Chapter 20 - The Lord of Flames and the Book (2/2)

Berenice asked him again in an expectant voice.

“……It’s a he.”

“Oh, i-is that right?”

Berenice’s expression changed again at his answer.

“T-then I’ll take my leave now.

Cordell hurriedly left with a flustered voice after her questioning. He thought as he left,

“Did she take an interest in someone again?”

Rated as SSS 31 years ago when she was 5, the Flame Spire Lord Berenice. Was it her original personality? Or was it the influence of her teacher, the former Flame Lord, Serene? For whatever reason, Berenice eagerly sought a partner. Of course, she wouldn’t take action in ways unbefitting of her status(TL: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)) even if she found a decent man. Unlike her master. (TL: ( ͡ᵔ ͜ʖ ͡ᵔ ))

The problem was, a lot of incidents happened because of that strange tendency even if she didn’t flirt. Cleaning after her mess all day was the Vice Spire Lord, Cordell.

“I’m worried after seeing her reaction.”

Cordell was overcome with a headache when he thought about what she would do. From her 36 year-old perspective, a 20 year-old man with unlimited potential was a chance that would come once in a lifetime. There was a high possibility that Berenice would fall in love and do something stupid again.

“No.”

Cordell suddenly realised,

“If it’s a man with immeasurable talent……”

Then it was probably okay.

* * *

“Wow……”

Soo Hyuk let out a sigh of amazement as he stood in front of the massive building.

“Oren can’t even begin to compare to this.”

The building, which dwarfed the library at Oren, was the Library of Matab.

“There’s got to be a lot of books in there.”

Just from the size of the building, Matab probably possessed significantly more books than the Oren Library. Filled with expectation, Soo Hyuk approached the library entrance. Just like Oren, there was a guard guarding the entrance.

Soo Hyuk walked up to the young man guarding the entrance. The young man, who was reading a book, saw Soo Hyuk walk up and nodded to him.

“I’m here to use the library.”,

The man closed his book at Soo Hyuk’s words and stood up with a smile.

“Can you show me your token?”

“Here it is.”

Soo Hyuk opened his inventory and pulled out his ‘Magician’s Token’. When the young man was handed the token, he checked it for a moment and then spoke the Soo Hyuk,

“Mister Soo Hyuk, you can collect it on your way out.

“Thank you, have a nice day.”

Soo Hyuk passed the man and entered the library. But Soo Hyuk halted when he entered the library.

“……?”

Soo Hyuk looked around the library.

“Huh? Why is it so empty?”

The library had a large area with polished marble at the front which contained desks for reading, and bookshelves on grand mezzanines rising to the ceiling high above. But it was too empty. The library was big, so he had thought that it would be full of people. But it was void of people. Soo Hyuk could only see one or two people and numerous seats were empty.

“Well, it’s a good thing for me.”

If there were too many people, the library might be too noisy or he might not be able to read some books for a long time. Soo Hyuk turned away from the desk and looked at the bookshelves.

“……?”

Soo Hyuk tilted his head in confusion. It was because of the books themselves. In Oren, the library was full of sparkling books except for the one ‘Guidebook’, but in the Matab Library, he could see a lot of books that didn’t sparkle.

“The books probably overlap with Oren’s Library a lot.”

The books didn’t sparkle for the ones Soo Hyuk had already read. Of course, he wasn’t sure if there was another reason. So, Soo Hyuk approached one of the bookshelves on the ground floor and picked a random book that wasn’t sparkling.

“As expected……”

When he checked, the book was one he had already read in Oren’s Library.

“Now that I think about it, why wouldn’t two libraries have the same book?”

Now that he had checked, Soo Hyuk went over to a sparkling book and pulled it out of the shelf.

After all, Soo Hyuk didn’t want to read the books he had already read if there were other books that haven’t been read yet.

“……Hmm?”

Soo Hyuk froze as he pulled out a fifth sparkling book and squinted at a place while frowning.

“What’s that?”

Soo Hyuk was staring down the aisle of bookshelves. More precisely, at a book at the end of a bookshelf.

“Blue?”

The book in his line of sight was glowing with a blue light. Soo Hyuk then stared at the books in his hands with a confused expression.

“But this is white.”

The books in his hands were glowing with a faint white light. And it wasn’t just these books. The books in Oren’s Library were glowing with a white light as well. Even more confused, Soo Hyuk stared at the blue book again.

“Why is that book glowing blue?”