Just before the evening, in the Academy's library…

With his hands in his pockets, Straf enters the grand library room, and looks around. The library is experiencing increased traffic, as the term properly began, and the students realized that their knowledge may be lacking. Nearly all of the rolling ladders are in use, and Straf is at a loss as to where the alphabetical order even begins.

「Hey. I've got a question…」

He says as he approaches a long desk near the entry with three women sitting at it, all reading something. One is even leisurely reclined, and reading a presumably mass-appeal romance, given by its eye-catching, visuals-focused cover of a woman carried in the arms of a muscular man with his shirt wide open. The woman on the cover is hugging into his fuzzy chest, while his hand-shaped wolf paws greedily clutch onto her arms and legs.

「Yes?…」

The least occupied woman asks.

「Do you have an index of books, or some shit? I want to pick out specific topics.」

「Which ones?」

She places a bookmark on the page she was reading and sets the book down, tilting her head.

「Uhhh…」

He begins rubbing his chin, and looks over his shoulder at the towering shelves. His gaze jumps from one end of the library to the other, then returns back to the woman.

「…Ones that involves making stuff do something with magic, moving stuff with magic, something about magic power sources…」

Straf says, counting on his fingers as he looks up and aside.

「…Do you have anything about those vampire lamps, or chargewands?」

He adds, and looks at the woman's perplexed face. The other two women also peeled their eyes off their books, and are staring at him with their brows lightly furrowed.

「…Yes, we do. Do you intend to specialize in the magic tools field?」

She asks, standing up from her chair. The woman walks out from beyond the desk, and waves her hand for Straf to follow as she sets out towards the gigantic bookshelves.

「Close. I just want something to fuck around with when I have nothing else to do.」

Straf shrugs, walking behind her with his hands in his pockets. The woman gives him a confused glance over her shoulder, but says nothing. They approach the side of one of the bookshelves, and the woman looks at the large sheet of paper pinned to the side. They then walk to another shelf, and she does the same. The process repeats a few more times, until she stops at one of the bookshelves, and turns to Straf.

「Here are most of the books you are looking for. The shelves are organized by their topics, here is the magic tools shelf. There's also a few mixed topics and broad-coverage tomes elsewhere…」

The woman says, presenting the towering shelf beside them with her hand.

「…But I am sure you can find your way around here on your own. The catalogue of tomes is on each shelf, and the tomes are numbered. If a number is missing, that means a student borrowed it, or is reading it right now.」

She places her finger on the paper sheet hanging on the side, featuring a long, long list of titles and increasing numbers in a very fine print.

「If you can't find a ladder, or have more questions, you know where to find us. Remember that you need to check in with us if you want to borrow a tome.」

The woman adds, nods at Straf, and goes back to her desk, leaving him alone. He waddles up to the catalogue, and looks at it.

《…Man, how the fuck do the people here read this? Most of the nerds are wearing glasses, is this some sort of a fucked up joke?》

Straf thinks, squinting at the utterly minuscule letters. It takes a second for them to come into focus and become legible in his eyes.

《Someone's going to be upset about this a thousand years or so from now… Whatever. Not my problem. Nerd nerdi lupus.》

He remarks, and shrugs his shoulders as he walks amidst the bookshelves. Straf looks up, and sees a thick paper label stating 2500 up high, stuck between the thick tomes. He looks around.

《No ladder, huh?…》

He thinks, as the only ladder in sight is already in use on the other end of the library. With a sigh, he rolls his eyes.

《Oh please sir, may I have a ladder for but one moment?…》

Straf thinks, imagining one of the students begging the library keeper for a ladder. He scoffs, shaking his head, and leaps upward.

Thud.

He lands with his toes on one of the upper shelves, pinching onto the bookcase with his fingers for balance. Straf hangs precariously off the shelf, as he begins browsing through the titles…

…

Roughly two hours later, at the library's entrance desk.

「Oh! He said the princess and the kingdom are not for sale, and the table broke when he smashed his fist into it!… I wish I had a hunk like him to get angry for my sake!」

One of the women excitedly exclaims, albeit in a hushed voice, and she flips another page in her book.

「Wait until you see what happens later…」

Her coworker replies, glancing at her with bored eyes as she flips a page of her own book. She stops herself from reading further, when she notices Straf approaching with his hands in his pockets.

「Didn't find what you were looking for?」

The woman asks, lowering her book.

「I did. I want to borrow some books. I'm not a student, but the headmaster gave me his permission. That's alright, isn't it?」

Straf asks, spreading his empty hands. The women look at each other with furrowed brows.

