"…

"

Zoemi's face was bright red from the extreme blush – now he's done it…

He basically confessed before heading into a dangerous situation.

Wasn't that, like, the most obvious death flag?

|It would be worse only if I said – let's get married when I come back…|

The black-haired boy shook his head while walking towards the window behind which only one Air Emperor still waiting there, as the other one must have flown higher for a more advantageous surveillance position.

"…

"

Meeting the aze of the summon, Zoemi's expression turned serious.

"Sorry for that.

"

The boy apologized and reached out his hand.

The Air Emperor was only semi-autonomous so it didn't react to the attendant's words and simply waited, allowing Zoemi to put his hand on its snout.

*haaaaaa*

And just like that, after only a second of contact, with the sound similar to a person breathing out in relief the massive spell lost its snake-like shape and dispersed into the particles of mana of which each and every single one got sucked into the black-haired boy's palm.

"…

"

Zoemi closed his eyes momentarily and concentrated on the spell while also focusing on his own mana reservoir…

"Oh…! I didn't expect it to be this much… Miriette is so strong…!

"

After realizing that the amount of mana at his disposal increased exponentially, the black-haired boy opened his eyes and gasped.

"Now then… Sentinel.

"

He didn't close the window nor did he walk away from it – instead the black-haired boy had reached out his palm while grabbing and modifying the shadow of one of the spells that Horeo kept using.

Without making a sound – as it was mixed with the muffle spell – a murky black sphere the size of a basketball appeared out of the thin air, hovering right in front of Zoemi's hand.

Then, after a second or so, another one popped up.

And another.

Within less than a minute a dozen murky shadow spheres were waiting in front of the window at the ready.

"Survey the area of and around the Academy, if any of the Ghosts or even a darkness magician shows up, notify me immediately – same with the murderer – so an ice magician – and Aspakeony or any of her corpse puppets. The three of you will go check up on Burushi, Teo, and teacher Rokiana before joining the rest.

"

Unsure whether it was enough to just think the commands, Zoemi instructed the sentinels out loud, and the moment he was done all of them rushed out and spread in a different direction.

"…now that I think about it, it would be a good idea to confirm with Burushi whether she remembers anything about the Ghost or are they unique part of his world… they didn't show up in the routs that I played, but maybe it showed up in Grazio's…

"

Zoemi muttered to himself and focused on the sentinel flying through the dormitory building…

"…?!

"

…and the next moment he was right next to it – interestingly enough seemingly startling the shadow sphere as it fluctuated and flew back a little bit when he arrived.

"Sorry for that, go and survey the area with the rest, I will go to Burushi myself.

"

"…~!

"

The black-haired boy smiled at it and patted it as if it was a cute and small animal – at which the sentinel fluctuated kind of happily and flew back the way it came right when Zoemi took back his hand.

*knock* *knock*

Without wasting any time, anxiously awaiting any of the sentinels' messages, Zoemi knocked on the heroine's door and waited.

…but there was no response…

"…?

"

Since the black-haired boy already had his shadow enchantments activated expecting to be either attacked or in need of attacking or fleeing at the moment's notice, he simply focused on his hearing and…

"…should I snuck out and go to Keer's room…

"

"…other, yes – they stop the duels and ask everyone to return to their rooms! Don't you think that is reckless? I know that the teachers are patrolling the hallways but wouldn't it be better to have us all together?! How can I be calm when the murderer might be picking us all up one by one?! NO, mother, I AM CALM!

"

…instead of hearing anything coming from Burushi's room, he clearly heard her neighbors from both sides – of which one, a light magician, was considering sneaking out to her fiance's room while the other, a wind magician was contacting her mother about the situation at the Academy.

"…this is weird… Burushi wouldn't be prancing out and about with a murderer aro…! Fuck!

"

Zoemi furrowed his brows and suddenly a realization struck him like a lightning.

|THE CLOSEST SENTINEL TO THE DORMITORY – GET IN THE XEONITH'S ROOM, NOW!|

The black-haired boy ordered around, connecting with every single spell of his via the copied message spell sed by the wind magicians.

"I sear, kid's these days – there is a dangerous individual outside – who is stupid enough to try to sneak in the girl's section during an emergency!?

"

"!!!

"

Alarmed by the boy's voice, one of the teachers patrolling the hallways was either doing the rounds or turned back to check up on the matter, causing Zoemi to frown.

Just in case, the black-haired boy used the shadow connect spell and peeked inside Burushi's room and after confirming that she indeed wasn't there, he teleported away to the Xeonith's where his sentinel just entered.

"…

"

An elderly brown-haired female teacher showed up, glancing from behind the corner.

The murderer because of a whim the alarm was raised got chased away by a group of teachers who called for reinforcements from the palace and started pursuing the criminal, so there was supposed to be no danger left in the Academy, making the teacher do the rounds rather calm.

"…ugh… first young Xeonith gets sick, now this… Good thing that the duels had to be postponed anyway so it doesn't matter – I was unable to check up on him since yesterday, if only that useless commoner just did her job properly…! Hey! If some pervert thinks he can get away with being creepy, he better says goodbye to the academy! Rollcall!

"

The woman sighed before straightening her back and calling out in a strict voice.

"…eh…?

"

A pale-gold-haired girl opened her door and peeked at the brown-haired teacher.

"Teacher Auequas, what s going on?

"

She asked in a cautious voice – she was the one planning to sneak out to her fiance before…

"I've heard a boy's voice coming from here a moment ago, everyone, out of your rooms! Inspection time!

"

The woman answered shortly and clapped her hands with a strict expression, acting a little bit like a drill sergeant.

"…this is not military…

"

The pale-gold-haired girl muttered under her breath but came out nonetheless as other girls started showing up too.

Xeonith's room that Zoemi appeared in the middle of, was clean – surprisingly clean and neat.

Nothing could suggest that the tenant was anything other than a dutiful and hardworking student.

The only thing slightly out of the norm was that the bathroom doors were open showing a squeaky-clean bathroom.

|It's even cleaner than the rest of the room… Actually…|

Zoemi tensed up and felt the hand of unease grip his sides with an iron grip.

|…why…?|

Every nook and cranny was scrubbed until it sparkled, truly a sight for someone, who like Zoemi, was often on the cleaning duty.|

Zoemi checked a few vital areas that were the most troublesome to take care of.

|Some spots haven't even dried properly yet…|

He thought to himself in concern as he found the moisture still lingering on some surfaces.

|Xeonith wasn't supposed to be a clean-freak, but this is far too excessive… **… **, **, **…!|

Zoemi started cursing to himself as each thing he found kept piling up, adding to the bad feeling he had.

"In the game, the attack of the murderer would trigger when the heroine and Xeonith would enter the dungeon… But in the game Xeonith wasn't a massive creep… what if he.. no, Apsakeony wouldn't let any student get harmed… wait, no… but Apakeony isn't here… could it be that it's Xeonioth's doing…? Fuck! I need to go to the dungeon to make sure!|

Zoemi gritted his teeth, about to rush out of the room, as Xeonith's place was just a few steps away from the dormitory's entrance to the dungeon, when…

*KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK*

"!!!

"

"Xeonith! Open this damned door this instant, I know that you are in there!

"

Zoemi froze as someone started angrily knocking at the door and calling out in a demanding voice.

It wasn't difficult to recognize who was calling.

Without a doubt, it was Reo Serentii Moyena, the green-haired capture target, and Xeonith's classmate – and he sounded much more worried and angrier than ever.