Chapter Twenty
IMPARTING WISDOM
"Where are we?!"
The kid seemed exasperated at the current situation. Dionysus couldn't blame him though, considering that getting dragged by a random man into something that resembled a curtain and appearing in a glass room like this was probably not an everyday thing.
"Don't worry about it, just follow me."
Dionysus felt as if it was natural. That was, the smile on his face. Fighting had never felt natural, smoking never felt natural, but the smile came, and quite easily at that.
'I suppose you can rely on a human to easily reveal their emotions . . .'
WHOOSH
Another curtain appeared, this time somewhere else within the glass cube. Dionysus already knew that this one had put them on the roof of one of the buildings that the secret spot was located behind.
'From there, we get onto the streets, and the kid walks away.'
As expected, once the two walked through the curtain, Dionysus could see the four adults down below, frantically investigating the area where he and the kid had disappeared. Of course, they had absolutely no chance of finding Dionysus down there.
'I feel bad for some of the people that get involved with me.'
Although Dionysus knew that the adults were the ones in the wrong, he still felt bad for them to have to deal with himself.
"Now then,
WHISH
Dionysus and the kid were now on the street down below. The kid seemed to be confused as to how they had ended up down here, but Dionysus fully understood what the situation looked like from his eyes.
"Run off, I'm sure you have friends and family waiting."
As he said this, Dionysus was already beginning to reach for his pipe which laid within his left pocket and was beginning to walk away.
'Damn, society really can be trash, huh.'
Dionysus could sense that the kid's eyes were glued onto his back thanks to his new ability, which he still didn't understand fully. Along with that, its name had yet to be revealed to Dionysus, so there was also that mystery.
At some point, when a user understood an ability well enough, its name would naturally be in their mind, as if they had known it from the start. Dionysus hadn't yet reached such a point, but with the way that things were going, he was approaching it, and at a rapid pace at that.
'Let's see, what is there to really do?'
HOOH
PUFF
At this point, it was becoming a signature of Dionysus to always smoke while thinking. At this point, Dionysus was beginning to believe he would never get into smoking very seriously.
'I'd heard that it was soothing, in a way, but it ain't soothing, and I've been doing it for a while.'
While Dionysus continued to have such thoughts looming on his mind, he saw that there was something that seemed to be a library to his right.
"Huh . . ."
Dionysus had never had an actual interest in books before. He knew that they contained all sorts of knowledge, stories, and so on, but he still couldn't drag himself into the world of literature. Part of it was because he was always busy doing something, but he also acknowledged that he really didn't have that much of a will to get into book reading back then.
'Though, my hands are always empty these days.'
Deciding that it couldn't be painful to indulge in some book reading, Dionysus strolled in through the entrance of the library. It was a bit different from the entrance of other buildings of any sort, considering that it had no actual door. It was as if a door frame were set up, yet the door was never introduced to it.
'Architecturally, the world really is diverse.'
SIINC
"Gah!"
Dionysus let out a yelp of pain, similar to one that dogs would let out. The second that he entered the library, his brain was immediately in pain. As time continued to flow, the pain naturally subsided, but it never fully left him.
'What the hell was that?'
After looking around for a bit, he saw nobody that could be hostile to him. Just to be sure, he looked at the active thoughts of the people around him, but nobody was seemingly interested in Dionysus, not in the least bit.
"I suppose it was a headache?"
He didn't fully believe his own words, and continued to scratch at his head and look around for a while. The pain was brought to a bare minimum now, so he didn't feel it that much, but it still lingered at the back of his mind.
Deciding to play it off as a headache, he proceeded to go deeper into the library.
He naturally understood that whether or not it was against the rules, it didn't matter, but one shouldn't smoke within a library, or to be quite honest, any confined space. Dionysus quickly put the pipe away and began to look around.
"Woah . . ."
It was, indeed, a sight to behold. There were bookshelves lined up all the way to the back of the building. It was a four to five-leveled library as well, so he could see people walking along all the way at the top.
To his right, the counter where one could check out books was available, or at least Dionysus assumed so.
'I . . . never really thought that a library looked like this.'
Dionysus was, in fact, prepared to see a large assortment of books, so much so that he wouldn't know which one to pick out. However, he had never expected to see the amount that laid before him, and in such an intricate-looking layout as well.
'Huh, am I supposed to take one or two books out of all of these?'
When the choices were actually in front of Dionysus, he was overwhelmed. However, knowing that he had nothing better to do, he thought that he might as well take something to go.
'I wonder if I'll actually be able to read any of this.'
He began to stroll through the library at a brisk pace. Of course, he made sure not to annoy anyone else within the vicinity, as he naturally understood that the library was meant to be a quiet place without much conflict.
After walking through the library for a bit, Dionysus had decided that he wanted a book that was short.
'Truth be told, I can only read basic, common words. I don't actually know anything big. I don't think I can even recite the whole alphabet if someone asked me to . . .'
