“Brooks, where are you? I’m here to return the books you lent me.”

Wandering through the towering shelves covering the first floor of the Great Library situated in Thurgau, Nisha was currently looking for the scholar that taught her various things in the past two moons, bringing her brother with her for the first time on this day.

“Coming, coming, stop shouting. You know you have to keep quiet in the library.”

Scratching his head and rising from the bench he rested on, the old scholar blearily looked around while suppressing a groan.

“Why are you here this early, don’t you usually only come around during the afternoon? And did you finish all of the books already, didn’t you only borrow them the day before? You must really enjoy seeing me running around.”

Completing his turn around the corner, an unfamiliar sight greeted him, a male with blond hair beside Nisha.

“And this is … ?”

Wary of an unknown intruder suddenly in his territory, Brooks urged Nisha with his eyes to explain.

“Please let me do the introductions. Brooks, this is my brother Henry, he wanted to come with me to meet you. Henry, this is Brooks, he works here in the library and has been helping me in my studies recently like I told you.”

Gesturing between the two of them with a lazy hand motion, the elf’s action suggested that she was done with her part and the rest was up to them.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Mister Brooks. From my sister, I’ve learned you’ve been loaning out books to her and instructed her on other matters. For that, I wish to sincerely express my thanks.”

Extending his hand in greeting, Henry laid some honest admiration in his voice, after all he was happy to hear that Nisha expanded her horizons and had taken interest in the library.

“Far from it, this one merely helped her pick out suitable texts to keep her interest. It’s the duty of any scholar to pa.s.s on knowledge to the next generation.”

Moderately accepting the compliment in a roundabout way, Henry’s impression of the old man rose.

“Then, is there another reason why you’ve chosen to stop by here?”

Studying the muscular figure of Henry in return, the scholar replied in an affable manner.

Looking towards his sister, the young man returned the speaking role to her.

“I’m going to start attending the academy starting next week, therefore I can’t come as often as currently anymore and just wanted to tell you in advance, since you helped me out so much during the last two moons. Thank you very much.”

Bowing her head to him, Nisha attempted to convey her grat.i.tude in an honest manner.

“The academy, huh? Are you going to be a teacher?”

Thinking about the amount of books the elf read ahead of time, regarding her as a teacher wasn’t strange for Brooks.

“What? No, I’ll attend as a student. Why would you think I’d be a teacher?”

Bewildered by the unexpected response, the scholar acted as if someone poured a bucket of cold water over him.

“Huh? Why would someone like you be a student at an academy? Didn’t you read all the books on this floor in just two moons? Why would someone like you … how old are you in the first place? To become a student you’d have to be, what, 13? 12?”

Gazing at the small elf before him as if she suddenly sprouted a set of horns and two wings and declared herself the demon king, Brooks didn’t know what to say.

“What are you saying? Of course I haven’t read all of these books. I am almost certain there is a fine collection of reading material hidden in this layer of the library. In this particular variety of exquisite novels, I am one hundred percent sure that I am still too young to read them. And almost every day, a certain librarian can be seen walking around on this etage, indulging himself in reading a new exemplar of his selection.

Isn’t that right, Brooks?”

Directing her innocent gaze straight at the restless man, Nisha touched a topic cutting far closer than he would like.

“Do you know what I’m talking about?”

Being ruthless enough to stab a man who was already down, the scholar in question grimaced hard, feeling the knife turn inside him.

“I take it all back. You’re a little monster, I tell you. You wouldn’t happen to have told the others about my collection?”

Henry understood the conversation’s implications, yet he chose to stay silent, a small smile on his lips as he watched the hunter corner his prey.

“Hey, I take offense to that. A little monster … how rude.

At least make it a little beast instead, I’m not some mindless brute.”

Twirling her hair in a played displeased manner and frowning cutely, Nisha scowled at Brooks.

“I give up, stop that. It makes my skin crawl. Little beast … it fits you. But you as a student? I can’t see it. What are you even going to learn at a regular academy? Languages? Maths? Sciences? You’re already reading books on the highest level regarding those. Really, now I’m somewhat interested to see the mayhem that’s going to happen.

Are you still going to stop by in the future? And you didn’t tell anyone about those … novels, did you?”

Groaning in his chair, Brooks cradled his face in his hands.

“Of course, I’ll have to rely on you to find more interesting reading material in the future. That isn’t a problem, is it, Mister Scholar? Oh, you really shouldn’t read them in broad daylight. I’m not the only one that can read the t.i.tles.”

“Really, I get it. Stop threatening me, you’re not only a little beast, you’re a little devil. Whatever the lady wants, the lady gets it. Are you happy now? I’ll die at least ten years earlier from the shock now.”

Wiping the sweat from his brows, the scholar stood up.

“Regardless of … that, I’m happy to become acquainted with you, Henry. I hope you know how special that sister of yours is.”

