Turning the page of the little book, I glanced over at the woman at the counter.

She was cute. I liked the way she had done her hair. It was long, and she had wrapped it around some kind of little hairpiece as it rolled down her shoulders and chest. It was actually a common sight amongst the women of this town, but for some reason she had done it in a way that caught my eye.

It was like she wasn’t copying the current trends, but had instead been the one to set it… and everyone else was just trying to copy her, and doing a piss-poor job at it.

The librarian was one of a few working in this building. Two other women and a man were also walking around, dealing with books and people, but she was the only one at the nearby counter right now. She was reading something, and had a tiny smirk on her face as she did so.

Yes. Cute. Adorable.

Too bad she was completely human.

I sighed as I turned my head, to look the other way. Both to stop staring at the woman, and to look out the rusty window and out onto the city.

It’s been a few months since I had landed here in Sullvate. A large mining town that was expanding its ports and docks to better handle the trade and shipping of their main product, ores and sulfur.

I’d long since settled. Not long after going to the mine I had found a more suitable position for myself. One of the owners of the mine had stopped by one day, and noticed me carrying a large timber. One too big for a normal man to carry on their own. After talking to me a little he decided to become my current sponsor.

I was now employed as one of his main guards. A job that not only provided me with more than ample money to live in this town, with all its taxes and fees, but also more freedom. I was now able to spend time in the noble’s district without anyone trying to hang me alive.

Tapping the little book before me, I wondered if it had really been over a hundred years since I’d left and returned.

This tiny book was a journal. One written over a hundred years ago, per the cute librarian’s knowledge. She hadn’t actually known about the book. I had found it, after many days of going through the books in search for something like it. But after showing it to her and talking to her about it, she came to the conclusion of its age thanks to its mentioning of a certain scholar. One that they had referenced.

The scholar the author of the journal spoke of, in a way that told the reader that they had known them personally, was someone of noteworthy renown. Which was interesting. The humans of this era seemed… primitive in some ways, and then advanced in the other.

But the reason for it was obvious.

This era was one of a strict cast-driven society.

Those above had luxuries those below couldn’t dream of.

Not far from here, was a large building. It actually took up most of the city view from this window, blocking most of the ports in the distance. It had steeples and flags upon it, reminding me of a mighty church… but it was in fact a school. For children.

A rarity for humans of any era. They had schools usually, but nothing as big and fancy as that.

“Seriously? Can’t you just wait?”

I turned to look at the cute librarian, who was now talking with another woman. One of the other workers here, they wore the same dark dress.

Watching the two talk and giggle amongst themselves about something they were going to do after work, I wondered how long it’d take for me to actually try and flirt with her.

I had made her laugh earlier, upon my asking of the book’s origins, which was how I had noticed how adorable she was. She had a quirky laugh that made me want to smile alongside her.

“Yet a human,” I whispered as I looked back down at the book.

One of many.

Looking around, I stared at the hundreds of shelves around me. They weren’t as tall as I was used to, built in a way that no one needed ladders or step stools to reach the top rows. Even the smaller women and children running around had no trouble with them. Yet even though smaller than usual, they made up with it in volume. This building was five stories tall, and full of books.

Books written by humans.

This little book in my hand was the only non-human work I’d found so far. And although I’d only been searching for a few days… I wasn’t stupid. I was not a normal man. I could go through hundreds if not thousands of books in a single day, especially since I wasn’t actually reading them most of the time. I was simply looking for certain writing styles, languages, or words.

Tapping the book again, I wondered why I hadn’t found any non-humans yet.

As far as I was aware, there wasn’t any war waging right now. Not only not between non-human and humans, but not at all in general. Today’s era was… strangely peaceful, based off the things I’d learned and heard. It was one of the reasons the humans here were able to build such a system of education.

They didn’t need to send their children off to war, so instead sent them to school.

Yet…

“Was it a sad book?”

Leaving my thoughts, I turned and smiled at the sight of the adorable librarian.

She instantly blushed upon my focus of her, and I couldn’t help but almost fall in love. She blushed that hard just because I smiled at the sight of her? Really?

