房客(糙汉)何璐程曜坤

Chapter 481 157 - Perserios territory - part 4 - Countering the plan that was thirty years in the making (part 13)

　　The sun was on the brink of raising as the line of brightness war marked the horizon. Many members of the Far-South Tusk Tribe were already up and running their errands in preparation for the unclear future. Everyone was checking whether any food could be turned into spare rations, just in case, they would have to flee their village in a hurry.

　　Was the creature that was supposed to be a spell really something that could help protect them, even though it took it so long to her up there the day before?

　　...was what the tribe\'s people thought, looking back down and glancing at the house of the tribe\'s chief where beds were prepared for the magicians from the Bellcephora kingdom who showed up on the giant serpent.

　　While the tense atmosphere on the outside continued, almost everyone from the group that arrived so suddenly was still sleeping.

　　Not everyone was doing so peacefully, but still...

　　*rustle*

　　"...?"

　　At one point Miriette started moving around, although she did not make any sounds signaling that she was awake – which made Zoemi jolt back awake.

　　The two of them were still locking hands so having the dark-haired girl shift her position and slide out off of her mattress, right between the tight space between Zoemi\'s and her own bed, caused him to tilt his head in surprise, watching the girl in confusion.

　　It was that much surprising considering that Mitiette had her eyes closed and didn\'t look around at all, despite crouching down on the floor.

　　She wasn\'t on alert or anything... And it certainly was surprising for Zoemi to see her like that because as far as he remembered, Miriette never was a type to sleepwalk or anything.

　　"...I can\'t...?"

　　But then the answer to the black-haired boy\'s questions came from the dark-haired girl herself as she began blushing harder and harder until she opened her eyes and peeked timidly at him.

　　For a second Zoemi just blinked as his brain simply blanked out.

　　The next moment he hurriedly looked around, making sure that others are asleep or at least reading the mood correctly and faking being still asleep and...

　　"Here."

　　Zoemi nodded with a warm smile and pulled up his own blanket, making room for Miriette to slide right in – which she did without a second of hesitation.

　　She then immediately clung to the boy\'s body and nuzzled her face against his chest, a single step away from purring with contentment.

　　"...are you not going to ask me what happened to my sense of public decency...?"

　　Miriette murmured in a hushed voice slowly moving her head and sleepily looking up at Zoemi\'s face.

　　"Nope."

　　Zoemi briefly shook his head and returned the hug, bringing the girl even closer to himself and lowering his head which resulted in him kissing her forehead.

　　"...eehh...? And I came up with such a romantic-sounding answer too..."

　　Miriette fidgetted and raised her head even higher, clearly wanting Zoemi to kiss her properly.

　　"Pfft...! Alright. What happened to your sense of decency, Miri?"

　　The black-haired boy snickered and asked, melting internally over the cuteness of the girl in his arms.

　　"I waited for you so long... it\'s perfectly okay for the public to bear with my whims for just a little bit... and besides... except for your sentinels, the only public we have here is Burushi who is my friend, and the corpse puppet who has to obey you... we will be fine..."

　　The dark-haired girl explained, closing her eyes as if her eyelids were too heavy for her and speaking slowly as if trying her best to not fall back asleep.

　　"...Zoemi... kiss..."

　　She managed to open her eyes again and complained about Zoemi\'s tardiness wrapping her leg around his thigh and nudging it with an adorable sleepy pout.

　　How could anyone, especially Zoemi, ignore a request like that?

　　With no further ado, the black-haired boy leaned in and tasted the soft, eager lips.

　　"Do you want to try doing that too?"

　　"It looks like it feels so nice~!"

　　"...!"

　　But the moment wasn\'t meant to last forever – and especially not when the excited whispers of corpse puppet sentinels peeking at the pair reached their ears.

　　"...seriously, what do you two try to teach those little ones...?"

　　To make the situation even more awkward, Burushi sat up on her bed and asked, rubbing her eyes with a bitter expression, glancing at the black-haired boy and the dark-haired girl on the same bed.

