After being dismissed early, the two went home together and took an early afternoon sleep for the night ahead of them, then returned promptly to the library around the early night hours.
Nuriel pushed open the entrance to see that the library was much busier than expected, filled with students from across all the colleges in Owhen University, including some professors as well.
Ignoring and navigating through the busy hallways, the two went inside the storage room where they saw a lot of neatly stacked books tied with rope and an employee standing next to them, holding a clipboard and a pen to check and document the pile.
But Nuriel didn't care about the employee in front—his gaze was fixated on the horde of stacked books, wearing a grim expression.
'You said it was only four hundred. This is double. It might even be a thousand... no, maybe more!' Nuriel lampooned.
It seemed that Orwell had made a fatal mistake. The new books were probably the result of a different order or a miscount by Orwell, who was relatively old. But Nuriel couldn't bring up the courage to ask why there were so many.
And since they were books actively used in the College of Magic, their thickness was nothing to scoff at.
The employee glanced at the two and sighed a breath of relief before saying, "You're just in time, Nuriel and Vivienne, correct?"
He approached the two with a stern expression, then handed Vivienne a car key with a taped paper that read its license plate along with a paper note.
"This needs to be done by tomorrow," he informed them, then pulled up his clipboard and flipped a few pages.
He cleared his throat as his head landed on a certain page before continuing, "Your weekly salary is ten Allied silvers. According to the labor laws, you are entitled to extra pay, which will be added next week."
The employee tilted his face back towards them. "That'll be all."
Nuriel and Vivienne slowly tracked the body of the employee leaving the storage room, then at the same exact time, they looked at the work before them.
Without a moment to take in the pressure, Vivienne turned toward Nuriel and spoke in a calm tone.
"I'll go look for the car and park it near the entrance."
Nuriel grimaced but did not protest as he was already on his way to carry two of the stacked books and begin the multiple round trips.
'At least they're tied up nicely. That way I can comfortably carry ten at a time with each hand,' Nuriel thought, trying to ease the workload. At least it wasn't heavy sandbags he was carrying.
After multiple trips of hauling the books, Nuriel finally saw Vivienne waving at him near the front entrance. It was a small truck that seemed to belong to the College of War. The sight made his heart jump as he realized they didn't have to make multiple trips if the car was too small and couldn't fit all the books.
With the help of Vivienne, hauling the books from the storage area to the truck was an easy task.
***
Slam.
Nuriel almost saw stars when he hit his forehead on the dashboard. While groaning in pain, he turned toward Vivienne.
"Vivienne... don't brake too hard if it's a truck, you might break it," he pleaded softly.
Vivienne blinked before responding with a confused tone. "But it's a military-grade truck? It won't break that easily. Plus, we secured the books with some ratchet straps so they won't fall off."
. . .
Nuriel quietly stared at her as he thought, 'Vivienne, it's not the truck... it's me you're breaking.'
Though he wouldn't admit it publicly.
"Of course," he said with a smile.
The two stepped outside. Technically, this was Nuriel's second time visiting the College of Magic, but he pretended to be awestruck by the massive spire towering above them as if he hadn't seen it before.
However, he didn't need to pretend. At this angle, the view was much more imposing than the one he saw in Vivienne's dream.
'Is flying a contributing factor? Even though birds are small, if they're always flying at such great heights, everything must seem smaller to them—
"Nuriel?" Vivienne called out. She had already opened the trunk and was holding two stacks of books with both arms.
Nuriel slightly jumped, quickly apologizing.
After all, they only had the entire night to deliver more than a thousand books up the sky-piercing spire. Not only that, they had to remove the wrongly delivered ones and replace them with the new batch.
Upon entering the building, they were greeted by the dimly lit grandeur of the main lobby and an unsettling silence.
Aside from a few scattered students and faculty, the place felt eerily deserted, as if the entire building had been quietly abandoned.
After glancing at their surroundings, Vivienne handed him the note the employee had given her earlier.
Nuriel read the contents under the dim lighting.
//60th floor library. A friend of mine has nighttime duty there, so you may ask him for further instruction. –Orwell
Nuriel subconsciously pouted. Vivienne was the expert when it came to knowing the layout of the College of Magic. After all, a secret agent who doesn't scout the area before going in is not an agent, but a fool. In this case, the fool was Nuriel as he had no familiarity with the layout.
But he quickly shook his head in thought. 'I'll probably be the one holding her back when it comes to hauling the books.'
This was her way of giving him some chance to shine. He appreciated that, just a bit.
Nuriel moved forward, with Vivienne following closely behind.
The College of Magic wasn't just a large structure, it was a sprawling set of interconnected buildings. Surrounding the tall central spire were relatively level structures connected like a spider's web, forming a hexagonal perimeter.
Eventually, they found their way to the center.
It looked almost exactly like the main library. The only significant difference was the size—but regardless, it was still massive. The ceiling above was somehow lit in a starlight pattern, and below were hundreds of tables and reading desks, each with its own lamp.
Since this was the main area where people gathered, there were actually a lot of students burning the midnight oil. The dozens of tiny lamps created the illusion of a dark lake dotted with stars.
But most striking of all was the center, which had a massive spiraling staircase that climbed upward into a hole in the ceiling.
Nuriel's heart sank at the sight of the ominous spiral. The strength in his arms almost disappeared, until he spotted a tube at the center of the spiral.
It was an elevator.
'Praise the witch!' Nuriel cheered internally.
The two walked toward the central tube, and to Nuriel's immense relief, his eyes hadn't deceived him.
They entered. His gaze fixated on the panel with a button labeled sixty. He didn't hesitate and pressed it.
He quietly chuckled at himself when he pressed it. 'Perhaps I'm a bit sedentary... huh?'
Just then, Nuriel noticed a flicker at the bottom of his vision. He looked down.
[Scepter Fr—
Before he could read further, the elevator began to move, causing the screen to phase through the floor.
'!!!'
Nuriel held back his shocked expression since Vivienne was standing right beside him.