The girl before William question whether he is a country-bumpkin who knows very little about anything, and that is precisely what William feared before. The first impression does a lot, so he must make sure to remember to act with good intentions. For himself, and the future.
“Oh, you want to go to the library? That in itself is quite a good idea to broaden your horizons. Do you have some things in mind?” the girl speaks with a calm and professional tone.
Although young, this girl could be considered around the same age as William, but her choice of clothes is rather formal, so that adds some years to her youthful face. That is at least the assumption of William, who is not good at such things.
“I am interested in history,” William says the truth, while being unsure why is she questioning him so much. He notices she must be some sort of employee of this place, so he does not voice anything to make his situation worse.
“History? What kind?”
“I am pretty sure the regular kind where the library is sectioned for historical books. Is it the same way in this library, am I wrong?”
“Well, not wrong, but you need a pass beforehand. Does young sir have them? You can’t buy them here, you know that?”
“I have no need to think about it, I’ve got this.” William swiftly flickers his pocket and takes the card that he got from Kaufman.
Lady looks at confusion at the card, taking it from his hands. She looks in surprise and questions at William, who remains impassive with his face.
“Where did you get this?” she asks.
“I’ve got it from a person. Is it fake?” William asks with a little uncertainty that creeps from her tone of the question.
“Wait a bit, I will ask around.”
The girl jogs to not-so-far offices that are stationed on the first floor.
William waits and continues marveling at the insides of this massive building. There is also a section further in front where is at least a 3-meter tall wall, with a curved naming scheme for every floor in this library.
1st floor, Technical section. 2nt floor, Academic section. 3rd floor, Cultural section. 4th floor, Museum. 5th floor, Historical section. 6th floor, The Dark world section.
“Oh, so it has 6 floors? I thought only 5. I guess this floor has its own Technical section somewhere.” William guesses, but soon afterward as he ponders, the girl from before walks to him with a pair of man before her.
Each with the same tidy clothes, with a nice design and more than high-quality fabric. Both seem rather higher standards of people. Like major, or leader of a whole camp, but still slightly less ”honorable,” so to speak.
“Young man?” the front-facing middle-aged man asks.
“Greetings, is the card fake?” William asks straight up from their expression of questions.
“No. This is a highly valuable full pass. Only a few in the entire city are made. Where did you get this?” a stern-looking middle-aged man with a vicious, yet completely indifferent face asks in a domineering tone.
“Man named Kaufman gave it to me,” William answers honestly while assessing the people in front of him. Both men give a rather focused, almost tough appearance which would shake any ordinary person, but not William, who cares not about whatever their problem is.
“Mister Kaufman… Rob, I told you. You freaking idiot. It is about Kaufman and his ideas.” The stern-looking middle-aged man slightly slaps the head of the younger man behind him, who could not do much with it.
“Oh… I am very sorry, sir Burton,” a young man named Rob backs aways and apologizes with embarrassment. His idea for dealing with this card.. when Ellie showed it to him first, was quite stupid at first.
“And you, Ellie, I have nothing against you, since it is very early for you. You did well at least handling this with a coolheaded mind.” Burton turns his attention to a girl in similar attire to them, but in a male version of the cloth. They have a similar but closed jacket and trousers in the same style as it. Ellie, with a knee-high skirt and uniform-like jacket, goes hand to hand with her youthful appearance as a young woman.
William coughs lightly to get some attention. “So?” He utters a single-worded question.
“I have spoken with the Kaufman, through the phone line just now. He laughed out loud at the phone, so I guess it is yours.” Burton tosses the card back to William, who catches it with ease. Sounding cold and detached while doing so. He apparently cannot get much done when Kaufman is involving himself.
“Alright, I had no troubles in mind where I came here, to begin with,” William adds while turning around in the direction of the curved stairs.
“Wait, young man. How about some introduction?” Burton says in the same domineering tone. Looking at William, nothing much changed even after uncovering the involvement of Kaufman and his... interesting idea.
“Do I have to bother with them?”
“I am a dean of the Library. I can kick you out if you cause any kind of problems.”
“Really? Sounds terrible.” William walks back, right a step away from Burton. He dislikes this person right from the start, but since his position is powerful, what could he do? Just slightly edgy behavior to piss him off only a pinch, but not too much to piss him off completely.
“Name? Reason to visit?”
“I feel like I am being interrogated without committing anything.”
“You have no right to say that, refugee, while dressing like this with the barely any intention of bettering himself for coming into the Federation.”
“I have not come here because I wanted to.” William scowls inside.
“As far as I remember, there are no words or rules that stated to follow them.” William counters Burton's words, which are seeking problems where there aren't any.
“Not even a common sense, I see. I would not expect much to begin with when it comes to refugees, but being struck with a mother of luck and getting the full pass to my library is rather preposterous.”
William indifferently smiles at this man, who sounds angrier and angrier, but remains with the same indifferent face. He could only be called an annoyance, without underlying his words at all.
