Chapter Two Hundred and Seventy-One - Fortress of Knowledge

“This is it,” Caprica said. “It’s not the most impressive of buildings from the exterior, but the library has been a part of Goldenalden since its very founding. It was actually the second building commissioned by my great-great-grandfather after the construction of the royal palace, not that the palace from back then would be at all recognizable today.”

I gawked at the library; it seemed like the polite thing to do. The building was, unlike most of the other buildings in Goldenalden, still clearly part of the mountain. Stone rose up around it on all sides but the front, as if someone had turned the mountainside into wet clay and had pressed an entire edifice out of it.

The front was different, made of large stone slabs stacked together, and with a pair of colonnades next to a large doorway. There were windows too, but they were the thin, slitted sort that I’d seen on castles before, not the wider windows you’d expect to see.

“It looks a bit strange,” I said. Especially compared to the far more ordinary buildings surrounding it.

“The library was built at a time when Sylphfree was still very much plagued by dragons and their offspring,” Caprica said. “It was designed to be a repository for crucial knowledge, books, maps, and scrolls. I think it served as a school once too, for young nobles.”

“Was it meant to be hidden?” Awen asked. “The rocks look like they were moved by a geomancer, maybe. I’ve seen places that look a little like that before. The Ostri build huts out in the desert near Mattergrove the same way, though those aren’t as big.”

Caprica nodded. “The Ostri are the desert folk, right? I imagine that this is somewhat similar. And yes, the building would be hard to see from above if it weren’t placed in the middle of the city. Thick stone walls, decent natural camouflage. It was all designed so that a creature flying above wouldn’t notice it. I do believe that at the time, the paladins--the order being much smaller four or five generations ago--were skilled with magics that allowed them to hide better as well.”

“So the library was hidden in plain sight,” I said.

“More or less. Come on, it should be open at this hour.”

We followed Caprica into the library, some of her guards forming up next to the entrance both inside and out.

I was expecting the interior of the library to be fairly fancy. Maybe some big room, with plenty of lighting, but instead it was relatively cramped within. Thick walls and lots of small rooms except for a big stairwell right in the centre where stone steps led up and to the floors above.

A counter to the side had a nice librarian sylph behind it, perusing a big tome that looked like it was filled with names and addresses and the names of books. A system to tell who had taken out which book, maybe?

“Hello,” Caprica said as she walked up to the counter.

The lady behind it stared with wide eyes. “P-princess,” she said. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. How can I help?”

Caprica smiled. “I have a few guests here, friends from... well, all over, really. We were looking for some information. Ah, Captain Bunch?”

“If you’re a friend, you should really be calling me Broccoli,” I chided softly. “Then I can keep calling you Caprica, because if I’m your friend, then you’re my friend too.”

Caprica’s cheeks actually warmed a little, which I found very cute, but I wasn’t about to tell her that because it was far too rude. “Thank you, Broccoli.”

“Ah, very well then, what is the captain looking for?” the librarian asked.

I leaned onto the counter, a big grin on. “I was told that the library here had a sort of record of all the classes and skills.”

“We hardly know all of them,” The librarian said. “But we do keep a record of both.”

“Neat! I got a skill recently that I was wondering about, I don’t really know what it does, or even what I did to get it. Could you help me?”

“Are you looking to merge it into something better, or do you just want to know what the skill does?” she asked.

“Uh,” I said.

Caprica laughed demurely. “I think perhaps we can look at both options. What was the exact name of the skill again?”

“Proportion Distortion,” I said. “The description only says that it can help me fit in and out, which is very vague.”

“That is rather on the vague side,” the librarian said. She pulled out a notepad and scribbled something on it. “I’m afraid that I’m not the most qualified to assist you. Forgive me. But there is an archivist on the second floor, the blue room. He should be able to assist you, and is more familiar with the stacks, besides.”

“Thank you!” I said.

“Awa, is there a section of the library with, um, blueprints and mechanical things?” Awen asked.

“Those would be in different sections,” the librarian said. “But I can help you find both.”

I turned towards Amaryllis. “Are you going to look for something too?” I asked.

“I don’t have anything I need in particular here, though I wouldn’t mind perusing, if that’s permissible. Or perhaps I can look at whatever spells they have publicly available here.” Amaryllis’ eyebrows rose. “Actually, disregard that. I’ll come with you, Broccoli. If this archivist knows anything about skills, they might know of some skills that I could merge to help me reach my goal.”

“You mean your goal to turn people into meat puppets?” I asked.

“Please, please don’t call it that,” Amaryllis said.

We started up the stairs, only one of the guards following us from a slight distance. “Meat puppets?” Caprica asked with an amount of concern that was probably warranted.

“Amaryllis has a cool Puppeteering class,” I explained. “She can control puppets really well.”

“I’m still far from skilled enough to call anything I do with the art proficient,” Amaryllis said.

“Puppetry is an interesting hobby,” Caprica said. I had the impression that she really didn’t care all that much, but was being nice anyway.

