Chapter 44 – Royal Athenaeum

In Cape Tie, guards were seen very often, and they made the citizens have a perception of safety. The people appeared happy and cheerful. Everyone seemed high classed and well dressed. Everyone cheerily looked at each other, and there were no poor people visible or anyone without luxurious clothing.

Aile looked at all of this and felt something was off. But he could not put his finger on it. The horse-like creatures were taken to an area at a corner of the town, it was a giant enclosure. The mounts were put there, and a person would take care of them and feed them until they were picked up again. Once they left their mounts, they went in search of accommodation.

Everyone took their baggage and walked towards the centre of the town to a beautiful tavern. It was called "Siren's Song."

The tavern was next to one of the main streets and had a catchy wood design on its outside. It had encompassed the integration of seashells and glasses into its design, which perfectly suited the aesthetic of the town.

The guards talked to the tavern's owner, a middle-aged man, and soon everyone went upstairs to their accommodation. Hazel and Sara shared a large-room, the guards had two rooms; one for three of them, and the other for two of them.

Aile had gotten a room for himself, he was happy that he finally got his privacy.

Everyone was tired of the long journey, and after eating a quick meal at the tavern, they quickly left to their room for sleeping.

Aile was not tired, so once everyone slept, he sneaked out. He stealthily went out of the tavern and started to explore the town.

Soon he noticed a clothes seller and quickly bought a black robe and mask.

With a black robe and mask, he had everything to start his search. He searched for the library and book stores. One of his main goals in coming to Cape Tie was to find more information and books about the elementary stage of Runes.

He asked people for the location of the library and if there was any place to learn Runes. However, most of the people looked at him smugly and ignored him. He sighed he knew that this was the typical behaviour of the nobles.

After some time, he met a group of people that pointed him in the right direction. He was led deeper towards the town centre.

There he finally noticed a giant cathedral-style building. It was called "Royal Athenaeum." This was the library, according to the group.

Aile then went to a secluded alley and wore the robe and mask. He made his voice-deeper, and he became "Shadow."

He exited the alley and walked towards the library. He entered it, it had a giant gate making him seem small and weak in front of it.

He entered, and all that surrounded him was silence. He started to hear the sound of his beating heart as he walked inside it.

Thum-thumb.

Thum-thumb.

The library's entrance was dark, and there was very little light.

At a distance ahead was the flicker of a possible candle that attracted people towards it. Aile followed the direction of the light, and he slowly approached it. As he got closer, his shadow became a giant behind him.

There sat an old woman with her eyes closed and her hand tracing the lines written on a book. Aile looked at her, she appeared illusory and very mysterious.

She looked very serene with her eyes closed.

Aile was surprised to see her and waited patiently for her. Time passed, and the room was silent. He did not want to disturb her, he knew that she noticed him and based on his experience, he knew that it was best to not interrupt such mysterious people.

After some time She finally said something, "Young people nowadays are so impatient. Yet you are not. What are you seeking?"

Her voice seemed ordinary, but it made Aile feel pressure and a sense of dread. He suddenly felt her overbearing nature from a single sentence.

Just her words had created an oppressive aura, and from that, Aile knew that she was a powerhouse. Aile calmed himself and said in a neutral voice.

"I seek knowledge about Runes and information about the Kingdom."

"Huh," the old lady had a surprised expression hearing his voice. She opened her cold eyes and inspected Aile. Her eyes were like daggers, and Aile felt like an open book in front of her.

When her gaze landed on his chest where the tattoo of the sealing was done by Duke White, she sighed.

She then looked at his masked, hoping to pierce through it with her gaze. She did not ask him to remove it.

After a long silence, she said, "You may enter, and you can access any books and scrolls except the ones sealed by the kingdom."

Then she waved her hand, and Aile disappeared in front of her.

Swish.

The candlelight flickered. The room silence was slowly restored after Aile was gone.

Then a few seconds passed, she had a pondering expression. She was debating something.

Eventually, she took out a piece of paper and wrote.

"He is alive."

She traced the corner of the paper with her hand, and it disappeared to who knows where.

***

Aile appeared in a dark room with a spotlight on a single blue book.

Aile could not see anything apart from the illuminated area. So he approached it.

The book was old and had a metallic cover and a flower-patterned design for the case. The book was heavy and gave off an overbearing pressure. Aile then exerted a little force and opened it. If Aile was not a cultivator, just opening the book would have been very hard.

Once the book opened, he noticed it was a catalogue. He searched for Runes, and after turning a few pages, he found it. He touched the page and the letter "R" where his finger made contact with the book lit up. He removed his hand, and the light was gone.

The next time, he traced all the letters that made the word "Runes." The selection highlighted. His surrounding became a blur, and he appeared in front of a small shelve with 10 books.

This surprised Aile, he did not expect such a high-level technique to be utilized in the library here.

Of the 10 books, 7 of them had a light-screen in front of them. Aile inspected them and assumed that it was the royal seal.

He started reading the first book, and he found nothing useful.

He read the second, and there he noticed that there is another aspect of Runes that he had not learnt yet. This was rune transfer. It was a rune that would transfer the Rune from one surface to another. Placing it would allow the initial Rune to be transferred to the surface of the object that it touches.

Aile tried to learn more about it, but he could not find anything. He read the third book, and similarly, there was just a short mention of "Transfer Runes" in it.

"Damn it!"

Aile was annoyed that he could not search the other books that were sealed. Then he mentally said to himself.

"Well, at least now, I have a direction to search for information about how to improve my knowledge of Runes!"

Then he searched for information about the kingdom. His results were even worst than before, as most of the books were locked, and the ones that were not locked did not provide enough information and were not extensive. He gave up on finding decent information about the kingdom.

Next Aile decided that he would search for information about beasts that could cultivate both light and dark elements.

As soon as he arrived in front of the bookshelves, he almost cursed out loud. They were all under the royal seal. Aile was pissed off about the control of knowledge that the empire inforced.

Then Aile decided to read some books about trading and how to run a business as he was going to start one soon. He was surprised when he arrived in front of the bookshelf as more than 50 percent of it was not under the royal seal.

He finally discovered a subject with little restriction. Skimming through the information, he found a lot of methods to improve his business.

In another book, he found something useful. It was actually information about the usage of Runes to protect unique pill ingredients.

Runes can be added to pill and other alchemy concoctions to prevent their different ingredients from being discovered by competitors. It acted as a failsafe for the alchemists to protect their formulas.

He knew that he could not learn the rune-transfer Rune. As it is controlled by the kingdom and the library here and there was no way he could go against either existence. Thus he wanted to try his luck with the alchemist union.