Dulmi looked at Amy and sighed.
He asked again: "Amy, do you know Duke Joiet?"
"Of course!" little Amy answered, then looked at Dulmi with concern, "But Dulmi, didn't you ask this question yesterday?"
However, yesterday's Amy had given two completely different answers!
Daytime Amy "knew of" Duke Joiet, while nighttime Amy "knew" Duke Joiet.
Could Amy actually know someone from so many years ago?
...He knew it, the Nope father and daughter were keeping secrets.
Unfortunately, he couldn't uncover the truth now.Today was Dulmi's last day in Nightingale; early tomorrow morning, he would depart for Livingston. Since Amy would be at school tomorrow, this would likely be their last meeting before farewell.
Dulmi had another free lunch at the Nopes'.
In the afternoon, Amy needed to go to the library to do homework, so Dulmi accompanied her. Of course, he also wanted to look for books about Duke Joiet.
Following Nightingale's main street, one would find the impressive statue symbolizing books. That was where the public library stood.
Public libraries were under the jurisdiction of [The Star Cluster]. Although one of the seven true gods, this deity was quite mysterious, and their followers were rare. However, one of their vice-gods—[Knowledge]—had a significant presence in Sheran.
[Knowledge] asked for nothing else, only establishing libraries throughout every city in Sheran, and was now diligently expanding their territory—that is, libraries—in Fogland.
Students probably had mixed feelings about this vice-god but would silently pray to them during exams.
[Knowledge]'s libraries were invariably located in the north of cities. These libraries were at least three stories tall. Small cities like Nightingale might only have three floors, but in large cities like Christian and Livingston, they had at least five floors.
Most ordinary residents could only stay on the first floor. Students like Amy could go to the second floor to find their needed books.
As for the third floor and above, they were basically only open to specific citizens.
Dulmi used to be very familiar with this place. After the Knight family moved to Nightingale, Dulmi often helped his parents borrow and return books here. But that was in the past.
He told Amy where he was going, then smiled and waved to the administrator before making his way to the third floor, where he pulled out a popular science book about the Fanes Dynasty.
Of course, his family had more in-depth research materials, but honestly, those were completely beyond Dulmi's knowledge range. He'd better stick to simple, easy-to-understand popular science books.
Most of these books were written by followers of [Knowledge]. They liked to record the information bestowed by [Knowledge]. That information was messy and chaotic, requiring lengthy integration and restoration, but the followers always threw themselves into it fanatically.
In these popular science books, most of the time it was just some basic, fundamental knowledge.
As for history?
The followers of [Chronology] remained tight-lipped about this.
The Fanes Dynasty had twelve founders, most of whom had disappeared into history. [Emperor] rarely commented on this and even more rarely responded to related topics—or rather, few dared to touch this sensitive subject.
Currently, people knew of three founders. Absalom Joiet was one of them.
It was said he was born with immense strength but a dull personality, and was a childhood friend of [Emperor] Andre Fanes. Later, Joiet joined [Emperor]'s great cause of unifying Sheran. However, after the Fanes Dynasty was truly established, all records related to Duke Joiet suddenly vanished.
In later history, during the early reign of the current Augustus, Joiet's descendants invested large sums of money in exploring Fogland.
The powerful duke who once campaigned across the vast continent of Sheran, establishing great merit, was now reduced to merely a few lines in popular science books.
Unable to find more details, Dulmi sighed in disappointment.
He pushed the book away and began to wonder what surprises might await if he stayed here for the Outer zone. He had been to the Outer zone's library before, where all the books came alive with sharp teeth trying to devour him.
Dulmi really couldn't understand what he had done to offend those books.
"...Dulmi ?" The administrator came upstairs to find him, whispering, "Those materials your parents collected..."
"No way," Dulmi answered.
Among all those who "coveted" his parents' academic legacy, this Nightingale library administrator was one of them, and quite persistent too. However, his persistence was purely for academic purposes.
Over the past three years, this administrator had also looked after Dulmi 's life.
The administrator's name was unknown; Dulmi called him Uncle Ian.
Ian was around forty, a thin man wearing glasses. He wasn't a follower, at least Dulmi hadn't heard of him worshipping any god. But his love for books and knowledge made even [Knowledge]'s followers happy to let him manage this library.
Ian awkwardly pushed up his glasses and quickly said, "No, not donation... even just for exhibition at the library..."
"I'm leaving Nightingale."
There were only the two of them on the third floor. Thus, Dulmi 's voice echoed between the bookshelves, creating slight ripples in the air.
Ian was stunned for a moment.
"I'm going to Fogland."
"...Traveling?"
"As a sailor."
Ian let out a surprised "Ah!" and said, "But Dulmi , you've never experienced hardship!"
Dulmi pursed his lips.
Before age 15, he certainly hadn't experienced hardship. His family was well-off, his parents had respectable jobs, and they pampered him.
But after 15?
The bitterness of death had corroded his soul.
Dulmi said, "But I need to go to Fogland at least once." He paused, then added, "As for the materials my parents left behind, let's deal with them after I return."
Ian was speechless and could only nod.
But Dulmi became curious: "By the way, Uncle Ian, are those materials really that important?"
"Very important." Ian suddenly sighed, "Dulmi , if you don't plan to inherit your parents' research, then..."
Dulmi perked up his ears.
"...you'd better never open those things."
Dulmi blinked.
Ian couldn't help but ask hesitantly, "You haven't opened them already, have you?"
"Uh, no?" Dulmi said uncertainly, "Probably not? I just happened to see an excerpt about Duke Joiet, so I came to look up records about the Fanes Dynasty."