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"Oh, by the way Elisa. You wouldn't happen to have a few books on current topics on Eos that I could buy from you?" Avan called in the direction of the bathroom, where Elisa was still busy, judging by the tinkling and water sounds. "I've had a quarrel with an... Acquaintance, I guess I'd call him. And he enjoys reading books, I think. I'd like to bring some over to him at the next dungeon dive as an apology..."
Avan was still sitting at the small, round table with the now empty pancake plates in front of him. Somewhat thoughtfully, he leaned his right elbow on the tabletop and tapped his right index finger on the table in thought.
Now that I'm thinking about the bookworm again, I definitely shouldn't have treated him like that... And quite pragmatically, if I hadn't acted so stupidly, I would certainly be a lot smarter now. Hundreds or thousands of years of knowledge... He could have told me a hell of a lot, damn it.
He lifted his arm, somewhat ashamed, to scratch his back right shoulder blade and grabbed the glass of Cela with his left hand. With a sigh, he drank the last sip and set the empty glass down next to the plate.
Still thinking about what kind of books to bring to the bookworm, he propped himself up on the armrests of the chair and stood up. He walked over to Elisa's nightstand and grabbed the tray. With quick motions, he stacked the empty plates on top of each other on the tray and the glasses next to them, and then put everything back on the small round table.
If necessary, I'll bring different books with various topics and genres... he thought with a last thought on the subject, and sat down with crossed legs again on his chair, which rather resembled a wooden armchair, next to the small table.
Another thought that I should urgently think about... Is my incompetence in fighting. The goblins and wolfhounds in the dungeon were still quite simple, unlike when I face another human or humanoid. Or the chimera... My reflexes, speed and strength are far above what it was on Earth. And still I act like a newborn baby, when it comes to the use of my powers and physical characteristics... Which, in a way, I am in this world. Haha. He mused to himself with narrowed eyebrows, only to chuckle slightly at the end of his thoughts.
With a sniffle at his own inability to comprehend, he stood up again abruptly and trudged impatiently over to the window. With his arms crossed, he looked out over the city and the already awake inhabitants, who were going about their daily tasks as usual and scurrying through the alleys and streets.
He had a certain anticipation in him, which made him impatient, and somewhat jittery. He hoped that Elisa would not take too long, because he also had to freshen up a bit and visit the restroom before they set off together to the practice area behind the guild building. He had been told that there was a twenty-meter square in the backyard, which was covered with sand. At the end of the square, training dummies and training equipment were lined up next to each other, while on one side of the yard, all kinds of training weapons and armor were displayed on stands. On the other side of the courtyard, meanwhile, target practice for archers and ranged attacks were set up.
However, it had also been drummed into him that although the guild had a lot of magical potential, the training yard was only to be used for physical training sessions.
The guild master had told him in secret, with a wink, that a permanent protective barrier just for the mages who wanted to let off steam was simply too time-consuming and too expensive in the long run.
For mages and magic practice, there were classrooms in other cities, or entire colloseums, which had a permanent protective barrier and regularly offered the mob and nobility not only fights against admission, but also counted as a rented training facility for the magically gifted.
While he was pacing up and down in front of the window, there was a click behind him in the room and the door to the bathroom magically swung open without a sound. Only to present him, with a glance to the back, an Elisa with freshly washed and still wet hair. She had already dressed, as she was accustomed, in pragmatic clothes and now stood there in the doorway, with both arms folded under her breasts, and grinned at him as she saw his gaze wander over her stature.
"Do you like what you see?" She asked him teasingly, stepping around the bed to position herself next to him at the window.
Standing to his left, she hooked her right arm under his left without being asked and gave him a sly sideways glance.
"Thanks for the great breakfast, Avan. Honestly, it was wonderful. Thank you." She spoke against the window pane and let her gaze wander over the roofs of the city and its inhabitants.
Avan turned to her and released his arm from hers. He took a step around her until he was standing behind her and hugged her from behind while he rested his head on hers and looked dreamily out the window.
"To be honest, Elisa, I have you to thank. I just loved making breakfast. It's just fun for me to make others happy." He whispered softly on her head. "And... even though I can't talk about it yet.... I needed this. So I thank you. And not the other way around... I've been down in the dungeon for weeks and haven't had any contact with others in a long time.... It drained me more than I thought it would."
Following a train of thought, he took his head from hers and grabbed her by the shoulders to spin her around.
Looking into her questioning eyes, he continued. "And then you. Inquisitive, just like me. Asking questions and scrutinizing everything with a critical eye. Just smart and intelligent. And it looks so cutely whimsical when you put your glasses on your snub nose and slightly wrinkle the tip of it." He told her with a grateful look and smile on his lips.
Stolen story; please report.
Elisa became redder and redder when he told her all this directly to her face.
"I just needed that. This, with us here. And I hope... that... you know... nothing is solid... for now?" He stumbled nervously over his explanation. She looked at him, cheeks red, only more confused. "Ah, um... I mean... I want to explore the world and I still have so much to learn, I won't stay in Cyntha.... But maybe I can always come back and tell you about the different things I'm experiencing? And bring you things? Or you can come with me one day if that's what you want..."
With a small cry, annoyed by himself, Avan took a step back and grabbed his right and left side of the head with both hands in shame to tussle his bound hair a bit.
Suddenly Elisa grinned at him with her rosy cheeks, took a step forward, and kissed him on the lips for a moment. "You're an idiot." She laughed in his face.
