" *sigh* Why do we have to manually arrange all these books?" Complained one of Roland's librarians to her friend. She is currently on a ladder while her fellow librarian holds it steady.
Days have passed since fighting Yun's Office, and the Library has now taken on other Offices. However, they are only small-time ones. The books gained from them is around the same quality as Yun's Office's. Not only that, no sign of a red invitation, so that means no considerable progress is made.
"I know right? I've seen miss Angela levitate some books before. Couldn't she give us some of that too."
"Unfortunately, our Head Librarian doesn't seem to be keen on sharing to us some of her power."
""Good morning sir!"" ""Hey boss!""
""Hello manager!""
Seeing Roland interject in thier conversation, the librarians greet him warmly. After the reception of Yun's Office, Roland decides to interact with the rest of his floor's librarians to get to know them better. His easy going and joking personality made him get along with them quite well.
'It's been a while someone greeted me with a friendly smile.' Roland thought to himself.
"Hello sir. What do you want?"
"Hm? Nothing much, just passing by when I heard you guys."
Roland begins to place the books he was holding into the shelves, arranging them accordingly.
One of the librarians want to say something to Roland but is too shy. Her friend is annoyed by this and pushes her to him to signal. "Just ask.".
"Oh, boss. I've been meaning to ask."
"What?"
"Since you heard us, then maybe you can go ask Angela to lend us some power to make this work easier."
"Unfortunately, that won't happen. As you know, I came here uninvited, so she's rightfully suspicious of me. I highly doubt that she'll lend some of her powers for an intruder if she wouldn't hand it to people closer to her like you all."
"Um... Actually, you're more closer to Angela than us."
"Wait, really?"
Roland is surprised by this. He's been with his floor's librarians and talked with them. He knows that they were all employees of a Wing once and worked at the same branch as Angela for 50 days.
"Yeah. She rarely interacted with us directly. Most of the time it's through the intercoms. The few times she did interact with us face to face was to give some orders and leave immediately."
"Honestly, Doesn't seem surprising considering her personality."
Hearing the librarians' talk about Angela, it doesn't seem all that strange to Roland that she wouldn't be close to them even if they worked together for a long time.
'I'm probably considered closer because unlike them I actually try to sass her.'
"Was there anyone at all who had some bond with her?"
"Yes there is! I Angela had one person who is not only cloee to her, but is also her best friend."
"Really?"
Roland is surprised by this. With her attitude and how she does things, he didn't think she'd have someone to call a best friend.
"Really?"
"Yep, it's-"
"What are you doing?"
Hearing the voice of the person they were talking about, the librarians immediately stop talking and stand upright for Angela.
""Nothing ma'am!""
"Your jobs are to arrange the books we collect. Stop gossiping on work time, understand?"
""Yes!""
The librarians quickly get back to their duties.
"By the way. You, Servant."
"Yes ma'am?"
Hearing her new title for him, Roland merely accepts his fate and responds.
"Thanks to all your work, the Library has gained a new floor. The Floor of History. It is roght below yours. You felt that shaking before? That was the Library growing to accommodate it."
'Growing? So this place is more physical than I initially thought.'
"New floor? So more space then."
"More than that. It means more librarians, more abnormalities, more possibilities. We can use this to deal woth an even greater number of guests, doing our work more efficiently."
"Hearing that, it seems that we should gather nore books to open up more floors?"
"Correct. I'll go and ready the floor, meet me there. It has been placed below yours."
Angela then teleported to the brand new Floor, leaving Roland to himself.
"Wait, how does that- nevermind. Guess I gotta do what she says."
******
At the Floor of History
Roland arrives at the brand new floor.
"We really got another floor to the Library "
He looks arpund and begins to compare it to his floor. While it seems like a regular library, it's certainly different than his. For starters, it is in much brighter colors than his floor's dreary gray. Another is that the books here are already neatly arranged, unlike his where the books are randomly scattered about when brought to his floor, putting work on him and his librarians by Angela to sort them.
'Guess this means I've got a coworker now. How should I introduce myself?'
"Hey there~ My name's Rolan-"
"ANGELA!"
Just as Roland was about to practice his self introduction, he hears a woman angrily screaming Angela's name. He goes to what he thinks is the source of it to investigate. He sees Angela being confronted by the likely culprit.
