房客(糙汉)何璐程曜坤

"N-no...! it was definitely only kidnapping! That guy...! He must have lost his cool or something...!"

The woman backed off against the wall even more and at that point, it looked as if she was attempting to climb it...

"Hmm... Is that so...?"

"!!!"

Zoemi bounced on the mattress and stood up closing the distance between himself and the darkenss magician fast enough to startle her into activating the darkness blade.

She didn\'t use it though.

"You are still getting used to this line of work, aren\'t you? Sudden career path change?"

Zoemi glanced at the obsidian blade extending out of the clenched fingertips of the magician\'s left hand and his expression softened when he looked up at her face.

"...?!"

She didn\'t respond but the dilation of her pupils was rather telling...

...or was caused by the eeriness of the situation, one of the two...

"It\'s not maxed out yet, but you seem to be weak-minded enough..."

"Excuse me...?!"

The black-haired boy tilted his head and his soft expression bloomed into a devilish smirk – the darkness magician felt the need to cover her body defensively and gasped, flabbergasted at the inappropriate comment.

"Law of Leo~"

...was the child\'s amused response as the otherworldly glow in his obsidian eyes intensified...

-----

The two unconscious darkness magicians were leaning against each other with their backs against the wall. Honestly, the sight was somehow romantic...

"I can\'t find any changes in the physical condition of either of those two... are you sure that whatever you\'ve done to them worked?"

Burushi threw herself back onto her bed and asked, peeking at the black-haired boy from over the covers.

"It did on some level... I am sure I can feel a faint presence of their minds just outside my own even now. It\'s much weaker than it is with the armored wolves, but it is there. Although... I don\'t know what good will there be of it, I am fairly certain that I will not be able to influence them the same way."

Zoemi shrugged his shoulders falling onto Burushi\'s bed and ending up perpendicularly to her.

"Is that so...? Private visit."

Burushi breathed through her nose and squinted her eyes before reaching out her hand and touching the side of the boy\'s abdomen to cast a spell.

"...alright doc, give it to me straight..."

Zoemi raised his brow looking at the pale hand on his stomach and said while gazing upon Burushi\'s face.

"I remember you mentioning that you could share power with the creatures under that whole law of Leo, something about the law of Cancer too if my memory\'s correct... Since the connection between you and those magicians was established I was searching for traces of mana appearing within your system."

The blond-haired girl shrugged her shoulders and explained without taking back her hand.

"...aaaaand...?"

Zoemi rolled over to the side and propped up his head on one arm while striking a pose as if he wanted to be painted and smiled devilishly.

"N... nothing... Maybe it\'s just too early. But I would like to monitor you so remember to drop by from time to time."

Burushi took back her hand and turned the other way because her face was getting hot – she even stuttered while doing the tiny kicking motion to turn herself around, imagine that~

"Hmhm~ okay, I will see what I can do about it~ Law of Taurus, law of Capricorn, law of Aries."

Zoemi grinned innocently before umping back up on his feet and grabbing darkness magicians and walking with them to the broken window from where a cool night breeze was entering the room.

"Hachiko, fix that for today with your magic. And do not leave Burshi\'s side just because her mother gets fussy. You are Burushi\'s bodyguard first and a housepet second... if at all."

"Nn... Nnnn..."

The black-haired boy was stopped by the armored wolf who lowered its head and whimpered apologetically.

"Alright, be a good girl while I\'m gone."

"Nnn~!"

"Okay... eh...?"

Zoemi\'s expression softened and he declared while booping the wolf on its cute wet nose... and got a response from both the monster and the blond-haired girl observing him from the bed.

Burushi realized a bit too late that the black-haired boy wasn\'t talking to her, and when she did, her face turned bright red and she burrowed herself under the bedding.

|Well then...|

Zoemi decided that it was one of the moments that were better left without comment and dragged out the unconscious darkness magicians before going on his merry way.

--------

"That\'s the gist of it. What do you think? Was I overthinking everything and instead of the whole thing with the knight training group leaving me behind wasn\'t perpetrated by either Victureo or Espines but by the Efemare people getting desperate?"

Back in the village, he rushed out so fast the previous night, Zoemi turned towards his armored wolf after finishing the story.

"Nnn... Nnn...?"

"Of course, I will not drop my guard! Even if that theory is correct and Grazio is innocent, there still is undeniable proof that the instructors and a whole bunch of trainees got paid off by the Efemare family!"

The wolf lowered its head and whimpered giving the boy a worried look to which Zoemi responded with a proud scoff.

"That said, thank you for worrying about me. While we are at it, you said that you saw the Perserios group returning a few hours ago... did they stop in the village or went straight towards the castle?"

The black-haired boy ended up smiling and leaning down where he started to affectionately pat the wolf\'s head and back before inquiring without stopping his hand movement.

"Nnn~!"

While the monster\'s hind leg was kicking up from pleasure the wolf whimpered happily and rolled over on its back, exposing its soft belly.

"To the castle? I see. Good job letting me know, we will go there after a meal... now, Cat... who is the best girl? Who is?"

"Ghraugh~!"

Zoemi nodded while giving the beast all the scratches it wanted and causing it to bark happily while brushing the floor with its tail.

Just as the black-haired boy announced, the two of them returned to the Perserios castle within an hour...