The adventurers turned to face him, confused looks on their faces. "And you are?" The Wizard asked, prompting Ryo to go searching inside his pockets for his adventuring license. His finger brushed off it, allowing him to find it and pull it out, placing it on the table.
"Ryo Kyoji, A-rank adventurer." Ryo told them, sliding the card towards them. The Longswordsman picked it up, inspecting it. The licenses were really nothing more than information inscribed into a piece of wood, so they'd be easy to fake, but near impossible to verify its legitimacy. Satisfied, the adventurer slid it back over, allowing Ryo to pocket it once again. "I found a massive library near the border to the Demon Country." Ryo informed them, wishing he had the map that was still in his bag. 'I can't just teleport to go grab it, can I?' He thought to himself, mentally slapping himself.
"Oh yeah?" The Wizard responded, intrigued. "Tell me a bit more about it, since you found it." He prompted Ryo, who cracked his fingers in response.
"Well, it's almost a kilometer long, with hundreds of different books on magic. I haven't checked out most of them, but I saw a few that could maybe take you from B-rank to A-rank in a single month if you read it properly." Ryo explained, trying to lure them in. "I also saw a few rare books on swordsmanship techniques. They looked to be at least a hundred years old, so they could contain information that was lost to time. Maybe some unique sword techniques or maybe Monster weaknesses? I wouldn't know, as I'm not a swordsman."
The two adventurers looked at each other, skepticism turning to intrigue, to excitement. "You mind showing it to me on a map? I'm going to mark it so that we can check it out. Maybe take some books from it while we're there." The Longswordsman asked him, pulling out a small handheld map and a pencil. "We'll bring the whole party along, maybe there'll be some interesting books for all of us."
"Sure, be sure to take a look. However, the owner isn't too fond of thieves. If you want a book, make sure to loan it out, otherwise something bad is supposed to happen." Ryo told that, improvising the information on the spot, hoping that the library had some method of preventing its books from being stolen after being loaned. The two adventurers shared a quick glance.
"There's an owner?" The Wizard asked, confused. "I thought you said you found it?" He reminded Ryo.
"Yeah, just because I found it, doesn't mean someone doesn't own the place. Plus, someone has to mind the thousands of books that lie in that library. I'm pretty sure the history books in there spread back to before the Great Demon War." Ryo informed them. "I'm not talking about a new discovery or anything, but I figure the owner would want some people to visit, since the area is quiet."
"I get you. I'll be sure to let some people know. We'll take a trip up there in a few days or a week. It all depends on how quickly we can find a carriage that'll take us there, as they're few and far between now." The Longswordsman told him, taking a sip of his drink, a similar mug of Crispers to what Ryo had.
"Oh? Why's that? I walked here, so I didn't catch any of the carriage news." Ryo admitted, leaving out the fact that he teleported many times after that walk from Eilera to the Hyande Empire.
"You didn't hear? There's Monsters everywhere now, and nobody can tell why. They're slightly stronger than usual, and, likewise, none of the higher ups in the guild have any clue as to the reason. Some people speculate that Demons are running around, but there's no way that could happen, as they're stuck behind the border." The Wizard said with a smile, pulling his mug close to his mouth. "Although, one or two rogue Demons could have easily snuck their way through. They'd quickly have been struck down by magic."
Ryo had to stifle a small chuckle. He had seen just how powerful Demons could be. He stood no chance, even right now, at taking down Inquisax. Who knew what other Demons had in their arsenals? "Sure, I can understand the carriages not going as often due to fear of being attacked." He replied, marking the location of the library on the map. "That's where it is."
The Longswordsman leaned in, wincing slightly. "Oh, you weren't kidding. That is quite close to the border." He murmured. "I'm sure it'll be fine, though."
Ryo sipped his cider, a smile on his face. He was relaxed. "Yeah, it's a great place. I was recently reading a book about magic, and there is a technique out there that let you use more types of magic than the ones you were born with." Ryo offhandedly mentioned. The Wizard fell silent, staring Ryo down. Ryo noticed, placing his cider down. "What? It's one of the most advanced techniques there, and I definitely couldn't do anything like that yet. I bet it'd take even the highest of SS-rank Wizards to manage something like that!" Ryo defended, taking a big gulp of cider to try and further prove his point. 'I just hope these two are slightly too drunk to contest my point.' He thought to himself.
The Wizard stood up, grabbing the map off the table. "I've got a few Wizard friends at another table. I'm going to go show this place to them, and maybe they'll take a visit too." He said before walking off, placing the map down on a table with a few other robed people, talking in a hushed voice.
"Don't mind him." The Longswordsman sighed. "He tells all his friends about anything they'd find interesting as soon as he hears it. He claims it's because he doesn't want to forget what it is."
"Ah, it's no bother at all to me. I'd rather him go tell people than keep it to himself. Plus, the owner wants people to loan out books regardless, so the more people that come, the more knowledge he can spread." Ryo replied, sipping his cider, noticing he was near the end of his mug. His stomach grumbled, making him realise that he hadn't eaten since he got to the library around two days ago now. "Do you know any good places to eat that'd be open around this hour? I'm starving."
