Chapter 156 - ’Scholarly’ research
Scarlett sat in her office, hunched over her desk, engrossed in the mountain of documents sprawled before her. The morning had slipped away unnoticed, and her eyes were starting to feel strained from the excessive amount of numbers and figures she had been poring over.
The thick pile consisted mostly of reports concerning the barony and the family’s current assets, as well as some preliminary estimations regarding how they could be employed. Evelyne had compiled them in preparation for the relief venture Scarlett had somehow convinced herself to get involved with. The younger woman was currently looking into what options they had available on that front and had asked for Scarlett’s input.
Scarlett herself would have preferred to avoid dealing with all this paperwork, but she didn’t really feel like she had the option to refuse giving her help, considering it was her own idea in the first place.
That said, she couldn’t deny the growing fear that her brain would turn to mush if she continued reading through these papers any longer right now.
With a sigh of surrender, she pushed the documents to the side and reclined in her chair. There was a reason she had never wanted to work in something related to the natural sciences or accounting. Basic arithmetic was all well and good, but she had done enough internships in traditional office settings when she was younger to never want to look at an Excel document ever again, and this was just that but without the conveniences. She much preferred her old work as an editor.
Maybe if she managed to survive the future catastrophes that would occur across the empire—and if she lost her current wealth as a baroness—she could open an editing firm or something like that and take things easy. If she never found a way back to her own world, that could be a good Plan C or D. This place wasn’t so bad if you disregarded the secret evil organization and occasional rampaging dragons.
A small chuckle escaped her lips as she glanced around the office. For now, she would be satisfied with a brief break. She didn’t feel like leaving the office, though.
She rose from her chair and rounded the desk, ambling over to the bookshelf running along the room’s right wall. Her eyes scanned the array of titles on display.
Although she had read a decent number of the books here in her quest to familiarize herself with this world, she had barely scratched the surface of the sum of works within this collection. While books could be exorbitantly expensive in this world, they were no rarity. She wouldn’t be surprised if most common households had at least one or two available. The empire had long been supporting several initiatives to promote literacy, and it appeared to be no stranger to bureaucracy, judging from all the documents and forms Evelyne had sent her over the months.
Among the titles that the bookshelf sported, one in particular caught her attention. The book’s spine boasted a weathered, dark brown leather, dressed with black lettering.
The Red Witch of Destruction: Catastrophe Incarnate.
Scarlett recalled Rosa once mentioning this book during one of her earliest visits to the office. At the time, Scarlett had dissuaded the woman from reading it, and since then, she hadn’t given its existence much thought. She already had a general idea of its contents and hadn’t felt the need to learn more than that. Now, however, her curiosity was urging her on…