The daughter of Merlin, huh? Interesting girl...

With nothing more than an interest in runic languages, Florence set on about taking up this request. His mind flashed back to his brief interaction with Luciel. The girl had said very little, getting straight to the point and sending Florence on his way.

"Not even an expression. No smile or frown. Completely neutral. I'd wager she's either a blue or perhaps a grey..."

Letting his speech slip out, he quickly walked briskly to move away from some of the people on the streets giving him odd looks.

Trying to prepare himself mentally, he could feel determination growing within him.

At the end of the day, it's really a disgrace to call oneself a Rune Knight without learning the language of runes!

Shoving his hands into his pockets, he retrieved the note with the runes on it and looked at it with excitement.

An ancient language that isn't used, eh? Who knows what secrets it could contain! Let's get started!

Looking up, he could see the library in view. He picked up the pace, breaking into a light jog until he got to the front door. Standing in front of the grand structure, he took in the environment around him and what possible knowledge he would attain today - of a lost culture, no less!

He brushed past the people near the front entrance and moved inside and to the front desk. Shuffling over to the front desk, he leaned into the counter and tipped his hat up to meet eyes with the lady on the other side.

"Not bad. Six outta ten, but has potential..." he blurted out, his eyes starting to pull from her eyes and look down further. He didn't even notice at first she wore glasses, as he was more focused on the... rather filling beige turtleneck sweater.

"E-Excuse me?" she responded, snapping Florence back to reality.

He put his hand over his mouth and let out a fake cough to restart the tone.

"Aha, I mean, sorry. I was wondering if you had any idea where I could find a Valan Runic dictionary?"

"Ah. Sure, I can show you."

Florence was quickly and sternly shown to the proper aisle where the dictionaries were lined. She then turned on her heel and began to walk away.

Nice frame. Great strut. Heh.

With that, and after a low chuckle under his breath, he continued and descended down into the aisle.

"Mhm, mhm, mhm..." he mumbled as book after book caught his eye.

On a normal occasion he'd stop to open each one and browse its contents, but today was not a normal occasion. It was a job - his first job in a long while! His days had been spent in relative boredom with occasional isolation until he was called on by his superiors now and again for some generic guard duty.

"Ah! Here it is."

He pulled out an older book, torn in some places. It's clear that it's seen better days, but after flipping through the pages quickly Florence was thankful to discover it was intact.

Moving over to the table closest to the far corner of the library, he began his studies.

With the dictionary at his left arm, tracing runic pattern after runic pattern, his eyes bounced back and forth between book and note. Bit by bit, he uncovered the puzzle.

I see, I see... yes, it all makes sense now. This first line spells out the words clearly: Hare Meat!

Though he had to confine his words to his thoughts, his body language roamed free with a triumphant fist pump. However, his mood quickly changed upon realizing the problem with this scenario.

"Did I really read that right? No way... how could it be hare meat? That's kinda lame."

Shrugging his shoulders to no audience but himself, he continued his research with the next line on the note.

A bit conflicted on what to think of that first line, he studied a bit more hesitantly than the gusto he was filled with earlier. The aspiring magic detective was expecting something much more important. The start of a poem perhaps, or God forbid some sort of magical incantation. Hare meat isn't a very noble start to the theories he had put forth on the potential of these runic words. Having it his way with fate, it'd be the directions to a legendary artifact, the remains of the diary of a long forgotten sage; or the words necessary for a powerful and mythical creature to be summoned into this world.

As it stood, however, he was hired to carry out a service and he wasn't going to let disappointment stop him.

After about an hour of tired, bored procrastination and occasional interest piqued, he finished the word on the second line.

"C-Cabbage? What kind of word is that, belonging here in something that could be considered ancient history...?" he mumbled begrudgingly.

Slamming a fist onto the table with as little force as he could muster - it being a library and all - he woke himself up mentally and buckled down to finish the rest as quickly as possible. Maybe the rest had some meaning to it, but he had lost interest at this point even if it did.

As he was right to. Adjusting to the runic patterns in the dictionary more and more, he came to discover within the next 20 minutes that the words on the two remaining lines were "Potatoes" and "Ox Hooves" respectively.

Disappointed with himself, the note and the world that put him up to this task, he shoved the dictionary back where it belonged in its aisle and made the trip towards the front desk with his head hanging low.

"Is that everything today, sir?"

Florence looked up and saw the glasses girl he checked out earlier. He nodded solemnly and put the note alongside a separate piece of paper detailing the translation, and placed them gently on the counter.

"What's this?" the girl questioned curiously.

"Today's disappointment," he spoke, chuckling afterwards.

Pulling out his lighter for a well-earned cigar, he realized he'd need to leave the library first to catch his break.

"Listen. A girl's gonna come by in a little bit. She needs this note, goes by the name of Luciel. May've heard of her, might not've. Point being, my job today was to translate this. Make sure she gets it, alright?"

The lady nodded and took the two papers, placing them in a separate cabinet for safekeeping.

"Thanks."

Walking out the door, he noticed clouds begin to form overhead.

First sign of a storm, eh? Today truly is a blue day.