'What do they want now?'
He glided his fingers on the paper envelope, finding that it hadn't been tampered with by Vivienne. After a while of admiring the beautiful design, he stood up and made his way toward the kitchen, grabbing a knife from one of the drawers.
Behind him was Vivienne, who was persistent in following him.
'Are you that curious?' he thought, as he swung the knife in a quick motion, splitting the wax seal from the paper.
Slowly, he took out the letter inside, mentally preparing himself as the head of the letter started to appear into view.
//Alisa Malachi
He sighed a breath of relief. He expected something worse, but seeing his sister's name was reassuring. He went near the balcony, facing Vivienne so that she wouldn't peer into his reading.
//Greetings brother!
You're gonna have a job so soon! Good luck!
Nuriel's face twisted, dumbfounded by the opening line.
//I hope you make lots of friends. You're too reserved sometimes.I also hope you're looking after yourself properly, since you no longer have any servants!
//As for me, the Yuncandels are treating me like a princess. Even if this was an arranged marriage, my husband is actually so cool! All of them are so strong—you should start working out!
"..."
//Lastly, I've convinced them to raise your allowance to 1 Golden Eagle a month, but honestly, I don't think they'll raise it anymore than that.
//Please come visit the Yuncandel main house if you're on leave. It's a mansion compared to our previous home.
//Sincerely, your dear sister, xoxo
There was no longer anything left to read, but he read from the top again, observing the elegant handwriting of Alisa. The letters almost flowed in one continuous wave from how they were weaved together so cleanly. However, the actual contents of the letter were left to be desired.
But what she said was true. Yuncandel was built upon physical strength. To them, intellectuals were seen as cowardly.
However, Nuriel wasn't planning on sucking up to their standards. In fact, he had the urge to read more books just from thinking about that. Knowledge is power, after all, and his Scepter relied on knowledge.
//Lastly, I've convinced them to raise your allowance to 1 Golden Eagle a month
'Maybe… they're not so bad—no!'
He leaned back against the guard rails. He looked at the envelope again and noticed a singular line bulge that stuck out unnoticeably unless you squeezed your eyelids.
Taking it out, it was a golden-colored piece of rolled paper. Unfurling it, it was a Golden Eagle bill. In its center, the current king of Bose, Aurelius Bose II.
Remembering the currencies of Earth, a single Golden Eagle bill would roughly be close to 800 USD, so what he was holding was nothing to scoff at.
Nuriel stared at the bill, then toward Vivienne.
The eye contact was longer than anticipated by both parties, and so both of them tried to speak at the same time, which led to another long session of staring at each other.
Vivienne broke the silence. "May I ask what the letter was about?"
It was a reasonable question. Who truly knew if the letter Nuriel received wasn't some secret message she needed to know?
Nuriel sighed. "It's my sister."
He placed the letter back inside, then threw it into the bin beside him. That way, if Vivienne was truly paranoid and suspicious, she could investigate it if she needed to.
Walking toward Vivienne, he handed her the golden paper bill.
"I'm sharing it with you."
Nuriel watched as Vivienne's face just barely lit up. This was the first time he saw such a thing. He was convinced she was some kind of cold-blooded killer, but there was still a chance it was a fake emotion. However, the likelihood of that was low—it was a Golden Eagle, which was worth more than some people's monthly salaries.
Vivienne was hesitant at first, almost frozen. After a while of leaving Nuriel hanging, she took out her arm and pulled on the bill.
. . .
But Nuriel's grip was slightly tight. When she tugged harder, Nuriel's mind played tricks on him, making him hear a fake ripping sound that made him finally let go of the paper money.
***
Nuriel found himself in the library once more. As there were only two days left, he needed to collect as much information as possible.
He began making loops around the building, dragging his hands across the almost infinite rows of bookshelves. His legs began to feel tired as the day quickly passed by.
'I hope this works.'
After his final lap, he immediately made his way back home.
It was quite late at night and the door was locked. Taking out his key, he opened the door slowly so as not to make a noise.