“In a way. Not even sure why, to be honest,” I told her as I closed the book and shifted it, so that I held it at an angle. There was no reason for it; I just no longer wanted to focus on it. I wanted to focus on her.

“Hm… what are you looking for? You’ve been looking for the oldest books, haven’t you? Is there something I can help you find?” she asked, and I noted the dedication in her voice.

This wasn’t her doing her job. This was more than that.

It really was too bad she was a human.

“Do you have older ones? I found the shelf of the old scrolls and stuff, and the one on the top floor, but are there others?” I asked. If she was going to become infatuated with me, I might as well benefit from it.

“There’s some downstairs, in the basement. They’re all in other languages though,” she told me.

“Any way I could see them?” I asked.

She blinked, and her flush returned.

Oh. Woops. She had taken my request not as literal as I had meant it.

She looked around, and I inwardly sighed as I wondered what to do now. If I didn’t follow through with it, she’d not show them to me… which meant I’d likely need to break in. I hadn’t even known there had been a basement to this building. That meant it was sealed off from the public. Likely a storage room or something.

Although it was something I could do easily, I really didn’t want to become some kind of public enemy just yet. Especially not when those supposedly old books could not even be the stuff I was looking for. I mean… what was I even really looking for?

Proof of non-humans continued existence, for one… but…

“Well… um…”

“Afterwards we can go get dinner, if you’re not going out with your friend. Or maybe tomorrow?” I offered her, and myself, a possible escape from the oncoming awkward situation.

She perked up and nodded. “Oh yes!” she nearly shouted the words, but honestly it hadn’t been that loud. She went red in the face again, and lowered her head as if to hide amongst her bundle of hair.

She really was cute.

I stood from the table and smirked at her. Usually I’d have to force such a smirk, but right now it came naturally. “How about you show me the books, and then go tell your friend? Then you can come get me once you’re done and we can go eat,” I said.

The cute librarian blinked at me, and quickly understood. She nodded and smiled. “Sure! This way!”

Following the bundle of cuteness as she nearly bounded away, I didn’t have to walk too quickly. Although she had nearly darted off originally, she forcefully returned herself to a more slow and natural pace rather quickly.

“Are you a scholar? Did you come from Elzik? You kind of have the accent of people from there,” the girl asked, speaking happily although with a hushed voice.

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“Right now I’m working for Lord Trivo. You’re not the first to say I sound like I come from Elzik, but I don’t. I come from farther west,” I said, telling her a tiny lie… but not one entirely. I had actually come from the west of here. Though, the west I was from was long gone. Gone forever.

“Oh! So you’re from the southern isles! That explains your tan!” she smirked at me, and turned away as she blushed again.

Thanks to how her hair was done, I was able to see her right ear and only that one. The other was hidden by hair. It was very red.

I sighed softly enough that she wouldn’t be able to hear me, and wondered what I was going to do with myself. Maybe going so long without…. Well, any kind of interaction had made me weak.

“This way,” she giggled at herself as we neared some stairs and began to descend. She knew she was acting odd, and found it to be a good thing. A happy thing.

Yes. She really was cute. I wasn’t attracted to her just because of the supposedly hundred or more years of my solitude, but because the honest truth was she herself was adorable. Honestly, why did she have to be human?

“What’s your name by the way?” she asked as we rounded the stairwell, as to head even deeper down.

“Vim,” I said as we reached the first floor, and were about to take a right along the main wall. To head towards the back of the building.

I quickly thought of a way to ask for her name, while making her blush and laugh. A tiny joke about her beauty…

Before I could flirt with her she turned and stopped. “Vim! I’ve heard about you! You’re the man who’s supposedly real strong!”

Oh?

Hesitating a little, I realized I shouldn’t be too surprised. Although there were hundreds of thousands of people living in this town, only a small portion were nobles. The noble community was likely only a few thousand strong and nearly all of them knew each other in one way or another.

