"I found her under the rain when I was 14," Emmet simply answered. "You?"
"I found her behind a bush...as a wounded bunny," Ashley said.
"Liesl doesn't seem to know where she comes from but she knows she needs to bond with a human to live longer and keep her going," Emmet finally placed the jug back on the table.
"Strange. Arin doesn't either," Ashley nodded, slowly realizing that both Liesl and Arin were both shape-shifters whose four forms where different from each other's. "People always wondered what Arin was and how I had managed to make such being my pet or should I say familiar."
As Emmet was about to say something, the door of the library opened and two young girls walked in.
"Remember, no touching," Emmet warned Ashley before moving to welcome in the girls.
"Oh hi..." Their voices trailed off once they set their eyes on the owner of the store.
"Please do make yourself comfortable and get to immerse yourself in books of various kinds," Emmet gave a gentlemanly bow.
"Well, my friend here recently awakened her spirit core since she plans to become a mage. Although she'll be going to the AOM academy soon, she still insists on taking her flame ability to level 1," The girl with short brown hair began. "Do you have any book or books that may be of help to her?"
"The Archive has several level 1 flames books that I believe will be helpful. Come with me," Emmet proposed and the girls followed his lead.
They came to the shelf that had books on the elemental ability of fire.
"You can find the one you think will just be right for you. They are all level 1 flame books," Emmet said to the girls who gazed at the shelf in awe.
"Oh my goodness! I never thought we would actually get elemental books in Emeria!" The girl with long pink hair, who was said to have unlocked her spirit core exclaimed.
"The Devil's Archive is certainly an exception. Have fun ladies," He smiled and as he was about to go, he was stopped by the girl with short brown hair.
"Yes?" He raised an eyebrow.
"I'd like something on literature to read while she finds the suitable book for her ability. Something specifically on romance," She said.
"Sure," Emmet signalled for her to follow him and he led her to another shelf that held books on the romance genre.
"Do you have the book, Roses and hibiscuses?" She turned to look at him for answers.
Emmet squinted his eyes at the shelf.
' Inspect shelf for book titled "Roses and hibiscuses",' He thought.
[Inspect has been activated]
[Scanning shelf for "Roses and hibiscuses"]
...
["Roses and hibiscuses" has been detected]
The system immediately highlighted a book in the fifth shack of the shelf.
"Roses and hibiscuses is certainly a popular romance novel," Emmet spilled the words in a bid to make it seem like he knew what the book was before pulling it out from the shelf and handed it over to the girl.
"Sure it is but I haven't gotten the chance to read it for so long," She nervously laughed. "By the way, I have a small question to ask but I hope you don't get offended?"
"Go on."
"Why does...why does your skin look the way it does? Is that paint?" She asked, her voice laced with nervousness.
"I was born this way," Emmet spread his arms apart and chuckled. "Funny how, I look like what you humans picture as the devil."
"I'm sorry for asking," The look on the girl's face expressed instant guilt and regret.
Emmet simply smiled.
"How much will it cost for a session?" She quickly asked.
"25 gold coins," Emmet said.
She nodded and handed over the required amount to him from her purse.
"I'll be reading here for an hour but my friend will be buying the elemental book," She added.
Emmet nodded and returned to his desk while she moved to take a seat.
He poured half a teacup of Ethereal tea which he took to the girl with short hair. He explained in details to her how it worked and she was able to do as she was advised while running her eyes through the romance book.
Soon after, he returned to his seat behind his desk.
"You know, you would have made a lot of money in the circus than working as a librarian," Ashley gazed at him while she remained on the desk.
"It's called using what you have to get what you want," She shrugged. "That's the kind of world we live in."
Emmet simply ignored her and pulled out a book from the drawer underneath his desk to keep himself busy.
Unperturbed by Emmet's reaction, she got off from the desk and her shape-shifter returned into her hair to give it the silver colour.
"I'll go sit somewhere else," She said to him and without waiting for a response, moved to sit two tables away from the girl with short brown hair.
She moved to cross her legs on the top of the table and took out an apple from her pouch which she slowly feasted on while her lazy eyes resumed the survey she never got to finish.
An hour soon passed and both customers were prepared to leave. Emmet had earned 50 gold coins from the pink-haired girl who bought a level 1 flame book as well as the 25 gold coins he had earned from her friend for a library session.
[The Devil's Archive has earned +50 customer points from Marla]
[The Devil's Archive has earned +50 customer points from Natasha]
"It's really annoying that we couldn't offer you more than 50 points," The girl with brown hair, Natasha sighed. "We recently came to Emeria and haven't really gone to enough stores to earn points but certainly, we'll come again next time with higher points."
"Like she said," Marla smiled.
From the way she loosened up than when they had first stepped into the store, Emmet believed that Natasha had already cleared her doubts on his skin.
"I'll be waiting," Emmet bowed his head. The girls reciprocated his respectful gesture before heading out.
When he returned to his seat, Ashley came up to him and a handful of her silver hair placed coins before him.
"25 gold coins for the night," She said. "Those girls were rich like I expected."