-Now that he can sense my presence, do you think he'll hear my voice as well?
A question was asked to which no answers were found. The human and the wolf stared at each other, not sure what was going on. Despite forcing Alaric to ride the same horse as them, Ian had no idea how he was to process the topic. It felt weird to strike up a conversation with the man he nearly choked to death just a few minutes ago.
But however it was, Ian had to solve this matter as soon as possible.
"...You did great."
"Yes?"
Alaric jolted awake from his daze.
"Your magic spell, it was a decent one."
"Ah?"
"You cast it fast enough, and at the right timing. It had proper force to it too, despite it being a low-level spell."
"....Oh!!"
"It's this great despite you having no mentors and learning by self-study. If you enlist in the Academy, you'd do even better. You'd probably become famous in a few years."
"Ah..."
A smile bloomed across the boy's face at the unexpected compliments, fully displaying his joy. He wiggled and fiddled a little bit before squeezing out a cheerful thanks yet afterwards, silence descended between the due again with no one continuing on the conversation.
-Master, let me try it out, please! Let me!
Dangling from his chest, Lior was repeating his request over and over nonstop.
-It might be dangerous.
-What danger? I just want to know if others can also see me. I wanna make more friends and talk to more people. I don't mean that master isn't enough for me, no, but I want more friends! Please! Let me just try.
"...."
As this was the first time such a thing was happening, Ian had no idea how he was supposed to proceed. He was put in a dilemma, forced to choose between picking the safe route and blocking everything that might bring slight harm to his little light, or taking a risk in order to find out the truth and proceed with his theories about the peculiarity of this round. He had no desire to ignore everything that had happened thus far but was scared of making the wrong move.
-Mmmm~ Mmmmm~ Master~
'Why am I having such a hard time over a small matter?'
As if he wasn't the one who urged Rosalyn to take risks in order to gain future benefits! Ian sighed at his own cowardliness.
-Alright. You can try it out, but I'll intervene if needed.
-Okay~
At first, Ian thought of Alaric as some mysterious guy with hidden intentions. He believed that he might be a regressor, or be affected by one, thus, he had a goal he needed to achieve and a lot of secrets he was hiding. Ian still had such doubts; he never discarded those options, yet during their travel and even before that when he was observing Alaric, he reached a brief conclusion about the boy's character and personality.
'He is just a fool.'
Not someone with dangerous intentions as he thought at first, but a harmless individual. He might have his goals and surely hid many secrets, but Ian couldn't feel the slightest evil intent from Alaric, not any that was directed at himself. As someone who's lived many lives and seen many people, and as the person carrying a great deal of Aether within his soul, Ian relied on his gut feeling and believed in his judgment about people quite a lot.
-Hehehe~
Sliding down Ian's chest, the child climbed up his left arm and stationed its body atop Ian's shoulder. Sitting behind Ian, Alaric flinched slightly and shifted uneasily on his spot as if noticing the new presence.
-Ahem ahem, I'mma test it out now!
The kid leaned a little bit closer to the golden-haired mage; Alaric squinted his eyes as his body froze. Ian half turned to watch the scene up close.
-Hello Mister Alaric!
A childish voice echoed in both of their minds. Almost instantly, Alaric's body shook and his face paled. He placed both hands on his ears, eyes darting around before halting on Lior's face. His trembling intensified as his shoulders tensed up.
"...G-gh-ghost-"
"Don't be scared."
Ian recognized the need to calm the boy down before he fainted from fear.
"It's not a ghost."
-I'm not a ghost! How rude!
"....."
Tak. Alaric grabbed Ian's cloak tight as if his life depended on it.
"W-what's it then? You can sense it t-too?? Did y-you hear those w-whispers????"
"Whispers?"
-I didn't whisper! I talked loud and clear!
"Aaack!!"
At his shout, the two other members of the group shifted their way, seizing them up with weird gazes.
"Young master, is everything alright?"
"He's just being noisy as always."
"Ah..."
Eleen nodded her head in understanding and looked elsewhere.
"...Y-you are so mean..." Alaric's voice quavered as he talked, either due to fear or dejection. Even Miss Eleen behaved as if it was normal for him to be noisy! He wasn't such a person!
"What's this? What's going on? Did you hear that whisper too? It's sitting right over your shoulder, why aren't you scared at all? Do something!"
Now how was Ian supposed to explain everything to this frightened kid?
"It's not a ghost. You could say he is... Something close to a spiritual creature."
"...Huh?"
"You managed to touch it before, right? Try touching it again."
"....."
"Reach out your hand."
"...." Alaric sent dubious glances at Ian. "Are you sure it's not dangerous?"
"It's not."
"How can you be sure about it?"
"I'm sure because I know what it is."
"...."
The nobleman still didn't move.
"You... You won't beat me if I touch it, right?"
"....I won't."
What did he think of Ian? He might've overreacted before, but he wasn't always like that! Ian wasn't that kind of person!!
Hesitantly and suspiciously, Alaric reached out a hand to warily touch the creature wiggling around atop Ian's shoulder. His fingertips grazed past a smooth surface as a warmth spread across his skin upon the touch. Alaric held his breath, his movements frozen.
"It's... Soft and fluffy?"
-Mister, can you hear me now?
"Wah... The voice got clearer!"
Rapidly blinking and nervously stroking his hand against the warm creature, Alaric looked between Ian and the "Ghost", waiting to be briefed on the situation.
