Flip, flip!
The sound of turning pages filled the manor's library.
To a stranger, Seven looked like he was just skimming. He wasn't. He was absorbing every word.
But most of the books were junk. Stories about heroes. Tales of chosen ones and swords in stones. All of them were boring and predictable, but he had no other choice to pass time.
Before he knew it, a pale and amber light bled through the window, hitting his eyes.
The sun was setting.
"...Oh. Has it been five hours?"
Seven put the book back.
He stood still for a moment, thinking he should leave, or perhaps he should eat dinner and sleep. But his eyes drifted to the last shelf.
The one filled with books he has yet to read.
"Heh. Reading one more won't hurt."
He said the standard lie, the phrase everyone mutters around 3 in the early morning (a/n midnight?).
There, he browsed the titles of the books.
It turns out that this shelf was a graveyard for the sea: nothing to see except the stories of mermaids and mermens, sirens, dugongs, fishmen, and other fantastic creatures.
There were also voyages of long-dead sailors:
— [ Charting the Black Euxinus ]
He pulled it out.
In the original novel, the Black Sea was a mystery. Truth is, not even a quarter of it had been mapped, and yet there was a record of it in this place.
"...Interesting."
He grabbed two more books that caught his attention and headed back to his room.
Step, step.
He sat on his bed and opened the book.
It was about a sailor named Euxine. Specifically, a man who fled his home for freedom. He had no map nor compass, but the stars and a stubborn head.
By fate, or perhaps by accident, he became the first to sail the sea with black waves.
For a year, he drew everything, from the black tides, the strange winds, and the water that seemed to swallow the sky.
But the further he went, the worse the inquietude feeling in his chest got. He had found no shores at all!
There was nothing in there but his hungry stomach when the rations began to dwindle, as well as fishes that looked like they were dragged up from nightmares.
In the end, the sailor turned back, or more like, he followed the stars back home.
"What a fool."
Seven tossed the book aside.
Truth be told, his words weren't wrong.
That damned sailor, after all, gave his charts to the King as a peace offering, and the King gave him gold citos as a reward. He also gave him seven wives.
Though it only lasted for a night, as in the next morning, the King ordered his head cut off.
It was a fine ending— the charts of that sea the sailor had sketched belonged to the crown now.
"Why go back to a cage just because you had a second's taste of freedom? I guess a guy doomed to die is always gonna find a way to finish the job."
He felt a heavy wave of disappointment.
"Fudge. What a waste of time."
Perhaps Seven was a fool, too, for hoping more than what the book gave him.
Flip, flip!
The next book was an encyclopedia of marine life.
He kept on flipping, at least until he had reached a specific section, the part that the old man, the commander, had mentioned.
— [ Species: Kilbis ]
Seven leaned in, his eyes narrowed.
The sketch displayed had the body of a Great White shark, but its fins, perhaps they were wings, were different in nature— bony and jagged like wings of a prehistoric monster (a/n dinosaur hehe kidding).
It also had teeth like a chainsaw!
Its eyes were also milky white, looking like the eyes of a blind man, yet able to see everything. Turns out this fish didn't hunt by sight, but through sensing the ripples and signatures of zi.
More than anything, it had an intensely strange strong sense toward the smell of one thing in particular.
— [ These species of fish are called scavengers of the deepest trench, and are found only in waters stained by the blood of a God's creation. Leviathan. ]
The book further said its jaw could unhinge, that it could tear off chunks of meat larger than its own head. It ate what the deities left behind.
Seven frowned.
The thing is, to catch a Kilbis, one needed the blood of a Leviathan. It was said that its blood is the blood of the deities themselves, as needed to complete the creation.
"If the old man is obsessed with this thing… he's crazy. I admit, though, that old man doesn't seem normal in every possible way."
All of a sudden, Seven's frown deepened as a cold realization hit him.
"Damn it, wait a second. How am I supposed to catch this thing in a mountain river in the first place?"
Even if, hypothetically, Seven had the needed blood in his disposal, there was no way a creature of the deep would appear on a river this high above sea level.
Given that the old man was a commander of the knights, it was not entirely possible for him not to know this much information.
The old man might knew exactly what a Kilbis was.
Even then, the old man said that too-good-to-pass-on deal to bait Seven, fishing for even the slightest reaction in exchange for that nearly impossible price in return:
To catch a Kilbis.
The frown on Seven's face turned into a scowl.
He had spent, perhaps wasted, a few years of his life reading about characters falling into master-disciple traps, and yet he had walked right into one.
All for some grilled catfish and the promise of power.
Hook, line, and sinker.
Seven was irritated, of course. That much was a fact. The old man had made him a fool, and he found himself dancing in those weathered palms.
Still, he wasn't entirely displeased.
He had obtained something that was somehow worth the price, after all.
Cracka!
Infusing zi into the book, the pages began to scream and flipped on their own, one after another, as if they were caught in a ghost wind.
Seven stood up and took a sharp breath.
He then grabbed the fishing rod from the corner of the room and headed for the door.
Step, step.
He ran into Iria in the hallway.
Iria carried a tray full of fresh potato stew, baked vegetable roots (veggies), as well as three massive chunks of meat and other foods for his dinner.
Still, no matter how tempting it looked, he only grabbed the bowl and gulped the steaming potato stew down. It burned his throat, but he ignored the pain.
Instead, he snatched the biggest chunk of meat and kept walking.
Iria followed him, seemingly confused, but her expression remained composed.
"Please wait, my lord. If I may ask, where do you intend to wander at such an unseemly hour?"
"To the village."
"Pardon? That's—"
"Iria."
Seven stopped.
"I stayed inside for more than four days as we agreed, didn't I? I kept my word. I could have left this morning if I wanted to."
The last five days weren't a bore. In fact, he liked the library. It was a luxury that offered a momentary quiet peace.
But the clock was ticking, and his birthday ceremony was nearing. He couldn't live in a golden cage forever.
"I offer my apologies, my lord. I was merely concerned for your safety. I was oblivious to your intent."
"Don't worry. I'm taking the vice commander with me."
Seven continued his steps, until—
"I have no right to stop you, my lord, but please finish your dinner first."
"..."
Seven looked at the tray. For a second, the food looked like it had hands and was waving at him, perhaps it was telling him to eat.
He sighed.
"Aight."
He sat in the dining room in silence, but his gaze drifted past the window and toward the river in the far distance, visualizing a Kilbis appearing out the surface.
'You better prepare your answers, old man. I'm not the one to back down.'
Munch, munch.
Even if Kilbis was labeled as a deep-sea monster that fed on the blood of deities, Seven didn't care about the odds in the slightest.
Zi.
That was all he needed.
If he could form a bait in the end of the rod with his zi, then he has a small chance.
After all, aside from him being a reader, he was also an avid gamer. A 0.001% probability still suggests a chance to win— he had pulled for less.
'That Kilbis. I will definitely catch it.'
Before he knew it, he had finished the dinner and was now headed for the door.
Iria waved him off.
"Please do take care, my lord, and make sure to come back before the midnight session."