房客(糙汉)何璐程曜坤

Chapter 489 160 - Perserios territory - part 4 - Countering the plan that was thirty years in the making (part 21)

　　The two days since Zoemi and other troublesome individuals left were probably the happiest Devios Elef Perserios spent in his life.

　　For that period, Devios had his father finally spend time with him in a way that many would consider normal – not all of course, but that was not the point.

　　It was the time when the burdens and responsibilities of breaking the title of the heir of the Perserios family did not matter.

　　Young Devios could be just a teen given back his childhood.

　　Even in the terrible circumstances that the entire territory was in, could not change that simple fact – things could be better of course, for one of the boy's sister was there, she could also spend time with their father like their peer did with theirs – with no overbearing expectations that could crush a far older and wiser people.

　　"Here sweetie, you don't have to worry so much about the barbarians, with the new strength we gained, we can keep them at bay! Now, take this and share it with your father~"

　　An older woman with blue-haired a shade darker than Devios's smiled and handed the boy a plate filled with sweet snacks that usually had no place on the plate in the castle that was basically a military fortress and nothing else.

　　"Thank you, aunty~!"

　　Devios beamed while taking the treat off of her hands and nodding his head gratefully.

　　Truly, his earlier life seemed like a bothersome dream that finally ended when the morning came.

　　What duties? What responsibility?

　　He was just a child and there was no reason for him to worry about a thing – that's what the responsible adults were there for!

　　After they returned from the dea...

　　After they returned, the Perserios family members and servants had strength far exceeding that of normal magicians and already managed to pacify a few hundred of the enemy troops with ease.

　　They were strong enough to just capture them without killing too!

　　It was a shame that Zoemi's group all got hexed and brainwashed into thinking that things will not last forever and there was some sort of time limit, but nothing could be truly perfect.

　　Devios bowed towards the kind woman once again and turned around, walking back to his father's office where the wise and kindhearted man who by no means wanted to push the responsibility of the leadership onto his children was finishing the paperwork before going to the lighthearted magic practice with he promised his son.

　　Really, what a magnificent.

　　*splurt*

　　*THUMP*

　　"Aunty...?"

　　Devios flinched when he heard an odd sound, something between cutting a moist material and the splash of liquid, and looked over his shoulder to check on the kind woman...

　　"HUH?!"

　　*CRASH*

　　...and ended up dropping the plate that crushed under his feet when he spotted the blue-haired woman fainted on the floor.

　　"AUNTY! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!"

　　Devios called out, rushing to her and kneeling over, grabbing her cold shoulder...

　　...cold...?

　　"Aunty, why didn't you say that you were feeling sick? You should not overexert yourself and..."

　　The blue-haired boy shook his head with a worried expression and complained in a worried voice, turning the woman on her back – and making himself speechless by doing that.

　　The kind blue-haired woman Devios was holding wasn't just unconscious.

　　She was dead, staring into the distance with lifeless eyes as the throat slit by some sharp object or spell was gruesomely open for the outside world, as it never should be.

　　"N-no...! NO! WHO DID THIS?! WHEN?! ALARM! SOUND THE ALARM! ENEMY HAD BREACHED THE CASTLE WALLS!"

　　Devios gasped quietly in terror, before his leadership mode kicked in with full force, causing him to roar in urgency towards the open window.

　　"MOTHER! MOTHER, WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?!"

　　"FATHER?!"

　　"TEKICCO?! RIAMAVLE?!"

　　"HELP!"

　　"MEDIC! WE NEED A MEDIC! I BEG YOU!"

　　But instead of the urgent voices and quick response that were expected in that situation, or even less desired but still understandable confusion and doubts about the supposed alarm, Devios's call was responded to by similar panicked cries coming from both the outside and inside the main castle.

　　"Wh-what...?!"

　　Devios let go of the corpse and lost his balance, falling onto his but and inching back as his eyes widened once he realized that the woman in front of him was not the only victim.

　　...and deep within his mind, he knew what happened...

　　"...time... limit...?"

