Damn it, I was careless! Ulrich gasped, his breath deep as he disregarded the idea of being stealthy. Without hesitation, he lunged over the rooftop and disappeared without a trace like a summer ghost.

  Looking in Ulrich's direction, their eyes narrowed with a flicker of astonishment.

  "Haha, what a quick fellow!"

  "Captain, do we give chase?" One of the officers chuckled. His voice was firm and steady, almost harmless, and yet that only made it more threatening.

  "No need. This person is quite fast... It will be a waste of time chasing them since we have other matters to attend to."

  The captain shook his head and glanced toward Ulrich before turning away. Then he returned his attention to the vagrant, raised his hand to his chest, and drew a triangle with three clockwise strokes.

  "Praise the lord." He murmured, crouching and reaching his hand into the vagrant's tattered coat to retrieve an object. The other two officers followed his movement, performing the same gesture of the clockwise triangle.

  In the distance, Ulrich was alarmed; his eyes never stopped scanning the surroundings for any sign of pursuit.

  Are they not chasing? He didn't rest just yet and took several detours. His movement became erratic, almost unpredictable, and only after a series of careful inspections did he stop to take a breather.

  Fortunately, it seems like those harpoonists weren't interested in a nobody. He leaned against the cold stone wall, his body a little shaken as the adrenaline wore off.

  For a moment, his breath ran deep as each exhale allowed him to recover the lost oxygen. Recalling that brief confrontation, he let out a breath of relief knowing he did not have to oppose a harpoonist face-to-face.

  A harpoonist wasn't just an ordinary officer. For them, the tattoo represented their identity and status. Bearing the tattoo meant they had passed the training and examination deemed necessary to hunt sea beasts in the sea. And such qualifications were proof of their strength.

  Even with Ulrich's skill, it would be an arduous confrontation. More importantly, the implications of attacking a harpoonist were far-reaching. It was best that this be avoided.

  After resting enough, he quickly headed toward the library.

  "I'm finally here!"

  Ulrich stood in front of the building, appreciating the beauty in its more practical appearance with a deep breath. This 'strange' behavior attracted a few eyes, though they minded their business the moment they saw his shabby appearance.

  The library's entrance was squeezed between two larger buildings, marked by a narrow bronze archway. The metal had turned green from years of salt spray, though the parts people touched most were smooth and shiny.

  Perhaps in this large area, only Ulrich and a few others would bother visiting the library. These people, without a doubt, were all scholars and people of status. And if not the former, the rest were certainly enthusiasts who pursued knowledge out of pure curiosity and unfeigned interest.

  Ulrich sighed as he stepped inside.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Thinking about it, the idea that knowledge was unappreciated in this era left him slightly wretched, though looking at the struggles of the people in the city, he could understand the reasoning.

  "Welcome in!"

  The voice came from the reception desk near the entrance.

  A young woman in her early twenties sat there, bent over a ledger with a pen in hand. She looked up as Ulrich approached, and her face immediately brightened.

  "Ulrich!" She set down her pen and smiled warmly. "I haven't seen you in weeks! How are you doing on this fine afternoon?"

  There was a smile on her face, the kind that resembled spring which comes after winter. It was almost contagious—the energy, radiance, and brilliance that glowed from her unblemished face.

  Despite his urgency, Ulrich felt some of the tension ease from his shoulders. Selena had always been kind to him, even when his shabby clothes marked him as someone from the outer districts.

  "I'm well enough, Miss Selena." He managed a small smile in return, though he knew it didn't reach his eyes.

  "Busy morning?"

  "Dead, actually. You're my first visitor." She tilted her head, studying him with the same perceptiveness he'd seen in Mr. Vander earlier.

  "You look exhausted. And... troubled? Is everything alright?"

  "I need your help with something." The words came out more urgently than he'd intended.

  Selena's smile faded slightly, replaced by concern. She glanced around the empty library, then gestured to a chair beside her desk. "Of course. Sit, please. What do you need?"

  Ulrich remained standing, too restless to sit.

  "Do you have any texts on ancient languages? Specifically..." He hesitated, then nodded. "Specifically, ancient languages that aren't used anymore."

  Selena's eyebrows rose.

  "That's... unusually specific for you. You normally come here for cultural texts or historical records about the past eras." She leaned forward, curiosity evident in her expression.

  "What sparked your interest?"

  He couldn't exactly tell her about his abnormal dream.

  I'll probably be hanged on the stake just for mentioning it!

  In Belham, people were quite averse toward superstitious and supernatural sayings, believing that such topics and practices were malevolent and evil. Quite frankly, he couldn't explain that he'd seen an entire book written in a language he didn't know, in a place that may as well not exist.

  How do I even explain what a skyscraper is to these people... He shook his head, wearing a wry smile as he exhaled deeply. "Just curious. I overheard something yesterday, and it got me thinking."

  "Overheard something?" Selena's eyes narrowed slightly. "Ulrich, you're a terrible liar. You know that, right?"

  Despite everything, he almost smiled. "So I've been told."

  She studied him for a long moment, then sighed and stood up. "Alright. I won't press further."

  "Come on. We have a section on ancient languages. Though I should warn you, most of the texts are fragmentary and scattered. After the First Drowning, we lost most of the comprehensive linguistic records." She moved around the desk and beckoned him to follow.

  Ulrich followed her deeper into the library, between towering shelves that seemed to lean inward; they gathered to form a tunnel of books. With each step, the floorboards creaked softly under their feet.

  "How fragmented are we talking?" he asked in passing.

  "Depends on the language. Some we have complete grammars and structure for—mostly the ones that were widely used toward the latter half of the second epoch. Others..." She shrugged.

  "We have scattered pages, partial dictionaries, sometimes just lists of symbols with no context. After all, people did not really deem such historical knowledge useful. At least not until the appearance of the Church of the Night Mother, who wished to maintain a mainstream historical record."

  Right...

  Ulrich nodded. "The Church of the Night Mother appeared somewhere toward the latter half of the second epoch; this certainly explains the fragmentation of historical records before the church's establishment."

  "You're smart, that's why I like you..." She complimented, her lips bearing a soft smile.

  They turned a corner, entering a narrower section of the library.

  The books here looked older, their spines cracked and faded. Some were bound in materials Ulrich didn't recognize—not leather or cloth, but something that might have been synthetic.

  Antiquity materials, remnants of the drowned world. Selena ran her finger along the spines, skimming through the titles.

  "Let's see... we have texts on Latin, Ancient Latin, Jotnar, Celtic..." She paused, glancing back at him. "Do you have a specific language in mind, or are you just browsing?"

  "Ancient Hermes," Ulrich said quietly.

  Selena's hand froze on the bookshelf. The silence stretched for three heartbeats. Then she turned slowly, her expression unreadable.

  "Where did you hear that?"