房客(糙汉)何璐程曜坤

Chapter 461 151 - Perserios territory - part 3 - The plan that was thirty years in the making (part 4)

　　"Just where is everyone...?"

　　|Little ones, can one of you get here and search the castle?|

　　Since neither the helmet-wearing girl nor the blue-haired boy knew and certainly didn't feel in the mood for sharing speculations – especially since there could be very grim implications with the absence of absolutely everybody.

　　Because of that, the black-haired boy directed his thoughts towards the available sentinels who were also trapped within the Perserios territory.

　　"(Okay~!)"

　　"(Hello, master~)"

　　Two murky-black spheres teleported to their creator, appearing right in front of Zoemi and greeting him cheerfully before floating in the opposite directions.

　　|Ah...! There is also a room full of people that requires to be guarded.|

　　"(At your service~)"

　　The black-haired boy thought and once again a murky-black sphere appeared in front of him.

　　|They are in the briefing room, you need to go like this, and like this.|

　　"(Will do, master~!)"

　　Zoemi thought, sharing his thoughts about how to reach the briefing room without wasting time on giving verbal instructions and the third sentinel rolled lazily in the right direction,

　　"To sum it up very quickly – probably everything that we know about the barbarians now has been false – altered for years by the hexed people of the Perserios family and their underlings. Why though? We already know that they want to use the annihilation of my family to bring you down completely, making you the enemy of the kingdom. But that alone couldn't be the reason – at least not from the start."

　　After glancing at the floating sentinel, Devios breathed out and spoke in a tense voice.

　　"It might be that someone is using the barbarians to further their own plot..."

　　Zoemi responded in hesitation as the three of them turned the corner.

　　"I mean – someone found out their plan and was willing to offer them a cooperation in exchange for including some of their own agenda."

　　He added, seeing the skeptical look the younger boy was giving him.

　　"Zoemi, I wouldn't be so sure about that."

　　Miriette joined the conversation and shook her head from left to right in response to the black-haired boy's words.

　　"How so? It sure does like the queen and Arisu are at least trying to butt in on the whole thing. Who else showed the same amount of willingness to mess with me? You heard Mirienne and Roiso. They want to pin all the blame on me."

　　Zoemi tilted his head, furrowing his brows and making a bitter expression.

　　"You are forgetting that literally, everyone in the kingdom who was willing to look up the information would have learned that you were performing your duty to the kingdom here in the Perserios territory. That means that literally, anyone working together with bandits could decide that you would be a splendid scapegoat. Not to mention that if the traitor is amongst the ranks of the Perserios family, they would know first hand that you are here, allowing for a faster and more efficient decision making."

　　The girl explained her point and shrugged her shoulders, while they walked through the same-ish hallways, moving past the exact same doors leading to now-empty rooms.

　　"A least we know that Devios or Burushi aren't brainwashed or spilling information. The acid-wielding girl didn't know who you were. She only knew that you were impersonating her."

　　Zoemi breathed out and pointed out as they were about to turn yet another corner.

　　"See? I told you that the helmet will be enough to trick everyone."

　　Miriette puffed out her chest proudly and nodded.

　　"...everyone dumb enough to not dig into it..."

　　"What was that...?!"

　　Devios muttered under his breath, but that certainly didn't escape the helmet-wearing girl, who asked in a threatening voice.

　　"Nothing, nothing. Look, we are here."

　　The blue-haired boy chose the way of the least resistant and just waved his hand dismissively before pointing at the two soldiers standing in front of one of the doors.

　　"A moment of truth. Do you think that they are brainwashed too or not?"

　　Zoemi decided to help out Devios get out of the sticky situation and asked them in a hushed voice as they approached.

　　"Huh...?!"

　　"Why are you still alive?!"

　　Still, they got the answer immediately, as the moment that the two soldiers saw them approach, they stumbled back and gasped in shock at the sigh of the heir of the Perserios family walking next to the back-haired boy and the helmet-wearing girl as if nothing happened.

　　"Oh..."

　　Devios himself had let out a disappointed and almost dispirited voice as the two that should have been his underlings activated their enchantments and were about to attack with magic.

　　"Pillars, please!"

　　*rumble*

　　*WHAM* *WHAM*

　　"GU-HUGH...!"

　　"ARGHH...!"

　　*thump* *thump*

　　"Thank you."

　　Without missing a beat this time, Zoemi reached out his hand to the two soldiers as their spells were forming in front of them, and called out, causing his second resident sentinel to cast the earth magic that threw his opponents into the ceiling before they slammed into the floor the second later.

　　"My lord...? Mirienne...? Is that you or am I going to get killed?"

　　Following the noise caused by two grown adults getting thrown up and down like some ragdolls, Burushi called out from inside the room, sounding relatively worried.

　　"You should have more faith in me – I saved your life how many times already?"

　　Zoemi snickered and started answering while he was moving past the knocked-out soldiers and reaching for the door.

　　*click*

　　But then the door opened and the blond heroine emerged from the inside and carefully looked around before walking out and breathing out in relief.

　　"I would like to say that I hope that there won't be a necessity for you to save me again because I will never be in life-threatening danger again, but since that is not very likely... I would like to say that hopefully, this is not the last time you are saving me like this."

　　She looked between the fallen guards and the trio that came for her and said with a serious expression.

　　"Fair point. Now, the three wounded people should be carried over to the infirmary – as far as we know they were either resistant to hexes or never hexed in the first place. Miss Burushi, are you willing to help me and my people out?"

　　Devios stepped forward and nodded, barely glancing down at the unconscious people.

　　"I don't mind. And if those two are okay with that too, then lead the way.... my lord."

　　The blond heroine straightened her back and nodded at the blue-haired boy who was slightly shorter even than her – she also almost forgot to use a proper title but she hurriedly added it.

　　Their situation was dire, but her watching out for that little detail meant that she had finally learned her lesson and was careful just in case.

　　"Little one from the briefing room, teleport those two there and continue watching them."

　　"(Okay~!)"

　　Zoemi spoke out loud and his sentinel agreed as if it had waited just for that.

　　*WHOOM*

　　Then, the murky shadow spilled underneath the two unconscious soldiers and they fell like stones into a deep body of water.

　　"I hope those three are still alive..."

　　Devios let his feelings slip and murmured under his breath as the four of them moved along towards the infirmary...