Chapter 3. A Grimoire and the Last Will

CHAPTER 3. A GRIMOIRE AND THE LAST WILL

This Saturday morning, as always, Dryad worked diligently at the library, supervised by Sir Alvard who stayed upstairs. It was probably the most boring job anyone could possibly imagine. And yet she loved it! She even hoped that Lord Vladislav, the owner, would allow her to work there full time rather than only part time on weekends.

Two other staff members, Virgil and Haze, were also already there. Virgil was a well-mannered man, but at the same time  was also energetic and fun loving like a jester. Contrast personality to Sir Alvard, whom he respected greatly. Virgil was very obedient towards Sir Alvard and even called him “Master”.

The other man was Haze Van der Villes, but his pen name as an author was Hazard. Along with Dryad, he also worked as translator of the grand library. Virgil and Haze’s personalities were as close as eleven and twelve. As an author, of course Haze was much more poetic and a sweet talker.

With a stack of books in her hands, Dryad went upstairs to arrange them in the right shelves.

“Sir Alvard, may I ask a question?” Dryad asked suddenly when she was near him.

He smiled and nodded, silently gesturing for her to go ahead with her question as if saying -yes, of course. I am here to listen-

“For a library this big, why is it not open to the public? I mean... even very few staff of the mansion dare to step in here,” she asked.

Sir Alvard gave a faint smile, “It's a good question, though. Nowadays, this grand library is not meant to be open for the public. This is an exclusive area reserved for the Basilisk's family members or staff here in the mansion complex. But I must admit that long ago before you came, we allowed everyone to access knowledge held within these walls. Even scholars from outside. However, due to many factors such as the great importance of historical records and some certain unfortunate events, we have decided that only a selected few can enter here,” he explained.

“Is it possible that we open to the public again?” Dryad asked again.

Sir Alvard paused to think for a moment, “it’s hard to say really. Well… perhaps, when the time is right.”

From the second story of the library, he glanced down, back and forth between Haze and Virgil. “Hm… I see that Haze is doing his job and seems fine, but Virgil…” he shook his head a bit, and noticed that Virgil was struggling with the books at hand. It was clear that Virgil didn’t notice the code and just placed them in the wrong order.

“Virgil? What are you doing? This is a library, not some sort of storage room for random things!” Sir Alvard warned him in a gentle tone.

Virgil glanced up to him and chuckled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

Sir Alvard sighed then turned around to Dryad, “Dryad, go downstairs and lend him a hand.”

Dryad nodded briefly, “Right away, Sir.”

They were all busy with their own tasks when suddenly, the door opened and Zaard stepped in. Zaard Wallace was an old butler. Everyone seemed to ignore his presence, and whenever Dryad talked to him, other staff stared in confusion and called her crazy. But Dryad never took it to heart. Besides, Zaard was always free to visit the library. That means, he was Lord Vladislav's trusted man because according to Sir Alvard, only a selected few can enter the grand library.

Upon Zaard’s arrival, Haze didn’t notice as he was busy working and quite far from the door. while Virgil glanced for a second before continuing his job. Only Dryad, who looked up from her work, smiled and nodded briefly.

"Ah. Welcome. Is there anything I can assist with?" She greeted him politely.

Zaard, without words, found a nearby seat and gestured to her to sit across from him.

Dryad nodded, "Very well."

The old butler said, "I see that you are now familiar with this library. Now, I think this is the time I will tell you about your main task."

"Main task?" Dryad asked, tilted her head slightly.

"Yes. Lord Vlad hired an additional librarian like yourself for one purpose. That is to find a grimoire."

"Grimoire?" Dryad furrowed.

"Yes. But... listen," he said almost in whispers, as if not wanting anyone to hear them, "If one day you find it, I want you to tell me first before you report to Lord Vlad. You understand?"

Dryad blinked slowly. "Why? What is the reason?"

