The Storied History Of Boocord University

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Written for “Smogust’s Story Hoard”, prompt 19.

Boocord is an odd place, even by the standards of quaint little university towns. Anyone who finds out about it immediately wonders why anyone would live here, in the midst of arid plains, with no landmark in sight except the mountain.
The answer to that is the university came first. And all such centres of learning attract magic users, and a large group of magic users are well worth travelling to sell goods to. And so the town grew out around the university, like a crystal spreading from a nucleation point.
Of course you then wonder why the university was built here. The answer to that is to be near the mountain - or, rather, its occupant.
Because a nice deep cave in a dry region is the perfect place for a dragon to store its hoard of pillaged books. Though, very little of that natural cave remains, having been quarried out over the centuries to build the town and make space for more books.
For, long ago, a wise wizard approached the dragon rather than trying to steal from its hoard (a venture with a low success rate and agonising cost), and offered a deal; if the dragon would let the wizard read the books inside its cave, never taking any, the wizard would gift a new book.
This was deemed an acceptable trade - so long as the wizard took great care while handling the tomes, which naturally they did.
Word got about. And as it was already known that the dragon had managed to collect all sorts of rare volumes, particularly magical ones, many scholars were willing to travel, book in hand, to try and strike a similar bargain.
And then, well, some enterprising soul (or several) whose name is lost to time saw a business opportunity, and accommodations were built. Supply chains established. Before long a formal university was erected right outside the entrance to the Dragon Research Library, as it was now known, and the town took root.
Even today, donating a book which is not already in the vast collection gets you free access to the library for life. Otherwise you must pay to enter and read, for keeping such a sprawling space clean and lit and otherwise maintained is not free, you know. But the rates are very reasonable.
Particularly given how many books can only be found here. For the dragon never stopped collecting - though it does now buy books, blithely pillaging having caused quite some hassle in the past. And it has an unerring nose for value.
So, if you are seeking a particular tome for study, or even pleasure, travel to Boocord. Yes, the name is short for “Book Hoard”. It was established before spelling came into vogue.
Even if you are not scholarly or literarily inclined, it can be well worth it just to see a dragon curled up on its own giant sofa, book propped open on a lectern, delicately turning pages.
But remember, don’t shout! This is a library.

I took the prompt as “A dragon hoards books”.

Click through to see the beautiful art which inspired this story (and maybe check out other stories written for it while you're there).