บท 26: Older Brother
While Elaina is busy expanding her new farm, the search for the empress leads to nowhere and the people have finally learned about her disappearance. Although Alfred has not leaked the information about her disappearance, he knows that the news will spread and it is just inevitable at this point. After all, the businesses that Elaina once managed are now lacking the leader that once led the businesses to prosperity hence, to avoid closing or filing a bankruptcy, Alfred was forced to take over their businesses and manage them as much as he could.
Elaina planned the situation to ensure Alfred would be buried in work by the time he should be searching for her. Since Alfred can't afford to lose the businesses and let them close down, he has no choice but to do all of the work left behind. Selena also helped him but compared to the capabilities of Elaina in managing the businesses and how she has all the trust of the people with her management, it is pretty much inferior and she can't match it.
One day, while the two are buried in the mountain of paperwork that Elaina should be managing, they get an unexpected visitor.
"Your Majesty, someone is here looking for you," one of the soldiers said to Alfred who was rubbing his temples as he was having a headache with all this stuff.
"Tell that person that the emperor is busy and will not be receiving any guests."
"B-but...the person coming here is Lord Troy."
When Selena heard the name, she stood up in shock.
"What? Brother?! Shouldn't he be busy with work?" Selena is shocked knowing how busy her brother is that he is not even able to attend most events that he is invited to as he prioritizes his work more.
But the guy himself has arrived and is waiting for them.
When Alfred heard this, he didn't even think twice and stopped his work to meet and greet his visitor. Selena also followed him as well. The soldier followed suit after they left, knowing the reputation of the young man in question.
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...
...
In the living room, a young man with blonde hair that is strikingly similar to Selena and Elaina's hair is currently waiting while seemingly annoyed and impatient. He wears a leather apron that still has signs of grease on it, underneath the apron is his red long-sleeve shirt with both sleeves rolled over up until his elbow. He also wears baggy brown pants, and thick and large gloves on both hands. He looks like a nobleman at first glance, but his attire suggests that he is more of a worker than a nobleman if someone looks at him fully without knowing his origin.
It didn't take long before Alfred and Selena arrived, with the guy waiting for them. He is bored and he slowly opens his eyes, showing how annoyed he is.
"You took so long, people," he frowned, talking with an informal tone in his voice to Alfred without any signs of formality on it. If anyone heard this aside from them, they might try to reprimand him on his way of talking to the emperor.
But the emperor does not want to cause any disrespect to the guy himself. After all, without him, the machines and all the technology around the world wouldn't function. The one who is called the person who created the new era incorporating both magic and machine together creating the Automata Era is also the Older Brother of Elaina and Selena, Troy Zangarde. And for someone of his stature, he is someone who is a lot higher ranking than the emperor himself. He is someone that no one wanted to cause trouble with, and someone they wanted to get close with.
"Brother...we are sorry..." Selena apologizes.
"It's fine. I know you are busy Selena so I won't mind it. However, the other guy on the other hand is someone I don't think I will just ignore completely."
Alfred stiffened when the young man glared at him sharply.
"You little bastard, what happened and why did my younger sister run away from you? There is no way she will just run away without any sort of reason and just because she felt like it?" Troy is angry but he is holding back a lot of this anger.
"I..." Alfred couldn't say it. After all, he knows the main reason why his wife left.
"What? Cat got your tongue all of a sudden? Speak. Don't waste my time."
"I...I don't know..."
Hearing the response, Troy angrily slammed his hand to the table, causing it to crack.
"You little sh*t...it is your f*cking wife and you didn't know what caused her to run away you piece of..." Troy is doing his best to hold back and he is trying to contain his anger.
"Brother! Calm down! The soldiers are already doing their best to find my sister. You don't need to be worried. Even our parents are also helping out as well!" Selena tried to make her brother calm down.
"Ha...f*cking hell. These people are useless and our parents? Ha, I don't think they cared about finding Elaina at all. More like they are looking for her to scold her for running away and making this useless emperor worried about her. Pretty much useless like the soldiers. Therefore, I don't think you lot will find her anyways," then Troy stood up and was preparing to leave.
"You are leaving already, Brother? W-why don't you stay and eat-" Before Selena could finish saying it, Troy interrupted her.
"No thanks. My appetite would just disappear if I ate with that guy over there. I gotta go and find her myself. Of course, don't expect me to tell you all where she is right now if I ever find her. If you want, then find her yourself."
And with that, Troy left, without caring about the shocked and speechless Alfred. He is not sure what happened and how he felt so helpless just by talking to Elaina's brother. Although he knows why Elaina left, there is no way he has the gall to say it straight at him. He might instead kill him instead of talking to him.
On the other hand, Selena felt a slight fear of her brother. Although he is kind and gentle to both her and Elaina, whenever he is angry, he is terrifying and for her, he is someone they don't dare to even try to piss off...well aside from Elaina who didn't care about the temperament of her brother. More like Elaina would be the one who will beat up Troy outright. Still, Selena can feel the grief and somewhat confused reaction of Alfred. He is confused about what he would choose to say to Troy since either choice of him would just end him getting chewed on.
However, Selena hoped that they would find Elaina soon and properly explain everything. Otherwise, things will no longer be the same.
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...
Troy left using his magic-fueled prototype motorcycle he developed. He curses Alfred under his breath as he starts to think of a way to find Elaina.
"Although Elaina has many places she can hide, I can see her not using any of those places if she doesn't want to be found by anyone. And based on how long she was gone now and yet no news about her whereabouts, there are only two chances of it now, one is that she had a getaway place that no one knows except her, or the second is that she went on to a different kingdom. Knowing my sister, she clearly will just leave the kingdom and live in a different one instead."
Troy started thinking. He might not know what Elaina was thinking, but he can somewhat predict her a bit. As he passed through the harbor, he looked at the distance of the wide sea.
"The sea...huh?"
Seemingly getting an idea of where to look for her next, Troy turned on his engine and headed back home. If his assumption is correct, then she might be somewhere beyond the sea.
"Don't worry Elaina. If you have any problems, I will be there as your brother. If that f*cking husband of yours did something for you to go so far and run away from your duties, I will ensure to let him know what pain is like."
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