The Library in Notre Dame city was huge, it was like 6 buildings merged into one, Maria and Kyle felt a little decrease in their morale when they saw the library. Inside, it contained every copy and first edition books that this country had ever made.
“Holy shit, how are we ever gonna find the thing we need here?” Maria asked.
“One book at a time” Kyle sighed and almost as if dragging himself inside the library. They both got inside the library and picked books they thought that might give them some answers. Maria with her past experience and learning ability showed why Kyle picked her for the job. She read far quicker then Kyle could and showcased an amazing ability to remember all of the important details to the letters. In her past life, studying for medical school was something similar to what she was doing.
Ten thick books and a whole day later, they must return back to the Inn with little to no new information to give. Kyle and Maria were both physically and mentally exhausted. When they got back to the Inn, Liam, Luna and Allan had already got back, they looked fine and patiently awaiting Kyle and Maria's result, however, the two of them only wanted to head straight to bed.
“So how did the research go ?” Liam asked.
“Nothing, we spent the whole day reading books in the city main library. I personally felt like I’m back in the first year of medical school with all of the basic medical books I read” Maria said. She was clearly tired and disappointed at the result.
“I learnt some more about the country's history but nothing seems to be important. The only thing I got was that the great War against the Devil was a few hundred years ago already. I could not find any maps of the world, only a map of this country.” Kyle showed them the map. Based on the map, Notre Dame and the city of Tolemac, were very close to each other, about two days of travel on foot.Tolemac was the city where the King and the Royal family stayed and ruled. However, there were still landmarks on the maps with no name, Avalon was a huge country. except for Notre Dame and Tolemac, most big cities were very far from each other, it was estimated by Liam that by their speed, it would have taken them one month on foot to get to the next big city other than Notre Dame, Tolemac, or Casablanca.
“Ok enough bad news, please tell me that the mission went well” Kyle said.
“Good enough, we gathered enough herbs to pay for our stay here. And the good news that the mission was still standing, we can do this anytime and gain some quick buck” Liam said. “But it’s obviously not a long term plan, the money is good enough but we did not gain any experience for finishing the mission”.
“Well at least we did not waste a whole day for nothing” Kyle said. “It's good enough for now, we need some time off from all the killing and surviving anyway”. His face showed that he was disappointed as well.
“Oh come on guy, you can’t just give in now. And beside Kyle, isn’t your name supposed to mean steady and patient” Liam said. Everyone’s eyes widened, they did not realize that all this time they had never heard Kyle’s real name yet.
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“So, yours is supposed to mean lion or forest, I did not see you hunt some deer or make any oxygen,” Kyle replied. “Anyway, I did not say we are going to stop”
“Say what now?” Maria said. She was clearly not looking forward to being stuck in that library again. “That plan still stands as for now, we still need more information and this might be the only chance we got, I don’t know if there is anywhere else we could have access to this kind of vast knowledge and information.” Kyle replied. Maria sighed and nodded her head, those she did not want to, she knew that it was the right choice.
“So we are going to keep this up until you guys can get some valuable intel?” Allan asked.
“No, I will give it a couple more days, if nothing comes up then I don’t want to waste our time and energy for this nonsense” Kyle said. The team then went and had dinner together from the money the mission team had just earned. Before they headed back to the Inn to have some rest, Luna asked Kyle to speak with her in private.
“So did you get the chance to do any research on the witch trial?” Luna asked.
“Some. I found out that it has been held for hundreds of years by the Temple, right after the War, when monsters and evil started to lurk among the world. Most of them were women, being accused of being witches or demons in disguise. The record showed that there was hard evidence for most cases and some even went as far as getting convictions out of them.” Kyle said.
“How about the upcoming witch trial? Did you find anything ?” Luna asked.
“No, I didn’t have time to find out about that,” Kyle replied. Seeing a clear sign of disappointment on her face, Kyle continued “But if you want, we can go and gather some more information right now”
“Really, aren’t you tired ?”Luna asked.
“No, I said I was bored. But don’t tell the others ok. This is just a side thing, I don’t want us to get too involved anyway”
“Understood,” Luna replied. They then started their own mission, heading to the only place they knew that would still be open at this late night, bars and taverns. Buying drinks and asking a few questions later, they got more than they expected, the address of the house where Glenda Shaw, the woman who was going on trial, was living. They decided to make a visit to her place immediately as they were told that there shouldn’t be anyone there as both Glenda and her child had been taken away.
Stepping inside the so-called “cursed’ house of Glenda Shaw, they were both astonished by what they found. The house was relatively clean but there were clear signs of scratch marks everywhere. The owner tried to cover it up but there were so many that it could not be hidden effectively. In addition, they found books that are mainly about curses and changing one appearance.
“Holy shit Luna, I never thought I would say this in my life but the Temple might actually be on to something here” Kyle said.
“Yeah, this does look extremely off to me as well.” Luna said. “What did they say about the punishment for being sentenced ?”
“Death of course, those who are deemed to be evil shall die by fire or to be hanged” Kyle said. “That's why I did not want us to get too close to this case, the result might not be pleasing to the eyes or soul”.
“Ok enough for now. It’s getting late, let’s get some sleep, we still have a long day tomorrow” Luna said. “And oh, before you ask. Yes, I still think we should attend the trial, it might give us a very deep insight into this country or in better words, how this religion is run”.
“Ok then, but don’t say I didn’t warn you” Kyle replied as they both headed back to the Inn, calling it a night.
The next morning, they followed the same routine as they did. Kyle and Maria headed to the library and the rest did a simple mission for quick money. But this time Kyle and Maria spotted something was off, something that they did not notice before.