It was also a little girl, seemingly about the same age as Nanali. She was wearing the school uniform of Alcott College and was quietly sitting in the corner of the library, flipping through a book.
Unlike Nanali, this little girl's hair was pure white. No, even her eyebrows were pure white.
Such hair color was very rare throughout the Hedley Empire. However, it wasn't non-existent. Comparatively, Lane's black hair and black eyes were even rarer.
Seeming to have sensed Lane's gaze, the little girl with white hair emerged from the sea of books and lifted her eyes to look at Lane.
At this moment, Lane also saw the face of the little girl clearly - tender yet extremely delicate features, and eyes that were profoundly deep and inconsistent with her age.
If one ignored her appearance and only looked at those amber eyes, Lane probably wouldn't think that this was a girl of about the same age as Nanali at all.
"Are you here to read books?"
At this time, the little girl with white hair spoke. Her voice was a little soft but without much fluctuation of emotions.
Different from Nanali who was disguising herself, this little girl with white hair seemed to have no strong emotions inherently. All the information that needed to be expressed through the face had to be conveyed through those eyes.
Lane nodded: "I want to find some books related to the past ten years."
During these ten years of his knight career, Lane had obviously been disconnected from society.
What Lane needed now was to know what had happened in these ten years and try to integrate into this society as much as possible.
After all, he couldn't always be a butler in the Ash family and take care of little girls for a lifetime, could he?
"The empire has developed very steadily in these ten years. There weren't any significant events, and naturally, there was no need to print books. If you want to focus on the events of these ten years, I have quite a lot of newspapers here. You can come and take a look."
Although her tone was cold, the little girl with white hair still said quite a lot, and communication wasn't difficult.
"Thank you."
Lane thanked her and walked forward. At the same time, the little girl with white hair jumped off the chair.
It was only then that Lane noticed that this little girl with white hair was even shorter than Nanali.
Lane felt that Nanali's height was already considered short among her peers...
The little girl with white hair, who had jumped off the chair, came to the bookshelf behind her, squatted down, and struggled to pull out a box full of newspapers. Lane quickly went to help and lifted the box. The weight was indeed not light. It was filled to the brim with yellowed newspapers.
At the same time, Lane also saw a label on the side of the box - 1394.
It was currently the year 1404 of the Human Calendar. It seemed that this was a full year's worth of newspapers from exactly ten years ago.
And for newspapers like this, Lane still needed to look through nine more boxes...
Thinking of this, Lane twitched the corner of his mouth.
Carrying the box, Lane sat opposite the little girl with white hair and picked up a newspaper to read.
At this time, the little girl with white hair asked: "Are you from Minggao? In the books I've read, only people from Minggao have black hair and black eyes."
Although her tone was indifferent, there was curiosity in the eyes of the little girl with white hair.
Lane shook his head: "I don't know where I'm from. But since I was aware of things, I have always grown up in Hedley."
Hearing Lane say so, the little girl with white hair didn't ask any more questions but introduced herself:
"My name is Amiya. Amiya Winzer. I'm a student of Alcott and also the librarian here."
The surname is Winzer? Lane remembered that the magic tutor mentioned by Nanali seemed to have the surname Winzer as well.
"My name is Lane. I have no surname."
Amiya nodded and didn't say anything more. She continued to bury her head in the book, as if saying all this was just to get to know Lane.
Lane also concentrated on reading the newspaper. The two of them read books quietly like this and didn't have any other conversations. Just as Amiya said, the Hedley Empire developed very steadily this year, and no major events occurred.
Unconsciously, Lane finished reading the newspapers of one month.
After reading a few more newspapers, Lane finally stopped his gaze at one newspaper.
[On February 13th, 1394 of the Human Calendar, the Empire established the Dark Corrosion Knight Order, directly under the jurisdiction of the Empire.]
The newspaper also came with a black and white picture, in which a group of knights wearing heavy armor were standing upright. Even just looking at the newspaper, one could feel the elite nature of these knights.
Looking at this picture, the corner of Lane's mouth unconsciously curved into a smile. He looked at it for a long time.
Although he wasn't one of the first knights to join the Dark Corrosion Knight Order, Lane's sense of belonging to this knight order was no less than that of anyone else.
"The Dark Corrosion Knight Order is currently the most mysterious knight order in the Hedley Empire."
Amiya's voice suddenly came: "In ten years, except for this newspaper announcing the establishment of the Dark Corrosion Knight Order, there is no other information about this knight order. Many people suspect whether this knight order has been disbanded.
The name of this knight order is also very strange. After all, the knight orders of the empire are generally named like 'Dawn' or 'Holy Flame', and the armors are basically in colors like red, blue, and white. A name like Dark Corrosion, and wearing black armor, really doesn't match the style of the empire."
"This knight order has indeed been disbanded. However, it was disbanded just recently."
While Lane was still looking at the newspaper intently, he replied with a faint smile: "Just like the name of this knight order, this knight order has never been exposed to the public's view. It just silently carried out tasks. From its establishment to its disbandment, in ten years, this knight order has achieved countless feats but is rarely known."
Speaking of this, Lane suddenly found that Amiya was silent and couldn't help but raise his head.
Seeing that Amiya wasn't even reading the book at this time, her amber eyes blinked as she looked at Lane, seemingly waiting for Lane's continuation.
After meeting Lane's gaze, Amiya said in her soft voice:
"You seem to know a lot about this knight order. Can you tell me more? I'm very curious."
Looking at Amiya's gaze like a curious baby, Lane didn't refuse and said with a smile: "Sure."
Then, Lane organized his words and began to speak:
"Six hundred years ago, the three major races of the Human Race, the Beast Race, and the Elf Race joined forces and defeated the Demon Race, making the Demon Race sign a truce agreement with each race and bringing a six-hundred-year peace to the continent."
Amiya nodded. Currently, the Human Race and the Demon Race, at least on the surface, were still quite harmonious. There was even a young lady of the Demon Race in Alcott College.
"But this is only on the surface."
Lane shrugged: "A dozen years ago, the Demon Race began to show a trend of resurgence, frequently sending small-scale troops to invade the borders of our Hedley Empire.
Because peace was truly hard-won, and the surface-level peaceful development with the Demon Race did indeed bring considerable benefits to our country, the empire was unwilling to have a large-scale war with the Demon Race just because of these small frictions.
And precisely because of this, the Dark Corrosion Knight Order was established."