《I'm Just the Librarian》14: Suspicions - Part 1
Advertisement
A plain carriage, one any decently paid commoner might use, stopped in front of a long string of buildings, letting the city knight and the well-dressed man out to continue on foot. Cyris eyed the corner building they now stood in front of as Timetheo paid the driver. A sign hung above the front door; it was plain but carved with the symbol of an open book and the words “Eastern District Public Library” on it.
It’s quite small to be a library. Cyris was surprised that such a small building, even counting its second story, was truly a library. He was used to the Central District’s library which also doubled as the Royal Academy’s library, as well as the quite extensive collection in his own home estate.
“This will only take a moment, Commander,” said Timetheo. “Did you want to wait here for me, or….”
“I’ll come in with you.” Cyris was curious how the inside looked as well.
“Ah, okay then.”
It was obvious to Cyris that Timetheo was a bit self conscious about checking on his sister when they should be out investigating, but he obviously wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity once Cyris had given it to him.
“We have a little time, so just do what you need to.” It was true that Cyris had received a report that morning detailing that the people whose skills had ceased to work had now regained some use of them. It seemed whatever had caused the effect was wearing off. Their investigation was now considered less urgent, but that didn’t mean they had all the time in the world. But it did mean that a short stop at this small library wasn’t a problem anymore. Cyris would have suggested it regardless, knowing Timetheo would be distracted with worry if they didn’t.
He stepped from the bright outdoors into the much dimmer library, his eyes slowly adjusting. The smell of leather and paper came to him right away making him remember his academy days when he spent quite a lot of time holed up with stacks of books, at least when he wasn’t in classes or practicing his sword work. The inside of the library had a few cramped sitting areas that managed to look more cozy than stifling and was packed as much as possible with shelf after shelf of books. There were even some shelves that held rolls of parchment. In the back, a spiral staircase wound up to the second floor. He could just see even more densely packed shelves through the opening at the top of the stairs.
Advertisement
Timetheo went up to the circulation as Cyris was glancing around.
“Good morning, gentleman, sir,” said the librarian behind the desk as she greeted them both. “What can I help you with today?” The young woman was well put together. Though her clothing was a bit simpler, she had as clean and sophisticated a look as many nobles Cyris had seen, and her auburn hair and heart-shaped face made her quite pretty.
“Well, we’re here to see Thea, if you don’t mind. I’m her brother, Timetheo Cronwright. She doesn’t know to expect me, so I hope I didn’t come by at a bad time.” Timetheo’s eyes lingered on the librarian a bit longer than necessary. Cyris kept his amusement to himself when he noticed that.
“Oh, then forgive me. I’m Ginaveve Derrit, the assistant librarian here at the eastern branch.” She gave a small curtsey. “If you’ll forgive me for saying so, now that you’ve mentioned it, I can see the family resemblance. But unfortunately, you just missed her.”
Timetheo frowned. “I could have sworn she was supposed to be here in the mornings on this day of the week.”
“She is, but she had some errands to run due to her new charge, the one your family agreed to take in to help a merchant family you’re close to.” Ginaveve’s eyes were honed in on Timetheo’s face as she spoke.
Timetheo’s frown deepened, his eyes glancing at Ginaveve’s intense stare, then his eyebrows went up. “Ah, I see. That does make sense. I think I remember my father and mother mentioning something like that a while back. My memory is a bit hazy on that sort of thing since I’m usually busy with work rather than home.”
Cyris noted that Ginaveve’s expression seemed to pout for a brief moment as she looked away, but when she looked back, there was not a trace of it. Was she testing Timetheo about something? Cyris’s instincts for this kind of thing were usually spot on, and they were telling him that something odd had just transpired.
“I wouldn’t worry too much. If you’d like, you can wait here. I don’t think she should be much longer. She’s been out for a while now, so I would guess she should return soon. She promised to be back in time for us to switch places for lunch after all.”
