The Apprentice’s Path

Chapter 3-2

The next morning, when I came to the library at eight o'clock, its opening time, she was quite surprised to see me.

"Old habits. Up north, you have to wake up before sunrise, especially in winter, if you want to do anything productive during the day. Sleep a bit too much, and poof! Your whole day is gone."

She accepted my explanation.

"Well, I asked around."

"And?"

"While there are a few older books in the archives, the most interesting books are in the possession of the Interpersonal and Intercultural Relations Department."

Ugh. Them again. So it's not enough that they force us to take their classes, now they take the best books, as well.

"And who is in charge of those books?"

"Professor Derwen."

My relationship with Prof. Derwen wasn't very good. He seemed to have taken a particular interest in me since the first day I started studying alchemy. I attributed it to his dislike of dark arall. He usually tried to annoy all dark arall, the ones studying in the Applied Practical Magic Department (yes, APMD is completely unpronounceable; that's why they're commonly referred to as the black magic department). He seems to dislike me especially though, maybe because I am a kind of a freak. The only dark arall in the whole Alchemy Department - the first one in a decade!

Professor Derwen was in charge of the Yllamese Cultural Relations Department. He always used his position to annoy people like me and got them in trouble whenever they showed disrespect or a lack of restraint when dealing with him. Dealing with him while remaining courteous was really hard even for ordinary people. He liked to stand too closely, lean too heavily, speak too informally, take too much time, although he never broke the rules, the bastard. He seemed content to only dish that kind of treatment to first-year dark arall, and that made it hard for me to complain about it. After all, dark arall usually find anything annoying and disrespectful. There's the prejudice issue too, and nobody considers us defenseless. Thankfully, he'd stopped after a year, and I had seen little of him since. And he had the books I needed? Maybe I should sign up for the government service after all. At least they'll pay me. And give me a badge. Do researchers get badges?

"He's probably very busy. Thank you for your effort, though. I will make sure to schedule a meeting with him." Like, never. But this lady was nice, and I may need her help again, why not show some appreciation.

"Oh, no, don't worry about that. When I inquired about the books, Prof. Derwen was so excited about it, he cleared his schedule for the morning. Few people are interested in those books, you see, and it took him a great effort to procure them."

Great. Now I had to go. Whether or not he knew my name now, he would make sure to learn who was interested in his books if I ignored him. And I couldn't have him restarting his hostilities towards me. It had been really hard to stop myself from strangling him during my first year as it was.