Chapter 20: The Lord of Flames and the Book
Proof-reader: TheMonitor
“You may leave . ”
“Yes, sir . ”
Kaplan left the room at Cordell’s words . Cordell also left his room not long after Kaplan .
Cordell started walking after he left the room . His destination was the Flame Pagoda’s master, Spire Lord Berenice’s room . When Cordell arrived in front of the Spire Lord Berenice’s room, beads of sweat covered his face .
Cordell was sweating so much not because he was physically weak, but because of the amount of heat coming from Berenice’s room .
Heat hotter than the hottest desert was always wrapped around the greatest resident of Flame Pagoda, the ‘Lord of Flames’ Berenice’s room .
“How does she even sleep here?”,
Cordell thought as he wiped his sweat . Even the outside of the room was this hot so he could not understand how she managed to live inside the room where it was even hotter .
“But how else could she have gotten this powerful . ”
“Miss Berenice!”
Cordell shouted as he was knocking .
“Come in . ”
Berenice’s voice came not long after . Cordell held his breath as the door opened .
Hot .
Cordell covered his face as hot winds escaped Berenice’s room . If an ordinary person had been in his place, their eyebrows would have been singed off .
“Hoo……”
Cordell slowly breathed out as he entered the room .
“They’ve increased again . ”
8 balls of fire circled around Berenice’s slender body . The last time Cordell had seen her, there were only 7 balls of fire . She had grown stronger again .
“As expected of her . She’s a complete monster . ”
She wasn’t the Flame Spire Lord for nothing .
“What is it?”
Berenice asked .
“It seems that there’s going to be gathering at the Spire again . ”
“What? A gathering? Did a demon lord appear or something?”
Cordell shook his head . It could be said that the current situation was more unusual than a demon lord appearing .
“A person with immeasurable talent has appeared . ”
“……!”
“And it was measured with the Wisdom Balls as well . ”
“The Wisdom Balls that Kako designed? It couldn’t be measured with them?”
“Yes . ”
“……”
Berenice was struck speechless .
“Their talent couldn’t be measured with Kaiko’s Wisdom Balls?”
Berenice knew very well how ingenious the Wisdom Balls designed by the Earth Spire Lord, Kako were . The Kako, that was known to have immeasurable talent 30 years ago .
Kako had mentioned that if her talent was measured again with his improved Wisdom Balls, it wouldn’t immeasurable anymore .
Her new Wisdom Balls were that effective . But other people with immeasurable talents? Berenice had believed that she wouldn’t get to see one again in her lifetime .
“When is it?”,
Berenice asked Cordell . She was curious about the gathering .
“It hasn’t been decided yet . ”
It was a gathering of whimsical people more influential than kings . Of course they couldn’t choose recklessly . They had to carefully adjust according to the other Lords’ schedule .
“When would be the most convenient for you?”
“I would like to have it arranged as soon as possible . ”
Berenice wanted to have the gathering as soon as possible . No, she just wanted to meet the person responsible for all this .
“I’ll try to have it as soon as possible . ”,
Cordell replied to Berenice . Of course, he couldn’t guarantee it . After all, the date had to be convenient to other Spire Lords as well since there were nine other Lords apart from Berenice .
“Then I’ll take my leave . ”
Cordell said to Berenice as he turned back to leave .
“……Wait!”
Cordell faced Berenice again after hearing her shout . Berenice asked Cordell when she saw him face her .
“How old is this person?”
“I heard that they’re 20 years old . ”
“……!”
Berenice’s eyes widened at his answer .
“It is a he? Or a she?”
Berenice asked him again in an expectant voice .
“……It’s a he . ”
“Oh, i-is that right?”
Berenice’s expression changed again at his answer .
“T-then I’ll take my leave now .
Cordell hurriedly left with a flustered voice after her questioning . He thought as he left,
“Did she take an interest in someone again?”
