Spinoff 2-2: Days of Cat and Dog (2)
The moment the attack was about to pour down, Azar could sense it instinctively.
‘He really intends to kill me.’
Though they had fought each other 24/7 the whole year, there wasn’t a time they truly wanted each other dead.
But well, perhaps he was alone in that thought.
His couldn’t let his body be shredded by ice spikes, so he planned to escape using teleportation.
Psh-!
The rain of ice spikes pouring down disappeared before Azar’s eyes without a trace.
Did he take back his attack? — wondered Azar as he looked over at Roxa. He seemed to have been caught off guard by the sudden situation as well.
“What are you two doing?!”
Hades was shouting at the top of his voice out the second-floor window of the castle. Beside him was the pale-faced Aisha as well.
It seemed that Aisha had nullified Roxa’s attack.
Standing and blinking in a daze, Azar and Roxa started glaring at each other again as if they were about to kill each other. Hades looked down at them and shook his head with bafflement.
“There isn’t a single quiet day with them around. Should I kick them out?”
“Ho…ney…”
Hearing Aisha’s sudden moan from behind him. Hades turned to look, startled.
“What’s the matter?”
“I-I feel… s-so hurt. M-My stomach hurts so bad…”
“Wh-what?!”
Perhaps because she was surprised by the sudden fuss, or because she had to use a huge amount of mana as she nullified Roxa’s magic all of a sudden, Aisha was in an odd state.
She fell back with sweating coldly and Hades hurriedly grabbed a hold of her.
“H-honey. I-I think the baby is-is about to come out…”
Hades’ eye shook like an earthquake.
* * *
Aisha’s labor began.
Four people: two midwives, one doctor and the mother Aisha were in the labor room.
In the hallway outside stood Hades with a blanched face. Walking to and fro, his footsteps showed his concerns and nervousness for his wife.
And both Abel and Deborah who came running the moment they were notified, had the same expression as Hades as they bit on their nails standing before the labor room.
“T-they say giving birth hurts so much… would the duchess be in a lot of pain now as well?” Deborah asked.
Abel gulped dryly. Though he was worried about Aisha more than anyone, he forced a smile in order to soothe Deborah.
“It’ll be fine. Mother said with one strong push, they come out at once.”
“R-really?”
“Yeah, yes…”
When he asked, concerned after hearing from the doctor that the labor pain is gravely painful a while ago, Aisha really did give him such an answer.
-My, were you that concerned? Mommy is fine, Abel. You don’t need to worry so much. If I give one big push like in the loo, they will come out at once.
Right. So she really would be alright. She better be…
“Ahhhhgh!”
Flinch-
With Aisha’s painful scream piercing through the labor room door as if to break it, Abel froze solid from feigning calmness.
Deborah shook Abel’s sleeve looking upset.
“Y-you said it doesn’t hurt! You are a liar!”
“…”
The expression Abel had on his face as he was being shaken was quite a sight. His crimson eyes were dazed from worry and looked hollowed out.
“Ackk! I’m dying!!”
Hearing Aisha’s pained scream continuing, Hades also stood frozen pale with a dazed expression.
Abel stumped his feet in frustration and asked Hades.
“W-when will the priests get here, father?”
“T-they will be here soon. I-I’ve contacted them. T-they were staying in our duchy so… soon, soon.”
The usual cold and level-headed Hades was nowhere to be seen. He barely managed to answer through trembling lips and clenched his teeth.
The only pain light elementalists could not tolerate despite being able to heal themselves, would be labor pain…
In order to deal with the continuous labor pains until the baby comes out, they would need to focus their mind and pour all the mana they have… but that couldn’t possibly be easy.
And so, as Aisha’s labor month approaches, Hades called over some high priests to lessen her labor pain and heal her body and had them standby within the duchy…
“Why aren’t they coming?!”
In the end, Hades could not stand any longer and let out a shout.
Then,
“Wot are ye firehog glaring at me for? Ye want another go?”
“Shut up, you bunting. Read the room and shut your mouth.”
Hades’ ears, which had become extremely sensitive, picked up the two people quarreling in whispers.
Hades glared at the corner of the hallway right away as if to kill.
“What are you two yapping for?”
On their knees side by side, Azar and Roxa were being punished with their arms held up high for 30 minutes already.
Azar complained at Hades who was gritting his teeth.
“My lord, I guess this bunting deserved it, but what am I doing here?”
“You think I’m counting only what happened today? I have looked over the two of you fighting and trashing the place here and there every time you lay your eyes on each other, didn’t I?”
With angry footsteps, Hades approached them and scolded them with a low growl.
Seeing Hades looking properly enraged, Azar and Roxa quietly lowered their eyes.
It couldn’t be helped. The bad timing made Aisha shocked enough to start her labor.
If there was one being who could make cold-headed Hades emotional, that would be Aisha. If anything were to go wrong with her, it wouldn’t matter if they were comrades or his subjects. Azar and Roxa would be turned into handfuls of ashes.
“Roxa Tribolt. You,”
Whew, with a sigh tinted with rage, Hades continued.
“Do you have any sanity left in you? Didn’t I tell you already, don’t go nosing around.”
“No, Ye Grace, I…”
“Shut up. Just answer my question.”
