Sincerely, Vanessa [EN]: Chapter 96

From Vanessa to Teacher, Episode 96 (96/146)

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Vanessa, Dalhois, and Riete, having shed their uniforms and concealed their identities, left the royal castle and immediately spurred their horses to the edge of Fiedom, where they boarded a portal. After two or three transfers, they arrived without much delay.

Belloz was a small, secluded region nestled in the north.

From this area, Seogot, home to the Bamberg Academy, was practically within reach, making Vanessa strangely familiar with the cold.

While Fiedom was beginning to feel the warmth of the sun, this place was still firmly in winter’s grip. Snowflakes falling overhead seemed to announce the enduring influence of winter to the world.

Tall trees, closely lining the road, were entirely covered with thick blankets of snow.

It was a fluffy and seemingly warm scene, but the special forces operatives thrown into its midst shivered with cold.

Riete let out a puff of white breath.

“Damn it, are we going to freeze to death?”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen snow.”

“It’s like cream. I’m hungry!”

The portal manager, who had been watching them from the side, chewed on dried tobacco leaves and informed them that the village was quite a walk away.

“It’s about a twenty-minute walk. Shall I call a carriage for you? But carriages don’t do well in this weather…”

Seeing the manager trail off, Riete scratched his head vigorously.

“We’ll have to walk, I guess. What else can we do!”

While the portal manager was distracted, Vanessa cast a spell to keep herself and the others warm. Dalhois grinned, feeling the warmth enveloping them.

If they had been in their special forces uniforms, the clothes would have been waterproofed, but the three, concealing their identities, were in plain clothes.

Waterproofing magic was most effective when woven directly into the fabric, so applying it now wouldn’t make much difference.

In that case, they had no choice but to brace themselves for getting wet.

The three began to walk, wading through knee-deep snow. At first, they exclaimed in admiration at the beauty of the high-piled snow, but gradually, they became exhausted by their waterlogged and heavy clothes and shoes.

When Vanessa asked if she could melt the accumulated snow, Riete pondered intensely.

“Would it be okay to reveal that we’re magicians? They’ve already left this village anyway.”

“Well, no one knows Vanessa’s or my face, so if no one recognizes the Commander, we might be able to hide that we’re magicians!”

At Dalhois’s cheerful words, Riete scratched the head hidden beneath his thick robe.

“Hmm, but if they know we’re magicians, the villagers might be wary, so let’s just go for now.”

Riete walked ahead, followed by Dalhois. Dalhois used his sturdy legs to vigorously churn the path he walked, helping Vanessa, who was walking behind, to move more easily.

The manager was right. The village was far, but it was located at a distance that would appear in about 20 minutes anyway.

Seeing the pointed roofs in the distance, Dalhois jumped up and down with excitement.

Riete watched his retreating figure and brushed the snow off his head.

“Lieutenant Dalhois seems really sturdy.”

“He was famous for being sturdy even at the academy, but he seems to have developed even more since coming here.”

“Yeah, he just blew away Lieutenant Evan easily.”

Vanessa could easily imagine Evan flying away as soon as they clashed. It was unfortunate, but it was a realistic story.

By the time Riete and Vanessa reached the entrance of the village, Dalhois was excitedly talking to someone.

“No, where is it? I was going to Seogot, but there was so much snow.”

“There was no warning. Everyone thought the weather would be clear,” the man with the thick brown fur hat nodded.

The man was leaning heavily against the meticulously built fence.

“That’s what I’m saying! I wasn’t planning on staying in this village, but I have no choice! It’s so small here that I was just going to pass by!”

At Dalhois’s words, the man seemed somehow offended.

“What’s there to see in Seogot? It’s a city that lives off the academy! This place is more beautiful. Do you know how beautiful that pure white birch forest is!”

“Oh, really? Then I have to see it again. The three sisters are traveling! I’m looking for beautiful places in Friba [a fictional region]. I’m going to write a book about it later.”

Dalhois grinned at Riete and Vanessa, who were approaching.

The man, who seemed to have his pride hurt by being compared to Seogot, took the initiative to take the three to a place to stay.

The inside of the village seemed quiet and peaceful. Perhaps because it was an area with a lot of snow, the pointed, high roofs looked like a village of fairies in a fairy tale.

“It’s not an inn, but I’m giving you a special introduction. The grandmother in this house is a great cook!”

“By the way, is it safe here? The last village I visited was a mess because of monsters. I was so scared that I left quickly.”

Vanessa blinked her bright blue eyes repeatedly, looking fearful. The man, seeing the blue-eyed beauty with long eyelashes fluttering, cleared his throat and said.

“To be honest, the inside of the village is safe… but there’s been a lot of talk about the forest behind us lately. There have been reports of missing animals.”

When Vanessa widened her eyes, the man waved his hand and said loudly.

“The village is really safe, so don’t worry. Just don’t go to that forest. See that place where the trees are sticking out? Don’t go near there.”

Hearing those words, Riete gave a rebellious look that said he would definitely go there. Vanessa and Dalhois were the same.

If there was something strange, wasn’t that where the special forces operatives should go?

