Ryo appeared in the capital of Quebesk, a smile on his face. He wanted to get some more DP in order to upgrade his library, and it'd help him in two different ways.
Upgrading the library would obtain more DP, which he could use to summon Monsters or upgrade the library, repeating the cycle. Once it was upgraded enough, he could spend all of his time actually reading books about different topics, from spells to cooking to landscaping, anything really.
'I still have to decide on how I'm going to convince people to come to the library without sounding like a deranged lunatic…' Ryo pondered as he walked. 'I can't just go up to a guy and ask "Hey man, wanna come read some books?" without sounding like I'm going to kidnap them.'
Ryo struggled to think of anything. His mind flashed back to the spell Inquisax had used to teleport to the library after receiving a piece of mana. That would be lovely, if he could figure out how it worked, but it would also be way too obvious.
Despite him and his antics with Art back at the pen shop, he didn't want to do something so blatantly obvious. Nobody would believe one singular Human could disregard magical restrictions, but if they started seeing people teleport after touching a piece of paper, the authorities would catch on quick.
Even though he didn't really follow the whole F-E-D-C-B-A-S-SS-SSS ranking system anymore, Ryo wasn't stupid enough to think he could beat an SS-ranked adventurer, let alone an SSS ranked one. Those would be the people sent after him if he were discovered, so he had to keep everything quiet.
Ryo noticed the sun finally starting to rise, shops were beginning to sell goods for the day, and his stomach grumbled. He hadn't eaten in a good while, so he figured he should at least buy something to keep himself ticking over. He saw a woman selling bread, so after forking over a small silver coin for the loaf, he went on his way, just taking bites out of it. No slices, no butter, nothing. Straight loaf.
Ryo made his way towards the city centre, the shops slowly becoming busier and busier with the regular hustle and bustle of day to day life. People going off to their jobs, such as guards or adventurers, with other people firing up anvils behind smoke-stained windows.
Ryo continued debating on what he should do to increase foot traffic to the library, as it wasn't something you could just pick up and move. He had figured out that teleporting would be efficient, but what'd be the best way to do it? That was indeed the question.
Ryo's mind flashed back to when he first met Kevin, the pub where he complained to Ryo. Could he find more people there? Probably not at this hour. Plus, the last pub adventure hasn't borne any fruit yet, so maybe he should try something else.
In the midst of his thinking, Ryo had forgotten that he was walking along a busy street. He walked headfirst into a Longswordsman, accidentally headbutting the lad. The rocks on Ryo's face scraped a small line onto the man's temple. "Sorry, sorry!" Ryo apologised, walking backwards slightly.
It was a four-person adventuring party. A male Longswordsman with short black hair, a female Greatswordswoman with long golden hair, a male Wizard with a concerningly tall hat and a male Healer that had extravagantly blue hair. Ryo extended his hand, using healing magic while saying "Minor heal." to keep up the illusion that he still abided the same rules as others.
The Longswordsman rubbed his head, feeling the pain quickly fade. "Thanks man. Didn't see you there." He explained, making sure not to escalate the situation.
"No, it's my fault, I was lost in thought." Ryo apologised, realising that this could be a great opportunity. "I've recently started a small business, and I've been trying to increase foot traffic, yet nothing so far is working." Ryo explained, technically not lying, as he was treating the library as a business. A business that didn't accept money, but you get the point.
"Oh? What's the business?" The Healer asked Ryo, interesting the party. "I didn't know you were even paying attention, Lyno." The Greatswordswoman clapped back, taking a small, lighthearted jab at him, probably referencing some previous adventure that Ryo had no clue about.
"Ha, ha, very funny Marie." Lyno shot back, looking at Ryo. "Still, I want to know what this guy's selling. After all, maybe we could help him. Isn't that what Ampersa was founded for?" He explained, giving Ryo crucial information, although he hadn't ever heard of Ampersa before. He assumed it was their party name.
"Well, to be exact, I run a book loaning service. A library of sorts." Ryo explained, downplaying it. "Still, it's hard to find people who're willing to travel the distance to examine my large selection of books."
"Oh?" The longswordsmaan asked, intrigued by the last statement. "Just how large is your collection?" He inquired, prompting Ryo to think. Would it be better to give him the actual number, or something smaller? 'Something smaller would suit more,' he decided.
"Oh, about twenty thousand or so? My family has been collecting books for generations, and I've decided to give back to people as an A-rank adventurer." Ryo downplayed, causing each of the adventurers' mouths to fall open. "What? Is that a lot?"
Lyno spoke up first, gathering his bearings slightly. "You mean to tell me you've got more books than the Utopian Grand Library? In the capital?" he asked, shocking Ryo. He'd never visited it, despite being in Utopia for the bones of two or three years.
"I guess so? As I said, generations of private collectors. Books passed down from father to son for well over a hundred years. It's pretty much all we did while adventuring. We'd collect books, safeguard them, and read them at our own leisure." Ryo replied, causing Lyno to faint on the spot.
"I mean, if you want, I can bring you all there. I have a small bit of shadow magic cast to obscure the entrance for the moment, since I don't leave it open while I'm not there." Ryo offered, extending his hand to the Longswordsman, who he assumed was the leader of Ampersa.