She took his arms down and slid her hands into each of his. "You know, Avan, we're both adults. I think you're cute, too, and even if you seem a little awkward, your heart's in the right place. And because we got along so well, it came to last night." She explained to him with a warm voice and a glint in her eyes as she looked up at him and held his hands. "However, that doesn't bind either of us to the other person. I have obligations here in Cyntha and have to help my grandfather, while I knew from the beginning that in you lives a spirit of discovery, which pulls you for tin the world. So do not worry. And whenever you come back to Cyntha, I would be happy to hear about your adventures. Or show me things you've brought with you. Is that how we do it?" She asked him with a squeeze of her hands in his and a warm and gentle expression on her face.
As Avan stood there being lectured by her, he couldn't help but blush a little as well. She had told him plainly and in clear words what he hadn't even gotten around to stuttering properly.
Before the situation could get any funnier for him, Elisa let go of his hands and poked him on the chest with her right index finger and looked at him with a calculating look. "And now for you! What kind of dungeon are you talking about all the time? To the abyss! There is no dungeon near Cyntha, Avan! What are you not telling me?" She asked him in a playful yet serious tone, eyebrows furrowed as she waited for him to answer.
"Ahhhh..." He scratched his temples with his right hand, trying to find the right words without giving himself away. "You know... When I freed Yue, and we were trying to locate the rest of the goblins in the caves, we stumbled across a wall decorated with runes and a large double door, which was located in a side passage. Yue told me that this was a dungeon entrance, but there shouldn't be one near Cyntha..." He explained to her with thoughtful sentences and words. "And after I... accompanied her back to Cyntha, I took a closer look at the dungeon. I opened it with a small amount of mana, and at the end of a corridor I found an inhabitant in a side room, which was also equipped with a magically locked door... A bookworm... in an abandoned and almost completely empty library of... Akkalon..." He had hardly finished the last sentences when she abruptly hit him on the chest with her hand, which had just pointed the index finger at him.
"Ahhhh! AVAN!" She yelled indignantly, running her hands over her brown and still wet hair. "You're saying you've ACCIDENTALLY stumbled upon a dungeon that was in a cave full of goblins, not thirty minutes from here, that NO ONE has found in all these years but you?!" She continued, even more upset.
"And then, you tell me, you managed to open the dungeon door, which can only be opened with mana of the same element as the dungeon door?! Which in your case is CELESTIAL?! Because yes, EVERYONE has seen your floating balls. And if that wasn't crazy and extraordinary enough, EVERYONE has reported that these orbs would be made of CELESTIAL energy! AVAN!" Declared an Elisa with fire and flame in her voice, who was pacing up and down in front of the window, tussling her hair as she kept casting incredulous glances at Avan.
"And THEN you tell me just as casually, just like that, that there's a BOOKWORM living in an abandoned and probably thousands of years old LIBRARY? And you wanted to bring books to this acquaintance of yours, which suggests that this creature is sentient and can even read?! ARGH..." The confused archivist tried to get everything into her head.
Abruptly, she stopped in front of him and put her fists on her hips and looked at him somewhat angrily. "Avan!" She scolded him with her right index finger, which she wagged in front of his face. "I LOVE books! And the KNOWLEDGE! And the HISTORY! And you didn't think to tell me all this before? Ahhhh..."
"You have to make that up to me, alright? As soon as you go off to go deeper into the dungeon, I'm coming with you and you're introducing me to this resident! And don't you dare say anything about dangerous. Please!" She begged him in the meantime, her evil looks giving way to the pleading ones she was now giving him.
"This could be my life's dream! And what did you mean, what's the name of the dungeon?!" Came her next question as if shot out of a pistol at him, as she remembered with a furrowed brow that he had told her a name earlier.
"Aahhhhm..." He tried to process the lightning storm of feelings and words from Elisa. "Akkalon...?" He whispered with his head turned slightly to the left and a sideways glance at her.
His answer did not seem to reach her immediately, and the young researcher looked at him in confusion at first. The facial expression then changed from confusion to recognition and then to shock.
With unsteady steps, she stumbled toward the bed and plopped her butt down on it.
Unrecognizable and not quite understandable mumbling could be heard and Avan knelt down in front of her to give her a worried look. He didn't quite know what to do with her right now and was more than just perplexed by her various reactions.
"Akkalon... Impossible... No sense... Monks? Order of healers? Oh, gods..." She stammered quietly to herself, while her brain seemed to be working at full speed.
With a sudden jerk she stood up and almost kicked him in the face with her kneecap. "Sorry! I'll join you later for your practice fight with Eve! I need to look something up!" She threw at him as she ran by and he caught another confused and recognizing look on her face as she whizzed past him and ran out of the room. Something had thrown her for a loop and at the same time brought up a memory or realization in her head, which she now urgently wanted to pursue.
Shaking his head and grinning a bit because of this theatricality and sweet way she had acted, Avan got up again and went to the bathroom scratching his head with one hand.
After he had done his business in the bathroom and felt fresh for the day, he grabbed the tray with the empty plates and glasses and, with his backpack on his back, also left the room to return the tray to Beth and then finally be able to train against Eve.
He hoped that she would be able to help him and he was sure that one or two pieces of advice and the training in general would help him to better control his powers and his new body.
With one last thought of the missing Elisa, he let the door fall shut behind him and descended the stairs towards the guild hall.
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