NABC Chapter 66 Barbatos
Chapter 66 Barbatos
Cecilia didn't think much of it and simply drew back the curtains. To her surprise, a figure appeared in the deep darkness outside, not at all the wind sprite she had initially imagined.
The man was wearing a white robe, with only half of his face visible.
Although she couldn't see his face clearly, Cecilia felt that he looked somewhat familiar, and this sense of déjà vu reached its peak after the uninvited guest stretched out his finger and wrote "Good evening" on the glass.
He tapped on the glass, his lips curving obediently, as if asking, "Can I come in?"
Cecilia stared at him blankly until the person outside tilted his head in confusion before hurriedly opening the window to let him in. As soon as he climbed in through the window, before he could even stand properly, she rushed into his arms and hugged him.
"Huh? So suddenly? I thought you'd ask me who I am first?" The clear voice carried a sense of surprise and flattery.
Cecilia hadn't expected to do this so suddenly, and she was even more surprised than him. Just as she awkwardly tried to pull her hand back, the wind sprite hugged her back: "But it feels so good to be recognized without having to say anything. It would be too tiring to always have to say so much like negotiating with Madam Lawrence."
This continued for a while before the wind sprite let go. The next second, she rested her head on her shoulder and sighed, saying, "I was planning to scare you when I came in, but your sudden hug startled me first."
Cecilia was taken aback.
"Yes, look for yourself!" The wind sprite looked up excitedly, pulling down the hood of her robe to see her reflection. "Ta-da! Exactly like the boy! When you see him, don't you think it's his ghost coming to find you?"
He spoke cheerfully, but Cecilia seemed to have been suddenly struck on the head.
The wind sprite frowned in distress: "Don't make that face, it looks like you're crying."
For the wind spirit, who is not human, death is just a concept. He vaguely realized the fragility of humanity and felt sad because of it. But for every person who dares to defy the demons in the sky, death is just the destination. When the ideal is realized, everything is a worthy death.
So after absorbing the power of Dekalapian and being able to take human form, he transformed into the appearance of a boy, as if to pass on the legacy, as if to commemorate it.
"Look, now I can play the instrument he left behind."
The xylophone, retrieved from the battlefield, was once carefully cleaned and now covered in scratches, yet its clear tone remains undiminished.
The wind sprite plucked the strings, playing the tune the boy often played.
"Fly, fly!"
"Like a bird in flight."
"See this world for me..."
"Fly to the highest heavens in my stead."
As the music ended, Cecilia was already in tears.
She hadn't spent much time with the boy, only about half a year at most, but even so, he still left a deep impression on her. She couldn't imagine what the boy's death meant to the wind spirit who had been with him the longest.
Even though he kept telling himself not to be sad, wasn't he also talking to himself?
No matter how much he tried to comfort himself, he realized that the boy had died for his ideals, which was a good ending for him. Even the boy himself joked before he went to the battlefield that it might not be bad to die in a place closest to freedom. But who wouldn't want to witness a new world with their own eyes?
The wind sprite lowered its eyes and gently wiped away her tears.
This time, he didn't offer any words of advice. Instead, he waited quietly until Cecilia calmed down before speaking again: "Alright, alright, girls should always look pretty. Crying for too long will turn you into a little kitten. Hmm... speaking of which, I've never even seen a kitten before. I've only heard people outside say that they can now freely enter and leave the territory. Do you want to go take a look?"
Although it was just a casual remark, the wind sprite seemed to have started to seriously consider it, stroking her chin in thought and occasionally crossing her arms with a troubled expression.
"But traveling alone can be lonely. Cecilia, would you like to come out and see the world with me?" He reached out his hand to her, asking for her opinion.
As he moved, his white robe was lifted slightly.
Cecilia glanced in that direction almost instinctively, and was instantly dazzled by the vast expanse of skin. Before she could even express her confusion, her good upbringing led her to cover her eyes as quickly as possible.
Wind Sprite: ?
Because of the injury on her neck, Cecilia couldn't say it directly, and she didn't dare to remove her hand covering her eyes. She shook her head for a long time, but still couldn't make the wind spirit understand what she meant.
The latter had no choice but to suggest covering her eyes so that Cecilia could free up her hands to gesture.
Once he understood, the wind spirit was completely bewildered. She wrapped herself tightly in her robe and tried to persuade Cecilia again and again before finally getting Cecilia to look at him again.
