Chapter 32: The flow of time. (2)

"A maid?"

Alice raised her head from the book her nose was buried in, her head tilting curiously. She was happy that Gabriel had come back earlier than usual on his day off, but slight caught off-guard by the topic he brought up.

"Correct. I was wandering through the town when I found someone who could become a new maid for you. She has three brothers she has to raise so she is desperate for a job, I have already given her an offer, you simply need to meet her and decide for yourself."

Gabriel had returned straight away after meeting with Teresa. He would have liked it if he could bring her straight here, but it wasn’t as if he could just bring four strangers into the duke’s estate so he would have to bring Alice out to meet her instead.

"Okay! I don’t think I need anyone other than you, but if you recommend them then I’ll trust them."

Alice snapped the book shut, when it came to reading about the duchy’s history or taking an outing with Gabriel, it wasn’t hard for her to choose which one she preferred. Thus, she quickly packed away the books, and after Gabriel helped her change into something more fitting for venturing into the city, they headed out.

"This is a ‘stall’ isn’t it? One of those street vendors that sell cheap food?"

"Oh, I read about places like this! This is a ‘bar’ right? They sell alcohol, and for the right price, some of the waitresses will accompany you for the night, right?"

"I read about this clothing store. They’ve been in business for almost 200 years and have even provided dresses for the Imperial Family. I’d like to buy us clothes here one day if we get the chance."

"That street, Gabriel! One of the books I read said that streets that look like that always house the so-called Red Light District for prostitutes, is that true?"

"That! That right there, Gabriel! I want to buy and taste that!"

Alice was like a kid on a school-trip as they strode through the city, stopping or pointing at everything she found interesting. She’d rarely ever gotten the chance to leave the estate so this could very well be the first time she got to visit the city and just walk around as she pleased.

Some of the things she spoke of made him question just what the Earhart Empire was putting in their history books, but she clammed up when he questioned her.

"You said I can’t lie to friends, so I’m going to be quiet instead!"

He couldn’t well protest against that statement, seeing as he was the one to use it against her first. As such, he could only keep listening to her until the entered the slums and reached Teresa’s house.

"It’s me."

He knocked on the door, a few muffled sounds coming from beyond shortly after.

"Just enter, my hands are full."

Teresa’s voice came from inside so Gabriel pushed open the door and led Alice in. Teresa was currently sat on the ground with her back facing them, two of her younger brothers sitting obediently in front of her. Gabriel could just barely see that she was struggling with her last brother, a kid barely more than an infant. She was wrapping his leg in some of the bandages but he was kicking fiercely to stop her.

"Do you… Need some help?"

Alice seemed unable to stop herself from asking when she saw Teresa wriggle about as she struggled. The girl trying to patch up her brother stiffened when Alice spoke up, Gabriel could practically see the gears in her head turning before she spun around and hurriedly lowered her head.

"My Lady! Forgive me, I… I didn’t know that you had also arrived."

Her head was lowered, both arms trying to calm down the struggling infant. She knew her position well. Gabriel had brought food and medicine that she could use, but it was only because he wanted her to be the maid of this lady. If she failed to acquire that position then this one time gift would remain that and her brothers’ situation would return to what it usually was.

"Should we not… bandage him before we talk?"

Gabriel could hear Alice swallow down the stutter that almost spilled out. She’d been like this when he first accepted being her knight as well, it seemed like she was just weak to people giving her any semblance of respect or goodwill.

"I don’t know how to bandage, but I can hold him while you do it, that should make it easier."

She sat down on the wooden floor in front of Teresa as she spoke, placing her hands carefully on the small child so that it couldn’t kick as wildly as before. Teresa lit up at the aid, but she still cast a somewhat uncertain sideways glance at both Alice and Gabriel. But then again, she wasn’t in a position where she could push aside an outstretched hand, no matter the intentions.

"Then… Please. He hurt his knees when he tried to crawl across the floor so I need to bandage them so that he doesn’t aggravate them later on."

