Chương 58: [BL] 57. A Pain.

When Willow walked into the library, she stared for a moment. It was small compared to her college's library, but it had an old, almost rustic charm with old, fading wood built around the stone interior. A curving wooden staircase bent around a corner, connecting to the second gallery. Above, a rustling sound of books being leafed through filled the humble space. The shelves were reasonably tall for her. She still remembered those days when she needed to annoy the librarian for a step stool.

Oil lamps hung, banishing shadows where light from the tall windows didn't reach. An old table stood bare right in the middle, surrounded by a group of grandpa's chairs. Willow ran her finger across the table, picked up some dust, and blew it away. A stupid desire to clean this place was suddenly born inside her.

"How does this place even work? It comes with Kroos' spell or something?"

"I heard he has to collect the books on his own," Leynah said. The woman had already picked a book and was lounging in one chair.

"You don't need me to escort you to find a book, right?"

"About that, are you sure about this? You made it sound like I'm your lady or something."

"Hm, I did some thinking. Honestly girl? What the Lord said may strike a chord in me. Traitor might be too far, but exile? Yes, all of us are in exile. So what's the point of me following these nobles? The prospect of offering my services to this village for a life there appealed to me."

"Must suck," Willow muttered idly as she searched through the shelves, furrowing her brows to read their leather covers.

"Climbing so high up the ranks only to leave it all behind."

"Well, I'm a special case. With my blessing, I level up faster than others, so Lords are eager to get me into their service." Oh? Her hand stopped on a green book. So Leynah also has some kind of experience boost Enhancer? Those must be rare.

"How did it happen, anyway? Soldiers like you suddenly marching to a remote village despite the threat of the Apocalypse."

"We follow our Duke," she said without raising her eyes.

"That's it?"

"That's it."

"Do you rather be in the capital, Leynah?" Willow asked.

"Not really. The damn cult—Church of Light—did not look kindly upon others who received blessings from different stars. They even look down on those blessed by the star of war. Crazy bastards."

"I see," Willow muttered, still wanting more information.

"It still sounds stupid, though, to march all the way here."

"What do you know about the Apocalypse Cycle, Willow?"

"Rift invasion every two hundred years?"

"Yes, and that will cause humanity to be pinned down behind our walls. Kingdoms and Empires will suffer the same fate no matter how strong they are. Well, the capital will fare better, but they wouldn't be able to scour the rift from the get-go in their territory. It will take years of work. Before and after the Cycle usually come times of weakness and times of strength. Do you know why?" Willow thought for a bit.

"Experience source?"

"Exactly. During the Cycle, there will be many more Rift spawns. If humanity survives, then most will remain strong. Throughout history, tier-sixes and even tier-sevens emerged thanks to the Bright Stars taking them to their Party, but what happened a hundred years after? When most rifts had been raided and tamed for items? And when every high-tier individual died of old age? Humanity will be left with incredible resources, but there will be barely any pure resources like a wild rift that gave out pure experience."

"So that makes the Bright Star even more valuable."

"It is. The After Cycle followed by a power grab by countless nobles—those who possess the Bright Star Party capability will end up having a stronger position. But…" Leynah paused for a moment.

"There are other ways. An easier way to grab power is to venture during the early stage of the Apocalypse and settle on land to claim it as your own. The rise of rogue kingdoms always follows after the Apocalypse Cycle's end."

"That sounds like a bigger headache than the Cycle itself," Willow remarked.

"No, that's naivety talking. Invading Riftborns' rifts summoned throughout the world will always be a bigger headache. The Cycle can take from ten years to a hundred. Many times, humanity was driven to the brink of extinction."

"So, this Duke is targeting Sheran? Is that what you're saying?"

"That's the obvious conclusion, isn't it? But then, there are multiple tier-fours within the village. Honestly, what a strange situation. Worse comes to worst, there will be conflict, but both sides will not be stupid enough to turn it into martial conflict, I hope. The peaceful option is perhaps if the Duke's son were to marry some sort of princess figure or distinguished local bloodline? Actually… I heard Shera is the granddaughter of one of the Elders."

This time Leynah lifted her head and glanced at Willow, who knelt by the shelves still searching for her book. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

"Shera? Yes, she is. What, do you want that to happen? The Duke's son marrying the local for political power? Wouldn't that be—""Treason," a familiar voice said. Willow and Leynah flinched. They looked upward toward the second gallery where the worst person possible had been listening all along. Evan—the Princess's little brother—had his head dangling down, and his body lay atop the gallery, draped over the wooden railing. Leynah's hand twitched, but she obviously hesitated because it was the prince himself.

Right, she forgot to mention that she heard someone upstairs.

"But, my ladies. You two are ignoring something. My sister came all this way for her elopement with Lord Ed, Duke Edward's son. His only son. I'll wring the bastard's neck if he were to cheat on her."

