房客(糙汉)何璐程曜坤

"Do you also agree that a celebration such as this requires more gifts?"

*click* *WHOOOM* *thump* x 7

...but then Arisu's hair and eyes became jet-black again and at the snap of his fingers a few small shadow gates appeared right above the buffet table and more severed heads dropped from them straight into the food.

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

Despite not even recognizing any of the faces, when a severed head suddenly drops into a plate of tartines, splashing the various toppings around, there was no way that people within the splash zone would remain calm...

The music cut off immediately as most people activated their defensive spells, instinctively grouping ones with their loved ones and allies.

":...the delegation from Barbariacca..."

One of the few calmest people was of course the young king Horeo – the gold-haired young man needed a single glance at the mutilated body parts to recognize to whom they belonged and sigh.

"So that is how you treat your allies? Peculiar. Although I do not expect intelligence from someone like you."

Horeo scoffed dismissively and three large spheres of light appeared next to him and started orbiting his body.

One above his head, one right under his chest, and one below his waist.

At the same time, the halos comprised of golden spheres hovering above Patishi and Veo spread around, covering their heights and orbiting them at varying, uneven speeds.

"They were never my allies – they were a necessary evil that a hero such as myself had to work with to achieve my purpose. Now that I reunited with my real allies, it was time to wipe that evil from the face of the earth."

Arisu brushed off the dust that got on his tuxedo and stepped forward, declaring proudly in a confident and unwavering voice.

"...Horeo..."

Zoemi whispered and carefully checked the room for any trace of the Ghosts of Bellcephora – who were not Elsby – but for now, it seemed that they were not there.

"...I will play along for now with this idiocy..."

Horeo breathed out and nodded towards the black-haired boy although he seemed to be very much annoyed.

"Arisu – think about what you are saying. How could you be sure that someone in Barbariacca nation didn't have a loose tongue and spread the information about you working together with them around? Are you planning on genocide? That doesn't sound very hero-like to me."

Although Horeo was quite good with acting, his current performance was not very convincing for anyone who actually knew him.

That was most definitely not the question that the gold-haired king wanted to ask personally. It probably wasn't even something that he wanted to ask about in the first place, at all.

But it was a part of the plan that best matched the circumstances.

"Genocide is such a strong word though. Think about it for a moment, almost no one in the Bellcephora Kingdom remembered or even knew that Barariacca existed. Wiping them out changed nothing for anyone. Unless I will open a shadow gate and start stacking their heads in the courtyard, no one will be bothered in the slightest."

"..."

Zoemi, Horeo, and Miriette exchanged grim looks after listening to Arisu's boasting.

The variant sage wasn't saying that as if he was planning on killing every single citizen of Barbariacca nation – he was speaking as if he had already done that.

"...you met Carcassuss and the rest, didn't you..."

The jet-black-haired woman in Zoemi's group crossed her arms defensively and said in a grim voice, not really asking but rather stating a fact.

"What an odd thing to ask about – but I should expect that from a weirdo like you."

Arisu glanced at her and waved his hand dismissively as if Elsby wasn't worth his attention.

"Horeo, aren't you happy about having one less problem to deal with? I would say that the entire Bellcephora kingdom owes me a favor. Those Barbariaccans wanted to start a full-blown war and I ended swiftly. Wouldn't you say that's how a hero should act?"

The young man whose hair and eyes once again turned white looked back at the young king and smirked. Despite his handsome face, there was something unhinged about the aura surrounding him as well as the expression in his eyes...

While the talk continued, the more than worried guests tried to leave at least the ballroom, preferably the royal castle and even the capital itself.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case as the moment the doors opened they revealed a pitch-black void that could not be entered or destroyed no matter the attempts – even though there were quite many desperate ones.

"Oh? Mom and dad promised to not show up before the grand reveal, but I guess they are right. Everyone should stay until the very end so they would not get the wrong idea."

