Chapter 04: Illusion?

Lillian give a quick chase to Naomi whose silhouette was slowly disappearing.

Naomi stopped when she saw a hanging sign and stared at the place owning that sign which was the library. The sparkle in her eyes was still present and she stared at the library with those sparkles.

She pushed the door which opened and the vintage interior of the library greeted her. The undisguised smell of both new and old books wafted together in the air.

She went to look at the side and spotted something that made her smile. 

"Lisa, something new today?" She walked in front of the library counter.

The librarian, Lisa, have a huge spectacle on her eyes and freckles on her face. Her skin was tan and her hair was brown in colour which is currently tied in a fishtail braid.

She was sitting down while reading a book and when she heard someone speaking to her, she immediately shut the book, stood up, and faced Naomi with a smile on her face.

"Well, yeah. There are new books on the shelves situated in the right corner." Lisa said.

"Alright, got it!" Naomi said and walked in an unhurried manner towards the book shelves. 

Lisa was about to sit down and open the book again when she noticed someone standing right at the door.

It was none other than Lillian, who was chasing Naomi all the way to the library. 

Seeing how run-down and small the appearance of the library on the outside, she thought that Naomi might be fooling her. How could a run-down and small library be nice? 

But since she have seen Naomi entering this library, she decided to follow suit.

'Let me see how nice this library is.' She thought.

When she opened the door of the library, she was surprised.

Her impression about the insides of the library to be run-down and small had disappeared. Inside the library, it didn't seem to be small at all and was rather wide and large with a vast collection of books displayed on numerous shelves. Adding the vintage decorations, it was pleasing to the eyes.

She was in a daze for a while when she remembered why she was there.

Sensing that someone's staring at her, Lillian turned to the direction where the gaze came from. 

Lisa smiled at her when Lillian looked at her with curiousity. Seeing her smile, Lillian walked over and Lisa was able to see Lillian's appearance.

She didn't have Naomi's exquisite beauty and was dressed in a maid's attire. She looked just average. 

'If only she was dressed up like those ladies from noble and wealthy families, although she won't be on par with Naomi's, her beauty would definitely standout in a crowd.' Lisa thought.

Lisa was lost in her thoughts as she stared at Lillian. Her thoughts were unidentifiable. 

Upon seeing that Lisa was staring at Lillian intently, Lillian couldn't help but shudder and lower down her head.

"Uh, is anything the matter?" Lillian asked in a meek voice.

Instead of receiving an accurate answer, the answer she got was a chuckle which confused her.

'What a cute lady.' Lisa thought.

"Nothing. By the way, how may I help you?" Lisa stopped chuckling and said with a smile.

Lillian raised her head and looked around before settling her gaze to Lisa.

"Have you seen a lady enter this library?" 

"You mean Naomi? She's browsing for books." 

"Oh." 

Lillian continued to look around while contemplating if she should go and tail behind Naomi while she was browsing for books but something caught her attention. 

Near the small closed windoe was a table and on top of it was a crystal ball. It attracted her attention and she wanted to touch it but fearing that the girl standing in the library counter might get furious if she was to touch it, she just stared at it and admired it silently.

As if she was able to read the other party's thoughts, Lisa gave her approval.

"If you want to touch it, go on."

Lillian turned to look at her. She revealed a faint smile and nodded at Lisa.

She went to the table and observed the crystal ball that was on top of it. After a while of observation, she placed her right hand on top of it.

The insides of the crystal ball glowed and it emmited a color of a purple chalcedony. Instead of the uncomfortable feeling produced by the blinding light coming from the crystal ball, she felt comfortable and relaxed all over and the tiredness she felt earlier was gone in an instant. 

Lillian was amused by the sudden occurence and as the light coming from the crystal ball made her feel comfortable, she played with it for a while.

As her eyes were glued on Lillian, she also saw what happened and was amused as well.

Fixing her gaze at the crystal ball which was under Lillian's right hand, a glint flashed through her eyes and she sank into deep thoughts. A strange expression appeared on her face and nobody could guess what she was thinking. 

Lillian, who was enjoying the comfortable and relaxing feeling the crystal ball gave, became confused.

'As far as I know, crystal balls should only be able to produce the colors of clear quartz, citrine yellow, tiger eye, black obsidian, amethyst purple, rose quartz pink, red, and green aventurine and aside from the colors, nothing else should happen. Why does this one did not only produce such different color but also gives off a comfortable feeling?' She thought curiously.

There are countless ideas and possibilities that flashed into her mind and just like Lisa, she fell into a deep thought.

She gazed into the crystal ball that still glowed and was under her right hand. 

She thought for a while until she came into a conclusion and her eyes widened. She quickly removed her hand at the crystal ball and stared at it like it was a monster with her eyes wide open and there was fear in her eyes.

'This should be a valuable treasure!'