I was tired. Rubbing my eyes, I looked around. I was standing in front of the library again.

Every part of my body ached. The side effects from the 'water' had yet to be completely alleviated.

Furthermore, the sudden shifts in temperatures put heavy stress on my body.

'.....This is even worse than regular training.'

I'd usually be tired after training, which was extremely intense, but this was something else.

"You're here early."

Coming from the other side was Leon. With glaring black circles beneath his eyes, he walked over with a hunched back.

'Looks like he didn't have it good.'

In fact, he looked to have had it worse than me which was surprising.

"How are you feeling?"

".....Not good."

Leon replied while leaning his hand against the wall of the library building.

"I-Uekh!"

I stepped back.

He looked like he was about to puke.

Raising his finger at me, Leon's face scrunched up. He was struggling to keep himself from puking.

Staring at him, for a moment, a dangerous thought crossed my mind.

My hands started to tingle and my face twitched.

'Just one wouldn't hurt, right? It's only to see if he can puke...'

I bit my lips and shook my head. No, this-

Opening my eyes, I noticed that Leon was staring at me. His eyes were bloodshot and his expression looked grim. It was almost as though he could read my thoughts.

He shook his head.

"Spare me."

"..."

I licked my lips.

My body started to tremble again.

Leon's eyes turned more bloodshot.

"What do you ca"

"Bleeergh!"

He puked.

The words that were about to leave my mouth stopped and I looked at him in confusion. Leon continued to puke for the next couple of seconds before he went on to wipe the corner of his mouth.

"D-done."

At the same time, he glared at me.

".....I didn't say anything."

"You were about to."

"But I didn't."

"Because I beat you to it."

"Tsk."

I clicked my tongue.

What a pity.

Either way, looking around, I saw that we had created a bit of a commotion. Without hesitation, the two of us entered the building.

There weren't many people inside just like last time.

The surroundings were dimly lit, and the librarian stood behind a wooden desk with a book in her hand. Taking note of our appearance, her brows creased a little. It looked like she remembered us. In the end, she didn't say anything else and I sighed in relief.

Thankfully, what I did last time wasn't enough for her to completely ban us.

Taking a seat, I looked at Leon.

"Let's continue where we left off."

".....Yes."

Still glaring at me, Leon turned his back and headed for the botanical area. On the other hand, dropping my stuff on the table, I headed for the Monster Classification area.

There were over a thousand different books in front of me.

Thankfully, a major part of them had illustrations which made it a lot easier for me to skim through.

'It's too bad the librarian doesn't know much.'

I had asked her yesterday if she knew anything about the Tree of Ebonthorn, but she shook her head. It was for that reason that we had no choice but to look for the information for ourselves.

The Guilds didn't grant us access to their library, and I doubt anyone would bother helping us with the information given how busy they were.

In the end, this was the only way.

Flip

Casually flipping through pages, I looked for any clues.

What surprised me the most as I looked through the pages was the amount of monsters that were logged into them.

The numbers were ridiculous.

"Huam."

Leaning my back against one of the shelves, I continued to flip the pages over. The more I flipped, the sleeper I became.

There were so many books, and yet, not a single one had the thing that I needed.

"Not this one as well."

I had just placed another book on the shelf when I paused.

"....."

Looking at the other side, two yellow eyes met my gaze. Standing on the opposite side was Aoife who looked at me with a strange look.

"....."

"....."

The two of us stood face to face for a brief moment before I broke the silence.

"What?"

"...You like the library a lot, don't you?"

"Do I...?"

Thinking about it, I did spend a lot of time in the library back in the Academy.

"I guess I do."

Aoife nodded and the conversation ended there. Or so I thought. Just as I had turned to look at another book, her voice echoed once again.

"Are you looking for anything specific?"

"...I am."

"Oh."

Once again she nodded, and silence returned over the surroundings. It was awkward, but it was mainly because we both sucked at making conversation. I once again shifted my attention to the book when I stopped and looked up.

Aoife was still staring at me.

What in the world...

"Do you need help?"

".....Why?"

"Uh, just..."

Aoife scratched the back of her head.

"....You looked very serious. I thought you might need help."

I squinted my eyes.

"What's the real reason?"

"What?"

Aoife's voice slightly rose.

It was subtle, but it was enough for me to pick up. Closing the book in my hand, I sighed and placed the book back.

I then looked at Aoife straight in the eyes. She met my gaze back, but eventually, her eyes lowered and she similarly sighed.

"Alright, fine."

She pinched the middle of her brows.

Looking back slightly, her gaze fell on a certain person in the distance. With shoulder-length black hair and a long nose, he sat by one of the seats while reading a book.

There seemed to be no irregularities with him at first glance.

Glancing at Aoife in confusion, she subtly whispered.

"He's the relative of one of the missing people."

".....Oh?"

My interest had finally piqued and I turned to take a better look at him.

