The Clock Tower's bells rang right on time.
Gallo finished the last sip of tea in his cup and gave the waiting customers a professional smile. "Everyone, we can begin."
His work proceeded in an orderly fashion.
Gallo efficiently handled one request after another: finding books, explaining their contents, and recommending books in particular fields. His mind worked like a precision instrument.
Every now and then, an image of Malcolm sitting alone in the distance surfaced in his mind. Malcolm seemed to be leisurely reading that novel, but through the Eye of Spirituality hovering above him, Gallo could clearly see that most of his attention was actually focused on Gallo, his gaze appraising.
At last, it was Malcolm's turn. Gallo was curious to know what this man who had been watching him wanted.
Holding a novel with an ornate cover titled The Mask of Moulin Street, Malcolm sauntered over and sat down across from Gallo.
Gallo kept his expression carefully neutral, acting as if the person across from him were a stranger he had never met.
"You've been waiting quite a while. Business is booming for you." Malcolm pushed the book in his hand across the table toward Gallo.
"Analyze this book for me. I'm almost finished with it. Then recommend another book in a similar style." Malcolm's tone was flat, revealing no emotion.
Gallo picked up the book and quickly leafed through it.
It was a typical urban novel, laced with sensuality and intrigue. It told the story of a young man from the lower classes who used his wits to navigate the world of upper-class women, only to become embroiled in the power struggles of various influential families.
For Gallo, who had Learning Lv3 and Memory Lv2, understanding its contents was effortless. Still, Malcolm was the first person to ask him to analyze a novel.
A few minutes later, he closed the book and said with crisp clarity, "Sir, the heart of this book lies in depicting the struggle and disillusionment of individuals trying to rise through the social ranks by unconventional means against a backdrop of entrenched class divisions.
"The protagonist uses affection as a tool, only to be consumed in turn by desire and intrigue.
"Much like the protagonist's ultimate fate, he wears so many masks that he no longer knows who he really is, and eventually ends up as a patient in an asylum.
"The book offers a fairly deep portrayal of upper-class hypocrisy and the helplessness of those born into the lower classes. All in all, it's... a decent way to pass the time."
Malcolm tapped his fingers lightly on the tabletop, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. Instead, he asked, "Then recommend something similar, something to pass the time when I'm bored."
Gallo thought for a moment, then gave him the name of a bookstore and the book's location on its shelves. "At Aofan Bookstore, on the left side of the third bookshelf, there's a book called The Nightingale and the Rose. It's similar in style, but the ending is better than this one."
"Good." Malcolm nodded and took two one-Copper Nil banknotes from his wallet, placing them on the table.
"That covers the analysis and the book recommendation."
"That'll be one Copper Nil and two Fenso," Gallo said calmly. Then he took three one-Fenso coins from his pocket and slid them over as change.
One of them was the Divination Coin, which appeared to Gallo as black and greasy, with tendrils coiling around it, wreathed in faint spiritual fluctuations.
As he slid the coins over, Gallo's heightened Inspiration stirred faintly. If this coin stayed with Malcolm, it seemed it might lead to a situation that would benefit Gallo in the future.
Malcolm had clearly paid no attention to the "ordinary" change. He casually gathered up all three coins, picked up his book, and left without another word.
Gallo watched him go, then continued with his work.
When the lunch break came, Gallo had just taken out the buttered bread he'd brought when he saw Stur approaching with something in his hands.
"Gallo! Look what I brought you!" Stur proudly stood a black wooden board about a meter tall and half a meter wide beside Gallo's desk.
The board's surface had been sanded smooth. Gallo's Knowledge Navigation services and prices were written clearly on it in white paint, the lettering neat and eye-catching, with simple decorative patterns even sketched along the edges.
Compared to the shabby piece of corrugated cardboard from before, this GG Sign looked far more professional.
"I made it for you last night in the department's industrial workshop." Stur patted the board, looking like he was waiting to be praised.
"What do you think? It looks a lot more impressive than that piece of cardboard, right?"
Gallo was genuinely delighted. He smiled and thanked Stur. "Thanks, Stur. This is so much better."
Gallo stood the GG Sign Stur had made beside his desk, then folded up the old cardboard sign and tossed it straight into the trash bin beside the desk.
He invited Stur to sit down and shared half of his buttered white bread with him. The two chatted over their simple lunch.
"I was a little worried you'd be in low spirits after last night... I didn't expect you to take it so well," Gallo said, tearing off a small piece of buttered bread and chewing as he spoke.
"Me? Why?"
"Sacia Taylor. I thought you'd still be hung up on her." Gallo's words brought a flush to Stur's face, but he quickly continued with a broad grin, "I was too naive yesterday. If we'd met twenty years ago, she wouldn't have given me a second glance, let alone taken the initiative to speak to me.
"After all, she's part of the Taylor Family. Twenty years ago, they were a powerful noble house. I was just a penniless commoner."
Gallo frowned. He'd read quite a few books related to the History Department, but most covered the histories of the Northern and Southern Continents, as well as maritime and trade history. Books on modern history were scarce, especially those about the Iron Glory Empire's recent past.
Still, he knew that the Iron Glory Empire's founding had begun twenty years earlier, when General Renard launched the Iron Moon Coup. He overthrew the royal family of the Faruon Kingdom in one fell swoop and used military force to suppress the royalists and various nobles. He changed the Faruon Kingdom into the Faruon Republic, established a provisional government, and became its first Supreme Executive.
Over the next two years, the republic launched a series of invasions against neighboring countries, occupying a great deal of their territory. As a result, the Faruon Republic's territory grew to more than twice the size of the kingdom's.
It also laid claim to some of the Northern Continent's other countries' colonies in the Southern Continent, giving the republic many more colonies there than the kingdom had possessed.
In Renard's third year in power, he changed the country's republican system into an imperial dictatorship and established the Iron Glory Empire, whose territory was more than twice as large as before!
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