房客(糙汉)何璐程曜坤

"...by the way... why didn't you bother to get rid of my copy before coming for me...?"

"...what do you...?"

Zoemi breathed out and asked curiously expecting what appeared to be an oversight on the armored girl's side to be a part of some strategy – but judging by her cautious voice brimming with nervous realization, that was not the case...

"MEAN...?!"

The armored girl finished her sentence with a panic slipping into her voice as someone suddenly grappled her from behind, lifting her up as if she weighed nothing.

*clang* *screee*

The girl tried to break free – unsuccessfully – in a desperate attempt she swung her hands and ended up hitting the black-haired boy's jaw with the blade, even dragging it alongside his exposed teeth.

"...!"

For a moment, the armored girl froze in fear, actually expecting to have wounded the attendant – only to be greeted by the sight of the tip of her sword being shredded off because of the contact...

"No composure. No preparation. But full marks in overconfidence. I guess you can't trust every single piece of information you come across."

Zoemi scoffed coldly, reaching out his hand and grabbing the girl's weapon by the edge and crushing it before yanking it out of her hand.

*haaaaaa*

The moment that the cast metal blade left the armored girl's hand, it dissipated into manna with the sound of a person breathing out in relief.

*SCEEEEEEE* *thump*

Before anyone managed to compose themselves enough to o anything, Zoemi's copy holding the armored girl up dug his fingers into the metal and tore it to shreds with his bare hands, excavating the girl and causing her to plop down on the floor like a partially shelled egg.

*cling* *clang*

The copy dropped the pieces of shredded metal to the floor before turning into a thin silver mist that then seeped into the original Zoemi.

The unbothered attendant glanced down at the greatly upset girl at his feet. She still had her helmet and both arms and legs armor untouched as well as the whole set of male school uniform in place but she still protectively covered her body as if she have been stripped naked.

"Hmph."

"?!?!"

Zoemi scoffed again and rolled his eyes before kicking his foot up – in a swift motion he somehow managed not only to retrieve his shoed foot from Rio's throat but also get back the green-haired boy back on his feet.

The very disturbed and even more disoriented green-haired boy, that is.

"Get out of my sight before I change my mind."

"Ghhh...!"

Zoemi scoffed at him and Rio merely whizzed before rushing away, pushing through the other students who gathered around the scene to watch the chaos.

The green-haired boy did learn a thing or two because he was out of the injured attendant's sight in no time at all inded~

That only left the sulking girl still sitting on the floor in a compromising position that she assumed on her own.

Zoemi could clearly hear her fast heartbeat with his enhanced hearing so he changed his approach a lot – originally he wanted to crush her together with the armor just like the last golem, but if this was an actual magician and not her spell, things were completely different no matter how annoyed he was.

Not to mention the little punishment show he just did with Rio made him let out some steam.

"Haaa.... first of all, young lady. I am not a student but only an attendant of one of the students so even as a student supervisor you don't really have any power over me. Not to mention, good luck with trying to force my master to do anything. Heh~ "

Zoemi sighed and faced the partially armored girl for the first time to scold her, completely glossing over his own faulty behavior.

"...!" *clank*

It looked like his words actually convinced her about being in the wrong – which she honestly wasn't – because she swayed and had to support herself with both hands while looking straight up at the black-haired boy's face through the visor of her helmet.

While Zoemi was having fun Kierul finished her meal, returned the empty tray to the right counter, and was ready to leave.

Young lord Victureo wasn't there and she didn't feel like socializing so she simply focused to activate standard fire enchantments – which seemed to become a struggle for her recently as she got used to the special type that she figured out together with Zoemi instead of the normal ones – and walked towards the exit, plowing through all the uncooperative students that didn't notice her in time like an icebreaker with a resting bitch face.

*pat* *pat*

"...?"

As she was moving past her attendant, Kierul tapped his back making him look back at her innocently.

"You will work on your socializing skills later. Escort me back to my classroom, maybe young lord Victureo and young lady Espine already showed up there."

The red-haired girl shrugged her shoulders and motioned towards the hallway with her chin.

"True! My lady, if you allow me."

The threatening aura surrounding the black-haired attendant disappeared in an instant and he nodded enthusiastically to his master's idea, offering his arm to her.

As the two began walking the other students stepped to the sides making a path for them while doing their best to not make eye contact with either one.

"H-hold it...! Sthop...!"

Then unexpectedly, the partially armored girl called out to the leaving pair, reaching out her hand and sounding quite desperate for some reason, even biting her own tongue.

