(Elle, what’s wrong? Are you all right?) Julius’s voice echoes in my numb head.
I tear my eyes away from Saint Aela’s party and glance up at his face. He’s looking at me with concern.
(Julius…)
I wonder what he thought when he saw Aela. She’s someone he was fond of in the manga world. I clearly remember the scene where he betrayed his country to join her.
What is this feeling? My heart aches…and is restlessly thumping.
(Something must be wrong. What is it?) he asks again, firmer in his tone.
I shake my head. (Nothing’s wrong. Just in shock over the sudden turn in events! So she’s the saint, huh?) I respond, trying my hardest to maintain a modicum of calm.
I think he can see through my feigned bravado. A suspicious frown weighs down his brow.
(Elle, please tell me if something is worrying you.)
(I’m not worried about anything in particular! Anyway, what do you think Saint Aela and co. are going to do next?) I redirect the conversation and my gaze to Saint Aela.
Julius is completely displeased with me for changing the topic, but he goes along with it.
(Let’s wait and see. I will keep us invisible to them in the meantime. Don’t do anything to break the spell. Speaking to or touching a person will make the magic’s effects wear off on them.)
(I know. I won’t,) I promise as I watch Saint Aela’s group.
Golem tied up the rat-faced messenger and knocked-out guards and carted them off somewhere. He should’ve tossed them out on their fried butts after I roasted them, toasted them, ghosted them, then posted them!
My eyes suddenly lock with Aela’s while I’m silently raging…or at least it seemed that way to me. But how could that happen? I shouldn’t be visible to her under Julius’s spell.
(Impossible… How? It can’t be.)
Julius’s panicked voice races through my head at the same time Aela clearly looks at us and smiles.
“We have someone else with us here, yes? Who might you be?” Aela inquires in her delicate voice like silver bells.
What? N-No way! S-She knows we’re here?!
I instinctively look to Julius; he’s assessing Aela with a rare flustered look. And we aren’t the only ones in a panic. Laurent, knowing we shouldn’t be visible to them, glares at Aela.
“Wh-What kind of nonsense question is that? Th-There’s nothing but empty space there,” he insists.
But Guido, discounting Laurent’s insistence, scowls in the same direction Aela is looking—in other words, at us.
“You see something, Aela?” he asks, rushing forward and thrusting his sword at us.
I nearly let out a small “Watch where you point that thing!”
Guido probably just swung his sword at random, but the tip came uncomfortably close to my face.
I take an instinctive step back, and Julius pulls me protectively behind him.
Don’t go swinging around long, magical swords without warning, boy! You’ve been doing whatever the hell you please knocking around bad guys left and right, but this is indoors! You’re inside a mansion belonging to Elle Village, not the battlegrounds!
I direct my mounting displeasure into a glare at Guido and catch sight of Laurent a few feet behind him. His whole face has turned blue upon seeing the sword tip thrust at my face.
Uh-oh. This is a bad sign. Laurent is seething with unspeakable rage.
“…Stop it! Don’t point that at her! Wind Gate, release!” Laurent chants a spell with trembling lips. His spell successfully summons forth a gust of wind that blasts Guido away.
Laurent is the impulsive type. I’m pretty sure he would’ve gotten just as angry if Guido pointed his sword at any of the villagers, too. I understand how he feels. I’d want to roast, toast, ghost, and post whoever dared to swing a sword at any of our villagers.
Laurent’s magic wind slams Guido against the wall, but he immediately resumes a battle stance with his sword at the ready. He probably didn’t take much damage because he’s wearing Gaea’s royal armor. That set has been enchanted with various magic stats. At least, if it runs by the same logic that I remember from the manga.
Guido sucks magic into his sword while I’m relying on my past life’s knowledge to assess the situation.
“Why did you suddenly attack me? Were you actually a kidnapping mastermind after all?! Aela, get away from that boy!” Guido orders, staring Laurent down.
“You’re wrong, Your Highness.” Aela shakes her head. “Please calm down! You too, Laurent. I’m sorry. I brought this on us with my poor choice of words… They aren’t bad people. I can tell!” she entreats, trying to persuade Guido to lower his sword. Then she directs the compassionate gaze of a saint toward me and Julius.
A heavy sigh beside me breaks the trance her smile has put me in.
“I never expected to meet someone who could see through my magic…,” Julius mutters in defeat, and the magic aura covering us changes. He’s removed the spell making us invisible.
Once we’re visible, Aela’s fairy gapes at us.
“Whaaaa?! Hey, aren’t they Analia’s…!” she shrieks in a high-pitched voice.
Prince Guido studies us with piercing scrutiny. “Analians?! Wait, I recognize the man… You can’t possibly be Julius Eldorad Griffith of the Demon Lord’s Four Grand Magi, can you?!” he accuses, unnerved.
Julius, said to be the most powerful Grand Magi in his time, is apparently just as famous among Gaeans. Even Aela, who couldn’t have known we were the generals of the country she’s at war with, lets the surprise show on her face.
“…I’m no longer a Grand Magi,” Julius gruffly retorts.
Laurent walks over to him and bows his head. “I’m sorry, Master. I snapped when he pointed a sword at Lady Elle…”
“I understand. I would’ve done it if you hadn’t,” Julius says, comforting him in an unusually master-like tone, then shifts his intimidating gaze to Aela. “Our identities matter not. Woman, how did you know we were hiding here?”
Aela seems a little unsure of how to proceed after learning she’s dealing with one of the enemy’s Grand Magi, but she nods once after closely studying Julius.