Oh. My. Fate?! (BL, Volume 11, Part 1)

178 Showing Sincerity

The clerk behind the counter looked up and smiled when he recognized him. "Senior official Yi Yun! Is it the same as usual?" He already got to his feet to gather everything while asking.

Their store sold stationery and the Court of Justice would regularly get theirs from them. Of course, they would usually send one of the younger officials if there wasn't much to buy but when the stationery they needed exceeded a certain amount, a senior official coming by wasn't unheard of either. Yi Yun had actually filled this role several times so the clerk wasn't surprised to see him.

Yi Yun shook his head though. "No, I'm not here for the Court this time. Just give me a moment to have a look around."

The clerk nodded and went back to his seat. He couldn't help but curiously watch what Yi Yun was doing though. After all, if he wasn't here for the Court of Justice, then who was he here for? Himself? So then this was a private matter?

While the clerk was speculating, Yi Yun walked around the store, looking at some of the more exquisite sets they offered. For what he intended to do, he naturally needed to show his sincerity so he couldn't skimp on the gift. Thankfully, he was rather familiar with stationery and was able to pick out a set of high quality soon enough.

Carefully picking it up and carrying it over to the counter himself, he inclined his head toward the clerk. "I will take this."

The clerk had already seen what he took so he simply nodded. In fact, it wasn't like there was much of a choice. After all, they only sold the same few things. Still, looking at this finely crafted set, he felt that this might be a gift of sorts.

Yi Yun soon left the store, keeping the set in his spatial ring. With this done, he naturally went to the Tower of Wisdom next. Walking up to where the half-bloods and their officials from the Court of Justice were working together, he surveyed the floor, and then picked the official that was currently in charge to inquire about the situation.

With the urgency of this task not as high anymore, they had started to also focus on some other issues on the side. By now, all information they could find about either of the races and about the half-bloods was carefully noted down and would be compiled into one book at the end of this research task. This way, they would have a valuable resource that could promote the understanding of their races and prevent future tragedies more easily.

What the official currently in charge handed him were the latest pages holding the compiled information. It would still need to be compared to what they had found in the past and then later sorted but this could be called the yield of today's research.

Looking it over, Yi Yun nodded faintly. "Not bad. Continue." He turned to look at the people on the floor again and faintly narrowed his eyes. "Scholar An Bai ...?"

The official looked in the direction where he had last seen the dragon and finally motioned to the other side. "He should be returning some of the volumes."

"Thank you." Yi Yun handed the pages back and then went to the row of shelves the other official had pointed at. Rounding the corner, he already spotted the white-haired dragon together with one of the half-bloods.

Yi Yun walked over and nodded at the two of them before focusing on An Bai. "I just came back from the Court of Justice and checked the progress here. It seems everything is going well."

An Bai handed the last stack of books to the half-blood and turned to Yi Yun. "These weeks, we should have checked at least two-thirds of the available books in the Tower of Wisdom." To be honest, he was still astonished at the speed at which they were going. He knew this wouldn't have been possible in the dragon realm. It could only be said that the officials from the Court of Justice were too efficient.

Yi Yun gave a hum in acknowledgment. "There doesn't remain much to go through in terms of books although there is also a collection of jade slips we will have to survey for further information. After that, it will take another few days to compile everything in the most comprehensible way. I count on Scholar An Bai's help for that."

When it came to the research itself, much of it could be left even to the less experienced officials. Anyway, whoever entered the Court of Justice had to pass a strict test of their physical strength, emotional maturity, and mental fortitude, as well as demonstrate their skill. After that followed stringent training for about half a year to ensure everyone was up to par. Thus, this kind of research task really couldn't be called difficult for them.

Compiling the results though ... while he didn't doubt that the younger officials could do it, he didn't believe it was right to leave this to them. The advantages of such a collection were huge. Especially so if they truly wanted to pull the alliance between their people closer. Thus, it needed to be treated accordingly even if that was just to show their sincerity.

An Bai smiled faintly. "Of course but I think it will still be some time until then. I've been thinking about it though ..." He turned to leave the aisle between the shelves, going back to the desk where he had been working before. "This matter is important and the Tower of Wisdom surely holds the biggest collection of knowledge in the Nine Heavens. But there are certainly still volumes out there that aren't part of it. Maybe it would be wise to check those as well and then also take a look at what we have in the dragon realm. I know this project is huge as it is but I believe that both of our races could benefit from that."

Yi Yun nodded. "I do agree with Scholar An Bai and I'll organize everything as you suggested on our side. As for the dragon realm, I will leave that in Scholar An Bai's capable hands."