When Zoe and I walked into the library, Selira raised her gaze and smiled when she saw us.

  “Good morning, Selira,” I greeted her.

  “Good morning,” she answered, approaching from behind the counter.

  “Cute dress,” Zoe commented.

  “Oh, thank you,” the sea nymph replied, her cheeks blushing dark green.

  She was wearing a flowing light beige dress that matched her green skin and showed off her slim figure, but it looked more suited for a picnic than for work.

  “You look amazing,” I added, wondering if she had dressed like that knowing that we were coming.

  “Did Azura like the book?” she asked, but couldn’t hide the smile from her face.

  “We didn't have time to look at it yesterday,” I replied, skipping over the fact that we had been occupied with Azura’s problems with her mother… and sex.

  “No problem, you can hold it as long as you want,” Selira replied. “Do you want to read something, or are you still up to help me?”

  “I would love to help with the books,” I said.

  “Perfect,” the sea nymph remarked. “Good thing you came now. Later there’ll be more people around, but right now I have time to show you everything. Come on, we’ll put your things away, and I’ll show you what to do.”

  “Zoe, are you going to help too?” Selira asked, as we were putting our things in the room Selira opened for us.

  “Hmm… do I get a reward for that?” the succubus asked with a soft smile.

  “Oh… no. I’m sorry, I can't pay you,” Selira replied.

  “I wasn't thinking about money,” Zoe said. “More like a favor from you.”

  “From me?” Selira asked, furrowing her dark green brows. “Like what?”

  “You know that I’m a succubus?” Zoe asked. That was enough to make the sea nymph look at her with wide open eyes, but Zoe was not finished. “And a vampire?” she added, licking slowly over her fangs.

  “A-A vampire?” Selira stammered, completely frozen in pce.

  “A hug would be nice,” Zoe added, with a mischievous smile.

  “A-A hug?” Selira asked. “Oh… I mean, ugh… Yeah, a hug’s not a problem. Not a big price for the help,” the sea nymph said.

  “Unless you have something else in mind?” Zoe asked.

  “No!” Selira replied much too quickly and loudly to make anyone believe that.

  Zoe smirked and winked at me when Selira turned around and led us through the library.

  “Well, Selira, what exactly do you want us to do?” I asked, reaching out a hand to save her from the cws of a teasing succubus.

  “Right… We’ve got like thousands of books here that aren’t catalogued yet. The whole process of making a book avaible to readers has seven steps, but I’ll take care of the st three. Those are a bit more complicated, and you need to really know the library. I just want to make sure everything’s done right. And… I don't want a mess in my system.”

  Selira opened one of the doors and let us in first. Inside, there were three chairs and a table with many small bck stones, and many books standing in piles all along the walls.

  “The first step,” Selira continued as she approached the books, “is to check if there is any mana inside them. I made an overall scan of those books, and there is none that would have a big amount. Still, they might have some small values inside. It could just be some stored mana, but it might also be a spell or enchantment. That’s why I made the scan beforehand. If there were one with a big amount of mana, it could have a dangerous spell on it, but those here are safe. Still, even those with minimal mana must be put aside and cleansed before they’re put into the library. This,” she said, picking up one of the bck stones, “is a checking crystal. You pick a book.” She grabbed the first one from the pile. “And put the crystal on top of it. As you can see, nothing happened, so the book is safe. If there were mana inside, the stone would shine. In that case, you put it aside, and I’ll take care of it ter. Is everything clear so far?” she asked, looking at me and Zoe.

  “Yes,” I replied.

  “Okay, next you check the overall condition of the book,” Selira said, putting the stone back on the table as she looked at the book in her hands from every side and flipped through its pages. “Small damage is okay, you must make sure that pages are not falling off, or the text is not too faded, or anything that might make you worry the book could fall apart if someone isn’t careful while reading. If you find one like that, put it aside too.”

  “Damaged books go to the side,” I said. “Are you going to fix them?”

  “I don't have the skills and time for that,” Selira replied. “They’ll just sit around until someone from the city council decides they’re worth fixing,” she added sadly. “Next, you should clean it,” she continued her expnation. “Nothing drastic, we don't want to damage it, just brush off the dust or any dirt on the cover.” She used a cloth to wipe the book.