“Anyway, Amaryllis’ main class is electricity-based, and people’s nerves use electrical currents to signal their muscles to move, so she’s combining the two to make spells that allow her to puppet people’s bodies with magic.”

Caprica blinked, then stared at Amaryllis.

“It was an idea I had,” Amaryllis dismissed. “It’s still very experimental.”

“That sounds quite terrifying,” Caprica said.

“It’s of limited use for now,” Amaryllis admitted. “I think most strong combatants would be able to work around it. Some magics counter it entirely, and it doesn’t prevent a spellcaster from casting spells, not unless they still need to gesture to cast. That’s not counting adversaries with strange biology. We frequently run into bizarre creatures in dungeons where my skills would go to waste.”

“Yeah, but then you can just blast them with lightning, that usually works too,” I said.

“True,” Amaryllis replied. “The puppeteering skill is meant to be used as more of a force multiplier. If I can control someone’s body, then I can take them out of the fight with far less effort. It’s greatest advantage, I imagine, is in subterfuge and from a more psychological perspective.”

“I see,” Caprica said. “Is everyone in your crew quite so fearsome?”

I laughed. “No, of course not! I only have Cleaning magic going for me, and some weird bun martial arts. Awen mostly uses her mechanic’s skills to fix and use her crossbows. I think she’s still working on her Glass magic. We’re not actually all that focused on fighting and stuff.”

“I suppose that's one of the advantages of being more exploration-focused. Though from the reports Bastion filed, you were in quite a few high-risk adventures.”

“Not that many,” I dismissed. “We had entire days go past where nothing happened.”

The archivist’s room wasn’t too hard to find. Not only did it have a coloured door, there was also a plaque next to it that read ‘The Archivist’ which was very handy. Grinning, I stepped up to the door and knocked twice. “Hello!”

My ears twitched as I heard some shuffling on the other side before the door opened. A man stood there, a sylph who was on the shorter side, with frumpled robes and a big scowl on. He adjusted his glasses and fired off a glare at the three of us. “Yes?” he snapped.

“Hi! I’m Broccoli, and I was told that we could find the archivist here? For skill stuff?”

“For skill stuff,” he repeated before scoffing. “Let me guess, one of you three unlocked some skill you’ve never heard of in your short, poorly educated lives, and now you think to bother me about it?”

“I mean, essentially, yes,” I said. “I got a new skill and I have no idea what it is or does, and I was told that the people here could help?”

“Then search the stacks, that’s assuming you’re literate at all?” he said.

This man was being very rude, but it wasn’t nice to be rude back to someone, even if it might feel better in the moment. “I think all three of us are able to read, yes,” I said. “But if we weren’t then we’d still ask you for help. It’s not fair to discriminate against people like that.”

“Ah yes, because why would I discriminate against a bun and a harpy of all things?” he asked.

A hand grabbed onto my shoulder, and I half turned to find Caprica smiling past me while carefully pushing me aside. “Hello sir,” she said. “As I understand it, you’re unwilling to assist these two?”

The archivist frowned. “They hardly look like they belong here, do they?” he asked.

“I see, thank you for your time then,” she said before turning. “Come on, the library is technically run off of the royal coffers. I’m certain that the head librarian would make time for a quick visit.”

The archivist snorted. “Are you done bothering me then?” he asked.

“You wouldn’t happen to know if the head librarian is in, would you?” Caprica asked.

“If he is, I doubt he’d want to speak with...” he paused to stare at Amaryllis and I. “Ruffians.”

Caprica nodded, then she turned to the soldier waiting behind us on the top of the steps. Judging by the way the archivist blinked, he hadn’t noticed them. “Could you inform the head librarian of my upcoming visit? A minute’s warning is better than none.”

“Yes, Princess,” the soldier said before doing an about-face and running off.

“Princess?” the archivist asked, his voice losing some of its surety.

“Yes,” Caprica said. “I was escorting these diplomats around, showing them the great luxuries of Goldenalden when one had a question that we thought an archivist like yourself could answer.”

“Oh,” he said. “Well, I’m certain I can answer any question,” he replied.

Caprica looked very unimpressed. “I think you’ve answered plenty of questions,” she said. “Captain Broccoli, Lady Amaryllis, if you wouldn’t mind following me, I’m certain we can get everything sorted out in no time at all. I’m very sorry for this entire thing, you don’t deserve such treatment.”

“It’s okay?” I said as I followed after her. Had that entire thing been... speciesism? I reached up and tugged at one of my ears. I’d been told I couldn’t do things because I was a girl before, but never because I had big ears and a tail. “He was very rude,” I said, even though I knew that the archivist could probably still hear me. It felt very... vindictive.

“I’m sorry,” Caprica said. “I wish people weren’t like that. Once we find the head librarian I’m sure we can sort everything out.”

“It’s fine,” Amaryllis said. “I think we expected some level of such treatment on arriving here.”

Caprica’s frown suggested that she was very much not pleased with that answer.

***