Races: Online (VR Smartphone App)

Chapter 135: The Perspective of Iola and Ellynn [ Skippable? ]

Boredom.

There wasn't much one could do while stuck within the premises of someone else's room. She currently had no option to leave and make her own choices. Then again, her life in some way had always been like this. Iola reached out towards the ceiling, "Trapped." She sighed and closed her hand. Had she simply left one prison place in exchange for another one? 

Well, at least she wasn't being forced around here to do anything.

Her stomach growled in protest. "He had forgotten to give me supper before leaving," The young woman frowned slightly but made no move to do anything. She couldn't leave at all. He had warned her of that and it wasn't like she was going to die if she did not eat tonight. Instead her mind flitted back to her conversation with the Mage who sought to take advantage of Timothy.

How did such a young man like him figure out that she had been using an invisibility cloak?

Some kind of Skill perhaps?

"You were using the scales of a Lamia," The Mage's expression had been dark when he told her that but made no move to attack her. She had almost been afraid that he would do such a thing and that she hadn't the boy to protect her since she made him leave the room. Not that she needed protectionbut a shield would have been helpful.

There hadn't been many items she had been allowed to take from the treasury and to which she had rightfully complained about. But she had managed to convince them to let her take that for her 'safety' and it had been crucial to her escape.

But now she was bored.

What else could she do while she stayed here? And for how long would that young man be gone? Perhaps far longer than he'd intend to? She wished to go out and explore. Here she was in Kraelonia Academyin the City for Adventurers! And yet she was stuck inside a room with nowhere else to go.

She had half a mind to sneak back into her Aunt Lanthe's manor but the first place they'd suspect to find her was that and she doubted her aunt could and would do so much for her if it would anger her brother. And so, she was left here to fend for her own. Good sense told her that it was much better to stay inside the room to prevent any mishaps.

But if she had been listening to reason, then she wouldn't have left the carriage in the first place.

Knock.

She froze in the bed at the few knocks, it wasn't Timothy or else the young man would have stepped in by now and yet he hadn't told her that he was expecting anyone else. Iola grabbed for her cloak and placed it on, making her way to the door. There was a peep hole for her to look at after all. She could hear the knocking stop as a voice of a young man spoke up.

"Hey, Timothy are you in there? I mean, I don't expect you to be anywhere else but in your room but who knows, maybe Penelope dragged you out somewhere." There was an inordinate amount of silence.

Iola made a mental note to ask about this Penelope girl once he came back. But who was this guy? She peeked at him. Dark hair, green eyes and an average but not bad stature. A friend of Timothy?

He continued, "Unlikely. But have you had dinner? I got a few questions for youbut it's not like you're actually answering. Are you still ignoring me?" A small laugh escaped from the boy's lips, "You wouldn't say anything if you were. But yeah, I'm going to the dining hall and you're free to join me later or something."

Iola blinked. Was that an invitation? Well, it wasn't for her, but that didn't mean she couldn't accept it.

.. .

After some effort spent on her part, the empty book lay in front of her hands. Ellynn looked at it with a scrutinizing gazesome kind of books she encountered simply had faded out texts and worn out pages from use. Others needed to imbue mana into the pages before the content would appear, there were actually a lot of instances like that and even some books that had locks and missing keys. Perhaps in an attempt to keep readers away.

But the book in front of her did nothing spectacular of that note, she flipped through the pages and found no hidden message but simply blank pages, "This is the book that he had been speaking of."

The Half Elf looked around the other titles in the 'A' section with a wistful smile. It didn't hurt to admit that the library enticed her to search and peruse the titles to find an interesting book, perhaps it had even been one of the reasons why she had sought for this place. A library that was much much older than her and possibly a dungeon?

Perhaps there was much more knowledge here than she'd ever find while travelling across the continent and they were all within fingertips' reach.

Her gaze flickered around the library as she took in the ambient mana. It didn't feel dangerous but neither did it actually feel safe. It was a foreign kind of mana that she hadn't utilized before. What an odd thing, but she couldn't stick around for too long. 

There was a reason why she was here and she'd set out to do it.

Placing the book in her chest, she walked across the floor in search of Timothy. He was Han's friend and there wasn't exactly much she could say about himquiet, less prone to trust perhaps? Not that she could fault for him over that. Despite his polite way of addressing her, there were still the inevitable looks and flinches given towards her. Which was quite unlike his friend.

They were an odd pair those two.

And yet she could only silently admit that perhaps they were her greatest chance at gaining friends. A somber smile crept up to her lips, it wasn't like the Humans treated her badly. They were a lot more tolerable than the Elves who looked at her like she was a disgusting thingeven the ones that her father knew had tried to hide such thoughts but it still showed in the way they acted around her. There wasn't anything she could do about it.

Ellynn stepped into the section just enough to see the startled young man pushed back a title into the bookshelf. "H-Hey! Are you done already?" His widened eyes and the mere fact that this was still at least ten or more letters away from section Z told her everything.

"Yes, I am done," She held out the empty book towards him but didn't say anything else. Instead she watched his red-face expression. 

"My bad, I started looking for the books required in our classes. Han and I need to catch up fast, so I decided that this was a priority before getting that Illusory Mage's book." He explained sheepishly.

That was a levelheaded answer and that had been the entire reason why she was helping out in the first place. One way or another, she owed her life to someone lower leveled than hersit made sense that she would wish for them to become stronger.

It was the only way to survive in this kind of world after all.

She inclined her head, "If you wish, I can find the second book as well."

"You don't have to do that," Timothy glanced once more at a book before shaking his head and picking up his bag. It already weighed a good bit as he lugged it across his shoulder, "It's alright if you want come with me but I'll be the one who'll look for this empty one, you've done enough already."

His words made her wince but she nodded.

"Actually, if you wanted toyou can go ahead and look around. This information is useful to you as it is to Han and I, you should grab for a book while you can. I'll go ahead." Without waiting for any other answer, Timothy scampered off towards the Z section. He hadn't even taken the book from her hands. 

They were supposed to place the 'A' book in the 'Z' and vice versa.

She tilted her head at his retreating figure and shook her head. He was more afraid of her than she was of him, it was a strange feeling, the Half Elf turned towards the bookshelf he had been inspecting and rubbed her chin. "Heat Spells? That's for Tier 0 to Tier 1 Spells which is useful for people just beginning their Mage studies, or perhaps he had been looking at this other one? Hydromancer Class Information. Conjuring water is helpful. Not as much as wind..." 

Her cloak fluttered behind her but only weakly.

Ellynn's heart pounded faster. There were logical reasons why the wind was weakthey were underground, but it didn't ease the tightness in her chest. Why did she only notice it now? She gritted her teeth and decided to bear with this. Only a few more hours, they'd retrieve the book and be done with this.