15 Chapter 14: See You Soon, Brother! (2/2)

I did not reply. There were various suspicious hints in this letter that I could not dismiss. However, what concerned me more was the telegram that was still unread. I waved my hand for Hilbert to open the telegram.

”Are you sure, your Highness?” Hilbert asked again with a frown and deep concern in his eyes as if I was some child that needed his care.

I simply noded and flicked my wrist.

Hilbert bowed and simply replied, ”Understood, sire.”

__________

___

”I say,” the feisty little girl kept on chattering on the dinner table, ”You haven't touched your food Charles... is something wrong?” she bugged me.

It was always the hardest to come up with a lie in front of Gloria. Not only did I needed to make it sound more convincing, I had to also act that way, all the more not to underestimate her and talk too much. In other words, I had to check on myself every now and then and satisfy her, while eating.

As usual, I frowned and barely smiled her way. Looked in front of me, where there was no one but a giant door, behind the empty chair a long distance away from where I sat.

Who knows how many times I've had to be careful of my blinking and chewing...!

For a moment I paused while eating and glanced her way, ”Do not open your mouth while eating. Act like a princess since you are my sister.”

As I stared at the chubby little creature, I couldn't help but smile at her flushed face, red as a tomato.

”... sing...” I heard her mumble to herself.

”It's embarrassing, you idiot prince!” She suddenly burst out loud as she stood up. The chair fell down with a thud -sound behind her.

I sat on my chair, stupefied. Unable to comprehend whether she was courageous and blunt, or simply an idiot herself.

Her ears were bright red and her cheeks were still flushed as before. Her eyes were filled with intense glare directed my way. I sheepishly smiled, giving her the upper hand.

”Hmmph!” She turned her head and stomped towards the door.

”Oh, and...” she paused. Then turned once more and glared at me. With a loud voice that echoed throughout the entire dining hall, she shrieked, ”I WILL DINE IN MY ROOM FROM NOW ON!”

”Okay...” I softly replied, my voice cracking up.

”Hilbert,” I called after drinking some water to ease my throat, ”please be sure to tell the maids to send some food to her room from now onwards.”

”Of course, your highness.” Hilbert obeyed.

...

”Gloria,” I knocked on her room door, ”Listen, I'm here to apologize.”

Even though there was no answer, I could still feel her presence from the other side. ”Even though I have no idea what I've done wrong... might you enlighten me?”

Still no answer...

”...and forgive me?” I continued with a half baked apology.

”You were being rude.” a voice replied from the other side.

”Eat your dinner, okay? I'll apologize again in the morning if you've eaten.” I ordered.

”... no...” she stated.

”...”

A long pause without a conversation and then she suddenly broke the silence, ”If I am your sister, then don't treat me like your subject. I'm nobody's slave.”

Her stoic icy comment pierced my heart. I felt as though I had been hit by a bulldozer and survived miraculously, even though I'd lost the sense of 'touch' and left with broken bones.

I coughed and cleared my throat.

”Very well. I will remember as long as you remember to behave yourself, deal?” I announced, half joking.

”Deal.” she agreed, bewildering me.

”And by the way,” I couldn't help but spill, ”Father-in-law and George will be arriving in a few days.”

The moment I said these words, I felt a kick straight to the back of my knee. ”Ouch!” I tried to hold my voice as I fell on the cold floor, nearly hitting my head in the process. How did she do that?! I became more and more puzzled.

”I never accepted you as my brother-in-law...” the door slightly opened as a pair of bloody cold eyes met mine, ”Don't get ahead of yourself, f***er!”

”For a child t-t-th-those are highl-ly inappropriate words...” I managed to choke out a single sentence.

”Heh.” she smirked wickedly and giggled as the door closed.

I could feel my spirit floating out my body! A long relief spread down my spine as I slowly got up and walked away to my study. I couldn't help but wonder how much fearsome menace was left in that small body of hers...

”Why do I feel as though this is going to be a long~ long, night?” I questioned myself, feeling hopeless.

...

The clock ticked with the rhythm of my heart beat, spontaneously. I sighed as I signed each of the many contracts before my desk. The pile of papers kept getting longer and longer. I wondered if at some point the ceiling and the mountain of contracts would meet each other face-to-face.

This childish fantasy was my only distraction now. In the back of my mind, conscious or unconscious, only the tension of the Windstorms and the Dark Guild kept piling up.

”Would you like some herbal tea, sire?” Hilbert asked.

”In the dead of the night?” I questioned him back, logically.

”Your health is my most important priority, my Lord.” Hilbert smiled.

”Certainly, but I would rather prefer some nice black coffee.”

”I cannot do that, Cha- uh, sire.” Hilbert answered, ”You are still too young!”

”To have coffee?” I asked, amazed.