Advertisement
It was at that moment that the door opened and the little bell attached to it rang. They all turned to see who just walked in and were met with a very surprised looking woman in her early to mid twenties. Her facial features did resemble Timetheo’s a bit but her hair was a soft-looking lavender gray rather than Timetheo’s dusky green.
“Tim?” she asked when her dark violet eyes focused on the man in front of her. Then her gaze flickered to Cyris. Her eyes widened, and Cyris heard Timetheo snicker under his breath.
Timetheo introduced him, so Cyris inclined his head her way. He couldn’t help but note the pink color that was slowly creeping up her neck, cheeks, and the tips of her ears. Ah, so she must have heard quite a bit about me. For a moment he wondered whether her source of information had been the papers or her brother, but realized it probably didn’t matter. He didn’t want his liaison’s sister to feel awkward, so he said, “It’s nice to meet you, Lady Thea. I’ve heard a small bit about you from your brother. We’re working, so I’ve accompanied him here since he wanted to stop by to speak with you.”
Thea’s blush only darkened as she stammered, “I-it is very nice to meet you as well, Commander Hollendale.” She pulled her eyes away from him and back to her brother. “You wanted to speak with me, Brother?”
“Well, more like check up on how you were. But also how you were getting on with your charge. I hope it hasn’t been too much trouble for you. Let me take those.” Timetheo reached forward and took the shopping bag from off his sister’s arm.
Thea’s blush paled, and she stepped to the side, looking behind her. For the first time, a small child was revealed. The child was dressed in boy’s clothing, so Cyris assumed the child was a boy, but with hair that long and dark and a face that was quite androgenous and pretty, one could have mistaken him for a girl if he’d worn a dress. Something about the odd and critical way the child stared at Cyris caused him to take a closer look at the boy as well.
“Ah, Luin, this is my older brother, Timetheo, and this is Commander Hollendale who is working with my brother. Tim has come to check on us, isn’t that nice?” The discomfort was tangible in Thea’s voice.
The child, Luin, nodded as if on cue.
“I was just picking him up some sets of clothes. But let’s go talk out the way, Tim.” Thea turned to Ginaveve. “I do apologize for being a bit later than I expected. Please feel free to enjoy the cafe a while. You can take your time.”
Again, Ginaveve’s expression was a bit odd, her smile delaying for a bit. “Yes, I guess I should get going if I want to have time to enjoy it before they close in a few bells. Are you sure you are good to handle things? I don’t mind staying and taking my lunch at the cafe another day.”
“Oh no, I couldn’t possibly delay you further. Thank you very much for covering for me today, Gina.” With those final words, Gina protested no further, bowed her head once, and headed out.
Cyris felt a bit odd scrutinizing a small child so much, so he took to looking at his surroundings once again while keeping his attention on Thea and Luin out of the side of his vision. But the look of chastisement taking form on Timetheo’s face only confirmed what his instincts had already told him. There was more going on here than one might think.
This explanation may be interesting.
Advertisement
Falling Star of Evolution
In the year 2230, 5 years before a test reactor that destroyed humanity went off, a pair of wealthy scientists both husband and wife believed the reactor would never work and tried to persuade the World Government to cancel the test but were denied due to lack of hard evidence. The pair of scientists predicting the end of the world hastily returned to their lab and poured all of their resources into their field of work creating an experimental drug that could initiate an evolved state of human DNA that would increase a human's biological adaption in hopes of negating radiation poisoning . At the time they only had enough for a single dose and so made a decision. Using the highest technology of the their era which was labelled """"Black technology"""" which was banned to regular civilians and only allowed for military use , they wiped their only son's memories and instead implanted memories of the greatest martial artists and styles of combat that Earth had ever recorded in hopes he would be able to survive the new world that would be created by the exposure of radiation, placed him in a cryogenic stasis craft and sent him out of the Earth's orbit. However, the test reactor went above their expectations and completely and thoroughly destroyed Earth. The cryogenic stasis craft had been blown into a wormhole and after a few hundred years, it's autopilot had been finally once more been engaged.