The house, with its very pointed roof and sturdy walls made of red bricks, looked cozy in the softly piled snow.

The creaking door opened, and an old woman with neatly wrinkled skin appeared.

The old woman, wearing a floral apron, gladly accepted the three. It was thanks to Riete subtly showing her a silver coin.

The old woman led the three inside.

“I’ve been seeing outsiders occasionally these days.”

“Do you mean a lot of outsiders come to this small village?”

When Riete accepted the grandmother’s luggage and walked briskly, the old woman nodded slowly.

“Some time ago, those who called themselves the Servants of Lamaira appeared and took care of the sick.”

“Servants of Lamaira? Are you talking about priests?”

Colonel Riete made an interested humming sound. The old woman went to the kitchen decorated with hand-knitted lace and brought some dried fruit.

“Young people may not know, but priests used to do a lot of service in the past. I didn’t even know they still existed….”

“I guess they took care of colds and things like that.”

“That’s right. Well, it wasn’t much help…. But it was nice to have outsiders come into the small village and give it some energy.”

The three carefully listened to the story.

As the man had assured, the old woman was a very good cook, and even a bowl of bland meat broth warmed them to their core.

Riete, who had come upstairs, threw his luggage in a corner of the room and scratched his head.

“It seems that the priests have already left this place, but the village is still peaceful.”

“I think there’s something in that forest!”

“I don’t think there’s any problem in revealing that we’re special forces operatives.”

Riete clicked his tongue and stood up again. His body was already warm, and his clothes were dried by magic, so it was enough to move.

“I’ll go around the forest towards the entrance of the village. The two Lieutenants should go into the back of the village.”

“Isn’t Major Andalus coming? I’m worried about you going alone.”

When Vanessa asked worriedly, Riete grinned.

“That guy is everywhere and nowhere. His teleportation magic is amazing. I’m fine alone, so don’t worry.”

Riete acted awkwardly – Ah, it’s boring! – and left the house, and Vanessa and Dalhois also left the house under the pretext of sightseeing in the village.

The old woman, who was knitting in an armchair, waved her hand, saying that she would prepare something very greasy for dinner.

Vanessa and Dalhois strolled arm in arm, pretending to be leisurely. However, they had many other thoughts, and their pace kept trying to quicken. The two tried to calm each other down.

“Slowly, slowly!”

“Your stride is too wide. Anyone can tell you have a destination.”

“Ugh, I want to go quickly and find something!”

When Dalhois stomped his feet, snow fell from a nearby small bush.

However, unlike their bold start, the three did not find even a single small monster after searching the forests around Belloz in the snowfield for several hours.

Before the sun had completely set, Riete, who had returned soaked and damp, puffed out his nose.

“It’s a village that seems too peaceful. The priests left without any problems.”

Everyone was puzzled by the atmosphere, which was so different from the villages where monsters usually appeared, but they decided to investigate further for a few days.

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Vanessa yawned slightly and pulled her leather shoes up to her calves again, finishing her preparations to go out.

It had already been three days since they set foot in Belloz, but nothing had been found.

As expected of the north, the densely grown trees in the forest made it easy to lose direction when walking inside. It was even more so because the snow that had fallen a few days ago had not yet melted. As a result, everyone was exhausted.

“Dalhois, let’s go.”

“Okay!”

Riete left separately again today, and Vanessa and Dalhois headed towards the forest they had been searching yesterday.

“Shall we go back to where we were yesterday?”

“I marked it, but my legs are really heavy now.”

Dalhois grumbled, shaking off the damp soles of his shoes.

Vanessa and Dalhois walked along the increasingly narrow path. Unlike other days, all the doors of every house in the village were tightly closed, with no one walking around. She wondered if it was too early in the morning.

“Oh, I haven’t seen that road over there.”

There was a hidden path between the trees where Dalhois’s fingertip was pointing. It seemed that some of the snow had melted and revealed it.

Vanessa rubbed her reddened nose and nodded.

“Shall we go into the forest through that road then?”

“That sounds good.”

The path that Dalhois found was not easily visible due to the white snow and the sparse brown bushes. The two carefully examined every nook and cranny, but there was still no trace of a magic circle on the ground.

“At this point, I think I’d even welcome a monster.”

Dalhois grumbled.

As they melted the snow with magic and went deeper, they saw a valley in the distance. There was a small house surrounded by trees, blocking the road. The area around it was very quiet.

Vanessa looked at the footprints scattered haphazardly in the snowfield. Dalhois also squatted next to her and brushed away the snow with his hand.

“It looks like a child’s footprint.”

Most of the footprints were heading into the forest, but occasionally there were also some heading towards the village.

Vanessa and Dalhois tried their best not to touch the footprints as they headed towards the house.

The house in the valley was obviously very small and showed signs of neglect. The front yard, where the snow had half-melted, was dirty, and withered flower pots were scattered around. Things that must have been beautiful in the summer were rotting and falling down.

Near the tree, laundry that seemed to have been hung out before had fallen and was half-frozen. Vanessa picked up the cloth and roughly dusted it off. It seemed to be a thin shawl.

“Is anyone inside?”

Vanessa carefully peeked inside and asked. But the answer came from an unexpected place.