A strange world

Annan's life entered a period of calm.

Works as a librarian in the library during the day and as a waiter at the Dawn Tavern at night.

The syllables learned at the bard the night before would be transformed into words the next day, imprinted in the back of my mind, and the strong accents that had been infected by Aunt Susan's family would be corrected.

Now Annan no longer has that weird slang accent when he says, "Oh, my dear Aunt Susan."

Library work can be called leisurely. Victor doesn't stop anyone from borrowing books, but just like Annan, who is still illiterate, stopping outside the library several times, the townspeople would rather go home and beat their children than enter the library.

The most common people in Annan these days are often the middle-class and wealthy people in the town. They are more aware of the importance of knowledge than civilians, and they have no idea of ​​getting close to Victor - soon, they find that there is a black-haired, fair-skinned librarian in the library, but after discovering that this guy is just a civilian Then I gave up the idea of ​​getting acquainted.

The girl in the robe was one of the few guests who still talked to Annan, but she seemed to regard Annan as a rival: she did not give up on letting Victor become a teacher, nor did she tell Annan his name.

Annan spent three days reading less than half of the book "Universal Phonetic Alphabet" that Victor selected. He felt that he could have a little challenge in children's literature.

Annan walked around the desk and came to the seat of Victor, whose gray hair was shining in the sun: "Mr. Victor, I want to try reading a fairy tale book suitable for younger children..."

Victor is reading a book that is too complicated for present-day Annan. He grabbed his cane and pointed to a row of bookcases in the sun without raising his head.

"Which one?"

"That one."

The cane poked the air impatiently.

Annan wisely closed his mouth and read in front of the bookshelf. The girl in the robe was looking at Annan. He stood in the sun, floating dust wandering in the light that slanted into the library, spreading on his cheeks, giving off a hazy luster.

Doesn’t the library do classification?…

Annan unexpectedly saw a copy of "○○ Love Night" and "Mailin's Fairy Tale" next to each other, and next to them was a copy of "The Geography of the Principality of ○○○".

Putting aside the obscure poetry and the pretentious aristocratic literature, Annan picked up the "Melin Fairy Tale" that fit the description and returned to Mr. Victor, asking him why the books were not arranged in categories.

"Did you read this from the book?"

"So be it."

Just not from books in this world.

"How many words do you know now?" Victor asked for no reason.

"About two to three hundred..."

"not enough."

Annan almost understood what Victor meant - if he knew more words, he would let himself do the classification.

Annan, who had caused trouble for himself, returned to his desk with "Mailin's Fairy Tale".

Not only is the name similar to "Grimm's Fairy Tales", but the content is also similar - after all, just like the bard, he collects and writes from everywhere. But because this world really has extraordinary power, it gives people the feeling that "these fairy tales are real things that happened."

For example, the first story: a metal dragon massacred a village. The only surviving child tempered himself and found the metal dragon that had killed villagers and family members to question. Then it was burned to death by the metal dragon's breath. Well... the story is called "The Survivors of the Greenblood Tribe."

In the evening, I went to the tavern and asked the bard. He said that the metal dragons are from the good camp and the green-blood tribe is from the evil orcs. So the story is actually about justice destroying evil.

The next day, Annan still came to the library ten minutes early. But there is something different today - Mr. Victor is waiting in front of the door, the girl in the robe is also there, and there is a carriage.

"You're late." Victor said with an old face.

"It's not time to open yet."

Annan took out the library key and looked at the two piles of books wrapped in brown paper piled beside the carriage.

According to Annan's understanding of Mr. Victor, the old man was almost strict about order and rules. As long as Annan made no mistakes, Victor would not be really angry. But the girl in the robe didn't know. She looked at Annan in surprise and couldn't understand why Annan dared to talk to Victor in this tone without making him angry.

Click.

Opening the library door, Annan took the initiative to pick up the books and temporarily moved them to the desk.

"Mr. Victor, do you want to put them on the bookshelf?"

"You can take it home, too."

After putting away the books, Annan first registered the girl in the robe according to the rules, and then opened the brown paper.

"○God"

There are some unknown words in the first book.

Annan gave up reading each book one by one and tore open the vellum of another stack of books. Just as he was about to put them into the empty bookshelf, Mr. Victor came to Annan with several individually wrapped books: "Follow me."

After confirming that there would be no visitors for the time being, Annan followed Mr. Victor to a door leading to the basement, took off the oil lamp on the wall, lit it, and entered the basement with a swaying shadow.

There are no common problems with basements: coldness and dampness. Annan saw a bookcase leaning against the wall. Victor handed over the oil lamp at this time. Annan reached out and took it, watching him open the kraft paper and put three ancient books that were no longer new, old or even damaged on the bookshelf.

"Don't let anyone in without permission, not even you."

"Why."

As for why she brought him in but didn't let herself in, Annan regarded this kind of "telling a secret and letting herself keep a secret" as some kind of test for the old man.

"Because of these books."

"Are they banned books?"

"They are knowledge...terrible knowledge."

It sounds like there's going to be an unexpected book theft and then some terror happening in the town right away.

Perhaps the environment in the basement made Victor comfortable. He said more than usual: "Knowledge has power. Those legends, evil gods, gods, void creatures...the knowledge and experiences expounded and recorded by powerful beings, even Every word has power.”

"Are these the books?"

"No. They are just some nonsense with residual power...Okay, let's get out."

Annan believed it, otherwise they wouldn't have been sealed in the basement.

After leaving the basement with Mr. Victor, Annan continued to read the "Melin's Fairy Tales". But today, an unexpected guest came to the door.

A rose-red dress wrapped around a plump figure walked into the library, and a rich fragrance filled the air along with the tall figure.

The Wine Lady comes to the library.

"Why are you here?" The wine lady looked at Annan with a smile.

"I work here." Annan said helplessly, "At least not in the bedroom."

"bedroom?"

The old man snorted and came over.

"Did I meet her in the pub? She was a customer I met when I was a waiter... We only met a few times..."

"Mr. Victor, I'm here to visit my niece." Ms. Wine greeted.

"There she is." Victor also had a bad temper towards the wine lady, and turned to look at Annan, "I guess you are going to clean the floor."

Annan sighed at this senseless disaster.

"Yes, Mr. Victor."