房客(糙汉)何璐程曜坤

Chapter 405 134 - Meeting by the crystal lake (part 1)

|What should I do...?|

Zoemi was pondering, exiting the jeweler\'s shop after leaving Surou with a few of his sentinels for protection just in case.

"(Eat a meal...?)"

"(Return home~!)"

"..."

The sentinels residing within his shadow answered naively making the black-haired boy smile.

|That too, we didn\'t tell grandpa or Burushi that our little practice excursion would take so long, they are probably worried about us.|

Zoemi thought, clearing things up and making his sentinels stay quiet waiting for him to be more precise this time.

|What I originally meant was, I wondered how should I let the situation between Burushi and Surou play out... just in case, little ones in Burushi\'s shadow...|

"(Yes, master?)"

"(Do you need something?)"

Which the black-haired boy did, but then he also immediately called out to the other sentinels for some additional answers – and got an immediate response while walking down the mostly silent street.

It was past midnight, very late but still too soon to be expecting sunrise.

|Are there any signs that she knows about herself being the recipient of Surou\'s love only because of the hex that somebody has cast on him?|

Zoemi thought, tensing up because of the subject he himself has brought up...

"(Eeeehhhh?!)"

"(No. She will be really sad when she learns about it...)"

...but the sentinels were so confused, that only one of them gave a coherent answer to the question.

|I see... she might not be aware of anything.|

The black-haired boy nodded to himself.

|But she might as well know about everything and just be playing a long game... stay vigilant around her. Help her when necessary but do not overexert yourselves in a case she would be able to make things work on her own.|

"(O-okay...?)"

"(No favoritism, understood!)"

Zoemi instructed the listening-in sentinels protecting the blond heroine, and his words caused them to have quite the amusing disparity in a tone of acceptance.

|Oh, and before I forget and make things awkward – please do tell Burushi that I am fine and that I will take some more time before returning. Don\'t go into details about where or who I am with.|

"(Alright~!)"

"(Yes, master!)"

The black-haired boy added hurriedly before the connection between him and the sentinels guarding Burushi was cut off.

"Now then..."

Zoemi breathed out, nodding with satisfaction, and turned into one of the sideroads even though e could clearly see that there was no one following him.

|Alright. Let\'s move along with the plan. Take me to Aspakeony, please. I need to have a word with her.|

*WHOOOOOM*

When he confirmed that the alleyway he chose at random – before asking his sentinels and getting swallowed by the murky shadow underneath his own feet.

-------

*WHOOOOOM*

*thump*

A murky-black gate showed up in the air out of nowhere and spat out a black-haired boy, who this time managed to land properly on his feet.

"...huh...?"

Zoemi furrowed his brows looking around in honest surprise.

Because he fully expected to be transported to the Aspakeony Academy.

Maybe not to the headmaster\'s office itself, but at least in front of it...

Where he showed up instead was a walkway amongst the forest, that he seemed to recognize somehow.

"Isn\'t this the way towards the crystal lake in my territory...?"

The black-haired boy asked out loud in confusion.

In the end, he did ask to be taken to Aspakeony – if the sentinels misunderstood him, he should have been at least transported to the Academy.

Then how did he end up back in the Banemor territory that was half of the kingdom away from that place?

"(It is!)"

"..."

The confidence in the message sent to him by one of his resident sentinels made him furrow his brows.

No matter how smart they got, their murky-black orbs seemed to share a distaste for explaining themselves unless they got directly asked for context.

"... I see..."

Zoemi sighed and nodded that information.

"...?"

The black-haired boy turned to the side and raised his brow – from his position he actually could see a faint glow coming from that direction, making things visible even for people who unlike Zoemi did not have the night vision.

This clearly must have been the crystal lake, Zoemi\'s initial thought about his location was spot on.

Well... Might as well check it out. They seem so confident about bringing me here... It\'s worth checking. Maybe Aspy went for the late-night swim or something...|

Zoemi thought to himself, making sure that his thoughts would not be passed to the sentinels, and begin walking towards the faint light.

As he was moving along, he was reminded that the crystal lake wasn\'t just some measly pond but an actual lake...

Basically, what that meant was that the walk-up to the lake itself took him a lot longer than he expected.

With each step the glow that the lake was giving off would grow in intensity, ending in the area basking in the beautiful rainbow brilliance.

After a few more steps Zoemi passed the last trees obstructing his view and the crystal lake presented itself in front of him in all its glory.

Although this wasn\'t his first time seeing it, the black-haired boy still had to stop in place to take in and appreciate the view of this most popular tourist location in the Banemor territory, as if he never witnessed it before.

It was a truly magnificent sight, one truly fit for a fantasy world full of magic and wonder. The crystal clear water wasn\'t obstructing the beautiful formation of blue-tinted crystals pulsating under its surface like hundreds of thousands of beating hearts.

It was incredibly charming and even Zoemi forgot for a moment about his troubles and worries.

There was something soothing about this scenery, some sort of ancient charm...

And on top of all of that, there was someone there – someone with a unique shadow in the form of half-girl half-slug.

And since the shadow wasn\'t leeching to another unique shadow, this must have been the original body.

"Good morning, Aspy."

"Beautiful, isn\'t it?"

Zoemi called out to the gray-haired youthful-looking dark-skinned girl, sitting just a few meters away from the spot he was standing, and she reacted to his presence but did not respond to him directly, instead, looking at the lake showing the boy her back.

There was a small pier going into the water and the gray-haired necromancer was sitting on the edge of it.

She was wearing a simple black one-piece, with a black ribbon in her gray hair and she had a pair of black silk slippers sitting next to her and she was dipping her bare feet into the water.

"I can assure you it is always just as gorgeous, no matter how many times you look at it..."

The dark-skinned girl said melancholically and sighed while putting her hands on the edge of the pier and leaning back to look at the moon.

"Though the crystals sure glow brighter when the moon is full..."

Without a doubt, that girl was none other than Aspakeony, an ancient necromancer and the true headmaster of the Aspakeony Academy.

"..."

As the black-haired boy approached her, he looked between the lake, the moon up above, and the gray-haired girl, for the first time realizing that her hair and eyes are more silvery than actually gray.

"Breathtaking."

Zoemi smirked and nodded, without looking towards the spectacle of the hundreds of shining mana stones.