"What the hell just happened?" Liam asked, blinking in surprise.
"I tricked it into spilling the liquid on its head," Hazel replied simply. "Kappas are big on respect, so they'd bow back at you if you bow at them first. Unfortunately, that would also cause the river water on their head to spill over, which freezes them in place until the water is refilled."
Chester shivered in the corner of a room, despite having three emerald orbs of fire circling him. "It's... n— not the only one... who g— got frozen..."
"Sorry... I wasn't thinking properly." Liam gave him an abashed look. "Didn't know it could move that quickly."
"Good thinking, Hazel." Chester cracked a smile at the girl. "Gotta admit, we would never have caught the monster without your knowledge about Yokai. But even so, who would've thought of freezing it that way? You're quite the trickster, eh?"
Hazel shifted uncomfortably at the word. Chester must've noticed it as well, because he reached forward and wrapped an ice-cold arm around her shoulder.
"That was a compliment, by the way," he chuckled. "Looks like there's a lot more to you than what meets the eye."
Hazel blushed deeply at the boy's proximity.
"Alright, alright." Liam laughed as well. "If you're done flirting with the girl, shall we return this Yokai to the tent? Don't wanna risk any complications."
"Hell yeah! Two down, two to go," Chester cheered, carelessly waving the box which he had used to store the Yokai. "This is going unbelievably well—"
"Hey, be gentle with that box. You could crush the Yokai's soul if you aren't careful."
Chester brushed Liam's warning off with a half-hearted wave as he put the green-adorned box into his pocket. A few sharp knocks rapped on the door.
"Is everything alright, Master Davies?" Alden poked his head into the room. "I heard quite a bit of commotion."
"It couldn't go better!" Chester grinned widely. "Caught the Kappa red-handed!"
"That's a relief," the butler said. "If you are headed to the tent now, may I have a word with Miss Hazel Adams for a moment first?"
Hazel's heart skipped a beat.
"What for?" Liam asked in a serious tone. "If she has done anything wrong, I apologise on her behalf—"
"No, not at all. She hasn't done anything wrong." Alden shook his head. "I just need to ask and confirm a few things with her. Not to worry, I'll escort the lady to your site of operations when we're finished."
"Is this regarding...?"
The butler replied with a silent nod. If Liam was surprised, he had chosen not to show it. Instead, he simply stood up and motioned to Chester.
"C'mon, let's go."
~ ~ ~
Hazel followed the chief butler through another winding hallway. He had chosen to remain silent throughout the journey, which naturally meant she had no chance of talking as well. She groaned internally. Hanging out with her two classmates didn't take away her shyness. Why did they have to leave her with a total stranger?
Alden led her to an uncharacteristically small room and closed the door. There was nothing else in it, other than an unusually regular-looking cabinet sitting in a corner. Nervousness pricked at Hazel again as the man began rummaging through what looked like large photo albums inside the drawers. What's happening?
The sound of the heavy drawer sliding shut brought her attention back to the present. Curiosity washed away all sorts of worst-case scenarios plaguing her anxious mind. Alden was holding a relatively smaller photo frame now.
"I apologise for my forwardness, Miss Adams." He held out the photo. "But are you, by any chance, acquainted with these two people?"
It took Hazel all her willpower not to snatch the photo in shock. A familiar couple smiled back at her. The woman had wavy auburn hair, while the man's striking blue eyes were the same ones that looked back at her in the mirror every day. Both of them were sitting on expensive-looking chairs, while a younger-looking Alden stood by their side with a sober look on his face.
"H— How...?" she breathed as the photo sitting on her house altar flashed through her mind again. "You knew my parents?"
Alden tilted his head slightly as a white glow flashed in his eyes.
"You didn't? Poor girl..." he muttered to himself. "But this magic is... No, I mustn't interfere—"
Hazel let out a grunt of annoyance. She had just about enough of people around her spewing vague statements and asking cryptic questions.
"No! No, no, no. You're not leaving me hanging too," the girl demanded, jabbing a finger at Alden. "How do you know my parents? What are they to you? Who... Just who am I?"
