Chapter 657: Office Up
Northern, of course, was concerned about the latter part of the news Annette had delivered to him.
Even as a drifter, it was impossible to live that long, except if there was a special trick to it... let alone a human!
All things were playing wrong here.
But right now, that was none of Northern's concern. The immediate matters which he needed to handle in order to dominate the school concerned him more.
If Heimburger was that important, this meant that he had really hit the jackpot without working for it.
'Beautiful... really beautiful.'
Annette was the Head Librarian-even though there seemed to be a story surrounding it that he wasn't exactly listening to.
He was sure she'd be fine.
What mattered was that because she happened to be the Head Librarian, he could gain access to those upper floors.
And much more freely investigate the things he wanted to investigate.
Letting the mischievous grin plastered to his face fade for a moment, Northern focused on Annette.
"There are a couple of things I would love to discuss with you. But first, please give me my key."
His hoarse voice was tinged with a more lively tone this time around. The darkness that shadowed his expression had also been lifted.
It seemed the news about Professor Heimburger had done more than she thought.
All the more reason why she grew more frustrated in silence. She wanted to know so badly what exactly the bastard was thinking.
Annette opened her drawer and rummaged through a couple of keys there, a shallow clanging sound resounding faintly.
Then she picked out one and came closer to him. Staring at Northern with a keen observant gaze, she slowly handed him the key.
"His office is on the sixth floor-that is the sixth subfloor, following the explanation of a librarian."
Northern clutched it in his hands and smiled in response.
"Stop that... you are only making me grow more curious."
"Oh, are you?" Northern waved his hand, dismissing her.
"Don't be, I'm sure these are trivial matters that are none of your concern. I will take my leave now."
Annette folded her arms over her plump chest, watching Northern.
When he reached the door, he turned back to her, hesitating first, before speaking.
"I'd appreciate if you keep my identity and presence here a secret. Not even your assistant should know..."
Annette's grin widened.
"What do I get for that?"
Northern scrunched his face tiredly and turned away.
"Go ahead and tell the entire school about it then."
He opened the door and stepped outside, closing it behind him.
He threw one last glance at the dark-skinned lady who was already in a deep sleep, releasing snores that threatened to quake the air.
Northern shook his head; he could not imagine what life for these people would be.
'I should be more grateful about where I am.' He finally stepped out of the head librarian's office.
The first thing he did was head upstairs to the higher floor.
As much as the higher floors could be accessed by stairs, they could also be reached by elevators. Northern preferred the latter.
All he had to do was stay inside and press the floor he was going to. When the elevator was approaching the next floor-if anyone wanted to board it, all they had to do was press an external button by the side, and it would stop.
It was the exact same structure as the elevator Northern was used to, except it had a different design. Its interior walls were like transparent plastic, and Northern could see several mechanisms of wheels that rolled together, each functioning as part of a larger whole as the elevator floated upward.
By the time Northern was heading to the sixth floor, more than six students had already boarded the elevator.
No one paid attention to him or even spoke, but the condescension in their gazes was louder than anything they could have said.
Upon reaching the sixth floor, the elevator stopped and Northern squeezed himself through from behind people.
The students immediately parted way, downturning their mouths in disgust as his shoulders softly brushed them. It didn't even matter that he smelled like sweet flowery air.
Northern eventually made it out, glanced back at the elevator as it closed before making his way to Professor Heimburger's office.
The sixth floor was as big as every other floor. The most prominent thing about this floor was that it had fewer bookshelves and more doors.
The doors led to private reading rooms and non-teaching staff offices. He could see the tags on each door as he passed by.
Private Reading Room 1
Private Reading Room 2
Administrative Office
...
And finally, after cutting across a corner, he reached a two-door entrance at the end of the hallway he had branched into.
There he saw:
Professor Heimburger.
He inserted the key into its hole, and as he attempted to turn it, the key turned on its own.
It twisted left, then right and left again, then turned 180 degrees before stopping. Slowly, the door drifted open before Northern. As he stepped inside, he was assaulted by a cloud of thick, choking dust.
Having to wave his hand to chase away the immediate dust in front of him, Northern took a brief look around the room.
It was a smaller version of what he had seen in Heimburger's actual office. Plush couches lined the front of the table, facing each other with a wooden center table between them. To the right side was a bookshelf carved into the wall, its books in a ragged state, some fallen off, torn; the ones that managed to find solace in the shelf were covered in
dust.
Then to the left was a corner that led to another compartment. Ahead of the plush couch was the same arch table and large brown leather chair.
They both were much smaller versions of what Northern saw in Heimburger's other office.
To actually be managing a place like this felt like an honor. The place, after he was done with cleaning, was definitely going to be better than his room in the dorm.
"Night Terror."
From his shadows manifested a four-armed, devilish monster.
Night Terror's eyes gleamed with crimson flair as they rose to regard his master.
"Get Jeci, Lynus and his other two minions for me... no way I am going to clean all this."
Night Terror lowered his head in reverence and immediately disappeared into Northern's shadows.