Some weeks back.
"Tch, nothing much in this one too."
Aaron heaved a frustrated sigh and laid with his back on the ground and several books lying around.
The books were small and appeared to be the abridged versions of the real stuff. Luckily for Aaron, both his father and mother were avid readers. However, since his father went out of their lives, Alicia hasn't been much of a reader.
He had gone through nine of them already but all of them ended at some point that begs some questions in his head.
If he was going to easily fit into this new world as Aaron Winters, the Incubus Lord needed a few things to be sorted out first and in a certain order as he drafted them.
A good rest and several nights of sound sleep.
Information.
Allies and...
Money.
He had achieved the first one, sleeping for long hours in a day for the first few days after reincarnating into this world.
Now, he was in the next phase of his list — information.
Information was what he was searching for in all his parents' book collections. He wanted to know more about where he was, the type of people that existed here, their foods, languages, fashion style and several other things.
His unquenchable hunger for knowledge continued to grow with almost every incident he witnessed and came to break the limit after Aaron fought the bandit with an awful breath.
His will and hunger to learn were immeasurable but the resources he had available to satisfy them were very limited. The books inside their home did not talk about the world beyond the Crimson Melon town and that was for the few that even went as far as talking about the different villages within Crimson Melon town.
Aaron sighed and turned on his side, moving his hand over the hard, black cover of one of the small books of about two hundred pages. Upon that cover was drawn a six-pointed crimson star.
It was one of the few books that caught and held his interest since it was also one of the few that dwelt on matters that involved the Crimson Melon town, its politics, culture and beyond even the borders of Crimson Melon, only to have a seemingly brusque ending that made it appear unfinished.
Aaron could remember groaning when he finished this particular book.
"Curse you, Daveed Vonmonth!" he lamented as he wickedly stared at the book.
.
.
.
Present day.
Everything was making sense to the present-day Aaron as he stood before the chieftain. He had finally connected the dots that would reveal the bigger picture.
He looked at Elda as she leaned forward.
"How do you want your chieftain to reward you?" she asked.
Aaron chucked inwardly as his day couldn't get any better. He knew what he wanted at that moment but decided to give an unhurried answer since that would appear more natural than a hasty one.
During his intimate session with Elda, he was able to peer into the very depth of her consciousness and see things that even she had forgotten about — her lifetime memories.
Aaron learned many things from being exposed to such a vast expanse of memories. Armed with the gift from this exposure, Aaron proceeded to give his well-thought-out answer.
"My lady," he began as he lowered his head and a mischievous smile appeared on his face.
"I ask that you grant me a day in the Crimson Star Library as my reward."
After Aaron made his request as demanded by King Elda, the entire room fell into dead silence.
Rhis and Yana looked at each other, surprised by Aaron's request. They would have outrightly rejected him but it was not within their powers to make that decision... at least not with Elda still on her ruling chair.
"How did he even know about the Crimson Star Library?" Yana thought, observing Aaron with keener eyes.
Aaron replied to her stare with his own immediately as if he had read her mind but after a few seconds, he turned his head to face the chieftain who had stayed silent since he made his request.
She was silent not because of the request or the outrageousness of it but because it was not what she had expected him to ask of her.
The fact that he chose a library from all the things he could possibly get from her pissed her off. Aaron noticed her grip tightening around the arms of her chair and the corners of her mouth twitching.
How could Aaron not want her?
How dare he, a mere man, not ask for her to be by his side!
King Elda burned inwardly but her facial expression was cheerful and smiling. She couldn't show her inner rage... no, not in front of Rhis and Yana, who didn't know what happened the previous night.
Her pride and innate lust for the man in front of her had made her lose sight of the important question, one that Rhis didn't hesitate to ask.
"What do you seek inside the Crimson Star Library, young man?" she asked with a straight face, her eyes narrowing at Aaron. She folded her fist and waited for his answer.
Aaron looked at Rhis who had demanded an answer but said nothing to her and turned his face back to King Elda who was relaxed on her chair.
"What do you say?" he asked.
His arrogance angered the two sisters that guarded the chieftain, infuriating Rhis even more since he had shoved her aside like an ant.
After a few minutes of silence and inward deliberation from the chieftain, she cleared her throat to speak.
"Ahem, your request is granted."
Her answer created a different response inside the four of them that heard him.
A smile of accomplishment burst out on Aaron's face and he bowed his head.
Elsa had a confused look on her face, not knowing what her master wanted in the said library in the first place.
Rhis and Yana became even more infuriated at this point.
"What is the lady doing?" Yana asked inwardly, getting a glimpse of the chieftain's face. She couldn't understand how she was letting herself play into the hands of this young man.
"Thank you," Aaron said before raising his head and looking King Elda in the eyes, "...my lady."
Her face flushed red in an instant, hearing those words come out of Aaron's mouth. Aaron saying it to her sounded more than just a courteous reply.
She blushed nonstop as Aaron and his apprentice left the room.