“I can’t believe the guild doesn’t know anything about this symbol” Yon ranted as he kicked some rocks on the road. After defeating the goblins and the wolves, we immediately went back to the guild to ask about the symbol we found. Unfortunately, the people there didn’t have a clue.
“Ib il e wuki odr lifwod malr ig re bemfl ot re rakeyogl” Lors quietly reasoned that the symbol is ancient….
“used in times of what?” I roughly understand Lors language now but I didn’t get the second part. Yon had taught me the basics of the language so that I won’t need a translator. I guess I still need to get the hang of it.
“Rakeyogl. Dragons.” Yon whispered, translating. “The dragon encircling the triangle indicated that. Anyways, I hope the library would be much helpful.”
We were walking down the main street near the Church, headed to the library. The guild receptionist told us that we might find something about the symbol in the library.
“The sun will almost set. Do you think the library would still be open?” I asked as I saw people closing down their shops, locking their doors, and preparing to go home. “Maybe we should head back to our inn and just come back tomorrow.”
“Eh, we’re already here” Yon said as we turned to the right and stopped in front of a building. There were cracks on the walls and the paint already lose its hue. The building has three floors, all with no windows.
Above the door is a signboard. It reads: “The library of –”. The last word was unreadable.
“Who manages the library?” I have to ask. The other buildings are in good condition while the library is in this state. “They did a bad a job at it.”
Yon smirked. “The Church. I reckon they don’t want the masses encouraged to seek knowledge.” He then opened the door and entered. Lors soon followed (of course his hood was on since before we entered the city).
“I think we should have knocked first” I said but I shortly followed also.
The library was no better inside. The first floor was barely lit by candles placed here and there. Several books were piled up and was randomly placed. From the little cobwebs on them, I inferred that these books haven’t returned to their bookshelf for a while.
Scrolls and ripped or crumpled papers littered the floor. Even the bookshelves were disorderly. Some were broken and most are unclean with dust on them. The books weren’t alphabetically arranged, at least the books with titles that I can understand with my skill.
“Hello?” Yon called with a slightly elevated voice. He grabbed a candle to light his path. Me and Lors did the same. We explored a little bit, checking out books, scrolls, and papers that might show us the same symbol.
The closest we got were papers on the floors showing alchemical symbols but there were none that was exactly the same. We couldn’t even understand what was written on the paper. We were about to go to the second floor when we heard a noise coming from under the stairs.
We look at each other and nodded. We silently went behind the stairs and crouched. Yon forwarded his hand with the candle and we saw buried in books was a youngster. He looked at us with desperate eyes and muffled. We understood the message clearly.
***
“Many thanks. I thought I’ll be stuck there forever. People rarely visit the library.” His name is Lois and he was the only librarian assigned by the church. I couldn’t help but notice that he has pointy ears barely covered by his blonde hair.
Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
“How long have you been buried in books under the stairs?” Yon asked who looks quite comfortable in his chair. We were talking in one of the tables in the second floor after we helped Lois out.
“Probably about 2 or 3 days.” Lois answered with his eyes looking up. “I can’t say. The windows are covered.”
“2 or 3 days?!” I was astonished and concerned. How could this guy have survived without food?! “You sure you’re alright?”
“Don’t worry. I developed a unique skill called [Tardigrade].” He said, brushing of the problem. “It makes me have really high constitution. Anyways, what are you guys here at the library?”
“Ah. About that. We would like to get more information about this symbol.” Yon signaled for Lors to show the piece of clothe that has the symbol on it. Lois got it and examined it closely, deep in thought.
“Hhmm. I think I might have saw this in some old scroll about the patron guardians.” Lois finally said as he stands up and gave us back the clothe. He disappeared behind bookshelves presumably finding the scroll he talked about.
Me and Yon looked at each other with slightly raised eyes. Lors seems to be the only one who has an idea.
“Here it is.” Lois returned with a tattered scroll in his hand. He puts it on the table and carefully opened it. “That’s the symbol on the clothe you showed me.” He pointed at the bottom of the scroll which shows the exact same symbol.
“It’s the symbol of Akuwarshia, the Water Dragon.” Lois explained. “The inverted triangle represents water in alchemy while the dragon surrounding represents, well, a dragon.”
He further explained that Akuwarshia is one of the four guardians during the times of the dragons. They represent the four basic elements (AN: A cliché, I know). People gather and worship them to ask for their protection. They are about class AA in power if the four worked with each other.
Understanding and distress dawned on us. This could mean that Eler is behind recent monster attacks indicate on our last quest. Lois looked at us confusingly. “Is there something that I should be getting at?”
“It’s probably better if you don’t know about it.” Yon sullenly replied. “Thanks for your help Lois”
“Oh. Uhm. Okay. Thanks again… also… I guess” Lois said looking dejected. Then he looks at us with hopeful eyes. “You can visit again anytime though. Please do come by if you have time. The library is need of visitors.
“We’ll be sure to visit.” I said with a smile.
***
“Ni limadr bikes reng re yewdigl reb per ril lifwod.” Lors suggested tracking down the goblins with a whisper as we walked out the library, now headed back to our inn.
“Yes, we should find out where did they come from” Yon agreed with him. “Find out their base and we could probably find Eler there too.”
“Don’t you think we’re a bit weak as of the moment to fight head to head with Eler, who, I don’t need to remind you, knocked you off unconscious with only a slight flick of his hand.” I said very disapprovingly as I walked along with them.
“Weak? You’re, like, level 62 already.” Yon pointed out with a sarcastic voice, smirking. “I think we could deal with him already.”
“Excuse you, but I’m still only a support” We have become stronger these few months we’ve been together but I think we’re still no match to Eler. I’m now rank E+ in the guild with two new skills gained from the level up.
It was already nighttime and was kind of hard to see already. Torches and windows with lights barely lighted our path. Most shops were already closed except eateries that serves people dinner. Guards patrol in the watch towers strategically placed in the area.
“Of course, we wouldn’t want to face Eler yet.” Yon said after a while of silence. “I just think that we should scout the area. Then report back to the guild to ask for back up and support. Eler IS deemed a dangerous man by the guild.”
“Yeah... I do hope we’ll be able to defeat him.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Name: Isoide Shinu Age: 17 years old Gender: Male Level: 62 Job/Class/Vocation: Support
HP: 185 MP: 100 Attack Power: 75 Strength: 65 Defense Power: 117 Vitality: 130
Resistance: 131 Evasion Efficiency: 80 Agility: 71 Magic: 117 Magic Resistance: 136
Intelligence: 66 Luck: 80
Skills:
All Common Language Comprehension
Support Magic Aptitude, Healing Magic Aptitude, Light Magic Aptitude, Barrier Magic Aptitude, General Magic Aptitude.
Allied Sustenance, Allied Strengthening, Ally Minor Appraisal (new), Minor Experience Sharing (new).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~