CHAPTER 66: LIBRARIAN
The walk back to the Library was a silent one. It took them an hour or so to get back, and when they finally did, the evening had already rolled around. Soren was led by Nicholas to the office areas where he met Candice and the other librarians. He was introduced to all of them before Nicholas took him to the third floor to begin his shift.
It was surreal to say the least. Although he had worked part-time jobs before, something about the fact that he was now doing it in a fantasy world made his stomach bubble. It hadn’t been that long since he had seen a man getting pierced by a flaming javelin that burnt him to ashes, and now here he was, sorting through books as if none of it even mattered.
After the first hour or so, he finally got the hang of it—every book was labeled accordingly by genre, author, publication date, and serial number, so it wasn’t that difficult to understand the rhythm. What was very annoying, however, had to be the long walks between the floors since some books were found scattered nowhere near where they should have been. It got to the point that he began to curse every scholar he saw walking down the aisles.
Another curious thing was the “Library Guardians.” These were the people in charge of discarding books with falsehoods. Apparently, some demonic and even fae spirits were known to mess with the written contents of books, so regular checkups on texts by cross referencing them to their own copies was required. Of course, this wasn’t the full picture either. According to Nicholas, some of the Guardians were sometimes paid by the Churches to slander the canons of the other religions. It’s unknown when this started, but once one church began to do it, the others did the same. At one point in time, it got so bad, the royal families had to intervene and new laws and regulations regarding this had to be made. Not that it actually stopped anyone, however.
When Soren asked Nicholas why the library he visited in Yadria didn’t have the same issues with the spirits, he told him that it was probably due to the influence of the Saintesses who keep Floramere Keep orderly.
Either way, this finally gave an answer to what that graveyard he had seen down below the library floors was all about.
By noon, the visitors to the library dwindled and Soren’s shift had ended. Sadly, he didn’t get any chance to peruse through all the books like he wanted, but it didn’t bother him—it was his first day after all.
As promised, Myrin took him out to sightsee around the city at dusk. Much to his surprise, he was even given a portion of his salary in advance. Apparently, Sienna did this to give Soren something to spend since he was still technically broke. Not that he was complaining—he decided to spend 30 Lorins on new clothes as well as a few pairs of boots since Myrin told him he’ll need them. He also splurged a few coins here and there to understand the value of them in the market, but that was just an excuse to buy street food.
As they made their way back to the library, Soren spotted the remnants of that battlefield from earlier in the morning—pedestrians walked happily across it, oblivious to what had taken place. Vagrants, huh… He scoffed at himself.
“Thinking about something?” Myrin asked joyfully as they maneuvered the crowd.
Soren took a bite from his meat skewer. “Nothing, just my plans for the future. When we get back, I plan to ask Cassia to help me with the Soul Search. I wanna begin compiling a grimoire for myself and I can’t do that without knowing what my affinity is.”
“Already?” Myrin laughed. “You should learn to take things slow. Did you even finish reading the books the mistress assigned you?”
Soren shook his head, “I just started Arcane Geometry. That book is a bit complicated. I realized something very big while reading it earlier today. [Record] may help me chronicle the information, or even memorize it into my brain directly, but it won’t help me to actually understand it. I finally understood why Mistress Sienna told me to take the reading slowly.”
Myrin nodded, “I think you are already doing fine—most apprentices I know still have trouble remembering the axioms. You have a big advantage compared to them, and you are also fairly talented as well—it shouldn’t take you long to figure it out. And you can always ask me or Cassia about magecraft as well. Heck, even Nicholas knows a bit.”
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“Thanks man,” Soren smiled. “But still, I do need to figure out my affinities. Like, right now.”
The conversation continued for a while until they returned to the library. After taking the stone elevator platform down to where Star Fate Guild operated and entering the familiar lounge, Myrin waited for no one to throw himself onto the sofa.
“Ahhh, finally home.” He leaned his neck back to relax. Soren on the other hand greeted Joyce who was laughing from behind the minibar.
“Is Cassia here?” Soren asked.
She nodded. “She should be back any moment now.” The door to the lounge swung open. “Speak of the devil…”
Cassia walked into the lounge with a frown—Soren guessed that she was also thinking about what happened in the morning. He walked up to her and asked,
“Cassia, I want to figure out what my affinities are. Could you help me?”
Her frown deepened. “I don’t have time.” She continued walking past him toward the other end of the lounge—a door was there that led to an area he hadn’t been in before.
“Please,” he said. “I need to start making strides as a magus—I can’t do that without knowing my affinities…”
“Ask someone else!” She lashed before storming out of the lounge, leaving Soren speechless.
“What the hell?” He glanced at Myrin who was just as shocked.
“D-don’t worry about it… I don’t think she meant anything by it.” Joyce said—Soren knew she was obviously just trying to fix the mood..
Seeing this, Myrin sighed. “She’s probably still shocked about the thing that happened earlier this morning. After all, she does have some history with them… The Silver Moon church.”
“I… See…” There wasn’t much else to really say at that point.
Myrin glanced at him for a second before asking, “Since you’re this adamant on figuring out your affinities, is it safe to assume you know what it entails?”
Soren looked back at his elven friend and nodded. “I researched a bit of it during my shift in the library. Though, I am still fairly ignorant about the specifics.”
Myrin stood up from the sofa and smiled, “Fine. I’ll help you instead.”
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Soren followed Myrin behind as they walked down the lonely and familiar corridors. It hadn’t been long since his arrival, but he had already somewhat memorized the layout. Still, the area they were heading in now was new. They had already passed by his own room and went two or so turns to the left before arriving at another wooden door.
“This is my room,” said Myrin with a smile. “Make sure you don’t step on anything.”
Soren didn’t know what he meant by that, but decided to nod. Myrin twisted the knob and led Soren inside. He snapped his fingers, and the darkness immediately receded back to its fringe corners—the lamps had magically lit themselves up.
The moment Soren got a glimpse of his room, his jaw dropped. Paint splatters on the wall, Canvases left and right, a piano placed away from the bed, musical instruments scattered across the floor next to markers and pens, sheets and sheets of papers above and below them… It was a mess. An artistic mess.
Myrin scratched his hair as he glanced back at the dumbstricken Soren. “I swear I was going to clean up yesterday…” He carefully tiptoed over the countless art utensils and music sheets until he arrived at the bed.
“Alright, I guess we can begin?” He asked Soren who was still hesitant at entering the room. “I’ll clear away a few things on the floor so you can sit.” Just as he said that, his Soul Realm expanded and eclipsed the room. Then, a small plant sprouted from the floor. Soren watched as its branches suddenly unfolded from the ground.
The plant… It was somehow walking… Like a human being.
Then, countless more similar plants began to grow. Some had flowers for heads, others simply branched into leaves. The only similarity between them was that they could grow limb-like branches. It was as if a small army of plant minions had been summoned.
“Clean up, little ones,” said Myrin joyfully with a clap of his hands. The plants began to pick up the countless items from the floor to clear up a space for Soren to sit on.
Soren considered using [Eyes of the Fairy] to know what magecraft spell Myrin was using, but decided against it.
I’m going to need every bit of anima and strength from this point forward…
Myrin read his thoughts and smiled, “A splendid choice.”