TGBAP 40

Meanwhile, Lucian, who had been riding the swing, kept chattering to Dio, who was pushing him.

“That ghost is so amazing—it uses magic to do the laundry in one shot, and it can light the fireplace instantly, I’m telling you? And that’s not all. The snacks I made today were made by that ghost. So what do you think? Now will you believe me?”

“Ah, damn! That freaking ghost! Ghost! My ears are going to get calluses!”

Annoyed, Dio pushed with all his strength, and the swing soared high into the air.

But Lucian, without a hint of fear, jumped right off the swing and landed cleanly.

“This is fun. One more time!”

“Haa, if you’d just shut that mouth, I’d do it.”

“Ah, that won’t do. Dio, you still don’t believe me.”

Dio’s face went completely cold, and his shoulders drooped heavily. He’d liked slipping out of that boring service, only to find Lucian’s ghost talk waiting for him.

Talking endlessly about ghosts to someone who doesn’t believe—he was going to go crazy.

“Hmm…… what should I talk about now? Ah, what else the ghost can do is…….”

“Stop! That’s enough!”

Seeing Dio vehemently refuse with his palm held out, Lucian puckered his lips.

Then Dio sighed and raised the white flag.

“I’ll believe you, so please, just stop there.”

“Waaah! Really?”

“Yeah. Ghosts exist in the world, and that ghost is playing servant at your house. Happy?”

“Yeah! That’s right, that’s it! It’s not a servant, but…… anyway! You’re finally believing me!”

Lucian was delighted that his sincerity had gotten through, but Dio was only humoring him because he knew he’d be tormented all day otherwise.

“Now that you believe me, do you want to come to my house today?”

“Huh?”

But then the conversation suddenly took a weird turn.

“Ria told me that if I can’t persuade you, I absolutely can’t bring you. But you believe everything I said now, right? Right?”

“Th……at’s…… right?”

“Then let’s go to my house today! Ria will welcome you too.”

What the hell. So all that ghost talk was to invite him over?

“Man, damn it. If that’s what it was, you should’ve said so sooner.”

“Huh?”

“Haa, what am I even expecting from you.”

I should’ve caught on the first day you started talking about ghosts.

After that, you didn’t talk about inviting me over and just kept going on and on about ghosts day and night, so I forgot.

But Lucian’s house…….

“……That does sound kind of tempting.”

“You’re coming to my house, right?”

Dio thought it over, then glanced at Lucian. He was staring at him with eyes shining so brightly it felt burdensome.

“If I get Mom’s permission.”

“Yeah, yeah. Of course you have to get permission. Waaah! I’m finally inviting someone. This is the first time I’ve ever invited anyone to my house!”

“Ahem, ahem, yeah……?”

“Yeah, because Dio is my best friend. I wanted to introduce you to Ria. If she sees you, she’ll definitely like you too, right?”

Burning with determination, Lucian said he would help him get permission from his parents.

‘This’ll be fun. I’ve been most curious about where he lives.’

From everything he’d heard from Lucian, his house had a small training ground and a garden, even a piano—things you’d never see in an ordinary home.

No matter how his parents weren’t around now, he was still definitely nobility, so he couldn’t even imagine how big and nice his house would be.

‘Ah, but what if there really is a ghost?’

After thinking briefly, Dio snorted.

‘There’s no such thing as ghosts in the world.’

Dio still didn’t believe Lucian, and was only excited at the thought of going to his house.

There were four hours left until Dio would arrive at Lucian’s house.

* * *

[This should let us prepare for a possible attack, just in case.]

Ria placed both hands on her hips with satisfaction and looked around.

From morning until now, Ria and Kaiser had prepared all kinds of magic barriers—Lucian’s room, the path leading to it, and even the basement door.

Kaiser being here was reassuring, but really, if, by some chance, a variable occurred and Lucian ran into trouble, it would be a disaster.

“I think this could block even my breath once.”

Ting-!

Seeing the layered barriers overlapping two and three times around Lucian’s room, Kaiser clicked his tongue.

