房客(糙汉)何璐程曜坤

After the exact amount of time that Zoemi predicted, the sound of the horse's hooves announced the presence of the other traveler who kept tagging behind them for a good few hours.

By the time they arrived, the two had gathered some wood and set u the small bonfire.

The crackling fire was just a normal bonfire that would serve well for cooking and keeping them warm, but it also served as a distraction.

It pulled the attention away from the frosted grass surrounding Mizoe who had already augmented his sword and was ready to activate his special enchantment at any moment.

As for Zoemi, the boy was sitting cross-legged on a small pillow-like piece of monster fur and meditating with his eyes closed.

The law he was concentrating on at the moment was the law of Aries – so even if he could not react in time for the hostile action that would or would not be taken against them, he had the highest chances of survival in case things would not go well for him and Mizoe.

The rider god down their horse and approached the two on foot, holding their mare's reins in one hand.

"Good evening..."

The individual wore a cape and had a hood covering their appearance, but the voice betrayed them to be that of a rather young girl.

Actually, the voice sounded vaguely familiar to Zoemi, and even Mizoe furrowed his brows as if he remembered something.

"...perchance there is a place for one more person besides the fire for the night...?"

Even though her reception was rather cold, the hooded girl braved the heavy atmosphere and asked.

She was doing quite well for herself – she was not showing too much nervousness, although she was trying really hard to sound more mature and confident than she was.

"Perhaps there is."

"..."

Zoemi remained silent while Mizoe's face turned serious and he nodded – the cold aura around him became more overbearing and actually caused the crackling fire to falter and tremble as if it was about to get snuffed out.

The hooded girl stepped aside and tied up the reins of her mare next to Mizoe's and Zoemi's horse and then sat down near the outer edge of the ring of light cast by the fire.

"You can sit closer. If you stay as far away as you are, you would be better off not bothering with the fire at all. You could also tell us your name."

Mizoe's eyes glistened coldly and even the reflection of the crackling fire in them seemed to be frozen solid as he spoke to the mysterious girl.

"If you ask for somebody's name, it's good manners to introduce yourself first."

The girl proudly puffed out her chest and declared the rather embarrassing phrase without stuttering, probably believing it to be cool.

*shhhhh*

"DAD, DON'!"

Mizoe responded immediately – the light blue lines shone all over his body and the glowing blade of his sword left the sheath with a deadly whisper.

Zoemi could only react in time because he reacted to that very sound.

...although he didn't open his eyes even while standing up and reaching out his hand to prevent the light-blue-haired man from slicing the hooded girl in half.

"Eh... KYAAAH!"

*thump*

The girl that was a step away from dying let out a confused voice and looked over to the shouting boy just to realize a fraction of a second later that the boy's father had stopped himself mid-swing and the sword in his hand was less than a foot away from her torso – which made her freak out and let out a panicked scream, trip over her own feet, and then promptly fell on her butt.

The impact and the girl moving her body wildly to keep her balance caused the hood to slide off her head revealing the blue-haired teenage girl who spoke to Mizoe and Zoemi before the registration process in the city of the Victureo territory.

"Wh-what the are you doing?! I...! I warn you – I am a trained soldier, and even if you will get me, my family will not let you get away with it...!"

The girl's eyes were jolting between the tip of the sword so cold its aura was sending chills down her spine and the light-blue-haired man whose body was shining with strange enchantments.

"If you are a trained soldier of the kingdom of Bellcephora then our nation is doomed."

"...!"

Mizoe frowned, lowering his weapon and getting out of the battle stance – despite shaking his head in disappointment at the trembling teenager he did not deactivate any of his spells either.

The girl bit her lips and lowered her head visibly upset.

"...hmph... I knew it. You are not normal, there's no way that a child would be that scary if the parent wasn't even more of a monster!"

"Haah...? What a mouth on this one..."

The girl scoffed, trying to scramble herself up while acting tougher than she was, but unknowingly she stepped on a landmine...

"Miss. If you knew what you were talking about, you would have cut off your tongue right now and written an apology with all of your blood."

"...!"

Truth be told, even Zoemi didn't know that his acting father could become that scary – for a moment, Mizoe became the very essence of his attribute, uncaring coldness that no one can survive.

The blue-haired girl in her attempt to protect her honor disrespected Zoemi's real parents – Learen and Neramis, a pair that took Mizoe in and gave him home when his real family abandoned him.

*tsss*

"...nnngh...!"

The unfortunate girl's body tremble from the sheer cold that extinguished the campfire – one thing should be given to her though – even while her chin trembled violently and the tears froze in the corners of her eyes, she didn't start apologizing or begging for mercy.

She was stubborn.

Although... a single pitiful yelp did escape her lips before she bit them.

"DAD, THEY'RE COMING FORM BEHIND!"

*WHOOOO*

*SHING*

*tssssss*

The few next things happened so fast that the blue-haired girl barely registered them.

First, the black-haired boy jumped on his feet and shouted.

In response to that, the light-blue-haired man who was already raising his blade against the girl turned right around on his heel and swung his sword down, unleashing a crescent of ice-cold air that sliced through and extinguished a fireball coming at from a place that was in his blindspot a second earlier...

...yes, a fireball...

"GHAAAARGHH...! MY FINGERS...! THAT FUCKER FROZE MY HAND...!"

"Didn't dodge or block in time... they aren't above our strength."

A pained howl of a wounded man came from between the shrub-infested part of the forest area and made Mizoe smile with satisfaction as he unsheathed a long dagger and threw it towards the black-haired boy – who caught the weapon and nodded, opening his eyes for the first time in a while thanks to which they were used to the darkness of the night.

Just as if the blue-haired girl stopped existing, the father and son ignored her completely and instead rushed towards the area where the voice came from.

"F-fireball...? Was someone trying to help me...? No! No one knows that I'm here!"

The girl gasped in disbelief, but soon shook her head and tried to stand up, only to realize her legs turned into jelly.

"Come on, Rokiana, you were trained as a soldier and want to get a knight title to prove that grandpa is right! Move...! MOVE!"

She bit her lips and hit her unresponsive legs, then gritted her teeth and growled, punching the ground and getting up on one knee.