Even if she was just an employee at the library, she was likely still a noble. They wouldn’t let just some random serf work in such an important place, surrounded by wealth and knowledge. Especially since the only people who were customers here were nobles themselves. Odds were she was a daughter of one of the smaller households. Important enough to be trusted, but not so important that she didn’t need a job. It’d also explain why she’d know all about the noble’s rumors and news.

And it seemed I was one of them.

Which was interesting. I hadn’t realized I was some kind of rumor, but it made sense. I had been hired for that very reason.

He wanted everyone to know he now had a guard who was stronger than anyone. As a deterrent.

“I must not be that strong, since not knowing your name is making me weak and nervous,” I said to her.

Her happy expression at finding out who I was instantly turned into a flush of red and shock. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, trying to obviously formulate a response.

Leaning against the side of the door-frame for the staircase, since she had stopped before I could leave it, I smiled at her and waited.

“Jeez…” she finally found her voice, and she began to twirl her thumbs around each other as she blinked and looked all over the place. At me. The floor. The stairway behind me. A shelf nearby.

“You really want me to fall to my knees, don’t you?” I asked, further teasing her.

She scrunched up her face in an adorable way as she laughed. “Really…! Come on, the stairs to the basement is over here,” she said, turning away.

This time she hurried away with more gusto.

Oh…? Why hadn’t she given me her name?

Surely I hadn’t missed a name tag or something had I? Or maybe she had introduced herself already and I hadn’t noticed.

Following her, I remembered the book in my hand. The old one I had been reading. Sliding it into my belt, I hid it with my shirt. It was written by a non-human so I needed to take it. Hopefully she wouldn’t get in trouble over it.

It didn’t take long to find the stairs that led to the basement floor. The reason I hadn’t noticed them was because they had been behind an unmarked door. One between some shelves.

She opened the door with a small key, and held it open for me as I walked in behind her.

Stepping through the door and into a small hallway, I noted the smell. It was musky in here. Old. This building was older than I thought.

“Can you really lift an entire tree by yourself?” she asked me as she guided me down the hall.

“I can,” I said. I refrained from flirting with her again just yet. Even if there was a very suitable joke that I could use right now, that’d undoubtedly make her laugh. One to do with heavy lifting.

“Hm… yet you’re educated. Usually men in robes aren’t that strong,” she teased me.

“Where I’m from they go hand in hand. What use is knowledge if you don’t have the spine to support it?” I said, saying one of my teacher’s sayings.

The librarian paused a moment, to ponder my words. “How interesting. In a way that’s very true, isn’t it?” she wondered.

I nodded, even though she wasn’t looking at me to see such an action.

“Did you go to the school? The one nearby?” I asked her.

“Yeah. Graduated a few years ago. My parents don’t like that I chose here and not the castle or tax office, but I like it here,” she said happily, more than willing to tell me all about her life.

“Royalty and taxes are both headaches. This place is much better,” I agreed with her though.

She giggled as she and I came up to a pair of large doors. One was already opened, being propped open by a small book. “Right! Wish my family understood that, but oh well,” she said as she passed through the doors.

Following her down another hallway, we eventually came to a large stairwell. One decorated and designed in a way that told me that this originally had been something the public had used. It was too fancy to be hidden away in the basement.

“Most of the people who come down here are professors. What are you studying Vim? To require such old works?” she asked as we descended the stairs.

“My teacher was very big in learning about the lost societies. She loved to learn all about them. I don’t really dedicate my entire time to it as she did, but I always feel obligated to spend a little time towards it every time I go somewhere new. Out of respect for her,” I told her the honest truth.

The woman paused a moment and turned to smile at me. “That’s… very lovely of you. So many don’t appreciate their teachers. She must have been a wonderful teacher,” she said.

Oddly I didn’t like how… serious and gentle the woman before me had spoken about it. Which was odd. I should be humbled and happy that someone would find my own passions and desires lovely just as I did… but…

I nodded all the same, even though I suddenly felt a little less attracted to her for some reason. “She had been,” I simply said.

She smiled at me, and I once again felt the attraction towards her that I had earlier. Strange. I wonder why what she had said upset me, yet not so much that it actually affected me.

