Silent Witch

Book 15: Chapter 10: The Concept of Tidying Up is Different for Everyone

Hilda Everett was in despair.

As a researcher at the Institute of Magic Research, she had accumulated a massive amount of materials and experimental equipment, not only at her workplace but also at home.

She left all cleaning duties to her housemaid, but of course, she couldn't let the maid touch her research materials or experimental equipment, so she had to tidy them up herselfor rather, she thought she was tidying them up.

For Hilda, as long as she put the materials she had used haphazardly on an empty shelf or didn't leave them lying around on the floor or desk, that counted as being tidy.

If she stuffed old research data into a random shelf, even if it was crammed to the limit, that was considered tidy for her.

As a result, it was not uncommon for old research materials to avalanche out and cause a huge mess when she opened a shelf. And that was exactly what happened this time.

The moment she opened the shelf, the mountain of materials crammed to the limit came crashing down, hitting Hilda directly and scattering magnificently on the floor.

Buried under the materials, Hilda adjusted her crooked glasses and muttered with the face of a scholar confronting a difficult problem:

"How strange. Why it becomes like this when I'm always tidying my things up"

Muttering something that would make the maid shake her head in exasperation, she started clearing a path through the scattered materials.

But as she cleared them, more materials came tumbling down, so the tidying never seemed to end.

Just as she was at a loss in the situation where she could barely find a foothold, she heard the sound of the maid coming up the stairs from downstairs.

This was bad. She would get scolded again.

"Lady Hilda, would it be better if I do it myself?"

"Just a moment, please. I was simply conducting an experiment on falling motion with air resistance. It's not that the contents of the shelf fell out."

The middle-aged maid's face was full of exasperation as she watched Hilda hurriedly make excuses. The maid, who had been familiar with such situations for a long time, was not surprised anymore.

Letting out a deep sigh, the maid put her hands on her hips and said,

"I can't make sense of what you're saying, but Miss Monica has arrived."

"Eh?"

Startled by the mention of her adopted daughter's return, Hilda stood up hastily, inevitably stepping on the materials and sitting down with a magnificent thud.

"Welcome back, Monica."

Greeting Monica, who was waiting in the living room drinking tea, Hilda was slightly limping and holding her lower back with her hand.

Since they had heard a loud thud from upstairs just a little while ago, Monica, who knew her foster mother well, guessed that Hilda had messed something up and fallen again.

"Umm, are your back okay?"

"I'm fine, I was just conducting an experiment on falling motion with air resistance."

In other words, she had dropped something and made a mess on the floor.

Since Monica was already used to such incidents, she didn't pry any further. Instead, she returned her teacup to the saucer and faced Hilda directly.

"Umm, there's something I want to ask of you, Hilda"

"What is it?"

Hilda tilted her head with a smile, and Monica, feeling a little apologetic, came straight to the point,

"Please give me my father's research materials."

The smile vanished from Hilda's face.

"No, I can't."

The brief pause before her answer was probably because she was debating whether to dodge the question or respond honestly.

But it wasn't for her own sake. Everything was out of consideration for Monica, as Monica knew.

"I did take your father Dr. Rayne's materials and hide them when he was arrested. But these are materials that cannot be made public A smart girl like you should understand the reason, shouldn't you?"

If Dr. Rayne's research materials were published, those who did not approve of Dr. Rayne's achievementsDuke Crockfordwould surely extend his hands towards them.

That was Hilda's concern.

That's why Monica stated clearly,

"Hilda, I I'm going to fight Duke Crockford."

Hearing the word "fight" comes out of Monica's mouth, Hilda's eyes widen.

Moreover, the opponent was Duke Crockford, the most powerful man in the country, who had driven Monica's father to his death.

Hilda had been hiding the fact that Duke Crockford was involved in Dr. Rayne's death from Monica all this time, to keep her safe.

"So you've realized about Duke Crockford"

"I need my father's research materials to fight Duke Crockford Please, lend me your strength."

As Monica bowed her head, Hilda folded her arms and fell silent.

The long silence was a reflection of Hilda's inner conflict.

"Monica, do you understand what kind of research your father Dr. Rayne was doing?"

"I've read my father's books. I know what he was trying to create."

The Black Chalicea magic tool that analyzes the mana patterns in blood to read a person's genetic information.

While Monica understood the outline, recreating what her father had tried to make from scratch would undoubtedly take an immense amount of time.

Monica excelled in mathematics and magic formulas, but she was inexperienced in creating magic tools. She could embed simple formulas into gems, but to make complex objects, she needed blueprints.

Her father's research materials were absolutely necessary.

Monica clenched her fists on her lap and said in a trembling voice,

"I have to fight Duke Crockford That's why I need my father's research."

Seeing Monica who's always chosen to run away until now, displaying her determination to fight for the first time, Hilda let out a deep, long breath.

"Come to think of it, the avalanche from the shelf might have been some kind of guidance."

"?"

"Follow me."

Hilda stood up and beckoned for Monica to follow.

Hilda led her to the study on the second floor of the Everett residence. The study door was left wide open, with sheets of paper scattered from inside into the hallway. Hilda picked up the papers with an embarrassed look and went into the room.

Inside, the floor was littered with materials, just as Monica had imagined. Hilda diligently picked them up and cleared a path to the storage shelves. Then she firmly pushed the back of an empty shelf.

With a clicking sound, a panel at the back came loose. Removing the panel revealed a small space behind it.

There, bound with a string, was a single bundle of materials stored.

"This was all I could grab in a hurry."

Hilda handed the bundle of materials to Monica. Monica flipped through the thick materials, scanning them.

These were the very design blueprints for the magic toolthe unfinished Black Chalicethat Monica had been seeking.

This magic tool would be the key to rescuing Isaac.

However, as Monica looked over the blueprints, she bit her lip in rising frustration.

The blueprints being over 80% complete is lucky, but it requires more materials and equipment than I expected especially the small parts, many of them will be hard to obtain

To create this "Black Chalice," she would need equipment equivalent to those at Minerva.

But she couldn't use Minerva. If she attempted to create a magic tool at Minerva, the perceptive Louis would undoubtedly notice.

What Monica was about to do could not be known to Louis or any of the other Seven Sages.

To make this, I need equipment equivalent to Minerva plus there are many special materials, so just gathering the materials would take a month but the Supreme Council is in just two weeks

In two weeks, at the Supreme Council, the fate of the young man who impersonated Felix Ark Ridill would be decided.

Monica had laid just one stepping stone for that.

But to make use of that stepping stone, she was lacking far too many things.

Equipment, materials, time, skills, information, manpowershe was overwhelmingly deficient in everything.

Still, It's something I had to do. I have to do something I had to, I had