The Castle Was Too Old; It Really Needed Repairs

"You learned it so easily? It's not like it's some kind of difficult Curses. Okay, this isn't a good place to chat, let's go home."

Bell said casually.

After setting Shanna down, Bell took out his Wand.

"Obliviate!"

Not far away, Little Wizard who had been rubbing his eyes ever since Shanna appeared in her Apparition paused for a moment, then walked toward the exit as if nothing had happened.

Let's go.

With that, Bell took Shanna's hand and disappeared from the spot.

William and Elena exchanged a helpless glance, and then Side-Along Apparition away as well.

Standing outside his own Defense Barrier, Bell carefully observed the castle and gardens not far away.

"... Hmm, perfectly intact. Father was just making a fuss over nothing."

As for the perceived Defense Barrier, why are the fluctuations somewhat abnormal?

Well, things like protective barriers, after being used for a long time, will always have a few days each month when something's not right. Is that... normal?

"Gege, what's wrong?"

Shanna asked somewhat nervously.

The little girl stood behind Bell, trying her best not to let her Gege see her slightly nervous expression. At the same time, she carefully observed the house in front of her.

"... Hmm, very good! The House-elf are quite fast."

"It's nothing, let's go home."

"Um!"

After their parents also Apparition, the Bell family of four happily walked towards the castle.

"Over there... I remember there used to be a tower there, didn't you?"

As he walked, Bell felt like something was missing. After thinking for a moment, Bell pointed to the north side of the castle and asked.

"!?" *3

"Oh, well... that tower is a bit too old. Your mother and I discussed it and decided to tear it down and rebuild it."

William quickly used his cleverness to try and deceive him.

"So you two stop looking at me! You two really do have a super good relationship, right? Otherwise, how could you have such great chemistry?!"

William was truly at his wit's end when the mother and daughter glared at him menacingly at Bell's question!

The tower on the north side was destroyed during the mother and daughter's first "battle." Before it could be repaired, it suffered repeated damage.

Later on, not even a single intact stone could be found, making it impossible to repair with Reparo. Plus, being so busy and disoriented, I completely forgot about it.

William only realized that his family was missing a tower when Bell mentioned it. He'd been driven to the brink of a nervous breakdown by his wife and daughter lately.

"So please stop making me take the blame! I don't want to take the blame for these things!"

"Yeah?"

Bell was still a little confused. Although he couldn't quite remember how old the tower was, with magic around, even if they wanted to renovate it, they shouldn't need to tear it all down, right?

Bell frowned as he looked at the somewhat messy magical plants and the sparse Magical Animals in the garden.

"Dad, have you encountered any difficulties in collecting Magical Creatures? Also, why do they all run away as soon as they see us coming?"

"No! It went quite smoothly! But as you know, transporting Magical Creatures from abroad to here requires pulling strings with the Ministry of Magic in each country, so the procedures are rather complicated. As for why they fled in such a panic... well..."

William's forehead was sweating.

Why did they flee in panic?

That's because they saw the two female demons in the house coming! What else could it be?

However, William would never dare to say those words aloud.

"Because they saw you, baby."

Elena glared at her useless husband and quickly replied.

"You haven't spent much time at home, so they're a bit unfamiliar with you and don't really dare to approach you."

"Yeah?"

Bell was puzzled again.

I remember during the summer vacation, when he stayed at home, there seemed to be slightly more Magical Creatures than now? And they didn't seem to be hiding from him at all, did they?

"Gege! Let's hurry up! It's already 12 o'clock, and Shanna's tummy is growling."

Shanna decisively made a final attempt to save the day.

"Good."

Bell gently rubbed his little sister's head.

Why worry about so much? Nothing is more important than my little sister filling her stomach!

He quickened his pace, Bell, holding Shanna's hand, strode to the castle gate. He placed his hand on the gate, preparing to push it open.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

"..."*4

Before Bell could even exert any force, the gate collapsed entirely, causing the ground to tremble slightly. Before the trembling had subsided, a large hole appeared in an outer wall not far to the right of the gate, kicking up a cloud of dust.

"Well, it seems this castle is indeed very old, built around 500 years ago? So, it makes sense to completely demolish and renovate the North Tower."

Ignoring these trivial incidents, the family happily enjoyed a hearty lunch.

After the meal, Bell and Shanna returned to their room to rest.

"Shanna, what happened between you and your mother?"

Leaning back on the sofa in Shanna's bedroom, Bell asked his sister, who was nestled beside him.

"W-What!? What happened?"

Shanna was startled and asked nervously.

"Am I asking you how you are?"

Bell affectionately patted his little sister's head.

"I noticed there seemed to be a strange atmosphere between you and your mother during dinner?"

"Oh, no, nothing. Nothing happened between me and that bad mom."

Shanna breathed a sigh of relief; she had thought her Gege had discovered something.

However, to be fair, she had been habitually wary of her bad mother putting drugs in her food during meals. She hadn't expected her Gege to notice something amiss so quickly.

He truly lives up to his Gege's reputation!

"Shanna, I've vaguely noticed before, why do you call Mom 'bad mom'?"

Bell frowned and asked.

"Because she's a 'bad mom'! Not only did she attack my Gege and me at the platform, but she also punished my Gege afterwards. She's a bad mom!"

"Shanna said angrily."

"Shanna, you haven't been calling your mom 'bad mom' at home all these past few months, have you?"

"Certainly!"

Shanna puffed out her small chest with a touch of pride.

"Shanna!"

Bell's expression turned unusually stern. He sat up straight, turned around, and stared directly into Shanna's eyes.

"Yes!"

Hearing her Gege call her name in a rare, no, never-before-seen tone, Shanna immediately sat up straight.

"What Mom did wasn't wrong. And most importantly, it's no excuse for you to disrespect Mom! I initially thought you were just joking around. I never imagined you'd been calling Mom that for months! Now, go apologize to Mom right now!"

"But... but..."

Shanna pouted, looking aggrieved.

"No buts! Go apologize to your mother right now, and don't make me say it a third time!"

Bell said sternly.

"I'm so sorry—! Ah—!"

o(╥╥)o

Little Shanna burst into tears, feeling wronged.