Chapter 20
Chapter 20: When Leila Woke Up, There Was -
Apparently, I have a fever . I wasn’t on top of the Rug Dragon the next time I opened my eyes but in a dark tent . I was really thirsty .
“Wwather . ”
I feel like I’ve been saying nothing but water lately . I felt someone get up next to me at the sound of my voice .
“Chibi, you’re up?”
This boy is,
“Awishthair . ”
“That’s right, you remembered . How’s your fever?” He replied and put his forehead to mine . The boy was a little warmer .
“Mm, looks like your fever’s gone,” he laughed in relief . Then, he opened the flask, held me up and fed me water .
“Your fever wouldn’t go down for two days, so we had to camp by the river . It seemed like you were stuck in a nightmare . ”
Was I? I couldn’t remember anything during my fever .
“You kept saying, Hannah, Niini and Otousyan . Your family cared about you a lot . ”
That’s right, Hannah’s not here anymore . And I may not be able to see brother and father straight away . At that time, the entrance of the tent opened, and the person named Bart peeked inside .
“How’s the chibisuke?” He instinctively shut his mouth . What happened? Then, Alistair awkwardly, but firmly held me .
“You don’t seem to realise this, but you’re crying,” Alistair whispered . Are his clothes wet with my tears?
“You can cry out loud . You don’t have to hold back . ”
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I was neglected straight after I was born, but after that, I was really happy . Are brother and father mourning my loss? Is father still hugging brother even though I’m not there anymore?
I didn’t cry like I did when Hannah passed away . However, the back of my chest felt so painful that it was difficult to breathe . My tears continued to soak Alistair’s clothes .
“Uo, uooah . ”
I had just woken up, but I was tired from crying, so I leaned against Alistair’s chest .
“Do you think you can eat?”
I shook my head . I have no appetite . I only did my best to eat while riding the dragons . Bart, who had been peeking in, disappeared before long .
“I don’t have much of an appetite right now either, but you won’t have any strength if you don’t eat,” Alistair said . I looked at his face and saw that he was pale . Was it because he was nursing me? No, it’s not . Alistair is like brother and Gill . It must be because his magic power is overlapping on top of him as if they are one .
And it was fading now .
“Mawgic . Nyai”
Alistair was startled .
“Chibi, do you know about it?”
“Withthwe . ”
“I have to . One of the reasons why they take me out on hunts even though I’m so small is because of the barrier . ”
“Bawwier . ”
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I was shocked . Isn’t the barrier something the fathers maintain? No, wait . A barrier used for hunting .
“Shmaww bawwier . ”
“That’s right, Chibi . If we can make barriers big enough to sleep in, then our hunt will be safer and more efficient . But, most of the tools used for personal barriers are really old, so it eats up a lot of magic . So I need to diligently supply it with magic . But, I don’t normally use this much magic power . ”
Alistair looked a little troubled .
“You don’t understand me even if I say this . ”
I do . Alistair filled the tool with magic power at fixed intervals to create a small barrier . But, they had to make camp because I had caught a fever, so he had to use more magic than usual .
“Eath . ”
Then, it was better to force him to recover his stamina . At this time, the man who had called me greedy showed up .
“I brought dinner . ”
“Thanks, Mill . ”
Alistair received two portions of something that looked like hot soup, along with bread and cheese .
“You like cheese, right?”
“Cheeshe”
I like it . Did you remember this?
“I don’t know if you can understand me, but sorry for saying something nasty . You’re going through something hard and were calling for your dad this whole time, but I didn’t realise this,” he said as he looked down . Then he quickly left after he’d handed over all the food .
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“Mill says whatever comes to mind, but he’s a good guy . ”
Honestly, I feel like I can forgive him since he gave me food . Alistair helped me eat the soup with a spoon while ripping the bread into small pieces . We ate together, and our food disappeared in no time .
“We ate more than I thought we would . ”
“Ai . ”
I felt a bit better after eating .
“Hey, you ready?”
“Bart, yeah, it’s fine . ”
“Sorry about this . It’s already night, and we have to camp again tonight . ”
“Oh, the barrier? Sure, I’ll come out,” Alistair lightly accepted and got out of the tent .
“Awishthair . Lei too . ”
Alistair’s stare seemed to say ‘you’ve just recovered from your fever’, but he didn’t want me to stay inside forever . He held me and took me outside .
“Sup . ”
“How’s the Chibi?”
“She alright now?”
The men called out to us as soon as we stepped outside . I was confused, and Alistair said, “Everyone was worried about you . ” I thought I was a nuisance . I thought they took me with them because they had no choice . Well, it was probably true . Even so, they cherished small kids . There were kind people here too . I stopped sulking and felt like my heart was opening up to them .
“Thhanwsh,” I couldn’t help but say, and laughed .
“Ugh . ”
“Woah . ”
“You- . ”
Everyone worried about me because I let out a weird voice .
“You’re all hopeless,” Alistair scoffed .
“What’s with you guys? Whatever . Alistair, I’ll leave it to you . ”
“Ok . ”
Alistair nodded at Bart . Bart held a small box the same size as a music box in both hands . Alistair received the magic stone and sat cross-legged on the ground . That was probably the tool they used to create the barrier .
I looked at Alistair’s hands .
“Big . ”
“Oi, Chibi . You’ve seen a magic stone before? You were definitely raised in Kingdom,” Mill said casually .
“Idiot, magic stones are precious in Kingdom, there’s no way they’ll let a kid touch it,” someone got angry . But it was five times bigger than the magic stone used for light that I’ve seen and was big enough to fit in a young boy’s hands . It was clear like a crystal . It should have been violet, but the colour was almost gone .
Dangerous . A warning bell sounded in my mind . What did father say to brother? Remember it . I recalled father’s voice .