“Can you read, Tundra?” I asked as I studied the books.

“Yes. Though I only read the bible,” the young wolf said from behind me.

Ah… right… she was very religious, wasn’t she? “Don’t like stories?” I asked.

“Not really. They all seem fake to me… like the one about the princess being saved by the knight. You think that stuff really happens? I doubt it,” Tundra said with a small huff, as if talking about something that annoyed her.

Princess? Being saved? I wonder if she spoke of an actual story or something just in general. There were many such stories, after all. “I’d think if a princess ever needed to be saved, many people would do their best to do so… and a knight of all things would indeed be who’d most likely accomplish it. So why do you doubt it?” I asked as I glanced at her. She was sitting on a chair, cross legged, and was brushing her tail with a fine toothed comb. Unlike me she didn’t seem to have any interest in the multiple tomes and books all around us.

“I mean… I guess so? But even if that did happen, do you actually think she’d mate with him? A knight is still just a knight! And she’s a princess! They mate with kings and princes, not knights!” Tundra said, a little loudly.

Oh. So it wasn’t the plot of the story she was doubting, but the underlying theme. The romance. Or rather whom the romance was centered upon. Did she mean to say if someone of similar stature, like said king or prince, saved the princess then it would be believable…? And thus worth reading?

Funny.

Or… maybe not, in her case.

“From my experience, many people fall for the ones who save them from a terrible fate… or death. So it’s pretty believable to me,” I said as I thought of a few familiar faces. Lilly was a good example. She might not have been outright saved by Windle, not in the physical sense… but she definitely had been in the other way. In the spiritual, or emotional, sense.

“Huh…? Is that why you like Vim? Did he save you?”

Woops. “No. I mean… he’s saved me before, yes. But that’s not why I fell for him,” I said quickly, as to avoid her misunderstanding. I didn’t want her to think I was so simple, though it really didn’t matter if she did so.

“Why did you?” Tundra asked in the way only a child could.

“I fell for what I call his gentleness. I like how he basically ignores himself, almost completely, and focuses on everyone else,” I told her the truth.

Tundra though didn’t find that very interesting… based off the way she frowned at me. “That’s it?”

“Well… and a lot of other things too. To be honest I fell for him for simple reasons, but a lot of them. I like a lot about him, almost everything to be honest,” I said.

“I don’t like how he looks. He looks boring,” Tundra said.

“That’s good; I don’t want you to fall for him!” I said with a small laugh.

The young wolf smiled at me, but then pointed at me with her brush. “You’re pretty though,” she said simply, as if stating a simple fact. Like how I would tell Vim when I was hungry.

Smiling gently I nodded. “Thanks, you’re adorable yourself.” And not just in appearance.

She and I had spent most of the afternoon together. We had gone shopping, I had bought a few things and also a few small gifts for those I’d meet on our eventual trip east, and we had even had a small lunch break where we had shared my favorite smoothies. During our little outing I had come to realize how much attention the young wolf needed. She had been so happy, so purely overjoyed, at just walking around and doing normal things such as shopping that I had felt terrible.

The girl reminded me a lot of myself. Back when I had first tried to mingle with humans, after leaving Witch. I had been… lost, confused, but full of hope. And I knew, from experience, how quickly that hope turned into despair and pain… so I wanted to of course save the young wolf from such a fate, but… I wasn’t sure how deeply I should allow myself to feel for her.

Not that I didn’t think she didn’t deserve my attention or help… but at the same time, I also knew I might not be able to give her the help she actually deserved. Nor did I think I was the only one capable of providing such help, either. After all, Light and all the rest had obviously been taking care of her this whole time… and seemingly doing well enough so far, at least. What if my interference or concern wasn’t just unneeded but unwarranted…? What if my attempts to teach or guide her only resulted in the opposite effect…?

And more importantly, should I invite her to dinner or not?

“Adorable? Am I? Really?” Tundra asked.

“Yeah…? Your tail is especially cute, and so are your ears. I also like your smell, it’s strong and unique enough I can use it to track you anywhere but not so strong it’s annoying or overpowering. Not many of us are like that,” I said as I returned my attention to the book shelf.

We were in one of the newer made libraries in the church. And many of the books here were ones that they had brought back with them from the other continent… meaning they were important, in ways I yet understood. I wasn’t really sure what I was exactly looking for, since I didn’t want to read anymore prophecies, but… I did have a certain topic I was looking for.

One a little closer to home. Not about stories or poems… not about the world, sciences, or religion… but instead something a bit more personal.

I was looking for anything written about Vim. From the perspective of someone else, other than myself or a saint.

