Chapter 142: Chapter 140 – Price of Peace

The first thing I noticed as I walked toward the door of the bookstore was the massive size of the building.

Specifically, it was my scan that notified me of the size of the building. Visually, it appears very similar to the other buildings, but the angles of the wall as it recedes slopes discretely and tastefully farther up and out.

Without a doubt, the space will appear much larger inside than outside… though, in this case, it will mostly be a visual trick rather than spacial manipulation.

 

Entering the store, there are a series of stairs leading deep downward. Showing that even with the increased space aboveground, they are utilizing even more space underground.

Finally reaching the bottom of the stairs, a grand entranceway reveals itself. There appears to be this world’s equivalent to a receptionist, but she gulps and nods her head, motioning to the open doors to her left and right.

At the far corner of the bookstore, I can see a ramp for equipment and books' transportation leading off into the hidden back of the store.

 

All along the walls are bookshelves, stacked many times upon each other. Books upon books, upon books.

There are so many ways to climb them, with some being in the form of ladders, steps, and in some cases, forming a kind of scaffolding that hangs off the side of the shelves.

Laid out in the open are a bunch of tables and chairs, which are pretty similar in appearance to the ones you would find in a normal café. The major difference is that they are so spread out that there are up to 40 meters between each table.

There are squares surrounding the tables and going out to the middle of the space between each of them.

It was honestly confusing until I saw an area that already had a group of wealthy people.

To be specific, this wide-open space was meant for them and their entourages.

 The group literally set up their own areas, complete with soft music, sensual dancers, and food. They seem to have purchased an item that blocks sound from leaving the area.

My scan reveals it is a service that the bookstore provides, but also mandates that you purchase it if you are bringing a setup for your own enjoyment. Being able to afford this setup is part of the prestige of being here.

Basically, it allows higher status people in the area to flex their wealth, connections, and assets publicly. Obviously, the bookstore makes quite a bit of money from this form of competition.

 On my side, I shouldn't need any of that. Since they assume that I'm from that culture, I can just work according to those expectations.

Just in case, I use my scan to briefly review the actions and mannerisms that a person from the Plains of Akir would know and do.

Should I use the greetings and actions that a noble would use?

No.

If on the off chance that I meet someone from the Plains, there's so many ways that could go wrong. At that point, I would have to explain why I was impersonating a noble.

And I, personally, would not like to get hunted down by Maws.

It would be better to just use all the generic greetings and actions, while letting people make assumptions on their own. Now if they question me directly about it, I’ll just say the truth.

After deciding on this, I head to the main desk, to the right of the entranceway.

 Contrary to everyone else, the clerk at the desk has a sharp-eyed look. They give off the air of an expert and I suspect they are higher tiered cultivator, possibly above Qi Condensation.

The entire way into the building, I controlled each of my muscles to not give any tells of what I plan to do. His eyes watched my every move, looking for my reactions and other tendencies.

As I approached and locked eyes with him, I made my body ‘subconsciously’ begin the Plains of Akir greeting, which is partially crossing your arms, then opening one arm out welcomingly. I paused the motion, just before changing to the upper class greeting for this country, which is cupping your hand over your fist. A similar greeting to the one that was used in ancient China.

I can see his eyebrow raise before he says, “Hello Esteemed Sir. How can I help you today?”

“Hi, I would like to purchase a book that goes over the customs of this country and also this local area. Do you guys have a singular book that would fit my needs?”

He doesn't even give a moment to think before replying in the affirmative.

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“Unfortunately, we do not have a single book that would contain everything you would need. However, we do have two books, that together would give you most of what you would need to know. Would that be a satisfactory alternative?”

I give myself a moment to think before giving a confirming nod.

 An assistant to his left runs to the shelves to grab the books.

As they do so, the clerk inquires if I would like to claim a table read at. Of course, I answer in the affirmative.

 From this point, the interactions are pretty standard for any type of service. They bring the books over to me; I pay an overpriced 5 silver for the both of them, and they try to upsell me for more services.

Unfortunately, the upsell is the use of the table in this area.

Since I really don't have a choice, I pay the 1 big silver cost to be able to rent this table for the day.

$1000.

To sit at a table. For a day.

The books I can live with.

I assumed they would be overpriced, because of the nature of having a large library to call upon, with people to quickly find the book for me. But, a table?

I'm going to be sitting here all day and night, to get my money’s worth.

 

 As I settle into my seat in this area, they bring over some cups of some really amazing tea, which makes me feel a minuscule amount better about the decision.

Surprisingly, the thing that makes me feel best about this, is the peace and quiet. As I walked over to the table, I passed a barrier of some sort that reduced the sound around the room. Not stifling, just limiting outside sound. My guess is that they covered the whole building in this.

I haven't really noticed it throughout the whole time I've been here, but I’ve never really been in a place on Privilon that truly has a really low amount of environmental sound.

 The tunnels had a constant sound. Of creaking and groaning. Of creatures and spiders scurrying from place to place.

The streets had the sounds of people living their lives. Also creaking and groaning.

Even the carriage had the sound of movement and nature.

 

Here in the library… just silence. Blessed silence.

 

I relax into an interesting book, setting my scan to handle things in the background automatically, and sip my tea.

 

Hmm… maybe this was worth $1000?

 

…nah.

 

 

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