  “Once that’s done, you mark it as library property on the first and st page. You use this stone,” she said, picking another bck stone that was slightly bigger than the previous one. She pressed it to the inside of the cover at the start.

  To get a better look, I stepped up behind Selira, leaving barely an inch between us. I looked over her shoulder, and as she raised the stone, a bck symbol was left on the book, with an inscription: “Property of Ortas’ City Library.” She repeated the same thing at the end of the book, before she put the stone back on the table.

  “Then-” Selira said, turning around, but when she realized how close I was, she stopped and raised her gaze to look me in the eyes. Being so close, I admired her cute green features, and only now noticed small darker freckles around her nose.

  There was tension immediately between us, as our lips were so close. I would only need to lean a tiny bit to connect them, but we both remained without any movement, staring into each other’s eyes.

  Using my “Whisper of Desire,” I watched her reaction - her eyes dropped to my lips, as her cheeks darkened. I guess she saw us kissing, but I wondered if perhaps even more.

  “Then what, Selira?” I whispered after a moment.

  She grunted, getting flustered, as she quickly turned around, standing again with her back to me. She grabbed the book from the table, but still needed a moment to collect her thoughts before she spoke again.

  “Then… then you need to check what the book is about… what…” She paused when she realized how clumsy what she had just said was. “I mean, you need to check the title, a few first pages, a table of contents if it's there, and find out what the book is about. We mark them at the spine, but for now, you should only divide them into piles, and I’ll check them first before you mark them. You’ll need to sort them into religion, history, magic, philosophy, poetry, demons, practical knowledge, and fiction. And divide fiction further into subcategories, like romance, and so on.

  “After you take care of some of them,” Selira continued, “find me, and I’ll take a quick look if everything’s okay before you mark them. But it should be pretty simple with most of them, like this one,” she added, patting the book she was using as an example, titled All Shapes of Shapeshifters.

  “You should still look inside, just to make sure, but it’s clearly about demons, so you put it on the pile about demons. And after you mark it, your job is finished.”

  “And what would you do with them then?” I asked quietly, still standing just behind her.

  There was a moment of pause, as she probably realized how close I was, before she grunted and spoke again. “I need to put information about it into a catalogue, and mark more precisely its pce in the library. This one, for example, would go in the demon section, but on the shelves about shapeshifters. I’ll add the additional symbols on the spine ter on to mark its position. Oh, actually, there’s one more thing you can help me with. Wait here,” she said, turning around, but was blocked by me standing there.

  “Umm… C-Can you… let me go?” she asked quietly.

  “Oh, right. Sorry, I just wanted to have a closer look,” I replied, stepping away.

  Her gaze flicked to my face before she quickly marched out of the room.

  “You’re impossible, Master. Teasing a poor, innocent librarian,” Zoe said with a smirk.

  “Using my own words against me?” I asked, chuckling. “I want to have some fun too.”

  “We can ignore all those books and just focus on the fun part already,” she replied.

  “Teasing and seducing her is fun,” I replied, and then gnced at the book she had used as an example, hoping she would leave it on the table. “And I want to learn more about this world.”

  “Booooring,” Zoe said with a smirk.

  “I’ll show you what’s not boring after we get back home,” I said, getting closer to her, but Selira’s steps stopped me.

  “I can't wait,” Zoe whispered, just before the sea nymph walked back into the room with a pile of small cards in her hand.

  “These are cards that I use to organize book lending,” Selira said, pcing them on the table. “I pce one in the book, and when someone borrows it, I mark it on the card and put it in a special drawer. When the person returns it, I mark it on the card and put it back into the book. That way I know which books were borrowed, when, and by whom. Your task would be to put the title of the book on the card. I’ll fill in the rest of the information when I add them to the catalogue.”

  “You will still have a lot of work to do with those books,” I said.

  “Yes, but the catalogue is in the main room, so I can do it between helping people, and… well, you’ll handle the boring parts, while I would get to check the books and put them where they belong. Can you handle this?” she asked, gesturing over the room.

  “Sure. Check for mana, dust it off, mark it with the library’s sign, sort them into categories. Then find you, and once you confirm, mark the spine and leave them for you to finish the job.”

  “Exactly,” Selira replied with a smile. “Actually, when you’re done, could you bring them to the counter where I sit? I won’t have to carry them myself.”

  “No problem.”

  “Okay… So, you can start now if you want,” she said, looking at me.

  “Are you gonna watch me the whole time?” I asked, picking a book from the pile.

  “No, of course not. That would make no sense at all. I just want to make sure that you’ll do it right. I wouldn't want you to damage them or something…” Selira expined, looking worriedly at the book I was holding.

  “I’ll be careful. I promise,” I said, putting the book on the table. The title was Ruling of Margaret Moorcroft. It was a history book, and as I looked at it, I wondered if there were any like it about Gemma. She was still ruling, but was doing it for so long that perhaps there were already books about her. And I could learn more about her that way.

  I grabbed the bck stone and put it on the book. Since it didn’t react, I wiped the dust and cobwebs off and marked it with the library’s symbol at both the beginning and end. After quickly checking inside that it really was a history book, I closed and raised it, showing it to Selira.

  “History,” I said, and then put it on the table to the side.

  “You did it right,” Selira replied, still just standing and watching me.

  “You thought I couldn’t handle this?” I asked, smiling.

  “No, I’m just worried. This is supposed to be my job, and I shouldn't let anyone else have access to these books. And I know that you don't want to do anything bad with them, but I’m still worried, and a bit concerned, but… okay, you’re right. I left the library for too long already, I must go. Can you handle it?” she asked.

  “Yes,” I replied, smiling at how nervous she was about it.

  She lingered for a moment longer before she finally left the room.

  “Poor you, Master,” Zoe said, standing next to me.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Even if you make her fall for you, you’ll never be the most important thing in her heart. She’s madly in love with those books and this pce,” Zoe expined.

  “Who said something about love?” I asked, turning toward the table and picking up the book Selira had marked - All Shapes of Shapeshifters.

  “Well, you do like doing that,” Zoe replied, hopping up to sit on the table next to me. “Making women fall in love with you,” she added, as I looked at her. “First me, then Azura, and who knows who would be next?”

  “Azura’s not in love with me,” I replied, but immediately after, I wasn't so sure of that. She hadn't said those words, but she wasn't one to speak a lot in the first pce. But it was certainly too soon for her to feel something like that.

  “Yeah, we’ll see when we get back home,” Zoe said, smirking.

  “Off to work,” I said, nodding toward the books. “Or at least don’t distract me,” I added, opening the book in my hands.

  “Yes, Master,” she replied, and for the first time it wasn't filled with joy or mischief, but something closer to disappointment, sadness, and boredom.

  “You don't have to do that if you really don't want to,” I said, wondering if she was doing it only because she was my sve and thought she had no choice.

  “I want to help you,” she replied, smiling softly. “Even if it's super boring.”

  “I’ll make it up to you ter.”

  “You better do,” she said, grinning, but then groaned. “Master, do you actually want me to focus on these books, or be distracted thinking about your cock all the time?” she purred.

  “You are going to think about it anyway.”

  “It’s too amazing not to,” she replied, her gaze lowering to my crotch.

  “Books!” I said, turning back toward the one in front of me, knowing that if we kept going like this, instead of finding a pile of checked books on the table, Selira would find me and Zoe fucking on it.

  The book, All Shapes of Shapeshifters, listed all their types - wolves, dogs, cats, but also animals that I would say were more exotic, like kangaroos. That could be interesting. Wondering if the knowledge inside would be worth saving in my mind, I opened it on the wolves section.

  There was a short fragment about their looks, which just described a standard wolf. There was no mention of colorful fur, like Azura’s blue one. Then it listed common character traits of wolf shapeshifters: loyalty, protectiveness of their pack, natural sense for hierarchy, ck of trust toward strangers, territorial, strong need to belong to a group (pack), tendency to follow animalistic instincts, persistence.

  There was a short note after that, stating that those were common traits, but every specimen could be different because of past experiences, and more or less connected with their animalistic nature.

  Azura seemed to have almost all of them. I just wasn’t sure about her being territorial or persistent. She clearly wasn’t territorial when it came to me, at least not in terms of sharing me with other women.

