His eyes glaring at the bloodied robes of Rom and Arnold, countless questions arise in Haruki's mind. What were they doing so far out in the forest? Where were they hiding for so long? But most important of all, if not the demons, then who exactly killed them both in such a gruesome fashion? Even though some demons under him delighted in the consumption of human flesh, he felt quite assured that the fearful eyes of his now-dead subjects weren't lying about not killing them.
"You knew them?" Noticing Freya's concern, Laura timidly took a few steps toward her.
However, the moment Haruki's eyes turned to her, Laura shrieked in terror and went back on the same steps she'd just taken forward.
"Both of them were councilmen from Laria, they ran off somewhere when the news about Duke Frost being persecuted came forward," turning his head back to the bodies, he produced a thin stick from ice to poke around and see what they had on their person. "Buttt…Even though the king acquitted the duke of all the false charges, I don't imagine they had the guts to come back and apologize for their betrayal towards their Master."
When nothing interesting came out of inspecting their bodies, Haruki let the stick go and got back on his feet.
"Thankfully, the duke hired me and some of his close constituents as the new council," wearing a smile, Freya glanced at Laura for a moment.
"Oh…" Not sure how to respond, Laura shied away from Freya's gaze. "Uhm, I don't know if these were the same demons since they all look the same, but, we should probably head back to the city for now."
Having already scanned the rest of the forest with the demonic spies, Haruki also wanted to leave the damned place. With no procession in sight, he felt it was better to go back to the city and look for clues to find the Library of Heroes.
"Sure, let's burn the bodies first so they don't spread any disease," ready to set the bodies ablaze, Freya snapped her fingers to produce a dark clear white flame with the soul magic ability.
"Wait! Let me collect the demon horns first!" Urging Freya to stop, Laura rushed to the bodies.
Getting down on her knees, she took a pair of gloves out of her hip bag and started picking up all the torn-up pieces of horns.
"I'll need to show these to the guild receptionist to get our reward," explaining her reasoning, she quickly bagged all the horn pieces and got away from the bloody mess.
Snapping his fingers again, Haruki unleashed the flames on the bodies laying in front. Once the fire spread out, he made sure to confine it inside ice walls so that the fire wouldn't spread to the rest of the forest. After spending some time watching the fire crackle, they both turned around and started heading back to the city.
On their way back, however, Haruki decided to try something to perhaps get a clue about the library from the silver-haired elf.
"In the heart of a land so far yet familiar, rests the eyes of the seer who'd witness it all, be it past or the future," recounting the verses from before, he wanted to note her reaction. The first verse alone was enough to make her eyes shift towards him, and the confoundment in her eyes was a sure tell of her shock at the verses. "To the north is scorching sun, to the east, is the drowning river, trail the path that runs between the two, and you'll bore witness to the history of the world."
"The Library of Heroes, it's here in Lamenia, but why are you reciting that riddle?" Stopping in her tracks, she turned to face Haruki. "Is that why you're here? To find it?"
Her perception and swift conclusion to the verse were enough proof that she knew at least something about the Library.
"Would that be a problem if I was trying to find it?" He questioned, turning to her as well.
Looking up at Haruki, Laura opened her lips to speak, but then simply shut them back with a sigh. Her eyes closed shut, she took a brief moment to assess the situation before giving Freya a conclusive answer.
"First of all, it's just a local myth. Second, even if you do find this place, the curator would be ready to protect the records of the world with its life," shaking her head, Laura grunted. "You may be strong, Miss Freya, but nobody could be stronger than a creature who controls time."
'So there's a guardian with time magic protecting this place?' Remembering how he'd only ever seen Asmodia use time magic, his confidence in finding the place whittled down a little. 'There must be a way to deal with this creature.'
Shaking his head, he brought himself back to reality. Looking right at Laura shooting him yet another confused look, he asked one last question before continuing their walk.
"Do you know where this place is?" He asked.
"Everywhere, but its entrance lies in Lamenia, the heart of this world," her answer failed to clear things up. "As to where this entrance is, who knows really?"
The little information he got from her was obviously not enough. Still since looking around by himself wasn't as efficient, he decided to stick around with the elf so she could act as his guide for the search. Not long after their talk, they arrived back at the kingdom's entrance. There, once the guards let them both in, they made their way to the Guild of Adventurers.
'I should look for people with unique abilities to steal while I'm here.' While Laura bickered with the receptionist over her payment, Haruki kept a watchful eye over the different adventurer's parties sitting around at different tables. It reminded him of the silver storm, Nue's eyes, and even unlucky clovers, and how they'd been turned into sparring instructors for all the untrained demons in his kingdom.
"This isn't fair!" Laura's scream from the reception area turned everyone's attention towards her.
"Look I don't make the rules, but I just work here," the female receptionist, dressed in a dainty brown dress, seemed flustered by the scene Laura was making. "Can you please calm down?"
Noticing tears strolling down Laura's face, Haruki decided to inject himself into the situation and figure out what the problem was.
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