Only a couple of hours had elapsed since Victor Gennady Vinn and his colleague, Helene Eve, had embarked on this lacrima-powered train to their destination in Peace Village on their newest assignment – to assist an elderly lady with finding a book which had been her favorite as a youth. Victor couldn’t ignore the desires of a cultured and mature woman to reacquaint herself with her beloved piece of literature. Besides, he also wanted to allow his undead assistant a chance to stretch her legs and get out of the house for a bit. Victor held a fork in his right hand and dug the metal instrument into the piece of delicious and warm chocolate cake he had ordered. He brought the piece of dessert to his mouth and began slowly indulging himself in chocolate bliss – savoring each bite of the cake.
“Master Victor?” Helene spoke up from the location across of Victor in the dining area of the magical train. “We are supposed to be helping an old lady find a book, correct? Why didn’t she ask one of the librarians to assist her instead of making the request?” She asked him, picking up a small cup of tea and drinking it. It was a habit of hers to draw suspicion away that she was a member of the walking dead and Victor had jump-started her nervous system a bit. Helene feel the warm brew brush past her lips and even taste it a little bit. Of course, certain things weren’t completely fixed. The heart in her chest still didn’t beat and her lungs still didn’t take in air. “It is a busy time of year in most of the libraries around Fiore, Helene. Quite a few members of the populace are partaking in final exams or doing final projects for their respective classes. I would imagine that a number of the libraries she had attempted to go were very populated.” Victor replied after he finished his bite of his cake. He wiped away any clinging crumbs of cake from his face. “Without any librarians to assist her at this time of year, it would be quite difficult for her to find the book. If she was able to find it, I think it would be hard for her to obtain it. Climbing up ladders isn’t the easiest task. Also, the book she is looking for has stopped being printed as well.” Victor remarked and took a sip of his milk tea. “I see… So, we will stop in Peace Village and then head to a few of the libraries in the neighboring towns?” Helene wasn’t quite sure as to where to begin. However, they hadn’t met their client either to get more details than what was in the notice.
“Yes, Helene. More than likely, we will end up re-embarking on this train to head up to Cedar, Clover Town, Hargeon Town, Magnolia Town, and Oak Town to acquire the book in question. But, it isn’t too bad if we get to spend the day together – going through libraries and traveling by train, right?” Victor laughed a bit as he looked out the train window. The bright spring sun was shining overhead. The verdant grass and leaves had returned. Birds flew from tree-top to tree-top. It wasn’t a bad day at all to be outside or travel by train all day. “Yes, it isn’t too bad at all if we can spend the day together, Master Victor.” Helene replied. She turned her had to look out the window and smiled to herself. ‘It is nice to spend time like this with you, Master Victor.’ She thought to herself as she admired the scene outside. Only six months had passed since she was given life by her creator, but she felt like she had known her master much longer than that. “Arriving at Peace Station. Arriving at Peace Station. Thank you all for choosing to ride with us today. Make sure to take all your belongings with you as you disembark from the train. Again, thank you choosing Flora Net.” The voice of the conductor echoed through each box-car telling each person located in them they had arrived at their terminus. The doors to the train opened and each person began to depart from the train. “Shall we depart as well,” Victor said as he laid a single jewel on the table next to his plate before he grabbed his bag and strolled off the train. He still followed the old rule of tipping ten-percent of what he paid for a service – especially when they were above satisfactory. “Yes, Master Victor. We still have a bit of a hike before us Peace Station is around 30 minutes from Peace Village if traveling by foot. I remember reading that in one of the travel magazines.” Helene replied not too far behind her creator.
The duo hopped off the train and made their way through the semi-deserted station. “Yes, I heard about the cumbersome distance between the station and Peace Village from a Rune Knight, a few years ago. Unfortunately, we will have to make the trek to and from a number of times today.” Victor remarked once they were outside the station. “But at least it is a lovely day for a walk. The birds are singing. The flowers are blooming. It is days like this... we don’t get enough of them.” Helene laughed a bit standing next to her master. Victor and Helene began their trek down the old cobblestone path which lead to Peace Village – partaking in the natural beauty which surrounded them on each side. In a bit of time, they arrived at the charming and small village. Victor pulled out his small handkerchief and wiped his brow of the beads of sweat which had formed from the walk. “It was a pleasant stroll, but my body isn’t used to such physical activity. Maybe, I should invest a bit of time working on my physical fitness.” He said to himself in a low tone. Victor had bit of a habit regarding speaking to himself from time to time. Helene giggled lowly but didn’t say anything to her creator about speaking to himself. After wiping the sweat from his brow, Victor pulled out a small map, which had the location of the client’s house scribed on it, from his pocket. Peering at his map and assessing the surrounding environment, he was able to figure out their location and the approximate location of the client’s house. He began to walk down the cobblestone path once again with his assistant in tow to the client’s house.