”Yes,” he simply insisted.

”Urgh, fine!” I grunted as I waved my hand, ”Then I'll take an hour's worth of break. Just make sure you arrange the stacks when I arrive.”

I stood up and stretched my worn out elbows. Ruffling my hair that was straight and dead tired, I reached for the telegram that still stood, undisturbed. ”Seems more of a waste to open and worry now,” I convinced myself.

”Hilbert,” I deepened my voice, ”who is this telegram from?”

”I don't know my Lord.” Hilbert replied, ”it came along with the letters so I though it might have been from sir George.”

”Have you opened it?” I glared at him, trying to read his expressions while watching him neatly stack the papers.

”Nay. I haven't.” Hilbert nodded.

I could tell he wasn't lying to me. He wasn't concerned about this either, but too concentrated with the pile of papers in his hands.

”Any news about Fred?” I questioned as I observed his movements whilst opening the telegram slowly.

”No, sire. Not since Sir George's letter. Would you like me to send some soldiers to search for his whereabouts though?” Hilbert asked with a frown imprinted on his face.

Hilbert had an unusual habit of not wasting time on things that were none of his concern. He lived quite simply and had a keen observational power. He did not have mana control so he wore a charm to protect himself from his own powers.

”No need.” I licked my lower lip as I scoured through the unbelievable content at my hands.

The telegram was from the spies I had implanted beforehand and the news in the telegram was anything, but suspense. Every bit of doubt in my mind began to clear up... yet all that was left was bad news.

”Perhaps the chances of finding Fred now might no longer be-” the moment I uttered this sentence, the door behind me creaked alittle and the sniffling cries of a small child could be heard.

Instantly, I knew who it was... Gloria!

”Why now of all times!?” I thought frantically, as I looked back at Hilbert who also had a pale expression, and then ran after her, ”Surely, she'll understand...!”

< Gloria's POV >

”Hiyyah!” I exclaimed as I rode the horse.

”Charles you liar!” I shouted in my head, tears rolling down my eyes, ”How could he do this! With that expressionless face and saying those words...!!!”

The grey cloak fell from my head, as the wind brushed my cheeks. I gripped the reigns of the horse tightly and yielded it to stop.

”Slow down fella,” I said looking at the broken wooden board that barely hung on top, between two unstable wooden pillars.

A flash of lightning made it easy to read the characters written on the plank of wood.

”Welcome to Ravenwild.” it read.

”What the-” I gasped as the horse cried out loud and yanked me along with it. At this point, I could only conclude that it had gone berserk. So I jumped from the horse's back into a huge pile of wet hay.

”Something's wrong,” I said to myself, as a cold shiver ran down my spine. ”Why do I feel that I'm not alone...?” I thought to myself, feeling threatened.

”Burst!” I heard an unknown voice and immediately jumped by instinct.

Within moments of my leap, the haystack erupted a small explosion as flames lit up, similar to a bonfire. However, within a minute or so, all the hay simply turned into dirt. Icky, mushy and toxic mud. Bubbles popped over it as if the thing itself was still alive...

”Thank goodness!” I said to myself as I landed on top of a tree trunk.

”Tch,” I heard someone click their tongue.

I curled myself like a ball and hid behind the leaves. The grey cloak hid me like the background of a scenery. There was a light breeze and plenty of fog. The lightning had stopped for some time now. Not a drop of rain anymore.

I remained silent and slowed my breathing tremendously. The next thing I had to focus on was eliminating my own presence.

”Guess Vel's teachings came to some use, after all!” I sarcastically thought to myself, ”But who on earth attacked me?”

Meticulously, my eyes wandered all over the ground, but keeping myself hidden at the same time proved to be a difficult task.

Hey, I said difficult, not impossible.

But what my sharp eyes led me to see was an unforgettable sight!

”Dad! George!” I couldn't believe my eyes, ”No... there are two more victims. Shit!”

Two hostages were also present along with my family. A girl and another who's gender remained unclear to me. All four of them remained calm and with their eyes firmed of killing intent.

”Where's that kid!?” a man with cracking voice demanded.

His voice was quite loud!

”Not so loud boss, she might hear ya!” A fox faced man commented.

”Don't order me ya' punk!” the boss bellowed, ”I am Sir Croash to you hooligans!”

”Of course,” the fox man answered timidly, ”but... sir, wouldn't it be better not to reveal our location? It was the Master's order after all.”

The boss guy simply grunted and became silent. Three henchmen were still there, other than the two talkative ones. A tall dark skinned masculine man who had an expressionless face, a purple haired woman with a ponytail who carried a blow gun, and last but not least, a dwarf with green hair brown eyes with a dimensional pouch stuck with his belt.

