episode_0047

The Tianis Academy Library, with a daily user base of over 5,000.

Something appeared on top of the clock tower installed at its peak with a *pop*! It was a life form that seemed to have shrunk a human to the size of a mouse.

“Hello? My name is Sasha.”

Sasha waved a hand smaller than a grain of millet.

“Who am I, you ask? You don’t know me?”

Sasha brought both hands to her mouth as if shocked. But she soon took her hands away and said,

“Ahem. You might not know me. I’m a very secretive being. So, who am I? I am…”

Sasha covered the area around her mouth with her palm so this secret story wouldn’t leak out, and came closer.

“I am the spirit of this Tianis Library.”

Sasha whispered so in a very small voice.

“Huh? You’re asking if there’s such a spirit? Of course not. I’m an artificially created spirit, unlike those of nature. Created by humans, no less.”

Sasha was an artificial spirit born from the hands of humans!

“Ahem! How do I look now? You don’t have to look into my heart; I know everything. You thought of me as something like a rat. But it’s okay. I’ll understand with my generous heart.”

Sasha placed her hands on her hips, proudly puffed out her chest, and said. Then, she tilted her head and said,

“Why was a library spirit made, you ask? You really don’t know anything! Why else, to manage the Tianis Library, of course.”

Sasha jumped off the clock tower. Sasha, floating in the air, moved to the center of the library.

“Do you know how many books are stored here? Over 200 million. More than 5,000 librarians work here, but they’re just humans after all. How could they manage so many books? Thousands of people use it every day.”

The librarians usually had a lot of work to do.

Finding books for students, organizing books, restoring damaged books, and so on. There was too much.

Of course, magic helped, but there were things that couldn’t be handled with magic. Sasha was the being born for those busy librarians!

Sasha was a great being who helped the hardworking librarians!

“Ahem! Doesn’t that sound more impressive? Huh? You’re asking who made such a great me? Of course, the great magician Kiran made me.”

Sasha made a face as if asking the obvious.

“Ah, Kiran is the first emperor of the Tairan Empire. And very, very… damn, has no conscience, and is a stupid idiot who only knows himself!”

Sasha puffed up her cheeks with air and got angry.

“Is it because the work is hard? That’s not it at all. If I didn’t enjoy this job, how could I have stayed here for 400 years? The reason I’m angry is because of the name.”

Sasha hated her name, Sasha.

“I’m an artificial spirit, so I need a name to subordinate my existence to the world. So, I asked that stupid idiot Kiran if he wanted a name. I already had an ego and intellect when I was born from a 10-circle magician.”

And that name was ‘Kelchathus Maximilian’.

“Isn’t that a great name? It’s totally my type, but that idiot said I had such trash naming sense and just gave me the name Sasha, can you believe it?”

Whenever she remembers that scene, she still gets frustrated. She should have received that name no matter what she had to do at the time.

“Enough with the depressing talk, I’ll give you a tour of the library now!”

Sasha flew towards the open space in the center of the library.

“I said there are 200 million books in the library, right? So there are really many different books. Not just limited to the empire, but knowledge from all over the continent is gathered here.”

All knowledge, present and past, is basic. There were theological books related to the Holy Kingdom, lost histories from the Northern Continent where barbarians live, and secret papers published only in the magic towers of the Falun Magic Kingdom.

Besides that, there were also books containing mysteries and magic deep inside, and books designated as forbidden books were sealed somewhere.

“Actually, there are also books that have nothing to do with learning.”

Sasha stood next to a student. The student pulled out a book from the corner. And when he opened the book, *poof*! It emitted smoke, and the student’s height shrank to the size of a child. Soon after, the book disappeared.

“It’s a book called the Curse of the Dwarf. It forcibly reduces your height. Don’t worry. It’ll come back in 30 minutes.”

With that said, Sasha passed by the student.

“This library is full of Kiran’s jokes. A representative example is that.”

Sasha pointed to a student who was lost and wandering around.

“Kiran played tricks on the space with the special arrangement of mana and bookshelves. So dozens of people wander around the library every day.”

Sasha waved her hand. Then, the confused student was taken outside. Sasha had administrative rights and could control the library’s magic.

“The pranks aren’t over with this. Kiran hides strange things between the books to surprise the students, you know? What was it… something about chance encounters. Anyway!”

As long as the books weren’t damaged, Sasha didn’t care about anything else.

“Next, I’ll show you the users.”

Sasha headed to the second floor. There were freshmen studying hard there.

“They’re fresh kids who haven’t been at Tianis for long. They’re really cute at this time. But things are different from the second grade.”

