All in all, this book was an absolute rare treasure! Solam had never expected Candlekeep to be so generous as to place something like this in a public library! Although books inside Candlekeep's Central Tower were not allowed to be borrowed and could only be read within the tower, so there was no fear of anyone taking this book away, the problem was that it belonged in a museum or somewhere similar, carefully preserved—not sitting out in the open so casually.
Books, too, would deteriorate after being handled for too long!
Solam carefully cradled the book against his chest, then slowly climbed down from the shelf with the utmost care. He was genuinely afraid that if he damaged this book, Candlekeep would never simply make him pay compensation. The best possible outcome would probably be a group of knowledge monks beating him senseless before throwing him into a cell to rot.
"Old man, I think we should pick another book. If this thing gets damaged, the consequences will be far too serious... I think we should hand it over to those knowledge monks. Those guys are seriously careless, putting something like this in a public area. Aren't they afraid of damaging such an unparalleled treasure?"
Solam did not hand it over to the old man. Instead, he carefully wiped the book as though there were dust on it. Solam was generally a rough sort of man, that was true, but he truly did not dare act carelessly around a book of this caliber. Leaving aside everything else, the fact that this book had survived from ten thousand years ago, enduring so many disasters and still remaining intact to this day, was enough to earn Solam's respect.
Otherwise, it had survived the wars during Netheril's expansion, survived the thousand-year history of