Brother Oluris, who entered the room, was as beautiful as ever.
His hair, which shone through the sunlight, was smooth and sparkling.
The face that tended to be downcast was finely crafted and even somewhat feminine, which couldn’t help but make one feel like God made it with special care.
“Wuaah…You’re as beautiful as ever…”
Matilda voiced her praises.
Yes, I can see that. Brother Oluris is really beautiful, isn’t he?
By the way, the reaction of the beast-children in the room was, “Huh…?!” They were frozen with their mouths gaping open.
“Eh…um, Alice. That…”
Led by Connie, Brother Oluris came over and squeezed my hand anxiously. He was squirming and fidgeting, demonstrating his communicative behavior even to the little ones.
That timid transfer student-like behavior made it hard to believe that this was the same person who came to the birthday party on a horse because he was worried about Brother Will.
I thought that I shouldn’t, but I couldn’t help but grin because it was so cute.
“Wow……a fairy?”
“It’s a fairy!”
“He smells so reassuring…!”
The beast-children, who had finally become unfrozen, started cheering cutely.
Mufufu…I knew it. I grinned.
I was sure that Brother Oluris, who was liked enough to be yandered by the spirits, would be liked by the beast-children who had animal attributes. It was just the high road of fantasy, wasn’t it?
Somehow, I feel that if I went to a different world, Brother Oluris could be the most powerful saint who was liked by both spirits and monsters. That kind of guy.
In any case, after feeling the welcoming presence, I could see Brother Oluris’s fidgety shoulders start to relax. Good, good.
Brother Will and the little aides also looked relieved.
“They’re very cute kids, Alice…”
Brother Oluris laughed softly, and the relief seemed to remind him of his purpose for coming here.
He made a slightly crisp face.
“Uh……-ehem-. There is a reason that I’ve been called here today.”
After voicing that out to everyone, Brother Oluris took out a small object from his pocket.
“This is a potpourri that has not been given any magic yet. Alice has prepared this same item for the number of people here. Uh…isn’t that right?…Alice.”
Although he was speaking crisply, he was still a bit uneasy about speaking for a long time in front of people…Brother Oluris came swooping back over here.
I nodded with a smile and opened my mouth.
“Yes! I prepared a handful of them by hand. Brother Oluris will teach me how to turn them into magical amulets, and I’m going to give them to everyone to keep.”
“Amulet…?”
I could see the “Why?” floating over everyone’s heads. I continued to explain.
“I believe that there is a custom in many places to have protective magical tools to avoid danger. That is one of the reasons.”
Some of them nodded their heads in agreement at that, and some of them went ‘hmm?’ A lot of the children didn’t seem to understand that.
Perhaps it was because of the supernatural phenomenon of magic in this world, which could be created by human hands, there were not many things like ‘special talismans with the blessings of God’ or ‘lucky charms as a source of comfort.’
Rather, there were many more specific protective magic tools (amulets/talismans) like what Brother Oluris gave to Brother Will, but they were not as popular as they should be because they were considered luxury items.
“There is one more reason for having an amulet…It is a sign of companionship. It is a sign that I, Alice Rebecca Archelaus, am the guardian that will walk beside you.”
Hearing that, the beast-children reacted with a twitch.
Among them, Ivan-sama and Fredge-sama, and some of the beast-children had startled expressions on their faces.
…Yeah. Well, there’s a lot of explaining to do.
Actually, some of these beast-children…It seems that they were pretty much abused and bullied by Gabriella’s group.
The main culprit were the aides who took instructions from Gabriella.
Two guys named Nicholas and Kirche.
It was only recently discovered. Perhaps because of their pride as beast-men, they thoroughly hid the fact that they were being abused…but eventually, they got into a situation where they were injured, albeit lightly.
It was revealed to the two leaders, Ivan-sama and Fredge-sama, and when I overheard the commotion of the two angry people, I found out. That’s how it happened.
The words said by the other party ranged from disparaging the beastmen, who could only rank up to a baron, as being of a low status, all the way to something factually inaccurate, such as smelling like animals (In case you were wondering, the beast-children smell like the sun).
They also said that the trend was to mock the so-called Alice faction with the ‘Alice is an idiot for using stupid and dumb beastmen so heavily’ kind of thing. Every time they were told that, they cried because they were conflicted about whether I would be bothered if they didn’t leave my group…even if they didn’t leave my group, they didn’t want to, and didn’t know what to do.
If I hear a story like that…
…Naturally, there was no way I could forgive her.
Honestly, it was the first time I had gotten truly angry at Gabriella, after only dealing with her as a silly little girl…And I was angry at myself for being an idiot for not realizing this until it surfaced.
I thought calmly with a simmering anger that I would definitely retaliate while I took measured actions with care.
Anyway, that’s how it happened.
The amulets were a physical protection, a testament to being part of the group I protect.
I came up with the idea of giving them an amulet to show that I cared for them more than anything else.
Speaking of amulets—Brother Oluris! When I contacted him, he said that if that was the reason, then he would love to help me. (***T/N: Another word for the ‘amulets’ can be ‘talismans’ or ‘charms’ but I just went with ‘amulet.’ It’s basically like the potpourri bag that Oluris gave will many chapters ago)
While we were discussing the use of the messenger spirits, we agreed that he would teach me how to make as well as study them for the future.
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T/N: I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July weekend! I myself just moved apartments. Also, a very special thanks to the person who donated to me not too long ago–it is headed straight for my ‘japanese/english’ dictionary fund