The Grand Library

"Morning", "Morning to you too. So, what's your plan?", Dawn asked. "How about we check the city out first. I heard we can take on some jobs from the Adventurer's Hall, maybe we can check that out. After all, we came here to train as well", I proposed. "Heh, that's not such a bad idea. We became a bit rusty to be honest", she agreed.

Tara and Teri joined us downstairs for breakfast. Tara wasn't very pleased with taking on jobs, since she treated the trip more like vacation… Or an opportunity to earn something and study Human trade "Come on, that's a good idea. I'm in, we should choose something interesting for that place", Teri agreed, and once he did, Tara followed suit.

"Before that, let's check out the city first. There's loads of places to visit… How about this? We all chose someplace to visit, and go there together", I proposed. Everyone liked the idea, especially Tara, who knew her destination from the beginning. "My choice is the biggest market in this city. Merchants from Ortava told me a lot about it already, and we are here after all. It would be a shame not to check it out", she said.

Dawn borrowed the map from me, and selected her place of interest too. "Hall of Fame?", I asked. "Yea, why not? There must be loads of people on display, including archers", she replied. Her goal was simple, she wanted to investigate Human archers a bit more. Whether they'd describe archer techniques over there was anyone's guess, but it was worth a try.

Teri selected his location from the map as well. "I'm not even surprised", I said while Tara and Dawn nodded in agreement. "What? I'm a warrior after all. This sort of place is the best for a warrior", he defended his choice. Teri's choice was an arena, or Grand Arena to be precise. We had one such arena in the North, and Teri was very familiar with it. He wanted to check out the Human arena, and perhaps even take part in a battle or two.

"I don't mind you challenging someone, but don't forget about the second skin", I whispered. "No worries, I'll check it out at first. If it's too dangerous, we can only watch some battles take place", he replied. "What about you?... You gonna choose something stupid, am I right?", Tara asked.

"What do you mean stupid. The Grand Library is the place for knowledge, no stupid people would go there", "There it is… I had a feeling this would be about knowledge", she rested her case. 'You bastard, I can say the same about you, and the market you chose', I thought but decided not to voice that.

"Where should we go first?", "I'd say Anna's choice. Let's have that library off our heads, and then enjoy ourselves", Tara replied to Dawn's question. They didn't even ask me for an opinion, they simply agreed to go to the library first. "... Alright, Grand Library it is then", I said, defeated.

We visited Turry and others just before leaving, but there was no point taking them with us. Mounts couldn't usually enter buildings, especially buildings such as the Grand Library. We had to walk to our destination, but fortunately, it wasn't that far away.

"This place is huge. At least twice as big as the library at the Academy", Tara commented surprised. "Well, it's called the Grand Library after all", Dawn remarked. The library had two towers, one on each side. Both of them were connected to the main building, which had a shape of a triangle and rectangle. The bottom was rectangular, but the top part was triangular, with dark red roof slates on each side.

Moreover, the sides incorporated arch like structures, while vines clung to them as well as the building itself. Trees and plants were there as well, and even a few benches for the visitors. I wasn't sure whether we'd be able to take the books out, but the initial look was impressive.

We stepped inside without anyone stopping us. The ground floor of the library could be described with pretty much one word, wood. Everything was wooden, from the bookshelves or bookcases, to desks and chairs. The place was well lit thanks to the large windows, as well as glowing orbs spread around the whole ground floor. They added a nice ambient feel. That would be apparent even more during the evenings.

We saw at least twenty people browning the books, or sitting at the tables. There were a few people who had the same dress code, which suggested to us that they worked there. Once such a person approached us while we stared at the surroundings. "This seems to be your first visit, correct?", "... Ah, yes. That's our first visit here", I replied.

"Feel free to browse any books you wish, but do remember that no one is allowed to take the books out. You'd need a special permission for that. Would you like to hear other rules as well?", she asked. "Yes, we'd like to know more". The librarian told us about the ground, first and second floors. She mentioned how the general public was only able to view the records or books on the ground floor. To access the other floors, you had to fulfil one of the requirements.

One such requirement was to be a student at the Academy. When she saw my feather, her eyes almost bulged out. "Oh my. I didn't realise this young lady was already a top student of the Academy. With this feather, there shouldn't be any issues accessing the first and second floor. Your friends also have feathers, and therefore they can access up to the first floor. My suggestion is to check these floors out, since books on the ground floor are really basic and meant for the public", she said.

She didn't say anything else, once she witnessed the feathers. We went straight to the first floor, where only a few people were present. The first floor was a bit different though. Besides the smaller size, the wood was darker and the seats had cushions. The bookcases were in neat order and very clean. There were also clear categories from which we could choose.

"You guys just browse whatever. I'm sure there's some interesting things here", I said before heading to the Perival Continent area. I was interested as to what they knew about the North, or perhaps the Elysian Empire as well.

Surprisingly, there were only a few books about the North, and even less about the Elysian Empire. Most of the books described the history and well as the Endrosian Empire itself. I skimmed through these few books about Elysians, but ultimately found nothing. They simply described them as crazy maniacs, who place Formations on their own bodies. That their Empire was a complete slavery.

Some of these claims were actually true, but no real information could be found inside these books. The books concerning the North on the other hand, were pure bullshit. I couldn't even make myself read most of the stuff they wrote. 'This is like an old history… very old. They don't mention anything about the war, about the races uniting under one Empire. They even treat Eterians as enemies here'.

That wasn't the end. One of the books described how Furians and Eterians were the enemies of Humanity. 'These bastard… Perhaps that was the case twenty odd years ago, but now? They are part of the Great North, and Furians are very close to my family'. Just reading that nonsense made my blood boil. How dared they display books like those? If any Human attacked a Furian or Eterian during the visit to the North, they'd be killed on the spot.

I decided to leave that section alone, there was no need to read such crap. My friends on the other hand seemed to have much more fun. They found something interesting for themselves, and read quietly. 'I'm pretty sure that Tara doesn't read… like ever. This is a new sight to me for sure', "Hey, whatcha reading there?", I decided to ask.

"Oh this? It's about merchants and…", I stopped her at that point. 'Yea, I could've expected that', "Have fun then. I'll visit the second floor for a while. You guys stay here, alright?", I said. "Sure, go have fun with your knowledge, hehe", she agreed. My hope was that the second floor contained much more useful information, instead of some crappy propaganda which could get Humans killed.