Demi-human Girls Completion Manual
Chapter 84 - 12. Letter

Chapter 84: 12. Letter

Fisher’s rental house was situated in a particularly nice part of Saint Nali. Below the district where he lived, many workers who labored in the factories resided, with about five to six people cramming into one room, the people of one floor sharing a single communal washroom.

Yet Fisher’s rental was on the second floor of the three-story detached house in front of me, which was owned by an old woman named Martha.

Fisher used the key from his wallet to unlock the door, revealing the brightly lit room inside. He took off his hat at the entrance, where a white-haired lady wearing an apron and presbyopic glasses, her back hunched, was coming toward him.

She sized up the gentleman at the door for a while before exclaiming in surprise,

"My goodness! It’s Fisher, you’re back from the South Continent!"

She came over and embraced Fisher, who also hugged her frail body. "Mother Goddess bless, I can’t even bear to think of such a place. I heard from Mrs. Chris next door that the South Continent is full of wild beasts and monsters; it must have been very dangerous for a fragile scholar like you to go there."

Fisher smiled helplessly, and Renie, who was behind him, also peered out to greet the woman in front of her,

"You’ve also brought Renie back, that’s wonderful... I just made a mushroom soup, we can have a nice meal tonight."

"Thank you, I’ll go upstairs and clean up a bit first; I haven’t been back in a while, and I guess it must be dusty up there."

"Don’t worry, I’ve been taking care of your room for you all this time. A lot of things are missing from your room; did you take them to the South Continent?"

"...Yes."

Not only had he taken them to the South Continent, but they would never return, forever to be regarded as a gift to Rafael.

Logically speaking, Martha the landlady was not supposed to enter her tenant Fisher’s room without permission, but their relationship was quite good, and Fisher had always been grateful for Lady Martha’s care.

In her youth, Martha was a weaver in a textile workshop, and her husband was a painter and decorator, giving birth to two sons.

Her husband passed away from illness early on, and she single-handedly raised both children to adulthood. During Nali’s third war against Schwali, her two sons enlisted. The elder brother was the first to fall; her younger son lost his legs in an explosion. When Martha received the news, her younger son was being sent home by the army, barely clinging to life.

Strangely enough, the young son who had lost his lower half was in fairly good condition until he saw his mother. He died shortly after seeing her one last time at home, leaving her all alone in this house.

Since graduating from the Royal College, Fisher had continuously rented here. An orphaned tenant and a landlady who had lost her children, it sounded fitting. Luckily, Martha was optimistic, in good health in recent years, and could still play cards and socialize with her neighbors.

"Hey, Renie, come here."

Just as Fisher was walking upstairs, the white-haired old lady secretly called out Renie who was following him. She went to the kitchen, brought out a bowl of blueberry cake, handed it to Renie, winked, and explained,

"This is a prize from a card game... those old timers craved cake even with hardly any teeth left, and I won it with good luck. But, hey, I don’t have many teeth left either, so it’s perfect to give to you, and you can share some with Fisher too. I’ll fetch you some bedding."

"Ha ha, that guy doesn’t even like these things, but thank you, Lady Martha."

"Right, these are the letters Fisher has received in this period. You pass them to him too."

Renie smiled and took the letters, seizing the opportunity while Martha went upstairs for the bedding, she stealthily spread them all out to check for any suspicious senders, grinning mischievously like a sister inspecting her sibling for signs of a premature romance.

Royal Academy Research Institute, Nali Taxation Institute, Nali Magic Association, New Society, Saint Nali University, Saint Nali Police Station...

Renie pursed her lips; all the letters in her hands related to his work. Hoping that he would receive correspondence from some Nali Lady was purely wishful thinking.

It wasn’t until she had skimmed through several formal work-related letters that she was caught by the attention of a gilded envelope at the end of the pile.

