A Book is Worth A Hundred Swords.

"Ami, tell me- is there a library within the castle?" I asked.

"Yes, Sir Kai, there is- why, would you like to visit it?"

"Yeah, I need to do some 'research' if I could help it before I leave for tomorrow-"

"Oh, and I'm guessing you already know about 'that' too, right?"

But as I asked him about 'that' as in, my 'condition' of being a Mana Eater, he gave an unexpected response.

"Sir Kai, her Majesty has asked of me to only take care of you for today and to not let you interact with Lady Levii, Warmaster Dagon, and Her Majesty-"

"Other than that, I am not aware of your larger circumstances." He gave me polite smile.

"I see, well um, never mind- but, well, am I allowed to visit right now this instant? To the library that is?" That was a close one, I shouldn't have just assumed that Ami would've known about me being a Mana Eater just like that, I almost violated the third restriction.

Ami thought for a moment as he held a finger up to his chin.

"Yes, yes you can- until dinnertime that is."

"Well, let's get going then, no time to waste!"

And with that, he led the way to the castle- and where the Royal Library was within.

...

The walk to the inside of the castle was a largely silent, with Ami leading the way.

I did try to gleam off more information from him about Ryul however.

"So, like last time, is there anything about Ryul you could tell me more about- other than his *ahem* 'relationship' to Levii?"

"As we're friends y'know, learning more about him would be, like, a friend thing to talk about, ha... ha..." I feel as though it's important to mention now that I also didn't have many friends back in my old life, real life ones anyways; online friends for life!!

I softly knocked Ami's shoulder, but he winced.

"Ow." His monotone voice squeaked a little higher than usual.

Oh crap, I didn't think he was 'that' feeble- err, uhh...

"M-My bad! I didn't mean to hurt you!"

"It's alright, Sir Kai."

"For Lord LuCraft, I do not believe I quite remember the conversation that we had at the time." His eyes looked a little teary, I think I did genuinely hurt him; oops.

"Uhhh, we left off on him being a Forest Imp Prince, and how that's how we had gotten to know Levii." I reminded him of the talk of then, which was surprising as we barely had it yesterday- maybe he's also an airhead like Levii?

"Ah I see, I remember now." Is what he claimed, but his voice didn't seem so sure.

"Look, if you don't know anything more to add on about him, don't worry about it." I brushed it off- if he didn't know, he didn't know. Plus, if he didn't WANT to tell me, then what else was I going to do?

He went silent for a moment as his maid's shoes clacked away loudly in the staircase that we were now ascending.

"Well, for Lord LuCraft, he is the Chief Magical Researcher of the Castle." Ami finally spoke up.

"Of Modos, the castle, yes; I know that already." I added in.

"No- not of Modos, but of 'solely' the castle." He corrected.

"What's the difference? The castle is a part of Modos is it not?"

"Yes and no, Sir Kai."

"What I mean by that, is that Lord LuCraft works solely for her Majesty, but not for Modos at large."

"He has a surprising amount of autonomy as a Magical Researcher as her Majesty's charge, but only as long as he remains on the castle grounds."

"Why?"

"Well, that I cannot say- as it is not for me to reveal Lord LuCraft's circumstances beyond what's already public knowledge, Sir Kai."

"Did that satisfy your question?" He asked, as we arrived before a great wooden door, it was however, a lot smaller than the throne rooms' twin gates.

"Uh- yeah? I think, it is something new about Ryul that I hadn't know about before." I say, as I reach for the door's large doorknob.

I open it to find a massive library room, with shelves that reach all the way up to the curved ceiling, there were three stories in total all full of shelves packed to the brim with books of all kinds.

One fantastically large stained-glass piece acted as the sole sunlight that shone into the library room, it being in the middle of the wall that faced outward to the kingdom's walls.

But as I took one step in, I noticed that Ami didn't immediately follow in.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

"I cannot follow you inside Sir Kai, as only have been given permission by her Majesty, not I."

"What do you mean? I thought it was you who allowed me to come?"

