The Cursed Fanalis

Chapter 7

[Meanwhile]

Morgiana takes a piece of her sweet bread from the bag she was holding to her chest as she watches Astarah turn her head back and fort, drooling over food. While the boys wait that is. She then glances over to the boys who were sitting at a fountain chatting.

The young fanalis tugs on Astarah's skirt, grabbing her attention.

"What is it Morg? Look Morg! There's so much sweets! Food everywhere...", she swallows her drool and clasps her hands together. She quickly grabs a sample from a food merchant and pays attention to Morgiana. "Yeah?"

"Astarah-san.", she wipes her mouth with her arm and slightly turns her head to the others. "By any chance, do you like Hakuryuu?", she stares at Astarah.

Astarah then, chokes on her sample and pumps her chest with her fist a few times, coughing.  Her cheeks slowly turned red."W-what? How— I mean, what makes you say that Morg? Ahaha! You're silly Morg—"

Chills ran down her spine as Morgiana stares at her, as if she sees everything through her. There was no point of hiding it. 

Astarah sighs, slumps her shoulders and bashfully replies. "Yes I do."

Suddenly, they heard someone call for them. "Morgiana! Astarah-chan!"

The two of them turned around to see Kougyoku and Judar. "Yo woman."

"She added -chan on mine.", Astarah grinned in a bliss.

Judar's eyebrows suddenly perked up as he sees Astarah's blushing face. He chuckles and points his wand at her. "What happened with her? Her face is all red.", he asks Morgiana.

"Shut up black magi. It's nothing.", Astarah mumbles her second sentence and looks away, puffing her cheeks. Then, her attention turned to somewhere else.

[Astarah's POV]

That same bell silenced my surroundings, ringing and echoing. 

"I'd rather die than serve on my knees.", I unconsciously mumbled.

I gasped, cupping my mouth after Judar calls for my name. I turned to him, panting and nervous. He stares at me for a long time and then softly smiles at me.

The princess next to him covers her mouth with her sleeve in surprise too. "Don't stress on a lot of stuff alright woman?", Judar slightly pokes my head with his wand while floating in the air.

There was another bell.

"Uhm. Thanks.", I cupped my forehead. Surprisingly, Judar's a little nice today.

Maybe... It's because of that princess?

I found myself glancing at princess Kougyoku. She looks so innocent but I know deep inside, she's more clever than most women. Just with one glance, I can already tell that she's a good person. And a strong one too.

My chest began to tighten and I don't know why. My body started to feel strange and warm. I began to feel my face, my eyebrows were twitching for some reason. Well, whatever, not like I care anyways. "So, what brings you guys here?", I asked.

"Nothing much. Wanted to show this ol' hag around the kingdom. It's pretty neat.", the black magi looks around and nods, satisfied with his surroundings. 

The bell again.

My head was hammering. Pounding my brain into bits. I held my head down and bit my lips, enduring the pain.

I don't know what's going on but I have to find out where that damn bell is coming from. 

[Nobody's POV]