Adelaide was not in a good mood.
She didn't mind running errands for her mother, a person as busy as her didn't have a lot of spare time on her hands and the teen was able to understand that much.
The bothersome thing was how it always seemed she could see straight through her.
Growing up in a relatively wealthy household, with a good education, she was a young lady who learned proper manners and behaviors for the most particular of situations. She knew even different ways to hold a fork depending on who she was having dinner with.
The girl was very good at putting up a mask, and speaking frankly she didn't hate it. There was some comfort in knowing the proper ways to react to any given situation, as well as the awareness of what others would think of her based on what she says and does.
None of that worked for the woman known as Daniela.
Maybe it was because she was old and shrewd, maybe it was due to her absurd skill in mana perception, or maybe it was just because she was her mother. Most likely though, it was all of these elements working together against her.
Why would she want to hide her true thoughts and feelings from her mom, one may ask?
The true question should be, why wouldn't she?
No girl in this world would feel comfortable with the idea of her parent figuring out their troubles and insecurities with a single glance, or so she believed. The older she got, the more that bothered her.
It's not as if she had no friends though... she did converse with her classmates properly!
"Haah...."
She let out a sigh as she walked through the corridors of the pest control departments. Looking at the item in her hands she wondered... why a letter? Couldn't she have Adelaide just bring that Dailah person to her office? No point in thinking about it now.
Her first stop was Ms. Mariane's office. She had seen her a few times, a fairly reserved woman. Apparently, she was close to the person she was looking for.
She opened the door to the witch's lab.
And immediately froze.
"Ah..."
A boy, probably a couple of younger than herself, looked up from the book he was reading while sitting on a chair.
"Are you looking for aun- i mean, Mariane?"
The girl stood there, unable to move for a few moments. The boy slightly tilted his head in confusion at her inaction.
Damn it. Move brain, she had learned how to treat men. Though until now she had only properly talked to ones much older than she was. Not to mention this one was very-
"Excuse me... miss?"
"A-Ah!" - Her mind slipped. *Hem* she pretended to clear her throat in order to disguise her mistake. "I'm sorry to bother you. Yes, i'm looking for Ms. Mariane."
Although the girl managed to regain her composure, she had to avoid looking directly into the boy's eye, focusing somewhere on his forehead so she didn't look rude.
"She went out a little while ago... but she said she'd be back soon enough. You can wait for her here if you want."
"I... will gladly accept your offer."
"Ha ha..."
The boy laughed awkwardly, probably finding her stiff speech strange. Still, she learned it was always good to act as respectfully as possible when dealing with men, no matter their age or status. At least, if she was unsure of what to do, defaulting to that was the best option.
Even if the man himself was docile or acted familiar, whatever woman behind him, family or wives, may not take kindly to a stranger acting all matey.
As such, she stood in a corner, maintaining a safe distance from the boy, making sure not to look his way... too much.
The boy seemed uncomfortable for some reason. Should have she waited inside Mariane's office rather than the lab? As she pondered that, he raised his voice once more.
"Uhn... you can sit if you want."
He pointed to an empty chair. It's not as if she didn't see it, she just thought its distance to where the boy sat wasn't too appropriate.
"Thank you very much. I'll take the chair then."
B-But refusing him here would rude, wouldn't it?
She took the chair that was at least two meters away from him. In other words, barely within acceptable margins.
The boy kept reading in silence as she stared straight ahead of her, into a wall right beside the entrance. She did her best not to appear too stiff... but the more she thought about how she was alone with a boy close her age in this room, the more her mind raced.
Should she say something after all? She should shouldn't she!? The silence may be bothering him...
"You know..." - The boy was the one to speak instead.
"Yes?" - She answered, barely suppressing a shout.
"Are you Mrs. Daniela's daughter perhaps?"
"..."
"You look a lot like her, you see...."
Why, out of all things to ask...
Before she could answer, the door to the lab opened.
XXX
After she parted with Scariot, who apparently planned to laze around all day inside her home, Dailah made her way to the main Association complex. She understood the appeal of staying holed up within her room, but in a house devoid of any sort of entertainment or pastime like that one, the girl could not say she shared her partner's sentiments.
Instead, she decided to use her free time to recuperate her studying habits. Having been so busy as she was recently, she had neglected any sort of magical studies. It wasn't even a matter of time, she just lacked the energy between chasing rats, training with her gun and dealing with tiresome people due to the line of work.
