After arriving at the place, I was surprised that the building was as big as the adventurer guild. Climbing up the stairs, I waked through the dark aged wood doors and felt like I stepped inside a new world. Books. An endless sea of rafts full of books welcomed me right from the entrance.
Making my way towards the only desk, placed near the entrance, I tapped lightly on the bell placed nearby. From behind a bookshelf, an old man carrying a still opened book walked towards me. For some reason he looked very happy to see me as he said:
"Welcome to the Cloven Library. How may I help you young man?" there was a trace of excitement on his aged face, which further confused me.
"Hello, sir. I came here to fulfill a quest for the adventurer's guild." I ignored my feelings and replied politely to the old man.
"Oh, you're here to help us sort the new books?" the old man asked as he nodded in understanding.
"Yes, sir." His entire behavior was very strange.
"Good. Good." Said the old man as he put down the book he was carrying on the desk and proceeded to pick up a list. After looking through the list for a bit, he said to me: "You will need to head to the end of the middle row and enter the door to the back. My nephew is there already sorting through the books. Just tell him I sent you. If it's not to rude of me to ask, may I know your name young man?"
"My name is Ethan Knott, sir."
"Mhmm" he mumbled as he stroked his white beard before continuing: "You can go now, come find me after you are done or when you need a break."
I bowed and left towards the end of the middle row. As I was walking slowly and looking at all the books around I asked Ai:
'Ai, did you notice anything wrong with that old man?'
[I don't know, Ethan.]
'Hmm.. Is it just me?'
As I kept walking forward while repeating my encounter with the old man through my mind, I soon reached the door at the end, on which was written "Storage.". I opened the door only to see mountains of books, placed on top of each other. After looking around for about five minutes I found a kid, not older than ten, pilling up books on top of a cart, one at a time.
"Excuse me, are you the nephew of the man at the entrance?"
The kid was so startled that he dropped the book he was carrying and was about to cry. With watery eyes he turned towards me and nodded shyly.
"Don't be afraid. I'm here on a quest from the adventurer guild to help with the book sorting."
The kid nodded again before saying: "You can start on the other side. All books in the storage need to be classified and placed on shelves."
I looked around with a look of astonishment and said: "There must be over 100 000 books here.".
The kid nodded again and said: "121 523 books".
'Damn, I thought this was easy money. I guess the joke's on me.'
"So, how do we sort the books?"
"On the book's last page, the genre is written. We'll have to go where books of that genre are placed and place it in alphabetic order between the others."
"All right. I'll start on the other side."
I went to the opposite corner of the storage room and started placing books one after another on a trolley. After filling the trolley I pushed it back inside the library and started placing books on the shelves according to their category. If there were any books on magic, I will quickly browse threw them letting Ai record them. I kept going until all the books were placed on the shelves, more than two days later. Looking at the now empty storage, a feeling of exhaustion finally came over me and I just laid down on the floor and went to sleep. When I woke up on the morning of the third day, I found myself laying down on a couch in what looked like a reading room.
I sat up and made my way back to the front desk where the old man was laying on his chair, casually reading a book. Sensing me approaching, he lifted his head and said with a smile.
"I found you sleeping on the floor in the storage and carried you to a couch in a reading room. You should be careful not to catch a cold."
"Thank you, I was just too tired after I was done and just fell asleep there. I'm sorry for any inconvenience. Was that everything for the quest?"
"Yes yes." Said the old man as he passed me a small bag with coins, a card and a letter."There are 5 silver coins in the bag, extra for finishing the job so fast. That card is your pass for the third floor and you will need to present the letter to the adventurer guild to complete the quest and claim the reward."
"Thank you, sir. I'll be going now." I said as I picked up the items from him and made my way out the door. While I was walking out, I heard the old man saying:
"Be careful going back, the city is in a bit of turmoil right now."
I signaled with my hand that I understood and continued on my way. After walking out, I noticed that there were fewer people on the streets and most of them had ugly looks on their faces.
'This probably has something to do with all the city lord business', I thought as I made my way towards the adventurer guild. When I reached there, I turned in my quest and received another 10 silver before asking to meet with the guild leader. After entering his office again I saw the guild leader sitting behind his desk, reading through some documents with a tired face.
