"That was something. You banged her head good," Sera laughed, giving Aeryth a thumbs up. "Nice one."

"My temper is the reason it all escalated."

"Which is a good thing. Why let someone bully you? As you said yesterday, kindness to undeserving whatever whatever. If anything, I suggest going even wilder next time someone tries to bully you. And let the big sis Sera handle the rest." Sera puffed her chest.

"I will keep that in mind. Thank you for your help."

"I want to believe this is over... but I have a feeling Truman has taken a liking to you. He was behind all this... I think."

"I believe so too," Aeryth paused. "Still, I didn't think you could just argue and threaten a Guard Captain without any consequences."

"Generally... I won't be. But, I am close confidant of Lady Sia, head of House of Hearth. And, this is a private ground of ours. So, yeah, if we did start a fight, it won't be as bad."

Aeryth nodded. She didn't know how people in cities did the work, but it was quite different from her village. For one thing, why would a guard captain or knight want to arrest her? It made no sense.

"Sorry. It's all because of me. Truman and I have a long-running beef, and now he thinks dragging you into the mess will give him the edge. Frankly, he's courting death. If he tries anything like this again, whole knight stations will be in flames so hot that even the lower district will feel it."

"It makes sense. I suppose. But, it's not your fault that he's a low life. But..." Aeryth sighed. "I guess, I should say goodbye to my desire for a peaceful life."

"Don't worry. He won't try that again if he's one percent smart of his age." Sera looked at her. "Your clothes are wet; you should change."

Aeryth looked down at her ruined clothes. "I would love to, but this is the only thing I have."

"You don't have more clothes?"

"I have another pair, but I'll need to wash that one because that Mira ruined them," Aeryth stopped, looking toward the bathroom. "I should probably do that. Hopefully, no one has stolen them already. Sorry, but I don't think we'll have time to search for the treasure," Aeryth sighed.

After Truman's incident the previous afternoon, they had decided to search the library in the morning, when the sun naturally filtered through the air vents.

"I will ask maids to do your clothes for the day. It's our fault in a way that this happened after all," Sera suggested. "In the meantime, let's go to market, I'll get you a few more pairs. You can pay me back later, or not at all."

"I'll buy clothes when I have the money to buy it. I've already taken a sword. Borrowing anymore is foolish," She had overthought all night if taking a sword on loan had been the right decision. After all, it was based on her acquaintance with Sera. "And I prefer to wash my clothes on my own."

"C'mon, why do you have to behave like this?"

Aeryth shook. "I will have saved up enough money to buy something for myself by the end of the week, I believe. Until then, I have no intention of buying anything."

Sera sighed but gave in. "How about we search the third floor after your shift today?"

Aeryth shook her head. "No. I don't want any more trouble with Truman."

"Bah! Why you..." Sera shook her head. "Fine. We'll try again tomorrow morning," As if she found something, a smile spread on her face. "How about we go night shopping this Sunday? There's a midnight bazaar in the upper locality of the second district. You can literally find anything there. From clothes to the tooth of a dragon."

"I'll come along." Aeryth agreed instantly. Her heart soared.

"That was quick... I guess shopping tickled your fancy bone, too?"

"No. I need a Concentrated Lightning Bone Marrow. I cannot find anything about it, so trying this weird place to look for it is my only option."

"That sounds expensive..." Sera said. "Of course, I don't mind lending you my money, but just so you don't get shocked, it might be tens of thousands of jades. Concentrated word before anything means an alchemist touched it, and those things are super expensive."

"I expect that much. Even Lightning Bone Marrow itself is so rare that I couldn't find any monster in the vicinity of LesterForge. Regardless, I just want to know the goal that I need to reach. Maybe the treasure in the library can help me buy it if there is one."

"I guess. In that case, we should search the library case thoroughly before weekends."

"I'll look for other clues during the lunch." Aeryth nodded.

----------------------------------------

It was around five minutes before lunchtime when the drunk man from the day before came again. He was sober today.

Aeryth didn't want to deal with him. Her eyes went to Vik, who lowered his head.

