"...

"

Zoemi was laying on his back, staring at the ceiling in silence as a medium-sized dark water spear was sizzling with acidic darkness mana and a dark fireball crackling with the mana-freezing coldness of the ice attribute were hovering above his raised palms

Since he was far too anxious to actually get back to sleep, the black-haired boy thought that playing around with his mysterious magic attribute – which apparently wasn't either the darkness or shadow – and test a few things out wasn't a bad idea – and it most definitely wasn't.

As it turned out, a mind and the limitations that humans put onto themselves were a fearsome thing.

When Zoemi thought he was a darkness magician, he used only the darkness attribute spells because that was supposed to be the only thing possible.

When he discovered that he could copy the spells of other magicians and was told that he was a shadow magician, he went ahead and copied the spells just like a shadow magician would without trying to change them out in any way – because a shadow attribute only copies things.

But then, with his attribute being an unknown variant, the black-haired boy decided to experiment without holding back – which lead him to this point.

A water spear conjured with the acidic darkness mana.

A fireball made out of the ice mana.

Two spells that should be impossible to exist...

"...

"

The black-haired boy furrowed his brows and the water spear solidified – not into ice, but rather a rock drill slowly spinning around.

Similarly, the fireball changed into a tiny twister while still releasing a threatening chilling aura of ice mana.

"This is ridiculous... I need to test it out...!

"

Zoemi gulped down his saliva, staring at the spells ready to be launched at any time...

*rustle*

"...?!

"

*haaaaaaaa*

Suddenly – a small noise coming from outside his room alarmed the black-haired boy and made him release the spells without targeting anything, making the mana constructing it disperse into the air with a sound similar to a person's sigh.

|Could it be...?|

Zoemi get off of his bed and glanced at the pocket watch on his nightstand – it was early, far earlier than he would usually be up and about – but that made him realize that the noise outside could be the person leaving him the mana potions!

|Burushi might not talk to me normally, but she still leaves me those potions! This is perfect!|

The black-haired boy's face brightened as he hurried towards the door.

To think that his concern about meeting the heroine as fast as possible without scaring her even more than she already was, would be solved so easily!

*click*

"Miss Buru...!

"

Zoemi made to make the most innocent smile he could muster and fully opened the door startling the person bending their back in front of him...

"!!!

"

"...shi...?

"

Zoemi blinked a few times staring not at the blond hair of the heroine but instead on the red hair of one of the capture targets, Grazio Mera Victureo...!

"E-Espine's attendant...!

"

Grazio jumped away with his face burning brightly from shame over getting caught red-handed...

...leaving the mana potion at the doorstep of Zoemi's room...

"...wha...? What...? It was you...?!

"

Zoemi glanced down at the vial of the blue liquid and then back up at the red-haired boy who was supposed to despise him...

"I-I was just returning to my room after exercising a bit! I merely noticed some odd vial and wanted to check it out - I definitely didn't leave you that mana potion!

"

Grazio straightened his back and turned away attempting to flee the scene but...

"I didn't say anything about leaving it here – and how do you know it's a mana potion? I mean – it is but...

"

...Zoemi's denseness reared its head again – although in this case, it wasn't more of him not wanting to acknowledge the idea of Grazio of all people leaving him such expensive gifts.

"I have nothing else to say to you, Espine's attendant! Stop bothering me!

"

The red-haired boy scoffed and walked away as fast as he could without outright breaking into a sprint getting away from the scene without answering the black-haired boy's question.

"...what in the world...?

"

Zoemi picked up the mana potion while looking after the evacating capture target and muttered in confusion...

...at the same time, Ehmi's words resounded in his brain...

~You're the attendant of lady Miriette, that my dumb brother wants to apologize to but is too proud to do that!~

"No way...

"

He shook his head in disbelief and returned to his room.

...there was no way that the black-haired boy could focus on his spells, so instead, he decided to dress up and check up on the heroine – now he had another question he had to ask her...

----

After he spent over ten minutes in front of the door to Burushiitto's room and the girl spent the entire time shaking UNDER her bed, staying quiet and even attempting to hold her breath so she wouldn't be spotted, Zoemi came to a conclusion that it would be better to try and talk to her at a later date.

...Zoemi came to that conclusion thanks to focusing on the world of shadows - he saw that the shadow corpse puppet was already keeping an eye on her and hence decided it was okay to give the blond girl more time...

With nothing better to do, the black-haired attendant went to the kitchen to start his duties a bit earlier than usual.

-----

"...?

"

As Zoemi was nearing the kitchen he witnessed an unexpected sight, Teo was shyly peeking into the kitchen while nervously tugging on her left ear.

"Hello, Teo.

"

"Eeeek...!

"

The black-haired boy casually walked up to the brown-haired girl and greeted her but Teo reacted as if he just jumped her out of nowhere, and shrieked in panic.

"Ah! S-sir Zoemi...!

"

The short girl in a maid's uniform regained her senses and bowed down apologetically.

"Y-you surprised me...

"

She looked down and blushed.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to.

"

Zoemi who got surprised himself laughed awkwardly.

Teo raised her hand and started tugging on her left ear once again which of course made Zoemi curious.

|Oh! She got herself an earring!|

He realized.

|...something feels wrong about this thing...|

Zoemi furrowed his brows experiencing a really bad feeling and he reached his hand out to grab the girl's hand in order to have a better look at the piece of the jewelry without her covering it.

"Eh...!?

"

Teo yelped surprised and stared at Zoemi in shock but also a little bit of happiness.

The black-haired boy didn't react to that, focusing on the earring instead.

...it had a shadow...

"...!

"

But as soon as the black-haired boy reached out for it, he was flooded by a wave of hatred so strong that he barely stopped himself from ripping the damn thing right off of Teo's ear and smashing it against the wall – to the point of having to step away and clench his hand into a fist.

"Sir Zoemi...?

Teo tilted her head in confusion and instantly started rubbing her ear which must have been itchy after being pierced only recently.

"That earing – where did you get it from...?

"

The black-haired boy asked in a cautious tone, straining himself to not sound too aggressive.

"It was a gift from...

"

"I wouldn't wear it if I were you.

"

Teo tried to explain but Zoemi couldn't stop himself and declared staring at the piece of jewelry as if it was responsible for the death of his most important person.

"...n-no...! I like it!

"

The brown-haired girl flinched and stepped back, covering the earring protectively with both hands, shielding it from the hateful glare of the black-haired boy.

"...

"

Zoemi glanced at her, gritting his teeth making Teo look down with a pitiful expression of an unjustly kicked puppy.

"...sorry for that – just promise me that you will take that thing off if something weird will start happening, alright...?

"

The girl's expression made the black-haired boy breathe out and mutter in a bothered voice.

"...a-alright...

"

Teo gulped down her saliva and nodded, making sure that the earring would stay out of the boy's vision just in case....