Chapter Thirty-Nine

Arnin entered the large room known as the library. Large bookshelves stood in hundreds of rows, stairs leading to an upper floor which contained even more books. It was much larger than even the village that he came from.

The doors shut behind him and Xillar was gone. He was left in peace to discover the books he needed himself. Although there were many students in the library, what surprised him even more was that even teachers roamed through the area.

He headed towards the large circular desk that sat in the middle of the large library. It looked to be made of an orangy yellow wood. The color, however, was more on the darker side than the light. It fit perfectly with the dark oak floors and walls.

Approaching the front desk, he found a young man standing tall like an arrow. He looked to be around the same age as Revi, and also had a strong cultivation, Essence Manifest - Sky. He wore a white scholarly robe and had a small braid on the left of his face. His skin was uncommonly bronze, however it looked unique and somewhat captivating. His mature face, with his beautiful honey eyes really made him stand out.

Arnin approached this man with a small smile. The handsome man noticed Arnin coming his way and smiled back towards him. "How may I help you, young man?" His way of speaking was very professional, not showing a hint of contempt or mockery.

"I am looking for cultivation manuals." Arnin answered calmly. Since the other party was asking him directly, why should he waste his time with unnecessary chatter?

"Ah! Alright, would you first give me your Identity card so that I can check what levels of the library you are authorized to have access to?" The man extended his slender hand in front of Arnin. His pearl white teeth showcased themselves in their utmost glory when he smiled, however Arnin found something weird about the man in front of him. He didn't feel annoyed the way he did for Fae, rather he found something peculiar and interesting about the man in front of him. He couldn't help but inwardly smile because of this feeling. It was all too familiar.

Arnin pulled out the card from his sleeve and handed it over to the man. The latter took it with a smile and inserted it into a crystal sphere that sat on his left. Arnin decided to ignore the man for now and also looked at the orb. Because of his small height, he had to stand on his toes just to get a good look. If someone were to know that the little boy who could barely see over the counter was a Demon Lord reincarnation, then they would probably spit out all the blood that was in their body.

As Arnin intently watched the sphere, the number '2' flashed by. "Alright, you are allowed to scope through the floors one and two. Here, let me lead you to where the cultivation manuals are." The man stepped out from behind the desk. He handed Arnin's card back to him and waved for him to follow. Arnin put the identification card back into his sleeve and began to walk behind the man.

"What does one require to be able to get onto the second floor?" Arnin asked, confused. From the way Xillar spoke, he assumed that he would only get access to the lowest floor, but that didn't seem to be the case.

"You should already know that the Moth group is much smaller than the Butterfly group, right? Well, the academy decided to build one large library in the Moth group and allowed any student, no matter their group, to enter." The man explained slowly. Arnin only smiled as he listened to the man and carefully examined his smiling face.

"Isn't there a rule stating that Butterfly group members are not allowed to enter the Moth building? This library is in the Moth building, so how do they get access?" Arnin was somewhat perplexed. Although he was somewhat shocked to find such an extravagant library in the Moth building, he still assumed that the Butterfly group had their own library because of that rule.

"It is true that the Butterfly group is not allowed to enter the Moth building, however the library has more than one entrance. The academy built a portal that links the first floor of the library with the Butterfly building." When the man began to speak about the portal, Arnin couldn't help but feel somewhat shocked. Although portals weren't considered a large thing in his previous life, he never expected to find one in such a small academy. Not only that, but when he roamed around as the Demon Lord, he had run into various types of transportation portals, however the core of each of these portals was related to one's understanding of space.

'Seems like someone has a good understanding of space to create a transportation portal.' Arnin continued to listen to the man, waiting for him to answer his first question.

"Well, because the Butterfly group is able to come to access the library as well, the academy created another rule. The Butterfly students have to pay once for access to the first floor of the library, while Moth students are allowed to enter the first floor for free. Only highly talented Moth students are able to access the second floor right away." The man looked at Arnin with a hint of respect. Arnin smiled in response to the respectful gaze, however in his heart, he put on a different expression.

"Since you are able to access the second floor as well, I will ask you to choose whether you want to go up right away or if you want to look over the manuals on the first floor first?" The man asked Arnin when they finally came to the staircase that led upstairs.

Arnin pondered for a moment before deciding he wanted to check out the manuals on the first floor before going up. "Let me check out the manuals that exist in the first floor. I will head up after checking those out." The man looked at Arnin and hesitated for a moment.

"Umm, if you don't mind me saying, but I don't recommend looking at various types of cultivation manuals. If you want, I can help look up some specific ones for you, so that you can narrow the number of manuals you would have to look through." It was a known fact that if one looked at too many cultivation manuals, their path could stray. This would be very detrimental to future growth and in a worst-case scenario, it could halt one's cultivation progress. The reason behind this was that each manual focused on a certain pattern in cultivation, and if one looked at too many, then they would begin to compare and might even try to combine the different methods. This would cause them to lose focus and would stop their cultivation path.

"It's alright, I know what I am doing. Just take me to the section where I can find the cultivation manuals." Arnin showed an expression of smiling that wasn't really smiling, when he spoke to the man.

"Well, if you want to, then I can't stop you. My name is Surk, and you're Arnin, right?" The handsome man named Surk looked at Arnin with a smile.

"Yeah, my name is Arnin. Lead the way to the bookshelves that contain the manuals." Arnin knew that his student identification card showed his name. However, it showed only some information, nothing private.

Surk led Arnin to a place where Moth students were gathering and discussing with bright eyes. "These five rows contain all the cultivation manuals of the first floor. You can look through them and just give me a shout when you are ready to go to the second floor." Surk pointed towards the many large bookshelves that contained hundreds of books.