It took a few additional minutes before they arrived at the small abode of the senior citizen, who had placed the notice to search for a discontinued book. Helene knocked the door with her a couple of times and waited for the resident inside to answer them. The wooden door creaked opened a little bit and a head with long gray hair peeked out the door. “Hello.” A weak female voice spoke up. “The two of you are not from around here. So, you must be the wizards who agreed to my request to search for my beloved book. Come in. Come in.” She said opening the door completely letting the duo into the house. On entering the humble abode of their client, Victor smelt the wafting scent of cinnamon – a scent he was quite familiar with in his line of work. He noticed the low-hanging bookshelves which were filled with books. “My name is Natasha, but you may just call me Granny. Everyone in the village does.” She shuffled to the living room and sat down on the couch. “Yes, ma’am. My name is Victor Gennady Vinn, however, you may just refer to me as Victor. This lovely lady next to me is my assistant, Helene Eve.” Victor and Helene gave a quick bow to their assistant before they sat down on the couch. “You may just refer to me as Helene, Granny Natasha,” Helen remarked as she fixed her skirt. “Yes, Helene and Victor. Such lovely names. But, I am sure you two came a long way to answer an old lady’s request. There is a particular book I enjoyed reading as a young adult. It is called ‘We the Living’. I would go to look for it myself, but it is hard for me to get around when contrasted to when I was a bit younger.” Natasha looked at both of her younger associates with pleading eyes – hoping they would accept the job. She knew younger people would rather be out adventuring than be inside of a musky old library looking for a book. “Miss Natasha, it would be our pleasure to assist another avid book-reader such as yourself.” The raven-haired male replied with a bright smile from his seat. His undead assistant nodded her head in approval. “Yes, Granny! We would be happy to help you with looking for your book. Do you know which library in particular last held the book?” Helene inquired, attempting to get a bit more information from the senior citizen. “Yes, a library in Oak Town had it the last time I checked it out. I believe it was called Juniper Library.” Natasha answered. “Thank you, Miss Natasha, that piece of information was quite helpful. We will be back in a few hours with your book in hand. You have my word as a gentlemen.” With that final exchange between the trio, Victor and Helene stood up from their seats and left the small home of their client and headed back to the train station in order to make their way to Oak Town, a city renown for its knowledge. It was commonly referred to as the City of History in Fiore.
Once getting back on the train, it took around another hour for the duo to arrive at Oak Town – the City of History. Victor stepped off the train and pulled out another map from the pocket of his robe. “Wow. You have quite a few different maps stored inside of those pockets of yours, Master Victor,” Helene said as she walked him along the assortment of streets within this bustling city. “It never hurts to have a few extra items here and there to make sure you prepared for most circumstances, Helene, I have a few maps to various cities and towns in Fiore. Erm...” Victor stopped for a moment and pulled out a few other odd items from his robe –a miniature book, a plastic wrapped cookie, a notepad, and pen, a spare set of house keys, emergency money, a spare set of house keys, and even a few scalpels and other embalming tools – the primary tools of his trade. “See, I have quite a few things and even an emergency snack. I plan on buying one of those really useful storage bags that ReQuip Magi use quite frequently. They house a separate dimension just for storing things and that would be quite useful during our trips.” Victor replied in a happy tone. He knew that he could do a lot more research and even collect extra materials with an item like that. For a moment, Victor and Helene spoke about the future while they made their way to the Juniper Library in Oak Town.
The mortician and his undead assistant had arrived one of the many large and well-built libraries scattered across the city. Making their way through the large doors of the establishment, Victor had expected to stroll into his own version of Eden with books line across countless shelves with it being peaceful and quiet, but his expectations were quickly shot down. The books were hanging off the shelves and there were children running amok in this hallowed hall of literature. “My Eden of books ruined by the tom-foolery of these tykes...” He said in a bit of an angry and sadden tone by the number of kids not caring for the preservation of these books for future generations and those of the current generations. “It will be okay, Master Victor. I am sure the librarians will get these children under control.” Helene placed her hand on his back and attempted to comfort him a bit. “Why don’t we go and see if the book is still in place?” The pink-head lead her dispirited creator to the card catalog which had a holographic interface exactly those used by archive wizards. “It says it is supposed to be in the rear section of the library, Master Victor. I am sure the children haven’t messed that area of the library up.” Helene lead him to the area where the book was supposed to be located, but it seemed the children had ransacked the section as well. Victor had enough of these children’s antics ruining what was supposed to be an amazing day for him – getting lost in a library for hours on end looking for a rare book. But this situation didn’t fit his romantic ideas in the slightest.
A child ran in front of both of them and Victor grabbed him by the arm. “Oww… Let go of my arm, Mister! Don’t you see we are playing in here.” The child screamed out in a bit of pain of pain from being being suddenly grabbed and pulled back. “Yes, I can see very well that you are all playing in this library and making quite a mess of things. Why are you in here when you could be outside playing?” Victor asked- letting the boy’s arm go. “Well… You see… Our friend’s big sister works here now. She used to play with us all of the time until she got a job here.” The boy started to say before a few other children ran up. “Hey! Don’t bully our friend!” A girl shouted out. “Yeah, it isn’t nice to bully people.” Another one spoke up. “So, your bullying of your sister’s friend is okay? You have come into her place of work and started to mess up the entire area for her – knowing she will have to clean it all up later on. I understand you are all a bit lonely, but you are making it harder for her to go out and play with you all later on when she gets done with work. She has to stay a bit over to clean up the mess which cuts into her time playing with you all outside.” Victor replied calmly – realizing it was more about the children wanting to play with their “friend’s big sister” more than anything else. “Well...” One boy started to say. “Go apologize to her and help her clean up this mess. When you are done, why don’t you all tell her how you been feeling?” Victor said with a smile. Helene looked at one of the books in the children’s hands. “Hey, may I have that book you are holding? She asked him. The young boy handed Helene the book. “Hey, Master Victor. I think this is the book we have been looking for since we got here.” Helene showed her creator the book. “Yes, this is it, Helene. Come along children, we have a book to check out and you all have a person to apologize to.” With that done, the duo checked out the book and made their way back to Peace Village with the desired book in hand.
Word Count: 2586/1700
