As night fell, the chill in the air became thicker, and even the breath that had just been exhaled from his mouth seemed to turn into ice particles in the cold wind. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

The white moon had risen to the top of the sky, and the cold silver moonlight poured down, covering all the streets of the Gate of the End of the North like snow. The Broken Moon Ring stretching across the sky radiates red and blue as always, casting its magic on the white-dyed earth.

This is the Great Library of the North Gate, a huge main building and several annexes surrounded by a black cast-iron fence, and a large courtyard with a large fountain and a variety of trees planted along the road demarcation.

Built more than 20 years ago, this library is one of the youngest libraries in the Northland. It is probably the most spacious building in the entire Old Town outside of the Town Hall, and it stands out from the grey old buildings of the nearby town.

"May I ask you the Mr. Frick Sierra Leone that Miss Acully said on the phone, and the train you were supposed to arrive at fifty thirty p.m., so I thought you would arrive at seven-thirty p.m., but now it seems that the carriage is a little late. ”

After saying goodbye to the enthusiastic old coachman on the side of the street in front of the Great Library, Frick picked up his luggage and walked to the courtyard, surrounded by black cast-iron railings. However, to his surprise, there were already people waiting by the black gate...... And it is not a short time to wait.

It was a young man, probably a few years younger than him, dressed in black and dressed in a full set of Northland Library clerk's standard regular clothes. Like Frick, he had a scrivener's coat of arms on his chest, and he was apparently not officially inaugurated.

The Scrivener's logo consists of a pen, an inkwell, and an open book, while as interns who have not yet officially joined the Scrivener Corps, they use a single piece of paper. To be precise, it should be a metal tablet made in the shape of "paper", and a lot of information is recorded in it with condensed magic.

"Ah, yes, I'm Frick Sierra Leone. Seeing the young man looking at him with a serious face, Frick quickly took out his identification from his jacket pocket, "The third-level scrivener of the Northland region of the empire, numbered 0214307, belongs to the forty-third scrivener team." ”

While identifying himself, he looked at the young scholar through the dim streetlamp on the street, trying to memorize his face as soon as possible. If you are going to work in the library of the Gate of the End of the North for a long time, you should naturally remember the appearance of each colleague as much as possible.

It was only then that Frick noticed the appearance of the young man in front of him, with his jet-black hair and deep eyes of the same color, and his face, which was younger than that of his contemporaries, clearly revealed that he had Oriental blood.

And like most of the clerk's apprentices, he was surrounded by a serious atmosphere. In particular, the meticulous tie around his neck, as well as the carefully buttoned buttons on the top of the suit, make him look quite serious at a glance.

"I'm Suval, Curator Black ordered me to receive you here. ”

On the other end, after carefully confirming that there was no problem with the identification card handed by Frick, the young scrivener apprentice spoke again: "I will take you to the dormitory next, please come with me—ah, this is your luggage, please give them to me as well." ”

After a brief introduction to himself, the young man named Suval reached out and tried to take the suitcase from Frick's side, which he had casually set aside. Looking at his enthusiastic appearance, Flick was completely unsure whether this was just a scene or a sincere statement.

Human relations have always been annoying, especially for Flick, who is not very sociable himself, it has always been a headache for him. How to guess other people's thoughts from words, how to read the air around him, this is probably more difficult for him than memorizing a whole set of imperial laws.

"Thank you, but don't worry, don't look at this box, it's not big, but it's quite heavy. So he picked up his luggage and replied in courteous terms, "Besides, don't you still have to show me the way? ”

To be honest, Flick hadn't seen such a "standard" intern for a long time, and it would not be an exaggeration to even call him a model for a scrivener trainee - he had even memorized all the internship manuals that no intern had ever read.

As far back as he can remember, every intern who aspires to become a scribe would receive a handbook as thick as the stone bricks of the city wall when he entered the library, which contained many precautions in addition to the code of conduct for intern scribes. According to the "rules", trainee scribes should carefully study the handbook and act in accordance with its provisions...... Of course, this is just a rule after all.

