Mythran's Master Of All

Ren looked at the Librarian and smiled. I guess that's why I didn't get a popup for completing the quest. Ren thought as he stood. “Where are the rest of them?”

The female dwarf smiled and walked down to the first floor. Ren followed her until she stood by the stairs. The Librarian looked around and frowned.

“Where's my desk?”

Ren walked around her, pulled the desk out from inventory, and placed it beside the stairs. Even with the books on shelves, there wasn't much room left to move around. It looked a lot better, though.

The female dwarf rummaged through her desk and pulled out an old rusted key from a drawer. “If you can find where I've hidden them, I'll give you a prize.”

Ren perked up at the offer. “Do I get to read one of these books?”

“Of course not.” She said and chuckled. “I won't compromise the reading system by letting you check one of these out.”

“Then what's the prize?”

“You'll have to find the books to find out.”

“I accept your challenge, Ma'am.” Ren said. Teepo!

“Nothing yet.” Teepo said and skittered across the floor. Ren activated Enchanted Eyes and looked around the main floor himself. He didn't see anything, either. If there's nothing out here... Ren thought and went back to the Librarian still standing by the stairs. “May I check your sleeping area?”

The female dwarf smiled, then nodded slightly.

Teepo, give it a look. Ren thought and walked over to the area in question.

“Nothing but a bed and books, Ren.” Teepo said. “Checking under the bed now.”

Ren moved aside the drape covering the doorway, to see more stacks of books. Ren ignored them, walked over to the bed, and knelt. Nothing showed up with Enchanted Eyes as he looked underneath it. He did see Teepo turning around in a circle, however.

What is it, buddy?

“There's something here.” Teepo said. “My new Search skill says so, but I don't actually see anything.”

Come on out. Ren thought. This should be enough to qualify as finding the books.

Ren picked Teepo up and went back out to the Librarian and smiled.

“The entrance is under the bed.”

The female dwarf's eyes widened at Ren's words. “Well, damn.” She walked over to her sleeping area. “I don't know how you found it.” She said and moved aside a small picture on the wall, to reveal a keyhole. “But you did, so you get the prize.” She inserted the key and turned it.

Ren barely heard a click and the bed lifted straight up to the ceiling. There wasn't a sound, and it revealed a small opening and a ladder going down.

Go Teepo! Ren thought and Teepo slipped into the hole.

“I'll answer any one question that you have.” She said.

Ren turned to her with a smirk. “I wonder what you know about Kytal?”

“K-K-Kytal?” The female dwarf looked at Ren in surprise. “How do you know that name?”

“That doesn't matter.” Ren grinned. “You have to tell me what you know.”

“Alright.” She sighed. “A bargain is a bargain.” She turned the key the other way and the bed dropped back down to cover the opening.

“What are you doing?” Ren asked.

“This may take a while.” The female dwarf said.

“That doesn't mean I can't work while you talk.” Ren said. The Librarian opened her mouth to speak, then shrugged and turned the key again to reveal the ladder.

“It's just crates, Ren.” Teepo said. “Lots and lots of crates.”

Ren climbed down and stepped away from the ladder. Teepo was right. Crates filled the space, so much so that Ren couldn't move any farther into the room. The female dwarf climbed down and squeezed into the available space next to the ladder.

“They've been down here in storage for as long as I can remember.” She said. “I've never had any room to take them out.”

Ren looked at her. “You might get a good portion of these to fit on the third floor.” He said. “If we move the shelves a little closer together on the first and second floors... I could squeeze in another row of cabinets.”

“That's an idea.” She said.

“Once we do that and fill the third floor, there should be enough room down here to make the rest of the shelves that would be needed.”

“I don't know...” The Librarian said. “...there's a lot of crates down here.”

“If it comes to it, I'll get a work crew out here to make another floor upstairs.” Ren said.

“If you're sure...” The female dwarf said.

“We won't know until we do it.” Ren said. “Are they in any kind of order?”

She shook her head. “They're completely unsorted.”

“That's both good and bad.” Ren said and grinned. “Good that I can do this.” He said and stored a dozen crates. “Bad that I can make cabinets for them, but you'll need to shift the books around on all the other shelves to sort them properly.”

The female dwarf waved her hand. “Don't worry about that part.” She said. “Once they're up on shelves, I can sort them first and then worry about integrating them into the collection.”

Ren nodded slightly. “Sounds like a plan.”

