Reader-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?”