Now that Frick had said so, Suval stopped insisting on carrying his luggage for him, and whispered "Well, then," before turning around and leading him into the courtyard where the library was located, where a new electric street lamp was already illuminating the path ahead of them.

As he progressed along the road, Suval did not forget to turn back to Frick to introduce the relevant information about the library: "This library was built on the twenty-seventh day of the harvest month of the year 505 of the Imperial Calendar, that is, the year 1840 A.D., and it has a history of thirty-seven years. ”

The harvest month is the name given to the eighth month of the year in the imperial calendar, because it is the month of the harvest of newly planted spring wheat each year. Built more than thirty years ago, this library is still young in the Northlands, but it is as large as the libraries of other territorial capitals.

"As you can see, the building in the middle of the courtyard is the main building of the library, which has a total collection of more than 1.5 million books of all kinds...... Although this number is not as large as the Great Library of the Empire's North, it is still more than most of the city libraries in the North. ”

As Suval said, the young library, though not as old as the others, is far superior in quality to the others. In particular, the number of books in the library is among the highest among the libraries of various cities in the Northland, second only to the collection of the territorial capital.

Walking through its expansive courtyard, you'll find manicured potted plants, gazebos, and even small fountains adorned with elaborate statues. From Suval's mouth, Frick learned that the courtyard was also open to the public, and he could imagine what it would be like when the weather was nice.

"The citizens love this garden, and it's really lively during the day. ”

After a few more walks, Suvar stood and looked back at Frick and said, "But when it's time for retreat, you have to ask them to leave, especially the children in the neighborhood." After all, even if there are street lights, those dark corners of the courtyard are still too dangerous for children. ”

He then pointed to the front of the road, where the white stone-brick paved path crossed hedges that had been simply trimmed into the shape of a fence and divided into several branch lines of varying widths leading to the different buildings in the courtyard of the Great Library, where they were now heading to the staff quarters in the deepest part.

In the vicinity of the buildings, the library's gardener surrounded a wall with hedges that was difficult to climb over, and a sign was placed on it that read, "Inside, no unrelated persons." Obviously, even when the library is open, the staff dormitory will not be open to the general public.

After a brief introduction to the facilities, Suvar turned around and took another step down the road towards the depths of the library. It was also at this time that Frick was sure that the young man was leading the way with his head held high and moving forward in an almost "standard" way.

Looking at the actions of the young man in front of him, he couldn't help but feel embarrassed for himself who was lazy and lazy back then. In particular, Flick's mouthful of "you" made him feel goosebumps crawling all over his body.

――Whatever the reason, it's so uncomfortable to speak in an overly respectful way!

So once again he said to Suvar, "Ah, by the way, Suvar...... Can you call me that, right? Can you stop talking to me with honorifics, and better yet, don't call me 'sir' or anything like that—just call me by my own name...... Or a last name is fine. ”

Of course, he knew that Suvar's etiquette was all in accordance with the requirements of the "rules and regulations", and there was not even the slightest violation of the requirements. In fact, it would be inappropriate to ask him to do so as a senior, because it would be an intern breaking the rules.

"But Mr. Sierra Leone...... You should know...... It's already written in the rules that we interns should do this......" Sure enough, when Frick made this request, Suval, who had just wanted to lead the way for him, immediately stopped, turned his head and looked at him with an embarrassed expression.

Frick could see that the young man was a serious man, and perhaps his greatest flaw - but such a serious man sometimes got into trouble because he was too serious. For example, now, I have a big headache because Suval's personality is too serious.

"Hmm...... Hehehe, it would be interesting if every intern was like you. In the end, he had to laugh wryly, "Then don't use honorifics and 'sir' in private, I don't think it's necessary to follow the rules all the time during non-working hours, right?" ”

At least such a request would not violate the regulations.