Steam Age: I Fight Against Divine Authority with Otherworldly Tales

Chapter 26 Harp Library

Hearing that familiar melody, Suren felt a little dazed. He closed his eyes and involuntarily shook his head, but the melodious music did not disappear.

Suren strode into the bookstore, looking around as he tried to find the source of the sound.

The bookstore is quite clean and spacious, with bookshelves about two meters high lining three sides of the room, and the air is filled with the unique smell of paper.

To the right of the entrance is a large bar counter made of solid wood, with some antique books on it. Suren also found the source of the sound—a brand-new phonograph.

A gentleman was sitting behind the bar. Noticing a customer, he stood up and took off his hat in greeting.

He had short, silver-gray hair, high brow bones, and a straight nose.

What's most striking are his grey-green eyes. Unlike the restless gaze of a young man, his eyes reveal a detached understanding that sees through everything. When Su Lun is looked at, he feels like an open book, completely transparent.

To be honest, if this man were in Suren's original world, he would be very popular with women.

Suren returned the greeting politely, pointed to the phonograph, and asked curiously, "Sir, this piece of music sounds very special. I don't think I've ever heard anything like it before. Is it an original piece by some unknown composer?"

The man smiled, his smile restrained and polite: "It seems you don't know much about music. Actually, this piece is very famous, by the renowned music master Eco Mendax, and it's called 'Moonlight Sonata'."

Suren scratched his head sheepishly, dispelling his doubts and inwardly scolding himself for overthinking.

After all, the way gold pounds, firearms, technology, and even time are measured are the same as in the previous life, so perhaps the world itself has a certain convergence.

To cover up the awkwardness, Suren tried to change the subject:

"I don't really know much about music. Recently, I've become interested in history. After Professor De Went's introduction, I heard that you have a comprehensive collection of books, so I came here specifically to take a look."

"It's alright. After all, music isn't a necessity of life. History books are on that shelf." The man pointed to one of the shelves, then looked at Suren's armband and pointed to another shelf. "'Harp Bookstore' is authorized by the church, and we also sell some special books. I usually call them occult books; it's a habit of our little circle. You can take a look."

Suren roughly understood what the other party meant: some middle-class and noble people had a desire for extraordinary abilities, but were unwilling to join the church, so they spontaneously began to try to explore them.

Unlike those scattered folk "purification practitioners," these people are more inclined to view power as a special discipline, studying it like a science. They call this discipline mysticism.

Because these kinds of people are usually quite restrained, the church turns a blind eye to it.

In fact, Suren believes that the reason behind this is simply that they contribute a lot of taxes and pay "protection fees".

After politely thanking the other party, Suren walked to the bookshelf filled with history books. Looking at the dazzling array of books, she was a little at a loss for where to start.

At this moment, a book caught Suren's attention because of its rather unique title—"The Age of Natural Disasters: The Love and Hate Entanglement of Gods and Demons".

Suren's lips twitched. The book title, full of gimmicks, gave him a sense of déjà vu, but instinct still prompted him to pick up the book and start reading.

Suren thought with a touch of self-mockery, "Sure enough, humans are still attracted by gimmicks."

Surprisingly, the book is quite rigorous in its content and uses very sophisticated language. It tells some conjectures about the era before the four gods defeated the demons, which is the so-called "Cataclysmic Era".

The book proposes a bold hypothesis: different races existed within humanity in the original era. Furthermore, the author speculates that other races may have existed, citing evidence such as the discovery of a humanoid skeleton with a tail in the "Wasteland Frontier."

"He could have just written a good book, but he had to choose a title that was all hype," Su Lun thought to himself.

After thinking about it, Suren decided not to buy the book and put it back.

As for the reason, Suren felt that having such a book in her room would damage her image.

"Besides, my memory is like a printer now. I can just access the memories in my mind when I need them," Suren thought somewhat irresponsibly.

He flipped through several more books, mostly events recorded in official histories. While these books broadened Suren's knowledge, he wasn't particularly interested in this obviously embellished history.

At this moment, Suren looked up and caught sight of a peculiar book—"The True Story of the Fall of the City in 863," which was placed on the highest shelf of the bookshelf, and Suren had to stand on tiptoe to barely reach it.

The book is quite thick, with yellowed pages that give it a vintage feel.

Suren flipped through the book page by page. The book was quite detailed, not a direct narration, but a tracing of events from small incidents.

Upon reading "a small town called 'Verdu' in 863," Suren eagerly turned the page, wanting to see what happened next.

But when he eagerly turned the page, he found that there was nothing in front of him, and behind him was a blank sheet of paper.

Undeterred, Suren flipped through the pages and discovered they were all blank.

Suppressing the urge to smash the book on the ground, Suren picked it up and returned to the bar, wanting to ask the shop owner about the details of the book.

The man was drawn to Suren's movements, then noticed the book in her hand. He looked enlightened and said with a hint of apology:

"I'm so sorry, sir. This was entirely my mistake. It was a damaged book that somehow ended up in my bookstore. I suspect it was a prank by someone else, and I completely forgot to take it down."

The shopkeeper's words completely silenced Suren, who then looked at the spine and back of the book, only to find that the author's name was missing.

Reluctantly, Suren returned the books to the shop owner and returned to the bookshelf dejectedly.

However, he was still full of doubts. The book was well-organized and even had multiple pieces of supporting evidence, making it highly credible.

Perhaps it is precisely because it is so close to the truth that this is the only way to let others read it. After all, the church would never allow such a book to be published, and if it were discovered, the author would even be put to death.

After that, Suren couldn't find any more useful books, so he randomly picked up a copy of "The Chronicle of Holy Radiance" to use for the bill later.

After looking at them for so long, it wouldn't be right not to buy any of them.

Just as Suren was hesitating about whether to take another look at the books on mysticism, another customer entered the store, catching Suren's attention.

She was a young girl, who looked to be just over 20 years old. Her long, silvery-white hair cascaded over her shoulders, and her skin was very fair. Her features were soft and delicate, but she lacked any warmth. In particular, her cold purple eyes exuded a chilling aura and carried a sense of aloofness, making people subconsciously want to stay away.

She wore a soft, light blue wool dress, made of fine material but without any extra embellishments. On her slender finger was a simple iron ring, and in her hand she carried a small, unadorned handbag.

If you ignore the aura conveyed by her eyes, she looks like a female teacher who has just finished get off work.

The reason she caught Suren's attention was not because of her exquisite appearance, but because of the discordant elements in the girl.

Although she was wearing a long dress, she was incongruously wearing tall boots, which didn't quite fit the fashion trends of that era.

What bothered Suren the most was that the other person's walking posture was very unnatural, like that of a rigorously trained soldier.