房客(糙汉)何璐程曜坤

Of course, he had to be followed by his two corpse puppet sentinels who were making sure that there was no mana in a two-foot radius around him, but still.

At least it was better than laying down in bed completely alone while everyone else was living their lives as normal.

"Say... you must be Lord Doregon's daughter, right? Lady Misena is not really the type to sleep around – at least from what I've heard."

That said – the black-haired boy walked in on Arreta talking with Elsby with great interest.

The brown-haired young woman sat by the table and smoothly closed the distance between herself and the jet-black-haired woman who looked as if she could be her junior back in the Academy years.

"Neither. I am the secret child of the second son of the Espine family, Kimero Loar Espine, and the foreign ambassador representing the Islandic Alliance, Zio Vess'mat. Conceived and born during her stay in the Bellcephora kingdom. Unfortunately, she was assassinated soon after giving birth to me, probably by the order of Kimero's wife who was not happy about her husband's affair. This was a huge scandal back in the day – to not make things even more difficult, my existence was not shared with the Islandic Alliance, nor with the family of my late mother."

Elsby wasn't bothered by the question in the slightest and answered with honesty while taking a big bite out of one of the sandwiches that Benevirau prepared beforehand and left for the others to enjoy.

"Hey – it's okay if you don't want to say, there's no need to make up a whole story..."

"I am not making it up though...?"

Arreta furrowed her brows and grumpily took one sandwich for herself before grumbling as she bit into it, to which Elsby tilted her head and blinked a few times.

"Espine family had only lord Doregon as an heir, and even if it was some family issue, the Islandic Alliance you were talking about broke apart three hundred and eleven years ago. Considering that some of the nations that were forming it no longer exist, there is no possibility that the kingdom of Bellcephora could host its ambassador."

The brown-haired woman straightened her back and declared with an important expression on her face, proving that she was actually book-smart.

...only not very everyday-smart...

"Good morning Arreta, Elsby. By the way, Arreta. She is telling the truth – Elsby is one of the original members of the Ghosts of Bellcephora. You did not hear about the second son of the Espine family because the one she talks about was born three centuries ago."

Zoemi entered the kitchen properly and spoke slightly louder than he usually would, making sure that the two girls would realize that he was there.

"Oh, hello young master. It seems that you need some more rest because the thing you just said is simply not possible, humans don't live that long."

Arreta turned over to the black-haired boy and greeted him properly, before casually rejecting everything he said with the simplest of shrugs and a strong-willed declaration.

"Also, Elsby is way too nice to be a member of the group of traitors that almost wiped out our entire royal family. At least when she isn't trying to fool me."

With the same casual ignorance, Arreta shrugged her shoulders and assured glancing confidently at the jet-black-haired woman as if she one-upped her and saw through her plans.

"Pffft...!"

At first, Elsby thought that the brown-haired girl was only messing around, but after the proud declaration, the jet-black-haired woman could not hold herself back and snorted, going as far as having to look away because she almost blew a piece of bread through her nose.

"Ah. And here I thought that grandpa was overreacting yesterday when he talked about you."

"Eh...? What did sir Benevirau say...?"

Zoemi shook his head while rolling his eyes which made Arreta furrow her brows in concern and ask.

"While we are at it. Hello. Do you have something for me to do? If you feel like it's too soon to give me some important mission I am completely fine with some small-scale trust-building exercises and errands."

Elsby pulled herself together and with no pastries trying to exit her nostrils, she turned back to the black-haired boy and greeted him, trying to not be too awkward while she was at it.

"Dad, those are safe for you to eat."

"Yes! And they are delicious! We helped grandpa make them!"

Before Zoemi responded to her, his two corpse puppet sentinels moved to the table and showed off the pile of sandwiches with so much pride as if it was a masterpiece that would shape history for future generations.

"I must try them then. They look amazing."

The black-haired boy smiled and played along with his excited spell children, reaching out and taking the sandwich on the very top.

"Oh my...! They are delicious!"

"~!" x2

The black-haired boy cheered out giving the appropriate reaction according to the expectations of the corpse puppet sentinels watching him, making them extremely pleased with themselves.