"Where are the Butterfly students? If they can access this library, where are they?" Arnin was confused because he couldn't see any Butterfly students.

"The Butterfly students don't get access until tomorrow. You will see them roaming around everywhere after the lectures tomorrow." Arnin nodded his head and walked towards the bookshelves. If they weren't here yet, then that wasn't bad for him. He liked silence.

The man continued to smile at Arnin's back. A hidden glint flashed through his eyes, but quickly disappeared. 'Arnin… Foro? Hehe!' Surk inwardly laughed as he walked away.

Lilise and Elidia sat in their homes with looks of shock and disbelief. Kurse and Torne saw these expressions and were inwardly happy. If the two girls began to feel concern for them, then they might just be saved.

"Sis, I can't believe Arnin would do something like that. He doesn't seem like that kind of person." Lilise looked at Elidia with great shock. She had always looked at Arnin with respect and adoration. He was kind, and smart, and very strong. She always thought that he was a good person, but after hearing what the two people in front of her had to say, she began to feel conflicted.

'I told you, Arnin is not a good person. I always said that, but you and grandpa just wouldn't listen." Although she was also feeling slightly conflicted, she carried an air of excitement. She had kept saying to her grandpa and Lilise that Arnin was not someone good, but they never believed her. With this as proof, she felt as though she had just stumbled upon gold.

"But sis, he gave us this house. He fought someone for us. He can't be a bad guy." Lilise felt as if her whole world was crumbling in front of her. Although she didn't have feelings of love towards Arnin, she still felt really close to him, especially after staying as his home for a period of time. She treated Arnin like an older brother.

"Lilise, you are just too nice to see the bad people in the world. Arnin is only doing this because his deal with grandpa. If that wasn't the case, he wouldn't treat us like this." Elidia finally found something bad about Arnin and didn't want to back down.

"But…" Lilise was still in disbelief. Elidia patted her head and looked at the two people in front of her.

"Don't you guys worry; I will handle all of this for you. I will make sure that Arnin releases you from your contracts." Elidia smiled righteously towards Torne and Kurse. She felt on top of the world at that moment. She disliked Arnin, and now she could cause him more trouble. Why wouldn't she be happy?

Kurse and Torne began to tremble with excitement. "Thank you very much! If you are able to solve this problem, then I don't mind becoming your protector." Kurse was the first to speak out. A protector was different from a bodyguard. Unlike bodyguards, who would have to be around the client for long periods of time, a protector would only help when a problem arose.

"Yes, if you can solve this, then I will help you as well." Torne spoke out right after. Elidia's eyes sparkled when she saw the two's reactions. They were both older than her by more than a few years, with Torne being even more than ten years older, however they still thanked her in such a way. She felt like a queen, like the ruler of the world.

"Don't worry, leave it to me." Elidia smiled brightly, however Lilise was still feeling extremely disheartened. She never expected Arnin to do such things.

"When should we go and find master?" Kurse asked with some hesitation. He couldn't help but want to get rid of the contract right away, however everything was in the hands of the two girls.

"You don't have to call him master anymore. Just call him Arnin. We will head out right now. Where is he?" Elidia puffed out her chest adorably and walked forward. She headed for the door and turned to look at the two.

"Umm, I don't know where he is, but I will find out right away. Just give me some time. You can wait here. Senior, let us go find m-Arnin's whereabouts." Kurse spoke to Torne with some excitement. Torne nodded his head before getting up and limping towards Kurse. Both of them walked out the door and began their search.

Elidia noticed that Lilise was still glum and walked towards her. She sat down beside her and rubbed her small back. "Lilise, just don't think about him. He was nice to you, but that was only him lying. Did he finish your training? No! Did he talk nicely to grandpa? No! Did he run away from home? Yes!" Elidia began to list all the problems she found in Arnin in a single breath. Instead of consoling Lilise, it looked more like she was pointing out Arnin's bad points. However, as a child, Elidia still didn't understand how to console a person.

"Grandpa said that he had an important reason to leave." Lilise looked at Elidia with tearful eyes. Elidia couldn't help but shake her head.

"Lilise, Arnin is not our friend, or our big brother. He is only being nice to us because of the deal he made with grandpa. Just concentrate on getting stronger, and you will see how much of a bad person he is when you become strong." Elidia spoke happily as she explained.

"Alright, but what if the two of them are tricking us? What if they are the bad guys and not Arnin?" Lilise was still reluctant to believe that the kind person she had perceived was just an illusion.

"Lilise, you need to stop being such a baby. Arnin is not a good person. Those two looked so sad and were even beaten up. That explains everything!" Elidia used her flawed logic to explain why Arnin was bad.

"Who are you calling a baby? You are only a little older than me." Lilise pouted before becoming quiet. Elidia ignored Lilise and began to practice her way of dealing with Arnin.

'Arnin, you evil person. Release these two! No no no, hmm. What about… Arnin, I always knew you were evil. Let these two go and I will pretend I didn't see anything.' She began to copy the ways many of the heroes in her favorite stories spoke to evil people.

Suddenly, a knock resounded from the door. She walked towards the door and opened it up to find Torne and Kurse standing there with happy expressions.

"We found him! He is in the library." The two spoke excitedly. They were one step closer to getting freed from the contract.

Elidia nodded her head and turned to look at Lilise. "Lilise, let's go. We need to help these two and make sure Arnin learns that being evil is a bad thing." Lilise slowly got off the bed and headed towards the door. She looked at Kurse and Torned with an angry expression. Both of them didn't know why she showed such an expression, however they decided to ignore it.

Elidia pointed forward and laughed happily. "Lead the way."