From what I experienced over the past week, and from the reading materials Amber gave me, it didn't seem like Badoth was in any way chaotic or disorderly. As a functioning and stable state, Badoth could have readily established neutral or friendly diplomatic relations with Kitrod. What caused these two kingdoms to go to war with each other? Why did nobody ever decide that 70 years was too long for a war?

The texts Amber gave me didn't talk much about the Demon King Badoth and the history of the kingdom he founded 70 years ago, so it was probably unlikely that I would ever find the answer to my questions unless I had the chance to talk to the king himself.

In any case, I have the demon language's alphabet drilled into my head now, so I should be able to read any text written with it. I wouldn't be able to understand what it meant, but I could always ask Amber to translate that for me.

"Are there any diviners or warlocks in town, Amber?"

"None. Why do you ask?"

"Well there aren't any herbalists or alchemists around, so the only thing I can learn here in Badoth is new magic. For that, I need someone capable of using advanced spells."

"Aren't you retired from that?"

"Just because I retired from being an adventurer doesn't mean I can't still be an archmage. I still feel an urge to learn new spells every now and then. Whether or not I can actually cast it is a different issue, though."

"So you want to learn useless knowledge."

"Hey, it's not entirely useless. Learning a new spell, regardless of whether or not it's usable, allows me to recognize when someone is about to cast that spell and properly assess how dangerous the situation is. Of course that scenario will probably never happen, but you never know what life might throw at you. Who knows, maybe someone might challenge me to a duel some day."

Amber gave a long sigh to my response.

"…You might want to try the library."

"Do they have spellbooks there?"

"I'm not sure. They might, though."

"Then please show me the way there."

* * * * *

The population of Sachiru was less than 20000, so there was only one moderate sized public library serving the entire town. It was located at the very center of town, a fifteen minute walk from the shop.

It was currently around 4 o'clock in the afternoon, so the streets of the market district were bustling with townsfolk trying to purchase the freshest food they could find for making dinner. As we left the market district, the bustling sight gradually faded away in favor of quiet residential areas. There were children playing around on the wide empty streets, occasionally stepping aside to avoid an oncoming carriage.

Looking at the children having fun on the streets, I couldn't help but reminisce a little about my childhood, when I could live every day without a single worry in the world. It was only unfortunate that those days couldn't last long…

"It's quite a relieving sight, don't you think, Blaze?"

"Hm?"

"We're so close to where the war takes place, but people are able to live on their daily lives normally."

"It's always good to have some optimism even in times of crisis, I guess…"

It's hard to ignore the atrocities of war, but if the people are still able to continue living their lives normally with optimism, the soldiers can at least etch in their minds the sight of the peace they're fighting to protect and fight on. It would have been pointless to go to battle for a group of unhappy people, after all.

We arrived at the library before long. At first glance, the library building looked no different from a stone fortress. On each side of the entrance was a statue of what looked like a goblin man sitting on a raised platform and reading a book. The fortress was minimally decorated, having only one single banner above the entrance, with a drawing of an open book painted onto it.

While a fortress shaped library building was great for asserting that "knowledge is power", I can't say I'm fond of the building design at all. With the exception of the ground floor that had none, the upper floors only had two small embrasures on each side of the building. The library's interior would no doubt have received very little natural lighting because of that.

"Is this… really a library?"

I couldn't help but wonder what I was looking at when I opened the door and went in. It was far different from what I had in mind. While there were several bookshelves in plain view, the interior gave off a wholly different vibe.

There was no natural lighting due to the lack of embrasures, and the ground floor was only dimly lit with faint red lights. Small reading desks with empty flasks on top were scattered throughout the floor, and there were numerous drapes hanging from the ceiling that one could pull to create an enclosed private space around each reading desk.

A very light flowery aroma was lingering in the air. It was hard to imagine anyone being able to read normally in this kind of environment. Better yet, how is it even possible to read anything under this dim lighting?

"Huh, they remodeled this place. It looked a lot brighter the last time I was here."

Seems like even Amber is surprised at this sight.

Out of curiosity, I moved towards the nearest bookshelf and grabbed a random book. Like with the rest of the books on the shelf, the book was unlabeled and had a solid color cover, so I had no idea what was even inside. After taking it out of the shelf, I quickly flipped through the pages to see if I could figure out what it was about. Apparently the dim lighting in this library was sufficient for reading. One would have to focus on a page to make out the details, though.

A brief glance at the contents soon made me realize the meaning behind the library's interior design, but to confirm my suspicions, I took another book out and flipped through it. As expected, this book was yet another provocative magazine full of lewd female pictures. Were it not for the red lighting here, one could probably see my face turn beet red.

In any case, this floor's ambient lighting and abundance of private space certainly was a great setting for those looking towards partially satisfying their sensual needs. I reckon the flask being there was to make sure the carpeted floor wouldn't be ruined.

"Oh, a living human? This is quite a surprise!"

Turning towards where the voice came from, I saw a curly haired short woman walking towards me. She wore very revealing tight clothes, which emphasized certain female parts of hers that already had an unnaturally large size. She had a small pair of wings on her back, and a slender long tail with a pointed tip, suggesting that she was a succubus.