She quickly picked up the bandages she discarded as she spun around and got to work again, rolling up cut open potato sack the infant used as clothing. His knees really were scraped up, a few splinters still stuck in the shredded skin. She got to work plucking out the splinters while Alice held the child’s legs, her eyes sweeping across the rough wooden floor.

"Gabriel said that you were willing to become my maid?"

Her eyes continued to sweep about as she spoke. The pile of cloth, the lack of any kitchen or toilet, the bed that was basically just a bundle of dried grass. Alice now considered her prior life poor, but at least she always had a bed to sleep on.

"If you will have me."

Teresa didn’t reject or refuse, but she also didn’t raise her head, completely focused on the crying little child that was trying to wriggle out of their grasps. Gabriel had already stepped past the two of them and was distracting Teresa’s two other brothers so that they didn’t poke their heads into the mess. Luckily, Nergal was so small that kids like them would easily be distracted by him.

"I have to tell you, but I don’t have a good position in my house, I’m basically being ignored. Gabriel… Is the only one who takes care of me. I can’t give you much even if you come."

Alice didn’t want to hide it. She may have gotten a title promised for the future, but her current situation in the duke’s estate wasn’t much better. In essence, she was treated as if she wasn’t there, neither good nor bad.

"Anything is better than nothing."

Teresa almost scoffed. Right now she had to fight just to get some scraps for her brothers, and even that was only barely enough because of how small they were. Once they grew a little, once the hunger started getting to her… She didn’t want to think about what she would have to do to feed them at that time. So, even if Gabriel’s offer was more than just suspicious, even if she would have to serve the blackest sheep in the world, she would accept the outstretched hand.

"Then… Gabriel, we’ll need to prepare more rooms for the four of them."

Alice made up her mind. Teresa was suffering. Alice had suffered. Gabriel had suffered. But Alice reached out to Gabriel and Gabriel reached out to Alice, and together she felt like they could make up for the hurt. Now… Now she would perhaps be able to reach out to someone else and do the same.

"As you wish, my Lady."

Gabriel’s response came from behind Teresa, he was still playing with her brothers and Nergal. Alice wasn’t sure, and perhaps Gabriel himself didn’t notice, but she could swear that his voice sounded as if his lips were a bit turned up.

————

Gabriel strode through the streets of the city, a slight buzz hanging over every street. He could see people working in most open spots, either preparing paper lanterns or colourful bands that they could stretch between the buildings, everyone was rushing to finish things for tomorrow. Gabriel’s brows furrowed slightly as he looked at the scene.

Two years had passed since he picked up Teresa and had Alice employ her, this meant that it was almost time for the Crown Princess’ magic affinity to get tested, a mere four days to be exact. In the original story, her Spirit Awakening Ceremony was supposed to take place at the same time, but this was naturally advanced due to Gabriel’s influence.

The thing that made his brows furrow wasn’t the affinities that the Crown Princess would show when her magic was tested, it was the fact that the Imperial Family sent out a decree to prepare for a festival. There would be one festival, lasting three days, before the affinity test to pray for good luck, and one after it, lasting one week, to thank the gods for the result.

In the original show, such a festival was never mentioned, at least the first one. It was mentioned that the results of her spirit awakening ceremony and magic affinity test were so good that the empire held a week-long festival, but there had never been a festival to pray for good luck. Was it just not mentioned, or were things changing?

"There’s also Altare…"

Personally, Gabriel was leaning towards the latter. Alice said that the Crown Princess never told her who made the candles she brought as a gift, but there was no way Gabriel wouldn’t know. Originally, he just thought that Altare may have been in touch with the Imperial Family from the start, but since another thing might have changed he honestly couldn’t be certain anymore. He had to consider the possibility that someone other than him was changing the story. And since they could find Altare, who he had no clue about, he also had to assume that said person would have a better reach than him.

