Chapter 72: Mother and Daughter reunited. (1)
Lloyd felt strange.
It was hard to see, almost invisible. A slight tremor only he could really perceive.
Fear, Alice was feeling fear.
But why?
Why would she feel fear?
It made no sense someone like her would feel fear.
She was someone cold, indifferent in most cases, with an ability that made her practically invincible.
That wasn’t the same as when she pulled slightly away from his hand when he tried to caress her.
It was different, it was distinct.
It was like when she had a nightmare.
It felt the same.
"Is something wrong Alice?" the boy asked carefully.
The girl turned to see Lloyd with some fear. An almost imperceptible one.
She didn’t respond, simply stayed quiet, staring at him.
Of course, she didn’t seem to fear him, but something else.
Was there some monster hidden nearby?
No, that made no sense.
If that were so Sebastian would have already taken care of the problem.
Though, what if it was something not even Sebastian could perceive?
Fearing that, Lloyd decided to activate Leviathan’s pupil to read his surroundings, outside the carriage itself, however, he found nothing.
"Mmm how strange," Lloyd said confused.
Maybe it was just his imagination.
Maybe he misinterpreted her. Perhaps he didn’t know how to read Alice’s emotions as well as he believed, or something like that.
The boy didn’t give it more importance, and waited for the carriage to approach the village.
When the village became closer, Lloyd knocked twice on the carriage walls.
"Let’s stop here," the black-haired young man indicated, waiting for Sebastian to obey.
The butler who was driving the carriage heard the knocks, and immediately understood what Lloyd wanted.
Carefully, Sebastian stopped the carriage right in front of the village.
"You can go out now Sköll, ask Sebastian for some coins and order something at the tavern you go to," the young man commented to Sköll, since it was good manners to buy something at the establishment where you were going to use the bathroom.
At least on Earth.
"Yes, yes thanks!" Sköll exclaimed in a hurry while shooting out of the carriage.
Apparently she really did need to use the bathroom badly, Lloyd thought.
The young man leaned out, observing the village better.
It was rather a small village, with a quite depressing appearance.
The houses were old and unrepaired, the streets were full of trash and filth.
The smell of rot hit Lloyd’s nose immediately, it was a very unpleasant smell.
There were some people outside their houses, sitting on the ground, emaciated, with dirty clothing and empty gazes, almost as if waiting for their death.
"So this is what the famine caused," Lloyd commented with some annoyance.
Without doubt Bernard Sargas was very bad at administering the territory.
Though in a way it was Bernard who had authorized this to happen, he had sold his people to the dark society, like a complete coward.
At least that’s how Lloyd saw it.
However, when he recovered power, without doubt he would make sure that territory was prosperous again.
"Mmm, let’s take a closer look," the young man said to himself while getting out of the carriage, but then, a small hand grabbed his clothing, preventing him from leaving.
Lloyd turned, seeing who had grabbed him.
As was obvious, that someone was Alice, the only one left in the carriage.
She looked at him with an almost scared look, something that confused Lloyd.
"Is something wrong Alice? Do you want to come with me?" the boy asked.
Lately, Lloyd had been very separated from Alice, perhaps the girl was afraid he would separate again or something like that.
Alice didn’t respond, her gaze trembled with doubt, something that left Lloyd even more confused.
What was happening to her?
"Well alright, come with me," the boy said, while taking her hand and carefully getting down from the carriage.
Alice seemed to resist getting down at first, but then gave in.
"Will you take a walk, young master Lloyd?" Sebastian asked curiously.
Lloyd nodded at that question.
"That’s right, I’ll go stretch my legs, it’s bad to be sitting so long," Lloyd affirmed calmly.
Sebastian smiled at that affirmation.
"Very true, but don’t take too long, I want to reach the fort at dawn," Sebastian affirmed.
Lloyd only nodded to reassure the butler, obviously he wasn’t going to stay there more than necessary.
Sebastian’s objective was to reach Conrad’s fort at dawn, something possible because the butler didn’t need to sleep.
Lloyd began to walk, observing the deteriorated village.
The inhabitants’ gazes were strange, like the dead observing the living.
Well, in truth it was a curious image to see, he was a noble and was walking through a village full of starving people.
What would they be thinking?
Did they hate him or something?
Maybe they were just confused, or a mix of both.
Lloyd didn’t feel real empathy for them, or at least that’s how he saw it.
Of course, if he became the lord of that territory he would do everything possible so the villagers lived a prosperous life.
But he wouldn’t do it out of compassion, but to gain good fame, besides the image it would give.
Added to that was Lloyd was very proud, and if he had to govern a territory he would make sure to do it better than anyone.
It was something linked to his pride, and the advantage having a good reputation would give him.
Lloyd was already savoring the V.P he would earn through the well of pride.
Without doubt, it would be very useful.
Moreover, Lloyd planned to use that territory to create industry.
Thanks to his modern knowledge he was sure he could turn Cocytus into a giant industrial power.
After all Cocytus was gigantic, or rather, gave access to a gigantic territory.
He only had to take care of defeating some giants and thus could expand his territory.
Cocytus had virgin land from which many resources could be extracted.
The goblin cave was proof.
He had managed to collect high-purity magical crystals, and was sure they would find more.
Even if it was a somewhat crazy idea, perhaps it could even become an independent territory from Avalon.
It would be difficult, but not impossible. He could always ally with the empire and give it resources in exchange for military and political help.
"Yes, that sounds even better than going to that stupid academy," Lloyd commented quietly.
Though going to the academy was something he desired, it was more to obtain certain resources hidden in it.
However, the idea of creating his own kingdom was becoming more attractive.
Though he also couldn’t fantasize too much.
For now Cocytus was a desolate and impoverished territory in the dark society’s sights.
Fantasizing about becoming independent from Avalon and becoming a power allied with the empire was too ambitious.
[+5 V.P]
"Huh?" The notification pulled Lloyd from his thoughts, he had been walking without stopping for quite a while, and hadn’t realized he had advanced quite a bit.
However, that was no justification for receiving V.P.
It was then the boy realized something.
Alice was squeezing his hand tightly.
The young man turned to see her, she looked more restless than normally.
"Is something wrong Alice?" the boy asked confused, while observing her confused.
The girl didn’t respond, but hid behind Lloyd, something that left him disconcerted.
"Alice?" the boy asked again, quite confused.
The girl was trembling, looking at a fixed point in front of her.
Lloyd decided to look at what she was looking at.
Upon turning, he only saw a woman.
A woman who was a mess, disheveled hair, empty eyes, emaciated face, scrawny body, dirty and old clothes.
She didn’t seem like someone powerful, just a normal homeless person.
However, at that moment the woman turned, and noticed both of them.
When her eyes rested on them, Lloyd felt a chill.
As if that person’s malice and resentment were tangible and sharp as a knife.
"Who..."
But Lloyd didn’t have time to question that person’s identity.
The woman had already approached, looking at Alice with a somber expression.
"Well well, look what we have here," she said with a hoarse voice full of contempt. "If it isn’t my daughter’s bitch."
Lloyd’s eyes opened wide, realizing what was happening.
But it was already too late to back away.
It was already too late.
Alice had reunited with her mother.
