Sincerely, Vanessa [EN]: Chapter 79

To My Teacher, From Vanessa – Episode 79 (79/146)

⚜ ⚜ ⚜

Vanessa was pleased to find she still had an hour before her shift started, even after arriving at her desk in the Department of Magic.

Vanessa’s lodging was quite far from the Royal Castle of Freba, making the commute lengthy, but Valder Castle was not.

The only downside was having to sneak out, but exiting through the connecting garden made her inconspicuous enough.

Vanessa roughly organized her tasks for the day in her head and rose from her seat. Then, she left the Department of Magic and walked towards the Department of Finance on the same floor.

How could she subtly bring up Leta’s name without seeming too inquisitive?

Vanessa peeked inside the Department of Finance.

As expected of one of the most powerful departments in the cabinet, the interior was vast. Of course, it was just as chaotic as the Department of Magic.

As Vanessa lingered near the entrance, someone poked their head out and asked,

“Department of Magic, right? What’s the matter?”

“Ah, no. I was just wondering if Letima Kina has come to work yet.”

“She took a sick day today. I actually had something I wanted to ask her. Are you close to Letima Kina, by any chance?”

The man loosened his roughly tied hair and walked towards Vanessa. She was momentarily perplexed.

We were close until yesterday afternoon. After seven PM yesterday, we became strangers.

“Well… somewhat…?”

“Keep your distance. It might not be good for your reputation.”

Vanessa’s eyes widened at the blunt advice. As she blinked her blue eyes, the man continued defensively.

“She was also close to the new recruit in the Department of Law, and that person’s reputation suffered too. They’re sloppy with their work and always absent, so no one in this department likes them. I’m advising you because you have a good reputation in the Department of Magic, so please don’t take it the wrong way.”

The man’s tone was brusque, but it seemed he was speaking out of goodwill.

Vanessa nodded awkwardly.

“Thank you for the advice. But where does she usually go when she’s absent?”

“I wouldn’t know. She seems to head to the library sometimes, claiming to look for materials, but no one believes her. How could the documents be at that level if she were really researching?”

“Would it be difficult to find out where she lives?”

“That would be difficult. It’s beyond my authority.”

At Vanessa’s thanks, the man waved his hand and neatly retied his hair. Tying up his short, straw-colored hair with hints of brown accentuated his strong jawline.

Of course, Vanessa paid no mind and quickly moved towards the library in the Second Sector.

As far as Vanessa knew, the library in the Second Sector didn’t have any particularly forbidden materials or exceptionally rare books.

Those were all in the First Sector and could only be accessed with strict permission. So, the library Letima Kina went to was probably the one in the Second Sector.

Vanessa walked at a brisk pace to the library in the Second Sector and gave a bright smile to the librarian from the Department of Literature guarding it.

The librarian’s name was Noel Mana. She and Vanessa, who frequented the library, were quite friendly.

“Noel, you’re here early again today. You didn’t sleep here, did you?”

“Don’t say such horrible things! What brings you to the library so early in the morning?”

Noel, who was on a ladder dusting books, was startled and looked down at Vanessa.

She slowly climbed down the ladder and looked at Vanessa quizzically.

“It’s nothing much. Is it possible to see someone else’s borrowing records?”

“Well, it depends on whose records you’re asking about. I can’t show the records of ministers to just anyone, but it’s fine for regular lower-ranking officials. After all, this isn’t a place that stocks strange novels.”

Noel grinned and headed towards the dark brown desk.

“If I had to show the borrowing records of a general library, I’d die. Do you know that a novel by an anonymous author named Mia is selling like crazy these days? It’s supposed to be incredibly racy.”

“Oh… um. I should stop by a bookstore today.”

“They say it’s a feast of flesh. It’s probably the best-selling book in the entire capital.”

Noel chattered as she tossed a thick ledger onto the desk. Vanessa responded to Noel’s stories while quickly flipping through the ledger to find Letima Kina from the Department of Finance.

“But what’s going on?”

“Ah, an acquaintance asked me to look something up.”

Vanessa didn’t take her eyes off the ledger, trying to hide her nervously shifting gaze.

As the finance official had said, Letima Kina really did visit the library often. There were records of her borrowing materials on tax law, but most of them were, unexpectedly, history books.

“, , , . Where are these books located?”

“Do you know their call numbers?”

“Oh, they’re all in the 000s.”

Noel gestured for her to follow and began to walk deeper inside.

“Most of the items in the Second Sector Library are past meeting minutes, legal codes, and departmental materials, you know? You come here often, Vanessa.”

“Yes, I suppose so. I practically lived here last time….”

Noel chuckled at Vanessa’s listless agreement.

“The exception would be some history books. And the books you mentioned are actually rare ones that are also in the First Sector. They can’t be checked out either.”

“Those are in the Second Sector Library?”

“They’re copies. But even the copies, there are probably fewer than five left in all of Freba. His Majesty specially placed them in the Second Sector Library. Do you know who the author is?”

Vanessa rattled off the names of authors she knew, but Noel shook her head and held up a finger.

“The answer is Eunoa Bilton! A close friend of Bam Vandalu and a master who perfectly organized the early history of Freba! The original handwritten manuscript is in the First Sector.”

Noel said cheerfully. She went deeper and deeper, and the lighting became dimmer as they went further inside.

Vanessa had never come this deep before, so she looked around for a moment. The scent of books was strong, like in Jonah Hill’s bookstore.

“Here they are.”

At Noel’s pointing, there were thick books with antique leather bindings and metal clasps. However, they were stored locked in glass cases.

“ is back there. As I said, they’re rare books, so they’re stored like this, but you can see them if you just ask, so don’t worry.”