"Welcome to Sachiru's one and only public library! I'm the librarian. Very curious to know what your tastes are like."

The succubus librarian had a somewhat devious smile as she said that.

"I don't think I have the time for that today…"

Succubi were a female-only race that needed to consume the bodily fluids of males to sustain themselves. Normally they would achieve this by giving men erotic dreams, so I found it quite abnormal to find a succubus stocking the library's ground floor with countless lewd magazines… Well, at least I know why there were flasks on the reading desks now.

"Is it even appropriate to arouse people here?"

"The orcs and goblins in this town keep flailing about dangerously in their sleep, so I had to find another place to do my work."

"Still, shouldn't a library be a place for learning, not for sexual pleasure?"

"The upper floors are normal!"

"Also, just curious, how long ago was the library remodeled?"

"About half a year."

If the library has been like this for half a year already, then I guess the authorities are fine with it. If anything, having a lewd collection of books here for everyone to access might even have a side effect of lowering the rate of sexual crimes in town. Not only that, the library would actually encourage more people to come in and read books… assuming the readers still had the energy and motivation to go upstairs.

"Well, since you're the librarian here, could I ask where I could find spellbooks?"

"Libraries don't usually carry those. You have to find a warlock or archmage for that. I think we have books that talk about magic, though."

"That's close enough. Could you tell me where I can find the magic books? Preferably ones written in the demon language."

"Let me check on that. Nobody ever reads books about magic in this town, so I never bothered remembering their location."

"I'll come find you in a few minutes, then. Thanks."

I kept watch of the succubus librarian as she walked away so that I would know where to find her later. Speaking of finding people, I wonder where Amber headed off to. She disappeared somewhere after commenting about how the library was remodeled earlier.

I walked around the ground floor in search of her and eventually found her sitting at one of the reading desks, looking attentively at a book with a plain blue cover and occasionally making sounds of surprise.

"So there are lewd magazines aimed at women here too, aren't there?"

"Seems like it."

"Are you enjoying that book?"

"Yes."

"Can I take a look at the types of men you're making sounds at?"

"This book doesn't have men in it."

Well, this is quite a shocker. If Amber wasn't looking at a book with lewd male pictures, then…

"Wait a minute… Does that mean you're into other women?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

Amber looked up at me with a confused look on her face.

"If you're not looking at a book with male pictures, then you're looking at one with female pictures, right?"

"There are other kinds of books on this floor, you know… And for the record, I prefer men."

"Oh… I'm sorry for misunderstanding…"

I really shouldn't have jumped to conclusions so quickly like that. It felt rather relieving that she didn't appear to be mad at me.

I walked over to Amber's side to take a look at the book she was reading. It was filled with pictures of what looked like fish.

"That isn't a book full of lewd fish pictures, is it?"

"Not everything on this floor is lewd, Blaze."

Come to think of it, that was probably a stupid question. What in the world would even count as a lewd fish picture?

"I want to see the ocean once in my life, but it's so far away, so the only way for me to learn about what it holds is through books like these."

"That's interesting. Can I read that when you're done?"

This continent was so large that most people have never been to the ocean because it would have taken an extremely long time to get to the coast. Stories of the majestic aquatic creatures that lived in the ocean occasionally got told and spread around by traveling merchants, but it was hard to take them seriously since word of mouth tends to get exaggerated after going through several people.

Nonetheless, I've never been to the ocean, so I know hardly anything about it. The fact that Amber was learning about the ocean through books piqued my interest.

"There are plenty of books like this one here. Look for a shelf with a missing book."

Before I knew it, I was taking out and flipping through the pages of random books about marine animals. I should probably borrow some of these to read at home later.

I couldn't help but feel like I was forgetting something, though…

As I was busy immersing myself in the illustrations of the mysterious creatures, I felt a sudden light tap on my shoulder. Standing behind me was the succubus librarian, with a slightly annoyed look on her face.

"You kept me waiting at the desk for so long!"

Right, that's what I was forgetting. I was supposed to come to her desk to know where those magic books were located.

"I'm sorry, I got too excited about all these animals I've never seen before…"

The librarian let out a soft sigh at my response.

"…Well, we only have a few books about magic since the demand for those is low. You can find all of them on the shelf labeled 'M' on the third floor."

"Thank you. And sorry for making you wait like that…"

Amber still seemed to be busy reading her book, so I think I'll just go upstairs by myself. If I find any interesting books, I could bring it downstairs for her to translate.

Contrary to my expectations and to its downstairs counterpart, the upper two floors of the library were actually very brightly lit. I don't even know how that was physically possible, since the embrasures on the wall were relatively small. Tiny windows like these shouldn't be able to let so much light through.

There were long reading desks lined up in an open space along the floor, with chalkboards placed by the end of each desk. There were scribbles and formulas written all over the boards, making these floors actually feel like a place where people would come to study or research and hold scholarly discussions with their peers. Too bad it was empty at this hour… and most other hours for that matter.

Now then, time to look for a shelf labeled "M"...