It was a tricky situation. If there really was such a person, then he had no idea what their goal was, so he had to be careful. What if their plan was to harm Alice, who would become a major villain? What if their plan was to harm the main characters so that they could take all the glory instead? What if it was one of the main characters?

There were a lot of things he had to consider. If said person was the Crown Princess, why did she give Alice the candles but not tell her about her affinities and how to use her fused magic? If it was someone who wanted to harm Alice, why hadn’t they acted yet? Now would be the best time to nip it in the bud. If it was someone in the Imperial Family, why hadn’t they contacted the eastern family and requested that they hand over the male lead, who at this time should already be adopted by them? There were a thousand things to consider, he had so much to think about that he could stay awake every night and never find an answer.

"Karas Veras Takt."

His fingers danced across the darkness shrouding the alley’s wall, a wolf-like mask forming in his grasp. The answer to all his thoughts lay in that final revelation. He could stay awake every night and never find and answer. He had many guesses, some he was more certain of than others, but none he was completely sure of. He needed more information before he made the final judgment, and especially before he decided on how to treat the possible other person. And until he got that information, he just had to keep doing what he was already doing.

"So, what sort of big fish can we fry for you on this day?"

The voice that came from behind the gorilla-like mask sounded rather gleeful. The simple table that separated the two couches was still the same as always, but now there were some refreshments and smaller snacks placed on it. Gabriel never touched them when he came, but they always put them out whenever he showed up. He was a high-paying customer so the Night Pack was more than just interested in accommodating him. As for what he did with the information and items they provided… they made it a point to never ask.

"Kasar Davuel. I want his location."

Gabriel recited a spell after he spoke and pulled a pouch out from the darkness, a loud clattering echoing through the room as he dropped it on the table. Leonardo had died and left behind all his assets, so to make things look a bit better from the outside the Vritara family handed over a small portion of them for Alice to manage. As a result, her monetary situation was no longer as shabby as it was two years ago. The gorilla-masked man’s eyes landed on the heavy pouch, his entire body leaning forward slightly.

"Normally, I’d jut give you his address right about now. But I take it you’re not looking for his public location."

He pulled the pouch into his embrace and untied its string, the glittering gold coins inside reflected in his eyes. Kasar Davuel wasn’t a nobody, he was a noble living in this city. Well, technically a noble at least. He received a Baron title for the success of his merchant company, but it wasn’t a hereditary one so even other barons looked down at him at times.

"…"

Gabriel didn’t give the gorilla-masked man an answer, it was a pointless question he posed just to see if he could drag out the tiniest bit of information from Gabriel. But as always, he got nothing, so he simply leaned back in the couch.

"There’s a house on Silbecker street, warehouse number 23 to be exact. He goes there just about daily now, spends about five or so hours there every day with the excuse that he’s got some important shipments he needs to count. If my counting isn’t off then he’ll be there in about three hours. As for exactly what he’s doing there, our informant didn’t know. Good enough?"

The Night Pack wasn’t omniscient, prying into the lives of nobles was especially troublesome. More often than not they could only bribe some of their servants to get some information, there was a reason they had yet to become the largest information agency in the empire. But for now, it was enough.

"Good enough. Dig up anything you can find on the Crown Princess and what has been going on in the Imperial Family in the last few years. The more you learn the more I’ll pay you."

Gabriel didn’t waste time after receiving the information he was looking for, nor did he waste time on pointless pleasantries. It was one of the reasons the Night Pack was so fond of this customer.

"Of course, but we promise nothing."

The Imperial Family was a whole new beast compared to just the nobles, trying to dig up anything on them would be beyond hard. But that was also fine, Gabriel wasn’t expecting much. Besides, anything was better than nothing.

"Silbecker…Silbecker…Silbecker…"

Gabriel muttered the name as he strode through the city. Back when he first started doing this he would first have to waste time evading the men sent by the Night Pack, but after he dealt with them for about a year they finally stopped trying to spy on him like that. Thanks to that, he could focus on the task at hand and quickly locate Silbecker street.

