"…ph…!

"

At first, seeing the wall disappear and the light from the outer part of the dungeon illuminated the previously closed off part of the cell, the heroine flinched and tied to struggle – which aggravated her twisted arms and legs and aggravated the wounds that barely stopped bleeding, making fresh crimson liquid sip down the black-and-blue skin…

'Burushi! Calm down! It's me – Zoemi, the actual one, not the darkness magician!

"

The black-haired boy approached her as fast as he could and reached out, getting a hold of the clay-made muzzle that blocked the heroine's mouth and outrageously most of her nose too – it was obvious that it was made – or rather formed – so that the victim couldn't call for help or make any recognizable noises.

"Fuck…

"

Zoemi glanced at the girl's body, most of her uniform was stripped away but she wasn't completely naked – which didn't change the fact that most of her bones seemed to be broken, her arms and legs in particular – especially fingers and toes.

Whoever had done that to her clearly wanted to torture her as it was obvious that causing her pain was the most important objective of most of the wounds.

The black-haired boy reached out to the clay muzzle and shredded it down with his spells, preferring to risk bruising Burushi's skin with magic rather than ripping off her flesh together by the earth spell.

"…pu-huaa…

"

The blond heroine took a deep breath but didn't say a thing, only watching Zoemi with unfocused eyes – she really couldn't be more out of it.

Well, that much was expected – she wielded a healing attribute, and considering that none of her wounds were healed, she must have suffered a severe mana depletion.

"Dear heavens… when did this happen? Did he keep you here since yesterday…?!

"

Zoemi – being rather assumptions about the identity of the culprit – asked and proceeded to excavate the broken arms and legs of the heroine from the wall and did his best to grab and lower her in such a way that wouldn't cause any unnecessary pain – but it was extremely difficult to do as there weren't many spots on her body that weren't painful to touch.

"…morning…

"

"!!!

"

In the end, he ended up carrying her like a small child and flinched when he heard her weak, yelp-like voice near his ear.

She could barely speak, but she seemed to be capable of responding to him.

"…I… wanted to go… to you… or… Miriette… but… he caught me… the shadow teacher was…. going to escort me… but… he disappeared… and Xeonith showed up…

The girl cried out weakly, unable to muster any strength in her broken limbs.

"…

"

Zoemi gritted his teeth at the confirmation of his worst fears…

…the shadow corpse puppet disappearance – so Aspakeony's disappearance too – seemed to occur at the suspiciously convenient time, which made Zoemi assume that they were connected – for better or worse…

Honestly, as cruel as it might have sounded, it might sound very cruel, but in the world that didn't have any means of taking photographic evidence, it would be best to keep Burushi as she was to fully showcase Xeonith's crimes…

"Shadow theater – ultra heal.

"

…but that certainly wasn't on Zoemi's mind at the moment – as soon as the girl was freed from the wall, the black-haired boy instantly reached into the world of dancing shadow and reached for the strong-looking healing spell which must have been the last one that the heroine used before running out of mana.

"…ah…!

"

Burushi twitched as the very familiar feeling spread through her body, mending and connecting the bones, treating the damaged internal organs, reconnecting the muscles, and clearing out the bruises, even her nails regrew to the exact same extent as they were before.

She still suffered mana depletion, but the pain was completely gone.

"…u… uuuueeeeeeeeeee….!

"

Once she realized that she was actually safe, the sliver of strong will she was holding on to snapped and she clung to the boy who helped her and started bawling her eyes out.

"…

"

Zoemi said nothing and merely reached out and started patting the heroine's head…

It was a good thing that Burushi couldn't see his face – it turned into a lifeless mask of pure undiluted hatred, a fair representation of what was going on inside Zoemi's head.

|KILL! KILL THEM ALL! KILL THE FILTH THAT DARES TO ALLY WITH THEM!|

The beastly roar echoed through his very soul, and honestly…

Zoemi found no reason important enough to disagree with the idea.

"Uuuueeee…! Ughueee…! He hurt me…! And he was hurting me…! And there was this explosion, and everything trembled, and he went to check it out…! He said that no one will look for me…! That no one will even bother to look for me… that I am a worthless commoner…! He said that when he will return, he will.. that he will… have some fun before he kills me…

"

"…

"

Burushi started muttering while her whole body trembled so much as if she was freezing, making Zoemi's hatred only grow that much stronger.

