𝚂𝚃𝙴𝙰𝙻𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝚂𝙴𝙲𝚁𝙴𝚃𝚂

10

Y/N was almost glad that Levi had decided that they wouldn't try to get into the library that was guarded the best. She was already incredibly nervous, now that they were going through with the plan. She was on her way down the bell tower, following Levi, Farlan and Isabel. They had to be quick and silent, and it was more difficult than she would have ever thought.

It was hard enough the first time when they were only looking around so they would be familiar with the layout of the place, but now it seemed like an impossible task to be that fast and silent. Two people from the military police had just left and now they had to get in there, before they made their round and got back here.

Thankfully they had almost made it down to the main room and if they made a mistake now, it wouldn't end in them getting killed. Unless they fell incredibly unlucky. Y/N was happy enough to look out for Levi. He seemed incredibly calm and indifferent throughout all of this. Y/N knew exactly that it was just a facade and that he was probably more nervous than anyone else, but it felt good to have someone around who seemed to have a handle on the situation.

She knew she would not be able to cope with her nerves if it wasn't for Levi. So she just focussed on him and on not falling. They had almost reached the ground now and it didn't take long for Y/N to drop down onto the ground. It felt strange to stand on her own two feet again after such a long time, but she had not time to properly get used to it. Levi got down last.

"Right, Y/N, you go to the library three doors down and get whatever you need. We'll fill up your backpack with supplies in the meantime and then we'll come and get you when we're done. Make sure that you don't get caught, there might be someone in there doing some late night reading or whatever. You'd probably know better, anyway. If you hear someone coming, you go and hide somewhere. If they catch you, you're on your own. Isabel and Farlan, you're with me in the supply room. Let's go." Levi said to them. Everyone nodded quickly and they scattered.

Y/N went to a door that led out into a hallway and waited there. She listened for any noise, but there was nothing, so she leaned out into the hallway to see whether she could see anyone coming. No one around. She quickly made her way to the door she was meant to open, getting her knife ready, just in case there was someone in the library. Normally there was no one there, but since they couldn't be 100% sure, it was probably better to be safe than sorry.

She listened at the door, but it was an incredibly thick door, so if there was any noise it had to be incredibly loud for her to hear. She took another deep breath and opened the door carefully, making sure not to make too much noise. Thankfully it wasn't locked and she could just open it easily. There was a quiet click as the door opened and she quickly slid inside, hearing hushed voices from around the corner. She quickly closed the door again, making sure not to make any noise.

She pressed her back against the wall for a few seconds, listening whether she could hear any of the voices coming closer or whether she could hear any noises from inside this room, but it was incredibly quiet. After a while she let herself exhale and could finally take in the library. Her breath almost hitched again when she saw it.

The library was huge. There were about a million shelves that reached all the way up to the ceiling and they were filled with books. A lot of them were there several times, probably because the church was hoarding all the copies of books that were forbidden for the general public. Y/N finally snapped back to reality, realizing that she didn't have unlimited time to go through every little shelf in this library.

She quickly walked through the rows of bookshelves, checking whether there was any system to how they were sorted or whether she could make out any section that might have rarer books. There were a bunch of books here that were publicly available, those weren't really that valuable to her. But the further she went the less copies of each book there were. This seemed promising.

She quickly looked over the titles of the books, checking whether there were any that caught her interest or whether there were any that she recognized and knew would fetch a good price on the black market. This wasn't just about her own curiosity, it was also about making some money to survive, unfortunately. And what she wanted wasn't necessarily what everyone else wanted.

There were so many books that she would have liked to take a closer look at, but she couldn't take all of them. She grabbed a copy of Atlas of the World, as she knew that one always sold for a lot of money. Another book that caught her interest was Eldian History. She had seen the word "Eldian" used in some other books and it just seemed to be a word for people, but she couldn't shake the feeling that there was more behind that. There were some more that caught her eye: Theories on Titans, Folk and Fairy Tales, History of the Walls, The Reiss Family and The Royal Family: A Comprehensive History. Those would have to do for now.

She quickly went back to the shelves that had Atlas of the World on them and filled up the rest of her bags with copies of that. Those would make her a fortune once she sold them on. She grabbed as many as she could until she heard some noise at the door. Was that... Levi? No... That didn't sound like Levi at all. That noise sounded like someone that was supposed to be here from the very start.

She felt like she was frozen in place and unable to move. What the hell was she supposed to do? Hide. She needed to hide. She heard them opening the door and she realized that she would have to quickly get away into some dark corner where she wouldn't be spotted easily. Why did they come in here at all? No one usually cared about the library, so why would they care?

She quickly crouched down in the darkest corner she could find, hoping that they weren't going to look thoroughly for her. Maybe they were just randomly checking? Could be. But how likely was that? Y/N held her breath when she saw them coming into the library with their lantern.

"Yeah, look, there's no one here. Come on, this is dumb."

"I don't know, I thought I heard something..."

"Who knows what you heard? Let's get back to our rounds or we'll get in trouble..."

"We'll also get in trouble if there is someone in here that shouldn't be in here. I don't know why you're not even a little worried."

"Why would anyone break into a library? Everything that's here are some old dusty books. The real important stuff is hidden away somewhere in the guarded section, so I don't even know why you're worrying so much."

"Fine, fine. You're right, I guess. Anyone stealing would more likely steal supplies, I suppose. I probably just heard some noise from the building or something. Let's move on then."

Y/N still held her breath when she heard them moving away and when she heard them closing the door behind her. She took a few seconds to just sit back and breathe, to gather herself again. She picked up the book closest to her and stood up again, stretching her legs. She was going to need them later, when she was going to try and get out. She was wondering what Levi, Farlan and Isabel were up to. Surely they had to be done by now, right?

Y/N looked at the title of the book in her hands. Huh. That was weird. Survey Report for the Island of Paradis. She had never heard of any of that. Island of Paradis? That had to be somewhere outside the walls surely. There were no islands here. The book was small enough... she could just about fit it in her bag, when she heard three knocks at the door. That was the sign. Levi was here and they were about to get out of here and back underground.