"There's not many places open at all around this time, but I think I know one." The Longswordsman told him, finishing off the rest of his own mug of Crispers. "It's a place called Kai's Kuts. You'd figure it's for haircuts, but no, it's a place that serves different types of meat sandwiches. They're open for another hour or so, so you can go grab something and walk around."
Ryo downed the small bit of cider that was left in his mug, placing it gently down on the bar table. "Thank you." He told both the bartender and the Longswordsman, making his way to the door. He walked outside, the nighttime air hitting his face like a fresh wall of oxygen. 'I forgot to ask where that sandwich place is.' Ryo realised, facepalming. He looked up, noticing only one shop with its lights on. He teleported closer to it, noticing that it was "Kai's Kuts".
The smell of grilled chicken hit his nose. His stomach grumbled in response, almost as if it could taste the sandwich before he had even ordered it. He walked up to the shop window, realising it was built kind of like a bar, just without any seats. A takeaway of sorts. A blond man with a few rocks around his chin greeted him. "Well, lad, what can I get you?" He asked Ryo.
"Could I get a chicken sandwich? Plain, if you wouldn't mind." Ryo replied, pulling his pouch of coins out of his pocket, now considerably fuller than before due to the ninety-seven small silver coins that resided inside. The blond man laughed, yelling something back to a chef inside.
"You do know sauces and stuff won't cost you extra, right? We're not going to charge you anything for a bit of lettuce!" He chuckled, embarrassing Ryo slightly.
"It's just how I like my sandwiches, alright? It's nothing more than fuel at the moment." Ryo shot back, coming off a little harsher than he intended. He took a deep breath, breathing out slowly. "Sorry, that was a bit rude. I'm just looking for something to fill me up for a bit before morning."
"Don't sweat it, lad. I've had people threaten to start fights with me due to me suggesting a new type of sandwich to them." The blond guy responded, cracking his fingers. The chef from the back brought out a chicken sandwich with plain, white bread. It had a small brown napkin underneath it so that it could be carried without spilling bits. "That'll be two small silvers, if you don't mind."
Ryo placed the two coins on the counter, picked up the sandwich, and inspected it. "How'd you get it out so fast? I only ordered it like thirty seconds ago." Ryo asked, incredulous.
"We've had the chicken, as well as other meats, cooked for a good few minutes now, but we keep it at a safe to eat temperature using fire magic. All it takes is a bit of preparation, and then you can just plate stuff up when it needs plating." The blond man explained, satisfying Ryo. He thanked the man, who he could only assume was Kai, and walked off. Once he was out of sight, he teleported outside the city, avoiding the main entrances, eating his sandwich while looking up at the sky.
"If I was stronger, and I mean a lot stronger, I could take care of that Monster problem that Wizard mentioned." Ryo said to himself, thinking back on some previous conversations. 'The guy who made the imitation thrones mentioned Monsters blocking supply routes. Maybe it's the same problem?' Ryo thought, walking forward a bit. He looked forwards, seeing a small forest in the distance. 'Maybe I could kill some Monsters there? If there are any that I haven't seen since entering the library, maybe I can add them to my summon list? That's more of a compendium, though, right?' Ryo continued, talking about the semantics of naming. 'I'm going to call it the Compendium from now on.'
Ryo teleported to the forest's edge, noticing that he had just used Teleportation in a way that wasn't originally mentioned in its description. 'Is this some new functionality, or did I just not notice it before?' He asked himself mentally, walking into the forest. He noted a few things. One, there were a load of openings where no trees were left. It was probably due to adventurers fighting in those areas. Two, the Monsters, who were apparently stronger than before, were keeping their distance. Three, it was eerily quiet. Ryo saw a band of Kobolds, but the second they noticed him, they ran off.
The moonlight shone down on Ryo's face. He walked into one of the openings, noticing the Monsters specifically avoided this one. A Monster stood in the centre, familiar to Ryo. It used its eight legs to turn around, its face staring at Ryo with an unparalleled hatred. It was as if this one could tell how many others like it he had killed. A Umichron similar to the one he had fought before met his gaze. Instead of sharp horns for arms, this one had razor-like blades for fur. Its legs were known to push it with enough force to shatter trees, crushing C-rank adventurers in one attack. If you wanted to fight it on your own, you'd need to be S-rank, at least.
Ryo recalled a voice in his head who gave him some crucial information. "Do not think of yourself as an A-rank adventurer. Think of yourself as a sponge. A sponge that will soak up magic." He said to himself. "Thank you, Clone."
Ryo finished off the rest of his sandwich and readied himself, concentrating mana in his spine once again, as Mask had taught him all those years ago. "I fought something stronger than you, and with some help, I killed it. Come on, show me what you've got!" Ryo yelled, the Umichron seeming to recognise his vigor. It let out its signature ear-piercing, ungodly scream, body tensing in order to attack Ryo.
And attack, it did.