房客(糙汉)何璐程曜坤

"What\'s with the long face?"

As the entire group participating in the knight training was following a mountain path being led by a few instructors, the red-haired Grazio waited for the tardy Zoemi and his wolf to catch up to him and asked.

"Young lord Grazio... I just thought that the whole point of having the knight training in the Perserios territory was to not leave the territory for the duration of said training – we barely started the second month of the preparatory period and somehow are already being led into the mountains that are beyond the borders of not only the Perserios territory but the kingdom of Bellcephora as a whole."

Zoemi took a deep breath and complained – although he never actually spoke his actual grief, that being separated from Miriette when she was so close.

"And why are we even going whenever we are going? Is this a part of the course? Don\'t think, shut up and follow orders? That\'s the core of being a knight? Correct me if I\'m wrong, but that doesn\'t really fit the job\'s description."

The black-haired boy added, actually angry because none of the instructors informed them about the reason for the sudden expedition-like outdoor activity.

The whole situation was rather suspicious, to begin with, a few days earlier a group of knights led by the head instructor – that being Rokiana\'s grandfather himself – departed towards the mountains too.

They didn\'t come back but a group of trainees was now being sent after them – how could anyone make sense of it with no additional information?

Even Devios had no clue what it was about after Zoemi asked Miriette to grill him about the explanation.

"I have never seen you so agitated... I never even thought that anything could get to you like that."

Grazio raised his brows and said in an intrigued voice.

"..."

The black-haired boy closed his eyes to not glare at him and just grit his teeth in silence.

"I don\'t care anymore. They don\'t play by their own rules, why should I? Cat, come here."

"Huh...?"

All of a sudden Zoemi scoffed in annoyance and motioned at his wolf to get even closer, causing Grazio to let out a confused groan.

Not really caring about his – or anyone\'s – opinion, the black-haired boy got on the large wolf\'s back and laid down resting his head on its neck.

With the size discrepancy between the human and the monster, the nine-year-old child could easily use the wolf as a mount, especially since the beast was far stronger than its animal counterpart, making the task childishly easy.

"Zoemi...! Instructors said that a march is also a form of endurance training!"

Grazio gasped and pointed out.

"Well, I don\'t have either the endurance or mana to make up for it anymore. As long as they don\'t want me to slow everyone down or leave me behind they better accept this solution."

Zoemi scoffed angrily and glared at the group at the front.

"You...! Tsk. Do whatever you want."

For a second Grazio\'s face twisted with anger but the red-haired boy shook his head and said rather calmly before moving away from Zoemi and his wolf.

------

"[Zoemi, apparently there is some uknonwn monster that showed up in the mountains near the Perserios territory, and my parents are making me return home.]"

During the second day of the expedition-like excursion, Zoemi felt the pressure of the message spell brushing against his brain, and Miriette\'s voice resounded in his head.

"|What? Does that mean that Ehmi goes back too? But Grazio is right in front of me – if both of you are being taken back, what about him?|"

The black-haired boy gulped down his saliva and thought while switching his position on Cat\'s back.

"[No. It\'s just me. Ehmi was told to wait for Grazio\'s return... I will contact you immediately after I learn anything more, until then it will be better for me to not contact you. Don\'t feel lonely, okay? I love you.]"

The dark-haired girl sounded just as worried as Zoemi began to feel at that very moment and cut off the connection.

"..."

Certainly, things were getting more and more annoying for the black-haired boy...

------

Although at first only Zoemi was dissatisfied with the situation. After marching for five days straight and camping in the mountains without proper equipment each night, most of the group was sharing his opinion.

Then, something peculiar happened.

In the middle of the sixth night, everyone except Zoemi and his wolf sleeping at the edge of the improvised campsite was woken up and ordered to continue the travel.

None of the participants expressed concern for the black-haired boy and obediently left with the instructors.

"Shh..."

The wolf opened its eyes and was about to stand up, but its master shushed it without opening his eyes so the monster continued laying down as if nothing happened although it could not stop its tail from twitching nervously once in a while.

"Did you heard you hear or smell someone following us these past few days?"

Zoemi murmured, barely moving his lips still feigning being asleep.

"Nn... Nnn...!"

The wolf let out a peculiar soft whine as if it was holding itself back from making any loud noises following the boy\'s example.

"Yeah, me neither... But right now I can clearly hear someone approaching. And I do not recognize those footsteps."

Zoemi informed the wolf, opening his eyes glowing with the intense light of more than seven star powers stacked n top of each other.

"Listen, Cat, when I give you a sign, dash away as if you were abandoning me."

"Nnn.. nnn...! Nnn...!"

His next words made the wolf twitch and yelp in a heartbroken way.

"Yes, but not for the reasons you said. You aren\'t too weak, but if you will attack them, whoever they are, they will have a perfect excuse to hunt you as a dangerous beast. Be a good girl and stay away while daddy deals with the nuisance."

Zoemi said, slowly raising his arm as if he was moving around in his sleep and gently patting his wolf\'s head.