40 The Library of Massalia

"I understand, Mistress, it will be done. If they truly exist, Kardel will find the truth and hunt them down. As for our side, the production of some basic alloys composed of that strange iron has already started. But even with the help of master Agnil, we still don't have the knowledge to do anything more advanced. Does anyone else managed to survive the travel?"

After thinking about it, Leilade remembered that only one weapon master survived and another engineer. Alas, the two of them were in the most critical state and it won't be some fruits filled with magic that will heal their injuries. Traveling to the Soul of Vault inside her, she checked one more time the state of everyone. Thankfully, there were no changes in the dormant souls and the rate of their decay was still manageable. She spared a bit of her weak reserves to stabilize the two spirits sought by Malakov and also the chief Lucius. If he was seeing the numerous vegetables in the canteen, maybe he will be able to raise their output.

"Yes, but they won't be able to help any of us before sometimes. Unless some stupid humans appeared near you and you captured them?"

"Unfortunately no, there were two magicians that came from the direction you left, but because of the numerous living beings nearby, I didn't attack them. They were quite weak but would still be able to fight for a few seconds, provoking an unwanted ruckus. As for the rest, it appears that they only sent some elites. The external operations had to be canceled and I only let my undead work inside the mountain."

"Good, don't be found. Especially if those races are present. Contact me in a week if there are no changes."

"Yes, Empress."

The communication was canceled and soon, the atmosphere inside the small room turned normal again. Since she was the one that casted the spell, she couldn't conceal all the traces left by it and had to resort to those magical protections. After everything that happened, however, she felt no distortion inside the Academy and absolutely no reaction whatsoever. Feeling a bit relieved, she left her room and climb down the stairs to enter the canteen once more.

Unlike the early morning, nearly everyone was present at this hour of the day. She could see countless students wearing their uniforms and even some mages. Many groups were happily chatting and eating, including Jorien, Owen and Leodagan and the two lovebirds. Her huge portion of food still draw a few stares but it was not the same amount than when she ate five times the amount of food a normal human takes. She found an empty table and quickly finished eating before leaving the building.

Right now, they had the entire afternoon for themselves and the most important thing to do would be to find the library. Since she had absolutely no idea where that room was, she had to resort to returning to the other building where they were having their courses. In the hall that was a little deserted since everyone was eating, she finally found a map. On it was described each floor and it didn't take her long to notice the enormous room that was going underground.

It was the biggest of the entire Academy, at least two times the size of the canteen and it descended in the ground. With their proficiency at utilizing magic, they probably had no problem dealing with the humidity and the temperature that an underground room would have. Turning around to walk toward her destination, she passed by two older students each carrying a book in their hands. Hearing their discussion, she heard them talking about the new students and some lecherous comments on the princess. They were already imagining her at the age of her sister and apparently since they met the latter, they were hoping for the best. Since it was in one of the farthest locations of the building, she followed them steadily.

At first, the two young men didn't notice her but it was near impossible for a normal human to not feel a presence following him for a long period of time. Right before the three arrived in front of the library, one of the two older students turned around and looked at Leilade.

"Ok, listen boy … eh … boy? Girl?" He looked at his friend that was also slightly perplexed. Leilade was still dressed as a boy but her face was also quite feminine. However, it was not impossible to not be able to distinguish the sex of a child at her age. They couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed at their initial mistake.

"Girl?" "Girl?" The two of them looked at each other once more and nodded.

"Ok, little girl, what do you want to do?" They harbored a big smile on their two faces and were looking nothing like their embarrassed attitude two seconds earlier. Seeing that, Leilade had no choice but to answer them since they were blocking her way.

"I want to go to the library." Her cold voice but entirely girly made the two men smile even more. One of them even blinked at his companion as they succeeded at something. She wondered how she managed to meet the only two morons that could be proud of guessing the sex of a kid. Because it was visible that they were proud of their guess.

"Ah don't worry, we will accompany you to the library, it is quite hard to find it. But with us, you will have no proble…" He stopped when the other teenager poked with his finger at his face. After that, he turned around and saw him pointing at the door literally three meters away with a huge title "Library" above. He had forgotten that they were close to it and was about to brag too much for nothing.

The childish behavior of those two young men that should probably be of the same as the princess Muirnë was definitely not making Leilade laugh. As the two were quarreling for nothing, she bypassed them and entered the room. Inside, she saw an old man sleeping on his chair. He looked quite similar to the old man Moo and was the perfect illustration of a magician. Old, with a big white beard and a little senile.As she got closer to him, she could hear him snoring a bit but it was only audible from a close distance. Raising her head, she saw numerous lights, not naturals. Instead of having some windows, only those weird globes of light were providing her enough light to clearly see.

As she left him and entered one of the numerous sections with shelves filled with books, she saw the two older students entering the room. They were visibly pissed off and just left their books near the head of the old man. After that, they left without saying another word. So, this sleeping elder was probably in charge of managing the books. But Leilade thought that he probably wasn't the one that put the books back at their place.

To her surprise, she found that the room was well ordered and had a clear distinction between a lot of subjects. The first level was primarily composed of common knowledge and the descriptions of basic commodities. There were even some books filled with tales and stories written by numerous bards and minstrels. However, when she tried to take the stairs to go underground, she was blocked by another wooden door. Sensing the same mechanism that all those wooden doors shared, she tried to put her card near it, but there were absolutely no changes. Not feeling downhearted since it was predictable, she turned her sight to the books at her disposal.

She started with the origin of this world and kept reading about the rest of the history. As she kept doing this, she couldn't help but notice that what Ella Romba said was true. A lot of parts of the ancient times were never described or so slightly that it was useless. As for the Age of Darkness, it was the same subjective point of view. Meaning that the fall of the Kingdom of Pankow was mentioned as a minor fact and the importance of the Hero from the Massalia Kingdom was greatly inflated.

Whether it was because those books were only at the first level or the truth was hidden outside of the library, she was certain that she won't have all the information she sought. Nonetheless, she spent the rest of the day inside the room, reading at a speed so fast that from the outside, she looked like she only turned the page and never actually read them. Hopefully, for her, no one bothered to look at her and the rare people that entered the room immediately rushed toward the lower levels without bothering her.

"Humpf Humpf" She heard a grumbling behind her and saw the old man that was sleeping earlier. He was looking at her visibly displeased for no reason since she had done nothing wrong. She looked around her and even if there was a pile of book around, they were neatly ordered. She thought about the time that she spent here and it was probably very late. Closing the book she had in her hands, she picked up the pile of books and started to put them at their rightful place. The old man conserved his disapproving stare during the entire time and even when she was getting close to the exit, he kept following her.

When she finally got outside, she saw the two moons above her. She had barely read a small portion of the number of books at her disposal, meaning that she will have to keep doing this for some weeks. Taking her time to eat in the near-desert canteen, she was planning the rest of her infiltration. If she could take the test of that old harpy, she would have even more time at her disposal, only being obligated to follow the course of Oscar Moo. At this point, the next time she will talk with Malakov will probably be the last time before a very long time. Except if a major threat suddenly appeared, she will take a small holiday in that peaceful Academy, waiting for the Demonic Energy to appear.