"No, it wasn't me. Her Majesty suspected that you would visit the library at some point today, so she gave me the missive to allow you to come here- but that permission does not extend to me."

"But-"

"If that is all, I will be waiting outside of this door- knock once when your business here is complete."

And with that, Ami abruptly closed the door- leaving me alone in the midst of the great library.

Well, if what he's saying is true, then there's not much I can do or say to get him to follow me in here- as Flaur's word is literally the law.

"Where do I begin?" I muttered to myself, as the library's tall shelves looked way too daunting for me to even get a good grasp as to where to start.

Well, maybe I can cross reference with the tome and see if there's any kind of book on how to translate the language within here.

...

"History of Lowlands Warcraft"

"Siege Tactics of the Djinn and other various mountain clans"

"Basic Medicinal Herbs Almanac"

From what I could tell about the library so far, a lot of it wasn't properly organized. Books of varying topics were bunched up together in the same area, creating a confusing winding path of irrelevant shelves that get me no closer to finding anything related to Old-Devil.

But just as I was about to give up, I heard a strange sound come from behind me a shelf down.

"Meow."

What the?

Was that a 'meow'?

"Mrrreow." It happened again, that mysterious sound.

I look to where the 'meowing' was coming from, and in the corner of my eye I spot a quick glimpse of a black tail disappearing behind a shelf all the way at the end of the floor's row.

"Kitty?" I call out,- I don't think I have to gush out about my love for cats, do I? Let's just say I have a definite soft spot for them to say the least.

"Meww" Again, it meowed again! It definitely knows I'm following it.

I get to the last shelf where I had seen the glimpse of the cat's tail and find myself in a big dust cloud as my footsteps unsettled this largely, who-knows-when untouched aisle of shelves.

But, to my disappointment, the cat wasn't in here.

"Kitty? Come out~ Come out~" I tried calling it out, but no luck- it probably disappeared to its hidey-hole in here by now.

As I walked down the aisle, I catch myself reaching the end it's end soon enough. The books here were so old that they weren't titled- instead they were just papers wrapped together by loose string.

One string of papers however caught my attention- it had a small tuft of black fur hanging of it.

"I wonder what this could be?" I muttered as I grabbed the loosely tied stack of papers.

"Hmmm-- oh?"

Well, talk about a lucky cat! It's stuck fur just so happened to get me to what I was exactly looking for, it was a translation and history guide to that everyone's been mentioning about so far.

A lot of it was faded away though, as whatever ink was used to write this looked like it was a sneeze away from completely rubbing off entirely.

"Let's see, it should have its sections lettered by the common language that everyone here speaks- whatever it is, I think I'll just give it a placeholder of Demon-Speak."

Thinking about it now, it was odd that there was this distinction of Demon's and Devils- I wonder what was up about that.

Ah, here we go- the 'K-sound' section.

"Kai: An ancient flower that was known for its delicate stem, if plucked roughly, it would completely fall apart. Authors Note: Often used as an insult to young boys who are acting weak."

"Well, that solves one mystery."

Hmmm, let's see if I can find the phrase that matches the closest to the title of the grimoire-

*Flip* *Flip*

Here!

All the way in the end of the stack, the final paper.

Yorgun Yirtos: World's Canvas- Authors Note: My Sacred Tome.

'My Sacred Tome'???

Huh?

Wait a minute, don't tell me- the one who wrote this translation guide, it couldn't be-

*Flip*

*Flip* *Flip*

Faustus!

"Old-Devil and its History- Written by Chief Magical Researcher of Modos, Asmoldo, F."

No way! Pops really did write it!

Wait a minute, Chief Magical Researcher?

What??

But- wait?

When was this written?

It, it doesn't say- but with how old it looks, it was definitely written a very long time ago.

This is definitely something worth the trip here, now having some more history on Faustus.

And with this, I'll be able to translate and maybe even learn Old-Devil if given enough time.

Let's see what I can cram within a couple of hours?

///