Chapter 34: The Archives

"Books, books, books, We're gonna burn some books~"

Surrounding us on all sides were Avocado Trees. I suppose that Knowledge's interest in them grew along with the Avocado Orchard. And to think it all started when I dropped a raw egg on her head. Good times.

"East from the portals, North from the mountains, through the avocado orchard, and though the big gates of old~"

"Isn't it 'past the avocado orchard'?" Games asked, confused.

"You can't go past the avocado orchard if you're surrounded by it, now can you?"

Looking at the dense concentration of the trees, he can't help but say, "True."

And so I continue my song.

...Meanwhile, in the Archives...

The doors were pushed (slammed) open and a girl hurriedly ran inside and shouted, "Get your hands off my books, Air!"

Startled, many of the Gods browsing through the books released a yelp and dropped their books. Bending down to pick them up, they sent a glare at the seemingly uneducated girl.

One scholar was enraged enough to respond with, "The laws of this place dictate that shouting is not allowed."

The girl who was looking around threw him an uninterested look and simply said, "I am the law here."

"Arrogant."

"She doesn't know anything. Ignore her."

"Who does she think she is, the Goddess of Knowledge?"

The girl ignored them and continued on her way, checking each row for any damaged books. Finishing the first floor, she flew up to the second one.

***

The Archives consist of 3 towers. The space in the middle of each tower is hollow while there are different levels jutting out from the walls. There is a staircase that spirals around and leads to all the floors.

There are also 5 cylindrical platforms situated on the ground floor that levitate slightly off the marvel floor. They can be used as an elevator to quickly access different floors instead of climbing up all those stairs. Only those with a high enough level of magic power can control them, the rest must use the stairs. Flying is highly forbidden here.

***

Seeing her fly, the Gods blinked their eyes in disbelief. Did she have a death wish? The last person who got impatient with the stairs and broke that rule was 'kindly offered a vacation' to the underworld. When he got back, he was bedridden and some say that he is still there to this day. Lying in eternal pain, not being able to move at all. Truly a fate worse than death.

The Goddess of Knowledge even said that whoever broke the rule next would face a fate ten times worse. What was that fate? No one was daring enough to find out. Until she came along.

This girl who couldn't be older than 25 now had to face the wrath of a High God.

"She must have gone crazy!"

"Poor child. She must be a newly inaugurated Low God who has yet to hear the rumors going around."

"For her sake, let's hope that Lady Archia does not come here today."

"She has not been here for centuries, why would today be any different. Lord Ibis will probably report this to her, " an old man with a long white beard said. He was one of the survivors of the war long ago and had a high ranking among the Low Gods.

"Senior is right but Lord Ibis will probably come up with harsher punishment for her."

"Indeed, but why do I feel that I have seen her before, " said the old man.

"Senior has most likely seen her at the portals."

"Yes, yes, that should be it, " he replied absentmindedly while trying to think of all the people he had come across. Not many had bright green hair like her and he certainly had not met someone like that, but why was she so familiar?

Meanwhile, the girl had reached the 20th floor and had not found even a page out of place. Could it be the Ibis lied to me, she thought totally unaware of the conversation going on around her.