The woman was short than her, wearing brown clothes that have similar designs to Angela's and had long brown hair. In her arms is a small white creature sporting the same haircut as the woman holding it.
It is clear from the scream that the two are not friendly with one another.
"You know, I still can't forgive you!"
Hearing the woman's words, Angela merely sighs in annoyance.
"I thought we were already done with that topic. You simply need to cooperate without complaint. Like you did back for that 'graaand' plan."
Angela extends the 'grand' part out of sarcasm, her opinion clearly about it being the opposite of grand.
The woman is not happy with her sarcasm, evident by the scowl on her face.
"That was the deal, remember? And try to appreciate that fleshy body of yours you've finally earned back."
"Tch. Did you really think you could make me happy by just giving me a human body? Especially after what you made him d-"
Before the woman can finish, Angela grabs her mouth and shuts her. Any anger the woman had was immediately gone when she looked into Angela's eyes. The creature in her arms is clearly frightened as well.
Angela's expression have not changed, but there is a clear difference in the atmosphere. If before she was merely cold and dismissive, now she is full of calm, calculated rage. She glares at the bracelet the woman is wearing. It's shoddily made just like hers.
"Tch."
She then looks back to the woman, who is desperately trying to free her mouth.
"Don't. Mention. Him. Again. Understand, Elijah?"
Hearing the name Elijah, the woman's eyes widens.
Angela lets go of her mouth harshly, causing the woman to fall to the ground and drop the creature in her arms.
"Just do your job and we don't see each other. Clear?"
"Crystal." Said the woman venomously.
"Good."
With that, Angela leaves. The woman dusts herself off before picking up the creature and begins comforting it.
"Don't worry little buddy. The mean woman is gone now. It's gonna be alright."
'Damn. That was tense.'
"Hello there. Name's Roland, Patron Librarian of the Floor of General Works."
Moving out of his hiding spot, Roland comes up and introduces himself.
"Ah, hello. I'm the Patron Librarian in charge of the Floor of History. Malkuth!"
The woman introduces herself cheerfully, different than her attitude earlier.
"You seem lively at least."
'Malkuth? Then what was that Elijah stuff?'
Roland files that little question away for now.
"So. What was going on just now?"
Thunking back to what happend, Malkuth's mood immediately dropped.
"Oh. That. I have some... Unfinished business, shall we say... with Angela. You probably heard bits of it, but I have no choice but to follow her orders, no matter how I feel."
Sensing its owner's mood, the white creature cuddles to her in an attempt to comfort her. It works, and Malkuth affectionately pets it.
"Same here! Though we seem to have ended up here for different reasons. What can I do for you?"
Roland initiates a conversation with his fellow Patron Librarian. Seeing as they are coworkers of equal positions, it's better to be on good terms.
"Well. Not much. You just need to bring me books, Roland. Since I'm in charge of the Floor of History, I'll be sorting books you bring and collecting those about history!"
"Great, the books nowadays are cluttering my floor due to the changes to how they work."
Before, when a person turns to a book they just become books. Now though, when a person becomes a book and they try to read it, the book splits into different books, each containing specific types of knowledge from the person. Example, when looking up Yun's book, it split up in other books. One book contained his entire life sotey, another contained all the fighting techniques he knows, another meanwhioe contains the in depth analysis of his time running his Office. While this made looking up certain subjects easier, it means more books are taking up space.
"That's why there are now floors for a specific topic! Us librarians will then read collected books, gradually making our floors whole and completing the Library itself as an extension. With this, we'll naturally unlock more floor and awaken theirnpatron librarians in the process!"
"So, other patron librarians are asleep for now like how my assistants were?"
"Yep!"
Roland begins to take in all of Malkuth's words.
"I get the gist of it. You're surprisingly bright for someone who was so upset moments ago, by the way. I was kinda worried I might have to endure some of that wrath."
Although Roland is sure he can actually take Malkuth in a fight if necessary, he much prefers to be on friendlier terms with her considering that he is an outsider unlike everyone in the Library.
"I can't let my personal affairs get in the way of work now! I still have probleme with Angela, but it's not like getting mad about it will do me any good. And besides..."
Malkuth plays eith the bracelet on her arm, her face showing that she's remembering good memories.
"I've got my own reasons to do best with this work, too!"
"Okay, then~ Let's give it our best shot."
"Yeah!"
Roland gives out his hand for a shake, and Malkuth happily obliges.
The Floor of History is officially open.