They went back upstairs and Ren shifted the cabinet shelves over a little bit, and moved a row of cabinets from the second floor down to the first, then shifted the cabinets on the second floor over, and had room for 2 more rows of cabinet shelves. He built them, filled most of them with unsorted books, and left a couple of cabinets empty between the sorted and unsorted section. The movement space could be used later for mixing them together.

They went upstairs and Ren built enough cabinet shelves to fill all of the available space. While he worked, the Librarian filled him in on everything she knew about Kytal. She was the female Deity of Water, and that everyone associated her with destruction because of how she can wear away everything; even stone. She was also known for flexibility, conformity, and for testing those that knew of her. The female dwarf told Ren that not much was known about her actual powers, but it was rumored that she had once taken human form. She had laid waste to the half of the world with a tidal wave, that covered an entire continent, because of how she was treated. By the time the Librarian was done speaking, Ren had used up nearly all of the wood he had, and then he took out the crates of books.

“Don't worry about sorting them.” The Librarian said. “Just get them on the shelves for now.”

Ren nodded slightly and loaded as many books onto the shelves as he could, without damaging them. He made several more trips down to the underground storage and loaded up more crates to take back to the third floor. He filled all the shelves he'd built, and still had several more crates in inventory.

“I need to go and get more wood.” Ren said, and the Librarian nodded slightly. She'd already started sorting the books, and Ren left her to it.

He went outside and the driver of the cart was there, kind of dozing off. “I'm sorry, it's taking a lot longer than I thought to complete this job.” Ren said, and smiled at the driver as she woke up completely.

“Where to?” She asked, and Ren told her to go to the lumberyard. She took him there and he ordered another 20,000 wood planks, 2,000 4x4s, and several crates of nails. He took what the lumberyard had available, paid 50 gold for the order, then had the driver take him to House Longore. Ren walked up the steps and the guard opened the door for him. Once inside, he was greeted with a squeak.

“Your highness!” Angeilin said.

“Ma'am.” Ren walked over to the desk. “It's nice to see you.”

“Likewise.” She said. “I'd ask you what you're doing here, but obviously you want to order more paving stones.”

“Only another 20,000 or so.” Ren smiled. “To start.”

“20... thousand?” She squeaked.

Ren nodded slightly. “I'm having houses built, and they need roads.”

“Do you want to talk to the Lady?” Angeilin asked.

“I'd like to order through you, if that's okay?”

“Of course.” She said and smiled as she took out an order form. “We've already had production going at an accelerated rate because you bought half of our stock the last time.”

Ren chuckled. “If I'd realized I'd only have enough to make a single road, I would have ordered more.”

“You needed more?” Angeilin asked.

“I had to build my workshop over the road because I'd used them up, so yeah, I could have used a lot more.” He said and smiled.

Angeilin chuckled and filled out the form. “20,000 paving stones to be delivered, with an open end contract for more, when needed.” She said, and handed Ren the form. “It'll take several days, possibly a week.”

He signed it and passed it back. “That's fine.”

“That'll be 2 platinum, 50 gold.” She said, and didn't question Ren about payment options. He grinned and handed her the payment, and she put it into her desk.

“Thank you, Ma'am.” Ren gave her a slight bow.

“Y-you're welcome, your highness.” Angeilin squeaked in surprise.

Ren left the building and told the driver to take him back to the Library. She did so, and Ren went inside and up to the third floor. He filled all of the available space with cabinets and then went back down into the storage area to gather up more crates of books. He made multiple trips and filled all the available cabinet shelves with books.

Once that was done, Ren went down into the storage area under the Library, and made more cabinets down there, and filled those as well. He made it to the other side of the room and filled that with cabinets, too. It took nearly all day, but Ren finally put the last book from the last crate, onto a shelf right at the back of the room. It was a little tight in there, as he'd had to put the shelves a lot closer together so they would fit.

Ren sighed and went back up into the female dwarf's bedroom. He looked at the books there, but since the Librarian didn't mention them, Ren didn't think they were included in the deal he'd made. He went up the 2 flights of stairs and to the third floor.

“Ma'am?” Ren said and the Librarian turned to look at him. “I'm done of the storage area.”

“You're WHAT?” She hollered and then half-ran-half-stumbled down the 2 flights of stairs and Ren heard her shout. He waited for a few minutes and then heard her clomping feet as she ran back up the stairs. Ren braced himself as she tried to tackle him into a hug again.

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“Ow!”

“My armor is still hard, Ma'am.” Ren said, and she laughed.

“You did it!” She exclaimed. “I can't believe you did it!”