Holding her hand again felt like she was forgiving him. Michael accusing her of being a witch and the process of draining away his life was pretty extreme. Though, it was fortunate enough that Evelyn didn't hear any of this since she wasn't in her sword form. Looking at her now, she was still pretty. Eighty years or not, she could have ended up with somebody else other than Michael. She saved him during that arena fight and bought his freedom from being a slave. If she wanted to take some years away from him so that she could live longer, Michael wouldn't even be mad.
Is what Michael told himself if he was lying. He knew nothing about this girl and she already knew a lot from just beating him up.
She looked around. "Where are we going?"
"A library," Michael said. "I want to learn more about you."
"How cute."
There was that aching feeling again. Michael imagined she would have made fun of him but she was just watching the horses that passed by. He didn't understand the feelings he had for this girl or even this sword. Was she even a real person? She's been persistent to Michael to see her as an ego sword but swords don't have hands for you to hold. And swords don't smile the way she did.
"Those are adventurers," Michael pointed to them passing. "They're the ones that fight monsters, or whatever you said back then."
"Vanquishes evil."
"Yeah."
She swung his hand around. "Do you think we can become adventurers?"
Michael thought about the sight of a sword talking and riding on a horse.
"You're thinking about something stupid again, aren't you?"
Michael gulped. "No?"
"Anyways, are we there yet? Do you even know where you're going?"
He steadily looked over all the signs on the buildings down the street. His mother had just taught him the basics of a commoner, from knowing how to read and write so he wouldn't have any problems living. Apart from being a slave to learn how to construct a building without being scolded then beaten in the end, was something he had to learn himself. Or even trying to live his new life with a talking sword that could transform into a girl.
"Right there," Michael pointed. "That should be it."
This building was twice the size of the other neighboring ones. Having two pillars to hold the entrance in front and tall glass panels on all of its sides that reached all the way to the roof. Michael wasn't sure if the letters read in the library but this one definitely looked like one if he imagined it enough.
Evelyn walked towards where he directed.
Michael pulled her back. "Wait—"
A horse carriage sped past. "Move out the way!"
Michael felt a rush of anger swelling in his chest. Horses weren't even supposed to be running that fast in a public area. They were even shouted back by the other nearby commoners from almost hitting them.
Must have been more adventurers, Michael thought, they don't care for anybody else but themselves.
But Evelyn was laughing. There was that smile again, the same one that he saw back in the nobleman's room.
"You—" Michael felt the lump in throat. "You should look both ways before crossing the street."
"Okay, Michael, I got it."
That was the first time she's said his name. The sound of her voice was echoing in his head, saying his name. This felt more sincere than any other times she's been addressing him. She wasn't trying to tease or make fun of him, or having some excuse to beat him, she had meant it.
Evelyn tugged his hand again. "Come on, are we moving or not?"
He followed after her. "Yeah, coming, sorry."
Now moving closer to the supposed library, it was bigger than he thought. From afar it didn't look as big but commoners were moving in-and-out from the steps on each side. The place had three entrances and looked about three stories tall. Michael would even look tiny compared to this.
When they walked inside, it was still the same reaction. Countless shelves stacked with books and other floors just the same. Long tables and rugs to fill rooms for people to read, and beautiful archways to welcome them into another section of genres. The thought of each of these books to hold some kind of vast knowledge was something Michael found hard to grasp. The smell of ink and new pages is what he immediately caught when they entered. He thought Evelyn would be used to this but she looked just as surprised. Maybe she was similar to him after all.
They walked to a person at a front-desk. An old lady with gray hair and thick glasses with piles of paperwork stacked beside her.
The old stared at Michael, then at Evelyn like they were some children ready to cause some trouble.
"Can I help you," the librarian said. "And no, we cannot authorize you with any spellbooks without an official license."
Michael didn't know what any of that meant. "Okay."
"Are you registered with the Allux academy?"
Michael didn't know what that was either. "No?"
"Are you here on any official accord?"
