Chapter 86 - How Dare You!

While Cecil was 'speed' reading through the books a wizened old man was observing him. Disapproval was written all over the old man's face.

At first the old man was only curious at how focused Cecil was at reading the books, it wasn't like the other students who only looked at the title and contents page before putting the book back on the shelf.

But when Cecil began his 'speed reading' the old man's feelings of curiosity slowly turned into irritation and disapproval.

Cecil was almost halfway through the aisle when the old man could no longer stand the ignorance and blatant disrespect Cecil was showing towards the books.

He walked forward to confront the youngster and tell him off. In the old man's opinion, it was better to just ignore the books like the rest of the students did after reading the title than to flip through the books in haste.

In the old man's eyes, there was no way the young boy could possibly gleam any sort of information with the hasty way he was flipping through the book.

The books were pretty aged so he feared that Cecil's way of handling the books would cause some damages to them and with the way Cecil was flipping through each page in less than a second, nobody would think that Cecil was actually reading and instead would think that he was only playing around.

Cecil had just finished reading another manual and was about to put the book back onto the shelf when he noticed a shadow towering over him.

Cecil looked up and saw a wizened elf wearing large rimmed glasses. Behind the lenses was a pair of eyes sharply glaring down at him...?

Cecil was puzzled looking at the old man, he was even more puzzled at how the old man had approached without him detecting his presence.

"May I help you Elder?" Cecil asked politely.

"Boy... you better show some respect to the books inside this library!" The old man sharply replied.

For an old man, he was speaking with vigor just like a middle aged person.

Cecil smiled back in response and replied in a heartbeat, "Of course! This place... it's a treasure trove of knowledge! I wish I could spend my time reading all the books inside!"

"Eh?"

Cecil's immediate and serious response made the old man do a double take. He saw in the eyes of the boy that he was speaking truthfully and his words were indeed his heartfelt feelings. However, it wasn't the response he was expecting from the boy. It seemed that he would have to reevaluate his opinion of the boy.

Just his words of the library being a 'treasure trove' made the old man want to smile. While he was deep in thought, Cecil began continuing his reading.

Cecil bowed towards the old man and picked up another book to read. As usual he had activated hyper-sensitivity and began flipping through the pages, reading each pages contents with utmost attention.

To him it was reading, but to the old man it just looked like Cecil was flipping through the pages without even actually reading anything.

The way Cecil was 'reading' the book caused a vein to pop on the old man's head and his expression turned unsightly. He began glowering at Cecil.

'Even after what this young man said about the library, this is how he acts?! Still young, but this is how he acts? Completely disregarding me and blatantly disrespecting this library! How–'

"DARE YOU!" The old man raised his voice.

His shout attracted the attention of the other students that were still on the first floor of the library. Cecil who was next to the old man was even more startled.

He was reading when the old man suddenly shouted. Cecil looked up at the old man in confusion. He saw that the old man was glowering and he turned to look behind him.

'Weird? No one's behind... is he somehow mad at me?'

Cecil could only look back at the old man in bewilderment.

"Is something wrong Elder?" Cecil asked, but he was met with an angry reply.

"How dare you boy!"

"W-was it something I said?"

"It's something you did!" The old man huffed angrily.

"Uh... uhhmm... Wha?" Cecil could only stutter in response, he honestly didn't know what he did wrong. Actually, did he even do anything wrong? All he was doing since earlier was reading through the books.

"C-can you tell me what I did wrong Elder?" By the time Cecil asked this, the other students who were curious at who was being yelled at had gathered near the aisle he and the old man were in.

"I'll tell you boy! It's the blatant disrespect that you are showing towards the books, this library, and to me!"

"D-disrespect? But Elder, I did nothing wrong?! I've only been reading since I've entered the library!" Cecil said in defense.

'What disrespect is this old man talking about? I haven't done anything to disrespect anyone! M-maybe the old man has gone senile?'

Thinking of this, Cecil was enlightened in the wrong way. He put on an understanding expression and thought that he should just let the 'senile' old man berate him.

