Hide and Seek (part 1)

Ch. X - Hide and Seek (Elice)

-----

10… 9…

8… 7…

6… 5…

4… 3…

2… 1… 

0.

Time is up!!

I opened my eyes, and turned my face away from the wall. I began to start walking, and I started with the building's left hall of the floor.

Ah damn… this will take a while. The royal castle was so big, and I am looking for two small idiots. This might take forever.

But, they did say that I can cheat, and so I will.

"Madam Feyn, can you come with me?

Lelia, I need your help.

Polard, Polard!! Stop cutting the leaves for a bit and help me look!

Mister Jarhad… Actually, nevermind. You suck at playing this game."

One by one, I recruited the maids and butlers to help me play. Those boys think they can hide from the entire population of the castle? They are certainly overestimating themselves.

Except for Mister Jarhad, the head chef, he sucked at playing the seeker. He got quite mad for that, but he helped with the search anyway.

Four out of the seven chefs are helping me, and over fifteen maids and butlers have combined forces in order to seek these two children. These boys ain't gonna be hiding for long.

But as the clock keeps ticking, the more I feel worried. We have agreed that the game will stop by 4 pm, and it has been two hours since it started. Only five minutes… are remaining.

Not a single soul on my side has found where the boys are at.

"Gaaahh!!! Where the hell are they!?!"

I said angrily, making the maids and butlers around me chuckle.

Everyone here knows that the royal family likes to play hide and seek. Back in my younger days, Dad always became the seeker while me and Ars, who is the second child, hides. Dad always found us every time, since he knows this castle like the back of his head.

That, or he was just cheating by using magic senses. Now that I'm older, I realize that is indeed a possibility.

Wait, magic senses…

The butlers… there's no way they have the ability to use magic, let alone the maids. I'm not going to cheat by asking Mom or Dad, that would not be fun.

So…

I quickly ran outside the castle, and I went to the front gate. There, I can see two guards guarding the gate.

"Guards!! I need your help!"

Four more minutes. I can make it.

The guards at the gate quickly became alerted. They entered through the gate and arrived in front of me rather quickly, with a worried face.

"W-What's wrong, princess!? Is something happening!?"

The first guard to arrive quickly asked, and from his worried face, he must've thought something bad was happening.

"D-Don't worry, it's nothing bad. I just need your help for a bit. Maybe just one of you..."

"O-Okay…"

The front knight turned to the second knight, and the second knight turned back towards the gate to guard it again.

"How can I help you?"

"Can you… Do you have the ability to use magic senses?"

"M-Magic sense? Y-Yes, I do know--"

"Can you teach me?"

"H-Huh?"

.

Three minutes remaining.

The guard told me the basics of searching with a magic sense, which is to basically not rely on any of your five senses and activate a sixth sense, which is the magic sense.

For someone like me who has never used magic before, that's obviously going to be difficult.

Can I really learn magic sense in just three minutes time…?

Whatever, I'm doing it!

"You got the basis correct, princess! As expected, you are talented. But what you are looking for is not sound, or voice, or light. You are looking for magic."

He said to make sure I get it, and while it is indeed that I am talented, it is still very difficult.

To search for magic… that's…

"Yeah. That's not happening."

"Fuahh… figures…"

Even the guard gave up, haha.

"Why do you need to learn magic sense so hurryingly, anyway?"

"I'm playing hide and seek with my brothers…"

"O-Oh… wait, isn't using magic sense sort of cheating?"

"W-Well, they did allow me to cheat…"

The guard then gave my words a bit more thought, until finally arrived on an idea of his own.

"Ah, then why not ask me to look for them?"

"!!!"

How did I not think of that…?

.

One and a half minutes left.

We have just entered the front door, and will now start looking. In the lobby is where all the idle butlers, maids, and chefs are. Everyone already stopped searching since there is only so little time left, and will be relying completely on the guard.

"Go on, sir Marst."

I said to the guard who just introduced himself to me, and he nodded. 

He activated his magic sense as he turned his gaze to the ceiling, and everyone in the lobby watched as he did it.

He suddenly turned his gaze towards the left side of the building, and it seemed like he found something.

But all of the sudden, his face turned to shock.

"W-What is it?"

I asked him worriedly, and he turned his horrified face to me.

"I-It seems like… your parents are not happy that I used a magic sense…"

Oh… he must've sensed their presence and found that they were angry. I heard you can do that with magic sense, since finding someone means that they can find you as well.

"I-I see… I'm sorry, I'll explain it to them, so don't worry."

"O-Okay. I found your brothers, though."

"Y-You do!?"

.

Fifteen seconds.

"She's never gonna find us, haha!!"

"There's only fifteen seconds left too, should we come out?"

Elvin and Ars said respectively while looking at the watch on their hands. They have agreed to come out, now that there is only less than fifteen seconds left.

But what they didn't know was there were people at the other side of that lid.

"Boo!!!"

""WAAA!!!!""

They got scared so beautifully…

Ars and Elvin were hiding behind the cold fireplace in the first floor's dining room. To think these little pricks have been hiding in the dining room the entire time… inside the fireplace too!!

But… who would've thought that there is a hole right behind the wall on the fireplace…

How did they even find it?

"Well, what can I say… boys are always so adventurous."

The head maid, Madam Feyn said to me as we watched the boys crawl out. Everyone who helped with the search is now behind me, and they all also just found out that there is a hidden space right behind the fireplace.

"Man… you kids just don't care about getting dirty, huh…?"

I said worriedly when I saw how dirty their clothes were. It is the fireplace, specifically the space behind it. It's possible that it is quite dirty there.

"Well, we did hide from you for two whole hours--Which, we did win by the way."

"Hell no, I found you right at the very end. Just because you survived most of the time, you will still lose if you lose right at the very end!"

I said with a sense of pride, making the boys even angrier. They looked like they were about to argue, but my attention already wandered away from them.

"Speaking of which… What the hell is that place?"