The library is the same as the tavern, and the weekly salary is 1 silver coin.
This means that Annan's weekly income of 2 silver coins is similar to the income of many workers in the town. And the money is completely distributed by himself.
But the qualification test is still far away - maintaining an income of 2 silver coins per week will take at least a year to save one gold coin.
Annan comforted himself that the knowledge gained from the library was more valuable than the salary itself.
And it was sheer luck that he beat three contenders—their surprise was still fresh in Annan's mind when they left.
"Your job is to keep the library clean and tidy, try to note the location of every book, log visitors and the books they borrow."
Victor leaned on his cane and led Annan through the rows of bookshelves.
"You must cherish these books as much as you cherish your life, and you are absolutely not allowed to bring anyone over."
"Does anyone usually borrow books?"
Annan looked at the many books that were still brand new and had no signs of being read. They were like the empty bookshelves in the library, waiting to be used.
"They didn't come here to read."
Annan understood what the old man meant, and even his thoughts were not pure.
After following Victor around the library, he was taught many rules. When the old man was about to chase people away, Annan asked: "Mr. Victor, where should an illiterate person start to learn how to read?"
"
"Is the person you are talking about yourself?"
Annan felt the shame of being exposed, and heard Victor say succinctly: "Bring the book."
"Are you talking to me?"
"I'm talking to the book "The Bad Hole" on the second row of the bookcase behind you."
"Excuse me, which book is "The Evil Hole"...?"
Victor's tightly furrowed eyebrows seemed to say that he already regretted recruiting this country bumpkin.
"That 1-inch... book with a color cover."
Annan's palms were sweating, because he couldn't understand the term for that color...
Under Victor's gaze, Annan moved to the bookshelf and stared at the second row of the bookshelf: First, he knew that he knew brown, purple, red, black and gray. After excluding the five colors in the second row, there were still three.
There are two books, two blue and one beige. One of the blue books is almost as thick as a palm, and the remaining two are similar...
Annan secretly wiped the sweaty palms with the corner of his clothes, stretched out his hand to the beige book, and turned to look at Victor.
"What are you still waiting for?"
The frown made Annan relax and take out the book. But the torture was not over yet...
"Read what's above."
"Mr. Victor, I don't know the words..."
"Read it out."
"Okay." Annan opened the title page in frustration, skipped the title page, and recited the words he knew on the first page: "I...you...I...you...he...I..."
It seems this damn book is in first person.
"You...I...I...him...the bard! You...I..."
"Okay, stop it." Victor interrupted Annan's stuttering recitation and let out a low sigh that was completely inconsistent with his serious and rigid character: "I don't want my librarian to not even know the words.
so……"
Annan was worried, and the old voice said:
"I'll find you some books with syllables..."
"syllable?"
"Misgram! You don't even know the syllables?"
"Um……"
"Come here at nine o'clock tomorrow morning and I will teach you again!"
In any case, Annan was not fired immediately after being hired.
"My name is Annan."
"Victor. Hero Victor."
…
“A toast to our fellow librarians!”
The bard played cheerful music, and the guests happily picked up their wine glasses and followed the silly music, accompanied by calls such as "Go to the library to take care of your business" who have not yet understood what a library is.
Annan smiled and wiped the counter. At this time, he should shout "I'll treat everyone to a drink" to set off the atmosphere, but he was reluctant to spend money.
"I heard that you defeated three competitors and you did a good job." Fast leaned towards Annan and defeated the rich, nobles and mage apprentices as a civilian. Even if he was allowed to go, it would be impossible for him to do it.
Better, "Evelyn, get our future mage a drink."
"I don't know how to drink."
"Then juice."
Evelin turned around to prepare the juice. Annan thought for a while and said, "Will they come to trouble me?"
"Those losers? No. They are not that stupid... Even if they are really that stupid, the elders behind them are not that stupid either."
"Mr. Fast, what do you think I should do next?"
"Master the common language, learn knowledge, and make Victor like you. The last one is the most important."
Annan thought so too, but the last one must not be obvious. He had an intuition: maverick? No, Victor just blamed the old man for not being a stupid old man, and was hired by him precisely because he did not interview for him.
Because he had to start a part-time job during the day, Fast gave Annan some privileges, allowing him to go back early when he was not busy late at night.
"Just think of it as a negligible early investment," Fast said.
Annan, who got off work dozens of minutes early, returned to Aunt Susan's house.
Back in the room, Annan took out the wooden box hidden under the bed. Two silver coins lay quietly at the bottom of the box. It would take another week for them to turn into 4 silver coins.
Putting it back in place, Annan turned off the oil lamp, climbed into bed, and let the night drown him.
…
In the early morning, Annan came to the library before nine o'clock.
The door had not yet been opened, and when the clock behind the window pointed to nine o'clock on time, the neatly dressed old man appeared with a cane, threw the key to Annan and asked him to open the library door.
When Annan returned the key, he was rejected by Victor. This kind of trusting stubbornness made it easy to fall in love with this old man.
He began to clean the library floor and wiped off the dust on the bookshelves with a duster. Victor sat in the sunny corner of the library where the sun was always shining, holding a book and drinking coffee.
Annan learned from the bard in advance and recorded the syllables. After cleaning up, he consolidated it again from Mr. Victor.
Annan's talent for language also extends to writing.
Annan, holding a book with syllables, sat at the desk and read quietly. Not long after, the first guest of the day came to the door.
"Are you learning Common Language?"
The girl in robe looked at the title of the book on the cover, "Universal Phonetic Symbols".
Annan nodded, "What's your name?" and prepared to register her name.
She didn't say anything, so Annan flipped through the dictionary next to him and wrote "Girl in Robe" crookedly.
Watching Annan finish writing, the girl in robe imitated the gesture of silence: "What did you say to Mr. Victor in the end?"
"Keep quiet."
"That's it?"
"Well." It was Annan's turn to ask, "Are you a mage apprentice?"
"I originally wanted Mr. Victor to be my teacher." She looked at Annan puzzledly, "but Mr. Victor chose you."
"Maybe because I'm the only one who wants to be a librarian."
