The royal library was an ancient tomb filled up with books about every imaginable topic. There were layers upon layers of bookshelves containing books both new and old. They spanned every imaginable language and then some.
Su even spotted some books which might have been in Spanish. It was rare to see a collection on earth, much less outside of it.
Some of the books even looked like a first edition copy and Su knew that the collectors would pay a shit load of money to own on earth.
"I assume that you can read our language? Or do I need to start at the bottom?" Damian asked with a frown on his face. The lack of attention Su paid to him must be getting to the kid. Has he ever been ignored before? Or been played with?
With the kind of workload being dumped on the kid and the training needed to handle it, it did not seem like that to Su at the moment.
"I have taken a few classes and am proficient enough to read. However, I'm far from a master. If you want me to read anything more complicated than a children's book, then I'm afraid that I will be of no help" Su finally managed to drag his attention away from the books and to the child.
A tall stack of books rested in those young arms and Su even though he saw them strain under the pressure. It prompted him to hurry up and take some load off of the kid.
The kid looked grateful to be rid of the weight but he did his best to mask his emotions of happiness. His face returned to the same impassive one from before soon enough and he opened a heavy book on the table.
"Here. Read this to start with and use a translation dictionary to understand what you don't know. I'm sure you have enough brainpower to be able to handle it on your own. I need to look at some projects and will come back to collect you in the evening" the kid passed another, much smaller but not any less thick book toward Su.
Su opened it and quickly glanced through some of the first pages. It was a thesaurus of some kind and would be extremely beneficial for Su's limited knowledge.
The kid picked up his stuff and headed toward the library door and Su took it as a cue to pick up the book he had been offered and began reading it.
Su saw the kid talk with the librarian from the corner of his eyes but he could not read their lips to find out what it was about. He could only assume that it was about him till he had more information about this topic.
There were various small eyes on Su, mostly by the young children all over the library. Their gaze held an unnerving quality to it and I couldn't help but strain his ears to be able to hear them all better.
'Why him?', 'He came in with that freak, so is he a freak as well?'
The voices were young but not any more forgiving than the court. Su wanted to think that the children around him did not know any better and forgive them for talking like this about him and the kid.
But the matter of fact was, at nearly thirteen, these children had already formed ideas and they would not be so easily changed. It was a matter of their upbringing and their future as well. Su was not optimistic enough to think that these opinions would change anytime soon.
It was not such a big deal for him since he was an outsider and a stranger. He would not have to spend a lot of time with these children and would likely never see them once he was done. But Su felt bad for Damian who had to deal with these kids regularly. Such opinions could lead to marginalization, even unknowingly, and cause harm to a young psyche.
The small talks Su heard in the library coupled with the knowledge he had accumulated swirled inside Su's mind and made him unable to concentrate much on what he had been riding. It felt like a time loss but Su could not help divert his mind from this topic.
It still lingered in his mind when the kid came back and Su felt every eye avoid the kid. The kid did not look at those eye owners either. It felt like a stalemate to Su and he couldn't help but feel bad for the kid.
"Are you done? Leave the books here for now and follow me. The emperor wants to see you now" the kid was not playing around. His voice sounded serious and his eyes were hard. Su was not under any dilution and was sure that the kid had heard each and every word being spoken inside this hall.
"I'm not done with this book yet. Can I take it along with me? I'm sure the emperor would not mind" Su asked as he picked the book up. He did not want to tell the kid that he had not gotten even halfway done with the book but the knowing look he received told him. That he had failed.
'What an idiot. Doesn't he know the rule?', 'Of course not. He's that demon's friend and the demon enjoys misery. I'm sure he'll learn with time', 'He's just asking for it from the library mother. She's gonna chew him alive. She never made an exception for even the demon and he's her relative.'
The young voice floated all around the room and Su felt his smile become more and more strained. He felt worried but not for himself.
Surely, all this criticism was not good for the kid in front of him. And it felt like everyone was in on the marginalization.
"On second thought, I'll just leave the book here for now. I'll just pick up the boom from where I left it today" Su put the book back at the table as he picked himself up. He might have been a little bit slow and unwilling but Su had made up his mind.
Though it seemed not to go over well with the kid. The kid frowned with a worried expression and looked at Su like he had personally killed his pet and then insulted the dead body. Su felt like he was about to be killed and then left for the dead.
"Don't be an idiot. Pick those books up and follow me. We won't know whether you can take those books out or not till you ask the library mother" Su felt his face heat up as he was scolded by the kid. The kid also picked up a few books Su had lined up and marched toward the front desk.
The elder lady just looked up with a raised eyebrow at the approaching pair but did show any other indication of having seen it. There was a relaxed and confident aura around her that worried Su.
"We would like to take these books with us" the kid placed the few books he had on the table in front of the elder and Su got a feeling that the lady was less than impressed at the gesture. Her gaze made Su feel as if he was a misbehaving child and had been caught with his hands down in a cookie jar.
And Su had never been caught with his hands inside a cookie jar. His parents didn't even have a cookie jar when they had been alive and his foster home didn't have enough funds for things like cookies.
"You know the rules. The only one allowed to take these books out of the royal library is the emperor. You will need permission from him to take these books out. However, that should not be a problem for your friend" the elder lady shot them down but her face looked amused.
Su could feel everyone's attention on him and Damian. It causes the kid to frown and turn toward Su with a determined expression.
"Stay here for now and do not move. I will be back in a minute" the kid left the library even before Su could utter a word in protest.
Once again, the eyes around the hall were all on Su and he felt as if they would never leave his person again.
However, this time, there was another pair of eyes on him that exerted a lot of pressure and made Su hyper-aware of their existence.
"Huh, I've never seen that kid like this before. Maybe your existence in his life will be a good thing after all. My brother would have been happy to see this development" the old librarian hummed in a happy tune as she told Su this. And if her one held a slightly murderous tone, well Su chose to ignore it. He did not want to end up on the wrong side of her blade anytime soon.