Sincerely, Vanessa [EN]: Chapter 80

To Teacher, from Vanessa 80

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Vanessa finished the letter and carefully sealed the envelope.

Beneath it lay Friba’s map. Being a cheap one, it was very roughly drawn, with the borders all sketched as crude straight lines, but it wasn’t bad for marking things.

Beside her, Jonah Hill was half-reclined, flipping through a book while peering at the map. Jonah Hill was excited by Vanessa’s story of almost being harmed when she met Leta, and was helping her investigate her tracks.

“Bringing Hornir all the way here, isn’t it heavy? Ah, I want a cigarette. I shouldn’t drop ash on the map, right?”

“No, you shouldn’t. Be patient.”

After grumbling for a moment, Jonah Hill scribbled lines on a piece of paper, writing letters that were impossible to decipher.

The letters floated in the air and quickly disappeared, replaced by a strange smoke.

Jonah Hill stuck his face into the smoke and happily sniffed.

“Jonah Hill’s magic is amazing every time I see it.”

“It’s not common to realize magic with letters. But it’s also a bit annoying. There are too many conditions! Damned ink.”

Jonah Hill twirled the pen in his hand. Vanessa watched enviously.

“Still, it’s good to know something. I didn’t used to be so envious of knowing the conditions, but in terms of being able to use a variety of magic, I’m quite envious.”

“You’ve used magic of a grand scale before, haven’t you?”

“Yes, so I thought I’d be able to figure it out someday, but I guess it’s impossible. I’ve thought about it for a very long time….”

Seeing Vanessa trying to hide her disappointed expression, Jonah Hill scratched his nose.

*If she’s done it three times already, the conditions probably aren’t that difficult.*

“Alright. Let’s put aside what we were doing for a moment and play a deduction game. Tell me about the magic you’ve fulfilled the conditions for!”

Now Jonah Hill was completely reclined, dangling his legs.

Outside the bookstore, a cold wind was raging, but inside it was very warm, so moisture clung to the glass windows due to the temperature difference. It was very peaceful.

In that cozy atmosphere, Vanessa pondered.

“Um, what the benefactor teacher saw was the first magic I recognized. Lights like fireflies that brighten the surroundings. Since I didn’t use incantation magic or magic circles, I must have satisfied the conditions.”

“What were you doing then?”

“I was hanging laundry. It was a darkening evening, and I think I was hanging white sheets.”

“Hmm.”

Jonah Hill scribbled the contents on a roughly summarized piece of paper.

“What’s next?”

“Oh, I was playing with friends by the lake when suddenly a monster appeared. Long beams of light poured from the sky and killed the monster.”

“Was there anything you did at that time?”

“No, not really… I was just so surprised that I didn’t have time to think about anything. I just wanted something powerful to save my friend.”

Vanessa spoke carefully, trying to recall as much as possible. Jonah Hill frowned.

“Next?”

“Oh, it was when I went on a special forces field exercise, and the situation was similar to the second time. The beams of light were similar too. But the time was different. It was almost evening.”

Jonah Hill scratched his temple with the end of his pen and opened his mouth.

“Just listening to the second and third times, it seems like it’s when you’re in a dangerous situation, but the first time is completely different. You’ve probably used magic several times before that. You just didn’t recognize it.”

Vanessa and Jonah Hill put their heads together and looked down at the paper.

No matter how much Vanessa looked, she couldn’t think of anything at all. Finding the conditions was too difficult, and it felt like she would never figure it out in her life.

“Anyway, just looking at what’s visible, it doesn’t seem like I have any situational or behavioral conditions.”

“I guess not. The time, place, and weather are all different. If it were about three times, something common should be visible.”

Jonah Hill said with a frown.

“It can’t be that you just have to imagine it, right?”

“I thought so too, so I’ve tried it hundreds of times, but it wasn’t. How nice would it be if imagination were the condition?”

Vanessa smiled, and Jonah Hill grumbled and stretched.

“Usually, you have to satisfy several conditions. Are there any other clues?”

Clues, clues. Jonah Hill, who had been muttering in unison, suddenly stopped. The mysterious boy Vanessa had met inside the bookstore suddenly flashed through his mind.

*Remember this fairy tale well.*

What was the content of that fairy tale? Wasn’t it about the night Ban Dalru believing in himself and realizing his abilities?

Jonah Hill was surprised and fidgeted….

Without realizing that Vanessa was looking at him strangely, Jonah Hill frowned seriously and then repeatedly opened his mouth.

*Haha, no way. Where would such absurd conditions exist? If you had to argue, that’s not even a condition.*

Even while thinking that, Jonah Hill glanced at Vanessa. The blue eyes, still staring intently at the paper, were lost in thought.

*Well, it doesn’t hurt to try.*

*And if my prediction is correct, Vanessa will never figure out her own conditions. So, a helper is definitely needed! I feel sorry for abandoning her in Valder Castle before.*

Jonah Hill quickly scribbled letters on the paper. The magic contained in the letters was still hidden in the ink.

Jonah Hill awkwardly opened his mouth, hiding the paper behind his back.

“Ah, I was going to tell you anyway, but do you know that there’s a newly established incantation magic this time?”

