房客(糙汉)何璐程曜坤

"Grandpa, she isn't an intruder, I allowed her to hide here."

"...?"

Zoemi followed by worried Miriette and preceded by the two corpse puppet sentinels called out to Benevirau, making the gray-eyed man stop in his track and slowly turn back towards him.

"...do you know who that person is...? Because the mana I'm sensing definitely belongs to at least one member of the Ghosts of Bellcephora..."

The dark-blue-haired man breathed out heavily and motioned back at the door with his head.

The situation certainly wasn't to his liking, and not without reason.

After all, he was a target for an attempted assassination from the group of traitors, so in truth, the lack of hostility would be more surprising.

"I will not question your decision, but be extremely careful. The royal family from three hundred years ago trusted them without a shred of doubt and they paid the highest price for that mistake."

Benevirau straightened his back and stepped away from the door.

Then murderous aura around him did not disappear but it did lessen to a certain degree.

"I don't know if it will make things better or not, but the one that I chose to host in our home is Elsby. Something happened amongst the rank of the Ghosts of Bellcephora and she was about to get killed off. One of my little ones believes that she is someone worth becoming our ally and hence we are in this situation. I am sorry for not warning you about what was going on, but the whole thing literally just happened."

The black-haired boy added, smiling apologetically at the dark-blue-haired young-looking man.

"Are you feeling any better?"

Benevirau relaxed to a certain extent and the aura surrounding him changed into just a cautious one before he nodded his head in understanding and changed the subject.

"Those kids are keeping the mana away from me, so I do feel some improvement in my state."

Zoemi's face hardened but he managed to make his voice sound upbeat and hopeful as he looked between his two corpse puppet sentinels.

The problem with that statement was that it was only true on the surface level.

The black-haired boy was indeed feeling better with the two corpse puppet sentinels draining mana from his immediate surroundings but it was only because he experienced severe pain when he came in contact with Miriette.

As long as he was still alive, it would be hard to not feel better than that.

"That's great to hear. If that's the case, let's met your guest... Is it okay for me to accompany you during that meeting?"

The boy's acting was good enough to fool Benevirau, and the dark-blue-haired man moved on and asked, pointing at the door politely, not wanting to make Zoemi think that he is forcing him to accept his demands.

"Of course, grandpa. My little one believes that she is harmless, but he is still just a naive child. If anything, I expect this to be a trap and your aid would be much appreciated."

"...!"

The black-haired boy grinned and nodded his head, making the dark-blue-haired man straighten his back and let out a deep breath of relief.

"That said... you don't mind Miriette being here too?"

Zoemi asked, looking back at the uncharacteristically silent girl who kept herself back from him and his sentinels.

"...pardon...? Is young lady Espine supposed to join us at some point...?"

To his great surprise, Benevirau only tilted his head and asked, furrowing his brows in confusion.

Zoemi blinked a few times and glanced back at the dark-haired girl who looked back at him and flicked the platinum stripe of hair in her fringe up with her fingers.

"Hello, lord Benevirau. I stopped my mana in time so you are probably unable to see me because of that. Sorry for the trouble and thank you for hosting me this lovely night."

"?!?!"

As Zoemi motioned at Benevirau with urgency, Miriette rolled her eyes and spoke up, causing the dark-blue-haired man to jolt up.

It must have been centuries since someone managed to sneak up on him like that, and without even intending to do so in the first place.

"A guest of the young master is always welcomed, young lady, but... what do you mean by – stopping your mana...?"

"We can have this talk a bit later. A Ghost in that room requires our attention right now."

Benevirau slowly asked, deeply shaken and confused by the explanation, but Zoemi pointed out in a serious voice, nodding at the two sentinels to move to the door.

"That's... that's is true. Please excuse that slip-up."

"There's nothing to excuse, it's fine."

The dark-blue-haired man lowered his head apologetically but it was just shrugged off by the black-haired boy who smiled and assured him.

Once the door was opened and the group entered the room, nothing looked particularly out of place, at least not with the amount of light that was provided by the moon and the stars pouring through the windows on the opposite wall.

Or it would be if not for the fact that Zoemi and his sentinels could see in the dark, Benevirau could sense mana movement, and Miriette had a spell that revealed the presence of creatures just by sensing them breathe.

"Were you wounded on your way here?"

Zoemi asked out loud, not stopping at all and approaching the far corner of the room together with his corpse puppet sentinels.

Even though there was little need to do that, Benevirau turned out the light and the glow of mana stone lamps chased away the darkness of the night, and the dark-haired girl was able to spot who the black-haired boy was talking to.

Backed off into the corner, a young black-haired woman with skin the color of coffee with milk was sitting in a rather pitiful position, with her legs pulled up and her chin, resting her head on her knees.

She was surrounded by a dozen threatening shadow beasts of various shapes and sizes, all with their jet-black fur spiked-up defensively.

Although it was hard to pick up at first, the young woman had another being with her – a murky-black sphere was sitting atop of her head, blending with her perfect silky black hair almost perfectly.

"Not physically."

Elsby glanced up at the black-haired boy who asked her a question and answered in an indifferent voice although her expression was clearly showing that she was not okay at all.

"You know, before, if I had to choose who I should be warier about – you or my dubious comrades, I would pick them. We were all messed up in one way or another, but we spend enough time together that I started to believe that they have my back in some messed-up way. That the way they treat me is just how they show their affection."

The young woman said in a flat voice and reached out her hand to pat one of her shadow beasts.

"I would love to push the blame on you because apparently Kiroterell was able to overhear you talking about me – but considering that he was literally plotting behind everyone's back and messing with the kingdoms and didn't even get a scolding and I would be executed if not for his guy, I can see where the real problem is..."

She added, moving her hand fr[m the shadow beast to the top of her head and patting the murky-black sphere perched on it.

"Everyone turned on you?"

"...!"

Zoemi asked, raising his brows in honest surprise and the jet-black-haired woman flinched because she immediately knew what he was asking about.

"...yes... considering that she didn't try to capture me but went straight for the kill, it is safe to assume that I and Oktria are no longer a thing..."

Elsby bit her lips and nodded, before tightly hugging her knees, trying to hold back tears.

"I imagine you would prefer to have a moment for yourself, but there is one matter that I would like to clear up..."

"..."

The black-haired boy leaned on his crystal cane and asked, making the jet-black-haired woman glare up at him, very much upset but willing to listen.

"Were you or any other Ghost approached by the white-haired variant magician named Arisu Karde Lazaram?"

Zoemi asked, but certainly, the initial reaction wasn't what he expected.

"Ah, the other guy beside you that we were interested in? The thing with him was odd, at first, the commander didn't even want to consider him, but then he began showing some potential. He wasn't talented but certainly tried to pursue the darkness magic with enough drive that he started reminding us of the commander himself in his early years. Then you happened and then the odd white-haired guy straight up erased our most defensive member, and I thought that we would be laying low for a few decades..."

Elsby squinted her eyes and looked to the side trying to recall something before she blinked a few times and turned back to Zoemi.

"Actually... I believe that even though we were told to not interfere with anyone, the commander and Kiorterell brought that guy to our hideout... Yes, I definitely saw him hiding back behind the commander just before I was accused of treason and almost murdered then and there on the spot. Tsk... that show's how much I was actually let in on in the group... that's how much bullshit the whole talk about Ghosts being family was."

The jet-black-haired woman complained clenching her fists and hiding her face behind her knees.