So far though all I’d been able to find were books I couldn’t read, since they were written in languages I didn’t know, and also a lot of journals about random things. From math, to cooking recipes, to maps or other scientific stuff… there seemed to be almost anything and everything in here. Although a lot of it was interesting, nothing so far had really held my attention. Yet… I for some reason felt as if they should. As if each one I opened was something seriously important, something I needed to read in full and remember forever, but… I just couldn’t bring myself to read more than a page or two of each so far. Of the ones I could read, at least.

Maybe I was just bored…? Tundra and I had returned here from our outing in the city about an hour ago, and I was waiting for Vim to finish up his task so that we could have dinner. Light had told me that food would be prepared, and thus I didn’t need to worry about getting it myself, and so I had nothing to do until then. And I couldn’t even use Light as a distraction either, since she too had stuff to handle before our dinner-date.

So, because of that… I had asked Tundra about any new rooms recently finished since my last visit. And in the long list of rooms she had spoke of, the library had been the one I had focused on. I now wished I had chosen another, such as the baths or maybe the gym… but here I was, instead. Looking for a book I doubted actually existed.

“Thanks…”

I blinked and frowned as I glanced back at the wolf… and found her sheepishly blushing as she brushed her tail.

Was she… thanking me for my statement? I had said that several minutes ago. It had taken her that long to respond…?

Maybe… maybe she didn’t get such compliments often. She did seem to smile a little awkwardly when someone gave her even the smallest of compliments… I had figured she had just done so because she was a child, and as such not used to being praised, but…

“Oh…? Why Renn, how long have you been back?”

I turned and watched Glasses walk down the aisle towards us. The glasses wearing saint had a very large book in her arms, one she held close to her chest as she happily smiled in greeting as she walked over to me.

“Hey Glasses. I arrived yesterday, though have been busy. How’ve you been? How’s the leg?” I asked as I glanced down at her. She still had a small limp, it seemed, but it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as before Vim made her that brace of his.

And judging by the sudden smell of oil and leather, she still wore it.

“Very good, actually. I’ve not had any trouble at all with it so far. Is Sir Vim back as well? If so I’d like to thank him for it again, if he is,” Glasses asked as she nodded quickly, but didn’t offer to show me the brace in question. I didn’t fault her for it, since I knew how she was.

Glasses was not the kind to lift her skirt, not even in front of other women or friends. She was that kind of woman.

“Vim’s with me, yes,” I said with a nod.

“He’s downstairs, making a tunnel!” Tundra said happily.

Rather he had finished that tunnel already and was now cleaning up the mess he’d made in doing so, but I wasn’t going to correct her.

“A tunnel…? Ah, right. I remember those meetings,” Glasses said with a knowing nod.

Meetings… “Mind if ask what that is?” I asked with a point at the book she carried. It had a metal cover, which was odd, and so it interested me… and was a far better topic than the current one, in my opinion.

“Hm…? Oh, it’s a tome of knowledge. Concerning poisons,” she said as she went ahead and tapped the edge of it with a finger.

“Poisons…?” I asked as even Tundra hummed in interest.

Glasses nodded. “Someone is going to be poisoned soon, so I and a few others are going to try and figure out an antidote before it happens,” she said.

Oh… “You mean… a prophecy…?” I asked carefully.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

She nodded. “Yeah.”

“Who’s going to be poisoned?” I asked.

The spectacled saint was about to answer… but then frowned in thought. “I… am not sure if I should say, Renn. If I do tell you, it might change the future… and if that happens…”

“It risks lives… yes, I know. Sorry I asked,” I said with a small sigh.

“Huh…? How would it?” Tundra asked.

Glasses answered for me. “If Renn knew whom is to be poisoned, there’s a chance she might inadvertently change fate. It could be by her trying to save them, or just by having the knowledge causing the steps of fate to change. If that happens then there’s a chance that our known future, the one we can plan and make contingencies for, changes… and then that makes our efforts fruitless. Imagine if we find the antidote to the poison we know now, but the poison then changes because of interference? Then our antidote won’t work and the individual will perish because of it. We can’t risk that.”

Tundra frowned at her answer in a way that told me she either couldn’t follow, or had and just didn’t find the answer to make much sense… much alike how she had not understood how a princess and a knight could end up falling in love in her world-view.

To a point I agreed with her. Not about the knight and princess stuff, but instead the fate stuff. But I knew better than to voice such an opinion here and now.

“Who wrote the book of poisons?” I asked.

Glasses giggled at me. “An apt name for it. It was written by a priest, though I know not his name. I’m sure it’s in the book somewhere, but I’ve not read it in full yet.”

Huh… “Why would a priest know about poisons?” Tundra asked what I was thinking.

“You’d be surprised how much knowledge is learnt or passed on by those of the cloth. More than half these tomes are written by such individuals,” Glasses said with a small glance around us.

