Chapter 3322: Missing Records, Unofficial History

After waiting for nearly half an hour, just as Xia Duo's patience was about to run out, an Elf whose attire was clearly out of place in this tavern walked in from outside.

In an instant, the somewhat noisy environment inside the tavern fell silent, and more than half of the guests immediately wanted to stand up and leave, but the Elf was blocking the entrance, and for a moment, no guest dared to actually walk past.

However, while the guests inside did not go out, the newly arrived Elf faced no such restrictions; he walked quickly into the tavern hall, scanned the room, and finally let his gaze fall on Xia Duo.

But he quickly looked away; if one were not observing deliberately, one would not even notice the pause. At the same time, a private Sending had already begun:

"May I ask if you are Mage Asuosi? Lord Osmantus sent me."

"I am," Xia Duo replied, then asked, "What did he say?"

"My lord asked me to bring you into the Fanxing Library. You need to change your attire before entering. It is not convenient here, so please follow me, sir."

"Mm."

Xia Duo agreed, then tossed a Gold Coin as a tip onto the table and followed behind the Elf, who clearly bore the marks of a Noble, quickly leaving the tavern.

On the way, Xia Duo asked the other party how Osmantus intended to let him enter the Fanxing Library secretly. The Elf was well-prepared for this question and, without even hesitating, answered Xia Duo immediately:

"For the past six months, the Mythallar technician responsible for verifying visitor Permission Levels at the Fanxing Library has been a nephew of my lord. He can delay reporting your entry into the library until the end of the month at the latest—provided, of course, that you do not take the initiative to expose your identity."

"You know who I am?" Xia Duo was suddenly a bit curious.

"I do, but today you are just Mage Asuosi."

"Alright!"

Xia Duo did not ask further and even slowed his pace, trailing behind the other party from a distance. After all, he was currently in human form; although he had used a disguise and it was not his true appearance, walking with an Elf was still quite conspicuous.

Soon, the two walked through two blocks one after the other and finally arrived at a quiet community built on the end of a branch. On the way, Xia Duo had changed his form and appearance again, becoming a Moon Elf with golden pupils.

Once inside the community, the Elf led Xia Duo to a private villa surrounded by green trees. A whole family of Elves lived in the villa, but Xia Duo's arrival did not disturb them.

Under the control of Osmantus's subordinate, Xia Duo seemed to enter another dimension of the villa; until he had finished changing his clothes and decorations and left, this family had not noticed a thing.

After leaving the villa, seemingly sensing Xia Duo's confusion, the Elf took the initiative to explain: "The one living there just now is my lord's mistress and her family."

"..."

Xia Duo was speechless for a moment, but also became more curious. He asked the Elf: "What is your relationship with Osmantus? How could he even tell you about the existence of his mistress?"

Elf tradition advocates monogamy, but such traditions, or even rules, could never become a burden for those in power. Yet, to display his violation of tradition to an outsider so unreservedly still shocked Xia Duo somewhat.

He felt that perhaps this was the true nature of a diplomat, and perhaps a true portrayal of the upper echelons of Elf society: all traditions and rules are secondary; power and interests are fundamental.

However, regarding this question from Xia Duo, the Elf showed a hesitant attitude for the first time, but after a moment of hesitation, he still told the truth:

"I am the illegitimate son of Lord Osmantus."

"..."

Xia Duo was shocked again. So there really are Elves in this world who use their illegitimate children as tools! It must be said that in just this short while today, his impression of Osmantus had shifted repeatedly.

But he was also a bit puzzled: why would the other party do this?

He did not believe that all of this was the Elf's own doing. If there had been no explicit consent from Osmantus, he would not believe that an illegitimate son treated as a subordinate tool would have such audacity!

Unable to figure it out, Xia Duo stopped thinking about it; it was not an urgent matter anyway.

Soon, Xia Duo followed behind the Elf who claimed to be Osmantus's illegitimate son and arrived at the level where the Fanxing Shengdian was located on the upper branches.

The Fanxing Library is an auxiliary building of the Fanxing Shengdian and is also a public library open to the outside world.

Come to think of it, Xia Duo was not entirely unfamiliar with this place; he had previously come to the Fanxing Shengdian to attend the commendation banquet after the Meitelier incident.

It was just that at the time, he had not expected that one day he would secretly head to the Fanxing Library.

Although it was an auxiliary building of the Fanxing Shengdian, in terms of floor area alone, it was in no way inferior to the main temple. Walking along the way, although Taiweimansa was currently under martial law, there were still Elves constantly entering and exiting the entrance of the Fanxing Library.

And looking at the attire of those Elves, they were mainly Commoners. After asking Aolin—that is, Osmantus's illegitimate son—Xia Duo learned that members of the Upper Families of Taiweimansa almost never come to the Fanxing Library.

It was not that they looked down on the collection of the public library, but that members of the Upper Families could remotely access the Fanxing Library while sitting at home and view various classics and materials according to the Permission Level they possessed.

This was unexpected for Xia Duo. He had originally thought that the current era no longer had the form of remote library access like in ancient times; he did not expect that Yierlan had actually preserved it.

In ancient times, this form of library was very common, and there were even special types that only supported remote access and did not support offline reading.

But this method of remote access had a higher risk of Permission Level leakage compared to ordinary offline reading, and the relevant permissions could even be remotely hijacked.

Unless one had great confidence in one's own technology, rashly opening up remote access would only add a bit of gossip and ridicule to the near-stagnant Magic world.

It seems that Yierlan is quite confident in its field of remote Permission Level verification, which inevitably ignited a passion in Xia Duo's heart to compete with them.

But forget it this time; he had serious business to attend to. If there is a chance next time, he must definitely test the quality of this library in terms of Protection against remote intrusion.

As Aolin said, as long as Xia Duo did not show anything unusual and was not reported by other visitors, he would not attract any attention.

These visitors also came to the library to find the materials they wanted, and under normal circumstances, they would not cause trouble. In the First Floor Hall of the library, Xia Duo saw several remote Projections with only their upper bodies floating.

This was the way members of the Upper Families of Taiweimansa remotely accessed the library, using Spell Projections with specific functions provided by the library.

Even these Upper Family members did not do anything to the Commoner visitors who were also in the library; in fact, these Upper Family members could do something.

For example, Banishment.

Of course, strictly speaking, it was a request for the library to provide a quieter environment. In this case, directly banishing the Commoner visitors became the most convenient approach for the library side.