As was implied from the fact that it housed a warehouse numbered in the twenties, Silbecker street was a lane designed to house nothing but storage units. Square or dome-shaped buildings lined both sides of the street, simple numbers engraved in large font on the front to mark them. Some of the warehouses were also engraved with a family’s insignia to mark them further, but the one numbered 23 was as plain as they came.

He circled around the building until he found a part of the wall that was a bit away from the guarded entrance. If it was here then they shouldn’t be able to hear him.

"Waraya Hatau Kut." (Strength Magnify Arms)

His fingers traced the spell formation and the mana flowed into his arms, his fist smashing forward and tearing through the wooden planks. He unclenched his fist and pulled it back, tearing away some of the planks in the process. He tore at the wood until he made a hole large enough for him to squeeze through, entering the warehouse.

As would be expected, there were boxes everywhere, in some places they were stacked almost ten metres tall. He moved a few boxes to cover up the hole he made, or rather, the light shone through it. The entrance was to his right so he turned into the other direction and made his way through the maze of boxes until he found what he was looking for, the backroom.

He pushed it open, and as expected, it was empty. A table and some chairs were placed in the middle, a few cabinets lining the wall. Each drawer was meticulously marked with dates and times, each one holding logs of the shipments that came through here. But he wasn’t here for these logs, his foot tapping the floor as he walked across the entire room several times.

"Is it here?"

He stopped when he heard a slightly off sound from his tapping, looking down at the floor, which looked completely normal. He crouched down and traced the floorboards, his fingertips eventually finding small unnatural indents.

He pushed them in and used them as grips, pulling up the loose floorboards with his fingers to reveal the ladder that went straight down.

"Bingo."

He climbed partly down the ladder and dragged the floorboards back into place before he descended all the way down. A stone hallway stretched out in front of him, dim lamps leading the way to a wooden door. He placed his hand on the handle of the sword that hung at his side, his other hand already starting to trace a spell.

"Alright then."

He strode forward until he reached the door, a few hushed sounds already reaching him from the other side. They quickly quieted down as he pushed down the handle and opened the door, several pairs of eyes landing on him.

"Good afternoon gentlemen."

He spoke politely to the men already in the room, the corners of his lips naturally curving up. A wooden table with some papers and a few candle, several chairs, a cabinet, and seven men lounging around. They were already looking at him by the time he opened the door, and as he greeted them they all sprung into action.

Five of them drew crossbows while the last two grabbed the papers on the table and hurriedly brought them towards the candles. But Gabriel was already prepared.

"Karas Lagu Haral." (Darkness Bind Them.)

The shadows that stretched through the room elongated at his command, stretching out from the corners of the room like tentacles as they wrapped around the men. Some were pulled back and held against the wall as the tendrils slithered across them while others fell to the floor, the tentacles coiling around their every limb so that they couldn’t move.

"You should have burned the papers the moment someone touched the handle outside of the planned meeting time."

Gabriel unsheathed his sword as he spoke and moved forward, stopping in front of one of the two men that had tried to burn the papers. He stabbed the tip of the blade into the wrist of one of them, nailing his arm to the table so that his grip would loosen. He snatched up the papers and repeated the process on the other bound man, gathering all the papers into a neat stack before he skimmed them.

"Really, if you’re gonna plan something like this at least do it in a better spot. This is just too shabby."

He couldn’t help but scoff as he looked at the papers. They were planning to assassinate the Vritara duke, or at least Marion if they failed to get to the duke. He wanted to laugh as he read the plans and saw the location. When he last assassinated a duke he certainly didn’t… When he last… When he last… He lost the thought and his mind felt blank for a moment.

"Gwahh!"

A scream from one of the bound men dragged him back to reality, his previous thought completely gone from his mind as he turned his head.

"Ey! No! Spit him out!"

He quickly hopped away from the table and kicked Nergal, who had at some point come out and was now in the process of swallowing one of the bound men. It was still extremely small so it just looked comical, a squid-like creature with a maw filled with circular rows of teeth opening its mouth wider than its entire body as it worked on pushing a grown man down its throat. It was using its tentacles to force him down, his legs up to his knees already within Nergal’s mouth.

Nergal’s entire body jiggled when Gabriel kicked him, but he couldn’t feel the presence of the man’s legs even though he should technically have hit them in that kick. Nergal’s eyes moved across its body so that they could look straight at Gabriel, turning as round as saucers as it tried to give him the puppy eyes.

"No, spit him out. It’s supposed to look as if they turned on each other, how is it supposed to look like that if you just eat them all!?"

He crouched down and hit Nergal on the head. Yes, he did come here to kill these people, but he had a use for their bodies so he couldn’t just let Nergal eat them as he pleased. The little creature continued to give him the puppy eyes, but seeing the unrelenting gaze that greeted him he could only spit out the man. But even so, Gabriel had to rub his forehead.

"Oh for god’s… The legs as well, Nergal."

Nergal had indeed spat out the man, but the parts below his knees, or rather up to halfway up his thighs at this point, did not join the rest of the body out. He was bleeding heavily as a result and probably wouldn’t even life for another minute. Nergal’s eyes became downwards facing crescents and he spat out the rest of the man, but looking at what came out Gabriel could only sigh.

"I swear to… If they’re gonna be like this then you may as well just eat him. Fuck man… Just don’t touch the rest of them."

The legs that were spat out were completely shredded, torn to bits. It was as if Nergal’s circular jaws worked like saws. There was no way Gabriel could disguise this as sword wounds so he may as well just get rid of the body entirely.

Nergal let out a happy buzz, but since it sounded like a swarm of flies around rotting meat it was probably only Gabriel who could see it as happy buzzing. He raised his sword and pierced through the man’s chest before Nergal got to work, closing the door so that the baron who would be showing up later wouldn’t see things before it was too late.

"Right then, gentlemen. Please put on some adequate expressions, I would prefer it if my Lady wasn’t too shocked when she finds you."

Gabriel brandished his sword as he spoke, Nergal already chowing down on the meal he was given. Gabriel didn’t notice it because it was rather minor, but he could breathe a bit more easily after Nergal finished indulging in his snack.

————

"Is it already the last day?"

Alice sat up from the bed with a groggy expression, turning her gaze to the window. She could just barely see glimpses of the city in the distance, a myriad of fresh colours decorating it.

A festival to pray for good luck in the Crown Princess’ magic affinity test was taking place across the empire. Alice had missed the first and second day because of studying, but the third and last day she had some time off.

"Correct, the test itself will take place in the evening to mark the end. Afterwards, the festival will continue for another week."

Teresa stood in the room, pouring a cup of tea for Alice to help her wake up. She sipped the warm drink and savoured it in a relaxed manner, clapping her cheeks a few times after she finished the cup.

"Alrighty, up we go. Gabriel, what dress do you want me to wear?"

She hopped out of bed after she properly woke up and turned to Gabriel, who was also in the room. She held her arms out towards him so that he could remove her nightgown. Teresa was technically her maid, but Alice always forced Gabriel to help her change.

"I went with the red one, the one decorated with black lace roses."

Occasionally, Alice forced him to choose what she would wear, that was especially the case on days where they would venture into the city. He had no clue about fashion and the like so he just picked things he liked, and the dress he went with for today was a slightly darker red one with black lace roses beneath her bosom and black lace along the hem of the skirt, which went to her knees. It covered her shoulders and front, some of the lace crawling up her throat to finish the dress. She was after all not even 10 yet so it had to be quite modest.

"Red and black… Red and black… Got it!"

Alice muttered to herself for a bit before stretching out her arms again, gesturing for Gabriel to help her put on the dress now that he helped her undress. As had become habit, he did as she asked and helped her into the dress, offering his hand with a slight curve of his lips.

"Well then, my Lady. Shall we go and explore the festival?"