The Deceitful One

Monday, 30th August 1580.

Church of Wisdom, North Kingston Avenue.

Bryan exited the church with both his hands inside the pocket of his black trench coat. He looked at the people walking on the sidewalks as well as the rows of horse-drawn carriages riding along the brick-paved street with a faint smile on his lips.

It was currently 10 in the morning, the skies were clear and the warm sunlight shone on the entire city. However, the blowing winds had gotten chillier. And it was beginning to get colder with each passing day.

Usually, it starts to snow in late November or early December in Damascus. Therefore, in the period before that, the temperature continues to fall bit by bit.

Bryan took out a silver case as well as a gas lighter of the same color from the inside pocket of his black-tailored suit jacket. He flipped open the silver case and took out a hand-rolled cigarette from it.

After putting one end of the cigarette between his lips, he lit the other end with the gas lighter and took a long drag.

Feeling the slight nicotine buzz, Bryan showed a satisfied smile as he mumbled, "Ah, now that's what I'm talking about."

He then turned right and proceeded to head further north.

Before this, he had just spoken to Bishop Walls about joining the Silver Owls today, and much to Bryan's surprise, he found out that the headquarters of the Silver Owls was not inside the Church at all.

It was actually three blocks north of the Church. After asking for the address from Bishop Walls, Bryan set off to find the headquarters of the Silver Owls with great anticipation.

Since it was only three blocks away, he decided to simply walk the distance. After all, it would only take him less than ten minutes to reach there.

Bryan wore his usual black three-piece suit, a white shirt, a black necktie, a black trench coat, along with a black fedora hat. As he continued to smoke the cigarette, he thought about how quickly he had gotten addicted to the nicotine rush.

After getting back to his apartment from Lily's vacation manor yesterday morning, the first thing he did was smoke a cigarette. Although it had only been less than two days since he started smoking, he just couldn't stop.

He began to understand how seriously addictive nicotine was. Hence, he only limited himself to one a day or at most two a day. Any more than that would hinder his other activities. Or so he thought.

Early this morning, Bryan had already completed carving his 30th mind rune after a round of meditation. Only then did he make himself some breakfast and began his day.

After finishing his cigarette, Bryan flicked it into the corner of some alley and then continue to walk toward his destination.

As he walked, he thought about the things that he had experienced over the weekend and couldn't help but smirk when he thought of Lily.

That woman was seriously a sex-hungry fiend. Although Bryan too enjoyed having sex with her, he couldn't let it get to his head.

Meditation was paramount. And now that he was about to join the Silver Owls, any assignments or missions that he would be given by them would have to be on top of his priority list. Fucking around with Lily could wait.

About five minutes later, Bryan carefully looked at the rows of buildings to his right as he mumbled, "35 North Kingston Ave… 35… 35…"

Soon his eyes landed on a large two-stored white building. Beside the entrance of the building was a wooden plaque that was fixed to the wall.

Bryan's gaze landed on the wooden plaque, "35 North Kingston Avenue. Found it!"

Then he swept his gaze to the wide wooden plaque above the black double door of the building as his eyebrows couldn't help but twitch, "Sofia Public Library? What the fuck? Did I get the wrong address?"

He was sure that Bishop Walls had told him that the headquarters of the Silver Owls was on 35 North Kingston Avenue. But now that Bryan reached the given address, it turned out to be a public library instead.

'Is Bishop Walls playing a prank on me?' Bryan thought incredulously.

After hesitating for about a minute, he ultimately decided to enter the library and ask around for Robert. If it really was the wrong address, he would just have to go back to the Church again.

Pushing open the large black-colored double door, Bryan entered the public library. The reception area of the library was as big as his apartment, perhaps even bigger.

The floor was made of light brown-colored wooden planks and all sorts of paintings were hung on the walls on both sides. There were also a few couches near the entrance for the guests to occupy.

There was a reception desk across from the entrance of the library, and behind the reception desk were multiple rows of bookshelves. Some people could be seen picking up books from the bookshelves ad studying at the public desks.

'It's surprisingly way bigger than it looks from the outside!' Bryan thought inwardly as he swept his gaze across the rows of bookshelves.

He then walked across the reception hall and directly stopped in front of the reception desk. He took off his hat and greeted the lady who was sitting behind the desk looking at him with a welcoming smile.

"Good morning, Miss," said Bryan with a smile.

The young lady who looked to be in her early twenties, had brown hair tied into a ponytail as well as brown eyes. She was wearing black-rimmed round glasses and a green dress with floral patterns, the hems of which reached till her calves.

"Good morning, mister! How may I help you?" The young lady asked cheerfully.

Bryan hesitated for a moment and asked, "Uh, Is there anyone named Robert Albright working here?"

The brown-haired young lady behind the reception desk was slightly surprised to hear this name as she inquired, "May I ask your name?"

Bryan nodded his head, "I'm Bryan. Bryan Lombardi."