Episode 66
Translator: RaidenTL
Episode 66
Elysia rubbed her eyes, basking in the sunlight pouring over her face. She let out a soft sigh, then her body went rigid. Her body felt unusually refreshed, and birds chirped excitedly outside the window.
Damn it, this feeling. A premonition struck her, and she snapped her eyes open without hesitation.
“Aaargh! God damn it!”
That’s right. She was late.
After confirming she had only thirteen minutes before class started, Elysia thundered into the bathroom.
I’m screwed, I’m so screwed! she muttered, splashing some water on her face. Still half-asleep, she crammed herself into her school uniform, boldly crushed the heels of her shoes to slip them on, and sprinted towards the academy.
It seemed she’d dozed off while staring at the letter until dawn.
Elysia abandoned the proper path and took a shortcut across the grass. It must have rained heavily last night; the damp ground squelched under her feet, splattering her ankles with mud.
Panting, she passed through the Main Building and finally reached her classroom, where she saw Adrian waiting for her with a horrified look on his face.
“Pant, huff… Tell me… I’m not… late…”
“God, look at you… Did you get into another fight? I told you to try and live a little more peacefully! Who was it this time?”
“What, is the professor gonna fight me?”
What is this piece-of-shit junior talking about? Judging by her dazed eyes, she was clearly still half-asleep. Adrian frowned at Elysia, who had answered his question with a non-sequitur, her face a mess.
“As if. Please, get a grip.”
Elysia plopped down in the seat next to Adrian and collapsed onto the desk. As she buried her head in her arms and mumbled something, Adrian propped up a book in front of her and muttered.
“Let me know when you’ve woken up. I found out what you asked me about yesterday.”
“Now.”
She shot up as if she’d never been drowsy, making him blink.
He should have been used to his junior’s drastic mood swings, which sometimes made him wonder if she was a little crazy, but it was still startling. Noticing her half-closed gray eyes, he narrowed his own in suspicion.
“No, I’ll tell you after class.”
“But I’ll just fall asleep again if I listen to the lecture… Just tell me now—”
“And that’s why I always wake you up, isn’t it? I’ll do it again today, so pull yourself together and pay attention.”
“Ugh, shit, just looking at the letters makes me want to puke. Seriously…”
As Adrian grabbed her shoulders and shook her, Elysia let out a bizarre groan, rubbing her bleary eyes as she opened her textbook.
Seeing she was completely out of it, Adrian clicked his tongue and waved something in front of her. Elysia frowned at the palm-sized piece of paper fluttering in his hand.
“What’s this?”
“I found it. It’s a list of the dealers who ordered greaseproof paper in bulk over the last month, along with their business locations.”
“What?! That fast?”
Elysia, who had been on the verge of sliding right off her chair, instantly straightened up and reached for the paper. Adrian deftly lifted it out of her reach.
“Aargh! Hey! After class! I’ve been watching you, and at this rate, you’re really going to get expelled. You have to at least move up a grade!”
“Hey, give it here! The semester just started—”
“No, no…!!! I will see you graduate, no matter what. Please, think of it as my tear-jerking sense of responsibility as your junior.”
As Adrian’s eyebrows drooped pathetically, a status window popped up over his head, completely contradicting his expression.
♥ SYSTEM: ‘Adrian Campbellton’ is enjoying teasing you! ♥
This little brat…! Her hands trembling, Elysia groaned and looked down at her book. Isn’t there some way to just headbutt the book and absorb all the knowledge?
As she was seriously contemplating this ridiculous idea, Adrian spotted the professor walking past the hallway window and whispered quickly.
“But, I don’t think it’ll take you that long.”
“What won’t take long?”
“You’ll see. You’ll know when you see it.”
The professor entered the classroom, and their conversation naturally ended. Elysia glanced down at the topic for today’s lecture.
「Chemical Reaction Experiment Using Catalysts」
Her eyes lit up as she spotted another familiar word written below it. Adrian watched with suspicion as Elysia’s hand moved to take notes with a speed that was very unlike her.
‘…Did she finally get her act together?’
He harbored a sliver of hope that she might not be on the path to expulsion after all.
*
As soon as class ended, Elysia took the note from Adrian and headed for the library.