Noel unlocked the glass case. The lock was well-oiled and maintained, without a single squeak.

“Here you go. You know you don’t have much time left before your shift starts, right?”

“Thank you, Noel. I’ll take a quick look and leave!”

After Noel left, Vanessa quickly flipped through the pages, skimming the contents.

Despite being old books, the paper was clean and well-maintained, as if enchanted.

There was nothing particularly jarring in the content. As it was the foundation of everything, it wasn’t much different from the history books Vanessa had learned from.

However, something Noel said bothered her.

‘The answer is Eunoa Bilton! A close friend of Bam Vandalu and a master who perfectly organized the early history of Freba!’

Vanessa tilted her head.

It seemed she heard more about him outside of Bamberg Academy, which Bam Vandalu had created, like the magic circle in the cave.

Letima Kina came to see these books repeatedly, so there must be a reason I don’t know.

Vanessa quickly flipped through the pages, and since she didn’t have much time, she put the books back in the glass case, called Noel, and securely locked it.

Then, with a nagging feeling, she headed to the Department of Magic.

Vanessa was still in charge of managing the entry and exit of wizards and identifying and deporting illegal stayers [wizards residing in the country without proper authorization].

After the Special Forces had cleaned up, there were hardly any illegal stayers left within Fiedom.

However, their numbers were still significant in other regions, so the work was endless. Thanks to the instability of the Arbas system [a magical network or system], the number of wizards who had crossed over illegally had increased.

Vanessa marked the places where monsters were thriving on the documents and compared them to the places where many illegal stayers had been caught.

Something definitely overlaps. I need to stop thinking about this.

“Vanessa!”

At that moment, Munia Tran from the Department of Magic called Vanessa from afar. Vanessa, who had been buried in documents, was surprised and looked up.

“The Minister is calling for you.”

Vanessa thanked her and hurried upstairs.

The Minister of Magic’s office was very clean, befitting Telios’s personality. The terribly numerous documents were neatly sorted and filed. Because of this, Vanessa always felt nervous when entering.

“Ah, Vanessa Rose.”

“Hello.”

As Vanessa stood stiffly, the Minister, Telios, glanced at her and gestured for her to sit on the sofa.

Vanessa sat down in a very polite manner and waited for him to speak.

Did I do something wrong? Will he scold me again for being too lenient? I’ve been looking up precedents well these days….

“How long has it been since you started working?”

Vanessa rolled her eyes for a moment. She started working in late summer, and now it was the middle of winter, so it was already her fifth month.

“It has been about five months.”

“Are you familiar with your duties now?”

Vanessa made an ambiguous expression. She was familiar with them, but was it right to say she was familiar with them in front of the Minister?

Telios tilted his head at the expression.

“You’ve been asking about work since the first week, so you can’t mean you’re still not familiar with it.”

“I am working hard….”

Vanessa eventually chose an answer that was neither one thing nor the other. Social life was like this.

Telios rubbed his wrinkled mouth for a moment.

“Yes, it seems so. Go back.”

Vanessa tried to hide the expression of wondering why she had been called, but Telios had already seen it. He snorted.

“There are many places that covet you. Hurry up and go to work!”

Vanessa was startled by the Minister’s sudden shout and jumped up, running away as if fleeing. When she returned to the Department of Magic, everyone asked what had happened, but Vanessa had no answer.

Vanessa tilted her head for a moment and decided to get rid of the documents on her desk.

And after work, she continued to visit the library to look at Eunoa Bilton’s history books.

⚜ ⚜ ⚜

December 18th, Edirne Calendar 1312

To My Dearest Teacher,

Thank you for using the modifier ‘diligent’ before my name. Thank you for the congratulations as well.

It’s not perfect spatial movement magic yet, but I will gratefully accept it, knowing that it will be someday.

I’m glad you’re using the cufflinks I sent you.

Actually, I don’t know your age at all, so I was wondering if I should have bought something more formal.

Why is the writing so thick, you ask? You don’t have to worry about it. If you’re bothered by it, you can write down a couple of numbers [a playful way of saying to ignore it].

Aren’t you at all curious about who my romantic partner is? Most of my letters are filled with question marks, but you don’t seem to be curious about anything.

Could it be that you’re hearing stories about Vanessa Rose somewhere?

The reason I think this is because I suspect you live in Fiedom.

When I tried to get a house in Fiedom, you knew in detail how expensive the houses in Fiedom were!

But don’t worry, I’m not going around looking for mansions and closely examining the faces or Hornirs [likely a reference to a family crest or symbol] of the people there.

However, every time I go out, I try to dress neatly in case I run into you, and I try to be very kind to older people.

Isn’t that a good thing?

I’ve been into reading these days. After work, I go to a wizard named Jonah Hill, harass her, and investigate things related to her.

Jonah Hill is a great bookstore owner in an alley, and we get along quite well for a chance encounter. She has a lot of knowledge, so I learn a lot.

Have you ever read Eunoa Bilton’s ?

I got to see it in the Royal Library, and it’s really amazing. There’s no other book that describes the early history of Freba in more detail than this.

To write this while unraveling the contents of his travels with Bam Vandalu is truly an amazing author.

However, my reading of the book has very impure intentions.

Anyway, Bam Vandalu seems to have traveled to many places. There doesn’t seem to be a place on the land of Freba that his feet haven’t touched.

However, there seem to be places where he stayed longer.

Why is that? I’m very curious about this.

Still studying,

From Vanessa Rose.

p.s. I am enclosing a photo. Jonah Hill’s work, ‘Vanessa Rose Falling Asleep While Reading a Book.’