Dionysus felt pity for himself, but he stopped himself and those emotions before he could continue. While it wasn't a good idea to get overconfident and arrogant, it also wasn't a good idea to just lose all of his pride.
'That's right, I can't keep dwelling on the past. It's about time I begin to move forward.'
Dionysus was beginning to feel like an old man thanks to his age. According to some people, he actually already was an old man. However, as time continued to pass, and he continued to age, he still felt like he had nothing to show for it all.
'To show to who, though? Am I trying to prove something?��
Dionysus couldn't understand even his own emotions. However, as of right now, he knew that continuing to sulk around as a little bartender and saying that was all his life would be was quite sad.
"Hmm . . ."
He saw the name of a book on its spine, and he was intrigued. Although his vocabulary wasn't quite on par with the rest of the world, he could still make it out.
'Society and interactions, by Robert Morphin . . .'
He took it off the bookshelf, and saw that it was only a couple hundred pages. Intrigued by the title, he decided to check it out. First of all, he went back to his bar, or more specifically, the alley behind his bar.
THUMP
After that, he proceeded to take a seat, and opened the book. He looked at the first page, and saw that there were many big words, but not all of it was undecipherable.
'I think . . . I can read this.'
He slowly, but surely, began to scroll through the book. Something that he would realize at a later date was that he would know everything about the book before he even finished it.
--- SEQUENCE 2 ---
"Rookie, do you mind if you work overtime? Of course, I'll pay extra."
Unlike usual, Dionysus' boss requested of him to stay for a bit longer. Usually, he would shoo him out of the bar as soon as his shift was over.
"Uh . . . yeah, sure. Are you paying me the same amount you pay per hour?"
"Of course, it's just today. I've got some business, so I can't take over right now."
Dionysus took some time to ponder over it a bit more, but he decided that he would stay.
"When do you need me to stay until?"
"Around eight at night. After that, I'll be back, and you can head out."
"Got it."
With some words of farewell afterward, his boss headed out from the front entrance of the bar. The front entrance wasn't really that impressive, as you had to go through an alley of sorts to get to it. The door at the back also led into an alley as well, so this place wasn't somewhere the general public usually visited.
'Still, it's not like this is a crime syndicate or something, it wouldn't hurt to get more recognition from the public . . .'
As Dionysus continued to clean the cups, he heard the front entrance open up once again. After that, he heard a stool get pulled out from underneath the counter, meaning that they had a customer.
"Welcome, what can I get you today?"
Dionysus was still rubbing the cups clean.
"Anything."
'. . . Daphne?'
Dionysus turned his head around to see an awfully familiar face. He wouldn't say he was friends with the woman, or even acquaintances, but he knew her. It was, indeed, Daphne.
"Alright, coming right up."
Not losing his cool, Dionysus poured a drink out for her into a cup and gave it to her. Daphne picked up the cup with her long, slender fingers, and proceeded to take a sip from it.
"So, have you heard anything about us?"
"The Bloody Droplets? Maybe."
Even at this point in time, he was scrounging through her mind. The more time that passed, the more he understood just how intricate the operation of the group was. It still had only a single operation in mind, but they had yet to act upon it.
"Oh? Are you interested in joining us yet?"
Seemingly impressed that Dionysus had managed to gather information about them, Daphne extended her offer out to Dionysus. Of course, being the person that he was now, he only had one answer.
"Sadly for you, violence isn't something I'm that big a fan of these days. Maybe if it was just a peaceful little march or protest, I'd be involved."
"Tch."
She clicked her tongue, clearly dissatisfied with Dionysus' answer. However, no matter how many times she would ask him the question, Dionysus never intended to say yes even a single time.
"Don't you understand? The current royal family is corrupt!"
She was slowly but surely losing her cool. As she yelled these words out, she slammed her fists onto the counter. Dionysus gently removed her fist from the counter and scrubbed at the area she slammed them on, hoping that her hands weren't dirty.
"Why do you want me to join you so badly anyway? I'm just a bartender."
Dionysus had yet to notice his significance within the current situation. He understood that his ability, the awakened one, was indeed valuable, but the woman wouldn't know about it, and she wouldn't even know he had any abilities.
That was, except for the time that his replica kidnapped her.
"Just the fact that you were able to gather information about us is impressive. You must have plenty of connections. Your facade of a bartender is just a bait, a trap, to make people think you're useless. Please, help the world."
'. . . What is she going on about?'
Dionysus pitied the woman and her group. If she really was one of the leaders of this terrorist association, it was doomed to fail. After all, a woman that just naturally jumped to conclusions wasn't very smart. Of course, she had a basis for them, but Dionysus still felt like she had taken too big a guess.
"I don't know about any of this stuff you're talking about. Please, just have a drink, maybe a little conversation, and then head out. I'm not the owner of the bar, so I don't have much jurisdiction over anything in here."
The real reason he wanted her gone was because it was complete.
A small grin appeared on Dionysus' face. Daphne interpreted it as a sign of formality and kindness, but it wasn't that at all.
'I know everything you know now, Daphne.'