insufferable mute that you once were, then you may call me Mr. L.』"
A tremor rocked the island as the first letter of the deity's name was revealed to the world for the first time.
Even something as simple as what to call a person, or a deity, could invoke the authority of the Knowledge Barrier.
"Mr. L?"
The orange-haired child thought for a moment before smiling widely, his head nodding back and forth quickly.
"Larry!"
The God of Knowledge froze, his eyes blinking repeatedly.
"『What…?』"
Looking down at his hands, the deity prayed to his father up in the stars above to free him from this hideous world.
Without even responding to the boy's words, he vanished, a light dusting of white particles left in his wake.
How rude…
Cauron Thorn snickered quietly, his carefully planned act to annoy his adopted father a roaring success.
While being a nearly omniscient being, such a title was useless when that omniscience only extended to events prior to the establishment of the Gates of Heaven.
Disregarding that, as he walked through the massive library, the boy could only sigh as he returned to his usual spot atop the largest skybridge.
Nearly 200 meters in height and a kilometer long, the Library of Nautilus was truly unmatched in scale.
Multiple floors made up the building, with pillars of gold holding up the domed ceiling, engraved with murals of the so-called 'Heaven's Above'.
Purple carpet covered the ground on the first floor, where a majority of visitors were allowed, the reading hall a marvel on its own.
Rows of wooden desks stretched outward with separate rooms reserved for research, lectures, or even school.
Most walls were made of stonebrick; however, large windows stretched from base to ceiling, allowing natural light to fill the chamber.
Usage of never-ending lamps fueled by the gods' mana existed everywhere as well, the nighttime just as bright as the day when inside.
To connect the rows of books that stretched up far out of the reach of mortals, the various overhangs were connected with bridges that intersected the middle of the library.
One of these structures was Cauron's personal favorite, the one that overlooked the main entryway.
With a height larger than any human and a weight of nearly 2,400 metric tons, the double doors opened only at the call of 'Mr. Larry.'
Another entrance had been made at the bottom with a normal-sized entrance way, still grand enough for a human, but meager compared to the true size.
Whenever he wasn't studying, he would watch people come and go from the building, their faces either jolly or bland from what they had learned.
This particular day, he leaned against the railing, his head slumped on his hands, watching the gates with a bored expression.
It's been a slow day…
There was a gentle breeze that rocked across his body, a side-effect of a building so large that it could generate clouds.
Hmm?
He furrowed his brow towards the double doors that creaked oddly under the wind, a strange feeling working its way into his core.
Why is he…
Noticing Mr. L standing at the doorway silently, he resisted the urge to call out to him, a confusion entering his chest.
Is he waiting for someone? No… He wouldn't wait for a mortal…
Delving deeper into thought, he heard a gentle creek, his attention instantly snapping back to reality.
Looking towards the small door at the bottom, he waited for it to swing open; however, to his surprise, it didn't budge.
His eyes widened in shock as, instead of the human door, the full door began to move with a deafening screech.
The metal ground against the wooden floor, where there was no carpet, and the temperature instantly dropped.
Mr. L didn't look surprised by the occurrence; his rather short human form looked more like a child deciding to yawn at the approaching figure.
From high above, he could not hear what was being said, yet as he took a closer look at the entree, he froze.
Skin as pale as salt, eyes seemingly made of sapphires, and hair the color of rubies, a man reeking of strength.
The King of Dreams and the second modern Sea King in the world, Leonardo Drynch, stepped into the Library of Nautilus slowly.