房客(糙汉)何璐程曜坤

Chapter 462 151 - Perserios territory - part 3 - The plan that was thirty years in the making (part 5)

　　Zoemi, Miriette, Burushi, and Devios traversed the empty hallways once again with the blue-haired boy leading the way.

　　The young heir of the Perserios family was having more and more trouble with controlling himself – he kept glancing through the windows and into each hallway they passed expecting, or rather hoping, to see anyone from the servants or the troops that should always stay behind.

　　But alas, the silence broke only by the sound of the four people\'s footsteps confirmed that there really was no one in the castle anymore.

　　At least not in the part that they were walking through.

　　"How many people are in the briefing room?"

　　In the end, Devios couldn\'t stop himself and asked glancing over at the black-haired boy and the helmet-wearing girl.

　　"Around fifteen, give or take a few."

　　Zoemi answered without confirming things with his sentinel keeping watch over the unconscious hexed people.

　　"Are you sure that the injured people were carried to the infirmary room?"

　　Miriette didn\'t answer the question since Zoemi already did so, instead, she ended up making a bothered expression and asked in a hesitant voice, which wasn\'t exactly how she usually acted.

　　"...that\'s where they were supposed to be carried to..."

　　The younger boy tensed up and nervously gulped down his saliva, confronted with the possibility that he preferred not to think about it although he was considering it to be the most probable in their current circumstances.

　　"I see."

　　Miriette didn\'t pressure him on the subject and just nodded, becoming silent while holding Zoemi\'s hand.

　　"..."

　　"..."

　　Zoemi looked at her questioningly and the helmet-wearing girl looked back for a few seconds, before motioning at Devios with her chin and shaking her head.

　　|Oh...|

　　The black-haired boy breathed in some air and nodded, catching up on what Miriette was trying to tell him.

　　She had developed the spell that allowed her to feel the presence of people just by sensing them breathe.

　　If she didn\'t sense anything...

　　"Watch out, the infirmary is supposed to be in the next hallway – it might be guarded just like miss Burushi\'s room was."

　　Devios spoke up in an audibly tense voice and raised his hand, pointing at the only way they could follow, showing with that unnecessary movement how worried he actually was.

　　The four of them turned the corner and...

　　...there was absolutely no one guarding any door...

　　"..."

　　Nonetheless, the blue-haired boy hastened his peace and almost ran over to one of them and reached out for the door handle.

　　"(Master – aside from the people in the briefing room and all of you, there is no one else alive in the entire castle.)"

　　One of the sentinels he had sent out reported back, sounding apologetic.

　　"(That\'s right – oh, and the room the boy with the mana crystal eye is about to enter is a mess. Not as much as the courtyard in the back of the castle, but still.)"

　　The other sentinel also joined in, giving Zoemi more details and lines to read between than he would have normally wanted.

　　*click*

　　"..."

　　Unfortunately, it was too late to stop Devios from opening that door – as it swung open, the blue-haired boy\'s eyes widened and he froze in place with his mouth slightly open.

　　Without the change in his expression, his complexion turned ghastly pale and he lowered his head before breathing out heavily.

　　"Are you okay, my lord?"

　　As the other three joined the younger boy, Burushi approached him first and asked in a worried voice.

　　"..."

　　Devios looked up at her with a pitiful expression and it seemed like he was about to say something, but then he only ended up closing his mouth and biting his lips.

　　"Check-up."

　　Burushi cast her spell on him, but since nothing was physically wrong with him, she ended up turning around and peeking into the open infirmary.

　　"Ah. I see now."

　　Her reaction was much more tame than that of the younger boy – the blond heroine merely raised her brows and nodded in realization, nodding in realization.

　　Zoemi and Miriette joined them so they obviously saw the carnage in the room.

　　The entire floor was wet from the slowly coagulating blood.

　　The three bodies were thrown onto the beds in such a way that their heads were still on the ground – the injuries from blocking the attacks aimed at Devios were definitely enough to kill them on their own – but still, someone had gone an extra mile to assure that no treatment could be provided and slit the throats of the injured.

　　The puddles were caused by the blood draining from the bodies due to their unfortunate placement.

　　"..."

　　The blond heroine stepped forward and stepped into the infirmary.

　　Her shoes were making wet sounds as she stepped through the crimson when she approached the carcasses.

　　"Private visit. Private visit. Private visit."

　　She cast the stronger version of her spell on each of the three before turning around and looking at the young heir of the Perserios family.

　　"If that will make you feel better, I can try using my healing spells on them, but they are beyond my help. My healing magic doesn\'t include resurrection."

　　Burushi said in a calm, matter-of-fact voice, explaining things that someone who could not accept reality would ask or plead about to her.

　　"...it\'s okay, miss Burushi. Do not waste your mana. At least we know that those here really weren\'t hexed..."

　　Devios gulped down his saliva and answered in a relatively calm voice, but at the same time, he was clenching his fists so hard that he was hurting himself as his own blood began dripping down his knuckles.

　　"Super heal."

　　Burushi went out of the room and closed the door behind her, then she pointed at the blue-haired boy and cast her spell without being asked to.

　　"Thank... you..."

　　Devios flinched and slowly nodded his head at Burushi without looking up at her to not show his redded eyes.

　　The younger boy relaxed his fists and straightened his back a moment later.

　　"We should go search the other places too. The staff might have run away or hidden, but they all could have been hexed or turned traitor too... First and foremost we should make sure that we know the castle, or at least parts of it, are safe."

　　Devios breathed out and said out loud, doing his best to keep up the heart of the family attitude.

　　"We should check in the backyard then."

　　"Pardon...?"

　　Zoemi spoke up, confusing the blue-haired boy and making him look at him in shock.

　　"The castle is empty. My sentinels already searched it."

　　The black-haired boy repeated with a stoic expression.

　　"I also confirmed that besides us and the people in the briefing room there is no one breathing in the area."

　　Miriette nodded, supporting Zoemi\'s words while clinging to his arm.

　　"Wait...! Zoemi said that we should check the backyard – but if you say there is no one breathing in the area, then...!"

　　"We should check the backyard, Devios."

　　The younger boy gasped and for the first time completely dropped the mask of the calm and composed heir – he no longer had the aura of authority around him either.

　　When Zoemi repeated himself without changing his expression, Devios looked just like a terrified boy.