Chapter 14: Reed

"This is the angel's library!" 

Standing in front of a tall domed building, Cyra stood with one hand on her hip as she introduced it.

The library was not located in a particularly remote area. But after leaving the commercial street, the number of people around had started to decrease. 

Standing at the entrance of the library and looking around, I almost didn't see any traces of creatures.

"It's so desolate. Are you sure this is the right place?" 

I questioned with some disbelief.

"Of course! I've been here several times already. The angel population is small, this is normal..." 

Cyra confirmed without hesitation. After looking at Nicola following behind me, she showed a frightened expression.

Just now, Nicola was also ruthless, forcibly plucking one of Cyra's feathers, hurting her so much that she screamed. Even the angel patrol squad circling over the city heard it and flew over to inquire about the situation.

"Don't worry! As long as you don't always play with words, I won't have the leisure to bully you. You brought this onto yourself..." 

Seeing Cyra like that, Nicola also had a helpless expression.

"But it hurts! I didn't expect it to hurt so much to pluck an angel's feathers...you guys are too cruel!" 

Cyra said very aggrievedly, making us look like big demons.

"Didn't you claim to be a dude? Why are you acting like a whiny girl now?"

Nicola really couldn't stand her appearance and made the plucking motion again to frighten her. 

"If you say any more I'll pluck another feather!"

"Help! My wives are going to pluck my feathers..." 

Seeing this, Cyra didn't dare stay there anymore. She ran straight into the library.

"Reed, come help me quick! Only you can deal with the great demon Nicola now!"

"Hey, don't run so fast!"

Nicola and I hurried to follow her in, afraid that the library was too big and we might get lost without a guide. 

"What a high ceiling..."

After entering from the front door into the interior, I suddenly felt open space in front of me, with a spacious rectangular hall appearing before my eyes. But the most stunning thing was still the ceiling above my head. I had thought such a tall building would be divided into several floors, but in fact there wasn't even a second floor. The whole structure of the building was just like a chimney with a domed roof. The bright light from outside shone directly onto the ground through the dome, eliminating the need for any additional lighting.

"Where's Cyra?"

I looked around. Apart from a row of tables in front with a four-winged angel who looked like the manager standing behind them, I couldn't see anyone else. There were a few more doors opened across the hall. The real book chambers were probably behind them. 

"Are you guys together?" 

That four-winged angel seemed to be quite familiar with Cyra already. She pointed to one of the doors and said,

"She went inside again to look for Reed. But you two are new faces. It seems I've never seen you before..."

"Yes, this is our first time here." 

Nicola nodded. 

"First time?" 

Hearing this, the four-winged angel looked at the wings behind us with some doubt.

"You already have six wings, yet you've never been to the library before?"

"Yeah, we don't like reading books..." 

I knew it would be hard to simply explain things clearly, so I could only gloss over it.

"Actually, we came here to find Reed. Do you know where she is?"

Through the door she pointed out, I could see what looked like an outdoor courtyard behind it. I didn't dare recklessly chase in, afraid of getting lost.

"Reed usually reads books in the magic book chamber, but occasionally she also goes to the outdoor training ground to test magic. So I can't be sure exactly where she is now..." 

The four-winged angel replied regretfully. It seemed that because there were usually not many people here, she was still quite familiar with where these regular visitors would be.

"Why don't I take you guys to find her?" 

She was about to fly out from behind the table as she spoke.

"No need!" 

At this moment, Cyra's voice suddenly rang out in the hall. I saw her waving at us from the edge of the door. 

"I should have known you guys wouldn't chase me for so long. You're still in the main hall!" 

Then she said to the four-winged angel again, 

"It's okay, I can take them in myself."

"It's no trouble on my part at all... You know this place doesn't usually have many visitors."

The four-winged angel said helplessly. 

"If Reed invents any new magic spells again, you must let me know first so I can go see!"

"Why do you make Reed sound like an inventor? She only invented some spell didn't she?" 

Following behind Cyra, I asked her doubtfully.

"It seems no new angel magic has been invented for thousands of years, so Reed is especially valued. Moreover, she still only has two wings now!" 

Cyra led us through the indoor courtyard we had seen earlier, passing by quite a few book chambers along the way.