This particular letter was exceptionally unique, with the envelope fully dyed in gold by specialized ink, gilded at the edges, and sealed with wax, clearly a personal letter and very distinguished. Renie didn’t open the letter but wanted to see the sender, and on turning it over, she saw the header and sender of the letter.

"Happy Birthday, Mr. Fisher Benavides."

"Elizabeth Gedelin"

Renie’s eyes, twinkling like the starry sky, darted about as she furrowed her brow in contemplation.

Fisher’s room was on the second floor, spacious, with its own washroom and roughly fifty square meters in size. Bookshelves lined up along the wall with his desk situated opposite the window. As Lady Martha had mentioned, she had been consistently cleaning for Fisher, keeping it tidy as if he had never left.

He thanked the kind Lady Martha in his heart, but when the door behind him opened, it revealed Renie, looking somewhat downcast, holding the blueberry cake.

She sat on the sofa as soon as she came in, silently began eating cake with a spoon, her mournful eyes fixated on Fisher, who was hanging his hat and coat by the rack, as if her gaze had material substance that could penetrate this annoying man’s body.

"What’s wrong?"

"...Your letters."

Fisher took the letters she handed over; many were responses to his previous papers and a few were invitations to academic events, which had already taken place while he was in the South Continent; he considered it a missed opportunity.

Hmm, and from Saint Nali University?

Why would this new school send him a letter? He hardly knew anything about it, only that it was a very young institution that had started recruiting just these past two years. He would have to take a look later.

The last one...

Fisher held the gilded envelope, pausing for a long time over the sender’s name, while behind him Renie, spoon in hand, scrutinized his expression as though trying to see through him, but the man remained flawless, revealing nothing that she could detect.

Fisher didn’t open the letter, simply tossing it along with the other letters onto the worktable.

"Happy birthday, Fisher, I forgot that today was your birthday."

"Thank you."

Fisher’s response was perfunctory as he took out an iron, hoping to press his suit, which was his last one. He was broke and wouldn’t have money if this one got dirty or damaged; then he would have to go around bare like a curly-haired baboon.

Strictly speaking, today wasn’t his birthday, but since he had been found as an orphan on this day, that’s what was registered on his documents. Although he didn’t know his actual birthday, today served as a commemorative one.

"I don’t know Elizabeth, is she a friend of yours?"

Oh great, the truth comes out. So wishing me a happy birthday was just an afterthought?

Fisher smiled, setting down the iron, and mimicked Renie’s tone with a faint smile on his face, asking her word for word,

"Is she really my friend?"

Renie opened her mouth to speak, her black curls standing on end with irritation,

"Fisher! Go die, die, die, die, die!"

Abandoning the cake, she flew at Fisher, aiming to pound his head with a taste of the Witch’s iron fist, but Fisher blocked her easily with one hand, stopping her from landing any blows on his face.

It seemed that even Renie couldn’t stand her own annoying behavior at times, and he had only managed to learn a tiny bit of her style.

But to keep her from getting any more riled up, Fisher still looked at the gilded letter and explained with a smile,

"She’s just a friend I rarely keep in touch with."

...

...

At the same moment, within the Golden Palace at the Saint Nali Center, the wind carried the message of falling leaves, bringing the scent of summer to the window of a Lady.

A fair hand grasped one of the descending leaves at the close of summer, as though holding the entirety of the season, her gaze encompassing the whole of the Golden Palace, yet no one could see her face.

All that could be heard was her Whisper, though it was unclear whom she was speaking to,

"Fisher has returned..."

"Princess Elizabeth, the General has sent a message, asking what time the exercises will begin this afternoon?"

From behind, a blond man in military uniform bowed respectfully to the lady at the window, humbly asking his question.

"Whenever I go is when the exercises will begin, tell him not to rush."

"Yes."

A smile played on her fair lips as she tossed the leaf in her hand, letting it drift slowly with the Air until it touched the ground. By the time the leaf landed, the Lady at the window had vanished from sight.