"Umm," he looked around. "No?"
"Are you an adventurer? Sorry, we don't sell any food."
"I'm just looking for a book."
Evelyn shook his hand. "I don't like this hag."
The librarian glared at her.
"A book!" Michael tapped profusely at the desk. "I'm just looking for a book."
She looked like she was about to strangle him. "What book do you wish to look for?"
"I'm looking for," Michael looked at Evelyn. "Something about ego swords?"
"Something about—what?"
"Ego swords?"
The librarian scoffed. "Ego swords, alright. Fairy tales can be found on the second floor, in the third row of the first section on your left."
They headed for the second floor. There were also groups of people, young just like Michael, wearing the same uniform and in groups reading off some beefy book. Michael assumed these were students at whatever academy the librarian said, catching the older person watching over them that was probably their mentor. Michael also assumed something was bothering Evelyn as she was holding his hand tighter than usual.
"She called me a fairy tale," Evelyn muttered. "How about we show her a real fairy tale?"
Michael walked them upstairs. "I don't think that would be a good idea."
"Why not?"
"Because it looks like nobody even believes what an ego sword is. I mean, look at how old she was, and she's never heard of you."
Evelyn tried to hide her snicker.
"If someone as old as that has never heard of you, I doubt anybody else in this city knows what an ego sword is."
"Then why don't we show them?"
Michael thought about the idea of gathering the people in the center of the city's fountain, transforming Evelyn into a sword and beholding their alleged greatness. He thought about the people throwing him gold coins and praising her name for being amazed.
But he hated that idea. He also thought about the guards, barging through the crowd and ripping Evelyn out of his hands to study the talking sword. He imagined them taking them away from him, seeing that she possessed a potential that Michael didn't deserve as a slave.
Evelyn has some type of magic that Michael didn't understand yet. Back then when the mana beast unleashed that deafening roar, it killed everyone else in the arena except Michael.
Because Michael was holding the sword that probably shielded him from that magic. He didn't know how it worked but it saved his life. If he was going to be public about that, it wouldn't be long until people were looking for him just to find him out. Those nobles in the arena were probably too disorientated to see what happened so this secret was still safe between him and Evelyn.
He felt what he had between Evelyn was special. Nobody else should know about this. If they did, they would come running after him to steal it as their own.
"Michael?" Evelyn tugged his hand back. "We missed it, it was back there."
Michael turned around, snapping himself back to reality. It was the first section to his left whenever they reached the second floor. He must have been walking mindlessly. He never did this before, this was weird, he was never like this. When was the last time he actually thought hard about his future?
Evelyn walked around the shelves, running her fingers through the rows of books. She was really into touching things though Michael excused this since this was her first time actually being born.
Michael read the lettering spines of the book. Nothing about ego swords or anything similar he came across. It even felt like a fairy tale like the librarian said, just how unreal it sounded out the mouth.
"Find anything?" Evelyn said, flipping through random books. "Because all I'm seeing is just letters."
Michael kneeled down. "Nope…not anything."
"If you wanted to know more about me…you can just ask."
He looked up at her. She had her eyes glued to the pages rather than looking at Michael's face. Though, Michael did the same coming across that thought.
"You told me you don't remember anything," he said. "I thought a library could help us more about your past and how you became a sword—ow!"
She tossed another book at him. "So, you do think I'm cursed!"
"Stop throwing—hey! You're making a mess—ow! Evelyn, stop!"
She hesitated to throw another one. "I'm not cursed! I told you already, I am the sword!"
"I know, I just said that wrong. I'm sorry, please—don't throw away any more books. They have to organize everything and put it back."
She threw another at him for good measure. "Or, you can clean it up yourself."
Michael watched her storm off. He felt the urge to follow after her but it felt like he just mess it up again.
As much as he wanted to blame himself, he couldn't help but know the fact that she was something completely unordinary. Swords don't talk, they never have and neither could they transform into a girl he's starting to obsess over. Perhaps Michael was the problem after all.