Chapter 48 Someone'S Diary
On the 5th day of returning to Emme Village. Before I knew it, half of the sudden vacation I managed to take was already over.
Today, I came to see my mentor from the morning. The day after returning to the village, I handed over the powdered horn of a monster to my mentor. I was curious if there had been any progress.
"Good morning, Mentor."
"Oh, Laura. Good morning. You're up early."
There were faint dark circles under my mentor's eyes as she welcomed me. Perhaps she had stayed up late delving into synthesis.
Suppressing my excitement, I spoke to her,
"Um... about the monster horn I gave you the other day, what do you think?"
I couldn't think of the right words to ask, so it turned into quite an abstract question. However, my mentor seemed to understand my intention well and casually shook their head from side to side.
"Well, it's hard to say. I tried to synthesize it lightly as well..."
While trailing off, she handed me a notebook. It was what I had been jotting down about synthesis methods. When I opened it, there were several new synthesis methods listed.
"The main effect is the enhancement of effectiveness, but it's about choosing materials with a good compatibility habit. It seems to have a great compatibility with herbs that have simple healing effects, but it doesn't seem to go well with effects that cure conditions like paralysis or poison."
I nodded at my mentor's words while following the text in the notebook. Indeed, when mixed with herbs that have simple healing effects, it shows the most enhancement in effectiveness.
I looked up from my notebook and glanced at my mentor. Without saying a word, it seemed like my mentor understood what I wanted to ask, as a wry smile crept across her face.
"Whether this angle will be the cure for the Self-destruction disease, I still don't know."
Suddenly, the tension in my body eased.
The exhaustion when something I had hoped for turned out not to be as expected is immense. While it's not decided yet, the disappointment of expectations not being met is quite real.
The only thing left to hope for is The Drinking Water of the Spirits. For the sake of my mental and physical well-being, I want to increase my options a bit more.
Suddenly, my gaze goes towards the door at the back. Beyond it lies the study of my mentor, a place I rarely set foot in. Numerous bookshelves line the walls, packed with a plethora of literature.
No matter how small, if there's something that could be a hint, I thought, and called out to my mentor.
"Mentor, can you show me your study?"
"Sure, go ahead."
After hearing the response clearly, I opened the door leading to the study. Truth be told, I can count on one hand the number of times I've entered my mentor's study.
The literature I read was always carefully selected and brought by my mentor, and I've never been tasked with finding specific texts. At most, I entered when asked to bring a book from the desk because my mentor couldn't leave her work.
I'm going through the spines of the books lined up one by one. It's all about herbal books, as expected. Occasionally, there were also documents about monsters—
As I pondered whether I should also go through each book inside, a daunting thought crossed my mind in that moment.
"Whoa!"
Thud, thud, thud, thud.
Right next to me, books came tumbling down in an avalanche. Dust swirled around as I held my nose and looked around to see where they had fallen from. Then, I noticed a conspicuously empty space on a nearby shelf.
"Oh... I messed up."
I muttered while gazing at the found space. I didn't intend to cause a commotion on the bookshelf, but perhaps my stacking was sloppy.
"Laura? What happened?"
"Books fell from the top, I'm sorry! I'll fix it!"
Upon hearing the sound of a book falling, the slightly raised voice of my mentor reached my ears. When I responded in a louder voice than usual, she seemed satisfied and fell silent.
Taking a deep breath, I then began to tidy up.
The books stacked on the shelf were quite dusty compared to the others. Feeling reluctant to leave the dust as it was after touching them, I lightly tapped them to remove the dust before stacking them back.
Judging from the covers, I speculated that these books were not ones my mentor collected out of interest in herbal medicine, but rather seemed to be novels from a past life.
Feeling a sense of guilt akin to peeking into someone's private life, I refrained from opening the books. However, judging from the titles, it seemed like a wide range of novels were gathered, from adventure stories to love tales. And among the fallen books, I found a wooden box hidden within.
The lid is open and the wooden box is upside down on the floor. As I crouch down and approach, I notice that the key attached to the box is broken. It probably broke from the impact of falling.
I turn the upside-down wooden box back to its original position. As I do so, a book falls to the floor from inside the box.
(Hmm, a notebook...?)
It seems to be a notebook or a diary based on its size. There's nothing written on the cover.
It was inside the wooden box with a key. Thinking it must be something private belonging to my mentor that she wouldn't want others to see, I try to put it back in the box – and at that moment...
"Oh..."
Smoothly, a piece of paper slips out from between the pages and falls to the floor. I quickly pick it up. It's a blank sheet.
Wondering why it's blank, I turn it over to observe – only to realize it's not blank but a single drawing.
Perhaps, a family portrait. In the center was a woman holding a baby. She looked to be around her forties. Thin red eyes, wrinkles at the corners. Though her hair color was different, she was, could it be.
(Mentor...?)
She looked like my Mentor, Berta.
I stood up with a wooden box, a note, and the portrait. Placing them on the nearby desk, I sat down on a chair.
Next to the woman resembling my Mentor, was a middle-aged woman. She smiled with big golden eyes, holding a small child of four or five years old.
Comparing the two women sitting side by side, their eye colors were different, but their facial features were quite similar. They might be mother and child. If so, the baby and child the two women were holding could be the children of the woman resembling my Mentor.