Sasha pointed to a second-year student with soulless eyes.

“From that time on, they start to go crazy. By the time they’re in their third year, they reach a state of enlightenment. So they’re not cute and just pitiful. But the most pitiful of all are…”

Sasha headed to the zombies gathered on the 7th floor. They were graduate students with hollow eyes, rummaging through books and writing papers.

“Zombies! They are very, very important people who will lead the empire in the future! They just made a slightly wrong choice! Of course, they’re not cute. They just make ‘woo-er’ sounds every day.”

Still, there were many cute children even as time passed. One of them is Kiran’s descendant.

“Ariel is cute. I want to give her a big hug.”

Ariel, sitting elegantly in a one-person chair in the distance, is reading.

Her black hair and black eyes are very similar to Kiran’s. In addition, Ariel was the most special of the imperial family.

“What are you doing there, Sasha?”

“Hello, Ariel?”

Ariel recognized herself. Sasha is a specially made artificial spirit, so even if her sensitivity is high, she is not easily recognized. As expected of Kiran’s bloodline.

“I’m walking around the library!”

“Is that so? Thank you always. I’ll bring you almond cookies made at the Imperial Palace later.”

“Thank you!”

It was Sasha’s favorite snack. Kiran used to make them himself a long time ago. Those are truly missed past times.

“Then see you later.”

“Yes, Sasha. Please take care of me today too.”

“Okay!”

Sasha, away from Ariel, smiled brightly. Her conversation with her was enjoyable. Of course, that feeling started from the fact that she recognized herself.

“Besides Ariel, there’s a suspicious student, but I don’t want to talk to him…”

Of course, there was a student who she suspected was aware of her existence.

A male student reminded her of Kiran’s friend, Kyle Arden. Sasha thought about him.

“That mean-eyed guy. How could such a guy be born under Keilon?”

It’s hard to believe he’s the descendant of that gentle and kind person. He’s completely different.

Ariel was the opposite of the mischievous Kiran, but that was on a different level.

“You know. He’s a complete bad guy. He burned the book he borrowed half a year ago, and it was so hard to tear it up and restore it. His behavior is completely villainous.”

Still, he doesn’t do anything else these days. He somehow found out and occasionally took away the secrets that Kiran had hidden, but at least he didn’t damage the books.

“That’s enough. I don’t want to think about him.”

Even so, Sasha still hated Kyle Arden because he was the guy who ruined the book.

Sasha turned her head. And saw. A student touching some device.

“Huh? Wait a minute! If you touch that…!”

Before Sasha could stop him.

Woooong-!!

The magic installed in the library was activated.

***

Two weeks passed quickly. The feeling that time passed even faster because I was filled with anticipation was not insignificant.

And I even received a separate call from [Orange’s Smithy]. Telling me to come pick up the commissioned item. As soon as I heard that, I ran to the smithy.

“Oh? Brother? Are you on your way to the smithy?”

“Yeah, I got a call that it’s done.”

“Me too. Let’s go together.”

I met Evan on the way. It seems like they were completed at the same time because the days they were commissioned were the same.

Evan’s steps were light the whole way. Of course, so was mine.

Then Evan spoke to me with an excited look.

“A dwarven-made weapon… I’ll probably never have a day like this again in my life, right?”

“Don’t overreact so much. It’s embarrassing.”

“Brother is a noble, so gold coins may not be a big deal, but it’s 3,000 gold, 3,000 gold! It’s money that commoners can’t touch even if they earn it for the rest of their lives!”

Evan grabbed my shoulders and shook me, then suddenly stopped with a serious expression.

“What if… what if I lose it? Or what if someone steals it…”

“It won’t happen, so let go. I have enough countermeasures. More than that, let’s go quickly. I want to see it soon too.”

“R, really? Then I’ll trust Brother…”

I passed Evan as he was and went ahead. He talks too much at important moments.

After moving and moving, we arrived at [Orange’s Smithy]. We entered the sales store.

“I’ve been waiting. We don’t need greetings, do we? Let’s go down right away.”

Brand led us straight to the basement. As he said, greetings were an unnecessary process.

Throughout the descent to the basement, my hands were sweaty due to tension rather than the heat from the furnace. Sweat formed on the back of my neck and forehead.

“It’s quiet today. Where did everyone go?”

Evan asked so. The furnace was still operating, but not a single dwarf was seen doing blacksmithing. It was so quiet that silence had fallen completely.

“They were inspired by the two of your swords and are holed up in their rooms. They seem to have itchy hands after only making commissioned items for a while. Dwarves have to make what they want to make, after all.”