When the people began to swarm the window and one by one discovered that upon opening them the exact same void awaited them, Arisu chuckled and nodded his head with a pleased smile.

"Lady Elsby, considering the babbling fool is off to his own world, could you explain to me why you think that he did encounter your former colleagues?"

Horeo raised his brow, getting just a little bit annoyed about the whole hero talk coming from someone two years older than him, and turned towards the jet-black-haired woman.

"Exterminating an entire country all at once. At the tail end of our search for greater power when just killing strong magicians and sages was not enough, we did try it once or twice on nations past Atreterve. You know, to see whether gaining mana from multiple different sources all at once would push us past the ceiling of the human capabilities, young king."

Elsby curtsied properly and satiated Horeo's hunger for knowledge although in terms of good manners she only added the young man's proper title at the very end of her explanation.

"You... why are you ignoring me in favor of that dirty woman?"

Arisu tensed up and asked, staring daggers at Horeo who didn't look particularly worried.

"..."

The young king opened his mouth to answer but he furrowed his brows and made a sour expression looking at the white-haired man.

*BOOOOOOOOOM* x3 *crumble*

"!!!"

At the very same moment, three light beams launched consecutively and hit Arisu square in the chest, sending him flying at the wall, and with all of them combined they actually broke him through to the outside.

The funniest part about it was that the initial shock of the bystanders lasted only a few seconds because they realized that the brand new hole was not covered by the pitch-black darkness and was actually leading outside.

"Some questions don't deserve to even be acknowledged, much less answered."

"I like your way of thinking, young king."

Horeo scoffed, glaring at the hole in the wall, to which Elsby smiled cheerfully and breathed out a little less tense than a moment earlier.

"Now then. Ehmi. You already did pick a side, but if you want to change your mind, this is your last chance."

"E-eh...?"

Zoemi took a deep breath and stepped forward towards the tense crimson-red-haired young woman, who couldn't a confused yelp leaving her mouth.

"I want to be on the winning side..."

Ehmi blushed at her own reaction and straightened her back trying to make herself look more confident, even though she really wasn't.

"Yeah, I figured – that's why I am asking... listen. I am only asking you that because I saw the other you getting majorly screwed over and I feel sorry. I alone have thousands of reasons to finish you off where you stand."

Zoemi shrugged his shoulders and nodded before noticing Ettemi and Oemir fidgeting nervously behind him and feeling sorrow and rage reignite in his core together with previously undiscovered deposits of unbridled hatred.

Actually – why was he even giving this Ehmi a chance?

The one he felt bad about was Ehmi from a different timeline, the one who was possessed by the presence for months and lost control because of the death of her beloved younger brother.

The one in front of him helped kill his sentinels, his children...

"You have no idea what will happen from this point. No matter how confident you are, Arisu is stronger than you can ima..."

"Alright, that's a no then."

The crimson-haired young woman bit her lips and declared – and was cut off by the black-haired young man who literally breathed out in relief that his proposition was rejected.

"...?"

Ehmi flinched and furrowed her brows not sure what to say next. She glanced at the others from behind Zoemi, but no one seemed keen on attacking her.

...maybe beside Miriette who was glaring at her, but that could be just Miriette being her jealous self...

"Roi... hmmm... guess not... Miss Metavi. Would you take care of Ehmi for me? I believe I am too angry to properly resolve the situation with her. You on the other hand are the most coolheaded person here."

Zoemi said but then gritted his teeth, changing his mind halfway and breathing out before directing the question towards the white-as-snow girl.

"I... pfft...! Why are you so cute...?!"

"Hey! Don't you dare fall for him too!"

Metavicero raised her brows before snorting and giggling – if not for the side effect of the experiments done on her that left her skin permanently pure white, she would be blushing – Roiso and Mirienne knew that so she tensed up and called out in a high-pitched voice.

"You really have no idea what is coming."

The tension was definitely on the low side and it made Ehmi clench her fists and grit her teeth in anger at being underestimated.