　　"Now that I think about it, this is the first time the two of them have actual bodies... oh dear heavens... we need to have a talk about bees and birds before you will start experimenting on your own...!"

　　When Miriette blushed heavily and sneaked back to her bed where she burrowed herself under the blanket, Zoemi who was left alone in a rather sour mood sighed, before flinching in realization and turning to his corpse puppet sentinels, becoming pale as a ghost.

　　"Would they really need it? I mean... they are corpses... Would things really work like that for them too? In the first place, what gender are they? And are they really interested in it?"

　　Xeonith, who also turned out to be only faking being asleep, got up too and asked, looking over at the bed shared by the two innocent sentinels, surprised by the reaction they received because of their words.

　　"I have a better idea. how about we get someone even a little bit serious, like Burushi, to have the talk while the rest of us will go and talk to the Eltrena or whoever else can be in charge and of use, to ask about a bath?"

　　"...and here I thought you would say that we need to have a strategy meeting..."

　　Miriette removed the covers only after she was sure that her color returned to normal and announced in a serious voice... Which made Burushi slump over to the side and roll her eyes in disbelief.

　　"Where do you see a problem with my idea?"

　　The dark-haired girl furrowed her brows and stared at the blond-haired girl.

　　"Miri, sentinels can create some water or straight up clean you with magic, we don\'t have time to soak up in a bath! This is a serious situation and we are still not completely sure what is really going on! We need to get more information from the tribe\'s people to make sure that we know what we are facing with the hexes and curses, and then we should get Mirienne down and interrogate her before she will wake up and call for help."

　　Burushi got up and began making her bed, furrowing her brows and clicking her tongue at the selfishness that should have been completely expected considering who said it.

　　Still, that didn\'t change the fact that the blond girl did not dare to even glance back after saying all of that, exactly because she knew who she said it to.

　　"Alright, I see you really want to talk to the little Miss acid magician – I am not sure why exactly you think that she would be willing to cooperate, but sure."

　　Miriette glared at Burushi\'s back for a while before looking over at Zoemi.

　　Only with him smiling at her and tilting his head a little bit to the side to look even more appealing, did the dark-haired girl breathe out and said in a somehow calm manner.

　　...which was definitely one of the most shocking achievements on Zoemi\'s part, because usually, Miriette would just continue pursuing her original idea just from a slightly different angle.

　　"Hey, what would you do if you suddenly woke up in a translucent belly of a monster, tens of thousands of feet in the air? She was a really nice patient, and she went through a lot! I just want to make sure that we are not making a mistake and tormenting her necessarily!"

　　Burushi straightened her back and turned around, giving a wholehearted speech about how she felt on the matter, but that certainly didn\'t bother Miriette in the slightest.

　　"Interesting. So just because she was nice to you, you are constantly taking huge leaps in logic to say she is innocent without having a proper conversation with her, but when Xeonith says that he was definitely hexed and his act is completely different from before it confirms his version, while also being remorseful and apologetic about what happened, but you refuse to take it into consideration and give him a chance."

　　"!!!"

　　What Burushi probably didn\'t have time to get used to, even while hanging around Miriette during the previous year, was the instant, gut-punching comebacks that made the brown-haired girl so hard to deal with as an opponent in a civilized conversation.

　　It wasn\'t even a skill that she had to be taught, she was smart enough to instantly figure out the best way to throw off her conversation partner, and would use that ability to talk the other party into the ground, leaving only angry and disheveled mess.

　　Luckily for Burushi, she had already learned the hard way to just stop talking and disengage...

　　...although the words of the dark-haired girl have certainly it the nerve...

　　"Zoemi, little ones, Xeonith. You heard Burushi, we are going to have an interrogation with the captive."

　　Miriette scoffed and turned around waving her hand impatiently while already going to the door herself.

　　"Alright, if the prisoner is awake, get her down here – alive and in one piece too – or at least it would be appreciated."

　　She added, but she certainly wasn\'t talking to anyone inside but rather to her air emperor who was enjoying the time up in the sky thanks to having a chat with one of Zoemi\'s sentinels.