4 Years Old: Chapter 14 - Still a Kid
TL: Krrizis
Editors: Nahct and Wafflez
An hour after his Highness left my place with a sorrowful expression (or rather, he stubbornly insisted on remaining and I had to forcefully turn him away), Gilles-san returned. It seems that they may have pa.s.sed each other.
「Gilles-san, welcome home..... What"s the matter?」
「Huh?」
Welcoming him in the hallway, I noticed his expression had visibly changed when I went to greet him. He had a depressive countenance, or rather, the right expression would be that he was feeling blue. His face looked pale. It was highly unlikely that the trip to the castle had worn him out.
With a gloomy gaze unbecoming of his age, he stared blankly, seeming puzzled.
「Did something bad happen?」
..... Taking a deep breath, I began poking at the nature of this malaise.
Probably, the current Gilles-san is unable to express himself because when I spoke, his pupils became unsteady, revealing his fright.
Appreciating the meaning of my words, Gilles-san immediately returned to his former self with a tender smile. An emergency measure to keep up appearances, which I understood easily. His complexion hadn"t improved.
「I was scolded a little because of my work」
The reason sounded fair, but I sensed that wasn"t the only reason.
To truly deceive someone, one needs to be able to blend the truth with the lies. As it wasn"t a complete lie, no matter how incongruous it seemed, would it truly be possible to hide a lie within a truth?
..... Well, I may be reading too much and steering off-course.
My usual stance is to not poke into the affairs of others, unless it had something to do with Gilles-san and Mother.
On that evening, it occurred with a groan.
A child"s greedy slumber was disturbed by an itch in her throat. Feeling thirsty, I walked towards the kitchen to grab a gla.s.s of water. Whilst it wasn"t necessary for me to personally get it, using sorcery expressively within the estate was ill-advised. Though it really doesn"t matter.
On the way back from the kitchen. Talking about my family, my parents feel dispirited as n.o.bles. Well, it"s not accurate to say that they feel dispirited but rather, it"s promising..... Well, it"s reasonably tolerable at a distance, as long as we keep to ourselves.
The moonlight looked quite forlorn with the use of light sorcery that illuminated the way. I was on my way back to my room when suddenly, out of nowhere, I heard a low sound.
Coming from the ground, it took a moment for me to realised that it was a groan and I started moving towards the source with haste..... Well, though I said I was moving towards it, the sound was coming out from somewhere within the vicinity of my room.
As I moved towards the sound, my body began to tremble naturally in fright.
「It couldn"t possibly be an intruder.....」
Our bodyguards outside probably would have noticed; they were quite capable when they did their rounds. Also, Father had traps set up so the probability of an intruder being caught in it was fairly high. They couldn"t possibly be that skilled.
My heart started pounding as I made my way to my room, when push comes to shove, I was prepared to chuck my sorcery out..... As I thought of that, the groaning sounds ceased.
Instead, it was replaced by crying sounds. Ah, it can"t be, there"s no such thing as ghost. Yup, zombies or undeads don"t exist, they definitely don"t.
「..... is.....」
「..... Eh?」
Frightened for a second after hearing the noise, I finally heard a recognisable voice. The voice was blurred, trembling slightly in the pa.s.sageway.
「Gilles-san.....?」
That reminds me, in the innermost section of my room was a room that we had loaned to Gilles-san. As the voice was audible from inside, this definitely meets the conditions.
Slowly, I moved soundlessly past my room to Gilles-san"s room.
Gilles-san"s room wasn"t locked; the door carelessly left half-open. Coming here was convenient, although if it hadn"t been opened, I wouldn’t have heard the noise so it was a complicated feeling.
It"s probably wrong of me, but I peeked through the crack of the door and spotted Gilles-san lying down on the bed. Only, he seemed to be having a nightmare, constantly tossing about in bed whilst quivering.
..... Ah, I see. Even if Gilles-san was my tutor, he had yet to undergo his coming of age ceremony and could still be considered a child (That"s what I think). He was still at an age where, naturally as a child, he would be cared for by his parents.
