03

“We’ve arrived.”

Aris, who had dozed off, woke up at the coachman’s call. Still half-asleep, she paid the coachman and got off the carriage.

The morning sun was already up. Aris passed by the busy people and looked up at a large building.

Ermelt, the largest bank in the eastern region.

There was one thing Aris had to do before leaving for the Magic Department. That was to secure funds.

She had brought some pocket money, but even for a noble’s daughter, it wasn’t enough to enter the magic school and maintain her livelihood.

Aris sighed. With her current abilities, it wasn’t easy to get money without her father’s help. She fiddled with the pendant necklace she was wearing.

‘For now, I have no choice but to borrow the money I need immediately using the family seal and pay it back little by little…’

Perhaps this might reach her father’s ears, but what of it?

Aris decided not to care about anything, befitting an aspiring rebel. Since she had already acted on her own, she might as well continue to do so.

To begin with, Marquis Eldeiz wasn’t someone who would pay great attention to Aris.

If she ran away from home and acted recklessly, he would likely play the victim and treat Aris as an unfilial child. As if he had done his best to educate the child, but she was inherently too wayward to be restrained.

Aris’s mood sank.

‘He might be a bit angry since I left while throwing away the engagement…’

But what could she do? It’s her decision to act as she pleases. Aris entered the bank with a resolute face and a determined stride.

Despite the early morning, the bank was crowded. Aris received a handwritten number ticket from the receptionist and waited until her turn came to approach the counter.

The bank teller greeted her with a friendly face.

“Hello. How may I help you today?”

Since it was her first time at a bank, Aris hesitated before speaking.

“I’d like to borrow some money from the bank…”

Aris took off the hood of the robe she had been wearing, glancing around cautiously.

Her wavy golden hair, loosely tied in half, was revealed. Although it seemed like a common blonde at first glance, it appeared exceptionally bright, with a high luminosity as if bathed in white sunlight.

But aside from that, she thought everything else about her was ordinary. For some reason, as soon as the bank teller saw her, they asked with a suspicious look.

“Excuse me, but could you tell me your name?”

The bank teller’s expression was quite serious, which made Aris nervous.

“Aristena… Eldeiz.”

“Ah, Miss Eldeiz!”

The bank teller exclaimed brightly. At that sound, other nearby bank tellers also glanced at Aris. Feeling burdened by their attention, Aris nodded timidly.

The bank teller dealing with Aris smiled widely and said,

“Welcome. We were wondering when you might visit, and it seems today was the day. The money you’re to receive has been prepared in advance.”

“…Pardon?”

Money to receive?

Aris had neither money to receive nor money deposited at the bank.

Seeing her puzzled face, the bank teller asked,

“Haven’t you been informed? A substantial amount of money has been sent for you, Miss Eldeiz. We were even told that you would come to claim it soon.”

“Who on earth… Are you sure it’s in my name? It’s not money sent for my father, is it?”

After all, her father was also an Eldeiz. However, the bank teller shook their head.

“No, it’s correctly addressed to ‘Aristena Eldeiz’. But the person who sent the money remained anonymous through a proxy… so we don’t know who it is either. We only know that they sent an enormous amount. Would you like to take a look?”

The bank teller showed her the statement. Checking it in a daze, Aris’s eyes widened.

My goodness… such a large amount. How many zeros were there?

It was enough money to buy two independent mansions in the capital and still have some left over. Moreover, this was considering the value of money 8 years in the future, when Aris had been the Empress.

“Do you not want to receive it now?”

Aris swallowed dryly with trembling eyes. Was it okay to readily accept such an enormous amount of money from an unknown sender?

But her current situation demanded money right away, so she couldn’t afford to refuse.

‘For now, I’ll receive it and use it as sparingly as possible, and later when I find out who sent me the money, I’ll pay it back gradually…’

She didn’t want to accept it if she could help it. After all, there’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world.

Aris had no choice but to answer.

“No, I’ll take it now, please.”

With nowhere else to go and needing funds to enter the magic school immediately, she had to accept the money.

“By the way, could you possibly… briefly tell me about the information of the person who was said to be the proxy?”

At Aris’s request, the bank clerk willingly provided the information. After confirming it, she became even more puzzled. It was a person from the frontier with a name she had never heard of in all her past life memories.

The matter ended without an answer to her question.

“Thank you. I’ll be going now.”

“Ah! Come to think of it, I forgot to tell you right away, but the person who came as the proxy left this for Miss Eldeiz to be delivered.”

The bank clerk handed her a small letter. It was a letter enclosed in an elegant purple envelope. Aris took it and left the bank. As she turned the envelope over, there was no name written anywhere.

‘Could it be from the person who sent me the money?’

Aris opened the letter with a curious mind. A small piece of paper, as small as the folded little envelope, appeared. Aris unfolded the letter without hesitation.

[I send this to be of some help.

Though it’s a modest amount, I hope you use it where you wish to achieve your goals.

I will support your dream.

—From anonymous E—]

‘Anonymous E’…

Aris’s eyes widened. She thought of the magic textbook that would be safely tucked away in the corner of her travel bag by now. Surely, someone who had handed over that book had introduced themselves as ‘Anonymous E’.

“Who… could it be?”

The only clues were the handwriting and the single letter ‘E’, which seemed to be an abbreviation for something.

The handwriting was so stiff and regular that it looked as if it had been printed from a mold. Moreover, there was no one that immediately came to mind with this abbreviation.

‘I think I need to think about it slowly.’

Aris was about to fold the letter back in half when she discovered something on the back.

‘…An address?’

It was in the western frontier. A place Aris had never been to. After trying to guess who it might be once again, she sighed.

‘No matter how much I think about it, I don’t know who it is…’

Thinking it would only give her a headache if she kept pondering, Aris put the letter away. She was also hungry to keep thinking complicated thoughts.

Aris set out to find a restaurant.

‘I’ll just pay for the meal normally…’

Even this was something she had never done before in her life. She checked if her attire was not strange and entered the nearest restaurant.

There, she tasted the food of common people. To save as much money as possible, she ordered light beef stew and rye bread, which was more satisfying than she had imagined.

Having taken a seat on the terrace where one side of the shop wall was open, she could also watch people passing by outside while eating. On the shop’s fence, she could see a cheese-colored cat taking a nap. The surface of the fence, bathed in sunlight, must have been warm.

Aris suddenly felt a lump in her throat while eating.

‘So this is what an ordinary daily life is like…’

It was so peaceful and calm that she felt she could fall asleep right away, intoxicated by the comfort. Her mind was so at ease.

Even after finishing her meal leisurely and coming out, Aris continued her sightseeing, stopping by various places she had never seen before. Her heart was fluttering with excitement at all the new things she was experiencing on her own.

‘It’s okay for just one day… No one knows where I’ve gone. No one.’

She smiled warmly as she wandered alone, and upon discovering a modest inn, decided to stay there for the night.

It was an inn run by an elderly couple. Although it had some worn-out corners, it wasn’t bad to stay in. At least it was twice as warm as the cold bedroom where Aris had been confined in her past life.

‘I’ll spend tonight here and head west tomorrow.’

Aris unpacked in the inn room where sunlight was streaming in well. Then, sitting at the desk in the inn, she began filling out the application form for the Magic Department that she had prepared by stopping by the post office on her way.

Enrolling as a student in the Magic Department was possible at any time without an exam, as long as one had the tuition. However, while admission was free, the tests conducted in the Magic Department were famous for being difficult.