"Try to coat it with your mana."
It was an idea that crossed Ian's mind briefly and he didn't hold back his desire to test it out.
Despite showing his reluctance, Alaric proceeded as he was told; opening up his palms towards the invisible entity as if to hug it whole and letting loose the energy piled up within his soul. A faint amber halo spread out from his palms, surrounding everything in the shade of dusk. Once the tint slightly dimmed, a tuft of dark blue fur emerged from thin air.
-Can you hear me now? Mister? Mister hello?
"...."
Alaric's lips opened and closed like a choking fish, his eyes as wide as two walnuts. Lior slipped forward, rubbing its head against the surface of the nobleman's palm and wagging its tail around.
"..."
POOF! The mana surrounding Lior vanished like a scattered cloud of dust. Alaric retracted his hands in shock before reaching them out once again, searching through the air for the invisible creature similar to a blind man.
"It... It was a wolf!"
"A wolf pup."
"It was a wolf pup! A blue-furred wolf pup!" Alaric's hands grabbed the wolf pup and he pulled it close. Something in his mind was telling him that wolves aren't to be approached so carelessly even if they look tiny and young, but the man completely ignored the ringing alarms. "It's so cute!!!!!"
Despite being invisible, the mass and shape of the child remained intact, and so did the softness of its fur and the warmth of its body. Alaric pressed Lior against his chest as he let out a muffled chuckle.
"It even talks! I heard his voice for a second! Oh my god, what's this tiny thing???"
-Uwaaahhh slow down! Slow down!!
"...."
"You teeny weeny puppy! You are a wolf pup!"
-Ahahahaha! It tickles! Don't do that it's tickling- Hehehe!
Of course, Alaric couldn't hear the child's shouts and giggles.
"It's so fluffy! Even more than a cat!"
-I'm better and fluffier than cats and dogs! I'm the fluffiest!
"Cute!!!"
"..."
Watching from the side, Ian couldn't close his agape mouth.
'That the actual hell?'
What was with the sudden change of the mood?
"You are so cute!"
-Of course, I am! Lior is the cutest!
"And so warm and silky!"
-I am the best!
"...."
Why did these two look so close to each other? They just met right now! And what's with Alaric? He was like a scared cat up till a few seconds ago!
"Hmph!"
Cutting the two's annoying blabberings, Ian grasped and yanked back the child, dragging him away from the nobleman's embrace and sitting him atop his lap, huffing and puffing his chest.
"What?"
-Master??
"Quit being so loud, the others might notice!"
"They are far away from us!"
"Whatever."
"Hey!"
"Shut up!"
"What??"
-Jealous! Jealous! Master is so jealous!
-What would of be Jealous of?
-Everything! Master's so mad!
-Stop.
The horse neighed and shook its body, apparently annoyed due to all the movement going atop its back. Alaric hurriedly grabbed Ian's back to steady himself while peeking at his embrace and asking in a low voice.
"What was that? What's that creature?"
"It got a name and it's Lior."
"Lior! Lior is so adorable!"
"You were calling it a ghost until a few seconds ago!"
"...I made a mistake, sorry."
"Hmph!"
Alaric stared at his friend's annoyed face and decided to slightly change the topic.
"I see. So what's Lior?"
"A spiritual creature."
"How old is he... She?... How should I call Lior? Is it a boy or a girl?"
A pair of agitated navy pupils shifted to Alaric in a flash, threatening to tear open his soul and burn it down.
"What do you mean????"
The question was squeezed out through gritted teeth. Alaric's smile froze on his lips.
"...I...Just wanted to know how should I refer to it... What did you think I meant??"
"You ask too much."
"Hey? Why are you mad all of a sudden?"
"I'm not."
The bluehead tsked and turned around.
"Lior is a spiritual creature, what makes you think it has a gender? Stop asking questions and move back."
"Uh..."
-Master is so envious! He's jealous! Master is about to burst!
-Lior!
-It's the truth!
Alaric, who had let go of Ian's clothes and moved away, lowered his head and wiggled with his fingers, mumbling in a low voice, "Is Lior yours? Don't be mad, I won't touch it without permission ever again! I'm sorry!"
Neeeighhh!
The horse's bridle got pulled hard; the animal was forced to halt. The bluehead let go of the leather band and shifted his body around, grabbing the other person's collar with a hand.
"What the HELL did YOU just say? Mine? Are you out of your mind? Lior is a LIVING breathing creature with intelligence, HOW can you label it to belong to ANYONE? Lior is a FREE individual! You get it, shithead??"
Alaric's body got helplessly swayed around before he could comprehend the situation he was in.
"You fucker! I knew it was a mistake to show him to you! You just blabber nonsense! Shut that trap already!"
"I-I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean that! I'm sorryyyy!!!"
"Shut up!!!"
"I'm sorry!"
-Master, let him go! MASTER!!
The little wolf was completely ignored by its master. A woman's voice rang out from behind.
"Sir Ian? What's going on? Are the two of you fighting?"
Two horses that were moving ahead till a second ago sprinted their way at a high speed.
"Raven, stop them! It's be dangerous if young master falls down from a horse!"
"Why not let them fight-"
"Raven!!!"
Everyone in this group was insane! Eleen wanted to smash their heads at a wall!
"Ian I'm sorry!!"
The young master barely managed to escape from the bluehead's sudden burst of rage.