As a second-year, Adrian was immediately dragged off to his next research class, but as a freshman, she had free time under the guise of a study period.
The magnificent scale of the library, which used sections of giant tree trunks as bookshelves, was as astonishing as ever. It wouldn’t have been strange to call it a Library Forest rather than just a library.
Elysia walked to the most deserted corner and plopped into a seat. Leaning back, she leisurely held up the note and muttered.
“So this is why you said it wouldn’t take long.”
The palm-sized paper was neatly organized with the exact information Elysia needed. She let out a small smirk, impressed. He might act like a flighty fool, but he was surprisingly meticulous when it came to his studies.
「Greaseproof Paper Transaction Records from April 1st to May 24th
1. Elaine Ditzen, Pharmacist - First building on the third street to the right of Via Plaza
2. Laura Butler, Butcher - Located inside Via Market
3. Eva Houston, Pharmacist - 3 Largo Alley
4. Tom Rothe, Grocer - 5 Corso Alley
5. Paul Fritz, Pub Owner - Alley across from Teatro Theater
……
9. Unknown Identity, uses the alias ‘A’ - Requested goods be left in the fourth alley to the right of Bicola Plaza at 3 a.m. on the 10th of every month」
Greaseproof paper was used for wrapping food or medicine, so it wasn’t strange for pharmacists and doctors to order it. It was also perfectly normal for a butcher shop that handled fatty meats to need it. But number nine, an unknown individual…
It was a suspicious record at first glance. Adrian must have thought so too, as number nine was written in thicker, more emphasized letters than the others.
She could almost hear Adrian’s chattering voice in her head: ‘This looks super suspicious, doesn’t it? You know it, right?’ She chuckled.
Yes, it was suspicious as hell.
It wasn’t a weapon or a drug. It was stranger to go to such lengths to hide one’s identity just to buy paper.
Anyway, if a distributor under the Campbellton family left the goods at Bicola Plaza, they probably don’t know the exact location of the base of operations, Elysia thought, her expression indifferent as she looked away from the note.
‘Alright, situation assessed.’
She tossed the note onto the desk and let out a long, drawn-out hum. Well, the answer is already laid out for me. All I have to do is act.
The first step was to head out of the academy. Of course, the information was insufficient, but when had she ever waited until she had a soft place to land? Her philosophy was that sometimes, getting your hands dirty was faster than thinking things through.
Besides, she was a veteran. After handling thousands of bizarre cases and dealing with the mind games of trashy people until she was sick of it, she had naturally learned to read their patterns.
Schemers always thought they were brilliant, but to her, who had seen a thousand of them, they were all the same.
That wasn't a lie. In `<Panic in the City>`, the line she had uttered most often wasn’t about the right to an attorney, but this one:
“No matter how hard you rack that bird brain of yours, you all end up in the same place, you bastard…”
Yes, to her, most shady characters were nothing more than idiots.
Having decided to go, Elysia shot to her feet, then froze. She had unconsciously pictured someone’s face. The legs of her chair scraped harshly against the floor from her abrupt movement.
She was stunned that her mind had so naturally thought of Evan.
‘Do I have to? Why?’
Until now, she had always done exceedingly well on her own. She was the one who used to get annoyed when a quest’s success condition required cooperating with an NPC, finding it a hassle. But now, she was thinking of bringing someone along so naturally?
It wasn’t even that she thought she needed his help. She had intended to take him with her as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, like packing a belonging. The realization flustered her.
When she came to her senses, she was right in the palm of his hand. There was no other way to explain it.
The fact that she had let Evan tag along so naturally without pushing him away was already out of character for her, but now she was the one seeking him out first.
A cough from a student at a nearby table snapped her back to reality. She hurried out of the library, muttering to herself.
“He’s probably busy during the day anyway…”
The sentence seemed to drip with disappointment, which felt awkward. She never thought the day would come when acting alone felt strange.
Still, she had to get moving. Oh, right. And there’s one place I need to stop by first.
Elysia clenched and unclenched her empty hand, then took off running toward the laboratory.
And behind her, someone watched her go, a look of amusement on their face. After a moment of thought, that someone began to follow her at a leisurely pace.