房客(糙汉)何璐程曜坤

"..."

Around the middle of the painting, he stopped, staring at the image of a strict-looking man in his twenties who definitely tried a little bit too hard with making a good pose for the painting.

But the pose itself wasn't something that picked Zoemi's attention the most.

"...he is similar to George... Alan did say that most of the bodies weren't recovered and George's father was supposed to be a castaway washed up on the shores of the Tencelion's territory..."

Zoemi bit his lips and reached his hand towards the image, but stopped himself from actually touching the painting.

"And apparently George showed up here, but with black hair and black eyes... not something that a dead person should be able to do in the slightest...."

He breathed out taking a step back and glaring into the painted man's eyes.

"So troublesome..."

Zoemi shook his head and began inspecting the rest of the painting until...

"...?"

A familiar devilish smirk that looked so familiar as if he was put in front of the mirror immediately got Zoemi's attention, and the black-haired man stopped right in his track.

But it obviously wasn't a mirror – the devilish smile belonged to by far the youngest person included in the painting.

His honey-blond hair and bright blue eyes were enhanced by the devilish smile that carried the promise of the boy becoming a heart-stealer in the future.

"I'm done. Have you found the portrait of mister Nathan? He was supposed to be the youngest member of the expedition... force..."

Zoemi was standing completely motionless, staring at the boy's image for so long that Alan done with the memorial service approached him from the side and called out – glancing over at what captured the black-haired man's attention and stopping in place.

"...? ?!?"

Alan furrowed his brows and began looking between the figure of the honey-blond boy and the black-haired man in front of him, getting increasingly confused.

"I know there are some wild coincidences in the world or it just could be my imagination but... aren't the two of you, like, really, REALLY similar...?"

The young man took a step back and pointed between Zoemi and the image of the honey-blond boy.

"...do you want to hear something even weirder...? According to my late grandfather, I look extremely similar to my late father who was an orphan turned traveling merchant at a young age... The only differences between me and him were supposed to be the colors of our hair and eyes. I inherited mine from my late mother, while my father..."

Zoemi gulped down his saliva and made eye contact with the shocked Alan.

"...my father was supposed to have honey-blond hair and bright blue eyes..."

"But...! There is a limit to coincidences...!"

The black-haired man finished his sentence not taking his eyes off Alan who gasped and look between him and the boy in the painting.

"You are trying to say that mister Nathan managed to survive in the line of death and ended up in the land of mana? But...! Mana is poison!"

"...and you said that he was the beloved child of Aries..."

Alan shook his head and pointed out, to which Zoemi did have an answer.

"Hold on! Even if that's the case, what about the thing with martial artist's body becoming increasingly hotter until bursting into flames after using the star power for too long?!"

The young man pointed out, giving a very reasonable argument.

"If the martial artist is surrounded by mana, the process of the body protecting itself from it will prevent the combustion or even the slightest increase in temperature. Mana is not just poison, it is something opposing and hampering the star power directly – heating up is getting stronger, and abundance of mana prevents it."

"!!!"

"..."

The pair were approached by the white-haired man with obsidian-black eyes who gave Alan an explanation for the question bothering him without being asked directly, and his presence alarmed the young man while Zoemi merely glared at him in silence.

"I've overheard your conversation, and it seemed that my suspicion was correct. Young magician, you are Nathan Ramis's son, are you not?"

William, the Heavenly Star Warrior declared, motioning with his chin at Zoemi.

"There is a chance for that to be true. It would honestly explain a lot, everyone whom I would rust for the confirmation of that is dead, and making at least one of them talk would take some time."

"..."

The black-haired man tilted his head and nodded while shrugging, showing his own cluelessness on the subject.

"Although Nathan Ramis and Neramis as my father was called according to my late grandfather does match the way people of the land of mana mispronounce the names of the marital artist."

Zoemi added with a sigh.

One thing he did not expect to learn in the land blessed by the stars was the identity of his father whom he thought to be just a commoner-born traveling merchant who happened to become childhood friends with the daughter of a high noble family...

"Despite my inquiries about you, I was not informed that you would be amongst the members of the exchange program in the Heavenly Star Academy, magician. You should already know that your kind is almost as much in trouble here as marital artists stranded in the land of mana. If you perchance planning to start something, remember that not only you will not be able to display the full extent of your abilities, but also that mine are completely unrestricted without the limiter of the astral projection."

"His kind...? Wait, you don't know that Zoemi can't use ma-mnph...?"

William squinted his eyes glaring inquisitively at Zoemi while voicing his suspicions about him, and his information seemed to be outdated and straight-up wrong.

Alan wanted to clear up the misunderstanding, but his lips were sealed by Zoemi's hand as the black-haired man got behind him and wrapped himself around him as if he meant to never let go - which instantly caused Alan's face to turn bright red and his eyes could not focus on any point in particular as the closeness of the black-haired man completely overwhelmed his remaining senses.

"...and you even dare to take a hostage in front of me...?"

William's eyes narrowed even more and he hissed, sounding more pissed off than when he was proclaiming the hostility of the Heavenly Star Nation back during the tournament in the kingdom of Bellcephora...

"Alan, activate your defensive laws."

"Mpfghh...?"

Zoemi whispered hurriedly, causing Alan to let out a muffled sound of confusion and surprise.

"If you know what's good for you, step away from that martial artist. I am not against talking with you, as long as you don't intend on causing trouble in this land."

William's tone became slightly softer since he consciously tried to ease the situation while negotiating the release of whom he thought of as a hostage.

"What are you..?!"

But the next moment the black-haired man curled up together with the young martial artist, causing the white-haired man to raise his voice in shock when...

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

...a major explosion swallowed up the center of the necropolis, and the following shockwave destroyed the rest of the spot.