"...an annoying discovery, wouldn't you say? Ne of the famous Tallaran twins is quite the drama queen, isn't she?"

Kierul breathed out mildly annoyed, but she also stopped which definitely meant that she was at least willing to hear out whatever the short second-year student had to say – so Zoemi also stopped and waited.

"You...! The strong guy...! You...! You are... no... I-I mean... wh-what's your name..?!"

The partially armored girl struggled to speak up her mind and changed her question partially by asking, which made her sound as if she was holding herself back from making an assumption and disappointing herself greatly.

"...?"

"..."

Zoemi and Kierul looked at each other in mild confusion.

"Well. I guess you need a name to report me to the teachers or the headmistress."

The black-haired boy shrugged his shoulders lightheartedly and smirked at the overly theatrical girl.

"Zoemi."

He said simply and winked.

The partially armored girl flinched, perking up while her hand fell to the floor as she could only stare at the back of the attendant who resumed walking together with his master.

"Judging by her reaction, young lady Miriette isn't the only person that knew you before you lost your memory."

Kierul pointed out, intrigued, on their way to the classroom.

"Odd. We tried to learn about me after I remembered my actual name, but never got anything attention worthy."

Zoemi nodded while pondering.

"The few people that seemed to know something turned out to be threatened by the Espine family into silence."

Kierul reminded him squinting her eyes as if trying to remember something.

"And there was also that one old guy who warned us to stop snooping around because it's Galamroze family's problem... You know? Originally I just thought that you killed some servants or stole something and got your face fried while trying to escape, but there might be some deeper meaning in your past. Congratulations. I guess."

The red-haired girl recalled and wondered before making a troubled expression and tapping Zoemi's hand reassuringly.

"Well... it's not like we can cross off your suspicion either. I am a sinful man after all."

"Pffft! Shut up~!"

The balck-ahried boy breathed out and suddenly declared with a mysterious gleam in his eyes – which caused Kierul to burst out into laughter and playfully tap Zoemi's chest with her free hand.

The two arrived at the classroom in a remarkably good mood, a mood that was soured slightly because of the blatant absence of either Grazio or Miriette sitting inside.

The whole classroom was empty so it wasn't like the master and the attendant could miss the pair of interests.

"Quite bothersome..."

Kierul let go of Zoemi's arm and walked to her desk, sitting down and peering through the window with concern.

"Hmm... The first prince, his fiance young lady Victureo, young lord Victureo, young lady Espine, young lady Kallerontte, young lord Derizno, and the younger twin sister of your feet-loving acquaintance - young lady Moyena - and a handful of notable third-year students, and even a few teachers are all absent today without a word of explanation, and none of the teachers makes a fuss about it."

She said while tapping her fingernails against the desk without looking at her attendant.

"...that's more people than you mentioned in the cafeteria..."

Zoemi pointed out furrowing his brows, walking inside the classroom, and sitting on top of the teacher's podium.

"Zoemi, we are not in the woods or random inns anymore. Even if the kids around us seem unreliable and completely harmless, their families to whom they write or talk through message speels are not. It's time to dust off the shelf with cautiousness."

"...right, right. Sorry. I am still kind of annoyed."

Kierul turned her head slowly and sent her attendant a disappointed gaze making him lower his head and grumble defensively.

"Anyway. A few of the strongest and most resourceful youngsters just didn't show up on the first day of lectures WITH permission from the teachers. It shouldn't be anything that concerning, but for some reason, it doesn't sit with me too well..."

The red-haired girl said with a heavy sigh, massaging her chest as if an invisible burden was weighing her down.

"We can make sure what it is about right now. I can ask the headmistress... but you already know that, so why didn't you ask me to do that from the start...?"

Zoemi shrugged his shoulders before furrowing his brows and motioning with his chin at Kierul.

"Do that. Definitely do that. But we can also use this little investigation to make some additional connections~"

The red-haired girl nodded at him in seriousness... and then her face bloomed with a confident grin that would befit a spider setting up its web in front of juicy flies.

"Oho~? I'm listening~!"

Zoemi smirked devilishly in response and leaned forward.

"The first prince might be absent, but his younger brother attends the lectures without a hitch... I heard that the second prince is a clever and cunning person but suffers from quite an inferiority complex. Don't you think that someone like him would either already know or want to know the whereabouts of his perfect older brother if it was something important that he was left out of~?"

Kierul hummed, putting her hands together and resting her chin on top of them with an evil gleam in her already intense red eyes.