Chapter 4. The Encyclopaedia of Avarice

I guess my desk job was probably not the best environment to prepare for a long journey on foot. Of course, how could I have known I would have to take one?

I berated myself for being such a fool all the way to the top of the hill. Then down the slope towards a valley and then back up to the top of another hill.

"How many more hills do I have to pass?" I grumbled aloud, hoping for a change of scenery.

I was already tired and out of breath by the time I reached the top. I stopped to rest for a while and took a look around.

The dirt road I was following wound lazily down the other side of the hill and stopped in front of a very strange building. It was very narrow and long, as long as I could see, stopping short right at the foot of another hill. It didn't seem like a house and I wondered about its purpose. Who would build something like this in the middle of nowhere?

The wind picked up and sneaked under my cloak, giving me a chill. I looked up at the sky - the sun was hanging low like a large red balloon, ready to hide behind the mountains in the distance. I figured I needed to hurry and find shelter for the night and the peculiar building was just as good a place as any. I took a deep breath and started down the road.

I ended up in front of the door. It was very sturdy, made out of a dark metal with no decorations. There was an inscription at eye level that said "Encyclopaedia of Avarice" and a smaller one painted crudely on a piece of wood directly underneath. It read "You break it, you buy it". Hm, at least that is universal.

I wondered for a few moments about the first inscription. By this time, I was almost used to seeing strange things and cryptic messages.

I decided whatever the words might mean, I should just try to get inside and figure it out from there.

I knocked on the heavy door and then waited. My parents had always told me to be polite and just barging in simply would not do. Nothing happened. I then knocked again, a bit louder this time. There was no sound coming from the inside, nobody came to open the door for me.

I was just about to bang my hand against the metal, thinking 'to hell, with politeness, I should just go in', when the door swung open slowly, without a sound.

I was pinned to the spot, not able to move past the threshold. The things I saw inside were indeed worthy of the name the building boasted!