"Hello, guild leader." I said as soon as I saw lift his head from the papers and looking towards me.
"Are you here for you reward?"
"Yes, sir."
The guild leader picked up a piece of paper and started writing me a letter. After he was done, he passed me the letter and said: "Go with this letter to the main desk and they will take care of it. Thank you again for discovering the city lord's plot and giving us the information."
"My pleasure, guild leader." I took the letter from the leader and started making my way out of his office when his voice sounded again from behind me.
"I almost forgot, my daughter said you should visit her at the academy."
"I will, sir." I agreed and left to claim my reward. After showing the letter to the front desk clerk, he passed me a pouch with five gold coins, that being around 500 silver. After taking my new earned small fortune, I walked out of the adventurer guild and started making my way towards the academy. As I was running south through the forest, I really missed Anise's speed spell.
It took me around four hours to reach the gate of the academy. Once there, I showed the medallion Anise left me at the entrance and explained the purpose of my visit. Being left inside, I made my way towards the dormitory and soon reached Anise's quarters.
Knocking on the door, the old butler let me inside the laboratory where I waited for Anise to come back from classes. It took about half an hour, which I spent chatting with Ai, before the door opened and Anise walked inside. After saying our greetings and passing her the medallion back she asked me.
"Now, don't you think you should explain to me how you were already level four when you just arrived here?"
I decided to tell her the truth, or at least part of it. I owed her that: "Anise, to be honest, the last time I kinda lied to you."
She had no chance in expression as she said: "Oh, really? I would have never have imagined. Continue."
*Gulp* "I actually arrived in this world a couple of months ago. I was teleported on a cold mountain where I was saved by a village girl.." I explained to her all that happened on that village until I activated the teleportation device exactly as it happened ".. Once I activated the teleportation device, I arrived inside the void, barely alive. Floating inside the void, barely conscious, I suddenly heard your voice. Following the sound of your voice, I suddenly found myself here in this laboratory and you know the story after that."
"Well, at least now everything makes sense. Thank you for telling me, but why did you lie the first time?"
"I didn't know if I could trust you and I also wanted to find more about this world. I'm really sorry for that."
"It's fine, so you now plan on searching for that girl, Anna?"
"I do, but it will not be easy. I need to reach that cave again and repair the teleportation mechanism. That is the reason I wanted to learn magic in the first place."
"Hmm.. Space magic knowledge is a little sparse, even in our academy. It will not be easy." Said Anise with a pensive look.
"I'll do what I can, but first I must get stronger. That is the reason I joined the adventurer guild and ignored your advice."
"Sigh.. I asked mom about you joining the academy as an exception but she didn't agree. She said that we can't break academy rules for anyone or it will become a habit and stuff like that. I really can't help you with that."
"You helped me more than enough. What I owe you is more than I could ever hope to repay."
"Mhmm.. Your only option is to join a small academy or learn by yourself, but that will not be easy either."
"I just did a quest for the public library and got access to some books about magic. I'll just give learning by myself a try."
"Wait, you can read?" asked Anise with eyes as big as saucers.
"Oh, I forgot to mention that. Yes, I just recently learned how to."
She looked at me with an even more amazed look and asked: "Did you really learn to read in just three or so days?"
I nodded my head and chose to abstain from telling her it took me less than one day. Deciding to change the topic since her stare intimidated me a little I asked.
"Can you tell me what happened with the city lord? Also, why didn't you tell me that your father is the leader of the adventurer guild?"
"Oh, my family's situation is a bit.. Complicated.. The academy and the guild house came together and prepared to capture the city lord and put him on trial but someone tipped him off and he left the city with his personal guards. They are still searching but he is probably long gone.. They at least managed to free most of the captives at the bandit camp."
"That's good. What will happen now with the city?"
"The guild chose a temporary lord until a new city lord will be sent from the capital."
"The capital choses the city lord?" I asked, a bit surprised.
"Only in special situations where the old lord family is relieved of their duty. A new lord will be sent from the capital with his family to fulfill the position. The city lord position is usually hereditary."
"I see. Well, Anise I would love to speak more with you but I wish to return to the city before nightfall so I must take my leave."
