Rumius waddled inside the giant library with Rennie in tow and soon came face to face with a kind looking elderly man who seemed to be waiting for them.
The man carried himself with an air of dignity and experience, wore a well fitting butler uniform and had an excellent moustache that that sat just below an elegant silver monocle.
Bending over slightly to look at Rumius, the old man gave a small, polite bow
" Young master, welcome. May I assist you in any way today?"
" No need Albert, Thank you!" Rumius replied with a smile, unnaturally forced.
Hearing this, the old man nodded and turned to walk away.
" Should you need any help, you know where to find me."
Albert was a kind of a librarian here. Rumius had heard that the library was given to him as his responsibility by the Manor lord a long time ago and it had been his post ever since.
Rumius didn't have a good impression of the man. Although he dressed and carried himself elegantly, his eyes were always so expressionless even when he spoke. It gave Rumius the chills and he made sure to steer clear of the guy as much as possible.
Bringing his thoughts back to the present, Rumius made his way over to the central circle where all the alleys met and turned towards the one furthest left.
This alley contained books pertaining to the geography and history of Aüserst.
This wasn't Rumius's first visit to the library. In fact, he had made a trip everyday for the last two months and had gone through at least ten books on the topic.
Why didn't he go read books from the other lanes?
Well he did try it once and Rennie completely freaked out. He didn't understand why and she had used a lot of words that he didn't quite understand at the time so he was still left in the dark as he didn't dare bring the topic up again.
Not directly, at least.
He did get, however, that ' he absolutely mustn't ' and that he had to wait until he got older. That pissed him off quite a bit and he had tried to sneak away more than once, only to always be caught.
Today, Rumius was busy leafing through the bottom row of shelves for slightly more interesting titles while Reverie did the same beside him but on the taller shelves which he couldn't quite reach.
" The ecologist's grimoire… The World's tome….The Thousand Mythics, oh I've read that already…The Augestinnaire…" Rumius muttered as he walked down the aisle, scanning through titles.
" Young master? I believe I've found our new book." Came Rennie's voice.
Rennie squatted down and showed Rumius the article which was about as thick as the length of his palm.
Rumius needed only a glance at the title to let out a small dissatisfied sign, his face contorting into a grimace.
" Come on Rennie, we're reading books on world geography again? I can basically tell you what that book says without even looking at it!" He groaned .
Rennie looked somewhat helpless and mildly annoyed at the same time as she patiently explained: " We've been through this young master and I've told you that until the coming of age ceremony, reading books of other types are prohibited." She explained.
' The Mistress herself had explicitly prohibited it.' She remembered. She wasn't at a position to guess her Lady's intentions but she could somewhat guess why. It was because of the young master's ability to..
" Why? What harm can I do?"
Rennie didn't say anything other than raising an eyebrow in mock surprise. She wasn't about to answer the same question for the hundredth time.
Rumius got the message. He had little choice but to hug the book and waddle towards the end of the aisle where a group of tables were set up.
Rennie pulled out a chair for him to hop on and then pulled out one for herself and they got to reading.
Rumius tended to read aloud so that Rennie could correct his mistakes. It was tiring but he had found that it was definitely more helpful.
What wasn't helpful was how utterly stale and bland the book was. Rumius already knew everything that was written from the books that he had read prior.
Other than several short breaks including one for lunch where Maman came over to visit, throw a fit and breastfeed him, Rumius continued to devour the book with only a mild interest until he had finished it by the time the sun was on its way down the skyline.
" Lets call it a day Rennie." Rumius said while stifling a yawn as he turned the book's back cover and flipped it over to its front.
" You did very well once again today, young master." Rennie praised. Rumius could tell that although she was trying to seem lively, her eyes were also dimming with fatigue.
"I'll help you return the book so please sit and wait for me."
Rumius quickly reached out and grabbed Rennie by the sleeve of her uniform as she was turning around, startling her.
" Let's go together, I don't want to be left here alone." It was uncharacteristic but it was true and he knew from experience. He also didn't want to accidentally get into a one on one encounter with that creepy old librarian.
Hearing this, a small flower of happiness bloomed inside Rennie's chest as she guided Rumius by the hand back through the alley.
It was necessary to be meticulous about this since books in the library were extremely well arranged. Each had its own row, it's own alphabetical rank and it's own aisle to help decide between which other two of its brethren it should rest until it was picked up again.
Rennie couldn't help but shiver at the thought of the graying, monocle wearing old man chasing her with a book again so she made sure to ensure that book was returned properly.
" World history and geography… section 4…..B…." Rennie muttered as she slowly ran her finger over the book titles to find the right slot."
" Please wait awhile young master, I'll try to hurry up."
Rumius nodded and sat down before deciding that sitting down would likely cause him to doze off and end up missing dinner so he stood up and walked up and down the aisle.
Rumius wasn't doing anything in particular like looking at book titles, he was just trying to keep himself awake.
Once he reached the end of the aisle, he turned and walked down the aisle on the left. He reached the end of that then walked down the next aisle. Walked to the end of that and then stopped
Just as he was about to the turn into the next aisle, something had caught his eye from the third row of the shelf behind him.
Turning around, Rumius quickly located the source of anomaly behind him and his heart instantly broke into a sprint.
It was a small book with a dark blue cover. A small pendant made of a spherical gem encased within a metal frame hung from a thin chain attached to the spine of the book where a built-in bookmark tended to be for some books.
The book's title was facing outwards although slightly covered by the pendant. Written in gold ink, it read: The First Tome: Elementary Magic.