Rated as SSS 31 years ago when she was 5, the Flame Spire Lord Berenice . Was it her original personality? Or was it the influence of her teacher, the former Flame Lord, Serene? For whatever reason, Berenice eagerly sought a partner . Of course, she wouldn’t take action in ways unbefitting of her status(TL: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)) even if she found a decent man . Unlike her master . (TL: ( ͡ᵔ ͜ʖ ͡ᵔ ))
The problem was, a lot of incidents happened because of that strange tendency even if she didn’t flirt . Cleaning after her mess all day was the Vice Spire Lord, Cordell .
“I’m worried after seeing her reaction . ”
Cordell was overcome with a headache when he thought about what she would do . From her 36 year-old perspective, a 20 year-old man with unlimited potential was a chance that would come once in a lifetime . There was a high possibility that Berenice would fall in love and do something stupid again .
“No . ”
Cordell suddenly realised,
“If it’s a man with immeasurable talent……”
Then it was probably okay .
* * *
“Wow……”
Soo Hyuk let out a sigh of amazement as he stood in front of the massive building .
“Oren can’t even begin to compare to this . ”
The building, which dwarfed the library at Oren, was the Library of Matab .
“There’s got to be a lot of books in there . ”
Just from the size of the building, Matab probably possessed significantly more books than the Oren Library . Filled with expectation, Soo Hyuk approached the library entrance . Just like Oren, there was a guard guarding the entrance .
Soo Hyuk walked up to the young man guarding the entrance . The young man, who was reading a book, saw Soo Hyuk walk up and nodded to him .
“I’m here to use the library . ”,
The man closed his book at Soo Hyuk’s words and stood up with a smile .
“Can you show me your token?”
“Here it is . ”
Soo Hyuk opened his inventory and pulled out his ‘Magician’s Token’ . When the young man was handed the token, he checked it for a moment and then spoke the Soo Hyuk,
“Mister Soo Hyuk, you can collect it on your way out .
“Thank you, have a nice day . ”
Soo Hyuk passed the man and entered the library . But Soo Hyuk halted when he entered the library .
“……?”
Soo Hyuk looked around the library .
“Huh? Why is it so empty?”
The library had a large area with polished marble at the front which contained desks for reading, and bookshelves on grand mezzanines rising to the ceiling high above . But it was too empty . The library was big, so he had thought that it would be full of people . But it was void of people . Soo Hyuk could only see one or two people and numerous seats were empty .
“Well, it’s a good thing for me . ”
If there were too many people, the library might be too noisy or he might not be able to read some books for a long time . Soo Hyuk turned away from the desk and looked at the bookshelves .
“……?”
Soo Hyuk tilted his head in confusion . It was because of the books themselves . In Oren, the library was full of sparkling books except for the one ‘Guidebook’, but in the Matab Library, he could see a lot of books that didn’t sparkle .
“The books probably overlap with Oren’s Library a lot . ”
The books didn’t sparkle for the ones Soo Hyuk had already read . Of course, he wasn’t sure if there was another reason . So, Soo Hyuk approached one of the bookshelves on the ground floor and picked a random book that wasn’t sparkling .
“As expected……”
When he checked, the book was one he had already read in Oren’s Library .
“Now that I think about it, why wouldn’t two libraries have the same book?”
Now that he had checked, Soo Hyuk went over to a sparkling book and pulled it out of the shelf .
After all, Soo Hyuk didn’t want to read the books he had already read if there were other books that haven’t been read yet .
“……Hmm?”
Soo Hyuk froze as he pulled out a fifth sparkling book and squinted at a place while frowning .
“What’s that?”
Soo Hyuk was staring down the aisle of bookshelves . More precisely, at a book at the end of a bookshelf .
“Blue?”
The book in his line of sight was glowing with a blue light . Soo Hyuk then stared at the books in his hands with a confused expression .
“But this is white . ”
The books in his hands were glowing with a faint white light . And it wasn’t just these books . The books in Oren’s Library were glowing with a white light as well . Even more confused, Soo Hyuk stared at the blue book again .
“Why is that book glowing blue?”