My stay in the library proved mostly fruitless. Almost all of the information I could find wasn’t related to me in the slightest. The elves' library was filled with books on plants and plant magic. I did, however, manage to find a book on ancient myths and legends.

The continents used to be part of a supercontinent that had split sometime a couple of millennia ago. The people of this planet, which was named Somalspire according to the book, believed that the split was due to the creator god abandoning them to their fates in anger.

I’m not sure how much of that is true, but I can a hundred percent say that a creator god being on this planet is completely preposterous. I have never heard or seen evidence of a single god who created everything. Everything in the galaxy pointed to thousands of gods since people could reach godhood if they were strong enough.

Well… that isn’t exactly true. From what little I saw of the Revenants, most of them seemed to follow a single god. They had even started several religions to follow this creator god, but I don’t know more than that. Terry never let me near them to ask.

I also learned briefly about the North continent from a new-looking book. It used to be a very prosperous land filled with people of every kind. Nearly a century ago, the lich Siko took over the entire continent and turned it into a land of the dead. No one knew exactly where he came from or his purpose in conquering a continent, but the book did put forth several theories. The most prominent one was that Siko came from a fallen kingdom and had taken over the entire North as an act of revenge.

It was getting late when I finally headed out of the massive library. I crept to the door, careful not to step on any creaky floorboards in case someone else was also reading. I also covered up with my cloak before exiting the dim library so as to not draw attention to my tail and ears.

Startling one of the two guards at the door in the well-lit hallway. The one I startled was extremely young and the other was older. Both were clad in the same red, feather-like armor as Captain Delora, but the older guard had a lot of silver ‘feathers’ on his armor.

“Sorry,” I said, “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

The older one shrugged at me with a laugh. “Didn’t scare me, ma’am. It was funny how far the greenhorn jumped out of his skin though.”

“Hey!” The younger elf glared at his partner. “It isn’t my fault I jumped so far, it's yours! You told me that we only had to watch our front.”

“You are an imperial guard. You need to watch every angle even if it is a dead-end.” The older guard shook his head in apparent disappointment. “Anyway, is there anything I can help you with, ma’am?”

“Could you take me to see Princess Illway? And why is your armor silver? All the other Red Eagles have pure red armor.”

“Silver feathers are granted by the queen for each battle that a Red Eagle has participated in. For the most part, all Red Eagles should have pure red armor since their duty is to guard and not fight in battles.” The older guard tossed the coin back to me with a smile.

“Makes sense.”

“Now, he’ll take you. You know at least where the princess's room is, right?” He asked the other guard.

“Of course, sir. Right this way, ma’am.” The younger guard started walking down the hallway once I started walking toward him.

I sped up and joined him at his side. “So what is your name?” I'm not one for conversations, but there were a few things I wanted to ask. It wouldn’t hurt to know his name.

“Me, ma’am?” The elf’s eyes were wide as he glanced at me.

“Who else?” I stifled a yawn. I guess I had spent more time in the library than I thought.

“Right… dumb question. My name is Del.”

I jumped in front of him and stuck my hand out. “Nice to meet you Del. I’m Kali.”

The guard froze up before taking my hand gently. “It is nice to meet you, ma’am. The princess's room isn’t too far ahead.” He started to lead me again.

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I ignored Del’s subtle attempts to bring me back to what we were doing. “So, Del, have you heard any interesting rumors recently?”

“I guess… apparently the one who saved the princess is some kind of wolf creature. My pa says that it's a sign that the dire wolves are starting to make moves. Either way, I’m just happy the princess is back safe and sound.”

“That is quite interesting.” Except that I have no relation to the dire wolves at all… maybe I should try to meet them? From the way that the people around here speak about them, the dire wolves on Somalspire sound extremely intelligent. I wonder why that could be?

“Anything else, Del?”

The guard shook his head. “I’m not one for gossip unless it's major. Oh! Actually, I just heard today that a large-scale expedition into a recently discovered Sylvian ruin was scheduled. They’re apparently looking for a large number of mercenaries for protection.”

Sylvian… I think I read about them when I was looking for information on the North continent. I think they were some kind of ancient precursor race that had gone extinct? I might have to go back to the library sometime soon.

“We’re here, ma’am.” Del drew me out of my thoughts.

I smile at Del and knock on the tree embroidered door. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” He retreated the way we came.

“Coming!” A muffled voice came through the door. A second later an unfamiliar elf steps out. The elf is wearing a black dress and just screams maid. “Can I help you?”

“I’m here to see Princess Illway. Tell her it's Kali Vexia.”

The maid nods and walks back into the room. She returns after a while and opens the door widely. “She is ready for you, Lady Vexia.”

The first thing I noticed about the room is that it is way larger than I would have expected. The room was essentially just one large circle made of, unsurprisingly, wood. The wood here, however, had ornate depictions of elves and nature carved into it. Large scones, just like what lit up the hallway, jutted out of the wood in an oddly natural way. Most of the room was dominated by a large bed, but there was also a small area set up with couches and a table.

“Kali!” She called happily and jumped up from the bed. She turned to the maid who let me in. “Go stand outside. Tell anyone who comes I’m busy.”

“Your Highness.” The maid bowed and walked out of the room.

With the maid gone, Illway wasted no time in jumping toward me with her arms outstretched. I briefly thought about dodging, but let the thought pass when I saw the pure joy on her face.

She embraced me hard enough to pop my back. “Oh! Mother wanted me to tell you to see her in the morning. I think she is going to reward you personally.”

I return the hug, though not as hard. “I don’t need a reward. Seeing you happy is reward enough for my actions.” And I was already awarded with the Trilesil, which was likely a much greater reward than anything the queen could offer.

“Still, I think the nobles put pressure onto her to give you something. You may as well accept, even if it is just a couple of gold or something.” She released me and walked back to her bed.

“I guess… What time is it? The hallways were dead quiet and you were already in bed, so it must be near night, right?” I asked.

The princess shrugged. “I dunno. I think it's around twelve, maybe?”

“Dang, time flies… Where am I going to sleep? Do I have a room prepared or do I need to try to find an inn somewhere?” I really should have thought of this earlier.

The princess patted the bed beside her. “You can sleep here tonight. I don’t mind, but I can ask my mom tomorrow. Do you know how long you’ll stay here? Or have you not made any plans yet?”

I thought about this earlier in the library too, so my answer was fairly quick. “I think I’m going to leave tomorrow. I need to level up my Record.”

Illway’s eyes dropped a little bit and her smile stilled. “Right… you are cursed, aren’t you. You probably want to regain your previous strength, don't you?”

Since when am I cursed? I don’t remember being cursed- wait… That’s the story I used to cover up my quick growth. “Yeah. I can’t stay like this forever.”

“Well, we can worry about that tomorrow.” She smiled sadly at me and laid down.

I nodded and sat on one of the couches in her room. Although we had shared a bed on the way to the castle, I wasn’t super comfortable with doing so again. The only reason I had back then was to comfort her. Now that we were back in the castle though, I didn’t want to. She might grow dependent on me, which would be bad for both of us.

“Night, Kali,” Illway called from her bed and blew out the candle by her bed. The rest of the lights in the room, likely linked through magic, turned off too, leaving us in the dark.

I thought and made plans, just like how I was trained, for a long time after the light was turned off. Eventually, however, the light breathing of the sleeping Illway lured me into a deep sleep.