Christmas Activities

After returning to the castle and finishing breakfast, Bell and Shanna each went back to their own bedrooms to open their Christmas gifts.

Standing before the pile of presents, Bell knew without counting that there were nine in total, because he had nine relatives.

Yes, Bell had not made a single friend so far. After all, his mental age was already that of a man in his forties. Pretending to get along was one thing, but actually asking him to befriend a bunch of ten-year-old Little Brats? He truly could not do it!

Looking at the gifts before him, Bell was already extremely satisfied. He did not think there were too few gifts at all; if anything, there were too many.

Good heavens, surely no one actually thinks receiving eighteen gifts a year is too few, right? (He received nine gifts on his birthday too.) Bell thought.

After all, the gifts he had received over his entire previous life did not add up to as many as he received in a single year in this life.

So Bell did not care in the slightest that he had no friends. Having a little sister was enough.

If there was one thing he found somewhat regrettable, it was that Shanna seemed to have very few friends as well under his influence, only two or three Little Witches or so.

He still remembered asking Shanna after a banquet several years ago.

"Shanna, why don't you make a few more friends? Those Little Wizards you met at the banquet today seemed pretty nice."

"I don't like them," Shanna said, pouting.

"Why not? Did they do something you hated? Tell Gege, and Gege will go deal with them!"

(艹皿艹)

How dare they make my Shanna unhappy!? They're courting death!

"I don't like the way they talk." Shanna said disdainfully, "All they ever talk about is how amazing they are, what incredible things they've done, or what expensive things they got from their Dad and Mom. They're obviously just a bunch of weaklings. My Gege is so amazing, yet he never goes around bragging about how amazing he is. Hmph~~"

I'm so happy!

(≧≦)ゞ

No, wait!

"Ahem, Shanna."

Bell wore a guilty expression.

"Where did you learn the word 'weakling'?"

Little Shanna tilted her head and looked at her Gege strangely.

"Didn't Gege teach it to me?"

Whenever Gege read The Daily Prophet, he often used the word "weakling." Once, Shanna had been curious and asked Gege what "weakling" meant, and Gege had explained it to her.

Originally, it refers to a very frail chick. Here, it specifically means someone as weak as a chick.

Shanna had thought the word sounded cool, so from then on, she often used it to show off when chatting with her few close girlfriends.

Orz

Just as I thought!

Ahem, fine, Bell could now confirm it beyond doubt. The reason Shanna had so few friends was entirely his fault.

More than thirty years of life in his previous world had deeply carved the Chinese people's reserved and restrained nature into Bell's bones. Shanna, who had always lived with Bell, had undoubtedly been profoundly influenced by his personality. That was why she found those flamboyant Little Brats so irritating.

No wonder Bell had always felt out of place with the people around him. It turned out that Britain's national circumstances differed from China's! Yes, that had to be it. It was absolutely not because Bell was withdrawn or anything. Absolutely not!

Bell picked up one gift, unwrapped it, and tossed it aside. Then he picked up another, unwrapped it, and tossed it aside.

"Not this one... Not this one either... Ha! This is the one!"

Bell carefully took a drawing out of the gift box.

The background seemed to be a castle? A cute little girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, along with a handsome little boy with black hair and black eyes, were happily playing in the garden before the castle.

Don't ask how Bell could tell so much from a scribble. It was obviously a drawing of Bell and Shanna. What else could it be?

At that moment, Bell's bedroom door quietly opened a crack, revealing half of Shanna's little head.

"Gege, did you see the Christmas gift I gave you?" Shanna asked carefully.

"I did! Shanna, your drawing is amazing! I love it so much!" Bell said happily, holding up the drawing with both hands.

"I'll have Lim frame it right away and hang it in my bedroom. That way, I'll see it every day as soon as I open my eyes."

"Heehee."

The little girl was overjoyed. She shoved the door open, rushed inside, and threw herself into her Gege's arms.

"I love the gift Gege gave me too. Look, I'm already wearing it."

Bell had given Shanna a pure white scarf with a Constant Temperature Charm permanently imbued into it. Even if she wore it in the height of summer, she would not feel hot. On the contrary, it would feel cool and refreshing. The scarf was embroidered with snowflakes, Shanna's favorite pattern, and it looked utterly adorable wrapped around the little girl.

Shanna loved the scarf. On the one hand, it was a gift from Gege, and no matter what it was, she would have loved it. On the other hand, she liked white, and she liked snowflakes too.

"Gege, shall we go have a snowball fight later?"

Shanna looked at Bell expectantly. Since they had accidentally battered the beautiful garden into ruins during their last snowball fight, bad Mom had forbidden the two of them from having snowball fights in the garden again.

"Sure. Then let's go have a snowball fight in the mountains."

Bell also thought of the furious expression on his mother's face, so he decided to change locations.

"Really? I can go play in the mountains!?" Shanna asked in surprise.

She had long wanted to go exploring in the mountains not far from home, but Gege had always refused to take her, saying she was still too young. She had not expected Gege to take the initiative to suggest bringing her into the mountains today. This was wonderful!

"Of course, but only if I'm with you. Shanna, you mustn't sneak in there alone, okay?"

In truth, with Shanna's current strength, she could already walk sideways through the mountains near their home. After all, there were no dangerous Magical Creatures in the mountains. As for the more ferocious wild beasts that attacked humans, they had all ended up in Bell's family's stomachs several years ago. The ones remaining had firmly memorized Bell's scent and would flee in panic as soon as they smelled him from two li away.

Because Shanna was always glued to Bell's side, wild beasts could easily distinguish Bell's scent on her. So no matter how one looked at it, Shanna would not face any danger. But Bell simply could not stop worrying. There was nothing he could do about it!

"Mm, then let's hurry!"

As she spoke, Shanna stood up, grabbed Bell's hand, and ran outside.

That day, booming sounds echoed through the mountains from time to time, waking many hibernating animals.

Some animals emerged from their nests, wanting to see what had happened. Others shrank deeper into their dens, hoping that whatever was happening would not affect them.

In short, the animals in these mountains still had no idea that their good days were about to be gone forever. Because a certain sister-doting maniac would soon leave, and once free of his restraints, a certain little girl's talent for destruction would be fully unleashed.