If she didn't recuperate some of her steam now, she felt her life as a student would be over. Though... truth to be told, she still wasn't sure about frequenting the academy.
In the complex, she made her way to the library.
As expected, the place was big, enormous, gigantic. It wasn't one of the largest libraries in the world for nothing. It spammed bookshelves as far as the eye could see, as well as multiple floors.
To look for anything here by yourself would be an exercise in patience and sanity. That is why there was a special system implemented within this place.
There was a row of white cubicle shapes with markings lined up on a long table by the entrance. Dailah approached one of them and put her ID card over it. After a few moments, a small ball of light surged up from the cube and floated in front of her.
"...The contaminated encyclopedia, by Hellzel from Portabella Fields."
She muttered a name for the ball, and after a few moments it began floating away, the girl following it from behind. It was a rather advanced system, one as impressive as the library itself one could say. It dispensed the need for a huge amount of librarians, with how busy this place usually was there was no way for normal employees to be able to attend to all visitor's needs efficiently.
There were still some librarians of course, but their role was mostly delegated towards keeping order in the place or dealing with special circumstances and requests. She heard there were even secret rooms here meant for keeping confidential research papers.
Waltzing through the shelves, she bathed in the bright orange light covering the place. Many individuals would stay here to study and read so everything needed to be well lit. The girl even spotted a few students sitting on the floor, not even bothering to search for a table as those would usually be occupied.
...is that a person sleeping in the corner? The ambient was magically kept at a very cozy temperature after all...
Eventually, the ball of light she was following stopped at a shelf and floated right in front of a certain book. The encyclopedia she was after, naturally.
Truth be told, this wasn't even part of the curriculum for the entrance exam of the academy, the one she was supposed to be learning about if she wished to proceed with her studies. Her intention right now was mostly to get back into a good rhythm, so she just picked something she was interested in at the moment.
"I'll be borrowing this." - Dailah said as she put up the book towards the ball of light. - "Check out."
After saying these last words, the ball hovered close to the item in her hand for a few seconds. Then it simply disappeared.
She was thankful that Mariane taught her the proper steps on how to borrow a book from here. Once you knew how it was an incredibly simple and quick process. But there were many people who didn't know the proper keywords to use, how you should say something along the lines of "borrowing" or "lend me", that you needed to wait for the light to approach and "mark" the book, that "Check out" specifically needed to be said in order to finish the process. Teaching these ropes to newcomers was also part of the librarian's job description.
Apparently, there were many cases of people who just took what they wanted and tried to walk out thinking everything was automatic, prompting an alarm to go off followed up by public embarrassment. Even worse were the ones who tried to seek the books themselves, they'd spent hours here looking for the specific title and author they wanted, only to realize later they were just wasting their time.
She promptly left the library, having gotten what she wanted. Now she just needed to head home and-
"Hello Dailah."
A familiar voice greeted her.
"Mariane. Were you in the library too?"
"Yes, i was finishing some tasks when i saw you coming out."
The researcher glanced at the book under her armpits, though she probably couldn't read the title due to the angle she was looking from.
"Have you decided to aim for the academy after all?"
The girl scratched her head.
"I'm not sure yet honestly..."
The two resumed walking. Mariane was likely going back to her lab.
"I don't want to seem as if i'm pressuring you into anything but... is there any particular reason you're unsure?"
Dailah thought for a moment. She didn't dislike studying, but she wasn't very good at it either.
"...i just don't see much reason to. I'm not particularly talented or anything, i can't help but think grunt work fits me best in the end."
It's not as if she had a huge pride or thirst for achievements. She wanted to lead her life while working as a proper adult, hopefully do some good in the process.
Mariane seemed to consider something for a while, probably thinking about the proper words to say next.
"It's true talented people are important." - She said as she gazed into Dailah's face. - "Those are the ones who are capable of bettering the world.
"However..." - she dragged her speech for a bit. - "It's diligence and hard work that keeps it running in the first place."
Her former teacher removed her eyes from her, looking ahead this time.
"It's good to have talent, but trust me when i say researchers and teachers here would rather have people like you around. I should know that very well after all."
"...i suppose."
Truthfully, she wasn't fully convinced yet. There was the matter of her own self-satisfaction as well.
"Besides, there are many different lines of work you can take from the academy. You won't have to be like me and work inside a lab all day."