Under Cecilia's reproachful gaze, he tactically covered his mouth and coughed lightly, but he couldn't suppress the smile on his lips: "Although I'm not human, I still know that humans need to wear clothes, it's just that my clothes are a tiny little bit too small..."
Seeing her skeptical expression, the wind sprite repeated, "It really is only a little bit."
Then Cecilia learned just how much he meant by "a little bit".
The pristine white clothing barely covered a few key areas, leaving his exposed abdomen and legs almost blindingly white. But what Cecilia found even more unbelievable was the pair of wings on his back, which were completely invisible when he was wearing the robe.
Seemingly uncomfortable being exposed like this, Cecilia's sensitive wingtips trembled slightly. She tried to resist, but finally couldn't help herself and pulled out a piece of paper, writing her question on it: "Can I touch it?"
"Huh? It should... be okay, right?" The wind sprite's tone was somewhat uncertain. After all, he had never tried to touch his own wings before, and his impression of them was limited to the fact that they flew really fast, much faster than his previous little wings.
Having received permission, Cecilia finally stopped being polite and reached out to touch it.
An unexpected incident occurred. When the girl touched him, the wind spirit subconsciously trembled, as if an itch arose from the bottom of his heart, making him want to slap her hand away. However, seeing Cecilia's enthusiastic and fond expression, he couldn't bring himself to refuse and could only cover his mouth and endure it.
Only after Cecilia had touched him enough did he turn his head in a daze, his eyes red at the corners, looking like he had been touched terribly, which made Cecilia blush.
Unbeknownst to him, his feelings were already written all over his face, and he was still trying to hide them, so he brought up the previous topic again: "...Ahem, so do you want to come with me?"
"Now?" Cecilia was still hesitating.
"Of course not now—" The wind sprite smiled at her with her beautiful green eyes, "I just blew away the ice and snow near my territory, and I'm so tired. Let me rest here for a while—"
As he had done countless times before, he lay down on Cecilia's bed quite naturally, and probably because he was really tired, he fell asleep without even waiting for her reply.
Cecilia had no idea what he had done before, since all she had heard about the wind spirits so far was from Vanillari.
She woke up too late. Gunnhildr and Legnfender had already recovered and were busy with the reconstruction. Only she was still ordered by Vanilla to stay in her room and rest because her wounds had not yet healed. So she was still unaware of the situation outside.
But according to what the Wind Spirit just said, there seems to have been a complete upheaval outside, and the source of that upheaval is him.
Cecilia lay down beside the wind spirit and carefully observed his appearance.
At this point, how could she not see the relationship between the wind spirit and Wendy? It's just hard to believe, considering that the current timeline is 1,600 years ago, an era where it's impossible for her to know anyone from that time.
However, if they are elemental spirits, it makes sense. Elemental life has an infinite lifespan, and as long as the elements of Teyvat exist, they will also be immortal.
But why would Wendy, like an ordinary person, choose to become Lawrence's governess?
Cecilia didn't want to overcomplicate things with Wendy, but she couldn't convince herself that he would really be willing to endure the Lawrence family's ridicule just for the sake of teaching.
If everything he experienced during the trial was real, perhaps it could be explained by the fact that he was only there to visit him. But if that was the case, why did he never show it?
But what if this is just an illusion—
Cecilia took a deep breath, feeling the wound on her neck hurt even more.
She didn't want to think about it anymore; at least for now, she wanted to trust the man who had always guided her.
Cecilia closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep with the wind sprites.
*
The next morning, Cecilia was awakened by a knock on the door.
She sat up and rubbed her eyes. Although she was still a little dazed, she subconsciously opened the door for the person who came in, and then she saw Vanilla Rui carrying breakfast.
"Good morning, Cecilia." The woman smiled brightly. "Do you mind if I have lunch with you today?"
Cecilia nodded subconsciously, but felt like she had forgotten something. Before she could think about it, Vanilla urged her to wash up, while she went to put her things on the table.
She did as she was told, but it wasn't until she was washing her face that she suddenly remembered there was a wind sprite in her bed!
Cecilia hurried outside and happened to bump into Vanilla, who was staring at the wind sprite on the bed with a blanket in tow.
Unable to speak, and too guilty to do so in this situation, she shrank back behind the door, secretly watching to see what would happen next.
Then she saw Vanillari force a kind smile, pull the blanket back over the wind sprite, and grit her teeth as she said, "Lord Barbatos, could you please tell me why you're in my lovely junior's bed?"
(End of this chapter)
The author says: The person whose work and rest schedule is in the underworld has chosen an underworld time to update!