Shifting my gaze sideways, I felt a sense of unease. Perhaps this might not be a family portrait after all. Because the man standing beside them had pointed ears - he was an elf.
Perhaps a middle-aged woman and an elf man might have had an interspecies marriage. However, interspecies marriages between elves and humans are rare, especially since the baby the woman is holding doesn't have pointed ears. Furthermore, standing in front of the man is a shy girl. She also has pointed ears, making me wonder if these two are related by blood.
The elf parent and child (tentative) have different facial features, but the eye color and hair color are remarkably inherited. Red eyes, light green hair—
Suddenly, a familiar face overlaps with the girl's face in the portrait.
(Could it be Marcedes-san...?)
Yes, the shy girl closely resembled Marcedes-san.
Let's say, if I consider the woman in the middle as my Mentor. Judging from her appearance, this portrait must be from around 20 to 30 years ago. Although Marcedes-san still looks beautiful and youthful, being an elf with a long lifespan, it's very possible that she's already over 40. Marcedes-san is a disciple of my Mentor. It wouldn't be strange if a relatively young Mentor and the girl Marcedes-san were depicted together in the portrait.
It's a mystery why this portrait was sandwiched between old notes, but I couldn't help but think that these figures were from before my time, from a time when I wasn't even born.
(The woman in the middle is my Mentor, and the one on her right is her daughter. The baby and the child she is holding is my Mentor's grandchildren. The man standing to the left of my Mentor is Marcedes-san's father, and the girl in front is a young Marcedes-san.)
I could only think of it in that way now.
Perhaps, this might be an important painting. Just as I took a step forward to show it to my mentor, a question arose in my mind: What was the meaning behind the diary that were tucked alongside this painting?
For a moment, my fingers hesitated to open the notes. Is it right to peek at someone else's personal belongings without permission? My conscience began to question me. I decided it was probably best not to proceed and tried to return the notes to the wooden box — however, my fingers trembled, causing the notes to slip from my palm and fall to the ground, spinning in mid-air before landing with a page open.
In a split second, I bent down to pick it up. And then, the words written on the open page caught my eye.
'Day 1009. Finally, my fingertips are blistered, and the scratches on her throat have worsened.
The effects of the medicine I took the other day are not showing any improvement.
Tomorrow, I plan to go with the others to hunt down the monster that has been causing havoc.
The self-destruction will continue to disrupt the daily life of my beloved grandchild.'
The text seems like a very old diary, with faded characters making it hard to read. However, from the fragmented words, my brain arrived at one possibility.
Perhaps what is written in this diary is a record of a patient with a self-destructive illness.
I reflexively closed the page. My heart was pounding.
Suddenly, I glanced at the portrait I was holding in my right hand. The woman smiling in the middle bore a striking resemblance to my mentor. My gaze was drawn to the child she held in her arms.
(It was written as 'grandchild,' right? Could it be... No, but, this portrait and diary may not necessarily belong to my mentor. But if this was her personal item, did... her grandchild... due to the self-destructive disease?"
My thoughts are in disarray. Instead, I can't think of anything due to the confusion.
A portrait of a woman resembling my mentor, possibly a diary documenting the progress of a patient with a self-destructive illness. Why was the portrait sandwiched between the diary? Why were these two items placed in this study, pushed into a corner like that?
"Laura?"
Suddenly, a voice called out from the entrance.
I quickly hid the portrait and diary I was holding behind my back and turned around.
"Oh, Mentor, what's wrong?"
"You mentioned earlier that a book fell. I thought I'd help."
As my mentor took a step towards me, I tensed up. For some reason, despite having no evidence, my instincts told me not to show the portrait and diary I found earlier to my mentor.
I plastered a smile on my face and raised my voice to stop my mentor in her tracks.
"Oh, it's fine! These books are so heavy, it'll hurt your back, Mentor! I'll take care of everything!"
Hey, as I smiled, she looked at me with a puzzled expression, clearly noticing something different about me. She then said "I see" and left the spot. She probably doesn't want to do the heavy lifting herself.
After closing the study door tightly, I took a deep breath. I looked again at the portrait and diary I had hidden behind my back - now, what should I do?
Should I pretend I didn't see them and put them back in their place? Should I ask my mentor for permission to take them out? Or should I sneakily take them without saying anything?
The best option would be to ask her for permission to take them out. But for some reason, I had a feeling that she didn't want me to know about the portrait and diary.
These were inside a locked wooden box. It might be understandable to close one's eyes to the fact that it was accidentally broken, but my subsequent actions, driven by curiosity, were akin to peeking into the past of my mentor - or someone who wasn't my mentor. If it had been discovered, I could have been blamed.
"Mentor, can I borrow this...?"
As if practicing, I muttered these words softly. I couldn't imagine the face of my mentor saying, "Do as you please." Instead, I pictured my mentor snatching these items from me with a fierce expression.
For now, I put them in the pocket of my own clothes. I was trying to find the right moment to ask for permission.
When I finished cleaning up the study. When I leisurely drank tea with my mentor. When I left this mountain hut. There were plenty of opportunities, but in the end, I couldn't say anything to my mentor, so I just brought back the portrait and diary to my house.
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