The man frowned considerably. Hazel stood her ground, despite every fibre in her body screaming at her to apologise for the outburst.
"Yes, they would've wanted this..." Alden said after a short pause. "They would have wanted you to know."
"Know what?"
"Mistress Hazel Adams." The butler bowed his head slightly, as if by reflex. "You're the last remaining member of the late House of Adams."
Hazel blinked. "I... I'm a Magus?"
"Not quite. Or rather, not anymore," Alden said. "In the Union Of Magus, the House of Adams was a unique one. It was one of the oldest and by far the richest family under old money. Descended directly from Charlie Adams— the first Magus who discovered our power— your family possessed the oldest and most natural gift, the gift of clairvoyance."
The girl looked at her hands. "I'm magic...? But why didn't anyone tell me about it? Why can't I do what Chester and Liam do?"
"I'm afraid I don't know the details." Alden shook his head apologetically. "About ten years ago, the House of Adams got into a fight with the higher-ups. We were told it had something to do with one of their premonitions, but the details were never disclosed to anyone else. All we knew was that the House chose to dissolve itself one day, and all its servants were reassigned to other Houses. I was one of them."
"So that's why I don't have magic?" Hazel asked. "Because my House dissolved?"
"But you do, don't you?" the butler said. "You foresaw that water was the key to capturing the supernatural creature. You just haven't been taught any spells, but you clearly still have your House's old magic within you."
"Huh? I didn't foresee anything. I only sensed its watery presence; Liam can do that too."
"Master Davies can sense presences based on its proximity. That's how his gift works. If you truly have that same gift, why didn't you sense the river spirit when you passed by Master Liam Davies' room at the entrance? Shouldn't you have also felt the creature's presence inside just as he did?"
Hazel hesitated. The man had a point. Even back in school, she had passed by the faculty office many times but never once sensed the Hahakigami's presence until she was about to encounter it.
Revelation rocked her mind further as she recalled the Jubokko incident as well. Were those supernatural presences she sensed during the weeks leading up to it not actually any monster, but premonitions of what was about to come?
"Wait, why are you even telling me this?" Hazel shook her head. "If you knew my parents, you should also know that they died giving birth to me. I never knew them. What difference does this make?"
If Alden's frown got any deeper, she would've been able to swim in it.
"Because that's not true." The man flipped the photo album and pointed at another picture. "This is you, isn't it?"
It was Hazel's turn to frown.
The photo was old and blurry, but there was no mistaking her six-year-old self grinning childishly at the camera. The woman holding her hand was undoubtedly her mother, and her father was posing unabashedly with a group of robed people.
Hazel gripped her head. How was this possible? Did her grandfather lie to her about her parents? Why couldn't she remember anything about them?
"Your memory was wiped," Alden stated plainly, as though he had read her mind. "The residual magic imprinted on it is that of a memory-locking spell, that much I am sure. We Magus have used this spell countless times to lock away the memories of any civilian witnesses, after all."
"Can you lift it?" she asked eagerly.
"I can lift memory spells, yes. But..."
"But what?" Hazel half-shouted. She didn't mean to show her impatience, but she had to know why. She had to know who did this to her.
"I can't dispel yours. Memory spells can only be lifted by the person who cast them, unless that person is dead," Alden explained calmly. "Whoever cast that spell on you is very much alive. And judging from the unique magic signature on your mind, it..."
He exhaled loudly. "Someone from the House of Adams cast it on you."
What? Who on Earth would—
The girl gasped. Could it be...?
"Does Liam know about this?" she asked, desperate for a lead that would prove her hunch otherwise.
"He is aware that I was transferred from the House of Adams. So yes," Alden replied wryly. "He has even used the influence of his House to help me look for members of the Adams family. I don't know what happened, but they just disappeared one day. As a former servant of their House, I owe them a debt for the life I've led. All I want is to make sure they're safe. I'm glad that you are."
Hazel exhaled softly, her demure demeanour popping its head up again.
"Thanks for telling me all this, Alden." She smiled sweetly. "I'll ask my grandfather if he knows anything about it."
Alden returned the smile with a small twinkle in his eye.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBIcMv91jIc
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