“I know, right? Luckily she doesn’t regard family as targets, or I’d have suffered plenty already. It’s been my pleasure too, Mister Brooks. If you don’t mind, I’ll take her away now, before the little devil finishes you off. I like the name, by the way.”

Leaving behind one seriously traumatised scholar, Nisha and Henry left the Grand Library. Walking along the main street and admiring several vendors who set up their stands in the early morning, the dragon turned to her step brother.

“Since the library is out of the way, what did you want to surprise me with? You said it’s going to be a big one.”

Smiling wryly, the young man gestured her to take the path towards the harbor with him.

“Yes, actually I wanted to wait for a bit and explain when we get there, but I can already tell you a bit. Because you are going to start attending the academy soon, father and uncle Galan thought it’d be nice to follow the traditions for n.o.bles when their children start schooling. Usually it’s a big procession and party, however I know you dislike making extra work and offered to take you there instead.

You see, when a n.o.ble child gets admitted into the academy, whether they excel there or just as part of their prestige, they will enter the Dungeon sooner or later. To congratulate them and give them a head start compared to others, they also receive a tamed companion to a.s.sist them.

After a while, rich merchants and similar folk followed suit, gifting their children a companion too and it became a tradition for everyone that goes to the academy.”

Leading her towards the guild branch in the haven, Henry explained the peculiarities regarding this custom.

“Wait a moment. When you say everyone, why didn’t I ever see you with a tamed monster?”

Thinking back on their joint time, her step brother never even showed the slightest hint he owned one, neither did he have a smell of an animal around him.

“Ara, you’re right. In fact, I didn’t get one, at the time. When I started attending the academy, father wasn’t in town and without him, I didn’t want to get one. Then I received my skill book and had problems learning it, so when father came back, I postponed getting one and eventually it slipped our mind.

Now I know it was also partly an incompatibility with the element. Anyway, considering I wanted to focus on learning the sword in the past and that you will start attending the academy, we remembered about the practice.”

Crossing the distance between the library, he explained more details about the details concerning the tradition.

“Therefore, father gave me some coins earlier and we can both buy an egg. Some n.o.bles buy as much as they can to get a good companion. I think that’s rather thoughtless, by working together even a first rank monster can awaken to be a true partner. Dad wasn’t quite convinced by my words, he gave me two gold coins, we can each buy in that limit. For my part, I’ll buy one chance in the one gold category, you can choose what you want. Regarding the tiers and the monster eggs, the guild staff will give a better explanation, I just heard some things from uncle Galan and father.

Let’s go, we’re here.”

Plowing through the dense ma.s.s of adventurers entering and exiting the branch, Henry led her towards the underground store ran by the guild.

Registering her own good mood, Nisha realized being called a little monster, beast or devil did not bother her anymore. When she had helped the adventurers in the dungeon, the rumors of a demonic pract.i.tioner had really cut deep. Simply because the other party didn’t understand her powers, they labeled her a dangerous existence and refused to even consider her being a friendly force. Of course, rumors only couldn’t keep her out of the dungeon completely, the dragon simply purchased a simple leather mask to hide her features completely in combination with her mantle and had headed for the third and second floor to circ.u.mvent any possible witnesses that could identify her.

Furthermore, she shut herself into the library at first, escaping from a world where she constantly had to lie and flee from the gaze of others because she was special.

After calming down and organizing her thoughts, in combination with the new thought material coming from the various books, the elf wasn’t ashamed of being special anymore. So what if they talk? She’ll take care of them as they come. Hiding to avoid trouble? No problem. Hiding because someone had a problem with her? The little devil will have a playmate then.

Baring her canines in a toothy grin, Nisha descended the stairs towards the underground section of the guild, as if a heavy weight just disappeared from her shoulders.

“Come on, hurry up a bit. I want to see what kind of partner I’ll get.”

Holding the door open for her, Henry already waited at a door Nisha had yet to enter during her time registered at an adventurer. The signboard only had a big egg as well as a magic formation painted on it, no name or other recognition features besides the official round guild symbol.

“Why do I feel like you are more excited about this than I am? What’s so special about having some monster subordinates?”

In the time she ruled over the [Dragon’s Den], Little Flame could command any residents as she had seen fit, even if the various species originally belonged to the camp of one of her siblings. On the grounds that the black and red dragon held the highest rank among the siblings, the three others could be counted as her contracted followers and each contracted follower they made had to obey her commands as well. Unfortunately, she didn’t have any race that could capture her interest for herself besides the dragons.

“Of course I am excited! Not only will I have a reliable monster with me like all my cla.s.smates now, I will also be able to raise it together with you, so we can compare notes and help each other into developing them to the best partners. Isn’t that exciting?”

The excited gleam in his eyes told Nisha that Henry was acting like a boy of his age for once and thus she could only smile wryly, walking through the door he held open for her. Her step brother hurriedly came after her and led them towards the counter where an employee was already waiting for them.