Cutting Roxa’s excuse short, Hades gritted his teeth.
“What kind of pointless thing did you pick a fight with this time?”
“I wasn’t picking fights for no reason! Because of this damnable firehog…”
Roxa pouted through his enraged mutters.
“…my dear sweet miss Anne has lost her appetite and fell sick in bed. How would I ever be able to look away from this?”
“Huh?”
“Huh…”
Hades and Azar both let out a dumbfounded sigh.
“Don’t tell me, you were coming at me because of… of that thing happening a week ago?” Azar asked with a bewildered expression. Roxa glared.
By ‘that thing happening a week ago’…
-Er, Er…. Sir! No, Mr. Azar! No, Azar!
-…Huh? What did you, did you call me by my name?
-I like you, Azar. W-What do you think of me by any chance? I-If it’s okay with you, would you go out with me?
Anne called up Azar to confess her feelings…
-No. I have never seen you that way. Miss Anne.
-…Huh?
-And I don’t think I’ll ever think about you that way in the future either. And calling me by my name feels so… odd. So please just call me as you did before next time. I’ll be heading out.
…only to get brutally rejected.
Since then, he did hear that Anne fell sick but how would that be his fault? Azar was baffled.
“My lord, this punk has lost his mind. Why would that be my fault, huh?”
“Whew… shut up. You didn’t do any better either.”
“Huh?”
He felt frustrated to death. Azar smacked down his chest.
Tap tap tap tap-
Just then, there appeared hurried footsteps from the end of the hallway. It was Anne.
She must have heard that Aisha’s labor had started. She seemed to have come despite her sick condition.
“Y-Your Grace… Haa, hah…”
“What did you come here for? You should have just stayed in bed.”
“What about, mistress, haa…”
Anne was catching her breath with a face that got worse in a week. She noticed Azar on his knees in the corner of the hallway and hesitated.
Soon, Anne turned her head with a reddened face. Azar with a look of discontent also averted his eyes, biting his lips. Looking at the two of them, Roxa became uncharacteristically gloomy and drooped his body.
‘Oh, this is going well…’
Hades looked at them with an incredulous look.
“Ahhhgh! It hurttts!!!”
Through the silence, Aisha’s scream once again rang through the labor room door.
At the same time, Deborah burst into tears.
“Huaaa…”
“P-Priestess, d-don’t cry… Huu….”
Abel tried to soothe Deborah in surprise and started to tear up himself.
“I-I am useless, I can’t help the duchess when… I-I am the only light elementalist here, and I can’t do, a-anything just waiting for the priests… Huu, I am a useless child…”
As she had not yet awakened her light element ability of purification, Deborah seemed greatly stressed from being unable to help Aisha.
“No, Priestess…!”
“What is this girl talking about?”
Hades ran before Deborah at once and bent his knees to soothe her.
“No no, who in this empire would be of use if not you? A kid is not supposed to say such a thing. Stop crying shh. Hush now.”
“Huaaaa….”
“And Abel, you are already 15. What are you doing crying along with her? Cut it out, this instant!”
“Khb!”
“Huaaaa…”
Deborah continued crying, while…
“You stupid fire hog, come on out! I cannot stand it anymore! I will see the end of you today!”
“Sure, you bunting! I cannot stand your absurdity any longer myself! Let’s have a go at it then, let’s fight until one of us is knocked out to the death!”
“W-what are you two doing right now?! Stop it, the two of you!”
…Roxa and Azar, Anne was jumbled together as they quarreled with each other.
“I said cut it!”
Hades’ mind was getting thinner by the minute amidst all that.
How many kids did he have to look after? Ahh… is this what ‘raising kids’ is supposed to be like?
Even through the mess, Aisha’s scream ringing out from the labor room kept getting higher and higher.
“Ahhhgh! I’m dying! Honeyyyy!”
“Shoot!” Hades gritted his teeth and pulled on his hair. “Why are these damn priests so slow?!”
Hades shouted in frustration and suddenly froze.
The reason why he called the priests was to nullify Aisha’s labor pain. And the power to ‘absorb’ pain wasn’t an ability only the light elementalists possessed either.
“Fool!”
Why did he not think of that? Hades lit up and opened the labor room at once.
“Aisha!!”
The two midwives and the doctor’s eyes widened at the sudden appearance of Hades.
“It hurts! It huuuuurts!!”
“It’s fine! I’m here!”
Aisha screamed at the top of her lungs with a thin blanket over her, covered in sweat.
Looking at her state, Hades teared up and ran up to her and laid his hand on Aisha’s swollen stomach.
“Y-Your Grace? W-What are you about to do?” the doctor asked in surprise as she watched.
Hades did not reply and concentrated. It had been a while since he used absorption.
It was merely a labor pain that any mother suffered through. How painful could it really be?
With that simple thought, Hades absorbed Aisha’s labor pain without hesitation
“H-Honey?”
Realizing the pain disappearing at once like it was being sucked off, Aisha was surprised.
Looking at Aisha’s eased expression, Hades was relieved.
“Are you feeling better now? I will keep by your side… uck!”
Whoa.
Hades’ eyes widened in surprise as he continued.
What do you know? It was a much more surprising level of pain than what he expected.
Plop-
Hades fell to his knees with his hand clasped over his mouth.