房客(糙汉)何璐程曜坤

Zoemi said in a lighthearted manner, with no pressure involved.

"I will keep that in mind. Stop for a moment."

Valto nodded and raised his hand.

Zoemi was about to o that anyway too, after all, the two of them reached the spot covered in a unique shadow of a powerful spell.

It was a sealing type and for as much as Zoemi could tell, it only a little bit weaker than the seal around the headmaster's office in the Aspakeony Academy."

The blue-haired man silently activated a few spells at the same time, of which all interacted with the seal.

Thanks to that, the air around them trembled for a moment, and instead of standing amongst the rows of bookshelves filled to the brim, the two of them were surrounded by various precious items.

Most of them had shadows of their own, but there also were a lot of items that were just valuable and didn't have any magical properties.

"Sorry for your two other friends – they will probably be confused about what happened to us, but there are some rules in place that I cannot ignore."

Valto apologized, motioning his head back to where Ettemi and Oemir were following them, giving the two of them enough space to talk in peace.

"There's nothing to apologize for."

Zoemi waved his hand dismissively, trying to put the blue-haired man at ease...

"It's not that hard to enter..."

"I think it is, though – we only got in so easily because we copied dad's friend."

Oemir furrowed his brows and tilted their head unconvinced, but Ettemi shook their head vigorously and declared with a puzzled expression."

"!!!"

Considering that the two corpse puppet sentinels got through the seal in time to hear Valto talking about them was the best testament to their power.

"Dad...?"

Still, the question asked by the former tutor revealed that assumption to be wrong. The blue-haired man was clearly concerned about the people he had never seen or heard of before defeating one of the most powerful spells in use in the royal castle, but what bothered him the most was the way those people addressed his student.

"Yes. Those two are my kids. Without them I would be in serious trouble, so please treat them well. On the right we have Ettemi and Oemir is on the left."

The black-haired boy didn't go into any details except to give Velto his corpse puppet sentinel's names.

"Hello~"

"Nice to meet you"

Both sentinels kept the distance between Zoemi and his former teacher because no one told them it was okay to do otherwise, and instead raised their hands and waved cheerfully in a greeting.

"Hello. My name is Valto Jora Erest, it's nice to meet you too... Hmm... Zoemi, my boy, we have more catching up to do than I originally expected..."

Valto blinked a few times before breathing out and turning back to face forward again.

"That said – don't you think that it's okay to tell me what exactly are you looking for? Or at least what you would like to achieve, to make the range of search a bit smaller."

Still, no matter what was thrown at him, Valto managed to stay composed and the next time he spoke, he was back to his serious self.

"Nothing much, I had two things in mind. I won't get my hands on Kirisu's arm to check whether we can set up something nasty for her – that's first. Second. I want at least take a look at Zoemi – which should not be all that problematic, considering that he sits atop of the crystal box Kirisu's arm is being kept."

Zoemi shrugged his shoulders and casually strolled forward, pushing the wheelchair with him, already knowing where he should be going thanks to his knowledge gained from watching the events of the different timeline.

"..."

Because of the silence between them, it was obvious that the black-haired boy's answer shocked the blue-haired man more than anything that was said and done up until that point.

"Teacher, tell me – is that plush bear just as menacing as before? It wouldn't be that he suddenly lost the threatening aura around, would it?"

Zoemi asked lightheartedly, but Valto did not give him an answer, and when the black-haired boy leaned forward to check up on his former teacher's face, he saw him frowning with great concern.

"How do you know all of that?"

Once they were only a single turn away from entering the alley in which both the cut-off arm and the deadly plush toy were, Valto breathed out and asked, turning back and looking up, straight into Zoemi's vivid black eyes.

"...hmm...? Don't take it the wrong way, but the expression in your eyes improved a lot..."

The blue-haired man said out loud, looking as if he surprised even himself with that statement that didn't seem to particularly fit the situation – although in truth it was very much connected with everything.

"I feel like you will not believe me if I will tell you everything, so I will not do that. Considering that I have the king's permission to take the items anyway, it seems better to just leave that part of the conversation with this statement..."

Zoemi tilted his head and furrowed his brows, trying to find a good enough answer that would not be too far from the truth, but also wouldn't immediately make Valto think that he went crazy or worse, making fun of him.

"My name isn't the only thing that I have in common with the favorite toy of the murdered second princess."

Still, whether the answer he came up with after thorough consideration actually checked off any of those requirements was up to debate...

"Is that so...? Well, the toy was being called the protector back in the day – according to the preserved documents from that period – and the way you acted a few years back was very much along those lines too... but what interests me the most is how you managed to learn that the toy is a plush bear and that his name is Zoemi."

Valto squinted his eyes and leaned into the backrest of his wheelchair and pondered, speaking his mind out loud.

"Neither of that information was ever contained in any of the stories surrounding the events from three centuries ago, and I stumbled onto it by complete accident... I mean, before I began working here, of course. This place contains every piece of information that was ever written within the royal castle, and even a fair selection of journals and financial books from all over the kingdom – including the reports of the caretaker of the late second princess that you yourself mentioned."

The blue-haired man added with interest, smiling to himself mysteriously.

"It must have looked quite curious to you then – Zoemi protecting Miriette. Funny coincidence, wouldn't you say?"

"Indeed – although I had a hard time remembering why exactly I found your names intriguing. Once I remembered I decided to keep it to myself as it would be quite rude to tell you that you share the name with a toy. You were such a nice and hardworking child that it seemed completely out of place, no matter how interesting of a fun fact it was."

Zoemi snickered and pointed out to which Valto nodded his head and smiled at the memories.

"Back then your eyes would sometimes turn so dark it seemed as if they didn't reflect light – which as I learned after working here was another trait that you shared with the plush bear – that wasn't as much as a fun fact, but rather a disturbing and worrisome observation that did make me worry."

The blue-haired man continued reminiscing making Zoemi wonder in his own thoughts too.

|Back then you were still asleep and only parts of your memories and personality were leaking in, right?|

The black-haired boy asked himself.

|That is correct. I believe that the version of you that Bellcpehora showed us acted as he did only because I was not properly separated from him.|

The original personality responded without hesitation, confirming Zoemi's assumption.

"You know that you can count on me, right? Even if my problematic magic makes it troublesome for me to assist you on a battlefield, I am taking pride in my process of doing research. I also believe that you are underestimating how accepting of the world I am. Earlier you said that I would not believe you if you told me everything, which honestly bothers me a whole lot."

Valto took a deep breath and started speaking in a determined voice.

"Not to mention, that this place really has an abundance of reports and information not available anywhere else. You know not only about the toy but about the cut-off arm of one of the Ghosts of Bellcephora, and you even know exactly to which one exactly does it belong... You want both of those items because you aren't dealing with mere copycats or impostors, but the real deal, aren't you?"

The blue-haired man's face turned completely serious and he asked the black-haired boy, using a voice that didn't sound even remotely doubtful.

Basically, Valto wasn't asking for confirmation, he was stating something that he thought of as a fact.