The room was empty. Turning on the lights, he saw a protective cover on top of the table. Lifting it up, a hearty plate of meat and vegetables was presented to his nose. Although it was probably cold by now, he still ate every last bit of it.
After washing up, he went to sleep and entered the throne room.
Without hesitating he sat on the chair and made himself comfortable.
"Has there been an increase in data when I walked around the library?"
[Affirmative]
'That's good... I basically have a personal dictionary for everything.'
Since the Library of Owhen was so big, it contained a myriad of information, ranging from history, science, and even cookbooks. Though he didn't find the need to use such information just yet.
'I wonder if I stumbled upon information regarding the Steel Witch.'
He looked back on the laps he did in the library. To gather everything in only a single day, he didn't stop to look at each book, he merely grazed his fingertips on the covers.
'The only information I know about the Steel Witch is from the deleted data. Let's see how different the profile will be... wait a minute.'
Nuriel paused for a moment. There was a hole in the Scepter that he just realized.
'If I already saw the profile of the Steel Witch before, then shouldn't it show that instead of a blank data entry?'
. . .
He relaxed his back, analyzing the situation in his head.
Nuriel gazed at the Scepter beside him and grabbed it, putting it in front of his face.
Its clear metallic shine reflected his expression. He stared at it for a full minute before returning it back to where it usually floated.
It was clear to him that the untainted Scepter still ran on some form of AI, and that it was purposely hiding information from him. However, he remembered the appearance of the unknown entity when he asked about the Steel Witch back then when he was at the train.
Then, he remembered the line when the Scepter came into contact with him. '[??? recognizes you as the Mother]'
Now how could a mother not trust her children?
Nuriel decided that was the line of thinking he should abide by.
For now, finding information about the Steel Witch was put on hold and the last remaining days went by in a flash. During those times Vivienne did not have a single dream.
***
Nuriel was standing beside Vivienne along with other strangers. In front of the line of librarians was Orwell, who was giving a small orientation.
Though it was short-lived, as quickly as the orientation ended, Nuriel was assigned to his post along with the person he didn't think he wasn't assigned with, Vivienne.
Nuriel looked back on the short orientation and found that Orwell was sometimes glancing at him from time to time.
'It was him...'
Those clear eyes of his were always up to no good. Nuriel thought about giving him a nightmare but he didn't know how to sleep near him, let alone make him dream.
For now, he sat idly by his workstation, which was a large hollow square desk with a small entrance on one of the sides. His and Vivienne's seats were placed opposite each other so they didn't really know what they were doing unless they turned around.
Before he entered the library, he saw the large gathering of students and the heavy traffic of carriages and cars alike.
But compared to that, the library was dead silent. There was nothing to do as every student was attending the opening ceremony.
Before he was about to take a quick nap, he heard footsteps approaching him, to which he responded by trying to look busy.
"You can't sleep yet, Nuriel," Orwell said as he eyed Nuriel and Vivienne. He continued, "Since you're a newbie, I'll have you deliver some books to the College of War, specifically the Swordsmanship Academy."
"Of course, sir Custodian." Nuriel sat up, but before he could exit his desk, the Custodian said something that Nuriel was sure was guaranteed to happen.
"However, it's quite a lot. Please deliver them with Vivienne."
He knew he'd say that. Just looking at Orwell's eyes would tell him what he was about to do next.
Nuriel hid his reaction well. As for Vivienne, she was also preparing to leave with him.
The two followed Orwell into the storage room. In front of them were four stacks of thick books, neatly packaged with a thin rope. Afterwards, Orwell gave them a card.
"Please deliver them here."
Nuriel took the card and almost immediately, his brows rose a bit.
//College of War, Swordsmanship Academy Central Building, 2nd Floor, Faculty Room 2B, Yaromech
Before Orwell was about to leave, he asked a question, "Since it's so far, does either of you know how to drive?"
Nuriel looked at Vivienne. He already knew that driving was an integral part of an agent's skillset, but likewise, she also stared at him expecting him to drive but his focused gaze kept telling her that she had to be the one to do it.
"I'll do it," she said.