We returned to walking, and did so in silence for a moment until we came to a door. It wasn’t locked, but as she opened it I noticed the way the air shifted. This door had been closed for awhile now. Maybe not just days, but even weeks.

The room beyond was dark. Too dark for her to see. She glared at the darkness, and then turned to me. “I’ll need to find you a lamp, I’m sorry. I forgot this room had no skylights,” she apologized.

“Usually during a moment like this I’d say you’re smile is bright enough for me,” I said to her.

She blushed again, and then laughed. “Why that’s just silly! Hold on, there are some lamps in that room over there…!” she hurried off, giggling the entire way.

Watching her go, I studied the way her hips swayed as she walked.

Yes. Adorable indeed.

Looking away from her, I returned my attention to the dark room.

Although dark, I could see relatively fine. I could see the shelves. The ones taller than those upstairs. They were packed with books, and scrolls and tomes. Most looked unorganized, since there was no sense of reason to their placement. It was interesting that it looked like it wasn’t very dusty or filthy in the room too, even though it wasn’t very trafficked. Maybe they cleaned it once a month or something.

The room wasn’t too big, but it did have enough in it that I knew I’d likely need more than a day in it. It was a good thing I decided to flirt with the girl and not just break in. especially since this hallway seemed relatively busy. Down the hallway, past the room that the cute librarian was currently in was a pair of figures. Two men in robes. They were talking about something.

If this place really was frequented by scholars, even breaking in here in the late of night wouldn’t be safe. Such people spent even the late moonlight hours in their studies.

She returned with a lit up lamp. It clanked and squeaked as she hurried over to hand it to me.

The little loop of metal that it hung on, which I held, was slightly rusted. Thus the squeaking.

“I get off on the sixth bell. It’s not long from now,” she said as she crossed her arms behind her back.

Sixth bell. I hadn’t heard the fifth yet, but I knew it’d be soon. So I had a little over an hour then.

“Think long and hard about where you want to eat while you work,” I said to her.

She smirked at me. “Going to make me pick?” she asked.

“Don’t let me pick. Or else I’ll whisk you away to a foreign land, taking you on a journey that lasts a lifetime,” I warned her seriously.

The adorable girl blushed again. “You said that like a threat!” she giggled.

Well… it had been.

“Pick someplace we can sit for awhile. I don’t want to have to fight off all your suitors and drunks as we flirt,” I said as I stepped away from her, to head into the room.

“Gosh…” she mumbled, and I heard her fidget as she tried to think of a response.

Entering the room, with the new light, I was able to notice some of the imprints and letters on the leather bound books.

I recognized only a few of the languages. It was interesting that most didn’t seem to stand out to me. Was that the language of the northern ice peoples?

Scanning the books for where to begin, I wondered what I was even doing.

Even if I found more non-human works… what did it actually matter?

They weren’t here. In this city. So…

But no. I needed to do this.

Especially since I had the horrible suspicion that something horrible had happened.

After all, none of the people here seemed to really know anything about those not human. There were legends and stories abundant in the library… but nothing concrete. Nothing serious.

They knew of the existence of non-humans, but only saw it as something to learn about. Something in the past.

Like that sailor on the ship I had hitched a ride on to get back here. He had known that I hadn’t been a normal human, but hadn’t known anything more than that. Hadn’t cared to.

Hopefully that meant that there were still plenty of non-humans out there… just… not here. Maybe they were in another nation, or something.

Turning around, I smiled at the girl who was studying me. Her flushed face was adorable, to the point I almost wished she actually stepped into the room and closed the door behind her.

“Not going to tell me your name?” I asked.

She smirked at me, and went to grab the door. Half expecting her to step in and fulfill my weird desire, she instead shut it slowly… staying outside, leaving me alone. “I’ll tell you during our date,” she said with a happy grin.

Being left alone in the room as she shut the door, I sighed as I heard her giggle and mumble to herself happily and excitedly as she hurried away. I could hear from her footsteps on the stone floor that she was heading back to the stairs.

“Well, let’s get this done before I get too distracted,” I mumbled to myself as I went to work to find proof that non-humans still existed… or at least, the lack of proof of their destruction.