Chapter 10 A Visit To The Library

After turning the cat in to Grace to complete the quest, Lily and Toby walked into the tavern and seen him standing there covered in blood. While standing there with Grace, Thomas turned to them and seen them staring at him in shook and fear. Lily quickly ran towards him as she asked, "Are you alright?" Grace glanced at her as she said, "He's fine… and also… this is kind of my fault." Toby walked over towards him as he asked, "What did he do?" Grace pointed to the cat as she said, "He was searching for the cat and ended up finding it in the sewer." Toby flinched as he nervously asked, "You said this blood isn't his right?" Grace nodded as she said, "Yes, … he killed roughly sixty giant rats." Toby flinched as he said, "S-sixty?" Toby glanced at Lily as he bent down and whispered, "Are you sure he's normal?" Lily glared at him as she angrily said, "Of course he's normal!" Toby glanced at him as he said, "Are you certain? We went in together and struggled to defeat three, by the sound of it, he just walked in and killed sixty of them accidentally." Lily stared at him as she said, "That's not true, he's clearly injured to!" Grace stared at them as she said, "It might be because the giant rats can only detect light." Toby paused as he said, "That still doesn't explain how he got through so easily." Grace stared at Thomas's metal plate for a moment and then took it as she said, "I can figure out how he did it while I get his reward." Toby nodded as he said, "Yes please, it would be very helpful." Once Grace left, Lily began to inspect Thomas and noticed his arm and his sides could use some medical attention. Lily then glared at him as she asked, "Weren't you supposed to stay at the inn." As Thomas heard Lily ask this, he immediately averted his eyes and his ears drooped down. Toby put his hand on her head as he said, "Don't bother scolding him, despite being injured, he did a lot more than ten times better than us." Lily continued to glare at him as she said, "Next time, I'm gonna follow you back to the inn."

After a few minutes, Grace came back holding the metal plate as she said, "The reason the rats didn't do much damage to him… is because he didn't use a light." Grace handed him the metal plate as she asked, "Are you by chance able to see in the dark?" Thomas stared at her with a confused look as he said, "Dark?" Lily stared at him as she said, "I've used the word a few times, but I don't think he knows what it means yet?" Grace stared at his eyes intently as she said, "He most likely can… otherwise he wouldn't have been able to navigate the sewers… or he would've died to the rats for trying to use a light." Toby sighed as he said, "So that makes this the third time he's nearly died since I've met him." Lily glanced at Toby as she said, "This is technically the fourth for me since he was on the brink of death when we got him." Toby stared at her as he asked, "And how long have you known him for?" Lily stared at Thomas as she said, "Probably a little over a month." Toby stared at Thomas with a look of pity as he said, "That's gotta suck, it's like he's always close to death." Grace stared at them while holding a sack of coins as she said, "There is a total of one hundred and fifty-four copper coins in this bag, two for each rat you've killed and ten for finding the cat." Toby flinched as he said, "T-that's quite a bit of cash compared to what we got." Thomas stood there staring at the bag for a short while before grabbing it after hearing Lily say, "It's money, you should put it in your storage, so you don't lose it, it's very valuable." Thomas stared at the sack for a moment before storing it and all the money in it. Once he did this, Toby asked "You wouldn't have happened to leave the corpses down, there did you?" Grace immediately cut in as she said, "He did, he never collected even a single one, he also didn't collect any of their parts." Toby stared at her as he asked, "Would it be alright if we went down to get them?" Grace nodded as she said, "Yes that is allowed, and there shouldn't be many more giant rats down there, or at least there shouldn't be any for another month."

Toby seemed pleased with this as he said, "I'll be gone for a while." Once Toby was gone, Lily said, "He must really need the money." Lily then stared at Thomas as she angrily said, "Also, I'm still mad at you for lying to me." Thomas flinched as he said, "Fine." Lily pointed to his arm as she asked, "How is that fine, you're bleeding a lot!" Grace glanced at his feet for a moment and seen a red puddle forming as she said, "Perhaps you should get that looked at." Lily grabbed his uninjured arm and began to drag him back to the inn as she said, "Come on, Cali can help." Upon arriving at the inn, Lily left Thomas in front of the inn so that he wouldn't leave blood everywhere as she brought Cali outside. Cali stared at him for a moment before sighing and saying, "I knew this would happen." Lily stared at Thomas as she said, "I told him to go back to the inn, but instead of listening, he went into the sewers and hurt." Cali went back inside the inn as she said, "Wait here a minute, I'll go get Jason." Lily quickly grabbed her arm as she said while panicking, "Please don't tell him!" Cali stared at her for a moment and then glanced at the door as Jason walked out carrying a bottle of disinfectant and some bandages as he disappointingly said, "I'm already aware of what you two were doing, Cali told me as soon as you left." Lily stared at him nervously as she said, "I-I'm sorry." Jason stared at Thomas for a moment as he said, "He's still in better condition than when we first found him… although his condition right now isn't very good either." Jason glanced at his arm as he said, "That might need a little more attention than just a few bandages." Once Jason pulled him into the tavern, Cali glanced at a Lily and said, "Honestly, it's a miracle he's still alive." Lily nodded as she said, "Yeah… but I wish he'd relax for a while and wait for his injuries to heal completely." Cali thought for a moment as she said, "If that's the case, I have an idea."

After about half an hour, Thomas and Jason came down the stairs and were greeted by Cali immediately with a smile as she said, "Lily plans to take him somewhere." Jason stared at her with a worried look as he asked, "And what exactly are they doing?" Cali grabbed Thomas by his uninjured arm and began to drag him across the inn to Lily as she said, "Don't worry, it's not dangerous." Upon reaching Lily, Cali said, "Alright now you two can go." After leaving, Lily excitedly said, "I spend a lot of time where we're going." After walking for a short while they stopped in front of a building with a book sign above the door, Lily immediately pointed to it as she said, "We're here, this place is called a library and has a lot of books about all sorts of things." Thomas stared at the sign for a moment and then entered with Lily, who quickly rushed over to a shelf. Thomas stood at the entrance for a while looking around as he saw a lady standing behind a desk who greeted him kindly and dozens upon dozens of shelves with hundreds of books on them and on the tables and the floor. He stared at the library lady as she said, "This is my first time ever seeing you here, looking for anything specific?" Lily glanced at her as she said, "He's with me." The librarian wore glasses had a rather short stature but still taller than Thomas by about an inch or two, her hair was purple and fairly long going slightly past her shoulders and her clothes were rather plain. She smiled at him as she said, "It's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Lara." Lily glanced at her as she said, "He's still learning how to talk properly, but his name is Thomas." Lara nodded as she said, "I'll keep that in mind." As Thomas walked towards Lily, Lara said, "Please try not to get blood on the books." Thomas glanced at his injured arm and seen that the bandage was red and still showing through the tear in his jacket as he nodded, not saying a word and then reaching for a book.