“Do you… know a lot about these books, Glasses?” I asked.

“Hm…? Of course. I’m the librarian. Or well, I like to think myself as one,” she said with a happy smile and nod.

Oh! “Then would you happen to know if there’s a book about Vim here?” I asked.

“Vim…?” Both Tundra and Glasses said his name with an odd tone as I nodded.

“Anything about him at all. Or well… anything that isn’t a prophecy, at least.”

“Hm… there are a few about the protector, yes… though I’m not sure if I should include them in your criteria or not. Do you mean to say you don’t want any that are centered around prophecies, or any and all with any hint of such things at all within them…?” Glasses asked.

Frowning at that, I shrugged as I nodded. “I guess… if there’s talk of prophecies within it, but they’re not the focus, I can accept that. I just don’t want any saint’s journals or anything. I don’t want to learn more about the future than I already know, at least at the moment,” I said.

“Wisdom…! Then yes, there’s a couple… though not here. The ones I can think of off the top of my head are in the floor below, in the locked sections,” Glasses said.

Locked… “Can I see them?” I asked.

“Of course you can…? Come on, I’ll get the key.”

I nodded and went to follow her… but before I did I glanced at Tundra who hurriedly got off the chair she’d been sitting. “You were looking for books about your husband?” she asked.

“Yep.”

“Why…?”

“Because I heard from Tosh there’d be some here about him,” I said. It had been his answer to my request. Of learning more about Vim’s past. He had said that I should check the archives, though he had mentioned Telmik and not here… but then Tundra had mentioned libraries and so I figured there would be no harm in checking these too. Turned out I was right to do so!

“Tosh…?” Tundra mumbled the name as Glasses slowed to a stop.

“Tosh…? You mean the doctor? He still lives?” she asked me.

Hm? “I… think that’s the same man, yes? He’s at the guild,” I said.

Glasses frowned at that and reached up to move her glasses up her nose a little. “Huh… I’m surprised to hear so. He had saved my mother, long ago, I thought he was dead. Or missing, at least.”

I shook my head and frowned. “Nope…? I mean, as long as we’re not talking about someone else of course.”

“Huh… I should probably go see him then. I owe him my life, after all…”

Oh…? That was…

I blinked and worriedly glanced Glasses up and down again… and realized I probably should worry. She was likely exactly what Tosh liked, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted him to meet her because of it.

Would she be strong enough to endure his teasing and flirting, I wonder…? She had barely been able to handle Vim measuring her leg as to make her brace for crying out loud! She was a frail thing!

Still… “You’ve been in Lumen this whole time and still don’t know everyone yet?” I asked Glasses. Tundra had obviously known his name; she had been to the guild several times… and not just with me. She had likely just been whispering about the fact that I was searching for something so odd to her thanks to him of all people.

“I’m not one to typically mingle, to be honest…” Glasses mumbled as she returned to walking.

Made sense… Not only was she a saint, she was also… well…

Her.

“Glasses doesn’t like men,” Tundra said from behind us.

Glancing behind me at the wolf, I found her nodding seriously at me as Glasses sighed. “I don’t hate men…! I just… don’t like them,” she said.

Isn’t that what Tundra just said…? “You and Ursula would be good friends,” I said as I thought of the timid woman at the Crypt.

“I don’t know her either, I’ll meet her too when I go see Tosh then,” Glasses said simply.

“Ah… she’s not here. She’s at the Crypt, far to the east,” I said. That was my fault, of course she’d misunderstand.

“East…? Yeah, I have no plans to venture out of the city anytime soon Renn…” Glasses said with a sigh.

“Crypt?” Tundra asked, sounding excited over hearing of such a unique place as we rounded another aisle of books.

“A Society location. It’s a place where we lay our dead to rest,” I said.

“Oh… sounds like a gloomy place,” Tundra said.

Glasses giggled as she led us to a desk. One that had built in shelves to it, where books rested upon it. It looked as if someone had taken a bookshelf and cut it in half, and then made a desk into its side. “It does sound gloomy, huh? But in a way this place is gloomy too. I mean really, do they have to make the underground sections so dark and foreboding?” she asked as she put the large book of poisons down onto the desk and went ahead and opened a drawer. She pulled out a large metal key, and then nodded and gestured for us to follow her again.

“They’re adding lanterns soon,” Tundra said.

“Still will be gloomy. It’s hard to like, you know…? We didn’t need such underground places back home… it will take time to adjust I think,” Glasses said.

Back home…? She obviously meant the other continent. That made me wonder what their homes had looked like. Supposedly they had not all lived together, to the point they had several villages and stuff… I wonder if someone had drawn or painted their homes before leaving? So I could see what they had looked like…? Or should I just imagine some of the other locations I’d been to in the Society, like The Summit?

