Chapter 152 - Vol. 3 - 25

As Ash stepped out of the Grey Chamber, she found her group waiting for her outside. Kaori, who had been sitting on the ground, stood up as soon as she saw the half-demon walk out of the palace. Keiko and Satsuhiro were both standing when Ash emerged. Keiko put her hands together while Kaori walked over to Ash. 

"Uh, everything went well?" Kaori asked. 

"Yeah, yeah," Ash nodded. "Everything's fine." 

"Did she get what she wanted?" Satsuhiro asked next. Ash shook her head. 

"No, the... there was a bit of an issue." 

"Hm?" Satsuhiro raised a brow and leaned on his crutch a little. "What do you mean?" 

"... The demon wouldn't attack me," Ash shrugged.

"Really?" 

"Yeah," Ash nodded. "Anyway, Eliza said she'd test it out on her own and that she might have something for me later. So that I can get that armor upgrade, I mean. But, uh, for now, yeah. I'm done." 

"... Alright," Satsuhiro nodded. "Did she say what exactly she had in mind?" 

"Nope," Ash replied as she walked past him. "Whatever it is, if it's too much, I'll tell her to fuck off, if not, I'll get it out of the way. I don't really care, to be honest." 

"Wonder what her reaction would be to that," Kaori said with a chuckle. 

"We will have to come back though," Keiko added. "To continue training, I mean." 

"Yeah, sure. So," she turned towards them, "are we done or what?" 

"The day's not over just yet," Satsuhiro responded as he looked up at the sky. Ash did the same and found it to be cloudless, with both of the twin moons out already while the sun was still hanging onto the horizon. "Just in case you feel like doing anything before we head back to the inn." 

"What is there to do?" Ash asked as she looked out at the buildings in the distance. "I don't really feel like breathing in all that smoke from the factories. Are there any good restaurants or something?" 

"I was thinking more along the lines of looking for any mage shops," Satsuhiro countered. "We might be able to find a stray Dark spellbook or two." 

"There... was a library close to the inn," Keiko mentioned. "I found it when I came here a while ago. The owner of that place might own a Dark spellbook or two."

"Worth checking out, I'd say," Satsuhiro said and Ash nodded. 

"Kaori?" She asked. 

"Hm?" At some point, the blonde had gotten lost in her own thoughts. She nodded. "Uh, sure." 

"..." Ash just looked at her for a bit and then sighed. "Alright, let's go then." 

As Keiko had only been here once, her memory did not prove to be too reliable. The group searched the streets for almost an entire hour, passing by melancholic citizens and stoic guards on their way. It took a small amount of asking, but eventually, they did encounter the place Keiko was talking about. 

"I think that's it," Keiko had stated as the group stood outside of a building nestled between a few others. Some of those others had broken windows, with a few glass shards still laying on the sidewalk. The library was spotless though. 

I guess no one wants to rob a library, Ash thought as she and the others went in. Ash herself hadn't visited many libraries during her time in Jade. She had been too busy scouting cheap food joints. 

There was an old man behind a counter, looking down at a sheet of paper. He noticed the girls come in and smiled. 

"Welcome," he said. 

"Hello," Keiko walked up to him, bowing, with Satsuhiro trailing behind. Meanwhile, Ash walked with Kaori as the blonde inspected a few books. 

"Monsters of Onyx: A Collection of Dangerous Beasts," Kaori read. "The White Lily Festival, The Mist Realm's Promises," she snickered a little. "Some of these sound more like novel titles than academic books." 

"Have you ever heard of anything like those things?" Ash asked. "That festival and that Mist whatever." 

"Um, not really. I think those both might be things in Amber. Might be wrong though." 

"Excuse me," Ash heard Satsuhiro say. "Do you happen to sell or rent any spellbooks here?" 

"Spellbooks?" The elderly man replied, scratching his chin. "Hmph. No, I'm afraid we don't have anything of the sort. Most of the books here are either fiction or historical. If you want spellbooks though, there is a shop down the street that sells a few for cheap." 