Zaard sighed, "I can't tell you that yet. Because if I do, you might be scared and run away and there's no one else who can help me then... I only can say that, you are the only one I can rely on for finding out such secrets of lore."

Dryad nodded, "Alright..."

But deep inside she felt a bit uneasy. Why would someone ask her to help find a grimoire? But it was not so surprising that this kind of book might exist among the thousand  books here in this vast library. There were  even ancient scrolls and many weird tomes here that could not be classified using the Librarian’s Decimal System ; they had been around forever and had been written in different ancient languages so their meanings weren't clear anyway.

"Fine. so... can you describe what this grimoire looks like? Who is the author? What is the title? What color is the cover?" Dryad asked again.

Zaard said calmly yet coldly, "No. No author. No title and I don't know what the color is. Lord Vlad just gave me the order to find it, yet after many years I could not fulfill the task."

Dryad frowned and chuckled bitterly, "Well, of course you can't! So how can you find it if you don't have any clue as to where it could be? you don't even know anything about what you're looking for!"

"Lord Vlad never told me the details. He only told me that, if you find and touch it, somehow you will know that is the right grimoire you've been searching for," Zaard replied, calm as ever.

Dryad sighed, "Great... finding one weird book among thousands is a crazy task, indeed."

"And.. that is the first task. The second is from me, and you should never tell anyone, including Lord Vlad himself."

Dryad squinted her eyes while nodding, "You are surely a man full of secrets, aren’t you? Good sir, so what is another quest?"

"The late Lord Ferdinand, father of Lord Vlad, wrote his last will in this library. And unfortunately he died before he could tell anyone about it."

"He wrote his last will alone? Not accompanied by someone as a witness?"

Zaard nodded, "That's correct"

"So how on earth do you know about his last will?" Dryad asked curiously.

"Because he told me by himself, But, as I said before, he died right before telling me where he put that damn paper." Zaard said, almost frustrated. "Heart attack. Very sad."

"I see..."

"But as far as I guess, he never wanted to pass down his wealth to Lord Vlad, because he hated his son very much. That is why, you must never mention this task and keep this secret if you find the paper. If anyone else finds out, your life will be at risk. Understand?" Zaard said.

Dryad nodded though still confused, but before she asked more, Zaard rose from his seat and left quietly. When he was already gone, Dryad glanced upstairs as she felt Sir Alvard's gaze on her.

Sir, did you hear all of that? Zaard wants me to find a grimoire," she said, puzzled. "And the last will"

"Hm. I heard everything," Sir Alvard said.

Dryad went upstairs and approached him. "So... has he ever asked you that too?"

Sir Alvard smirked
, "he won't dare to ask me a favor."

"You said you have been here for so long. You must know something about that grimoire, right?"

Sir Alvard's eyes widened slightly when he heard her question as if he was caught off-guard by it, but he kept his composure and said calmly, “Focus on your task at hand, Dryad, and be quiet,” he walked away as if didn’t want to talk about it.

Dryad glanced at Virgil who fastly looked away and whistled as if avoiding being questioned. She squinted her eyes, Virgil seemed to know a lot.

“What?” Virgil asked as he felt her stare. “Stop staring at me. I know nothing,” he said, then quietly whistling simple melodies.

“Well, if you say so, it is clear that you do know something,” Dryad said.

Haze frowned and hushed Virgil upon hearing the noises, but he seemed not to care at all.

“Stop whistling, you, jester!” Haze said from his place, almost loud because he was far at the corner there.

Virgil shrugged, “Oh.. I doon't caare~,” he said, almost like singing.

"We're in the library, where do you think we are now? Stop making noise!" Haze said.

"Look who's talking?" Virgil said.

For the next few minutes they kept teasing each other.
Bum!
Annoyed by their banter, Sir Alvard dropped a thick tome on the table with a heavy thud. The sound echoed throughout the huge library. They both instantly stopped their fun and turned back to work. Dryad's lips curled as she held her laugh

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