With a sigh, Aeryth focused on the man. "You forgot your book yesterday." She said, placing it in the front.

He slammed his membership card on the table. "Can you fix that now? I don't remember the code or find the wrapper."

Aeryth nodded. Read his card. "Blue," Aeryth muttered. Half for herself to remember, and the other so that he remembered in the future.

She pulled out the blue register and began scanning it, starting seven days ago. There were about one hundred and ninety-eight entries in a week. So, she could only consider that Monday was a slow day, and she could meet more people today. She had also made fifty jades since morning today. While the rest were legitimately for self-reading purposes.

She didn't find his name. He tapped his feet, muttering under his breath. Every breath filled with impatience.

Over a week...

Aeryth went eight days ago. She didn't know how she would deal with it if he was just a day late from the deadline, and that too was due to her refusal yesterday. He might just kill someone in a rage.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Fortunately, she reached the end of the date without any mention of his name.

"Are you sure you let the person on the desk enter the book?" Aeryth asked for confirmation.

"Yeah! I ain't no thief," he shouted.

Aeryth shook her head. She went a few more days back and finally, after going sixteen days, found his name.

"You're a week and a day late from the deadline. According to the rules of the library, I'll have to charge you a fine of six hundred and ninety. Of course, you'll get a written and signed fine bill, so if you have any objection, you can talk to the owners."

He looked at her like she was some ghost. "What if I don't pay?"

"I am just supposed to report to you to the person in charge. I don't know who they are."

He contemplated. His breath grew sharp.

Aeryth grabbed the wooden rod hidden under the counter. After yesterday, the guardsman had given her his stick.

She forced herself to let go. I will only use it when necessary.

"Fuck!" He grabbed his card. "Just gimme a break. Put the book on the shelf, no one will know."

"I don't think that's how it-" Aeryth tried to explain. She didn't know who even was in charge or how they operated. Throwing the rules book into the dumpster after a day didn't feel right.

He slammed his fist on the counter again. "Just do it!"

The faces were turning at the counter again.

Aeryth also didn't want to deal with him.

"Heyo!" Sera popped her head in from the window that was beside the counter. Their eyes met. Then, Sera looked at the sober man.

"You'll pay." He muttered through his gritted teeth, picked up the license card, and left.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Sera whistled as she watched him leave. She entered through the window.

"The windows are—."

"Yeah, it's wrong to get inside from this window, but it's fine to dangle from the window on the third floor and make a giant fireball to replicate a sun."

Aeryth clamped her mouth shut. "That was different."

"Yeah? I don't think so," She pointed at the wall clock. "It's break time. I got you a crock roll, you eat meat, right? After you're done, we can start an investigation."

Aeryth took it with a sigh. She couldn't bring herself to say no after what Sera did this morning. "Thank you. How much was it?"

"It's on me. Don't make that face. You treated me to ice cream, I treated you to lunch. There's nothing wrong with it. Just eat. You didn't even eat the one I brought yesterday."

"I was... I was just shocked at that time. Sorry about yesterday, and thank you."

Sera sat on the counter. Tearing the paper wrapper, "If I get a jade every time you say Sorry or thank you, I'll be the richest one in the Lesterforge."

"Where's mine?" Vik propped himself on the counter. "If we get a jade for every trouble that Aeryth brings on herself, being the richest duo in the empire is not a far-fetched dream."

"Yours? After you ditched me for that girl yesterday?" Sera raised her brow.

"C'mon. I got no score on you. So, I am trying to hit on my range."

Sera smirked. "At least you're self-aware. Still, my pride was in shambles for a long minute there, so your punishment will be starving for the rest of the day."

"I will treat that girl to another lunch," he snorted, showed Sera a middle finger, and left.

Aeryth took a bite, "This tastes worse than the canteen."

"Yeah? I guess that's a good thing... or bad. Shows how deteriorating the street food market is. Though, the profit margin on one of these is about two hundred percent."

"Really?" Aeryth mumbled. "Than... that's a valid career prospect."

"You think so... well, sitting beside a stove in this weather seems like hell."

Aeryth crumbled the wrap and dumped it into the dustbin. "The only reason you find your job not hell is because you like it."

