There was a knock on the door. Nero, who had just been folding his cloak, looked toward the door. Eleanor slowly straightened up.
"Sirs," the innkeeper's voice sounded, "is everything alright with you?"
Nero walked to the door and opened it, his expression full of anger. "No!" he raged as he tore the door open with force. "Look at this!" he pointed at the shattered windows. "Is this how you treat your valued guests? Look at my clothes! They are completely torn," he said, then pointed at a few injuries, "and look at these wounds! What is wrong with this filthy city? First, I am treated like some low commoner, and now this?"
The innkeeper shrank into himself. "Sir, I am sorry, but…"
"NO 'but'!" Nero interrupted him. "I demand a room without broken windows immediately, and I want new clothes as well, and I want them NOW!"
"O…of course," the innkeeper managed to say. "If you would follow me."
Nero gathered the map and everything else important, then he and Eleanor followed the innkeeper to a room on the other side of the building, where the windows were still intact. Nero only snorted without thanking him. A short while later, the innkeeper brought him fresh clothes.
Outside, the first people who had fled slowly began to return to their homes, as it seemed that the fight was over. After about half an hour, Nero, now in fresh clothes, and Eleanor also mingled with the people. Of course, they had not forgotten their actual goal, the library.
Fortunately, the library was not far from their lodging, so they did not have to walk far to finally arrive. The library was a large building, which, however, did not look like much. The only thing indicating that it was a library was the large sign hanging above the entrance, which read, "Library at Church Square."
It was already very late, yet because of the fight, many people were still out on the streets. Nero and Eleanor went to the entrance of the building and pushed the door, which slid open silently.
They stepped into a small room, which was lit by two torches on the walls. At a small table sat a scrawny man, who was currently reading a book with fascination. When Nero and Eleanor entered, the man raised his head slightly, surprised. He looked at the two skeptically. "Isn't it a bit late to still be out?" he asked rudely.
Nero looked at the small man coldly. "Why does it concern you when someone is out or not. We have some important research to attend to, which I want to finish as quickly as possible."
With narrowed eyes, the man looked at them for a moment before sighing. "Alright, do you have a university pass?"
Nero shook his head.
"Then the entrance will cost you 30 twilight coins." Nero took out the small coin pouch and placed three sun coins on the table. "That should be enough," he said. The man took the three sun coins. Then he nodded toward a door next to him. "That way leads inside. The rules are as follows: If you take a book, put it back in its original place after you are finished. Writing in, marking, destroying, or dirtying books is, of course, completely forbidden; conversations should only be held in a whispering tone so as not to disturb other visitors. Naturally, books must not be taken away, as they are the property of the library. Please follow the rules, or we will have to deny you future entry."
After saying that, he turned his full attention back to his book, seemingly already having forgotten the two.
Nero and Eleanor stepped through the door into the library. It was not a gigantic library, where the shelves rose several floors high and were filled with thousands upon thousands of books, but rather a smaller one, with several rows of shelves and only a second floor. On the side were a few reading rooms, which were almost all empty, except for a single room, where the sign hanging on the door was turned to "Closed."
"What exactly are we looking for?" Eleanor asked, looking around the library.
"Anything that could be useful to us. Especially about the history of the planet, the dynamic of the three races, how and why they became trapped in a conflict. If you find books about magic, then of course those as well, but…" he looked around, "I would be surprised if there is serious literature about magic here that is more than just speculation."
Eleanor nodded as he slowly walked toward the first row of shelves. "We will meet in the third room," Nero instructed him before walking away himself. He strolled along a bookshelf, reading the titles. "The Fox Trap, The Glorious Seven, The Long Journey, …" They mostly seemed to be fables and legends, nothing Nero was looking for. He continued along the shelf until he finally found a book that sounded important, "The History of Humans." Nero took the book and flipped through it. He nodded in satisfaction when he realized that the book was about the legend of the origin of humanity. It was not exactly what he was looking for, but it could be useful, so he took it with him. He continued searching until he saw another book, "The Complete History of Noira." Nero took it out, but after flipping through it, he realized that it was more of a geological work, discussing the development of biology, not societies. He put it back and continued searching.
He found several more books that sounded interesting before he was satisfied for the moment. He went into the third room. It was a small chamber with no windows, only a table in the middle surrounded by a bench. On the table stood a lit candle, which Eleanor used to read the first book. His eyes moved from line to line as he absorbed the content, in front of him was also a large stack of books. Nero placed his own stack down.
He sat down and decided to start with "The History of Humans." He opened it and began to read.
As expected, the book dealt with the origin of humanity. Unfortunately, it quickly turned out to be a theological work, which attributed the entire creation of humanity to their god, who, of course, created them in his image. The Reils and Lizzians were mutations or experiments of the god, created to be subservient to humans, because 'naturally' they were the superior species to whom this world belonged.
Nero could not help but roll his eyes in a rare display of emotion. It was always the same story, no matter which world he was in. It was always another version of a single creator god who created humans, protected them, guided them, and so on. Apparently, every intelligent civilization was inclined to worship a divine being.
He put the book aside and took the next one from the stack and began to read, but this book was disappointing as well, so he set it aside. Meanwhile, Eleanor was still reading the first book without lifting his gaze for a second.
Nero picked up the next book, which was simply titled "The Council of Three."
He began to read. Very quickly, it became clear that this book contained incredibly important information, because it was not about a council of three people, but of three species. The Lizzians, the humans, and the Reils. It described that there was once a city, Krisalis, that once stood at the place of the same name, the point where the three continents met. In that city was a council made up of members of the three races.
From there, they ruled together over the three realms before the collapse. Unfortunately, the book did not go into detail about the cause of the conflict or the dynamic of the three races; instead, the council itself was examined in great detail. It described how each race had exactly twelve chair members in the council. From each of these twelve, there was then one representative, something like the ruler of the respective realm. This one had five votes instead of just one. These rulers were elected by the council members of their respective race, which were made up of the kings of the largest cities.
The last interesting thing in the book was the mention of the last ruler of the humans, who was actually a woman named Sirella, but after the city of Krisalis was destroyed and the war of the three races began, the Council of Three naturally dissolved as well. After Sirella died, the position passed on to her son. Over time, the ruler gained more and more power, at first there was still a council that could have a say, but gradually this council lost seats until there was only one ruler.
Nero already knew this; the current ruler was a man named Pascal van Uriel. He had been one of Fril's main focuses, but it had been almost impossible for him to find out anything about the ruler that went beyond myths and legends. Apparently, Pascal was an incredibly cautious and intelligent man who rarely showed himself and ruled from unknown locations. If Nero could somehow learn about Pascal's whereabouts, that would be invaluable. Because what easier way was there to plunge a country into chaos than to kill its ruler? If he could then also blame it on the Lizzians or Reils, it would be perfect.
Nero leaned back and closed the book. Unfortunately, he knew all too well that this Pascal van Uriel was not someone who could be killed easily, at least not directly. So he would have to get creative.