”Burst, burst, burst!” the dwarf man spoke continuously as he simultaneously smacked his fingers against each other, ”Burst! Burst! BURST, BURST, BURST!!”

His bloodshot eyes made me tremble. That dwarf only seemed harmless and tiny like a kid. However, he was anything but, that!

With each burst that echoed from a distance, the wicked midget laughed more and more horrifyingly. More and more black crystalline marbles floated out from his dimensional pouch. He chanted some words unbeknownst to my knowledge and flicked his fingers.

The tiny marbles zapped away who knows where...

I froze with fright. He wasn't the only one there though. He was powerful, yes. May be more than me... but what about the others? How would I defeat them all?!

”What I need now is a plan...” I whispered to myself.

Instinct kicked into full gear and I jumped out of the tree. The tree burst into flames within seconds and then the top half disappeared just like that!

My eyes veered on that little dwarf who smirked my way, ”Found you~ brat!” He roared pointing his meaty fingers at me.

”Kuh,” blood spattered from my mouth suddenly.

”ShentaBala!” an unknown voice shouted all of a sudden as the gravity below my feet pulled me down.

I thrashed myself, head first, onto the rotten wooden roof and hit the ground. In normal circumstances I'd be dead already. But the things is... my skull didn't crack.

I'm not thick headed or anything like that... I'm just smart.

Unfortunately for them, I had already created a shield around me moments before I leaped from the tree. It was only a matter of time when they would find me. So, I improvised!

Suddenly, I felt a tiny reaction from the tip of my toe and looked at my shoes with a gasp. Fatigued from my journey, I realized now, how much luxury induced I'd become.

It was a fairly thrilling miscalculation... and not in a bright manner.

I was on top of a quicksand! Furthermore, those tiny dark marbles occupied in dozens over it!!

Thankfully, the shield provided some time for me to escape, but unfortunately I had to jump all over again like some zoo monkey and reveal myself to those bastards.

I was in mid-air, but the situation got even more out of hand when I realized how idiotic I'd been. I flinched to look in front, whilst hastily plucking out my feet from my shoes.

A tall black figure loomed onto my new shield grabbing it tightly, staring at me pop-eyed, yet carefully observant. This was when I could truly feel danger!

*POP*

One of my shoes fell down as the other one barely let go. The marbles still latched onto it... like leeches. I felt the seconds counting down. Those things were obviously tiny time bombs!

Finally, gravity began pulling us down. The dark man jumped up and I wielded my mana manipulation skills in order to ease my landing. He landed on the ground without a scratch, despite the cracks upon the earth, below his bare feet.

I twisted in air, in a full 180 and somehow managed to take off my other shoe, as the shield broke apart and I fell on the ground. I barely landed with safety. Mysteriously enough, the shield was gone...

I couldn't imagine how or why. All I understood was that it was all done by that tower of a figure. Otherwise, even in a thousand attacks, my shield wouldn't have been broken...!

Here I stood, open in front of the enemy, dazed and confused. Yet, none of them so much as flinched. The dwarf seemed to be having a kill joy and the tower guy just stood where he landed doing nothing.

”So they don't think of me as a threat at all...” I figured, slightly disappointed.

Within a moment, the building began crumbling as soon as a loud burst occurred from behind. Yes, it was from where my second shoe had been thrown away.

I instantly formed a spell Dad had once taught me as a life saver. It was what he called a 'partial' shield, which blocked a certain portion of a user's body.

I made the spell to form as an umbrella and impressed him on camp. However, this special shield drained a lot of mana and hasn't been sturdy, nor perfected. The partial shield is my new invention devised and helped by dad.

In this world, most of the population consists of stick-in-the-mud type of people. Not many are that inventive or creative. So I guess, to me, who came from Earth, this type of thinking may be 'typical' and the partial shield is not a big deal. But it's something considered really amazing here.

Luckily, I was protected and the dust and smoke from all this crumbling gave me a chance to escape. My breathing needed to be toned down and it was difficult to abstain from coughing while stealthily sneaking away.

In every sense of the way I felt stupid. An utter imbecile for not bringing my invisible cloak mom gifted to me! Then I could sneak into the enemy territory, undetected, just like in movies of Harry Potter!

Idiot, idiot, idiot!

...

Those people eyed suspiciously at the debris left behind. They nodded to each other and two of them brought along shovels from somewhere.

”Oh no,” my mind went blank.

”Master told to search the debris and find the body!” I heard someone shout.

”What? Why?” the dwarf man frowned lazily.

”Check... the... check... debris...” the tower guy frankly stated.

”I'm gonna load in some extra cash then!” the dwarf man grumbled out loud, ”This guy here,” he pointed at himself, ”ain't for free labour...!”

”Whatever.” the fox man rolled his eyes.

”Work you hooligans!” the boss guy bellowed.

