Chapter 75: 12. Letter
Fisher’s rental house is located in a particularly good area of Saint Nali. Below his neighborhood, many workers laboring in factories live cramped together, about five or six people sharing one room, and the entire floor shares a public washroom.
Fisher’s rental is on the second floor of a three-story stand-alone building, owned by an elderly woman named Martha.
Fisher opened the door with a key from his wallet, revealing a brightly lit room inside. He took off his hat at the entrance, and an elderly lady with white hair, wearing an apron and reading glasses, approached him.
She hunched over and examined the gentleman at the door for a long time before exclaiming with surprise, “Oh my! It’s Fisher, you’ve returned from the Southern Continent!”
She stepped forward to embrace Fisher, who also hugged her fragile body. “God bless, I can’t even imagine that place. I heard Mrs. Chris next door say the Southern Continent is filled with beasts and monsters. It must be dangerous for a frail scholar like you to go there.”
Fisher smiled helplessly, and behind him, Renee peeked out to greet the woman in front of them.
“You even brought Renee back with you; that’s wonderful! I made mushroom soup, so we can have a nice meal tonight.”
“Thank you, but I’ll go tidy up first. I haven’t been back in a long time, so it’s probably covered in dust.”
“Don’t worry; I’ve been taking care of your room. A lot of things are missing; did you take them all to the Southern Continent?”
“Yes.”
Not only did he take them to the Southern Continent, but he also would never return them, considering them gifts for Raphael.
Typically, as the landlord, Martha shouldn’t enter Fisher’s room without permission, but they had a good relationship, and Fisher had always been looked after by Lady Martha.
When Martha was younger, she worked as a weaver in a textile workshop. Her husband was in painting and renovation, and they had two sons.
Her husband passed away from illness when they were young. She raised both children on her own, and during the Third War of Nali against Shivali, both of her sons enlisted. The elder brother sacrificed himself first, and the younger son lost his legs in an explosion. When Martha received the news, her younger son was barely alive, being sent home by the army.
Strangely, the younger son, who had lost his lower half in the explosion, was in good condition until he saw his mother; after he returned home to see her one last time, he passed away. From then on, all her children were gone, leaving her alone in this house.
Since graduating from the Royal Academy, Fisher had been renting here. An orphaned tenant and a landlord who had lost her children seemed to fit well together. Fortunately, Martha was very optimistic and had taken good care of her health over the years, allowing her to play cards with the neighbors.
“Hey, Renee, come here quickly.”
As Fisher walked upstairs, the old woman with white hair secretly called Renee, who was following Fisher. Martha went to the kitchen and brought out a bowl of blueberry cake, handing it to Renee with a wink, explaining, “This is a prize I won from playing cards! Those old guys hardly have teeth left, but they still crave cake. I was lucky and won this, and since I don’t have many teeth left either, it’s just perfect for you. I’ll go get you some blankets.”
“Ha! That guy doesn’t like this stuff. Thank you, Lady Martha.”
“By the way, this is the mail Fisher received lately. You can hand it to him too.”
Renee smiled and took the letters. While Martha went upstairs to find her blankets, she secretly opened all the letters to see if there were any suspicious senders, grinning mischievously like an older sister checking if her younger brother was dating early.
Royal Academy Research Institute, Nali Tax, Nali Magic Association, New Society, Saint Nali University, Saint Nali Police Station.
Renee pouted; all the letters in her hand were related to his work. Expecting him to receive letters from certain Nali ladies was simply wishful thinking.
After skimming through several formal letters related to work, her attention was drawn to the last one, which had a gilded envelope.
This letter was special; the envelope was dyed a golden color with gilded edges and sealed with a special wax, indicating it was a private letter of considerable quality. Renee didn’t open the letter but merely wanted to see the sender. Flipping it over, she saw the title and sender of this letter.
“Happy Birthday, Mr. Fisher Benavides.”
“Elizabeth Godlin.”
Renee’s eyes, sparkling like the night sky, flickered, and she frowned in contemplation.
Fisher’s room was on the second floor, spacious and equipped with a private washroom, approximately fifty square meters. Many bookshelves lined the wall, and his workbench faced the window. Just as Lady Martha said, she had been cleaning Fisher’s room during this period, making it look tidy and organized as if he had never left.
Grateful for the kind Lady Martha, Renee entered the room as the door opened, looking somewhat gloomy as she carried the blueberry cake.
Once she sat on the sofa, she began to eat the cake silently with a spoon, casting a wistful gaze at Fisher, who was hanging his hat and coat on a rack, as if trying to pierce through this annoying man.
“What’s wrong?”
“Your mail.”
Fisher took the letters she handed over; many were responses regarding his previous paper, and some were invitations to academic events that had already taken place while he was in the Southern Continent, so he considered them missed opportunities.
Hmm, there’s also one from the Saint Nali University?
What would this new school want to say to him? It seemed he knew very little about it. He only knew the school was quite young and had begun enrolling students just two years ago. He would take a look at it later.
The last letter.
Fisher held the gilded envelope, pausing at the sender’s name. Renee, holding her little spoon, stared at his expression intently, as if trying to see through something, but the man in front of her remained expressionless, revealing nothing.
Fisher did not open the letter; instead, he tossed it along with the other letters onto his workbench.
“Happy birthday, Fisher! I completely forgot today was your birthday.”
“Same to you.”
Fisher replied perfunctorily, pulling out an iron to iron his clothes. This suit was his last reserve; he had no money on him now, and if he dirtied or damaged it, he would be exposed like a bare-bottomed baboon.
In a strict sense, today wasn’t technically his birthday; it was merely the day he was picked up from the orphanage, so the registered birthday became today. He had no idea when his actual birthday was, so he had to treat today as a commemorative birthday.
“I don’t know an Elizabeth; is she a friend of yours?”
Well, the truth was revealed. Was the birthday greeting for him merely an afterthought?
Fisher laughed and put down the iron. With a faint smile, he imitated Renee’s mannerisms, looking at her and asking each word as if to clarify, “Is she really my friend?”
Renee opened her mouth, her dark curls bristling with frustration.
“Fisher! Go die, die, die, die, die!”
She didn’t even touch the cake anymore, flying towards him to punch him on the head, wanting him to feel the taste of the sorceress’s iron fist. However, Fisher easily blocked her with one hand, preventing her from hitting his face.
It seemed that even Renee herself couldn’t tolerate her usual troublesome demeanor; he had merely learned a bit of her essence.
To prevent her from exploding further, Fisher kept smiling and explained while looking at the gilded letter, “She’s just a friend I don’t contact often.”
At the same moment, inside the Golden Palace at the center of Saint Nali, the autumn breeze carried fallen leaves’ message, bringing the scent of summer to a lady’s window.
A pale finger gently grasped the falling leaf as summer was about to end, as if holding onto the entirety of summer. Her gaze swept across the entire Golden Palace, yet no one could see her face.
Only the sound of her whispers, unclear about to whom she was speaking, could be heard.
“Fisher has returned…”
“Your Highness Elizabeth, a message has come from the general. May I ask what time we begin the drills in the afternoon?”
Behind her, a blond man in military uniform bowed to the woman by the window, asking humbly.
“Whenever I go, then it begins. Tell him not to worry.”
“Understood.”
Her pale lips curved in a smile as she gently threw the leaf she held out, letting it float softly through the air until it landed on the ground. At some point, the lady by the window had vanished from sight.
It’s really strange. All that shows here is Simplified, but on the client side, “you” and “a” turn into Traditional.
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(*`*)
(End of Chapter)
