Chapter 7.5
A Secret Talk Between Father and Son

It was almost midnight, a time when people usually had already changed their clothes and were relaxing. Orsis came to his father, Hals, with a piece of paper in his hand. There was so much going on today that his body was very tired. Even then, there was something that he really wanted to discuss with him.

Hals was still at his desk, penning his papers. 

“Orsis, you haven’t slept yet? You must be tired today. We can use some time tomorrow if you need anything.”

“No, father. I have something to discuss with you right away.”

“…About today, I’m guessing?” Hals put down his pen, got up from his chair, moved to the parlour sofa, and invited Orsis to sit down. 

Orsis sat down in front of Hals and showed him the map of the Agate Forest that Alba had told him he had drawn. He had apparently kept it without returning it. 

“This map, is it really accurate?”

“The Agate Forest? Wait a minute.” Hals immediately got up and walked to the back room.

Before Alba came, if Orsis had come to visit his father at this hour, he would have been summarily sent back to his room and told to come back tomorrow. Seeing Alba praise Orsis every day had probably softened Hals. Or rather, Alba had forced Hals to accept that parents should praise their children when they do well, so he was obliged to be less strict.

Hals also seemed to have a weakness for Alba, who looked exactly like his mother, Floro; he would always respond positively to him with doting eyes. At first, Orsis was concerned about Hals’s attitude towards Alba, but this new stepbrother of his kept adoring him to the utmost; this felt fresh to Orsis and pleased him at the same time, so soon he also became attached.

At least Orsis no longer suffered from the loneliness he had felt since his mother’s death. It was all thanks to his stepmother, Floro, and her son, Alba. Floro had also unexpectedly attempted more skin contact with the bewildered Orsis, enough so that these days, it had become common practice for him to greet his parents and Alba with hugs. It was unthinkable when it had only been Hals and Orsis in this house.

Hals came back immediately with a map in his hand. The two sheets were spread out on the table and, indeed, the positions of the forest paths were drawn almost exactly the same.

“They match.”

“Yeah. I was also a bit surprised when I saw it. I’ve never shown it to the boy, and this map is so closely guarded that it would be difficult for him to sneak a peek.”

“That’s right.”

“If you don’t mind, can you tell me what happened today in detail?”

“Yes.” Prompted by Hals, Orsis told him the sequence of events. However, the information he had was limited. 

How Alba had known that there was a new species in the Agate Forest, why he had decided to carry out the mission all by himself, how he had come to look for it alone – Orsis had no idea. But the fact that there was so much information available despite them understanding nothing was a sign of Alba’s peculiarity.

“In scholarly records, it has been pointed out that there is a possibility that a large percentage of children with Launen disease can actually use magic attributes that are normally unthinkable. Looking at Alba’s case, it made me think that there is no doubt about it.” 

“Yes, it seems so. He was so sure that my facial muscles will die out in the future too…”

Orsis inadvertently found himself chuckling as he remembered how Alba was bellowing with narrow eyes that it was his father’s fault that Orsis’s facial muscles would die out, so he must prevent it from happening. The content of what he said was awful, yet the way it was said and the fact that little Alba was saying it made it funny. 

When Orsis shook his shoulders as he held in his laughter, Hals scowled reproachfully. 

“Indeed, I have reflected that if I had continued to cross paths with you, what he said might have become true. I’ve even forgotten something as simple as this. I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s all right now. Father, Mother and Alba have been very kind too.”

“I’m glad you feel that way,” Hals said, reaching out and patting Orsis on the head across the table.

In the past, it would be strange to have this kind of skin-to-skin contact, but now it had become normal for him to pat Orsis on the head. Hals also couldn’t help bursting into laughter as he recalled the way Alba grabbed his hand and forced him to pat Orsis’s head. 

“As for Alba’s attributes, perhaps they are the rare attributes, ‘Time attribute’ or ‘Sky attribute’1.”

“That’s…” The names of the rare attributes, said to exist in one in millions, came out of Hals’s mouth, and Orsis was dazzled. 

The ‘Time attribute’ was said to be the ability to foresee the future and see into the past, an ability that only a dozen or so people had been able to possess since the founding of the country. At the moment, not a single person possessed this attribute.

And the ‘Sky Attribute’ mainly lumped together those who could use unexplainable powers. Since most people would have powers that belonged to one of the known attributes, this was considered even rarer than the ‘Time attribute’. Until now, people classified with the ‘Sky attribute’ were those who were able to use inexplicable magic, such as ‘taming demons’, ‘listening to animals’ and ‘changing minerals into different minerals’. 

For this as well, it was said there was currently no one with this attribute. 

“If Alba truly has ‘Time attribute’…”

“The Royal Palace probably won’t be silent about it. He would be exploited without regard to his Launen disease, and he could never return here…”

“I won’t let them!” At Hals’s answer, Orsis couldn’t help but stand up and shout. 

Just thinking about it made his blood boil.

That matter aside, the small Alba, who wandered between life and death whenever he had a seizure, was behaving as if he already knew he would not live long. All by himself, he was about to head for the forest, putting all his hope on this new herb with his handwritten map. If Orsis hadn’t gone to check on Alba, who knew what would have happened. Orsis was even proud of himself for thinking of dropping by Alba’s room at that time.

“I’m not going to give Alba up either. If not because of him, Floro wouldn’t have come to me in the first place. But there’s more to it than that. Alba is a very loving person and he deeply loves Orsis as well.”

“…Yes. I feel it all the time. I have no idea why, though.”

“I probed him once before. I asked him, ‘Why do you like Orsis so much?'” 

At Hals’ words, Orsis’s body slightly hunched forward. Hals chuckled when he looked at how his son was expressing how much he wanted to know the answer with his whole body.

“What do you think he said? He said your face, your voice, your demeanour and your personality; everything is all his ideal. So passionate, I tell you. He also told me that it was love at first sight, but the more he got to know you, the more he fell in love with the things he learned about you, and the deeper his infatuation grew for you! He spoke with such enthusiasm and great excitement that it was hard to believe they were the words of a four-year-old. When I asked about you, Alba would spend the first hour laying out all the good things about you, which was very interesting and gave me a good insight into you. He even included facts that I, your father, knew nothing about.”

When Hals told him this with a laugh, Orsis turned his head with a slight blush on his cheeks. Then, covering his face with his hands, he muttered, “…That much?”

“I will not let the royal family take such a lovely child, even if this is merely our speculation as of now. Orsis, won’t you join hands with me?”

“…Yes. I don’t want to lose Alba either.”

Their discussions lasted until late that night. 

The next day, Orsis slept in unusually late and caused Alba to look at him with concern; no one knew that Orsis had vowed never to sleep in again.