However, Gilles-san - although I don"t quite know the circ.u.mstances - worked at the Magic Inst.i.tution and had a part-time duty teaching sorcery to a child (aka me).
I"m not in a position to say anything, but Gilles-san was no longer a child and was wise. Hence, he suffered from his responsibilities. It wasn"t strange that whatever dissatisfactions and anxieties had burst out. For example, something that had transpired today at the Magic Inst.i.tution.
Honestly, I"m not sure what to do. Perchance..... Nay, in all probabilities, I might be the cause of his stress. I think it could be my fault.
With that said, what should I do? I don’t want to be heartless, but I have no methods to help him. Looking at the child groaning before my very eyes, I wanted to extend my hand. However, without being able to properly a.s.sist him, it would be better to stay my hand. Rather than stretching out in a half-baked manner, this is a much better option.
「..... No..... Don"t want to.....」
Whilst experiencing the unpleasant nightmare, Gilles-san groaned as he continued quivering in his sleep.
..... Pretending that nothing had happened here was easy, all I had to do was return to my room.
「..... Hel..p.. me」
Ah, geez.
Biting on my lips, I slip my body stealthily through the half-open door.
It wasn"t as though he was sick and could be rescued with a potential for recovery. He was simply having a bad nightmare and he was unconscious now. I wouldn"t want to be responsible if anything unexpected were to happen.
「Ug..... Ugh.....」
I quietly encroached on Giles-san, who was continuously groaning in his sleep.
Looking at him, Gilles-san had worn simple clothes to sleep. His long, glossy green hair was loosened and scattered about the bed sheets. If it wasn"t for the current circ.u.mstances, he would be oozing with s.e.x appeal that wasn"t suitable for his age.
「..... It"s probably really effective」
In a time such as this, being Mother"s child, I was grateful that I had shut myself in the study in a not-so-child-like manner. It was a good thing that I had read a book on healing magic.
There were no spells that the healing magic book could offer to cure nightmares. However, if it was about restoring the physical condition, it was possible.
The mind rules the body, therefore you could say it affects one another. If the balance was maintained, nothing happens.
This time, it was the mind that had weakened and because of that, it was possible that it had also affected his physical state. Placing my small palm against his forehead, it felt a bit feverish. It would also be helpful to gather the fatigue that had acc.u.mulated in an unpleasant direction.
「Cure」
Cautiously trying to avoid making a mistake, I delicately put my bountiful magical powers through the magical equation. There was nothing wrong, I just wanted to restore his physical condition with healing magic. As expected, it wasn"t a serious injury that needed healing.
Slowly, I poured my magic into the magical equation to give him solace. Well, it wasn"t trivial, the fatigue took a toll on me but I was able to lower his temperature.
Incidentally, whilst the efficiency could not be antic.i.p.ated, it was also a purification magic that could be used against demons..... To tell the truth, that"s just an exaggeration. For chuckingsomething as outrageous as that, sorry! It"s just a superst.i.tious belief that it acts like a talisman. There"s some expectations that it would take away the nightmare.
Applying the healing magic within my capacity, Gilles-san"s appearance began to relax. I"m not sure if it was effective, but it seemed to have given some slight comfort to him.
「..... It"ll be alright now」
In order to not disturb his sleep, I moved quietly and gently stroke his head. Then borrowing a handkerchief from his desk, I wiped the sweat that had collected between his eyebrows.This would be the time where he might jolt and wake up.
As it wouldn"t be good to catch a cold from perspiring while sleeping, I replaced the thin blanket that had fallen off when Gilles-san was tossing and turning in his sleep with satisfaction. Great, it looks like he"ll presently be able to cope with it after being administered with the necessary medical treatment. Do the best as you can to persevere in a child"s body, you can do it. With this, it all boils down to his force of will.
「Good night」
As expected, the body of a child desires more sleep.
Concealing a big yawn, I return the way I came. Tomorrow..... Actually, it"s already today, it"ll be great if you"re feeling better.