「…And what are the books? How many?」

She asks, and Straf opens his [Portable Storage].

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump…

「All of these. And there's like, uhhhh…」

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

He replies, throwing the thick tomes out onto the desk with a loud thump each time. All of the women perk up out of their lazy slumps. With his whirling purple vortex still in the air, he stops to think for a few moments.

「…I don't know, I didn't count. Maybe eighty or so?」

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump…

「Eighty!?」「Eighty!?」「Eighty!?」

The women exclaim in unison, looking at the pile of roughly twenty books. They rush to read their titles, and the weakly glued-on numerical label on their spines.

「Yeah. Is there a problem?」

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump…

Straf nonchalantly asks, as he continues pulling tomes out faster than they can scribble their titles and numbers down on their notes.

「No, but… Do you intend to read all that!? In two months!?」

One of them asks in wide-eyed shock, quickly scrambling to register all the books.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump…

「Nope, more like a few weeks… If I have nothing better to do.」

「A few weeks!?」

Thump. Thump…

The women look at each other with knowing, and mildly frustrated looks.

《This guy is delusional!》《Is he dumb!? You'll be lucky if you read five in two months!》《Why do the handsome ones all have to be stupid, or madmen!?》

They grit their teeth, and hurry to try and outpace Straf…

…

In the evening, in Cycelia's room…

Crrrrreaaaaaaak…

Cycelia returns to her room, and sees Straf sitting crosslegged on his bed, reading a book with his back against the wall.

「Ah, there you are. I was starting to think something might have actually happened.」

He says, as Cycelia shuts the door behind her.

「Eheheh… Were you worried about me, Straf? Sorry… 」

She replies with a short giggle, and a happy smile.

「Ah! You're reading!」

「Hey! Don't sound so impressed!…」

Straf exclaims, staring at Cycelia with an indignant tight-lipped grimace.

「…I know how to read!」

He adds, and lowers his gaze back to his tome.

「I know. I was just surprised. I don't think I've ever seen you learn anything…」

Cycelia remarks, sitting down on her bed. Straf winces, then returns a large, forced smile.

《…Lia, if I didn't know any better, I would have thought you are being vicious right now.》

「…I just felt like it right now.」

He replies, and continues reading.

「What are you reading?」

Cycelia asks, tilting her head with a bright smile. Straf brings the book up, and glances at its cover.

「…Someone or other's treatise on magic power stuff.」

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

He replies with a shrug, and flips the page.

「Ahh… I haven't heard of that, but I can't say I know much about… Educational books…」

She comments, idly swinging her boots off the bed with a smile. She decides to slip them off, and unties them, placing them neatly beside the foot end.

「I was with in Neela's room, with her and Tisha. Tisha is apparently next in line for the throne of some northerner kingdom.」

「You mean the same place as that psycho axe guy that's on your retainer?」

Straf asks, briefly lifting his eyes up at her.

「Yup. The north is very fragmented and in an almost eternal war. The southernmost kingdoms are at war with Rankor for arable land, and everyone else fights for slaves and resources.」

She nods her head, and continues leisurely swinging her feet.

「Has the frozen north warmed you up to the idea of slavery?」

Straf smirks, greatly furrowing his brows as he attempts, and fails to keep a straight face.

「Don't be silly, Straf! I still think the idea is abhorrent… But I don't rule the north, and I'm no position to tell Tisha how her father should rule their land. It sounds like a very tough situation.」

Cycelia replies with a pout, still swinging her feet.

「Not in your backyard, huh?…」

Straf scoffs with an amused grin, and continues reading his book.

「…So you're getting along with the girls, huh?」

「Yup! Neela says beastmen are actually frequent in her kingdom! I've never seen one, but she said that when she was young, her father had a beastwoman mage once! She had fluffy tails, or so she said.」

「Hmmmm…」

Straf humms, acknowledging that he's listening.

「…The world is a pretty big place, huh?」

Cycelia asks, tilting her head with a bright, warm smile. Straf pauses, lifting eyes up from the book to the dimly lit ceiling while the oil lamp's flame flickers gently.

「…Yeah. Guess it is. You don't really appreciate how big it is, if you can just fly everywhere.」

He shrugs, and his eyes return back to the tome. He flips another page.

「Ehehehe… You sound like a dragon, Straf.」

「Am I that evil?」

「Straf!…」

Cycelia pouts, angrily crossing her arms. Her veil of anger quickly cracks, and a happy, carefree smile slips through.

「…Did you ever go outside of your kingdom, Lia? With your father, or something?」

He asks, glancing at her.