"Ah, thank you." Satsuhiro nodded. "Ash, Kaori, did you hear that?" 

"Yeah," Ash let him know as Kaori put one book back where she'd taken it from. 

"Thanks again," Keiko bowed but the man interrupted her. 

"You... You're that Zayama who came around some time ago, aren't you?" 

"Haha, uh, yes..." Keiko replied with a smile. The man gave one of his own and chuckled a little.

"Ah, I could tell by those eyes of yours, young lady. There aren't too many like them," he nodded. "What were you here for last time? I believe it was... Zayama Magic, right?" 

"Yes." 

"Well, we do have one thing you might be interested in. It just came in around a week ago," the old man replied walking towards one of the shelves slowly. 

"Really!?" Keiko sounded shocked but the old man quickly shot her excitement down. 

"Don't misunderstand, it's not a book about their magic, but rather, their traditions." 

"Oh."

Ash held back a laugh. The disappointment in Keiko's tone was so noticeable, it was hilarious.

"But," the old man continued, "a lot of these traditions were held all around the world. If you could find some of those places mentioned in this, you could ask around about magic there." 

"... I see," Keiko slowly nodded. "Thank you." 

Moments later, the group was walking out of the library with just one book having been attained from the library. Keiko was holding it, keeping it clutched to her chest protectively as the group began to walk back home. 

"It'll be a while before we can really check any places out," Satsuhiro stated, "with that demon lurking outside the city. But, now that you have that, at least you have more options."

"Yes," Keiko nodded. "Agreed." 

"Though..." Kaori muttered. "If any of those are by Pearl..." 

"Yeah, not an option then," Ash said. 

"We don't know that they are or that they aren't," Satsuhiro responded. "Let's just check the book out first and see." 

With that, the group made their way back to the inn. From outside, they could already hear the laughter and cheering of people indoors. Ash looked up and found that finally, the sun had retreated and the twin moons were shining down onto them. 

"I think I'm just gonna go straight to bed," Ash told the others.

"I might do the same... Though, I would like to get a drink or two first," Kaori responded as Satsuhiro went to open the door. 

He did so, and as soon as the door swung a barrage of sound struck their ears. Ash hated it as soon as she heard it.  Yeah, no. Not my scene.  She shook her head, quickly walking to the right and up the steps. 

"Um, I'll join her. Have fun though," Keiko told Kaori and Ash heard her footsteps as she followed behind. 

"Heh, you're not in the mood to see Kaori go wild? Or, sorry, 'have a drink or two'?" Ash asked with a smile. 

"Well," Keiko smiled in return, a warm expression on her face that suddenly turned a little more serious, "it's fun, don't misunderstand, but..." 

"Yeah?" Ash asked, unlocking the door. 

"Maybe we should talk inside," Keiko stated. 

The two of them entered the room and as Ash kept the door open for when Kaori came up later. She laid down on the bed and Keiko sat down at the edge, putting her hands together. 

"So..." Ash started as she stared up at the ceiling, her hands held behind her head. "What's up?" She asked, and Keiko sighed. She took off her shoes and laid down next to her. 

"I... I'm probably just making a big deal out of nothing, but... Well, I've been wondering if maybe there are some possible demon-related diseases out there." 

"Hm?" Ash had expected to hear a few things, maybe something about Yumi or that she was scared  with regards to the whole level 80 demon thing, but this had surprised her. "Why?" 

"I... Well, recently, I had been feeling sick..." 

"Oh. Are you sure it wasn't anything you ate?" Ash asked. 

"And then I vomited..." 

"Yeah, it was probably..." 

"And it was violet," Keiko said and Ash shut up. "There was no food either. It... It was just some violet liquid."

"..." 

Ash's mind momentarily stopped working. She had never heard of anything like this. 

"Uh..." 

"So, I was wondering if maybe you knew about that. Any demon-caused or demon-related illnesses." 

All Ash could do was blink. 

"Yeah, we definitely need to ask someone about this."