5 Library and... fight?
"So what are your plans for today?" A tanned man with red eyes asked Burne. He looked like a typical Ishvalan male but his black hair set him apart from the rest.
"I will visit the library and then explore the city." Burne replied as he took a bite of the cutlet. "This is delicious!" He exclaimed.
"This was my mother's recipe." The man said with a grin.
His mother was from Xing which was the reason for his black hair. And that is also the reason he treated everyone as equals no matter their ethnicity.
"Lena. Bring some ale." He called for his wife.
Lena was the receptionist that Burne met the previous day.
The woman came with a jug of ale and placed it on the table. "Here."
The couple was very sweet in Burne's opinion. The woman was not any special, she was a typical Ishvalan woman but the man was different. He told Burne that he fought in the previous civil war but had to retire when he took a gunshot right at his left shoulder. That made it extremely difficult for him to continue his service. So after retiring, he opened this inn.
"Be careful on your way though." Lena warned. "The library is towards the west and there are a lot of ruffians in that area. You being a foreigner will make for an easy target so be careful."
"I will." Burne said.
"Adolf will get you there if needed." She said, worried about the boy's safety.
This made Burne chuckle. "No, it's alright." He said. "I will be careful."
"If you say so." The man, Adolf, shrugged. "Most people don't travel to Ishval often because of the tension between the nations, and I wouldn't like losing the only customer in the entire week. So, don't mess with them."
Burne smiled and nodded.
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'Lena and Adolf were right, there are indeed a lot of ruffians.' Burne thought as he quietly left the alleyway with a robe over his head, making sure that he didn't get spotted.
After walking for a few minutes, he found the library. It was old and in dire need of renovation. But Burne didn't care as long as the books were in good condition.
He entered the library and found no one inside of it.
"Hello?" He called and waited but no one was around. He got a little annoyed as he would have to return again later if there was no one in the library.
But thankfully, he didn't have to.
"Coming!" He saw a boy, nearly the same age as him— dashing towards the counter. The boy had bright red eyes, tanned skin and white hair which proved that he was a native Ishvalan.
"Sorry for being late. I was sorting the books on the top floor." He said.
"Ah, don't worry about it." Burne said, trying to play it cool. "I wanted to access the books about Ishvalan history... if that's allowed." He asked politely.
Some of the books in the libraries were often restricted by the government and military of that state and at times even some of the normal books were restricted. That's why Burne made sure to ask if the history books were accessible… Especially since he was a foreigner.
"Sure." The boy smiled. "The history books are on the right side of the bottom floor, the geography books are at the left of it and the alchemic books are on the second floor. But the third floor is restricted to the general public. Even I am not allowed on that floor, so please don't try to go in there." He said.
"You are not allowed?" Burne asked in confusion. "But aren't you the librarian?" He asked as usually the librarians were excluded from the no-entry rule.
"I am not a librarian if that's what you meant." The boy said. "I am just helping my mother as she is busy with some other stuff today."
'That makes sense.' Burne thought. "Thank you." He said.
"Well if you need anything, just call me. My name is Ammon." He said and Burne nodded.
"Alright." Saying that, Burne walked towards the history section.
The library was quite big but it didn't take him long to find the book that he needed because of the proper book arrangements.
"Ishval: The Land of Sands." Burne read out the name and started to read its content.
Ishval was a land famous for its mines. Gold and coal could be found in various parts of Ishval in the past and it had been a major supplier of those minerals for a long time. They have been a peace-loving country but in order to protect the people from those that attacked them for their minerals, the Ishvalans started to dwell in alchemy and martial arts. Those that couldn't use alchemy became martial artists but those that could, integrated martial arts with it— forming a branch of alchemy that specialised in offence. The users of such alchemy came to be known as warrior monks.
"Interesting." Burne mumbled as he continued to read the book.
Soon this style of alchemy started spreading to various nations after a certain warrior monk defected from Ishval and started to train other nations. Xing became one of the most popular users of this style and to this day the nation follows the same principle of that alchemy. The rest of the nations started to experiment with this form and came up with various styles, abandoning the true form of alchemy.
But with the passage of time, people have forgotten the style and there are very few that use this ancient style. It is also very difficult to learn the style as a person requires to tattoo alchemic circles in his or her body to use it in battles. The Xing nation has restricted this form of alchemy and only the royal family is allowed to learn it. And at this moment only a few Ishvalans follow this form.
"Their location is hidden huh…"
Burne knew that every nation and every person had their own style of alchemy, similar to the warrior monks of Ishval. He was more skilled in elemental alchemy compared to the rest and currently, he was training in organic alchemy. The organic alchemy, which focused on carbons and their links was extremely difficult.
Burne thought of focusing on elemental alchemy but he wanted to try out organic alchemy for the time being.
"Maybe I should check out the alchemy section." Burne said to himself before deciding to walk to the second floor. But his steps came to a halt as he heard an explosion outside.
Surprised by the sudden noise, he decided to check it out.
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Burne rushed out and found the front of the library covered in debris. Looking straight he saw the boy that he met in the library standing against four men. Seven people laid on the floor— unconscious, while the boy was covered in sweat and was huffing endlessly.
"Give up. You can't win against us. You are already tired." One of the men said. "Give us the money and we will leave you alone."
"No! *Huff* This money belongs *Huff* to my mother." The boy was tired yet he kept fighting. "So go away!"
Yelling at the men, he pushed his hand on the ground as three spikes sprouted out from the ground and shot towards the men.
The tallest of the four clicked their tongues before following the same motion as the boy. But this time an earthen wall appeared that stopped the spikes.
"You are tired, give up!" The man roared.
From the back, Burne was looking at their fight, clearly impressed at their skill.
Their conjuring was slow but they still managed to create those spikes and walls quite easily. He noticed that the boy had a glove over his hand with an alchemic circle, while the men had alchemic circles drawn over their sleeves as well as the gloves.
'The boy is strong, with just a single circle he has been going toe-to-toe with those four.' He looked at the unconscious men on the floor. 'And he even knocked out seven of them.'
But he sighed when he noticed the state of the boy. 'He will be severely injured if I don't intervene though…'
Looking at the boy who was shaking his head, he sighed. The boy had denied giving in to the men's demands and he knew that they were not going to let him go unscathed.
"Then pay!" The men roared and attacked the boy as four spikes shot from near their feet.
Sighing at the scenario, Burne decided to intervene. 'I can't just let a guy get killed in front of my eyes.'
"Not so fast, guys." He called out before tapping on the ground gently with his right foot. "I wouldn't act so rowdy if it was me."
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[A/N: Let me know about any errors or sentences that you find weird through comments or paragraph comments.]
[P.S. Author's rant: Why is everything in France so bloody expensive?!?]
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