As we entered, my doubt about the building being taller vanished. The library was no joke. It was three storeys high and its book collection was massive as hell. Something this fascinating wasn’t present in my world.

“Lady Marcella, it’s been a long time since we last met, hasn’t it?”, he had a professional look on his face, something I had never seen before.

“Sir Barren, it has been a long time indeed!”, she replied which looked a bit like sarcasm than a greeting.

“Well, I am no Sir……...not anymore. You know that”, he replied with a smile.

“Then you should know that I am no longer a LADY either, just a woman who supposedly is the head librarian. Unless you were mocking me, were you?”, she replied with a devious grin.

“Oh, I wouldn’t dare. I am sorry”, he replied.

“Relax, I was just teasing. I get bored sitting here the whole day, arranging the books and sorting them out. Repeating the same cycle every day and yet the servants say that I do a lot of work and steal most the work from me”, she whined.

Marcella was beautiful for her age. Her robe resembled the traditional Chinese dress which, if remember correctly is called Qipao. It had golden coloured embroidery made on the purple satin dress. Her hair was long, straight layered with fringes; it was deep dark olive green. She had green eyes, which looked straight at us and has been looking from the moment we entered.

She looked like an authoritarian with great confidence and a hell lot of charisma. It was evident from her body language and her glowing personality. Yet it looked like I was missing something and her profiling didn’t seem complete.

But why were they referring to each other as Sir and Lady? Hmm…... I need to start getting answers. But I didn’t know how, until today. This job could be helpful in more than one way. This might be one of the best things that have happened to me yet after arriving in this world. This might be my chance to finally get some answers as books don’t think and gossip like humans.

“And…...who might this young man be?”, she asked turning towards me.

“Well……...this…...is……”, with a bit of hesitation, Barren narrated the story that he had, to Lucia.

“The amount of truth in that story is too scarce. I can’t understand the reason for your lie but I trust you. Hence I shall not question your motives.”, she replied.

Haha, …she caught on to the lie but her reaction was very peculiar. Was it Barren’s hesitation that gave it all away? I don’t think so. Barren was a person always full of confidence and enthusiasm but for the first time, I was seeing this other side of Barren which I had never seen before. Maybe because he already knew that Marcella would catch on to his lie. Who is she?

“So about what we discussed yesterday, are you…….”, Barren’s voice crawled on the ground.

“Well, he looks quite interesting. Yes, I will hire him and if you prove interesting enough maybe I will teach you to read and write too. I am bored anyways, with a lot of spare time to do nothing”, she replied in a creepy way eyeing me up.

Interesting? The more this lady talks, the more creeped out I get. But she was helping me out and it would be rude not to thank her. And she is the last person I want to piss off.

“Thank you, Madam. I will be in your care. Please look after me and guide me through.”, I replied like an intern.

“Madam? I am not that old you know. I am just around forty.”, she pouted.

Well, that is a bit old and appropriate to call ‘Madam’ but whatever makes her happy.

“So, should I call you Miss?”, I asked making an innocent face.

“oooooh sooooo cute. Barren is this boy really a brat like you claim him to be.”, she asked Barren rhetorically.

Then she faced me and replied “No, I am not used to that. Just call me Marcella. I know it’s a bit too forward. Consider it as an effort on my side in pursuing you to tell me who you truly are?”, there was that devious look again.

“Don’t let him fool you although you are too smart for him”, Barren casually commented.

“Well, you can start from tomorrow. Go home enjoy the day. I am feeling lazy today. I think I will take a nap.”, she yawned.

“Thank you for seeing us lad…... (clears his throat) Marcella”, he said, as he left.

“Thank you”, I followed.

We then journeyed to the bottom floor, made our entry and exited the building. That fresh air again feels nice.

“It's hot outside. Come, I will treat you on the occasion of getting your first job. We can then go and meet the physician that I mentioned yesterday. Sound good?”, he looked at me for a reply with his usual pleasant smile.

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“Yeah, sounds alright.”, I replied with fake enthusiasm.

Because I was a bit nervous thinking about the physician. What if she found out that I wasn’t from this world at all? I wonder what would follow? Well, I cannot hide forever. Although I am scared to death so as to what might follow after that. If an alien ever landed on earth, I don’t think it would bode well for the creature. But I can’t stay scared, I will just have to face it when that happens. I determined in my mind as I promised myself not to be scared anymore and followed Barren.

We exited the complex through another road than the one that we had entered it. I still had no sense of direction in this world. This was bad. I quickly looked up and saw the sun emerge from the left side of me, as we left the building. For now, I will consider that direction as east. That means we arrived at the building through the south, the building was in the north and were now heading towards the west. I will have to confirm these too but for now, I think I can manage.

Marcella, although creepy, was very kind. Now that I think about it; no one would have given a decent job like that to an illiterate person in my world. Further so, no would have cared for me either. Yet I will have to be wary around her. She looks like a person who can catch up on things pretty quickly after seeing her catch Barren’s white lie.

