Chapter 49: I’ll Handle The Librarian
"It was faint, and I couldn’t track down the exact location inside the library, but I can tell there are multiple vampires in there. I think the mana might belong to the Pastoni escapees, and if it does, then it’s possible the second half of the Chronos Medallion is also hidden in here."
Lyra hummed curiously as she considered what they should do next. Going into the library to search for the medallion was obviously the sensible thing to do, and if this was a regular situation, then it should’ve been easy for them to simply enter the library and take what they needed before leaving this world immediately. But there was something off about all this. For some reason, Lyra just couldn’t take her mind off the strange librarian who managed to see through Galen’s compulsion!
Galen was a Fifth Realm Master Mage who could use SS Rank Magic, so you would need to have a disillusion skill that was on the same rank or higher before you could see through her magic! The fact that this librarian was able to do something like that told Lyra that he wasn’t someone they wanted to handle recklessly. Lyra was a Sixth Realm Magus, so she had a feeling that she could kill the librarian if he turned out to be a problem, but she would rather not spill blood in another timeline pointlessly. Doing something like that could cause unpredictable changes to the future.
Lyra nodded to herself, and she quickly came up with a plan for what they were going to do next!
"Tomorrow, the three of us will be going to the library. I’ll see for myself whether or not this librarian is a threat, and in the meantime, you two will search through the library and try to find either the vampires or the medallion. If you find any Pastoni, then you are to kill them on the spot, and if you find the medallion, then we will retrieve it and return to our time quickly. Don’t worry about the librarian. If he turns out to be a problem, then I’ll deal with him. No matter how perceptive he is, he is still just a librarian, so there is nothing he can do against an actual soldier like me."
The soldiers in the room saluted Lyra respectfully, and they all left to get some rest and prepare for the mission!
....
[The Next Day]
[Verati Academy Library]
Percy hummed calmly as he enjoyed the peaceful morning. Today was another school day, so there would soon be a massive influx of students coming into the library to ask for help or to find a book they need for class. But right now, it was still very early in the morning, so the library was practically empty, and Percy couldn’t deny that this was the moment he found the most enjoyable in his entire day! Just standing in the middle of all these books without a soul in sight was perfection!
"Percival, I need to ask you something."
Percy let out a calm sigh as he felt all his peace vanish the moment he heard Viva’s voice, and Percy turned towards Viva with a forced smile.
"What can I do for you, Viva?"
Viva was a little thrown off when she saw the look on Percy’s face, and she hesitated for a moment before she finally spoke.
"Lana said Rita wants me to clean the aquarium, but she ran off without telling me where it is."
Percy hummed when he saw the serious look on Viva’s face. Percy was honestly surprised by how well Viva was doing at her job! Even though Viva had been against this at first, she had leaned into her role very eagerly, and Viva never refused an order from him or Rita!
’I suppose she needs to have at least this much dedication to be a City guard.’
Percy shook his head calmly.
"Lana was just playing with you. We don’t have an aquarium. And I don’t think you’re skilled enough to clean up after the kraken downstairs."
Percy smiled as he said this, and Viva’s face darkened!
"I knew it! Just wait till I get my hands on – Wait. Did you just say you have a Kraken?"
Percy’s smile widened.
"Yes, we do. Her name is Fiona, and she lives downstairs. Now what is it that you really want?"
Deep down inside, the rational part of Viva’s mind told her not to believe what Percy was saying! Krakens were monstrous Elder Sea Beasts that were known to sink battleships on the ocean and destroy entire cities if they came on land, so the idea that something like that could exist inside this library was absurd! But Viva knew that it was true!
Viva was certain that there really was a Kraken in this library, and Viva’s worries about all the monsters in this place began to surface once again!
’Shouldn’t I report this to the city? I know Percival is strong, but these monsters are all forces of nature. It’s a security risk that the entire Kingdom has to worry about.’
Viva’s nature as a city guard clashed brutally with her belief in Percy’s strength at that moment, but in the end, her belief won out. Because Viva realized that even if she said something to the City Guards, what exactly were they going to do? Would they come here and try to take the monster away? Would they enter the Alternate Reality to drag Henry the Eldritch Beast out of the library? Would they go down to the storage room to drag the hundreds of Basilisks out of there? Would they go and fight the Elder Beast Kraken?
None of them could even dream of doing that! They would need help from at least three of the Pillars before they could even think of tackling something like this, and since all the Pillars were scattered across the kingdom, there was no way they could do it on their own!
Viva let out a breath as she made up her mind to ignore the monsters, and Viva finally spoke to Percy about something else.
"I wanted to ask you about the vampires upstairs. You mentioned something about them being in the wrong time, and when I asked Lana, she said you meant they were time travellers. Is this true?"
Percy hummed as he thought about whether or not to tell this to Viva. Even if Percy explained it, Viva would likely not be able to fully comprehend what was going on. But Viva’s curiosity was obvious, and Percy decided to give her something to satisfy that curiosity.
"Yes, it’s true. The man and woman came from another time."
"Is it like the future or the past?"
Percy raised a brow.
"Does it matter?"
"W-What? Of course it does! This is one of the sealed mysteries you know! If they come from the future, then just think about everything we can gain from a power like that! The entire world would change if it’s true! We can even stop tragedies before they happen!"
Percy huffed in amusement when he saw Viva’s excited face, and he spoke calmly.
"That’s not how time travel works, Viva."
"W-What? Really?"
"Yes, really. Going into the future and bringing knowledge of what happened back to the past won’t allow you to stop tragedies from happening. It will create a new timeline where you went to the future and learned about the tragedies, and that will change the progress of time. Time is a delicate concept, just like reality, and those who are capable of moving through time know better than to mess with the past or future. And besides, if you tried something like that, it won’t be long before you’re killed by the Time Wraiths."
Viva frowned.
"The what?"
