Chapter 98: That’s an Albans (Alistair’s POV)
*KEE* A familiar feeling pa.s.sed through my body. I energetically rose up, and next to me, Gilbert, who seems to hate me and calls me uncle, also jumped to his feet.
We looked at each other. Right now, it didn’t matter why we were sleeping in the same bed.
“Al, the feeling just now.”
“Don’t call me Al! Yeah, I think it’s a barrier. A barrier spread for a moment and disappeared straight away. It felt like that.”
“I see, so it is indeed a barrier. I’ve experienced pa.s.sing through the barrier in Farland, so I understand it a little, but I wasn’t sure,” Gill said as he got up and combed his bed-hair. I ended up calling Gilbert, Gill. I didn’t want to because it felt like the distance between us was closing, but I was forced to. Furthermore, he said he would call me Al. Even though no one has ever called me that.
I stared blankly at Gill, who was combing his hair. Even though I woke up to soft golden hair and plump cheeks when I was in Lentforce…
“What? Am I that handsome?”
“No.”
“At least think about it a little,” Gill immediately joked. Unlike Bart and his crew, he was somewhat creepy, and I wasn’t used to him.
“I thought that you were Lei since I’ve been with her until the other day.”
“You two were in the same room? You shouldn’t tell Luke that.”
“What the h.e.l.l is with him? It’s like he’s competing with me.”
“He probably is. Lei’s important to him.”
Even if he says that they received the best treatment and education as heirs to the Four Marquises. I don’t understand why he would compete with me. No, wrong.
“This isn’t the time for this. Is the barrier being activated every morning in Sebel or something?”
“No way. They said that they haven’t actually activated the barrier box before. Actually, nothing like this has happened since I’ve been here.”
“Then it’s a small barrier box? No, the barrier won’t reach this room unless it was activated really close to us. That means… it was Lei!”
I jumped off the bed and tried to rush out of the room.
“Gah.” But my clothes were grabbed from behind which constricted my neck and I let out a strange voice.
“What are you doing?! Lei puts up barriers when it’s dangerous! I have to go help her!”
“Shh, be quiet.” I stopped reflectively when Gill spoke.
“Why?”
“Calm down. Listen, what do barriers work against?”
“That’s… Hollows.”
“The chances of Hollows appearing in the castle?”
“… None.”
“Do you think Lei would put up a barrier when there aren’t any Hollows around?’
“… No.”
“So, I think Lei’s probably safe.”
Contrary to the calm Gill, I was slightly irritated.
“Then, why?”
Gill probably had an idea of what was going on and looked away awkwardly.
“Oh, Lei can make barriers, can’t she?”
“Yeah.”
“If you knew that, wouldn’t you want to activate it, Al?”
“… No. Oh, him?”
“Probably.”
Gill continued to grab my clothes as he looked out the door.
“They probably got carried away,” he spoke kindly as if he was worried about his real brother. For some reason, my heart felt chilled.
“But, even I haven’t been able to activate a barrier yet. Are you saying that he learnt how to do it in one night? I could believe it if you said Lei was the one who did it.”
“Because wouldn’t your Lei get carried away and make a big barrier?”
“She would. But, she would be careful and not go crazy.”
“Then, it’s Luke. They’re a little special. You know this too, right, Al?”
I know that Lei is special. But, even if he says they’re… I don’t know anything about Luke.
“Aren’t the Four Marquises all the same?”
“They’re not. The Lisburns and Albans have more magic than the other two Marquises. And the royal family has even more magic. And apparently, the Albans have the power to feel magic.”
“Lei does certainly seem like she can see magic.”
“I knew it. Luke and his father are like that too. And it’s irritating how they think it’s nothing.” Even though he said that, he didn’t look irritated at all.
“He probably heard how to make the barrier from Lei and achieved it in one shot. How long would it take me to make a barrier like that…?”
Gill pondered. I was a little surprised by what he had said, but also a little happy. Gill was going to try it like it was natural. In other ways, it felt like he was saying that he would do his best to achieve this even if he couldn’t do it like Lei.
“Well, I can do that later. Listen, the Wester royal family should have noticed this. And magic users should have felt something too. However, Prince Hubert agreed to keep Lei’s secret, so he won’t say anything. What I mean is…”
Gill looked down on me as he grabbed my clothes and said, “Something seems to have happened, but we don’t know about it. We’re going to pretend to know nothing.”
“Then we have to tell Lei and Luke.”
“What do you think they’re going to do about this?” Gill asked as if he was s.p.a.cing each word. I don’t know about Luke. What about Lei?
“She’ll pretend nothing happened.”
“Right? That’s an Albans.”
Why do you look proud?
“Now then, nothing happened. We didn’t notice anything. Let’s go back to sleep.”
Gill quickly crawled back into bed. I went into the other bed.
“What? Come here.”
“No.”
“It would seem like we overslept because we stayed up late talking if you sleep here.” It can’t be helped if he puts it that way. We decided to talk about many things until a person from the castle came to wake us up.
The royal family seemed to have noticed the barrier, and the magic users sensed something. Some noticed that it had spread outside the castle, and they asked us in a roundabout way if we knew what it was.
“I’m sensitive to those kinds of things, but I didn’t realise anything because I was sound asleep. I was busy talking with Lei.”
I looked at Luke, who was holding his sister with great care, and they didn’t get questioned any further. Lei shrieked happily as she was being held and looked like a normal infant. No one tried to ask Lei anything.
The same goes for Bart and his crew.
“I felt something strange, did something happen in the castle?” Bart asked suspiciously, and the people in the castle could do nothing else.
It was the same with us.
“We were talking and fell asleep on the same bed before we noticed,” no one doubted what Gill said.
I thought a little. Will Wester be alright, Prince Huu? Is it really alright since this country called Wester is so easy to deceive?