"They look strong!" Angelica commented, and William couldn't help but nod. He doubted that there was a single gold grade master in the many patrolling groups he met so far. And that made such a force something that could rule an entire kingdom back at his tiny world.
Thousands of dark gold masters? And he just saw a small piece of the entire image, making him admire this city, and wonder about how strong the big forces in this world were like.
Aside from these guards, William and Angelica didn't see a single person who belonged to the royal family. After walking inside for half an hour, Angelica couldn't help but express her doubts about this matter.
"They are busy in training grounds, or at managing the affairs of the city," Tara simply explained. As she said these words, they arrived at the royal library.
Unlike the previous two, this one was indeed small. It was just the size of a single big building, with a small diamond shaped dome. The place looked empty, without any patrolling guards there.
Yet the moment they walked through the door, they found a group of five youths waiting for them. Just from a single look and William could feel the air surrounding them, a royal one.
"You are William, right?" before William or any of the two girls accompanying him would say any word, one of the five youths said in a warm welcoming tone. And when William nodded, the five cupped their hands in unison, greeted him and introduced themselves.
"We are here to help you around the place," the one called Jack, the oldest of these five, and seemingly the leader of them, spoke before motioning towards a corridor, "please, follow me."
"The place looks small to trouble you for this," William said, hinting that he didn't want any outsider to be with him while checking the content of the library.
"I believe you are mistaken," Jack chuckled, before adding as he pointed to the ground, "this library is just a fake front. The real one is deep down the ground. And believe me, it's very huge, and you'll need our help for sure."
William didn't question his words and decided to let them stick by his side. He knew he had no option but to accept this, or else head to start a quarrel with them, one he'd definitely lose.
Yet forty minutes later, he realised that Jack wasn't lying or exaggerating. The latter and his four friends led William and the other two girls down a long spiral rocky stair, one that extended in a narrow space, with candles and ores emitting lights like flames in faint blue colour.
During their walk, the five youths of the royal family seemed pretty much excited about being here, about meeting William. They spoke all the time about how this was a historical moment, not only to their city, but to the entire world.
The presence of such mysterious scrolls was common in the world. According to them, every single strong city had such a massive gathering of these items. And yet, no one ever managed to decipher any of them.
They tried, and according to Larry, one of Jack's royal family, it was a rule for the royal family members in the city to check over these scrolls and items all the time, trying to get anything out of them.
It seemed like a sacred mission to this city's royals. And yet it wasn't a common rule in the world. Many royal families in different cities and grand cities already dropped the towel, acknowledging their inability to do anything about these things.
As for their presence here, it wasn't random. According to Jack, they got selected with care, even had to undergo a test or something to come here and meet William.
The latter didn't help but smile and nod in silence, without issuing any of his thoughts. He liked how the city rulers acted towards this, taking this matter quite seriously to such an extent.
And yet he knew he had to keep any of what he'd learn there only to himself. Knowledge about Mystic Arts should and always be secretive, known by a limited number of people who'd know what to do with such grand intel.
William read scrolls about arts that could tamper with fate and destiny. If such knowledge fell in the wrong hands, then a disaster would fall over this world, or many actually.
Lest to his knowledge that the true library he was heading towards didn't just include secrets about the Mystic Arts. and There he'd find lots of things that would blow up his mind, change his vision about the entire world entirely.
As the group reached the end of the long stairs, they found themselves standing in the middle of a grand open space. The ground extended endlessly in every direction, while the ceiling rose for tens of metres above their heads.
They appeared from a hole in the ceiling. Unlike what common sense would depict, they didn't appear from one end of this space, and simply came out from the middle of it.
The stairs took them from the hole in the ceiling all the way down to the ground, spiralling over a central rocky axis that looked like a thick pillar.
It was a fascinating scene, yet what was more fascinating was the space they ended at.
"Is this the royal library?" Angelica was the first to speak up, turning towards Jack who simply smiled in satisfaction.
He turned to William, and the latter was also surprised. "It seems like this library extends below the entire city, right?" he asked, and Jack nodded.
"I can't tell the real age of this place, but it had been here since the old days of establishing our city," Jack proudly said, "our ancestors gathered up lots of weird stuff and stored them here all over the years. This place expands under our city, and even extends beyond it."
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel