Gonna Be a Demon King!-Chapter 52: New Job

It was the 12th of April.

Seven days had passed since Xaren and Ilya started their new jobs as assistant librarians, and to their surprise, they were actually enjoying it.

Genuinely enjoying it.

For Xaren, it was an entirely new experience—something normal, something mundane. In his past life, he had never had the luxury of a simple job like this. Drafted into war as a child, his days had been filled with endless battles, each one blurring into the next.

For Ilya, it was just as novel. She had never worked a job before. Her entire life in the Newborn Zone had been a constant struggle for survival, and even after leaving it, fighting had remained almost the only thing she knew.

The other librarians had warmed up to them surprisingly quickly. Not so much because of their enthusiasm for the job, but because they were useful.

Xaren's so-called 'levitation magic' was perfect for moving and sorting books, which was exactly why he had listed it on his application.

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Meanwhile, Ilya's wind magic proved useful for organizing smaller sections and keeping the place clean. Another librarian who also used wind magic had even taken the time to teach Ilya a few spells for handling dust more efficiently.

As a result, she had been unofficially assigned to maintaining certain areas, ensuring dust didn't pile up on important books.

Between the two of them, Xaren was the first to gain access to the higher levels of the library.

A Level 3 librarian had heard about his levitation magic and personally requested him for book indexing on Level 3.

The assistant librarians on Level 2 couldn't help but feel envious—if Xaren was lucky, he might get the chance to sneak a peek at some magic books or even a few grimoires, learning new spells in the process.

On Xaren and Ilya's third day at work, the Archmages arrived for their scheduled meeting.

He and Ilya had long suspected that these so-called meetings were actually when the Archmages replenished the magic power of the barrier core prison—sealing in the spirit that acted as the energy generator of the city's barrier.

That day, while Xaren was indexing books, he immediately sensed their arrival. It wasn't difficult—they made no effort to suppress their immense magic power.

To be safe, Xaren kept his distance from the stairs, wary that one of them might be perceptive enough to see through his demonic energy suppression.

Fortunately, none of them seemed to notice anything amiss. Even when a few of them passed through the third floor, casually glancing around, he remained undetected.

However, an encounter was inevitable.

Two of the Archmages walked in on Xaren as he was using his levitation magic to stack books. Since some of the special books he was handling at the time had glass covers and were too fragile to handle roughly, he couldn't hastily drop them and escape.

So, he stayed put. He didn't have a choice.

The Archmages merely raised an eyebrow at his magic, though one of them seemed to recognize that it wasn't levitation magic at all—but gravity magic.

That one questioned him.

They asked about his magic and how he learned it. Xaren responded with a half-truth, claiming that "a soldier" had taught him. When pressed for his age, he outright lied, saying he was fourteen.

The Archmage studied him for a moment, then seemed to reach a conclusion—probably assuming Xaren himself didn't even know what kind of magic he actually possessed.

And then, they left.

But Xaren had the feeling he had been noted.

Over the next two meetings, that same Archmage always sought him out, subtly observing him.

Then, after the third and final meeting of the week, a Level 4 librarian called Xaren up to the fourth floor.

As Xaren had suspected, the Archmage had seen through his magic. They were a spatial magic user, and the subtle distortions in space caused by his gravity magic hadn't escaped their notice.

The Level 4 librarian who had summoned him explained that the Archmage had instructed them to give him a grimoire on basic gravity magic.

It was almost as if what Xaren had been searching for had landed right in his lap.

Of course, he wasn't allowed to take the grimoire out of the library. Instead, he was told to memorize certain magic circles from it—specifically for Attraction and Repulsion via Gravity.

Naturally, Xaren already knew these techniques and had used them over a hundred times. But he played along, acting as if he were thrilled to be learning something new.

It seemed the Archmage was testing him—gauging how quickly he could pick up new concepts, likely to decide whether or not to take him as a student.

Not that Xaren was planning to be here long enough for that test to reach its conclusion, though.

Regardless, this event gave him a valuable opportunity: a glimpse of the library's Level 4.

It was structured much differently from Level 3.

Though it was the same size, it was divided into three distinct sections—the Left Wing, Right Wing, and Central Section.

- The Right Wing was restricted to the Archmages. Xaren wasn't sure if it contained books, private chambers, or something else entirely, but it was definitely off-limits.

- The Left Wing housed grimoires exclusively.

- The Central Section contained advanced magic textbooks.

If there was anything on this floor related to the barrier, Xaren was certain it would be in the Right Wing—where the Archmages held their meetings.

And so, on Day 7, after the final Archmage meeting had concluded, Xaren and Ilya stayed behind after closing time.

Xaren made it seem like he was still studying the magic circles he had been given that morning, and the librarians—who tacitly understood his enthusiasm—gave him some leeway.

When Nuvian came by to announce the closing time, he didn't see either Xaren or Ilya around.

He simply assumed, "Oh, they've probably gone home."

Nuvian locked up the library and left along with the rest of the librarians, marking the end of the day.

Less than an hour later, a surge of magic power pulsed through the building.

No one outside noticed. Either the library had been constructed with materials designed to contain magic power, or it had been reinforced with concealing enchantments over time.

Once the surge faded, the last two Archmages who had stayed behind moved through the floors, travelling from the ground floor all the way to the top.

After a while, they finally came back down and exited the building.

Another hour later, under cover of night, a door to one of the document rooms on the first floor quietly opened and out stepped Xaren and Ilya.

Though they had been enjoying their time as assistant librarians, they had not forgotten their true mission.

And now, it was time to get to work.

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First, the two activated their Perception Blocking Artifacts.

These artifacts ran on magic power, were one-time-use, and were limited in quantity. Each of them only had five—and they'd already used one to make sure the Archmages didn't find out they were still in the building after closing hours.

Each activation lasted one hour. Once turned on, the artifact had to run its full duration. If deactivated early, it could not be used again.

The set consisted of four interconnected pieces—two bracelets and two anklets. The synergy between these four devices was what created the perception-blocking effect.

With their presence and energy signatures concealed, Xaren and Ilya headed straight for the top floor.

Before that, however, they needed keys.

The keys for Levels 0, 1, and 2 were stored in a cupboard on the ground floor and never removed from the library. They retrieved the necessary ones before making their way up.

They also knew that the keys for Level 3 were kept in a Level 2 document room, and in turn, the keys for Level 4 were stored in a Level 3 document room.

Upon entering Level 4, Xaren and Ilya immediately noticed the presence of magic power sensors embedded in the walls.

But thanks to their Perception Blocking Artifacts, these sensors were unable to detect them.

Not wanting to waste a single moment, Xaren immediately pulled out the Geiger counter-like scanner he had previously used to detect the barrier's weak point outside the city.

This device wasn't just for finding areas where the barrier's energy was the weakest—it could also do the opposite and detect where the barrier's energy was strongest.

And wherever the barrier's energy was strongest, that was where the barrier core had to be.