「Hmmmmm… Maybe once or twice, but I don't really remember where to. It was because my father was constantly leaving on political trips for months when I was little, and I wanted to stay with him, so I threw a fit.」

She replies, and shrugs her shoulders.

「…Would you like to see the world? We could to that sometime.」

He asks, looking at Cycelia with a bored expression on his face.

「You mean a trip around the world? See all the foreign kingdoms?」

「Yup. Maybe we could visit the murder siblings' islands, or whatever.」

Straf nods, and flips another page.

「Sure! That's going to be a lot of trouble, but I bet it will be fun too!」

She gives Straf a powerful nod in return, and lets out a quiet giggle. A brief silence begins.

「…Will you join me in class tomorrow morning, Straf?」

Cycelia asks as she lies down in her bed.

「Can't. I've got work to do, Lia.」

Straf shrugs his shoulders.

「…Work? But you're a pretend bodyguard, aren't you?」

She furrows her brows, briefly perking up on her elbow.

「…I've got stuff to do, Lia. Important stuff. I wouldn't turn you down if it weren't.」

「…I see.」

Cycelia glumly nods her head, and lets out a quiet, disappointed sigh.

「I'll be going to bed, then-」

She announces, and leans in for the lit oil lamp as she takes a quick breath.

「Ah. You want the light on, right? It doesn't bother me, I can sleep with it just fine.」

Aborting her attempt at blowing out the flame early, she turns her eyes to Straf.

「…Yeah, keep it on if you don't mind.」

Straf nods his head in response, and Cycelia crawls back up to her pillow, and wriggles underneath her blanket.

「Night, Lia.」

「Goodnight, Straf…」

Cycelia replies, and lets out a sullen sigh…

…

The next morning, in the hallway in front of the girls' dormitories…

Cycelia meets Neela and Tisha. The two wave their hands at her, and they make their way to the class.

「Why the long face, Lia?」

Neela asks, looking at Cycelia's gloom expression. Her head perks up, and she makes an attempt to mask it.

「Where's Straf? Is he busy? Is that why you're so down?」

Tisha asks with a smug smirk.

「Ahhh…」

Cycelia only lets out a quiet, troubled, little sighful groan.

「…Wow, I was right? Did you two break up?」

The blonde northerner asks, side-glancing at Cycelia while they weave through the crowd of students likewise heading to their classes.

「No- Tisha!… We're not… He's just busy…」

Cycelia replies in a sullen tone.

「Busy with what? Isn't he your bodyguard? Shouldn't he be guarding you?」

「…Maybe he's busy with another girl?」

Neela asks, tilting her head. Tisha's ice-blue eyes immediately snap to her.

「Tsk. Neela, that's a little…」

She clicks her tongue, glaring at her in disapproval.

「I'm just saying, Tisha! He might not be loyal to his wife…」

Neela shrugs, spreading her hands as she explains herself.

「No, it's not like that… He's just busy. That's all it is. He said it's important, so I believe him. The headmaster called him to his office the other day, so it might have something to do with how strong he is.」

Cycelia shakes her head, and explains, glancing at both of the girls.

「…There you have it. Stop being mean to Lia, Neela.」

「I'm not! I was just saying that he's handsome, and maybe he shirks his duty!」

Neela clenches her fist, defending herself from Tisha's chiding as they make their way to the class…

…

Few hours later, in the cafeteria…

Cycelia and her friends are sitting at one of the tables, and getting started on their meals. A handsome student walks up behind them.

「…Do you mind if I sit with you?」

Damian asks, pointing at the free space next to Cycelia.

「Uh… No, I don't. Go ahead.」

A little startled by his sudden appearance, Cycelia looks at her friends to check if they disapprove. Seeing that they don't care much either way, she nods her chestnut head in reply.

「Thanks…」

Damian nods back, and sits down.

「…Lia, have you heard? The Cursefire went out for a few seconds yesterday. And now there's rumors about a ghost. Maybe someone died, and now he's furious?」

Tisha says, leaning forward to peek at her past Neela.

「Ghost? What ghost? Where?」

Cycelia asks, furrowing her brows.

「In the bathrooms! People said, that they saw a human shape in the dark, but when they looked, there was no one there!」

Neela chimes in with her index finger extended.

「…Neela, I actually checked the bathroom for ghosts with Straf. There weren't any. It's just stories people tell themselves for entertainment.」

Cycelia summons her entire lifetime of etiquette to avoid rolling her eyes, and sighs, returning to her meal.

「I knooooow… But what if?」

Neela shrugs, and also continues eating.

「…The ghost is real.」

Damian says, looking at the girls with a serious face. Tisha scoffs, looking at him with a condescending smirk…