[Heh-heh, no matter how strong they are, they’re still mere humans. Among them, there won’t be anyone with the guts to break through this barrier and invade the room.]

“Still, you never know. They’re the ones who’ve been kidnapping people here for over two hundred years. They might have something they pass down among themselves.”

[Stop saying pointless things and check the basement door again.]

“Yes, yes.”

Grumbling, Kaiser headed toward the basement. Then he pricked up his ears and turned his head toward the front gate.

“Looks like Lucian’s back?”

[He came back earlier than yesterday?]

Ria and Kaiser stopped what they were doing and went to welcome Lucian.

Wow, why is this house so big?

But they stopped just before opening the door, exchanging confused looks.

[Whose voice is that? It’s not James…….]

“Don’t tell me, that little brat—!”

At the same time their faces went pale, Lucian flung the door wide open.

“I’m back!”

Ria and Kaiser, right in front of the door, couldn’t hide their panic.

Eyes shaking like there’d been an earthquake, they turned toward Lucian’s side.

A shaved head, nicely tanned skin, sharp eyes. Just a glance and you could tell he was the “I’m a prankster” type of boy.

[Don’t tell me…… no, right? Lucian.]

“I’ll introduce you! This is my best friend, Dio!”

My god. The worst-case scenario had happened.

To think Lucian would actually succeed at persuading Dio.

Unlike the two of them, frozen stiff, Lucian was smiling brightly and sending them a look that said hurry up and praise me.

“Hello…… I’m Dio.”

Dio bowed his head toward Kaiser.

Only then did Ria come to her senses and poke the dazed Kaiser in the side.

“K-khmm! Yeah, hello…….”

“Dio, this is Kaiser hyung, who I’m close with. You’ve seen him once before, right?”

“I guess so, but…… are you sure you got permission? They look surprised.”

Dio whispered only to Lucian, but what stood before him were a sharp-eared dragon and a ghost.

“No, they said it was okay to bring you. Right?”

“……When did I say you could bring him whenever. I told you to persuade him first.”

“Huh? Wasn’t that telling me to bring him……?”

This time Lucian’s eyes shook like an earthquake as he looked at Ria. Ria rubbed her face.

[If you were going to bring him, you should have said something at least a day in advance. You startled me.]

“Sorry…….”

[Haa, whatever. You already brought him—what can we do. We at least have to feed him dinner.]

“Ah…… I told him to sleep over.”

Only now did she notice the small bag in Dio’s hand. From how clothes were sticking out, it seemed he wasn’t lying.

[Good grief, fine. Whether he eats and goes or eats and sleeps, what’s the difference. Do what you want.]

“R-Ria……! Are you mad?”

Lucian trotted after Ria as she turned to leave. Ria spun around in alarm.

[What are you doing right now! Dio will look at you strangely!]

“It’s fine. Dio said he believes there’s a ghost.”

[What?]

When she looked back with a dumbfounded face, Dio’s eyes were trembling aimlessly.

That’s the expression of someone who believes in ghosts……?

Ria glanced at Lucian.

Hehehe.

He was a child who didn’t know anything.

Was she expecting too much from Lucian? Instead of talking around it, she should have just told him directly so he’d understand, but…….

The more she thought about it, the more it felt like he was deliberately understanding things however he wanted.

No way, that can’t be, right?

[……You made this mess, so you take care of Dio yourself.]

“Of course! So you’re allowing him to sleep over today?”

Allowing it, my ass—you already brought him, so how could I kick the kid out?

Ria swallowed down the words that were about to burst out and waved her hand dismissively.

Lucian began bouncing and grabbed Dio’s hand, saying he’d give him a tour of the mansion.

Dio got dragged along by Lucian. You could see in real time his face turning paler and paler.

After the two disappeared, Kaiser came up beside Ria.

“Looks like he doesn’t believe in ghosts, right?”

[Can’t you tell at a glance. Lucian must have pestered him and he just played along. I just hope he doesn’t go telling the village people something strange.]

“Should we erase his memory?”