　　The boy's chin and shoulders trembled as he muttered the terrifying phrase, twisted his body got on all fours, and cut his hand on the remains of the broken plate before launching himself into a mad run towards his father's office.

　　"Father...! FATHER!"

　　Before even reaching the door, Devios was shouting, begging, and praying inside his head for the man to respond in any way – call out, or walk out of the room with a cloudy expression wondering about the reason for the commotion.

　　"No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no...!"

　　But nothing like that happened and the blue-haired boy bit his lips so hard that blood started dripping down his chin as he reached out for the door handle and pushed it open.

　　"Fath...! No..."

　　As he was coming inside, the silhouette that he saw was that of his father sitting at his desk over the documents, which momentarily filled Devios's heart with hope – just to be crushed under the burden of reality.

　　Lord Perserios was indeed sitting in a chair behind the desk – but he was just a corpse being left in a position that did not allow for it to slip off and fall.

　　The man's head was tilted to the side and the same type of wound that the kind woman earlier had was clearly visible for Devios to see.

　　*thump*

　　The blue-haired boy with one fake eye made out of the sapphire mana crystal felt his legs giving up and fell to his knees over the same sight that drove him insane a few days earlier.

　　His father was dead.

　　Devios felt the need deep within his heart to start blaming barbarians for launching a sneak attack and assassinating Perserios's household – but this time his mind remained relatively calm, and managed to piece together the truth.

　　"...I... I let young lady Espine get attacked when she tried to explain things to us..."

　　He breathed in and clenched his fists over the realization of how stupid and delusional he was past these few short days.

　　The blue-haired boy looked up at the corpse of his father and gulped down his saliva.

　　"...you wanted to push the duties of the heir to Rokiana but ended up holding on since I was born... You made me the heir since I was twelve, and didn't bother to help with the territory since then. I will choose to believe that the time you spent with me was what you wanted to do to make up for that."

　　Devios stood up, and glared down at the corpse of his father, wiping down the tears that showed in the corner of his eyes.

　　"But I will not be sorry that you returned to being dead doing what you cast aside – the duty of the family head."

　　The blue-haired boy added walking out of the room.

　　"If I remember correctly, Zoemi left me a sentinel to protect my mind from the hexes... are you listening to me, mister sentinel?"

　　"(I am listening... but for the time being there seems to be some sort of problem going on with a connection to my master. Is there something that you need help with, aside from contacting my master, I will see what I can do. Besides that, I don't consider myself either male or female, so please, don't call me mister.)"

　　Devios muttered to himself, before raising his voice and voicing a question that was immediately answered by the sentinel hovering within his shadow amongst the dark spheres filled with mana with no self-awareness.

　　"Contacting Zoemi was exactly what I hoped that you could do... what about young lady Espine or miss Burushi?"

　　The boy furrowed his brows with a grim expression and changed his question.

　　"(Someone seems to be blocking all magical methods of communication. Sorry.)"

　　But even with that, the answer he received didn't change much.

　　"WHO ARE YOU?! IS THIS YOUR FAULT?!"

　　"???"

　　Devios was opening his mouth to confirm something else, but then a furious voice from the outside made him flinch, and walked over to the window and opened it without hesitation to look at what was going on.

　　"George Tencelion..., at your service. Although for whatever reason everyone seems to find it easier to call me Geroizen Tencelion, so be free to call me that too if you also can't say it properly. I was sent here to check what was going on with the movement in the castle, but to think that you all were just playing around with corpses is abhorrent. Mana truly is a disgusting thing... have some respect, for the corpses and yourselves, alright?"

　　From his vantage point, Devios could see his cousin and a few others – from the original group of the hexed survivors – were facing a young man who the blue-haired heir to the Perserios family had never seen before.

　　Geroizen Tencelion, as he introduced himself casually was in his late teens and had a rather handsome face with slightly exotic features for the Bellcephora kingdom – not to mention he had dark hair – brownish-black – but his eyes were grayish-blue.

　　"Bullshit! Tencelion territory borders our territory and there is no Geroizne or whatever Geroizen you are called!"

　　Devios's cousin shouted furiously, pointing at the younger man in front of him, without realizing that he said the same name twice.