Anxiety filled me. ”What should I do now?”

”That's it!” I finally formed an average plan in my head.

I snuck behind the victims while those Darklings were busy and whispered to George, ”Here, I'll loosen your grips so...”

George nooded and understood before I finished.

Since Dad and George were bigger than me, hiding behind them was easy. The other two girls looked at me in surprise.

Out of the blue, a red lightning barely flew by me, grazing my left arm. I didn't scream, but the pain was agonizing. Unintentionally, I had bitten my lower lip as blood trickled down.

”She's there.” the fox like man with slanted eyes pointed at us.

”How...!?” I hid behind the tree, pretending that I couldn't help the victims yet.

”Yes Master,” I heard the purple haired woman's voice answered somebody, ”She's behind the tree!” She shouted to her fellow comrades.

”Spread out!” She commanded suddenly.

”...”

Nobody complained anymore and within a second they cleared out...?

”What's going on? They clearly know I'm behind this tree, so why are they just getting out of the way in a parallel like that... it's almost as if... as if...” that's when it came to me, for so long, they had an 'operator' from elsewhere informing and guiding them.

”But where?!!” I panicked.

I flinched my head in all directions and started to matchmake all those gaps. The holes and bugs from earlier. The wheels in my brain began functioning, but a single icicle came dashing towards me.

Instinct kicked in, once again, and I was saved. I flipped myself and avoided the icicle of death. The pain of the left arm increased.

”Wait.” I gasped with fright, ”that means that he's right in front of me! Covering himself within the faraway fog!! I'm a sitting duck!”

Waves of ice, as if the ground was an ocean, broke out in front of me all of a sudden and before I could even react, a flash of light blinded my eyes...! I closed my eyes tightly and held my arms over my face.

”...?”

”Are you alright?” a familiar voice asked.

I opened my eyes in bewilderment. My mouth moved with no words and no sound. I felt my eyes widen and my comprehension level degrading.

”What's going on!?!” I couldn't say. This thought only flicked in my head and then just vanished.

Right in front of me... a little further up the mountain... an unexpected figure stood...

I couldn't believe my eyes. My hands clutched onto my chest. My entire being dropped down on its knees. A painful... silent... reunion?

Beads of sweat flushed down. Time had stopped and my ears went numb. No matter how much whomever spoke, all their voices had gone mute, deaf in my ears. My eyes dropped and I felt myself tremble all over.

”This isn't real.” My mind repeated over and over again.

”I'm sorry.” finally Charles's voice broke into my consciousness, ”I should've stopped you... I'm sorry.”

”Its not TRUE!!!” I yelled out at the top of my lungs, slamming my fists onto the dirt ground.

”Its is...” Dad's voice spoke from behind me as tears welled up in my eyes.

”Its a mistake... surely!” I exclaimed with confusion, still shouting loudly.

”So much for being a Master, can't even protect himself right!” the boss guy remarked sarcastically.

The floodgates were released and tears spiralled down my face, greeting me with sadness and misery.

”Why,” I stared at the mastermind who was on top of the mountain, vividly visible with the naked eyes now, ”Why, why, why, why, WHY!!!”

My anger burst uncontrollably and the earth below us shook violently for a few seconds. Everything else mattered not! Not anymore!!

”Why did you do this!” I screamed at the man who had casually dropped himself from the mountain, light on his feet, staring at me without a word.

”WHY!! FRED!!!”

Finally, he stopped. Right in front of us, about thirty yards away, expressionless and cold, my brother stood.

”Its just a sick joke, right?!!” I hung onto that thin thread of hope, as my lips curled onto a smile. I was already half broken in betrayal, ”You can't be real! Tell me!! TELL ME NOW!”

”...”

Nothing. Nobody spoke a word now. Not even Fred, himself. There wasn't an answer.

Eventually, like all walls, even this one broke.

”Fred,” Charles's voice echoed into my ears like thorns, ”I wouldn't have suspected you unless you hadn't sent this letter addressed to me.”

”That letter,” for a moment, a tiny whisper came out from me.

”Should I be happy? Should I be petrified? I don't know what to feel anymore...” tears welled up my eyes and blurred my sight.

My shaky legs quivered as I stood up. I rubbed my eyes continuously to clear my vision.

”This letter, by George's name,” Charles held something white with his right hand for everyone to see, ”Let me spill the beans for you.”

Charles smirked.

”You first stated to me, as 'Friend', which is frankly odd. Besides that, you simply wrote off George's name like he was somehow unrelated to my affairs. But, you see, George wouldn't do something that could very well establish his own identity... that's just Lame.”

Charles continued when Fred didn't answer.

”Y'see, I was the one who decided the code names when dear father-in-law and ol' George here, went to search for Y.O.U!”