"You didn't actually go, did you? That would be suicide! Hey, just open up!

"

|…what is that supposed to mean…?|

Reo has said something that got Zoemi's attention, and the black-haired boy who was about to sneak away from the Xeonith's room changed his plans a little bit.

"Shadow emerge, shadow movement.

"

The black-haired attendant cast his spells, sinking into his own shadow and traveling like that under the door and underneath the green-haired capture target.

Zoemi emerged from the shadow a few feet away from the agitated Reo who hasn't realized a thing.

Seeing the worried face of the green-haired second-year student Zoemi couldn't help but feel more and more concerned.

Maybe his initial thought was wrong and Xeonith was a victim… after all, the murderer was aiming for him as the heir to the Derizno family who stood behind the deaths of the murderer's family…

"…

"

The black-haired boy stood by the older student for a moment, carefully watching for any signs of the possible possession – but for what Zoemi could tell, the green-haired boy was fine – at least his unique shadow didn't have any unusual about it.

Reo was just like he was in the game, a kind and caring personality was hiding under the guise of a reckless prankster.

Yes, Reo definitely was Zoemi's favorite character in the game and the black-haired wouldn't mind becoming friends with him in this world.

…and that would definitely be beneficial for both as the two of them shared a trait of caring about their friends – well, Zoemi was more focused on Miriette, but that didn't change the sentiment.

Still, the black-haired boy put his inner thoughts aside and loudly cleared his throat.

"Ekhm…! Sir Moyena, is something wrong?

"

"Wha…!? Oh! Zoemi! Hi, hello!

"

Though at first he became startled when someone suddenly someone, who he hasn't noticed, started talking to him, Reo reacted surprisingly friendly once he realized who was talking to him.

"Sir Moyena, may I know what are you doing here? There is supposed to be a dangerous individual on the loose…

"

Zoemi responded to that friendliness with an equally warm smile and asked, suggesting that Reo should return to his room as soon as possible.

"That's the thing! I know that, but that fool apparently thinks he's some sort of a hero! Listen up, Zoemi, you know Xeonith, right? I've heard that he was a real asshole to you to start a duel with the first prince and got grumpy because he was beaten up to a pulp.

"

Reo just started talking all on his own.

"It was yesterday, of course, I remember – what about it?

"

Zoemi raised his brow and responded in a bit colder voice.

"Well, he's actually my childhood friend though we kind of stop getting along somewhere along the way, but that's beside the point.

"

Reo waved his hand dismissively while so focused on the story that he missed the change in Zoemi's tone.

"What's important is, that he told me this morning that if that murderer that everyone's so scared of would show up, he would go and capture him on his own! And then, when the giant pillar of ice crushed into the arena for the duels and the teachers made us all return to the dormitory, I swear that I saw him running out of the dormitory!

"

The green-haired boy declared, sounding as if he expected Zoemi to either stop or ridicule him for spouting such nonsense.

"You saw him… running OUT of the dormitory…?

"

Zoemi's face became ghastly pale as all blood drained from his face at the revelation.

"I did! I can see the dormitory's backdoor from my room's window – it was definitely Xeonith! That fool has gone after that murderer for sure! What else he could do?! I knew he was acting super weird after the first prince kicked his ass but I never imagined he would want to prove himself that much!

"

Reo looked so sad and worried that Zoemi would start feeling bad for him, if not for a fact that he was far more worried about the heroine who was also unaccounted for…!

|…oh no… no… please no… what if Xeonith is using Reo to retroactively forge an alibi for himself after doing something horrible to Burushi…?!

"

Zoemi gulped down his saliva and clenched his fists so hard that his shoulders started trembling.

"Did you tell teachers or anyone else about it?

"

He asked the green-haired boy while readying himself to storm away.

"Well… Not yet… I thought that maybe it was my imagination after all so I came here to check just in case…

"

Reo blushed like a kid caught doing mischief and lowered his head awkwardly.

"Good… Now go back to your room…

"

"Huh…?

"

Zoemi nodded and declared, grabbing Reo's shoulder, making the older boy flinch and blush even harder.

"The murderer showing up while the headmaster is missing seems a bit too convenient… Go back to your room – and if anyone asks you about Xeonith, say that you haven't talked recently because he was acting weird.

"

Zoemi ignored the shocked gasp and instructed, looking straight into the trembling green eyes of the second-year capture target.

"What? Why? But…!

"

"Just say yes, Reo.

"

The green-haired boy wanted to protest but ended up being pinned against the wall by the slightly shorter younger boy – who was taller only because Reo slid down the wall a bit – and was looked down on with a stern, unyielding look of the lifeless eyes.

"…

"

Reo opened his mouth and momentarily his eyes darted down on Zoemi's lips before the green-haired boy gulped down his saliva and looked back up.

"…a-alright…

"

And nodded with a timid expression.

"That's my best boy.

"

"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"

Zoemi nodded and smiled, reaching up and tousling Reo's hair before running off, disappearing just around the corner of the hallway.

"…

"

Reo, red as a ripe tomato slid down the wall and glanced down at his waist – which made him get even more embarrassed and hurriedly look around.

"…oh thank goodness, no one saw it right…?

"

He breathed out and stood up, walking off awkwardly going back to his room… to somehow deal with the… situation at hand…

The dungeon's entrance really was close by, just a few steps after disappearing from Reo's eyes, Zoemi opened the door and entered the supposedly unused part of the Academy's facilities.

Surprisingly – considering that it was supposed to be mostly unused – the passage and the stairs leading underground were well lighted by mana crystals and free of any sort of dust even though Zoemi was fairly certain that the Academy's staff wasn't tasked with their upkeep.

"…ph…

"

Going down the stairs Zoemi felt something more than he heard it.

Even with his augmented hearing, the voice he heard could easily be mistaken for a mouse rustling in its nest – but the black-haired boy had instinctively realized that it wasn't the case.

One sentinel confirmed that Teo was safe in her room and the other keeping an eye on teacher Rokiana who was in the party hot on the trail of the murderer, pursuing him without giving him any chance to take a breather, and the rest was scouring the Academy's ground without encountering any of the people of interest, giving Zoemi chance to carefully check the dungeon.

None of the cells was supposed to be in use – and most of them looked the part – the whole dungeon should have been off-limits.

'Should' was the keyword as someone – most likely the teacher conducting some secret research with the consensual help of some students – has done some remodeling that allowed for the magic experiments.

"…

"

But that wasn't the part that picked Zoemi's attention.

On the other hand, it was one of the cells in the back – a particularly small one…

…too small…

Even if Zoemi wasn't able to see the unique shadow of the stone wall – a stronger version of an earth wall spell – present, he would have noticed that the cell's dimensions had been altered.

"…please, be alive…

"

Zoemi gritted his teeth and touched the surface that imitated the back walls of every other cell around, and a murky shadow erupted from his hand and engulfed it all.

It was different than with the Air Emperor – the wind summon spell was basically composed of mana in its entirety just like was the case with the darkness blade spell – the earth and stone wall spells actually used the soil and stones and put them up together with mana as an adhesive keeping it together.

Hence it took him a lot more than just a few seconds to be done with it.

The black-haired boy was especially careful because he dreaded the idea of the blond heroine being encased in the stone and getting devoured by his shadow together with the earth spell.

Finally, the fake wall got digested completely, revealing the missing part of the cell…

"Burushi…!

"

…and the barely alive, heavily wounded blond-haired girl partially embedded into the actual wall….