The Silver-Haired Little Loli in the Library

She was also a little girl who appeared to be about the same age as Nanaly, wearing an Olcott Academy uniform, sitting quietly in a corner of the library reading a book.

Unlike Nanaly, this little girl had pure white hair—no, even her eyebrows were pure white.

Such hair color was extremely rare throughout the Hedley Empire, though not unheard of. In comparison, Laine's black hair and black eyes were even more uncommon.

Seeming to sense Laine's gaze, the white-haired little girl emerged from her sea of books and looked up at him.

Now Laine could clearly see her features—delicate yet extremely refined, with eyes that seemed far too profound for her age.

If one were to ignore her appearance and only look at those amber eyes, Laine would hardly believe she was a girl around Nanaly's age.

"Are you here to read?"

The white-haired little girl spoke up, her voice soft and gentle, but without much emotional inflection.

Unlike Nanaly who seemed to be masking her emotions, this white-haired little girl appeared to naturally lack emotional coloring, relying solely on her eyes to convey any information that needed facial expression.

Laine nodded: "I'm looking for books about the past ten years."

During his decade as a knight, Laine had clearly become disconnected from society.

What Laine needed now was to understand what had happened in these ten years, trying his best to reconnect with society.

After all, he couldn't just remain a butler at the Wenze household and look after a little girl forever, could he?

"The empire has developed very steadily these ten years, without any major events, so there wasn't much need for printed books. If you want to learn about these ten years, I have quite a few newspapers here that you can look through."

Though her tone was cool, the white-haired little girl was quite talkative, making conversation relatively easy.

"Thank you."

Laine expressed his gratitude and walked forward as the white-haired little girl simultaneously jumped down from her chair.

It was then that Laine noticed this white-haired little girl was even shorter than Nanaly.

Laine had thought Nanaly was already quite short for her age...

After jumping down from her chair, the white-haired little girl went to the bookshelf behind her, crouched down, and laboriously pulled out a box full of newspapers.

Laine hurried to help, lifting the box which was indeed quite heavy, packed full of yellowed newspapers.

At the same time, Laine noticed a label on the side of the box—1394.

It was now the year 1404 in the human calendar, so these must be an entire year's worth of newspapers from ten years ago.

And Laine would need to go through nine more boxes like this...

Thinking about this, Laine's mouth twitched slightly.

Carrying the box, Laine sat down opposite the white-haired little girl and picked up a newspaper to read.

At this point, the white-haired little girl asked: "Are you from Minggao? In all the books I've read, only people from Minggao have black hair and black eyes."

Though her tone was calm, curiosity shone in her eyes.

Laine shook his head: "I'm not sure where I'm from, but as far as I can remember, I've always grown up in Hedley."

Hearing Laine's response, the white-haired little girl didn't press further, but instead introduced herself:

"I'm Amiya, Amiya Wenze, a student at Olcott Academy and also the librarian here."

Wenze? Laine remembered that the magic instructor Nanaly had mentioned was also named Wenze.

"I'm Laine, no surname."

Amiya nodded and didn't say anything more, returning to her book, as if the introduction had been merely a formality.

Laine also focused on reading the newspapers, and they both sat in peaceful silence, without further conversation.

As Amiya had said, the Hedley Empire had developed very steadily that year, without any major events.

Before he knew it, Laine had finished reading a month's worth of newspapers.

After reading a few more papers, Laine's attention finally caught on one particular article.

[Human Calendar Year 1394, February 13th: Empire establishes the Dark Eclipse Knights, directly under imperial jurisdiction.]

The newspaper included a black and white photograph showing a group of knights standing at attention in heavy armor. Even just looking at the newspaper, one could sense the elite nature of these knights.

Looking at this photograph, Laine unconsciously smiled, gazing at it for a long while.

Although he hadn't been among the first batch of knights to join the Dark Eclipse Knights, Laine's sense of belonging to this order was second to none.

"The Dark Eclipse Knights is currently the most mysterious knight order in the Hedley Empire."

Amiya's voice suddenly came through: "In ten years, apart from this newspaper announcing the establishment of the Dark Eclipse Knights, there hasn't been any information about this order. Many people wonder if it has been disbanded.

The name of this order is also strange, since imperial knight orders are usually named things like 'Dawn' or 'Holy Flame,' and typically wear red, blue, or white armor. A name like Dark Eclipse and black armor really doesn't match the empire's style."

"This order did indeed disband, though it was only recently."

Laine replied with a faint smile while continuing to look at the newspaper:

"Just like its name suggests, this order never appeared in the public eye, simply carrying out its missions quietly. From its establishment to its dissolution, over ten years, this order achieved countless merits, yet remained largely unknown."

At this point, Laine suddenly noticed Amiya had gone quiet and looked up.

He saw that Amiya had even stopped reading her book, her amber eyes blinking as she watched Laine, seemingly waiting for him to continue.

Meeting Laine's gaze, Amiya said in her soft voice:

"You seem to know a lot about this order. Could you tell me more? I'm very curious."

Seeing Amiya's inquisitive look, Laine didn't refuse and smiled: "Sure."

Then, after organizing his thoughts, Laine began:

"Six hundred years ago, the Human Race, Beast Tribe, and Elf Clan joined forces to defeat the Demon Race, forcing them to sign a peace treaty, bringing six hundred years of peace to the continent."

Amiya nodded; currently, humans and the Demon Race maintained at least a superficial harmony, and there was even a young lady from the Demon Race attending Olcott Academy.

"But that's just on the surface."

Laine shrugged: "About a dozen years ago, the Demon Race began showing signs of resurgence, repeatedly sending small-scale forces to harass our Hedley Empire's borders.

Because peace had been so hard-won, and the peaceful development with the Demon Race had indeed brought considerable benefits to our nation, the empire was unwilling to start a large-scale war over these minor conflicts.

And so, the Dark Eclipse Knights was formed."