“Were they made that well?”

“Yeah. More than you can imagine. Something was made that far exceeds the original price.”

In the meantime, we entered Thorca’s smithy.

The inside was dirtier than the last visit. The walls were full of soot, and dust and various tools were scattered on the floor.

And in the center, there was a drunkard pouring alcohol straight from the bottle. There were numerous bottles around him, indicating how much he had drunk.

“You’ve come.”

“Stop drinking, you old geezer! You’re old enough, you’ll die if you keep eating like that!”

Brand shouted and snatched the bottle away. Judging by the amount he drank, even a whale would get drunk.

“More importantly, what about the swords.”

“The other guys rushed in, so I hid them. Look under that anvil.”

Brand moved himself instead of Thorca, who was exhausted. He rummaged under the anvil and took out a box from a hidden space.

“Ooh-cha, look. These are the swords you’ll be using from today.”

He slowly opened the lid. Then you can see two swords. Evan stared at it with his soul lost.

“…….”

“Ooooo!!”

One is a sword with pure white color from the handle to the blade. Pure white light flowed gracefully along the edge of the sword.

The other is a sword dyed entirely in black. The ink-colored light flowing along the blade absorbed all light.

A sight like art itself. What’s more surprising is that the shapes of the two swords are perfectly identical. They were exactly the same without even a slight error.

“…May I ask why they are the same?”

I looked at Thorca. This was a form that could never come out of a dwarf’s hands.

Each person has different combat methods, weapon usage methods, and body types, so the weapons that suit them are also different. And dwarves know that and make custom weapons that suit the user. There is a reason why they go through the testing process.

“It wasn’t made that way from the beginning. Unlike you, Evan is still in the walking stage, isn’t he? Evan’s sword, which was originally conceived, was not like this.”

Thorca took a sip of alcohol and continued.

“We dwarves, when we hammer, we can read the destiny and will of the child being born from our hands.”

It’s a known fact. It’s not possible for all dwarves, but only dwarves who have reached a certain level or higher among the meisters can do it.

“Is this the result?”

“That’s right. The wishes of the two children are like that, so I, as a blacksmith, couldn’t refuse. Furthermore, their fates were so surprisingly similar that I couldn’t turn a blind eye.”

Having said that far, I couldn’t ask any more questions. If the dwarf read that and even made a choice, there is a reason. It’s more foolish to argue.

“Still, not everything will be the same, right?”

“They look the same on the outside, but the inside is completely different. So don’t worry.”

At that, I breathed a sigh of relief inwardly. Fortunately, that side hasn’t changed.

“Um, but you know. It seems like I couldn’t make the same shape with just the prepared materials.”

“Are you saying…?”

“I used a little of your material in the process of making Evan’s sword.”

No wonder the energy I felt was a little stronger. So that’s why.

“I’m sorry for using it without saying anything in advance. As a blacksmith, I was greedy and did something I shouldn’t have done.”

“Yeah, well.”

“Of course, I don’t intend to end it with just words. This is a betrayal of the trust between you and me, who entrusted the materials as a blacksmith. If you are upset by my actions, I am willing to compensate you.”

Um? This is quite unexpected.

Actually, I didn’t think much of what he said. Ah, he just used the materials, that’s all.

Of course, that’s possible because he used it for Evan. If it were someone else, I might have gone wild.

Besides, he had already used it, and if that raised his motivation and allowed him to exert abilities beyond his skill, it would be beneficial to me.

But if one of the first dwarves compensates separately, the story is different.

“How far is possible?”

“I will compensate you as much as possible within the range I can do.”

“Okay, I understand. I don’t need it right now, so I’ll come to ask you later.”

“Okay.”

We finished this story here.

“Black is yours, and white is that guy’s.”

I heard Thorca’s words and picked up the black sword. A heavy sensation flowed into my fingertips. The weight of the sword is heavier than I thought.

“Evan, you pick it up too.”

“Yes, sir!”

Evan immediately picked up the white sword.

“Ugh, it’s heavy.”

“You’ll get used to it over time. More than that, what are their names?”

“Black is Karsa, and white is Raman.”

“Karsa….”

When I called out the name in a low voice, the sword vibrated slightly. As if responding to my words.

“You must want to use it soon. Swing it around appropriately.”

“Yes.”

I stood facing a place where no one was on the route, just in case.

“Hoo….”

I take a breath and relax the strength in my body. The timing when the power of the whole body is completely lost.

Swoosh-!

I swung it down lightly.

Kukwakwang!

And with a loud noise, the wall cracked.