8 407The boy who fell in love with a tree
This is a story about a boy who fell in love with a tree… A story about powerful people changing the rulebook to stack the odds and line their pockets… I aim to create a story that will transport us so we get a glimpse of what that boy felt. The first 4 Chapters might be classified as a prologue depending on how you look at it. The boy quickly grows and the story really starts when the System arrives on Earth. I’m trying to achieve a relatively slow power progression and guide what we learn at a pace following the people in the story. There will be fighting but It’s more focused on base building. The MC is not all-powerful and all-knowing but he has some significant advantages. I’m trying to create a universe that makes sense in its own context. Much of what you will find, are my own world views, in a magnified way, as to make it for interesting fiction. The story took a life of its own when I started to write and I’m really happy with it. Not all of the tags I have marked will immediately be applied. There is stuff planned for far in the future such as the Sci-fi tag. There might be some cursing and gore but it is not very often. -------------- English is not my primary language, so I ask everyone to be forgiving. If you see a glaring error I would appreciate a msg but it is not feasible to fix everything. And if the story offends you, I wish you happiness, reading what you enjoy. ------------- Img link: https://unsplash.com/photos/EwKXn5CapA4
8 283A Lazy Programmer
Marcus spends his days writing compilers until he finds himself propelled into another world: one where magic exists and is governed by laws similar to those of any programming language. While he's an excellent software engineer, any mistake in this world leads to magic backlash up to and including massive explosions. The dangers of this world include not just the pressing attacks of monsters flooding from dungeons, magical beings inimical to civilization, deadly weather, and magic-enforced slavery ... but also the slow decline of civilized peoples: they're crumbling under all the pressures as well as low birth-rates and high infant mortality rates.Can a lazy programmer save civilization?
8 633The Demon Lord and I
A world where different races coexist in peace and live in harmony. The humans,werebeasts,undines,elves,dwarves, and many other races.The peace lasted for hundreds of millennia till the GREAT WAR came. It's started with the Gods fighting over power then the world got affected. Many races started fighting with each other like elves and the dwarves, demons and heavenly beings, werebeasts fought each other because of their differences.Many died even the immortal gods got killed by some unknown forces. Then after 600 years all the races and the gods reconciled and have a truce. Still there are still races who still fought with each other.and the year now is 267 A.G.W (After Great War).Bare with me here I'm not good with english...this story is only a teaser(depends if someone want's me to continue this)
8 133Annabelle
A serial killer descends into madness. His life is spiraling out of control - and there might be an alien hunting him! Annabelle is a dark, twisted, and funny science fiction / horror story.
8 164NanoTec: Flight to a Distant Star
In another universe, very similar to ours, Earth is no longer as we know it today. World War 3 in 2020, lethal bio-wars fought across the globe in 2055. Now, the year is 2079. Countries burnt, landmasses cracked. Humanity was entering a dark future. Then came EarthGov. The self proclaimed World Government to bring everyone together under a red flag. From the ashes they recovered a handful of bright and ingenious minds. With them, they began their quest to pull humanity to its feet. Among them was NanoTec. An especially innovative and determined group of young men and women. After setting their minds and souls on that single goal all of them share, they were determined to fulfill it. One way, or another. There is always a root to every galactic power in the galaxy. NanoTec is no exception. Following NanoTec's perspective, visit all the events from their plight at Earth to the Greatest Battle in the Omniverse. Join NanoTec in an amazing voyage through the stars and the GKE Universe. Note: NanoTec is an unfinished story as of 22 September 2016. As the prologue is to introduce the main and side cast of the story, reports show that it have been negatively received. Please bear with us. It will get more exciting. I promise. Copyright: If by any chance any individual would like to use my content for any purpose, it is acceptable, assuming the usage is following my guidelines. Please do not use my content for financial gain. Please link your adapted material back to me. If there are any questions involving this, I will be obliged to assist. Disclaimer: There is no intention of infringing copyright of any developer if at all. Any relation to individual, alive or dead is purely coincidence. Story is completely fictional.Special thanks to 'IceOriental123'
8 156