"Sure. If you pass by the academy you can always come to visit. You must just tell the guards your name and that you are here to see me and they will let you pass."
"I will. I would like to say the same but I will probably be constantly on missions. I need to get stronger as soon as possible."
She looked a bit worried as she said: "Be careful and try not to get yourself killed. I won't be able to summon you now that our contract is null."
I nodded and said my goodbyes to her and the butler before running back towards the city. As I reached the city it was already dark so I just rented a room at the inn for a whole month.
Inside my room, I started looking over all the books that Ai recorded. She also took care to translate them, which increased my reading speed a lot. Once it got late enough, I went to sleep.
In the morning of the next day, I ate breakfast at the inn and made my way straight towards the adventurer guild. Looking through the quest board, I found a decent looking hunting quest, but there was a small problem.
//Culling the goblins//
//With all the attention on the war, the goblin population in the Azure Forest has increased and they started attacking nearby villages. We need a party of adventurers to lower their population//
//Requirements: At least 1 000 killed goblins + left ear as proof of kill//
// 10 silver per goblin, 20 silver per hobgoblin, 50 silver per goblin shaman and 10 gold for the leader//
I walked to the counter and asked the clerk there.
"I want the goblin culling quest but I don't have a party. How do I go about forming one?"
"The wording isn't exactly right. That is a free for all quest that any adventurer can pick and you don't need to form a party."
"Great, then I would like to register for this quest."
"All right. You can head for the Azure Forest whenever you want, but don't forget to bring back their left ear as proof of kill or you will get no reward. Also, there will be other adventurers there so be careful not to attack or injure them or you will be penalized or even expelled from the guild."
I registered for the quest and made my way back to the weapon store to pick up a new spear. I bough a spear worth one gold coin and asked around for where I could buy a map. Arriving at a map store, I was surprised that I could actually browse through the all the maps. Ai recorded all the maps inside the store for me and I returned at the inn right after buying a normal looking black cloak. After leaving most money in my room so I won't lose them again, keeping only 50 silvers for living expenses outside the city, I grabbed my new spear and started making my way towards the Azure Forest. After exiting the city, a small map appeared in the corner of my vision, resembling a video game map.
[You can also ask me for a full map if you want to see it. I also marked the general direction of the azure forest on it for you.]
'Thanks. Is there anything interesting on the way?"
[Not according to the map. It will take you three days to reach the forest if you walk straight and an entire week if you follow the roads, which are safer.]
'Straight it is.' I replied as I started running through the forest surrounding the city. The first day of my journey was pretty easy. I only encountered a couple of wild animals which I killed pretty easily. I also reduced my running pace and started reading through some beginner magic books along the way. When I saw that it was starting to get late, I noticed a small village, 30 minutes or so away from where I was. Deciding that it was better to spend the night inside an inn than in the wild, I started making my way towards it.
When I reached the entrance to the village, the sun had already set. Seeing that there was no one on the roads inside the village, I headed towards the only lit up building I could find. Arriving in front, I saw the sign posted near it's door that said "Tavern". Thinking that they might rent rooms as well, I made my way inside. I expected to see villagers drinking in a lively atmosphere but there was no one inside except a middle aged woman behind the desk.
A smile appeared on her face when she saw me come in and came to greet me straight away.
"Welcome to the Pine Village. Are you perhaps in need of a room to sleep in?"
"Thank you. Yes, I would like a room if possible."
"No problem. It's 20 coppers per night with two meals included. I'm sorry but it's too late now and I'm preparing to close up so I won't be able to serve you the evening meal for today."
After paying for a night I replied: "No need, I'm not hungry anyway."
She guided me to my room and left right after, probably to close the tavern. The room was very small, with a hard bed a chair and a small table.
'This is not that different from sleeping in the forest. At least I won't have to worry about wild animals. Ai, do you know if I could practice magic inside my soul space?'
[Affirmative. You will also not be limited by your mana reserves.]
'Great. Then I would like to try it.' I was a bit excited to try magic for the first time. Wizard was my favorite class in any video game I played.
After laying down on the hard bed, Ai pulled me inside my soul space and I started practicing magic.