"Elsby, you barely escaped being killed by your comrades yesterday. It is okay to have some time off. Although if you want to keep your mind off the whole thing, you can help out Arreta with her duties... but otherwise, I have nothing planned out for you as of yet."

Zoemi sat down and took another bite before raising his eyes at the jet-black-haired young woman and shrugging his shoulders.

"...eh...? Nothing...? You don't even want to question me about the plans and secrets of the other Ghosts? Anything?"

Elsby gasped, straightening her back in utter confusion, staring wide-eyed at the black-haired boy peacefully enjoying his meal.

"Consider it a day off to cool down after a previous, mentally taxing job. Or, as I said earlier, go around and help out Arreta. You could have a talk with grandpa Benevirau tomorrow to discuss the arrangement of your employment in our household. For now, though, try to take things easy."

Zoemi assured her with a polite smile, making the jet-black-haired girl so confused as if she never in her life had someone tell her to relax.

The brown-haired woman was looking between the two of them and perked up once it sounded like she would get a coworker that would not be a completely serious person like Benevirau.

"I... I... eh...? You really don't need me to act out immediately?"

Elsby fidgetted, looking around not really knowing where to look, as things were as far out of her comfort zone as possible.

Although, her idea of a comfort zone was very different from the average.

"Little ones, did our king or some of his underlings try to contact us while I was out of it or recovering?"

Zoemi was done with the subject of the former member of the Ghosts of Bellcephora, at least for the time being, and instead asked his corpse puppet sentinels.

"Dad, you still are recovering. Your friends can wait."

"Yes, even if he wants to invite you for the ball celebrating his coronation."

The first sentinel answered in a tired voice while the second one tried to do the same, but ended up spilling a lot of information in the process.

"What are you doing?! This was supposed to be a secret until dad will be able to travel!"

The first sentinel really tried to be more serious, but only confirmed what the second one let slip.

Zoemi smirked to himself and grabbed another sandwich.

If things would go the way he expected, within the next few minutes his corpse puppet sentinels would indirectly tell him everything that they were trying to hide from him out of worry about his health.

"Zoemi. You keep calling them little ones, which is cute, but why don't you use their names? Is it because there are too many of them or something?"

"...!"

To the black-haired boy's surprise, Elsby spoke over the two quarreling sentinels, curiously asking them.

"Eh...? We do have names though?"

"Why wouldn't dad name us all?"

Still, no one was more surprised than the two sentinels, staring at the jet-black-haired woman in utter confusion.

"The cute considerate one trying to act proper all the time is Ettemi, and the cute straight-forward airhead is Oemir... as for all of them being too many for me to keep up with the names... it was never a problem..."

The black-haired boy introduced the two without batting an eye, before speaking out about his other sentinels – the thousands that were destroyed and ended up increasing Arisu's – or rather Cherro's – mana reservoir, pushing him all the way to the sage level in an extremely short amount of time.

"Ah... sorry for a rude question..."

Elsby sensed that her choice of words wasn't the best for the situation and realized that things must have taken a turn for the worse while she and most of the Ghosts weren't paying attention.

"No worries... but still, the two of you..."

Zoemi shook his head slightly to put Elsby's worries to rest before turning to his corpse puppet sentinels.

"Although I should have mentioned your names before, I never said that you can't introduce yourselves to others. Now that I think about it... does anyone besides me – and Arreta nad Elsby too, of course – know how to call you?"

The black-haired boy raised his brow and asked with a serious voice.

"Huh...? Is there even a need to do that?"

Oemir gasped, actually taken aback by Zoemi's words.

"To our defense, no one asked us about our names either."

Ettemi pointed out, lowering their head timidly.

"...wait... so you have a name too...?"

Funnily enough, Elsby once again gasped in confusion, but this time it seemed like she wasn't talking to anyone currently present in the dining room.

...because technically she wasn't...

*whoom*

The next moment a murky-black sphere jumped out of Elsby's hair and sat atop her head as if it was always there.

"Of course I do. I'm Immeri."

The sentinel in their base form answered, sounding confused as to why Elsby was acting so shocked.