[……Let’s watch a bit longer.]

“Huh, you’re not saying no for once?”

[I don’t want to do it either, but there’s always such a thing as an exception.]

If, like Lucian said, Dio is truly trustworthy, then they can leave it be. But if there’s even the slightest suspicious sign, they’ll have to take action.

Even if that action is erasing his memory.

[This is better, actually.]

“Huh?”

[Because Dio is here, Lucian won’t notice anything strange today.]

“Shifting his attention elsewhere.”

[We were going to handle things without Lucian knowing anyway. Let’s use this chance.]

* * *

“This is the library. It’s the room where we read books and study. I feel like I spend half the day here. Sitting at this desk, Ria…….”

“Lucian.”

“Huh?”

Lucian, chattering excitedly, turned at the voice calling him. Dio was trembling with a pale face.

“Y-you…… what was that just now?”

“What was what?”

“What do you mean, what! You were talking to empty air! And there’s no one here—why is Ria’s name coming up?!”

“I told you. There’s a ghost.”

That was real?

A sound like blood draining from his body could be heard.

“And I’m saying this now too…… that ghost is actually Ria.”

“……What?”

“I didn’t say it because I thought you’d be super startled. Ah, but don’t think it’s weird! Ria is way prettier than you’d think, and smart, and she cooks well too. She’s a ghost bride, but she’s way better than people, you know?”

Hehehe—

Lucian scratched his cheek shyly with an embarrassed smile, but Dio didn’t have the energy to react to his words at all.

No—this was too absurd to believe. But looking at Lucian’s attitude, it wasn’t acting—it was real.

Thinking that the snacks Lucian had been bringing were made by a ghost’s hand made his stomach churn.

Not knowing what Dio was thinking, Lucian only kept smiling and dragging him around to show him this and that.

“Ah, Ria!”

Then, all of a sudden, Lucian started calling for Ria to empty air again.

Dio visibly grew anxious and hid behind Lucian. Trembling, he looked around, but no matter how he looked, he couldn’t see anything at all.

“Where should Dio sleep? Of course he should sleep in the same room as me. The other room is Kaiser’s.”

“Aw, it won’t be uncomfortable. The bed is really wide.”

“Clothes? I did bring some, for now.”

“Ah, right. That’s true? I should check for a moment. Dio.”

Lucian turned around and said,

“I’ll go to my room for a moment. Stay here.”

“What? W-wait…… I should go with—!”

“I’ll be right back.”

Lucian let go of Dio’s hand and hurried into his room.

Left alone in the corridor—no, left with a ghost, just the two of them—Dio’s knees went weak with fear.

Is that ghost still here? Or did it go after Lucian?

Since he couldn’t see anything, it was suffocating, and fear crawled up his spine.

Thud-

Just then, a stone tablet and chalk from one corner of the corridor floated up and came toward him.

“H-hiiik! Go away……!”

The stone tablet that had been approaching hesitated, then slowly backed away. At the bizarre feeling that it was considering him, Dio slowly opened the eyes he’d squeezed shut.

Letters appeared on the stone tablet.

-Are you very startled? I’m sorry.

“……Huh?”

-I didn’t think Lucian would really bring you.

Huh? A ghost writes?

-It’s hard to believe, but I don’t intend to scare you. You’re Lucian’s precious friend, right?

-Just for today, please have fun with Lucian.

-It’s his first time inviting a friend, so he’s really excited.

“……Is that so?”

The fear slowly retreated. Somehow, the ghost in front of him wasn’t that scary. Rather, it was so kind it felt strange.

-Thank you for understanding. Lucian has some odd parts, but he’s a good kid, so please take good care of Lucian from now on too.

“No, no. I’m the one who’s glad to be friends with Lucian. So…… Ria?”

The stone tablet nodded up and down. Dio let out a small groan, then muttered quietly.

“……I ate the snacks you packed well. Thank you, always.”

-Not at all. Later I’ll make you something even more delicious.

Was it his imagination that the handwriting had become gentler? Dio wasn’t afraid of the ghost anymore.