The Hero is An Academy Librarian

This lamia’s name was Hildegard, and she was a fifth-year student of the Verati Magic Academy. As someone in her final year, Hildegard had started focusing a lot more on her studies since this was one of the most important times in her life, and as a result of that, she had been forced to do something that she hadn’t done in any of the other years she had been in this school! Hildegard was coming to borrow a book from the library!

The reason why Hildegard had refused to come to the library for so long was exactly because of what was going on all around her. It was not news to anyone that Hildegard was not liked by the other students in this Academy! Even though most demihumans were now accepted in the world as part of the masses, there were still certain demihumans who were looked down on and hated by both the humans and by other demihumans! These demihumans were the ones who had ’dark’ affinities!

Dark affinities were magical affinities that were most commonly used by the demihuman army during the demihuman war ten years ago. Affinities like corruption, madness, decay, Necromancy, or Terror were very common affinities amongst practitioners of dark magic, and since most dark magic practitioners were demihumans, the demihumans were known to use these affinities to push back the human army during the war!

After the war ended, there were laws created to abolish the use of these affinities, and those with these affinities were only allowed to perform magic as long as they did not use their affinities! But even with this law, the prejudice and hatred for those born with these abilities were still very strong, and it was impossible for people to simply accept them into society. Any child born with a dark affinity was seen as a potential dark mage, and those around them would commonly point fingers and scorn them for their existence!

Hildegard was one of those people born with a dark affinity. As someone born with the affinity ’Hellfire’, Hildegard was regarded as a third-class magical risk to society. This meant that she was not allowed to go anywhere unless she told the people around her exactly what her affinity was, and there was always going to be one or more people watching her in secret to make sure she was not trying to practice or master her affinity!

That was why Hildegard did not go outside unless it was absolutely necessary! Hildegard would rather stay indoors than face the scorn and hatred from people who hate her for her affinity.

But today, Hildegard did not have any option but to come to the library to look for a book that she simply had to get! Hildegard refused to allow her academics to suffer just because she was afraid of people pointing fingers at her!

The lamia slithered forward past all the stares and pointing fingers, and she made her way to the librarian’s desk. Percy was looking through a book on his desk, and it wasn’t until Hildegard was right in front of the table that he finally looked up from his book and gave her a smile.

"Hello. What can I do for you?"

Percy’s smile actually shocked Hildegard, and for a moment she was actually waiting for the look of realization to appear in his eyes! It was always the same. People would be friendly to her for a few seconds, but then they would see her tail and her horns, and they would immediately recognize who she was and their entire personality would change! Hildegard had already gotten used to it, so she expected it to happen this time as well! But surprisingly, it didn’t!

Percy simply waited for Hildegard to speak to him about what she wanted, and Hildegard was a little thrown off by the lack of a reaction. Hildegard looked away for a moment to try and gather herself before she turned back to Percy and spoke in a hard tone.

"My name is Hildegard. And my affinity is ’Hellfire’."

Hildegard introduced herself in the standard manner that was a necessity for all third-class magical risks, and she waited with a frown for the obvious realisation to appear in Percy’s eyes. But once again, there was nothing! Every single person that Hildegard had ever introduced herself to in the past had always backed away from her or reacted negatively in one way or another! No one had been different! So why was this librarian not even reacting to her at all?

Hildegard felt the hard look on her face slowly bleeding away into a calmer expression since she didn’t know how to react to Percy’s nonchalance, and she just scratched her cheek nervously while speaking.

"Uhm... I’m looking for a book."

"Hmm, right. And what book is that?"

Percy tilted his head to one side curiously, and Hildegard continued:

"Uh, the revised volume of [Researchers Guide to Identifying Magical Creatures]? Do you have it?"

Percy’s eyes lit up when he heard that, and he couldn’t help but be impressed! That book was something that not many people read in this school, and even those who have read it have never actually looked for the revised version before! The fact that Hildegard was looking for it meant that she took her studies as a researcher very seriously! Percy nodded, and he told Hildegard that he had the book.

"Just one moment while I grab it. I’ll be right back."

Percy left the librarian’s table, and Hildegard found herself feeling slightly anxious as multiple eyes turned in her direction once again! Hildegard didn’t know how to feel about this. The conversation that she had with Percy was probably the first time that she would see someone who didn’t react to her name at all! It was so strange that she didn’t know how to react! But Hildegard couldn’t deny that this was one of the best conversations that she had ever had! Even though it was just talking about the book she wanted to borrow, in the moment when she was speaking to Percy, she was able to completely forget about all the eyes staring at her!

But now that Percy had left her, all those stares suddenly came back, and Hildegard looked around the library to try and find something to distract herself with. And that was when Hildegard finally noticed the massive statue in the center of the room! Hildegard’s eyes had been so focused on moving forward that she had missed the statue completely, but now that she had seen it, she couldn’t stop the awe in her voice!

"Wow~!"

Hildegard couldn’t believe that this had been here all this time! She had been in this school for five years, and this was the first time she would see this statue! It looked so grand and majestic, and the sight of the Hero Verati made her face sparkle in excitement!

"Here we go."

A voice suddenly spoke up from behind, and Hildegard turned around quickly to see that Percy had finally returned with a large book in his hand. Percy blinked curiously when he saw the excitement on Hildegard’s face, and he was surprised when the calm girl suddenly spoke to him in an excited tone!

"You have a statue of the hero Verati! I didn’t know it was here! Oh, it’s so grand, and it looks just like him!"

For the first time since he entered, Percival could see Hildegard acting her age as she gushed about the hero. Percy just chuckled softly and spoke up while putting the book down.

"The statue’s been here since the school was built. But it’s just a statue. We don’t really pay it much attention."