"You know what? Sure. If there's as many books there as you claim, there's got to be at least one on swordsmanship that I could read up on." He responded, taking Ryo's hand. "Although, first we'll have to wake Lyno up. We can't leave him behind."
Ryo shot a burst of mana from his spine into his head, placing his hand against his face to pretend that he was itching his eye. However, he quickly tapped his eyelid with his thumb, sending a vision of the library into Lyno's unconscious mind. The sudden activity prompted his body to wake up, but in no way suddenly.
"Woah…" He said groggily, slowly rising. "I just saw a picture of a… library? I can't be sure." He mentioned, placing his hand to his head as he mentioned a healing spell with the name of "Cure Headache". Ryo still needed to learn the actual names of those spells.
"I'm sure your mind just got overexcited after you fainted. Now, follow me." Ryo told them, walking to the nearest alleyway, which was just a bit in front of him and to the left. It was the space between two different shops, so nobody should really be there.
"Where are you taking us?" The swordsman asked, making a noise as if he had forgotten something. "Sorry, I never gave you my name. I'm Marko, the Greatswordswoman is Marie, the Healer is Lyno, and Balthor is our resident Wizard. We're the B-ranked party known as Ampersa." Marko told Ryo.
"Good to meet you, Marko." Ryo responded, bringing them to the end of the alley. "Now, I want each of you to close your eyes. Do not open them until I tell you, as I have to concentrate to bring you all there." He instructed them, and they each followed along, Lyno even covering his eyes with his hands for good measure.
Ryo appeared at the front desk of the library, with the Ampersa party following close behind. He could teleport himself and at least two other people instantly now, due to Manabound, but any more required a bit of time for them to form. This actually worked out perfectly, as it gave him time to give instructions to Azure, the blue goblin.
"Get one book on Human magic, two books on swordsmanship, and one book on mana efficiency. Surely there'll be some around here. Be as fast as possible." Ryo instructed, and Azure went speeding off, the sounds of books shuffling dissipating as four different books appeared in front of him, held up with ease by Azure. He picked them up off Azure's hands, noticing the weight of them all combined.
"Thank you very much Azure, now please instruct all the other Goblins to hide towards the back of the library for the moment. We can't have you being found." Ryo commanded, and, like a flash, Azure was gone. 'God, they're so useful.' He said to himself, turning to face the Ampersa party.
"Alright, you can open your eyes now."
Each of them opened their eyes, awestruck by the massive scale of the library. "Was this made for giants?" Marie asked, only semi-jokingly. "It could definitely fit some massive Monsters in it, that's for sure."
"This is twenty thousand books?!" Balthor and Lyno exclaimed in unison, shocked at what they were seeing. It was unlike anything else. "This has to be the biggest collection of books in the world!" Lyno mentioned, quickly running towards the leftmost section, coincidentally picking up the "How to perfectly fry Monster eggs in one hundred delicious ways!" book.
"Well, it's a little more than that, but regardless, I have some books here that I think you guys may like." Ryo brushed off, walking over to the reception desk, moving to the other side. He closed his spellbook and stored it in the special cabinet where he kept the other important books.
"I've got two books about different swordsmanship styles, one book about mana efficiency, and another on how to improve magic output." Ryo explained, playing out each book in front of him. "If you want, you guys can loan these out."
Lyno sprinted over to Ryo, his eyes wide with amazement. "Really!? We can bring these home!?" He asked, incredulously.
"Sure, but I will require a small little 'payment', if you don't mind. No cash, but something else. Also, I'd like them to return within three weeks." Ryo responded. "I have to make sure everything is in pristine condition."
"Sure. Just mark where we are on the map, and we'll come back in three weeks." Marko told him, pulling a small map out of his pocket. Ryo grabbed the pen that was on the desk, and drew a small little "X" where they were. Marko took a look at it, began putting it away, and looked at it once more. "We're not in Quebesk anymore."
Ryo put his index finger to his lips. "Shh. I have my ways of bringing you here. Just be back within three weeks." Ryo told him, grabbing his dagger off the table. "Now, just stand still. I'm going to draw a small bit of blood from the back of your hand. Feel free to heal it once you've left, but don't use healing magic until you're outside those doors."
"That's quite freaky, but alright." Marie commented as Ryo quickly cut the back of her right hand, doing the same to each person. He went back to the table, writing the name of each book into the logbook that kept track of all loans. Under the owner, he wrote "Ampersa Party".
"Could you bring us back to Quebesk? We still have stuff we need to do there." Balthor asked, intrigued about the magic Ryo used. Ryo pretended to debate over the request, but in the end, he agreed. He wasn't going to leave people who benefitted him 'out to dry', as the saying went.
"Close your eyes again. No peeking." Ryo instructed. He waited for each of them to do so, and boom. They were back in the alleyway in Quebesk.
"I have no idea how you managed to do something like that." Balthor admitted. "What's your name, Wizard? I must find out some more information about you."
Ryo chuckled, a smile on his face. "My name isn't important right now. I might tell you next time." He replied, pointing towards the street with a scared look on his face. "What's that?!" He exclaimed, prompting the Ampersa party to turn around. When they saw nothing, they turned back, and Ryo was gone.
[You have obtained 6 DP!] {x4}