Soulless Players

Chapter 41: Library

The next day, October 6, 1857, Tuesday.

Philip woke up suddenly from slumber, sluggish. His body was itching and uncomfortable. He could not help but scratch them irritably.

"What is this? What is happening to me?"

He quickly scanned his body, looking for insects that made him like this. But upon seeing no bed bugs and no bite marks on his body, his drowsiness immediately left his body.

"What are you doing little brother?" Maris asked while rubbing her eyes. She sat on her bed and watched Philip scratching his body.

Philip didn't answer her as he hurriedly transformed his body into Conrad. Only then did the itchiness on his body stop as if it had never happened.

Philip dazedly looked at the ceiling, exhausted. He had no idea what caused the abnormality earlier and had to think whether it posed him danger or not.

However, after some mulling, he set this temporarily upon hearing a loud bell reverberating outside the window.

It was six in the morning. A time when the church rang its bell for the first-morning mass. The morning sunlight streamed through the curtain and illuminated the room inside.

"It's nothing," Philip finally answered Maris' query and told her, "Quick! Use the bathroom first."

"Yes, little brother," Maris giggled and emerged from her bed. She took the towel hanging behind the door and dashed to the toilet with her toiletries.

"I told you not to call me little brother!" Philip yelled, displeased by a child addressing him like he was the youngest.

'I should have never told my real age,' Philip sighed. Maris had been doing this after she knew he was only eight, two years younger than her, and had been proclaiming she was no longer the baby of the house.

While Philip groaned angrily, in reality, he was amused by this. He was happy that she, including the nowhere to be found Conrad, trusted him and considered him as if he was part of the family.

Philip shook his head and controlled his face from letting a smile. He quickly hopped away from his bed and took off the tight shirt with difficulty.

'I should start not wearing children's clothes in case something like this happens again,' He thought while accidentally ripping his shirt.

Shortly, he slid the curtains to the side, bringing more natural light to the room.

'I transformed too early today.'

Conrad's class usually starts at nine o'clock and ends at four in the afternoon. This was perfect for Philip whose transformation ability was limited to eight hours. If he became Conrad at the right time, he could still secretly roam around the city as Raven.

Now that he transformed early, he had no choice but to use all of his 2 eight hours transformation on Conrad.

'Well, better make use of this to stroll around the university,' Philip decided.

Bryxton University is composed of seven different colleges. Among the seven, the College of Engineering was the only place he wandered to as it was the school that Conrad was under.

Philip decided to take a look at each college today, hoping he could find something interesting.

Aside from them, there was also a place that Philip wanted to go to ever since it came to his knowledge.

The library.

Philip had not yet forgotten about the 'Blue Moon Event' Emile talked about yesterday. He wanted to try to search the library, hoping to find clues about this.

While Philip was deep in thought, the door clicked and opened, and Maris entered through it. She wore a long white skirt and a green blouse on top. Rolled over her neck was a red ribbon with a badge attached in the middle.

Philip watched Maris, dressed in her school uniform, skipping energetically toward him. She grabbed a band on her bedside table and handed it to him.

Maris' attitude towards him was totally the opposite of their first encounter. Unlike before when she was shy and distant, now she was acting like she could not live without him.

Philip could not help but be curious about the sudden change and asked while tying her black hair into a ponytail.

"Hey, Maris. Aren't you being too comfortable with me?"

Maris' eyes widened cutely. She glanced at Philip, wondering where this question came from.

Seeing her innocent and confused reaction, Philip could only chuckle and say, "No, forget about it."

The room became silent. Only the birds chirping and the noise of footsteps outside could be heard. Philip focused his all on tying Maris' hair perfectly, no longer thinking about what reason Maris had behind.

***

An hour later, Philip stepped inside the library. He wore brown slacks and a white long-sleeved collared shirt. Over his shoulder was a messenger bag filled with his books and supplies.

Philip adjusted his silver eyewear as he observed the library ahead of him.

Like any other library, Bryxton Library was filled with numerous books on different subjects. Each shelf was numbered and the books inserted on them were alphabetically ordered.

It was early in the morning, but a lot of students had already arrived to study. This left the library with almost no vacant seats.

Good thing for Philip, he managed to catch sight of a small table near the tall and big glass window with the sunlight coursing through it. It was too hot and bright, making the other students hesitant to use the table near it.

Philip had no issue with the scorching light, with his abnormal physique, he could easily adjust his body temperature to make it as if it was only warm. He dashed forward and left his black bag on the table.

Shortly, he left and went to the librarian to ask,

"Excuse me, madam. Where can I find books about history? Oh and also, books about the moon?"

The old librarian replied without looking at Philip, "History on aisle 15, third shelf, from mid to bottom."

"As for the moon," She paused, trying to remember where they were placed.

"Just look at aisles 3 to 6. That is where the books relating to the College of Science are located."

Philip thanked her and left. Since aisles 3 to 6 were closer to him, he went there to look first.

"Blue moon. Blue moon," Philip murmured while scanning the bookshelves. This was one of his purposes for coming to the library. He wanted to search for information regarding the mystical side of the world, especially the event Emile talked about yesterday.

While Philip was aware he could not find what he wanted in a normal library, he had no choice but to look here as he was not well integrated into society. He had no one to ask and could only rely on books to search for clues.

A little while later, Philip went back to his seat. He held a stack of books in his arms. Because of its number, the pile became so tall that it shielded Philip's sight.

The students around peeked at Philip curiously and in astonishment. Philip was like a performer in a circus, who could balance weights on his arms.

Philip noticed the onlookers and his face became red from shame. It was not that he never thought of separating them into two. It was just that Philip didn't want the hassle of going back and forth.

Why not? He thought. With his strength, he could even easily carry more.

Philip placed the books on the table and wiped his nonexistent sweat.

He then sat on the chair and took the book from the top.

However, when he was about to open the book, his heart leaped out upon seeing someone sitting in front of him.

Philip stared at the man, surprise was evident on his face. He was embarrassed not just because he failed to notice the man, but also because of the man's clothing.

Unlike him and the students around, the man didn't wear the same uniform. Instead, his coat was red, an indication he was a teacher.

"I'm sorry." Philip quickly apologized.

The man gave Philip a quick glance and chuckled, "No worries."

He then moved his sight back to the book he was reading. He was expressionless, totally unperturbed by Philip's rudeness.

Seeing the man's unconcern, Philip heaved a sigh of relief and laid four books on the table.

Slowly, Philip opened the book one by one in a particular order. Starting from The Northern Continent Timeline, The five countries of the Northern Continent, The History of the Northon Kingdom, and lastly, the 1000 years' legacy of the Nordic Empire.

Philip closed his eyes for a moment and took a long deep breath. Afterward, he opened his eyes and moved his fingers to flip the book pages.

Flip. Flip. Flip. Flip.

The students unanimously frowned and glanced at Philip. Their minds were in sync as they screamed internally, 'Is he crazy?'

Philip flipped the books extremely fast with both hands. His action was so absurd that it looked like he was just fooling around in the library.

Flip. Flip. Flip. Flip.

One minute. Five minutes. Ten minutes.

The flipping of books was so loud and disturbing that one of the students could not help but stand angrily and walk to where Philip was seated.

However, the student was stopped by the teacher sitting across from Philip.

The teacher looked at Philip, his once expressionless face changed into amusement.