The library

Nuriel reined in his thoughts in the spur of the moment, questioning if his body was even alright.

'I had a good afternoon sleep just for this night duty. I had a nice snack with Vivienne before we went back to the library. In other words, my body is as good as it can be!'

There was no mistaking what he saw. He wasn't deprived of sleep or food—nothing that would've disoriented his senses.

He breathed in and out naturally, focusing his gaze in front of the elevator door and hiding his expression.

Beastmen were a branch race of humanity. In terms of physical fitness, smell, and hearing, they reigned above their human counterparts. But regardless, they still shared the same ancestry, though such information on the why was either closely guarded or simply unknown.

Nuriel blinked. 'Now isn't the time for thinking such things... Vivienne, even without her ears, can still smell.'

But to what extent?

He remembered various animals like dogs or cats, which still somehow existed in this far future.

It was entirely possible for Vivienne to even smell emotions like fear.

Nuriel shuddered at the idea, but after a minute of silence with Vivienne in such a small compartment, he eased his concerns.

'It shouldn't matter all that much. I can just confirm it again since we'll be doing multiple trips,' Nuriel thought, gradually loosening the tension in his forearms.

He calmed himself back down to his normal level—only to jump again when Vivienne suddenly spoke.

"Nuriel?" she asked calmly.

Nuriel collected himself again and gave her a side eye. "What is it?"

"About that book I read, do you remember?"

Nuriel gathered his thoughts in silence. 'Did she know my heartbeat spiked? Could this be a ruse? Is she testing me to see if I can reply normally?'

. . .

"I read a couple of pages when I returned late at night... I couldn't help but finish the book a while ago in my room. I'm sorry for being impatient," he answered, turning his torso to give her a slight bow.

But in his thoughts, there was a maelstrom of ideas. 'The cooking princess? She knew? Was she observing the dream? Does she know I've been spying on her this entire time?!'

During his entire thought process, he unknowingly prolonged the eye contact between him and Vivienne.

However, she broke the gaze first and replied in a melancholic tone.

"I see... help me read next time. I struggle with novels. Sometimes I just can't feel the tension. I'm not sure if the problem is me or the book."

. . .

There was a heavy silence between the two, but this was due to the time Nuriel spent trying to stitch together a proper reply.

His mind eased once more, though the tugging of his emotions and erratic heartbeat gave him a slight headache.

'I'm overreacting again...' he thought, analyzing the tone she used. 'Is she serious? Does she really need help with such things...'

'Last time, you said the reason why you became a librarian was that you liked reading books, yet you struggle to even read a novel. Tsk tsk, you're filled with holes, Vivienne. At this rate you'll get caught...' Nuriel lampooned secretly.

But if Vivienne were to get caught, that would put a blow into one of his sources of information, alongside the fact that he might get questioned by the military since he's her roommate.

Nuriel straightened his back and put on a cheery demeanor before he answered her.

"I'll be happy to."

Ding.

The elevator doors parted both ways and revealed the sky-high library of the College of Magic. Unlike the ground floor, this space was truly empty of people.

Stepping out, the door closed behind them. The two admired the relatively open space and the high ceiling.

Despite being a library, it was noticeably lacking in the book quantity department. If anything… it looked more like a lounge for people to laze around instead of reading.

Nuriel questioned if the note Orwell gave them was even accurate.

However, his doubts were erased the moment he heard a call from across the room.

"Who's there?" a familiar-looking old man asked as he emerged from behind one of the bookshelves.

Rubbing the dirt out of his eyes, he groggily walked towards the two and failed to notice their presence until he cleaned his vision.

He looked just about the same age as Orwell. His gaze was pulled toward what Nuriel and Vivienne were currently holding. Before long, his eyes lit up as if his tiredness was blown away from his body.

"Good, you're here! Come, come, follow me," the old man instructed. He was already moving somewhere else without waiting for the two.

They chased after him, then followed him to a certain spot within the library.

There, they were greeted with a row of empty bookshelves and another shelf that was full.

"If you haven't noticed them, there are notes above each stack of books which will tell you where to place them. As for the books in this shelf, these are the ones that need to be replaced. Since they're still brand new, you need to properly stack and tie them together...

The old man froze and looked at the two in embarrassment.

'I feel like I've met him before...' Nuriel thought as he silently waited for him to speak.

"Right... I forgot to introduce myself!" he said before chuckling. He continued, "I'm the custodian of this library—George. If you haven't noticed my handsome face, you are indeed correct! I'm the elder brother of your head custodian."

George announced, and he was specifically eyeing Nuriel during the latter half of his segment.

Nuriel slightly stepped back with his twitching face. 'He could tell?'

The old man stayed silent for a few seconds, carefully eyeing Nuriel and Vivienne, analyzing every bit about them—their height, their looks, how far apart they were from each other, the demeanor in how they gripped those two tied books. He pressed his lips together in thought before nodding in agreement.

"I'll stack and tie the books myself. You two should carry along with filling the empty shelves," George said. However, something about his tone bothered Nuriel just a bit.