"No, no, still nothing." Mantis put the book down in frustration. "Ah... there has to be somewhere that records something about those creatures. There has to be."
Perhaps there was, but finding the one book containing that information in this vast sea of books would be no easier than a Great Hunt.
"Ugh, the timing couldn't be worse."
At the thought of the Great Hunt, Mantis's expression darkened again. The timing really couldn't have been worse.
The Great Hunt took priority over everything else. Until it was over, all other matters could wait.
And because she had spent the entire previous night hunting alone, her clansmates refused to let her take part in this operation, no matter how she tried to explain.
So Mantis couldn't speak with her father about that mysterious visitor just yet.
But that didn't mean Mantis would sit around doing nothing. A hunter only waited once all preparations were complete.
And so she had come to the Great Library.
If anywhere in the Flame Capital was likely to hold clues about that strange bug, it had to be here.
Only... it was taking just a little longer than she had expected.
Mantis tilted her head. The books she had gone through were already piled as high as she was, yet they accounted for less than one ten-thousandth of the Great Library's collection.
"Dear visitor, please remember to return the books to their original places when you finish reading."
A Firefly flying low overhead offered the friendly reminder, without concerning himself with whether Mantis had heard him. He had done his part.
"Ah..."
Mantis was practically groaning. She had long since forgotten where she had taken these books from. She swore even hunting had never been this exhausting.
In the knowledge-filled Great Library, only the Fireflies, who