As I was thinking, I didn’t notice but we had reached an alleyway and it looked like the not-so-prosperous region of the city. We continued for a while as we crossed some household women and children all demi-humans and all staring at me like I was some weird creature being escorted to its cage. I tried and smiled at the kids but they would just hide and the moment I would turn the other way I could see them staring at me, again. I was confused and not sure as the vibe I was getting from them was totally different from the one I received from the staff members at the inn. It looked like they were scared as I observed some women rush inside their houses dragging their children along with them. I felt a bit sad and a little lost.

The latter feeling was because I couldn’t figure out why were they scared or angry? What is that Barren’s hiding from me? Something bad has happened for sure. If Barren is not going to tell me then I will have to ask someone else. After I have come to this world I have no one that trusts me and this is going to turn out badly if this situation continues.

We finally reached a small house that looked apart from the other apartments around.

“You will be glad that you came. Believe me”, he exclaimed, as he knocked on the door.

‘Believe me’, seriously? Like you believe me? but I kept my mouth shut.

As the door opened, I saw and I was so happy that I was about to cry and hug that person. Not because it was a beautiful female with big breasts and short white hair with fringes and a beautiful pair of earrings. But because she was HUMAN!!!!!

“Oh, so you are the young human ‘Barry’ was talking about.”, she smiled like a goddess.

She was one of the most modest, kindest, sweetest and loveliest (not sure if that’s even a word) person I have met after landing here. She wore a regular, women-style shirt and trousers. Her eyes gleamed of golden brown colour. And her navy blue hair. It’s been so long since I last saw a human.

‘Glad’? I was thrilled. This might be one of the best things that have happened to me. Wait, I guess, I already said that before. Aha, who cares?

She then took us inside and told me to take a seat. I gladly obliged. I was so happy that I felt kind of high. I didn’t know what I was doing or saying. I was totally under her charm.

“So, young man, What’s your name?”, she enquired with that elegant smile.

“It’s Ray……Ray Ash.”, I was surprised that I didn’t give my real name.

“Ah, nice name. My name is Cecily Corsica. A pleasure to make your acquaintance. Barry told me that you were suffering from amnesia. Oh sorry I mean you can’t remember”, she asked, explaining herself.

That name sounds familiar. I know what’s amnesia but what’s with that cheesy nickname for Barren. Don’t tell me, are they dating. Well, she wasn’t my type so I wasn’t jealous at all but I know Barren although only for a short while. Along that time, I learnt about Barren, enough to tell that she was definitely not his type. So why the hell am I so bothered by it? Concentrate Reo, concentrate. I scolded myself to get my head out of the gutter.

By the time I knew, she was already examining my body, touching all over my body as I wriggled in a weird feeling of joy and awkwardness.

“I am sorry, I guess I got carried away.”, as she backed away a little with her hands retreating.

“Well, there are no signs of manhandling or an injection mark. So I guess it must have been caused due to a blunt force directly to the head.”, she replied as she noted it down.

“You came to that conclusion just by touching me”, I was confused.

“Yeah. I used the appraisal spell and channelled it through my hand. It will alert me when my hand moves over an area that contains any kind of discrepancies. But in your case there were none…….. Except for a scar on your left shoulder but I guess injury to the shoulder can’t cause memory loss”, she replied while still writing on her pad.

“If I may ask, do you remember how you happen to receive that scar. I mean it looks quite painful, to me at least. Memories related to pain are very strong so…...”, she asked hesitantly, although not sure of the reason for her hesitation.

“No, I am sorry. But I did notice it earlier.”, I replied with a hesitating smile.

Actually, I do remember, it was caused when Yuuto dropped his scalpel when I at the same time was on the ground searching for my fallen eraser in the science lab. That might be the point where I became acquainted with Yuuto and became friends later. I still remember the school nurse, taunting me for how I cried like a baby while she dressed the wound and I yelled in pain.

“You must have been quite the handful”, she smiled.

Hm……. I have heard that before. But currently, I was more fascinated by the way she explained a scientifically-unexplainable phenomenon. So magic does exist in this world. I still can’t believe; I am in a fantasy land.

Barren and I got up and got ready to leave as she had finished with our work. She accompanied us to the door. I glanced at the glass bottles containing specimens. She was quite an enthusiastic collector.

When we reached the door, Barren opened the door and exited first. I followed when I saw two hands of the doctor emerge from both sides above my shoulder; then rested on them. I wasn’t sure what was happening. She then came close.

“I hope this isn’t your last visit. I wish that your memories come back soon and when they do, please share it with me. This is a unique case, at least for a small city doctor like me.”, she then came even closer and whispered.

“Be safe on your journey home………… dear Reo………”, she said, as she retreated back.

A sudden chill spread through Reo as he turned and saw Cecily close the door with a gentle smile that no longer looked gentle to him.