Norbert walked out of the barrier, now unable to stumble on his feet when running and trying to draw the daggers. His accuracy would still have much to be asked for, but it was good enough to land in someone's general area.
Standing beside Count von Count, asking, "How long was I training for this time?" No usual sense of time was found within the halls. The place had no windows, and the lights always stayed the same consistency. Norbert would lose track of time if he weren't careful about it.
"Three days, and your progress has been expected so far." The vampire said to Norbert.
Norbert just nodded as he walked away, Count von Count catching up, asking, "Where are you going?" He asked.
Norbert pointed down, "To the library." Norbert replied.
"And what are you looking for in there?" Count von Count asked, his curiosity piqued
"To find out some information about these residences," Norbert responded as he ran to the closest stairs.
***
"Are you able to assist me in searching for books?" Norbert asked the librarian clerk. The lady continued to look through her documents without looking up at Norbert.
Taking her silence as confirmation, Norbert continued, "I am looking for books in two areas. First is about these halls, and the other is about Babba Yagga or the Great Witch?" Norbert asked, finally getting the librarian's attention. As his question finished escaping his lips, Norbert felt the curiosity coming from behind him, dismissing the vampire's questions even before they left his mouth, not wanting to deal with any more extra annoyances today.
"Ohh, that's a first. Everyone else here, including you, only wanted to know how to fight or spells to fight." The librarian said, standing up as she started to walk to the bookshelves behind her.
"Well, for me, the latter would be pretty useless," Norbert said as he followed the librarian, the two entering the corridors of bookshelves filled to the brim with books. The footsteps of Count von Count behind him echoed on the ground as they continued to make their way forward.
"Curious, then why so many books about magic previously?" The librarian asked as she went down a corridor off the main branch. Norbert looked up at the books around him, seeming to be a completely random assortment with no rhyme or reason.
As Norbert peered closer, trying to read the titles, the writing on them was unreadable at speed; not wanting to annoy the librarian, Norbert continued walking—the names he could make out had no order.
"That's to give me a bit of magic knowledge, so if I run up against something, I have somewhat of an idea of what I'm dealing with," Norbert answered.
"And this is also for the tournament?" The librarian asked Norbert.
"Oh no, this is just for my perusal," Norbert replied, stopping with the librarian. Looking up at the shelves, she nodded before walking further down.
Stopping at one of the ladders, she glided it over to where Norbert was, locking the wheels before climbing up the wooden steps.
Going about halfway up, the librarian stopped, flicking through the books, leaning on both sides of the ladder, trying to find the book she was looking for; Norbert had no clue what exactly this book was about.
Pulling two off the shelf, she descended the ladder, passing the two books to Norbert before climbing back up again. Norbert looked at both books, the cover of each looking dusty and ratty, unlike the books that Norbert had read before, which were clean, almost pristine.
Flicking one open, Norbert looked at the yellowed pages as he turned them, almost imagining them crumbling to dust. Carefully closing the book, leaving what secrets they would hold for later. Placing the two books on each other, the librarian added a third book as she continued walking off, coming the way they had come.
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Holding the three books in front of him in both hands, Norbert followed along, whatever questions the librarian had now answered, wanting the library to return to its previous quietness.
Norbert added another book to his pile before the librarian started returning to her desk. Norbert followed until he stood in front of her again. She already had the pages open, flicking through as she continued what she was doing.
Norbert waited expectantly as she said, "Read through those, and come back to me when you're done."
Norbert saluted as he spun the three books in hand on his heels, looking for a nook to sit down and begin reading through the books.
***
"When were these books written?" Norbert asked the librarian sitting at her desk again.
She looked up, pushing her glasses slightly down her nose, waiting for Norbert to continue.
He placed the books on the desk in front of him, all side by side, as Norbert leaned on the desk, looking down at the librarian. "Exactly what I said," Norbert said, annoyance filling his voice. "I can only half read every third word. The rest is completely lost in the translation. Whatever the culture was back then, to find the nuance of the words these entire books is completely lost." Norbert replied. The energy is going out of his voice.
Only receiving a nod in response, Norbert just looked at her. The words were uttered out of his mouth with a shaky jaw. "Then what was the point of having me read through these?" Norbert asked her.
"Why do you think I'm here now?" She asked Norbert.
"Because it's your job?" Norbert responded, almost including the duh into his reply but holding back his tongue.
"But why this job out of all I could do?" She asked him.
Norbert sitting there, thinking for a moment before shrugging his shoulders, waiting for her to reply.
Tapping the centre book with her fingers, she spoke, "You don't know what is here, do you?" She asked back.
Norbert just nodded. "Books?" He replied questioningly.
"But not just any books or any archive. But some of the oldest, rarest books can be found in Morenas, even Masanu. It's a researcher's dream." She said to him.
"Then why not be a researcher and find what you want?" Norbert asked her.
"Because you just can't." She said in return, Norbert sensing anger and annoyance now coming from her.
Looking around, seeing the others who aren't part of the tournament, people coming and going, especially on this level, the busiest out of all the levels. Norbert leaned forward, almost whispering in her ear, "I don't think that's what happened." Norbert said.
Feeling Count von Count tapping on his shoulder, Norbert spun his head around, seeing in reply a shaking head in the negative. Dismissing the reply with a wave of his hand, Norbert looked forward to the librarian.
"I think it's because of something you did or believe in finding why you couldn't be a normal researcher but a librarian and bury your head in books and the like all the time," Norbert responded to her, looking at her as he tried to size her up, wanting to confirm his theory.
"Well, if you are such a detective, please tell me what I was trying to discover?" She asked him, leaning backwards in her chair, arms crossed as she looked through the tops of her glasses, waiting for Norbert to respond.
"Well, if I am, as you said, a proper detective, then it would be with whatever these three books have in common," Norbert replied, playing the books over with his hand, drumming a beat like they were the keys of a piano.
"Something to do with this place and their residence, a long time ago and whatever this third book was about. As this was just a cookbook with some extraordinary recipes." Norbert responded, pointing to the book on the far right as he finished.
The librarian looked at the book Norbert pointed to as she picked up the three books before placing them down.
"Never took you to be the detective type." She said as she stood up from her desk, heading over to a trolley on the side.
Before Norbert could say anything, Count von Count butting in from the side, "He isn't; most of that little show back there was what I thought of."
"Uhhh, come on. I tried to act super cool then, and now you've blown it all." Norbert responded as he followed on behind the librarian.
Count von Count whistled in the air as he strutted behind the two. Norbert felt the cheeky gaze on him.
"So, what now, Mr Mastermind?" Norbert asked Count von Count.
"Just continue as I said before. Hasn't everything else been correct?" Count von Count responded.
"Whatever you say. So, Ms Librarian, want to return to my room to discuss this further?" Norbert asked her.
Placing the books on the trolley, she smiled back at him. "Why not? You're just in luck and have also finished my shift for the day." She responded. Norbert wondered what she meant as he looked back at the desk, another librarian knitting there, filling away and looking over documents again. Shaking his head, wondering where this person came from, not having seen them enter, Norbert walked towards the staircase to the upper floors.
Norbert waved for her to follow without turning around, hearing the two sets of footsteps behind his own, confirming that she was following him back.