Collecting knowlege

"Don't worry, these are just routine questions. After all, we rarely get visitors in our tranquil village." Said the little mayor with a gentle smile.

"I understand," said Nero nodding.

"I ask for their full sincerity and understanding."

"Of course."

The mayor was a short plump man, in his middle years. He had a friendly smile and always seemed polite and kind, but Nero could see intelligence and experience shining in his eyes. The mayor radiated an aura that was not to be underestimated, which indicated a pretty good magical talent. Nero did not dare to let his guard down for a second. Although he was sure that he could defeat the mayor in battle, he did not know who else was in this village. So far, Nero had no idea about this world and the people of this world. He knew only one thing, that his spy had not returned, which meant that there must be something or someone that could prevent him from carrying out his mission.

"What's your name?"

"Nero Nihil."

"Mhmh..." the mayor noted the name on a paper, "Where are they from?"

-Damn- thought Nero. The mayor certainly had more geographical knowledge than the farm boy from earlier. Nevertheless, he answered, "From Branin."

The mayor nodded curtly and noted it again, "And why are you here?"

"I am in search of knowledge and experience," replied Nero truthfully.

The mayor did not seem the least bit suspicious and seemed to believe his every word,

"Did you go to a university for magic?"

Nero hesitated briefly and then answered in the negative. This also did not seem to surprise the mayor in any way.

-There are universities for magic? This means that magic must be very common.

"What kind of knowledge are you seeking?" the mayor now asked.

Nero thought for a moment, and then again decided to tell the truth,

"About the past and the present. About people, events, and objects. About countries, continents, and cities that are lost, or still exist. About everything."

The mayor looked at him in amazement,

"You seem to be a very inquisitive young man. I used to be like you too, but there always comes a time when you must curb your thirst for knowledge and retire. You look for a house, start a family and make a career..."

Nero watched the mayor's gaze, which seemed to dip briefly into the past. Nero understood him all too well. He has problems letting go of the past too.

"Alright," said the mayor when he returned to the present, "That were all the questions already. Thank you, Mr. Nihil, for your time. If you need anything else, you can always contact me. Otherwise, I wish you a pleasant stay in Tissling."

With these words, the mayor stood up and held out his hand to Nero. Nero also rose and took the hand, "In fact, I have one more question. Where can I find the nearest library?"

"Just take the street on the right as soon as you step out of City Hall, and then the second left. And you should be able to spot the library there. We have quite a collection of books and works of the past, and we're quite proud of our library."

"All right. Thanks for the help." With that, Nero said goodbye to the strange little man and left the town hall.

He followed the mayor's directions and soon arrived at the building, which he immediately recognized as the library. It was the only house with three floors on this street and was about twice as wide as the houses next to it. He entered through the large open door. Inside, an old man greeted him with a friendly smile.

"Welcome to Tissling Library, do you have a university ID?"

Nero shook his head.

"Then the entrance fee is three sun thalers please." Nero silently paid the three thalers.

The man opened the door for him, and Nero entered a large maze of bookshelves.

"Please don't damage any of the books and when you are done with one, put it back in the place where you got it. If you don't follow the rules you will have to pay a further sum and you will be banned," the man explained with a smile, "If you have any questions or need help you can just meet me at the entrance."

Nero nodded silently and started walking. He looked at the titles of the books and was thinking about which topic to start with when one title caught his eye: The Eternal War.

Nero took out the book and read through the table of contents on the first page:

"In this book, the great 13th-century philosopher Philiphus Crane explains why the three beings warred and mentions a world-changing danger that always lurks in the shadows."

-It is very vague, but it sounds promising.-

Nero took the book and sat down at one of the tables he had seen when he entered. And soon he realized that this book was extremely valuable because it explained the war between the three races that dominated this planet:

"Just a few centuries ago, the three races lived in unison, equal to equal. They had the same faith, the same gods, and lived in the same cities. Each race had a council of chiefs who, together with the other chiefs, decided on laws, kingdoms, and rules. It was a peaceful and happy period.

But at some point, out of nowhere, the council split, and a gigantic conflict between the races broke out. Surprisingly, it has not yet become known what led to this. All that is known is that they apparently found an expensive treasure and could not agree on which race it should go to. Who exactly received it, what kind of treasure it was or if there was any at all is still unknown. In any case, shortly thereafter there was a war that claimed millions of victims. It was the biggest war ever, and it united the races among themselves. Each race took up arms and prepared for the battle for months. Then, on the 5th day of the 7th moon, the respective armies of the three races met for the first time and the first battle broke out. It was an incredible slaughter in which humans killed elves and reils killed elves and humans killed reils and reils killed humans and elves. The battle went on for almost two weeks before the armies retreated. There was no winner nor was there a loser. Hundreds more battles followed, reducing the entire population of the three races to a third. At first, the soldiers of the respective armies hesitated and doubted, since they had recently lived side by side with the other, but gradually hatred, anger, and contempt formed, and soon no one cared anymore why they were at war in the first place. Propaganda of the respective governments strengthened this only more. Slowly the three today-known territories were formed and communication between the races broke off. Contact with the different races was completely forbidden. After some time, the battles died down, but the war continues to this day. The continents were split, and the races were tense, just waiting to start another slaughter. If we do not resolve this war soon, it will have catastrophic consequences for the balance of this planet. As soon as one race shows the slightest bit of weakness, the other two will pounce on it and tear it to pieces. After that, they will fight each other until there is a clear winner and this means the complete extinction of the other sides..."

It took Nero almost 4 hours to read the entire book. Later, the author went into more detail about the different battles and who the leaders were at the time, but this was irrelevant. However, it did give Nero a rough idea of the history of this world. After that, he picked more books from the shelves and read through them one by one. He did this for almost a week. He learned an incredible amount about the stories of the races and about the history of the world. He got a rough insight into the strength of the local creatures, but unfortunately, he found hardly anything about the kind of magic that prevailed in this world and hardly anything about the mages. He had his fears and then approached the librarian and asked him,

"Where can I find books about magic?"

The old man looked at him for a moment, perplexed, and then laughed,

"Do you really think our little village keeps books about magic? No, the books are strictly guarded and kept in the city libraries and universities, and only authorized people have access to them. I am sorry, young man."

Nero was not surprised by this news, since he had already expected something like this. So he went to the library again and simply searched for interesting-sounding titles that might help him. In doing so, he came across something he would never have expected. In the middle of a shelf, in the food section, was a fat black book, with no title or anything. Nero frowned and took it out and opened it, but there were no pages in the book, only a small compartment. And in that compartment was a small black stone that reminded Nero very much of the shards he was looking for, but there was no magic in this stone. It was simply a black stone. Nero took it and under it, he discovered a strange image. The image showed a black sphere floating in a starlit sky. The image of a gigantic dragon seemed to circle the sphere, in its eyes was something that reminded Nero of patience or expectation. The entire image was strangely unrealistic, except for the dragon's eyes. They seemed almost real as if they were staring directly at Nero. The entire image gave Nero a fuzzy feeling, but he pocketed the stone and closed the book, putting it back.

-Well then- he thought, -it is time to return.-