Aeryth liked hunting, but she had seen many of the adults in the village drink alcohol just to let them find peace from the hellish life of a hunter.

"Oh, I don't really love my job as much as I love the person for whom I do my job... though, I don't hate it either." Sera shrugged. "Guess common sense doesn't apply to me. Shall we go up?"

Aeryth nodded. "Yeah, let's go."

They made their way up the stairs.

"We have about forty minutes to search this place," Aeryth said.

"Yeah, yeah. It's not like you'll be put on guillotine if you are a little late."

"Discipline is important in life," Aeryth commented, stepping into the dustiest place in the library. For some reason, the window was open again. She didn't bother closing it today.

"This floor gets no traction from the people," Sera commented, swiping her finger on the wood.

"That's a good thing. If not for how unusual that blank spine was among the dust-covered books, I wouldn't have bothered with it."

"Bless stupid people like me, who hate reading," Sera proudly stated, marching into the last aisle.

She picked up the book and looked at Aeryth. "Are there any similar books around the room?"

Aeryth nodded. "I'll look for them."

Aeryth walked toward the first row. The light was still falling from through the vents into the second aisle from the window. Aeryth decided to check there.

There were about twenty rows on each shelf. Aeryth tried to keep an eye on each book, but it proved to be hard. Giving up, she checked three rows at a time.

"That's going to take forever."

"Why don't you help me?"

Sera sighed. "Look, I am here for the fun part, like yesterday. No to stare at hundreds of books in this dimply lit place for a bland book. That's not my style."

"Have you ever considered... that it might even be more fun and fulfilling after you've done other parts of it? Perhaps searching for a book might make it more exciting when we finally find the treasure."

Sera nodded. "Hah! I am not an idiot. I see what you are trying to do. Good effort. And for that, this mighty me shall bless you with my assistance." Puffing her chest, she walked into the other aisle. "Standing there watching you do the work is equally more painful."

Aeryth shook her head.

After about half an hour of silence, she finally found another book. "I found one," she said, positioning up the stair below it and climbing up. The light filtering through the tunnel also fell on it.

So, she saw the tile instead of the wooden backdrop. It was a bizarre experience to watch the whole row have a solid background. Again, the dense weaving pattern made her head feel numb.

"I also found one. It's behind this one."

Aeryth nodded. "Now we know for sure there are three tiles."

"Yeah. But what are we supposed to do with them? I don't think it's possible to break and carve them out."

"That's the slight problem... We don't know what it is..." Aeryth paused. "What do you think it could be? Some kind of treasure chest?"

"A very tall, super slim chest."

Aeryth climbed off the stool. "I will have to think about it. Let's see how many there are."

They found two more. So five tile-like things in all five window-facing shelves. All in different rows and heights.

"Lunch is over. I'll think about it during my shift."

Sera sighed. "Well. that's it for today. I so wanna ask Lady Sia; she is super smart, so she will know what these tiles are, or figure it out immediately."

Aeryth's blood ran cold. She had not considered that possibility. If Sera informed others of this supposed treasure, she doubted she would get anything out of it.

I need this treasure, the money.

After today's incident, she was even more sure she wanted to leave the quarters as soon as possible.

"I won't, of course. This is our little adventure, don't wanna get others into the action to ruin it." Sera said with a grin. "I don't even care for what we get from it. I just want to see what's Tor friend left here. It must be something epic."

"We can look tomorrow morning if no one starts another fight in the bathroom"

Sera's smile waned. "That will not happen. I will make sure of that. It's all that dorm mother's fault."

"It was my fault and the girl who instigated the incident. There's no way to control something like this, not unless we are twenty-four hours under surveillance... which is not preferable, especially in the bathrooms."

"Oh. Don't blame yourself," Sera smiled back again, "After all, it feels great to hear someone getting their head cracked for trying to bully news one. I was in the same spot once. I burned my bully to a cinder."

"Are they dead?"

"What? No! No, I didn't kill her. Just that she won't be getting any lover with that face again." The smile on Sera's face scared Aeryth.

Is that a good thing?