"You will what?" Leynah asked in disbelief.

"Now that I also share my treasonous intent, all three of us are now locked together, and better off keeping it a secret. Besides, there's no need to be so stiff. What matters now is power, not titles. My lady, if this village of yours truly has multiple tier-fours, then they're in a position equal to the Duke. Most of his Counts that follow him only mostly brought tier-twos with them."

"But I heard there's a tier-five."

"Ah, him. Yes, indeed. But it's not worth it still to come into a fight with the village. My Lady, are you looking for a book about Elves? Don't look so surprised. It's obvious since you have those Elf ears as part of your class. Hold on a second…" Evan huffed and pushed himself up. Scurries of steps hurried upstairs, and Willow looked at Leynah.

"What a strange child," She mumbled.

"That's what you get for talking so loud," Willow said.

"Oh really? This coming from someone who is not so subtly trying to extract information from me? In an open library? You could just ask normally, you know." Willow felt her cheek redden.

"Fine, I'll ask you all about it later." She made her way to the rounded arch window and leaned close to see that the army of Centaurs was forming. Their bodies were a sea of blue and, creepily, from the hips up were humanoid, carrying bows and lightly armoured by some chain-steel with a cheap-looking nasal helm on top. How many are there? Furrowing her eyes, she counted and counted about three hundred.

The second line was lined with centaurs equipped with better armor and heavy weapons such as war-hammers; some used lighter leather and wielded spears. Luckily, none seemed to be able to fly.

"Evan!" Willow called.

"Are you going to fight if they attack?"

"I will, my lady. Because of you, I have a real chance to reach tier-two."

"Well," Willow crossed her arms, about to smugly add something when a loud tongue click echoed through the library. She raised her eyebrow, and Leynah stifled a laugh.

"Did that displease you?" Willow asked.

"Of course it did. I just want to spend my entire life reading, not fighting. Why do you think I agreed to run with my sister?"

"Sounds counterintuitive, running toward the Apocalypse."

"Royal obligation will not let me rest if I stay, my lady. Catch!" A heavy book that definitely shouldn't have been thrown was thrown at her. Willow scrambled from her leaning position and barely caught it between her two palms. It almost slammed right into her forehead! She had read before, in a survey of weapons, what a deranged murderer would use if they didn't have a gun or steel: a bat; that made sense. The second? The second was a book. A hardcover book!

Willow lowered the book and scowled upward toward Evan when another heavy book spun toward her and knocked her right on the forehead. The world spun once. Willow staggered backward, about to fall until Leynah caught her, helping her upright. She winced, leaned against the wall, and rubbed her forehead against the coarse stone.

"Fuc—""Come on, now," Leynah said, bending down to pick both books.

"You're making it worse."

"If you two are done, can you leave?" Evan asked, not even bothering to show his face. That was wise, because the next time he showed his face, Willow would fire an arrow to break his monocle.

"I even bothered to find a book about Devils for you, my lady. I'm sure you will find them interesting. The Grand Abyss Rift is a tier-six rift from three Apocalypse Cycles ago—human an entire island to the Devil. But on the other hand, we gain information about them. That book will be useful to show you what kind of creature they are."

"Evan, come down here! Or I will kick you out of my Hunt Party."

"You will?" His voice turned hopeful. Willow cursed inwardly, remembering that the boy himself didn't want to fight, so she would just be rewarding him if she kicked him out; besides, Princess Elesis did pay her a lot and had appointed Becks—a tier-three as her bodyguard.

"On second thought, I think if you with your Ascendant Class reach tier-two, then the entire army will benefit greatly. So I changed my mind." Evan clicked his tongue loudly once again.

"Oh, Ascendant Class. How annoying. You know, people kept telling me what a waste it was that I forwent leveling up, and that this class should just go to someone else." Well, they're right!

"They should've brought that up with my father! He thinks just because I enjoy reading that I would love this Grimoire! Do you know how much grunt work I need to deal with for this class? I have to keep drawing sigils of runes that feed to my brain through my enhancer! And the pages disappear every single day, so I have to prepare every day! I even need to draw to release my spell! Why couldn't he just give me a Warrior class?" Ah, rich person's problem. Well, to be fair, Willow wouldn't like that class either.

Sounds like too much pain.

"Your Highness, such weakness will be combated by leveling up. The more you level up, the more enhancers you will receive, and they will surely lift some of those restrictions," Leynah said.

"Tch, Champion Leynah, I did not complain desiring a logical answer."

"He is a pain in the ass," Leynah whispered. Willow nodded along; she agreed. Evan kept rambling, then Leynah, in a low voice, said, "Let's get you to bed."

"Yeah, I'm sleepy."