"What's with that face?! I haven't gone senile you fool!"

"Ueh??" Cecil was startled. 'Could it be that this old man can read minds?!'

"Tsk, you still don't know what you did wrong. Let me enlighten you! The foolish, ignorant, and undignified ways you read and handle the books are what's disrespectful to me, the library, and most importantly, to the books!"

"Huh?"

"You pick up a book and just flip through it like a fool! Are you illiterate?! Why are you even in this academy if you are?!"

"E-elder, please calm down, let me explain!" Cecil finally figured out what the Elder was so mad about.

Now that Cecil thought it through, when he used Hyper-sensitivity to read the books, to others it looked like he was only noncommittally flipping through the books without even glimpsing at the contents.

That was why his 3 friends from earlier gave him weird looks and why the Elder was now furious with him. He finally understood now.

The students who came to observe the mess he was in were now murmuring quietly to one another.

"Isn't that the 2nd ranked?"

"Yeah, Cecil's his name if I'm not mistaken. Gosh, could it be that he's really illiterate?"

"I dunno, but earlier when I passed the aisle I saw him flipping through books at rapid speed... maybe he really is illiterate."

"What? Now that's embarrassing! Rank 2 and he can't read!"

The murmurs turned into small chuckles and soft laughter.

Cecil was panicking now. 'Darn it! I'm not illiterate!'

"Elder, please calm down. Let me explain first." Cecil said helplessly.

"Calm down? Why don't you put that book down?!" the old man demanded.

Cecil looked down at the book and saw that he only had a small portion left. He quickly activated Hyper-sensitivity and quickly read through the last portion before putting it back onto the shelf.

He turned back towards the Elder with a smile and was about to explain only to see the furious expression that was plastered on the Elder's face.

'Oh... crap...'

"You... FOOLISH BOY! Come with me!" The Elder yelled furiously. He then grabbed Cecil's arm and began dragging him along.

Instructor Jin who was on the fourth floor supervising had finally arrived back down on the first floor when he heard that one of his students had caused some trouble.

He then saw the old man dragging Cecil deeper into the first floor's area. He turned to look at where Cecil was being dragged to and saw that it was towards the door leading to the core area of the first floor's library.

Instructor Jin hastily dashed towards the Elder and Cecil.

"Honorable Elder! Please, wait! Is something wrong? Did my student do anything wrong, sir?"

The Elder turned towards Instructor Jin and glowered at him.

"So this fool is YOUR student?"

"Y-yes sir!"

"Well I don't know what you've been teaching, but this lad has shown blatant and utter disrespect towards me and the library!"

"H-honorable Spirit Sage, sir! Please spare the boy, he's just young and he most likely did not mean to do you any sort of disrespect."

"Indeed it wasn't towards me! But towards the books inside this library! Disrespecting my belongings is the same as disrespecting me!"

"S-sir?!"

Cecil was surprised seeing Instructor Jin act so respectfully and submissively towards the old man. Even towards the headmaster, the instructor would only address and act with respect, but never did he act submissively like he was now towards the old man.

'Spirit Sage?'

"Ah!" Cecil widened his eyes in surprise.

'SAGE! This old man is a Sage!'

Cecil was just about to activate Mana Burst to stop the old man from dragging him, but when he learned that the old man was a Sage, Cecil stopped rousing his mana and stared at the old man with sparkly eyes full of respect and curiosity.

"HMPH!" The old man only harrumphed at the dumbfounded Instructor and continued on his way towards the door that led towards the core area.

"Sir Spirit Sage! I–"

Just as Instructor Jin was about to chase after the old man, he found that his legs were seemingly bolted in place. He couldn't move his legs no matter how much strength he exerted. He looked down and saw green tendrils wrapping around his legs, holding him in place.

Instructor Jin could only helplessly look at Cecil who was dragged into the core area of the library, but then his face turned confused seeing Cecil's eyes that were brightly lit in respect and awe as he stared up at the sage who was dragging him.

'What the?'

Just like this, Cecil was dragged into the core area of the library's first floor by one of the 12 Sages of Urrugdrasil.