I saw that these book chambers were full of shelves, at least tens of meters high. This was obviously designed for angels' use, as ordinary humans would find it hard to climb to such heights to fetch books.

"These are just the spare book repositories. In the dedicated storage space, there is another copy stored according to classification. Normally when angels come here, they just need to find Monna at the front desk, the four-wing angel from earlier. She can quickly retrieve whichever book you want directly from the storage space for you. There's no need to come in here and search manually at all." 

Seeing Nicola and I constantly peering curiously inside, Cyra explained.

"It's really convenient. Earth can't compare in this aspect!" 

After listening, I couldn't help but admire it. 

"But it still can't withstand Reed's frequent borrowing and returning. Monna gets quite annoyed by it. That's why the spare book repository is opened for Reed to flip through and search on her own, as long as everything is put back in place at the end."

After Cyra finished speaking, she pushed open the large door in front of her. I saw the words "Magic Book Chamber" written on the door in large font. 

"Reed, guess who's here!" 

As soon as Cyra walked in, she shouted at the top of her voice. I saw a pair of eyes slowly rise from behind a pile of thick books. 

"I know. Monna already told me earlier that two newly born angels from the outside world have come to find me. They should be classmates from Earth, right?"

Reed's soft and glutinous voice came out, sounding much nicer than before. I saw those eyes look everyone up and down, then stop on Nicola and me.

"They are?"

"Of course, they are high school classmates! This one is Flynn, and this one is Reilly. They are now called Feliciana and Nicola..." 

Cyra excitedly introduced, pointing at us.

"How is it? The change is huge, right? If I didn't say, you definitely wouldn't have been able to guess who they were!"

"Oh, I see." 

As soon as she finished speaking, I saw those eyes sink back behind the pile of books again, and then there was no more sound. 

"..." 

"...Is that it?" 

Nicola couldn't seem to accept it and asked, though I didn't know if she was asking Cyra or Reed. 

"It seems like that's it..." 

I also felt it was a bit too casual. I had looked forward to an emotionally moving reunion scene between classmates after going through an ordeal. But then I remembered who it was, and my heart suddenly felt much more at ease.

"That's exactly it!" 

Cyra shrugged helplessly. It seemed she had already expected this kind of reaction beforehand. 

"Reed, what are you doing back there?" 

I decided to take the initiative and went around the bookshelves to the other side, behind the pile of books. I saw a short-haired girl sitting on the ground, wholeheartedly focused on the book in her hand.

"Out of all our high school gatherings, there are only four of us classmates left alive. So we came here specially to find you..." 

"Where are your wings?" 

I realized she had no wings behind her back. Her current state was no different from an ordinary human. 

"Did you hide them away?"

"Yes, too annoying. My wings spread out on the ground would get in the way of me finding books." 

Reed turned her head to glance at me, then continued to bury her head in reading.

"Uh..." 

Only then did I see her looks. She resembled her pre-transmigration self quite a bit, also with the same shoulder-length bob hairstyle, except her hair color had become light blond like Cyra's. 

"Why is your hair so short?"

"It's annoying, so I cut it." 

This time Reed didn't even lift her head, just answered directly with her eyes still on the book. 

"..."

I felt a little awkward. I looked back at Cyra and Nicola, then at myself. We all had long hair. 

The originally born girl in this room had the shortest hair, while we who used to be boys had hair longer than each other. 

Especially Cyra, her long hair seemed to have never been cut at all, still almost covering her butt, just like me in the past. Of course, many angels in Edenmere were mostly similar, though they would generally tie their hair up with ribbons or twist it into buns and braids, for convenience of action.

"Don't look at me! I'm going with the flow. The angels here are all the same, short hair is not popular. I wouldn't randomly chop it all off with one slash like Reed did..." 

Seeing my attention shift onto her, Cyra's pretty face flushed red as she explained.

"Besides, whenever I ask to cut my hair short, Norma and the others always nag that angel hair grows slowly, that it would take thousands of years to grow back, blah blah blah... So I don't dare mess with it carelessly." 

After saying this, she immediately redirected the topic back at me. 

"And you guys still have waist-length hair that's not much different! Acting all high and mighty, hmph... When your hair grows to your waist, dude will I marry you!"