“Name's William Gale. I came here in orders of a rank 4 Walker, Luke Irwin, Kaufman, and someone called Mi-Yung.”
Burton wants to tell something, but William stops him before giving him any chances with his sudden change of attitude.
“I came here for the sole purpose of broadening my horizon since I grew up in the borders of the US, where I survived attacks of at least 4 hordes of the Dark. Oh, and not forgetting the Examination which will happen in 6 weeks, mister Burton. I will be waiting for it while spending time in the Library to get a better understanding of this messed up city that is somehow managed in the middle of the ocean while pretending to care about the outside world.” William put forth his speech and monologue, suppressing all 3 people in front of him with this made-up act.
Burton falls speechless upon finding his words rather reasonable, and that in itself frustrates him even more. Burton already started to mess with this situation that he clearly is not part of. No. He would rather not involve himself with Kaufman and his tricks. He is not a Walker, after all.
There is only one right mindset in such a situation, and that is to give up. Turning his head to Ellie, he orders.
“Since a young man feels like that, I could only follow through the so-called orders made by mister Kaufman. Ellie, you will follow mister Gale across the Library so at least, he won’t get lost. Getting a better understanding of the bigger picture which he has never seen in his life, with you at his side will be much better. Call it your duty for a couple of days.” He says and gives no choice for Ellie to protest.
She could only argue about this man quietly in her mind, which she does… more often than she would admit to anyone.
Bowing down a little, she agrees. “I will follow through with your order, mister Burton.”
“Teach yourself well, young walker. World of them is not the least bit adjustable for dumb, or clueless people.” Burton says his last word and drags the young man named Rob with him in the direction of the offices. He still feels the sour taste in his mouth upon dealing with this situation, but so be it. Not every day is a good day.
Ellie looks at her boss, who left her with this boy under her lead. It feels rather forceful to her, but she still prefers to do new things than being in front of the gate and greeting people who come to the library.
“I apologize for making trouble with your boss. It was not my intention, Miss Ellie.” William awkwardly says while scratching his head with his fingers.
“Well, I actually do not mind this one bit. William is it?”
“Yea.”
“You can call me just Ellie, I recently got this position at 17 years of age so I don’t want to end this work! Can you understand that? This is a freaking Library of the Federation.” She says clearly while coming to him closer and almost whispers the remaining two sentences. She does seem much more friendly now, than the moment William spoke to her before.
“It was still not my intention to make any kind of trouble. I got into this city yesterday, so bear with me, Ellie.” William apologizes once again since it is not in his nature to make trouble for others. If they don’t deserve it, of course. Burton sounded like a total asshat so he chose to play a tough man, and says the thing he did. He bites it without hesitation while giving up in the process. Quite a successful suppressing discussion of an adult to his belt.
“I can see that. So, since you’ve got rid of my work for a couple of days, I will have to follow you instead in this place. You must be glad since you are speaking to an expert who went through the learning experience for 3 years to get accepted to this place. Can you imagine that?”
“Oh, so it is like that? I could not really imagine that, sorry.” William once again shakes his head in an awkward way.
“That was just the figure of speech…” Ellie sights to herself.
“Oh… anyway, I want to look at the general structure and things I can take a look at. Since you have been forced upon me, I won't be polite about it. Can you tell me about this card and where I can go?” William goes along with the sudden help he unexpectedly acquired
“Hmmm. At least you know that much. Of course, you can’t get everywhere with only a regular pass which cost 10 credits a week. It is mostly the first 4 floors that are open with some restrictions on the 4th one. Unlike the normal pass, yours has not one bit… of restriction, since this card is a wealth of mister Kaufman.”
“So I can use it for myself since he gave it to me?”
“I guess. Mister Kaufman was the past director of the Library, but I don't know a lot when it comes to his ideas or why he did give you that. It sounds quite strange to gift a full pass like this, but I am not one to judge a powerful person.”
“Oh? He was the director? Is that shrewd and cunning person named Burton also a director?”
“Heheheh.” Ellie unwillingly chuckles at William's open honesty. If Burton would get to hear this, he would be angry for sure.
“Ahhh… No, he is a Dean, a person directly under the Director of the Library. Her name is Heidi Kaufman, who is the daughter of mister Kaufman you’ve met for whatever reasons.” Ellie explains a bit about what she knows.
“That is nice to know. What is the general structure of this library? Although I’ve seen the board with the section, there must be more to that.”
“You are not wasting your time. Alright, first, you have to consider what you want to know, and since you have the full pass, there are no restrictions put on the majority of the library. Even the 6th one is not, but there are some things about that floor that are very special, so I don't know if you will get access to some places there, even with this pass. After some official recommendations, or deals under the table, you would get access to such places in the name of the Federation as being a powerful Walker.” Ellie expertly explains.
“Apart from that, there are no restrictions on 5 floors and below to my knowledge. Though, the 6th one is rather special. I’ve been there a couple of times as a student and employee of the Library without being a Walker myself.” Ellie explains to her full capacity. She loves this stuff a lot and talks about it even more.