Monstrous Compendium Ch 9 Ficbit – Of Libraries

Bouncing on his inn bed, Recon sorted through the half-dozen webpages floating in front of him in scholarly bliss, still amazed at the information available at the touch of a screen. On Khorvaire he’d have to have a wizard’s library to find even half of what a good search engine could turn up in a few seconds. Most people couldn’t get a peek inside someplace like the Library of Korranberg without a long trip by sea or lightning rail and the gold to spend for it… and a really good concealing illusion, if they were youkai. You could buy your own books, if you saved up, but a collection of the Korranberg Chronicle and other broadsheets was the only library most commoners could afford to keep.

That’s got to change. We’ve got to change it.

Fighting was okay. It wasn’t fun – well, unless it was like that practice bout he’d just had with Lyfa, where the weapons weren’t really real – but if you were a youkai in Aincrad you learned to fight, one way or another. Galifar soldiers didn’t stop to ask if you knew how to use a weapon. So you learned magic if you could, and you learned to fight with whatever weapon you could use without killing yourself. He didn’t have the strength for swordwork, but he could make daggers dance. So that’s what his flock had trained him in.

The idea that people could live in a world where they could go their whole lives without even thinking about killing someone….

I wish I could stay.

…Well, yes and no. Earth had its own problems. If he walked down the street with his real face, people would run screaming. Magic was a lot less strong, most humans had no clue how to do it, and if Earth medicine looked like magic to him there were hordes of sick humans who’d give anything for one cure disease. Youkai or humanoid, people were people; there were wars and crime and murder.

And curses. Recon let his gaze slide over toward the desk chair, where Lyfa was hunting through ALO forums and messages with a concentration fierce as a bared blade. Apparently at least two of the aosagibi had talked, and rumors were spreading about the deadly Black Swordsman like wildfire-

Green eyes narrowed. “Look at this.”

If that’s who I think it was, one message ran, it can’t be but if the screencaps aren’t lying – then Aidan’s group got off lucky.

If anyone sees him again, just – be kind. He’s hard to aggro. He doesn’t start fights.

If you know his name, contact me.

-Sachi.

---

A/N: And now you can guess part of what the Taskforce is sitting on.