Zoemi rushed to the dormitory building and walked into the female part of the building going straight for the heroine's room.

Most of the students, even those from second and third years were attending the lectures or practical exercises from the early morning, so he didn't really meet anyone except a few other attendants and academy staff doing their chores.

Zoemi greeted those whom he know but definitely wasn't going to stop for a chat with anyone for whatever reason, far too bothered by the possible reason for Burushiitto's absence from their lesson.

First of all, she might have not even been in her room – but still, it should be the first place that he should check.

"...'ve told you to get out of my way!

"

"Student Derizno, this is not up to debate – student Burushiitto is not feeling well and you should be attending your lectures anyway.

"

|...what the...?!|

And as Zoemi suddenly overheard the conversation as he was turning the corner, it turned out that he was very much correct in his haste – Xeonith, of all people, was arguing with someone whose voice the black-haired boy couldn't quite recognize.

From their words it was easy to guess that both of them would be in front of the heroine's room – and after a few more steps Zoemi indeed saw that very scene.

"...!

"

...and he raised his brows in surprise.

The brown-haired capture target was facing a much taller older dark-haired gentleman with gray streaks, blocking him the access to the door of the blond girl's bedroom.

"Who are you to tell me what I should do? You better explain yourself what you are doing here, darkness magician – the likes of you have no place in this Academy!

"

Xeonith was clearly very angry for being stopped from doing whatever it was he wanted to do – to the point of actually activating his physical enchantment.

"I already told you – I am a new teacher hired by lord Vereq – Vizta Emmer Banemor. As such I have all the rights to tell you exactly what you should do.

The older gentleman scoffed without the slightest bit of hesitation or worry, even though a transcended earth magician was basically threatening to engage him in close combat – which would be basically impossible to win for anyone except someone wielding the ice attribute.

|That's the shadow corpse puppet that Aspy showed me last night...!|

Zoemi realized after taking a closer look at the dark-haired teacher's shadow and noticing the rather obvious half-slug half-human-shaped shadow leeching into him.

"That's ridiculous as if anyone would hire the likes of you as teachers – if anything you are the dangerous person trying to mess with the commoner girl using the opportunity!

" Show me the proof of you being the teacher or get out of my way!

"

Xeonith scoffed and raised his hands, taking a battle stance, and declared in a prideful voice, pressuring the corpse puppet whose appearance turned into a very convincing living person – a great improvement over his state the last time Zoemi saw him.

"Student Derizno, there is nothing that I have to prove to you – if anything, you will have to prove to me if you have the ability to read – the notice about my employment has been on the announcement board near the entrance since this very morning – the same one you had to pass on your way here. The female part of the dormitory. While you should be attending teacher Auequas's lecture.

"

Far from being fazed by the obvious threat, the corpse puppet controlled by the gray-haired necromancer glared down at the brown-haired boy scornfully and started impatiently tapping his fingers on his thigh.

|...was there an announcement like that...?|

Zoemi, watching them from the side after stopping in place from the surprise of seeing the pair, furrowed his brows and glanced back over his shoulder.

Honestly – whether there was an announcement like that or not, at least he didn't see it before...

"...

"

"...

"

Both Xeonith and the shadow corpse puppet stared at each other in silence- and with each passing second, the second-year student was visibly losing his confidence under the unwavering glare of the dark eyes.

...quite an interesting situation – but the black-haired attendant wanted to have a talk with the blond heroine, preferably as soon as possible...

Well, thankfully, the easiest way to accomplish that was right in front of him.

...he only needed to get rid of Xeonith – in-game his character was already annoying, but after seeing him harassing Burushi, Zoemi didn't have a very affable opinion about him...

Luckily the things that the black-haired boy overheard allowed him to come up with a quick and hopefully efficient method of getting rid of him.

"Lord Derizno!

"

"...!

"

"...?

"

Zoemi called out and ran up to the surprised brown-haired boy.

"Ah, teacher Banemor, good morning!

"

The black-haired boy hurriedly politely bowed to the shadow corpse puppet.

"Student Auequas, hello – what brings you here – shouldn't you be attending teacher Rokiana's lecture right about now?

"

The man didn't even flinch but Zoemi could see the shadow of the necromancer waver – which only made the boy realize that the corpse puppets have some degree of autonomy and aren't always one hundred percent dependent on the gray-haired girl directly steering them.

"Sorry teacher – miss Burushi didn't show up for the lecture and I was told to check up on her – lord Derizno, I passed teacher Auequas on my way here – she told me to ask you to attend her lecture if I saw you.

"

The black-lied smoothly, speaking in a clear voice without any indication that he was making stuff up as he spoke.

"...!

"

"Why would she ask you to...? Oh...

"

The corpse puppet raised his brow at the boy's words while Xoenith scoffed and was about to call out Zoemi's lie but then it seemed like he realized that the surname's matched and the brown-haired boy gasped in realization.

"...

"

Xeonith hesitated for a second before the light of his enhancements faded away and he put down his hands.

"Since that's the case, I will go to her – Auequas, I want you to pass the commoner my message – if you still want to talk, contact me after the classes are over.

"

"I will be glad to, my lord!

"

The brown-haired boy declared – to which the black-haired attendant answered in the servile voice and bowed down much deeper than he did while greeting the shadow corpse puppet a moment earlier.

"Good.

"

Xeonith nodded his head and turn around, leaving without actually saying farewell or anything.

"...what would you do if he wrecked this body? Lord Derizno has way more mana than this copse and he is an earth magician – he could tear this guy in two...

"

After making sure that Xeonith went out of the dormitory, Zoemi straightened his back and asked, nodding at the Banemor.

"As if a kid like him would be able to actually harm someone – pipsqueaks like him lack the actual resolve to act upon their impulses. If you think otherwise, you still have a lot to do in terms of understanding humans.

"

"...?

"

The dark-haired man scoffed, shaking his head, and his peculiar choice of words made Zoemi raise his brow in confusion.

"Listen, boy, you can't back off from brats like that, I said that he lacks resolve but only if he has someone who stops him from thinking he is free to do whatever he wants– you give a brat like that an inch today, they will take a mile tomorrow. But anyway – are you really here because little Rokiana sent you or...?

"

The corpse puppet explained before tilting his head and asking.

"I need to have a talk with Burushi – it's very important – and you may listen if you want. Just... brace yourself for some crazy talk.

"

Zoemi wasn't really asking either – he really just explained what he was about to do, and moved past the surprised shadow corpse puppet, raising his hand towards the door and knocking on it...

"...she is there, isn't she...?

"

"Yeah.

"

The black-haired boy glanced over at Banemor questioningly and got a nod of confirmation in return.

*click*

Not only that – as soon as he did so, the noise of the door unlocking resounded through the air and the doorknob moved.

The next moment the door itself opened just a little bit and the pale, clearly scared heroine peeked from behind it at the black-haired boy and the dark-haired man.

"...s-sir Zoemi... what do you want to talk about...?

"

Burushi asked, not even trying to hide the fact that she had been standing by her door the past few minutes and listening in on what was going on on the outside.

"I will get to the point before something weird happen and makes it all far too complicated, okay?

"

"...?

"

Zoemi breathed out and said with an awkward smile, causing the girl to blink a few times in confusion.

"I am a reincarnated person – and so are you, right? This whole world has a setting like a certain otome game, but is also different in many ways – let's help each other out.

"

"!!!!!!!!

"

The boy declared which resulted in the wide-eyed heroine taking a few staps back away from the door, allowing him to walk in.

"Could you keep watch while we talk?

"

Zoemi winked at the corpse puppet and closed the door before he could answer to that....