James, was a handsome man who couldn't smile. Probably not the best combination but it was what it was, and I didn't come here to pity this man.
Instead, "What's a spirit master?"
"How old is this kid?" James peered. "And are you sure he's your kid? Seems like a West-" he paused, stared at Den with pity in his eyes, and sniffled once. "Is your wife faithful?"
Den stared with blank eyes. He didn't quite bother. "He's four."
Wait, I was? I always thought I was almost three and a half, but I was apparently off by a few months. Or maybe the dude just assumed?
Oh well.
"Speaks fluently for a kid," James mused. "Let me guess, a literal prodigy?"
"Barely average."
"Wait, what? Then why?
Why did Den brought me here, or so James wanted to ask. But he was awfully hesitant to actually say anything in front of me now that he understood that I understood stuff myself.
"I want you to check for Spirit compatibility."
"What?" He sighed. "Does he even have any Southern blood in him?" James whispered, or attempted to whisper but the guy couldn't whisper. Why he went close to Den's ears only to speak basically at the same intensity was kind of beyond me.
"He's a rare case," Den said. "One of the forest spirits shared some mana with him."
"That's rare…" James stared at me. "I don't feel anything from him though."
"Could be latent, hence I brought him to you."
"Hmm," James bent down, put a hand on my head and closed his eyes. He glowed in a green hue, and didn't really say anything but… but I could feel something in him. Something different. Different from me. Yet, familiar. The same feeling I got from the goat! "No, I don't really feel anything; no magic whatsoever. If a spirit truly did share their mana with him, there's a good chance the mana has already been used up. And if he's truly as average as you claim to be, you shouldn't openly bring him here, might be dangerous for him."
The church was just across the lake, along with the priests… I could understand where he was coming from.
"That's why, I'm with him," Den said.
"But it's not like you will always-" He paused. "Anyway, I don't think this boy could be a spirit master."
But I wasn't really interested in their conversation. And I wasn't really into the whole this and that thing. Instead, I'd located something in this garbage room. Something very nice. A black leather coated pile of pages. If my eyes weren't betraying me, it was a book. So, I slowly tiptoed to the corner of the room and picked up the book.
Den and James kept on talking and thinking about my potential and stuff. But yeah, who cared? I already knew I was pretty much useless in terms of abilities. If I couldn't get stronger physically or magically though, I could still get stronger intellect wise right? Even if this world was ruled by magic or monsters, surely there had to be a place for knowledgeable people, right!?
With that thought alone, I picked up the book and briefly looked at the contents table. Or I would have, if there was such a thing. It was just a pile of pages, hand written and… uh…
'Today I went to the brothel again… Sara's stomach is the best. Those lustrous thighs-'
Slam!
I slammed the book shut and that caught the attention of James who rushed my way so fast I thought he was going to knock me over. But instead, he just took the book, hid it in a bookshelf that he produced from under the rubble and said no word of it. But wait there were more books, and they looked like actual books not some pervy diary thing.
"He can read?" James wondered, albeit cautiously.
"Can you read Sol?"
"Just a little. Lin taught me."
"Lin? Lindell Arnius? That brute can read?" James shivered once.
I stared at the man, or more like glared at him.
"He's Lin's Kid, just so you know," Den said.
James lifted his arms as if to surrender. "Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean it like that. She's really strong and often beats me up, you see; I was bullied often by her."
I rolled my eyes and said nothing of it.
"Kid's got a temper," he whispered, or attempted to.
Meanwhile Den shrugged.
Anyway, I went past him and took a look at his catalogue of seven books. 'Let's see…. Volume 1-5 of The Sexy Concubine. The Maid Strikes the Hot Rod~!' I sighed. All the damn books were just erotic novels. But then I caught the sight of the last one… no, it wasn't the weird diary. Rather. "The Tale of Two Empires: A gateway for historians." I spoke aloud. "James, are you trying to be a historian?" I spoke completely disregarding the other books.
"Yeah, yeah," he quickly caught my drift, grabbed the book from my hand and flaunted random facts about the world. "In the Spiral year 445, the thunder god Xorax charred the mountain side, we call that place Zorarred in his honor!" He could have sounded cool if he didn't open the book and stare at it contents while talking.
"Really? Amazing!" I tried to be excited, but couldn't. This was getting awfully taxing on my weird ass body.
"Tell you what, this is really expensive but I'll loan it to you for a couple of days," He really came close and I knew he was just going to whisper-
So, I spoke before him. "Nice, I'll leave right now and read it all day!" I grabbed the book, and pulled on Den's shirt. "Let's go!"
Book acquired!
Den was also pretty much over this shit. "Thank him for the book?" But he still had his priorities straight.
"Thank you so much for lending me the book for free James." I smiled. I did have a feeling he wasn't lending it for free so I made sure to emphasize on that.
"You're welcome." He smiled back.
Gosh he looked shit despite having that face.