"No. He will not do anything to you. He will not do anything to anyone. Ever again. I give you my word.

"

The black-haired boy spoke in a shockingly calm voice as if his anger breached a certain threshold and it was no longer possible to express it through voice or expression.

He merely continued patting the heroine's head while walking out of the cell and then up the staircase.

|…pass teacher Rokiana my message – the student of the academy needs you, leave the murderer to others – and then bring her back to the academy.|

Zoemi contacted the sentinel that he sent to check up on the blue-haired teacher who was interested in his father and ordered it, sharing the appropriate amount of mana with it.

That was why…

"…eh…? Wh-what…? Was that the principal or the new teacher…? Which student…?

"

…when Zoemi walked out of the dungeon, Rokiana Grea Perserios was already waiting for them – confused about what in the world just happened after an odd shadowy lantern communicated with her via the message spell.

"AH…!?

"

One look was more than enough to convince Rokiana of the seriousness of the situation.

"What happened, quick- give her to me!

"

The blue-haired teacher gasped seeing the state of Burushi's clothing – how much more serious her reaction would have been if she had seen how the heroine looked before Zoemi has healed her.

"…

"

Seeing her extended arms, Zemi frowned and stepped back out of pure reflex – and hurriedly checked Rokiana's shadow…

…it was clear of any signs of something controlling her – but to tell the truth, the black-haired boy wasn't entirely sure whether it was how the possession of one of the Ghosts looked like…

"Zoemi… did, you found her, what happened? Did the murderer do that to her before he escaped?

"

Luckily enough, instead of getting angry, the blue-haired woman calmed down a little bit after seeing the boy's reaction and asked cautiously.

"…It was… Xeonith…

"

"…

"

"!!!

"

The heroine sobbed shaking in Zoemi's arms at the mere thought of the attacker, making Zoemi grit his teeth and Rokiana flinch in shock.

"Xeonith!? Xeonith Zarble Derizno!?

"

The blue-haired teacher was so shocked that she took a step back.

"…yes… If Zoemi hasn't found me in the dungeon… Xeonith would have…

"

Burshi, who seemed to be recovering her mana at a satisfying rate now that she was healthy and safe, nodded even managed to move a bit and turn to the blue-haired teacher.

"Dungeon!? How? It's supposed to be closed! Did Xeonith have the key? How did you get there? The door is magically enhanced! No one can enter without a key…!

"

Rokiana moved her head between Zoemi and Buru**to as her eyes widened at the revelation.

"Xeonith had the key… I don't know from where.

"

The heroine trembled while recalling the piece of information.

"He became the student's supervisor so he could get the key from the staff or even a teacher. For me – the door wasn't locked when I went there.

"

…while Zoemi shrugged his shoulders, and in the end decided it was okay to entrust his friend to the blue-haired woman…

"Please, take care of her, teacher – I have other things to do.

"

He spoke while closing the distance he put between himself and Rokiana a moment ago and passed her the blond girl, despite Burushi's attempts to keep clinging to him.

"…N-noo…! What if he will come back for me…?!

"

She cried reaching her hands back to the black-haired boy.

"…

"

Zoemi looked at her with his lifeless eyes and reached out his hand to the side without a word.

Before either Burushi or Rokiana could ask him what he was doing, the shadowy sphere that teleported the blue-haired teacher back to the academy floated right into the boy's palm and transformed into…

"…eh…?

"

"A… plush toy…?

"

Just as their gasps suggested, the basketball-sized sphere turned into a rough shape of a teddy bear – thanks to the shadows being murky and not perfectly pitch-black it was even possible to discern some of the toy's features even though undoubtedly it was composed of the same material that the sphere itself.

"If someone who would want to harm you like that shows up, this will protect you.

"

Zoemi shrugged his shoulders indifferently and pushed the shadow teddy bear into the shocked blond girl's hands, and she ended up hugging it out of reflex – and became shocked at how close to the real thing it felt to touch.

"Zoemi, there is a murderer on the loose, what are you planning to…?

"

Rokiana raised her brow at the spell she had never seen nor heard of and asked the black-haired boy who already turned his back on them.

"Attendant's duties. Cleaning.

"

The boy spoke and…. vanished in the flick of shadow.