  Next, the book listed potential csses of wolf shapeshifters: hunter, scout, tracker, warrior, or berserker.

  Unfortunately, Azura’s mana was too low and she had only one css, but perhaps I could change it ter on using my Demon Master css. Something like a tracker would probably fit her.

  After that, there was some vague information about their lifestyle, where they lived, and an image of them in their animal form… which was just a wolf image. That wasn’t the most useful part, but the character traits and csses seemed worth saving.

  I skimmed through the book, snapping pictures of every page with traits and csses, tagging them so I could find them quickly ter. I was trying not to read the content at the moment, to do it quickly, but I stopped at one of the pages - Tiger. That bitch Tori came to mind again, and I read through the information there.

  Character traits: Independent, prideful, confident, calcuting, explosive aggression when provoked, preference for solitude, determination.

  That fit Tori, and if I knew that she preferred solitude, while also being calcuting, I would have been more careful not to trust her so much when she wanted to join us. But then again, maybe I was just looking for proof after the fact and seeing connections where they didn't exist.

  Even though the book described hundreds of shapeshifter types, I got through it in about twenty minutes, because I was only reading the type of animal it was about to mark in my memory.

  As I finished with that book, Zoe had already prepared a big pile of new ones for me to check. I only needed to split them into categories while checking if there was something that I would want to save in my memory.

  But I quickly realized that most of them were about history, philosophy, or fiction. I stumbled upon only one that was about magic, titled Treatise on Magical Transportation.

  Unfortunately, it wasn't a magic guide for idiots, and I had a hard time understanding it. I had a fshback to those moments when I opened advanced textbooks about math or physics, and looking at rows of symbols had no idea what they meant. It was the same here, so I quickly decided to put it away, especially since it was a treatise, not a guide on how to actually transport something.

  After we checked and divided easily over a hundred books, I figured that it was enough. While I wanted to help, I didn't want to spend the whole day in the library.

  As I walked to the main room, where Selira was behind the counter, she was looking through one of the drawers, while an older man standing in front of her watched her.

  “Is something wrong?” she whispered, gncing at me as I approached, before turning her focus back to the folder in the drawer.

  “No, we just finished with some of them, and we need to get going. I wanted you to check them before we mark them.”

  “I’m a bit busy right now,” Selira replied, then lowered her voice. “It will take me some time with him, and I don't want to make you wait. I’ll mark them ter, but can you bring them over here?”

  “Sure,” I replied. “And we can mark them.”

  “Next time,” Selira replied, and moved to another drawer.

  We carried the sorted books from the small room and stacked them on the floor behind the counter. When we finished, Selira returned from the library shelves, holding three books that she put on the counter. When the old man thanked her, she turned toward us, but before she could even say a word, he said he wanted something else.

  A frown of irritation crossed her face, and I wondered if that older man was a regur at the library.

  “A moment,” she said, before she approached us.

  “Thank you so much,” she said, hugging Zoe. The succubus wrapped her arms and tail around her, sticking her tongue out at me.

  But then Selira pulled back and, without hesitation, hugged me too, wrapping her arms around my back as she pressed her slim body against me, much too close for someone thanking me for help with work, but I gdly wrapped my arms around her, resting them low on her back.

  This time I stuck my tongue out at Zoe, but she only smirked and winked, clearly looking proud of herself that she came up with that as a form of payment for our help.

  “Thank you very much. You have no idea how much I appreciate the help, and I will take care of the books and add them to the library collection. But I must go now, help this distinguished gentleman,” she said, rolling her eyes.

  “No worries, we’ll be back soon,” I said.

  “I hope so,” Selira replied, turning around, but then she stopped and looked at me again, with a slight blush on her face. “For the books, I mean. That you would come and help with the books more, so I can put them on the shelves, and they would be-”

  “I know,” I interrupted her, smiling.

  Selira nodded and quickly went back to the man as he expined what he wanted.

  Our things were still stored in one of the rooms, but Selira was busy, so we picked them up on our own before we left the library and headed toward the house.

  “I take back what I said, Master,” Zoe said, walking hand in hand with me. “That I can't wait for this little fish to finally fall into your net,” she added. “She’s already in there, just waiting for you to pull her out of the water and devour.”