“Yes? Is there such a thing?”

Fortunately, Vanessa didn’t notice Jonah Hill’s strange tone because she was looking at the paper and worrying.

“It’s not a big deal, so you might not know. It’s magic that makes water droplets dance in the air. It’s easy incantation magic, so you can do it right away.”

Jonah Hill listed the simplest formulas meaning a narrow range on the paper and made a sound that seemed appropriately mysterious.

The letters on the paper hidden behind his back sparkled and then sank again.

After a little time, water droplets that appeared in the air in front of the two began to dance.

Vanessa smiled and looked at the beautiful sight, then tilted her head.

“Why does this magic exist? And why are the formulas like this? There’s only range?”

“That… no, just try it for now! It’s fun.”

When Jonah Hill urged her several times, Vanessa learned the formulas and followed the sounds several times, carefully watching the way the water droplets moved.

Jonah Hill pretended to correct the sentences.

“Your pronunciation is perfect.”

The moment Vanessa smiled at the words and spat out the sentence again, countless water droplets were scattered like stars between the two.

The water droplets bounced and began to dance against the background of Jonah Hill’s gaping mouth.

“Wow.”

Vanessa gently flicked the water droplets floating in the air with her finger.

The small divided water droplets reflected the light inside the bookstore and sparkled like jewels.

“It’s fun magic. I don’t know who bothered to establish this magic. Is there a value I don’t know about?”

Vanessa smiled and turned her gaze to Jonah Hill, but she was still making a shocked expression and didn’t say anything.

“Jonah Hill?”

“…Hey.”

Jonah Hill swallowed hard.

*To think there was such a condition. No way. This condition is….*

“What’s wrong?”

“…….”

Jonah Hill closed his open mouth and made a serious expression.

The gap between a magician who knows the conditions and a magician who doesn’t know the conditions is difficult to narrow. This is because, in the case of not knowing the conditions, they are placed under considerable restrictions.

They could not realize unorganized magic, and they had to draw magic circles to use powerful magic.

But knowing the conditions does not make everyone as powerful as the magicians of the Boundary [powerful mages who have transcended limitations].

A gap is created again even among magicians who know the conditions. The criterion for dividing the ranks was the size of the innate magical power.

If she had drawn out powerful magic with just incantation magic when she didn’t know the conditions, then that innate size is…

“Jonah Hill!”

Jonah Hill raised his head. The blue eyes in front of him were full of worry. Reflected in those eyes was a woman with a shaved head.

“Vanessa, you have to be careful.”

Jonah Hill said calmly.

Stories passed down from the past. How many magicians have fallen and lived miserable lives? What powerful strength gives is not always happiness.

“You must never be overconfident.”

“What on earth are you talking about?”

When Vanessa frowned at the puzzling words, Jonah Hill finally opened his mouth.

“The magic you just used isn’t incantation magic.”

“Then what is it?”

Jonah Hill pounded his chest at Vanessa’s innocent expression without any suspicion.

*Overconfidence, my foot, I know very well why she was born with such conditions!*

“You fulfilled the conditions, you idiot!”

“Uh….”

When Vanessa made an ambiguous expression, Jonah Hill grabbed her shoulders tightly and made eye contact.

“The boy you met before told you to remember the story of the fairy tale well, right? You can do it if you think you ‘can do it.’ You thought the magic just now was incantation magic and that the formulas were simple, right?”

Vanessa nodded silently.

“So you did it. In my opinion, your condition is this: to have confidence that you can do it yourself. There may be other conditions, but one of them is this.”

As Vanessa still only had question marks floating above her head, Jonah Hill began to shake Vanessa’s shoulders. Vanessa staggered.

“Hey, look at the magic you used on other days! When you lived in the orphanage, you didn’t even recognize magic, so you didn’t even think you couldn’t do it, and from then on, you didn’t have time to think about anything else because it was dangerous!”

Any magician should be jumping for joy if they heard these conditions, but Vanessa’s expression still didn’t improve.

Rather, it started to become more and more gloomy. It was even more so because she knew her personality.

“Even if Jonah Hill’s guess is correct, whether I think I can or cannot do it is not a matter of my will. I’m just unknowingly setting limits, so even more….”

As Vanessa’s expression became more and more depressed, Jonah Hill also began to worry. *That’s true?*

“…No, if you think about it, that means you can do any magic you’ve done once. Because you could do it!”

“You mean like this?”

Now there was no need for strange noises. In an instant, the bookstore was filled with dancing water droplets. The range was so wide that the inside of the bookstore was all water.

Vanessa flinched, surprised at what she had done, and Jonah Hill screamed.

“If even one drop splashes on the books, I won’t let you get away with it!”

Vanessa blew away the moisture in an instant. Then she just blinked.

*What, is this real?*

“Besides that, you’ll be able to do the magic that drops light. You’ve done it before.”

The two, who had flashed eyes, ran out of the bookstore with a bang and headed for the Vatnir Bridge.

The first challenge was a failure.

But that day, the story spread that a meteor shower had fallen somewhere in the vast Fiedom.

Some magicians who felt a powerful magic rushed over, but there was already no one there, so everyone returned empty-handed.