Samuel forced a smile and nodded. His jaw clenched but he tried his best to keep it cool on the surface.
"Yes. For that matter of fact, Icarus is out of town at the moment. But don't you worry, I will be right here to take his place."
Crescent's thought shifted from the 'peon' to Icarus in an instant. "When would he be back?"
"Soon, I guess. The matter was a bit urgent so can't say for sure."
That was not in her favour. It was fine if it was just for a few days, but if it took him longer, that would be her just wasting the time.
Could it be that she would get nothing from here?
"Why don't you come with me? I wil tell you all about the research we are here for."
Crescent could only nod. "Sure."
"I am Samuel, by the way."
They walked through the same staircase she had seen earlier. The second floor was surprisingly a place with a couch, fireplace, a small kitchen on one end while a huge desk right by the windows.
Half of the wall by the window had a map drawn of the world, while the other half had Lilac Town's.
There were book racks even here, some of the books about the great historians were piled on the table, some were on the desk and even the kitchen counter was not spared of them.
Samuel whose head was finally free of pain followed her gaze and said, "We history researchers have to be messy to be able to collect the accurate information." He explained although feeling a bit embarrassed about the mess.
Crescent did not even mind the books, infact she was at the level where more the books, more she would be merrier. What rather concerned her was that what were the possibilities of that library containing the rare books being here?
She suddenly thought of that peon. He had came up the stairs but she couldn't find any sight of him. "What about that peon?" Her eyes squinted to see if there was any other door over here. Not that she could find any sight of it.
"Were you missing me?" A low trail of breath fanned beside her ear, causing her to take a few steps forward and turning around.
"You wish."
Crescent was only wandering if there was any other thing here that she was not being shown.
The man chuckled before bringing a tray to the table. "Why don't we sit and eat?" He suggested merrily.
Samuel, on the other hand, was having hard time maintaining his expression. His lip had twitched the moment he saw the tray in his boss' hand.
What was he even trying to do?
Crescent did not move from her place.
She turned over to Samuel. "What I would be doing here?" The way she ignored his boss, Samuel was startled.
He did not dare to look in the other direction and spoke politely. "Let's go over and sit first. I will inform you everything in detail."
Samuel was scared out of his wits. She was probably the first lady who got the guts to speak like this to him and was still alive.
Seeing Samuel going over and having a seat, Crescent felt there was no other option. She eyed the man who had already taken his seat beforehand and positioned himself like a majesty.
"If he is just a peon, why is he sitting here?" Crescent was sceptical about it. She did not believe what Samuel introduced him as a while back.
He did not look like a peon from any angle.
The way he spoke, the way he walked, the way he dressed and more than that, his aura. It was dominating.
Crescent for a second did address the thought of him being Icarus. However Professor Smith said he was out of town. These two could lie about it but Professor Smith won't.
Professor Smith had informed her beforehand that she would be working amidst three people. One being Icarus, two were left.
One of the two had to be Samuel so there was high chance that the other one was him.
Crescent stared into his eyes, her mind finally coming to a conclusion.
That could also be the reason why he was in the library that night. And near that cemetery, they could be coming to the University.
That man smiled displaying his charm, as he met her eyes.
Moreover, he could not be Icarus. From what Crescent had heard, he was extremely serious about his work. There were rumors that once he entered his zone, it was hard to bring him out.
And none of those descriptions fitted well with the person in front of her.
He definitely had a aura, but not the one that she had heard of. In the past few encounters, she had learnt well that he was anything but serious and calm.
Not at all.
Crescent thought over it for a long time, evaluated and canceled out the possibilities. She did not notice that all this while, Samuel had been nervously drawing his eyes back and forth between both.
It was hard to understand his boss but why couldn't he understand this young lady as well? She was here to work with him but why was he feeling as if it was him who stepped here for the first time?
After what seemed like a century, Crescent finally moved her dubious eyes away from him. Her eyes relaxed, her oceanic blue eyes appeared as if the waves finally settled down.
"Well, so Miss Crescent, we are researching on the period of distress that occured here in Sylvaran-uhm, the ancient name of The Lilac Town."
Period of distress?
"In which century?"
"Early sixteenth to late seventeenth century. That was the period where a high surge in the population was recorded in the urban city however the opposite was the case for the Sylvaran."
Early sixteenth to late seventeenth century? Her eyes lowered with a realisation.
That was the same period when those events went down in the history.