We hadn't been completely briefed about the situation since it was still training time for us, but from what I knew, the team that had gone missing comprised more than thirty people. They were a mix of all fifteen guilds.

"Are you stalking him?"

"Uh?"

Aoife's head flicked back to me.

"Stalking? What are you talking about? I'd never do that. Why are you accusing me of doing that?"

"....."

I cocked my head at her.

She spoke unusually fast. It was almost as if she was trying hard to justify herself.

"....Because that's what you're currently doing."

"No, this is just me getting ahead of the situation. All I did was follow him from his residence to here."

"Yeah, no. It's stalking."

"....."

Aoife glared at me.

Subtly looking back, she brought her face closer and whispered.

"It's not stalking. And let's say it is... What's wrong with that?"

".....Uh?"

As if realizing what she had said, Aoife covered her mouth.

Taking a deep breath, she moved her hands away.

"I feel like there's something wrong with the situation."

"....."

"No, rather than the situation, it's more like the supply station. I've had a weird feeling since coming here. I thought that by checking with the victim's relatives, I'd be able to find something."

"How is that going for you?"

"....I've yet to find something."

Shaking her head, she picked one of the books.

"That's why I'm here."

Opening it, she started to read through it.

I stared at her for a good couple of seconds before taking a book of my own and opening it.

'.....It looks like she also felt that something was wrong.'

Not just Leon, but Aoife too. However, unlike Leon, I wasn't sure if Aoife's 'feelings' had anything to do with the tree.

Looking up, I briefly glanced at the man that Aoife was targeting.

He looked normal at a glance, with no noticeable signs of anything being out of order.

'She said something about being one of the relatives of the missing victims...'

Was there something wrong with the victims?

I thought about her words for a close minute before eventually shaking my head. For now, I needed to focus on finding more clues about the tree.

That was my main priority right now.

Leaning against the bookshelf while flipping the pages of the book in my hand, I spoke,

"Tree of Ebonthorn."

"Hm?"

Aoife glanced at me.

I kept my gaze on the book.

"You asked me if I needed help. I need information on that."

"....."

Taking note of Aoife's silence, I looked back to meet her eyes. With a subtle frown over her features, she looked to be in deep thought. Then, as if sensing my gaze, she focused her attention back on me.

"Why are you looking into that?"

".....Are you going to help me or not?"

"No, it's..."

Aoife closed the book in her hand.

"....If you need the information desperately, I know of a way."

"Oh?"

I closed my book.

"How?"

"Did you forget who I am?"

"Ah."

"I can just go to the Guilds and have them tell me anything that they know about it. If you give me an hour, I'll be able to get all the information."

"That quickly?"

"Yes."

Wow.

....I didn't know how to feel. Staring at Aoife, I suddenly realized something.

'Princesses are really useful.'

"Are you thinking about something rude?"

"No."

I kept my face from changing. However, inside, I was shocked.

How in the world did she know?

I was just about to say something else when all of a sudden, the color around me started to change, turning a shade of red.

It all happened in the blink of an eye. In one moment, the world was normal, and in the next second, everything had turned red.

"Uh?"

All heads flicked towards the windows.

There I could see the people outside looking up at the sky with pale faces. Some even pointed at the sky while others started to run back.

I stared at the scene for a few seconds before Leon appeared a few meters ahead.

He looked to be on high alert.

Looking at us, his gaze fell on Aoife for a brief moment before he looked back at me. With just a glance, we all knew what was going on.

How could we not when we had gone under training for it just today?

That was when Leon slowly muttered.

"Crimson Shade."

WOOOM~

An ominous pulse swept the station.

"Ukh..!"

"Kh!"

A scorching heat suddenly enveloped the surroundings.

It came so fast and so suddenly that hardly anyone had any time to react. Thankfully, we were quick to react due to our training.

Without hesitation, I channeled my mana and the heat dissipated.

A cool sensation wrapped over my body.

Still, my expression was grim.

I knew that I wouldn't last more than an hour like this.

"Akh!!"

"H-help!"

The screams of the people outside rang. While a major part of the people here were superhumans who were stronger than me, there were some weak civilians who were natural citizens of the place.

They were unable to protect themselves from the sudden heat wave.

"Haaa... Haaa..."

With a rough breath, I looked at the crimson world around me.

I had just turned to look at Leon when I suddenly realized that I couldn't move.

Lowering my head, I stared at my feet and my entire body shuddered. Covering my ankles, and reaching for my knees were a familiar set of roots.

Unlike before when they only covered my ankles, they had now reached for my knees.

Tangling my legs, they kept me from moving.

"Ukh!"

I tried to move, but my body remained fixed on the spot.

"Haaa... Haaa..."

My heartbeat started to quicken, and notifications flashed before my very eyes.

Lvl 2. [Fear] EXP + 0.05%

Lvl 2. [Fear] EXP + 0.02%

Before I knew it, fear had started to root deep within my mind.

One that grew worse with the red that covered the world.

The Crimson Shade had fallen.