Pretending To Be Gilead's Prince and Master Wizard

Panic starts to rise up above my head as one of these men holds me tightly by my wrist.

I was torn between using magic over him, but if I do that, I might be sent to jail for disobeying a law for using magic in public places…

On the other hand, I could just scream for help like a total idiot.

Well, without having to think about it much, my mouth started to open and I was just about to shout for help when I heard that very familiar husky voice behind us.

Alex! My mind exclaimed. I've never been so glad to see him before!

"Hey! Haven't you taught the proper way to ask a girl out?"

The moment they heard someone speak, these two retards immediately stopped pestering me and turned around to see who it was.

With them getting distracted, I used this opportunity to free myself from the scrawny guy and run behind this guy who came to my rescue.

I don't know if it's just my imagination or what, but as I had a glimpse of Alex's face, anger was clearly visible to those pair of jet black eyes of his that made me wonder…

Is he really that concerned about me? Or was I assuming around here?

Anyway, enough of that stupid thought. I hid behind his broad back and whispered a 'Thanks' to him.

I don't know if he had heard that since his attention was still on these guys, but I was happy that he had found me here.

"How dare you snatch away our date for tonight!" the bloated man shouted in his still drunken voice.

The other one also muttered something like "You'll pay for this!" though I have difficulty making out his sentences because of his groggy voice.

"Stay behind me."

I heard Alex whispered something but before I could even react to that, the bloated man charged towards him with his fist aiming to blow a solid punch at the lad.

Alex, well being the captain of the magic army, had an easy time dodging that incoming attack and returned it with a swing of his leg, hitting the guy's stomach real hard which sent his body bending in agony.

The other one, you know that skinny dude who held my wrist earlier, also charged at Alex despite seeing what happened to his companion.

The captain, again, dodged the attack too easily and landed a hard blow on his back using his right elbow.

As expected, the skinny dude joined his companion lying on the asphalt ground. Good thing there is nobody around here except us during night time.

The other one, who stood frozen in his place, ran like an idiot after seeing what happened to his companions.

Well, after that quick fight, the two idiots, whom Alex knocked out easily, immediately stood up and ran away from my companion-- like kids who were being reprimanded by their mothers. I secretly laughed at the sight of it.

"Are you alright?" Alex said which made me look up at him.

His eyes somehow glistened under the moonlight as he met my gaze.

The facial expression is still the same, yet I've got this impression that even though he is not showing it, I know he cares a lot about his friends.

A friend…

Am I a friend to him?

"Y-yeah, I'm okay. Thanks."

"Well, what makes you think to go past this corner that is clearly dangerous for you? What if I haven't got here? What if~"

*Growwlllllll*

He was rudely interrupted by his stomach growling all of a sudden. I pressed my lips together as hard as I could to suppress my laughter when I saw him giving me a warning look.

"Don't you dare laugh," he mumbled.

Too late.

I was on the brink of my limit and before I knew it, I already found myself laughing out loud.

I mean, this would be my first time seeing the heartless, cold jerk being embarrassed and all!

---

That night, Alex took me with him to a small diner just around the drunkard's corner. The front of the restaurant says "Aunt Bell's Diner" written in faded white paint that made me have difficulty reading the words.

As we got inside, there were a few lines of wooden tables and chairs that were arranged neatly, a wooden divider between each of these tables, and several customers having their meals or chugging their beers at the bar counter located at the left side.

A man was stationed at the mentioned bar counter and is currently mixing his customer's drinks according to their order perhaps. I don't really know anything about alcoholic drinks, so I really didn't pay them much attention.

Meanwhile, Alex and I were seated at the very last corner of the said diner to the right next to a large sliding glass window where I could clearly see what's going on outside. An old woman, probably in her forties, approached us with two menus in hand.

"Oh, it was so long since I've seen you here Alex." said the woman in her blissful voice, and a smile was written across her face.

Then, I saw her eyes shifted towards me, and her smile widened.

"I see you brought a girl along, and you seldom do that here." Her attention averted towards me. "What is your name, my dear?"

"Krisella," I responded, feeling awkward to say anything, really.

I looked towards Alex and noticed that he was getting too uncomfortable with this kind of conversation, so therefore I quickly scanned the menu and ordered the first thing that I saw.

"I'll have smoked salmon please, and some orange juice. Thanks."

Wait, it suddenly occurred to me that I've just eaten a meal back in Central Town before we went back here. What was I thinking?

Alex also mentioned his order and the woman finally disappeared in front of us, leaving the two of us alone with a heavy silence filling the air.

We didn't speak that much until the lady soon reappeared with our orders in a tray. Knowing Alex, he is not in the mood-- as always-- to start a conversation and I am not in the mood as well.

Once the dinner was served, the woman again left us to attend to other customers.

Somehow, I managed to eat the whole thing I ordered after a couple of minutes had passed. While I sip my orange juice, Alex over here is chugging a big glass of what seems to be beer.

Soon enough, I could see his face beginning to turn bright red and he started slurring his own words that I have difficulty understanding now.

Why did he even drink in the first place anyway? How was I supposed to carry this huge guy if he passed out on the streets?!

Man, I am so doomed.

When it was time for us to go, Alex managed to stand up on his wobbly feet and groggily made his way towards the door with me trailing from behind. He was about to trip when I caught him just in time.

"Don't touch me. I can walk, you know," he said in his arrogant, drunken voice.

I almost rolled my eyes at him before we continued to walk.

I noticed that it was not in the direction of the shortcut leading to the castle that we are going to, but instead, we are heading to somewhere else.

Where does he think he is going?!

Soon, after... who the heck knows how many hours has come to pass, the lad stopped walking and was immediately pulled down by his own weight to sit on the sidewalks.

He tried getting up, looking like an idiot in the process, but realizing that he can't somehow do it, he chose to remain on the sidewalks and slumped his back on the concrete wall of a building.

"Oh come on?! Really?" I grunted.

Since I can't leave this poor lad alone, I chose to remain by his side and also slumped myself against the floor right next to him on his left.

Fewer people can be seen loitering around this part of the streets, either alone or by pairs, and luckily, none of them paid attention to us. A few carriages can also be seen running to and fro at the streets that I could almost count them in my fingers.

I can see Alex was looking at the night skies, and so I did the same thing.

From here, I just realized how magnificent this is… seeing the crescent-shaped moon illuminating the skies, with stars surrounding it like tiny shining dots from afar and clouds moving in one direction.

My eyes did not leave this perfect view, until I heard the lad next to me spoke all of a sudden, breaking the silence between us.

"I'm sorry…"

My forehead wrinkled and my brows snapped together.

"For what?"

"For dragging you to do the task... "

At first, I was not sure what he meant by that, but as he kept on talking, I realized that he was actually mumbling about my task as pretending to be Gilead's prince and master wizard.

"I didn't know what to do… and so I used you to cover up the problem that we are all facing. For that, I am so, so sorry."

I was stunned for a second, seeing how sorry he was and all of that. I peeled away my gaze at the stars and turned to look at him.

"It's okay--"

*ZzzZZZzzz*

Before I could utter any words here, Alex's head fell on my right shoulders and started snoring. How can he sleep so fast like that?

And so I have no choice but to stay like this… and spent the rest of the night with this heartless, cold jerk.