“Was it nice? Over there?” I asked as Glasses led us to a door. One that actually was locked, with a big metal bar that was latched not just across the door but into the very stone wall it was connected to. It took Glasses a long moment to unlock it and slide it back, and then open the door for us.

“It was boring,” Tundra said.

“I found it quite pleasant. Though yes, it had been… boring I suppose,” Glasses admitted.

“Would you go back…? If you could, I mean?” I asked as she led us not just through the door and down a hallway… but to a stairwell. One that was dark and foreboding, as she called it.

“No. I don’t think I would. One moment there’s a lantern over there,” Glasses then stepped away for a moment, heading for a door a few dozen feet down the hall. She disappeared into the room, and then a few moments returned with a shiny lantern that had a large candle within it. One she had already lit.

“Want me to go get it?” I asked, thinking of her leg. Did she handle stairs well…?

Glasses paused a moment and lifted the lantern as to illuminate my face. She smiled gently at me and nodded. “I’m fine if I take it slow. Thank you for worrying about me, Renn,” she said to me.

“Hm…” I nodded gently as I watched her turn and head down the stairs.

Following the limping saint, I did so slowly as Tundra followed me.

“Oh, by the way Tundra, make sure you don’t come down here without permission… or let anyone else come down here either. There’s important stuff down here, stuff that needs to be both protected and kept secret,” Glasses said as we descended into the dark.

“Okay,” Tundra answered.

“No warning for me too?” I asked. I knew that Glasses had likely only said such a thing to Tundra because… well… she was a child. But it still somewhat bothered me that she had done so with such a matter-of-fact tone. Tundra was a child, and was a little odd, but she wasn’t stupid. You didn’t need to talk to her as if she was incapable of basic reasoning.

Glasses giggled at me. “I’ve been explicitly told to give you anything you ever ask for, so no. No warnings for you.”

Hmph… yet she won’t tell me who would soon be getting poisoned. I wasn’t sure if I should call her, and those like her, hypocrites or if I was just being too much like Vim.

“Will I be able to take the books with me? At least for the night, so I can read them? Or do I need to read them here?” I asked as we reached the bottom of the stairs and found another hallway.

“You can take them. Though… I guess I should ask if you decide to keep them or not, to please let me know if and when you do, I guess. Although you can do what you wish with them, I still am the one who keeps track of all the books here so I should at least do my job,” Glasses said as she led us to another door. One that wasn’t locked, and in fact was already half opened.

She pushed it open the rest of the way… and she lifted the lantern a little more as to reveal another library. One not as big as the one upstairs, but not small at all. Dozens of rows of bookshelves, all lined with books of various sizes and shapes, came into view.

For a tiny moment I worried this was going to take a long time… since obviously there were hundreds, if not thousands, of books here… but Glasses didn’t hesitate as she headed down the far left aisle. And walked with purpose as she did.

Following her, and her little lantern, I almost groaned as she paused in front of a seemingly random bookshelf and then grabbed a book right off it. She didn’t even check it as she then turned to hand it to me. “Here’s he first one,” she said simply.

“You… knew exactly where it was?” I asked worriedly.

“Hm…? Yes. And…” she then stepped a few paces away, to a bookshelf three down, then she bent down and grabbed another. This book had a red cover, and was almost twice the size of the first. “Here’s the other one. There’s one more, though it might be a little too prophecy-filled for your taste but I’ll let you be the judge of that…”

Taking the second book, I sighed as I realized she was either like me… someone with impeccable memory, or she was just really, really, good with books.

“She’s always reading,” Tundra said simply, as if she could read my mind’s thoughts.

“Am not!” Glasses complained as she grabbed the third book.

“Is to,” Tundra whispered.

“And you never are! Maybe you’d be less likely to get your nose stuck where it doesn’t belong if you put it into a book more often!” Glasses said as she stepped back over to me, as to hand me the third and final book.

“Do you really think so…!?” Tundra shouted worriedly, completely believing Glasses.

Although I wanted to make a comment, as to tell Tundra that Glasses was just teasing her, I decided not to… since it might very well not hurt if she did. After all, reading was said to be a good thing, wasn’t it?

“It wouldn’t hurt, at least!” Glasses shouted back, and then smiled at me as she lifted her lantern a little higher. “Anything else you’d like, Renn?” she asked, with a much kinder tone for me than she had just used for Tundra.

“For now, no… but I might come back to bug you more after I read these,” I said honestly.

Glasses gave me a smile, one so big it made her glasses shift and drop to the tip of her nose. “Feel free! You can even bring the troublemaker with you, if you’d like!”

Tundra groaned.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep