89 – Handmaid and Bocchan (3)

Lately, Alphonse’s mood has been like a cloudy sky.

It’s not raining, but it doesn’t feel refreshing either.

From that day on, Haley swings her sword at the gym every dawn.

As a result, Alphonse, who was naturally deprived of his seat, was unable to train at dawn, and the routine that he repeated every day was broken.

Because of this, I wondered if my condition had come to hunting, but I didn’t know if it was not, and even if I moved my body as much as I couldn’t do at dawn and made a new routine, I didn’t know that this awkwardness would go away.

This feeling continued until the swordsmanship training session with Damian in the afternoon.

It was Alphonse who would forget everything at this time if it was tolerable, but now it was the exact opposite. This is because the place where the swordsmanship training takes place was the gymnasium in question that causes this unknown feeling.

Is it because the place is the same?

Haley herself was not here, but Alphonse’s head continued to paint her. If you think about it, it started when I saw that sword dance. After seeing her dancing alone under the moonlight that morning, this unknown emotion began to disturb Alphonse’s head.

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My head is so dizzy, how can I move my body properly?

just as expected. Damian, who was watching Alphonse’s training, was also aware of Alphonse’s abnormality. I don’t know if it’s a day, but since it’s over three days, I can’t help but worry about what’s wrong.

In the end, Damian had no choice but to open up to Alphonse about it.

“Alphonse? Is something wrong?”

“Yes? What are you talking about? Brother. Ah, nothing happened?!”

“…Really? No, it seems like I’m not able to concentrate as well as before.

“But..!!”

“You could get hurt if you wield a sword in a situation where you’re distracted like you are now. I understand the desire to move your body more to erase your thoughts, but that’s only possible if you have a minimum amount of concentration left.”

As a teacher, it was easy to tell whether the student in front of me was concentrating or not, as if looking down from the sky.

It’s unfortunate for Alphonse, but as Damian said, he wasn’t ignorant of the fact that he wasn’t concentrating right now, so Alphonse quietly nodded his head without being able to refute Damian’s words that he would stop training.

“Then, would you like to put down your sword for a while and talk to your brother? You seem to be having some troubles. If you can help me, I will help you.”

Alphonse thought for a moment about Damian’s words, then shook his head.

I don’t know how to explain my bland feelings to others, and I’m not sure why.

Perhaps, in order to know about this, I would inevitably have to talk about what happened at dawn, but if that happened, Damian would find out that I was secretly training every morning, so there was no way I could tell him.

But besides that, for some reason, I didn’t want to tell anyone about what had happened at dawn. As for the reason, even Alphonse himself could not clearly define why, but Alphonse could clearly know that his heart was like that.

“Gwa, it’s okay. Brother. I’m going to meditate alone for a while!”

“Um, yes. Got it.”

Alphonse hurried to end the topic, but Damian said nothing more.

It seemed that he regretted not telling him about his troubles, but he didn’t understand that, so Damian left the gymnasium after messing with Alphonse’s hair several times with his hands.

After Damian left, Alphonse, who was left alone in the gymnasium, put down the sword in his hand for a moment and sat down on the dirt floor.

Alphonse closed his eyes and took a deep breath, as if he was meditating, as if what he said to Damian wasn’t empty, but he couldn’t concentrate even with meditation, so he opened his eyes shortly after.

When I close my eyes and try to concentrate, the sound of my heart beating exceptionally faster than usual knocks on my ears. No matter how many deep breaths you try to control it, it doesn’t work. The moment he became conscious of the sound of his heart, what he was seeing was no longer darkness, but the scene of the gymnasium at dawn that day.

Like an audience watching the stage, they are looking at her dancing with the moonlight as lighting.

So Alphonse could no longer meditate and had no choice but to open his eyes. It’s because it reminds me of what I do to forget the sight of that day.

“aaa!!!”

Damian’s messy hair is further messed up by Alphonse’s own hands.

Even with all the methods he knows, he cannot get the sight of that day out of his head. But what troubled Alphonse more than anything else was the fact that he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what feelings he was experiencing right now after that day.

He grew up hearing that Alphonse was more mature than his peers, but even so, he was still a child not even ten years old.

The amount of absolute experience is small, so there are many things that you don’t know. No matter how many books Alphonse read, he could not know the world through books alone.

There are many people around Alphonse who can provide answers to what Alphonse wants to know.

Just like Damian, there were a lot of people who had lived several years before him, such as Ken and Maria, so even if you grab hold of any of them and ask them, at least one person might give you a clear answer in this regard.

However, just as he rejected Damian’s words, Alphonse himself is reluctant to tell others about this issue, so he has no choice but to find the answer himself.

***

As usual, Alphonse got up at dawn and prepared to go outside.

Haley hadn’t wielded a sword in the gym since taking over the Dawn Gymnasium, but she always carried a wooden sword when she went out.

It would be impossible to do proper training like Damian said with the current mindset, but Alphonse’s carrying a wooden sword was in the same sense as wearing clothes when going out.

Unlike someone who had just woken up, Alphonse’s face was as if he had made up his mind.

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Most of the time I was lying in bed was used to prepare for the future, so the time I actually slept while lying down was not long. I spent more time thinking than sleeping, but I didn’t feel very tired.

Alphonse took out a small lighting stone from a drawer and held it in his hand.

Originally, the lighting stone, which emits light when mana is injected into it, was a tool used by Alphonse to practice converting mana into aura, but Alphonse decided to use it as a substitute for a lamp.

Of course, for Alphonse, who has become accustomed to the operation of the aura and can use it to brighten his eyesight at night, a lamp is no longer necessary for walking at night. The reason why I didn’t get caught even sneaking out at dawn was probably because I didn’t use the lamp.

However, what Alphonse wanted to do now was to talk to Hailey, not secretly practicing at the gym like before.

From the beginning, he had planned to turn on the light stone and approach Haley, in case she would be surprised if he suddenly appeared in the dark.

It was Alphonse’s decision to tell the truth that he had been watching her training at the gymnasium.

Come to think of it, there were already several opportunities to tell Haley about this, but each time Alphonse ran away from her without realizing it. Alphonse was only able to realize that fact this time while lying on the bed and thinking.

So, this time, face it without avoiding it.

Whatever it is, after talking to her, something will change.

“Whoa… let’s go.”

Alphonse let out a long breath, carefully opened the door, and stepped outside. After leaving the lord’s castle and confirming that there was a certain distance between them, they blew magic into the lighting stone to create light. Holding the light in his hand, Alphonse ran towards the gymnasium.

Once I made up my mind, my feet toward the gymnasium were very light.

Alphonse wasn’t sure which was the right answer, whether he was excited about having a conversation with Haley, or whether he felt that way because his mindset had changed.

As we approach the gymnasium, a small light placed in the center catches our eyes.

As soon as Alphonse saw this, he was certain that Haley had come to the gym again today. Alphonse, who had been avoiding her until the sun was up, but this time ran towards the light without any hesitation.

“uh?”

Contrary to Alphonse’s expectations, however, only a lighted lamp was left scattered around the gymnasium, and Hailey was nowhere to be seen.

Confused by this, Alphonse hurriedly looked around, but was it because he was too embarrassed? Without noticing that something suddenly appeared from behind and grabbed her, she had no choice but to surrender herself to the hand that was pulling her back.

“Wow!!”

“!!!!!”

A voice intent on startling pierced Alphonse’s eardrums.

From the moment he gently embraced him, Alphonse was certain that the person standing behind him was not an enemy.

When I looked up, I saw who the host of this surprise party was. Simple things if you think about it. Of course, who else could play such a prank than the owner of this lamp?

“Hee hee!! How is it? Were you surprised?”

Hailey giggled as she looked at Alphonse in her arms.

Alphonse looked expectant at how surprised he was, but unfortunately, contrary to her wishes, Alphonse did not respond.

Alphonse looked at Hayley, who was hugging him with a blank face. Haley tilted her head, perhaps embarrassed, as the child she thought would be shocked was just staring at her quietly.

“What? Little boy?”

“…”

Haley called Alphonse once more, and Alphonse let him know he was listening to her by lowering his head.

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Maybe it was because he knew where the source of the soft sensation he felt in his head was. Or is it because he is so close to Hailey? Alphonse couldn’t pinpoint the source of the heat that was burning his head.

All Alphonse could do now was to bow his head, hoping that she hadn’t seen his reddened face.