But something was strange here. How come he didn't ignore me?
'This whole world and its people are strange. When I don't want anyone to notice me, I attract attention. When I need attention, I'm ignored. Of course, it depends on the person. '
"Why should I talk to someone I don't know?"
"Hahaha! I was just curious, young lady. Because I've never seen you so engrossed in thought. "
"Have we met before?"
"You didn't see me, but I always saw you..."
My brows furrowed.
'Is he kidding me? I've never seen this guy up here once. In fact, no one bothers to come up all these stairs, so I can say I haven't seen any two-legged creatures. '
He looked at me suspiciously. As if he had made a serious mistake, he averted his gaze from me.
"Maybe you didn't see me because I was out of sight. This bell is very large and obstructs the view of the people..."
I became doubtful. I partly agreed with him because I don't usually pay much attention to what's back of the bell. In fact, I don't care if anyone is here but me. As long as my loneliness is not disturbed, I don't care.
'But I still haven't seen him until now... does that mean he has been hiding until now? Maybe he's not part of the staff here and is in school without permission? Why is a man in such an inappropriate outfit with half of his chest hanging out of his shirt here? Maybe he's a pervert or something? '
"I feel you don't have good thoughts about me..."
'Maybe I should report his presence to the principal...'
Suddenly his eyes lit up.
"By the way, young lady, why are you taking notes instead of practicing this time?"
"What? Practice?"
It suddenly dawned on me. I always came to the bell tower so I could practice martial arts and prepare my body. I got a little nervous.
'What is he trying to get at?'
"Some of your exercises are top secret and only military personnel such as knights and government agents use them. "
He narrowed his eyes and continued, "Don't you think it's strange for a 12-year-old girl to know about these exercises?"
'Damn it, he's threatening me to keep my mouth shut? And if it's top secret, how does he know? Could he be an agent or something?'
Suddenly I remembered something. That this world is different from the previous world I lived in and there's no sign of digital tools. I smiled triumphantly.
"do you have any evide_"
Three small sheets of paper flew past my startled eyes and fell to the ground.
"I have more of them. I'll show you if you want. "
I stared in shock and awe at the three papers with pictures of me on them.
"This... what is this?"
"Tch tch, it's really not good for a girl your age not to know about the recording magic..."
'Are these photos? No, impossible. These are much higher quality than photos. '
With my two trembling hands, I picked one of them up from the ground and put it in front of my face.
"Joseph Niepce was the one who discovered this kind of powerful magic..."
In the photo, I was doing a pull-up.
'In my previous world, this exercise was very common. What the heck is it considered special here? '
On the other hand, in addition to doing pull-ups, I had also taken off my uniform because it was very restricting. And this was another violation of the rules. I looked at the two photos on the ground. The plank and squat went recorded.
"It works by putting papers with spells written on them into a box with a concentrated hole. This box has a button connected to a magic stone and when you transfer your Mana to the button..."
I tore the photo in my hand. I was panting from anger and frustration. Then paused and picked up the other photos from the ground and tore them apart.
"Young lady, this won't work. I have a lot of other evidence from you. "
I looked at my notebook, which had fallen out of my hand long ago. I picked it up from the ground and pressed it in my hand. Because the others didn't pay attention to me, I relaxed my guard and corrected this situation.
'Don't get mad... Don't get mad...'
I smiled artificially.
"Can you please stop talking to me?"
"Hmm? Why? I've been eager to talk to you for a long time. But I didn't know where to start..."
my concentration was broken and I could no longer think about my plans.
The only thing I'm thinking about right now is punching the guy in front of me in the face.
'Why do people in this world want to make me loose my screws?'
I felt a sense of danger.
'No, I shouldn't cause trouble for my family this time. Besides, this person in front of me is bigger than me in every way. So I might get beaten up badly. '
I stood up in disgust and as I passed him, I slammed my shoulder into him hard as i walked.
"Hahaha, young lady, your weak nerves will bring you down in the end. No matter how hard you try to show yourself off in front of others with a fake smile and good manners. "
I stopped in shock and turned to face him.
"How do you know_"
I gasped in frustration and came down the bell steps.
"Damn it! There's no place to be alone in this dump. "
The mysterious man's voice followed me.
"I hope I see you again, young lady."
I gave him a thumb-down , and went down the stairs.
***
It was raining heavily. Everyone was in their carriages to go home. I stood under the shade of the sloped awning next to the school buffet and watched Resita's staff. One of them held an umbrella over Resita and the other held her hand.
'Luck was not with me today at all. Either i had strange nightmares, or someone interrupted my solitude. And now this lousy weather. '
Suddenly Resita's foot got stuck in a hole and she and her servants fell into the mud.
'Oh right!, Arina wasn't very keen on rain in her previous life. She didn't like getting wet. I don't know if she has this problem in this world or not. '
Resita was shoutting at her servants, but because of the distance I couldn't understand what she was saying to them. While both her servants were trying to lift her up.
I looked at the sky. The clouds covering the sunlight growled in anger and the downpour intensified. I sighed
'With this situation, I can't go home until the night has already come.'
"Why are you so gloomy, old hag?"
I let out my breath.
"i'm not in a mood for fighting..."
I turned to him it was "Aldous!"
He brushed his black hair with his hand.
"If you go out in this heavy rain. You'll be uglier than before. You'll be an old rat!"
"Thank you for the compliment."
Aldous stood next to me with his arms crossed and stared straight ahead. The silence between us made me remember something.
"Are you upset with me?"
"No!"
"..."
"If you'll get happy with my apology then_"
"Angela, I don't want to talk about that."
"But why_"
"We fight all the time. We always blow each other's air horns and beat each other up. Why do you feel so guilty this time? "
Truth be told... he was right. Fighting was something Aldous and I did. If Mom left us alone for a moment, one could easily burn the other. But even I didn't know why I felt so bad about our last fight. A fight that didn't even end in an insult. It was like I had forgotten something, but I didn't realize it.
Aldous sighed and took his magic stone out of his sleeve. I smirked.
"Don't you want to do magic tricks anymore?"
He always hid his magic stone in his sleeve and took it out with in less than a wink.
"Why should I play in front of you when you know?"
"No, I just found out today."
"What?"
"What?"
With his flying carriage coming, he went to its door and opened it. He bent down and bowed to me.
"Old lady, I am honored to be your driver today."
I looked at him angrily.
"Not once did you do a good deed without shitting afterward."