房客(糙汉)何璐程曜坤

"[If he will still act like yesterday towards you, shatter his pride.]"

Was the message from Miriette when her spell brushed against Zoemi's brain as they parted.

Perserios territory's knight training wasn't taking place in an arena with stands for the audience to watch and the non-participants could not stay by to enjoy the show.

Mainly because it wasn't any show but actual training.

"...hmm~"

The black-haired boy snickered, following the dark-haired girl walking away with Ehmi with his gaze.

It just so happened that the crimson-haired girl glanced back as if she felt the gaze and their eye met, resulting in her face turning bright red from embarrassment and hastening her peace.

That was a rather curious behavior for someone with no memories of the past timeline, but it honestly didn't bother Zoemi all that much.

Miriette could protect herself well, and in case Ehmi already had her mana absorption ability, there was always Roiso who was the natural counter to her hanging around them too.

No, definitely, the bigger problem was the younger one of the Victureo siblings.

"You have black hair and eyes. That mean's that you are a shadow magician, or maybe a darkness magician. If you can and want, you can copy my enchantments to keep up with me."

Speaking of which, the red-haired Grazio approached Zoemi from the sidelines and said instead of a greeting.

"Don't take it the wrong way. I am not doing that because I want to help you. It's just since we are the same age, I don't want to be laughed at when you fail because of the rule of association.

Grazio added hurriedly, crossing his arms and looking to the sides.

|Ah, that's right. He was supposed to be a tsundere, wasn't he?|

Hearing the line delivered in such a specific way Zoemi realized and instantly almost started laughing out loud be managed to stop himself in time.

"Thank you for the offer, young lord Victureo."

"But...?"

The black-haired boy bowed his head politely and said, making the red-haired boy fidget in unease as he asked.

"No, my lord, there is nothing I want to add. I appreciate your willingness to help very much."

Zoemi smiled softly and lightly shook his head from left to right. He already decided that as long as Grazio will actually try to be nice to him, he will be nice back.

Maybe the Grazio in the past timeline was such a menace as a child because he didn't have any actual friends who didn't want to use him – besides his older sister, of course – and it was a chance to help the current timeline Grazio improve as a person?

The initial day was the prelude to the first three months of training that would be taking place – simply assuring that all the participants are on the physical level appropriate for the course.

Some might say that three months was too short, and others could claim that it was too long, all in all, that's how things worked in the Perserios territory.

And so, that was the first day – endurance training.

Of course, it stared with running laps.

Grazio activated his fire enchantments instantly, which was necessary if he wanted to keep up with the rest of the group which consisted of only adults with the exception of Zoemi.

|...not good...|

That solution certainly wasn't a good one in Zoemi's opinion.

If it wasn't Mizoe's special enchantments or star power, such body augmentation would not actually benefit the user in the long run which was the point of the training.

Enchantments worked kind of like some sci-fi exoskeleton – they would take the weight and strain away from the actual muscles and tendons, completely nullifying the benefits of the physical activity.

A perfect example of that would be Miriette being so weak that her slaps felt like being tickled.

"[You were thinking something rather rude there, weren't you?]"

As if she was listening in, Miriette's accusatory voice resounded in Zoemi's brain.

"|Not really? I was just getting restless thinking about how I would like the time to pass faster.|"

The black-haired boy thought while Grazio was gaining more and more distance over him.

"[Is it that boring? I thought you like moving around?]"

Despite not being able to see her, Zoemi could tell that Miriette tilted her head while saying that and the mental image made him smile.

"|No, no. I do like working out. I am restless because I can't wait for us to get old enough so I taste those sweet lips of yours~|"

Zoemi explained himself calmly, holding back the inappropriate giggle building up in his chest.

"[Hmph! I don't remember being naive or bashful enough to abstain from kissing even at this age. All you have to do is ask... Nuzzling together while reading a book would be nice too...]"

Miriette voice was prideful, but it definitely got softer by the end showing off her own longings.

"|Ah! True! Kissing! I completely forgot about kissing~!|"

"[Eh...? What do you mean, you forgot about kissing...? You just say you wanted to taste my...]"

The black-haired boy gasped and nodded internally to the dark-haired girl's proposition – which made her very confused.

"[...]"

Miriette wasn't saying anything, but the connection o the message spell was still in place and the pressure on Zoemi's brain was proof of it.

"[ZOEMI!]"

"|Ahaha haha~!|"

Her embarrassed scream felt like it shook Zoemi's entire head but even that could not stop the outburst of laughter that the reaction had caused.

The connection was cut off and Zoemi could focus on running again.

He felt refreshed after teasing Miriette but he was also dead last, dragging so far behind the rest of the knight training participants that the fastest one of them was about to lap him.

"Watch out, coming by you on the left, kid."

A somehow smug brown-haired knight-to-be called out to Zoemi getting ready to pass by.

"..."

*STOMP*

Zoemi looked over his shoulder, sending the man an annoyed glare, and accelerated all of a sudden.

"...?!"

The sudden burst of speed from a child took the brown-haired man by surprise, but he didn't try to chase after him.

"Ah, a shadow magician, huh."

...he nodded to himself in realization, thinking nothing about what just occurred.