As they walked, Mariane spoke about the different paths she could take after joining the academy. Dailah more or less knew about most of them but hearing further details directly from a researcher and teacher within the academy was plenty useful.
Eventually, they arrived at her lab. What greeted Dailah was... an unusual sight.
There, two kids were sitting slightly apart from each other. And one of them was a boy on top of that.
The boy calmly turned his head their way while the girl slightly startled, before quickly calming her posture and expression.
"Ah... Dailah, this is Logos, my nephew. Logos, she is a former student of mine, Dailah from Nineteenth Village."
They both shared casual nods. Dailah wasn't used to dealing with men, but a kid that much younger than her wasn't an issue. The reason Mariane hadn't given his birthplace name was because men usually didn't get one until they married into a unit. There were many exceptions of course, like men from more affluent families or the ones who managed to make a name for themselves, though the latter tended to be rarer.
Some very possessive families also made their sons introduce themselves with their mother's birthplace names instead, even if they weren't born there though doing that wasn't uncommon even with daughters.
"She is... Adelaide? What are you doing here."
The young girl, who apart from the longer hair looked too much like a younger Daniela to be a mere coincidence, promptly stood up and walked over to them.
"Hello, Ms. Mariane. I came here to ask if you knew Dailah's whereabouts but... seems that won't be necessary anymore."
Her?
"Dailah?"
The girl pulled an envelope out of her pocket and handed it over to Dailah, who promptly took it into her hands.
"Mother... Daniela instructed me to deliver it to you. She also told you to only open it when you go back home. To read by yourself."
What? Why? Can't she just go talk to her in her office? Was she that busy?
"Well... i'll be leaving now." - She turned her eyes slightly towards Logos, Mariane's nephew. - "Thank you for receiving me, Mr. Logos. It was a pleasure."
Then, the girl quickly left the room, almost as if she was running away from something. Meanwhile, Dailah could only stare at the envelope, her head filled with all sorts of doubts.
No matter how she looked at this, it was too suspicious. And seems Mariane agreed with her.
"Dailah..." - She approached and told her in a serious tone. - "Whatever it's written there, remember you're not forced to comply with anything she asks unofficially. Even if she is your superior."
She knew that but... it was too bizarre of a situation to ignore.
...this wasn't some sort of secret mission, was it?
XXX
Leaving the association grounds and making her way home, she was finally in her room. She should be having lunch soon, but her curiosity had been piqued. There was no way for her to just nonchalantly gulp down a meal knowing there was a potential metaphorical bomb hidden within her bag.
She carefully broke the seal, it clearly had some magic in it, took out the letter and unfolded it. The paper itself also had a few magical markings.
[Greetings Dailah. First of all, i want you to know what i'm about to say is a personal request of mine. Do not feel obligated to comply with what's written here. Though i do ask you not to speak of it with anyone if you choose to ignore it.]
She gulped. It already started on quite a serious note.
[In the forest behind the sewer entrance from the last operation, there lives a person i wish you to speak with. Her name, who she is, what she does, why she's there; if you can learn anything about her, no matter what it is, it'll already be of great help.]
"...huh?"
Nervousness turned into confusion. She wants her to chat with some random hermit? What is this?
[As for the specific location, she should be waiting for you there. Just go into the forest and look for anything out of the ordinary. If you find nothing even then, you can just go back. Afterward, come to me and tell me your findings, or alternatively, if you can't find her or if you wish to refuse the request.]
...it was suspicious, no matter how she read it.
[It's fine to take your crowley or Scariot with you if you wish.]
The girl frowned at this statement. To tell her she could bring her companions could only mean that...
[The person in question is a witch and a powerful one at that. I doubt she'd harm you in any way, but i still should let you know. As i said before, it's fine to turn this down if you don't feel safe with what i ask.]
There it was. The catch. Of course whoever this person was wouldn't be ordinary, for Daniela to be so interested in her. But still...
[P.S. This letter is marked with special magic. If anyone other than you touches it, or even glances its way after it leaves the envelope, it'll burn leaving no traces. I also recommend you destroy it after reading its contents.]
Why all the secrecy? And why ask her? Dailah didn't think it was because Daniela held her in very high regard or anything. Though she did seem to trust her enough not to speak of this to anyone.
"..."
She infused magic into her hands and created a small flame. It soon consumed the letter entirely. In the end, it was indeed a secret mission, albeit a very strange one.
What should she do now?
