"What the hell is going on in here?!

"

A pale-bluish silhouette giving of cold aura flinched as it suddenly awoke in a space that could be only described as the madhouse – myriads of murky shadow shapes and figures were constantly moving and shifting around in a way that could be described as a dance but was more like someone had created a kaleidoscope that only had multiple shades of black instead of colors…

"Get me out! This instant!

"

The cold shadow growled furiously and began unleashing more and more of the freezing aura – but regardless of how long that went for, none of the other shadows were affected by it in the slightest.

"…what in the world…?

"

…which of course made the cold one extremely confused…

His magic should be freezing others, right

His magic?

What was that magic…?

And while the questions were being asked…

Who was he…?

"You, necromancy puppet, stop forcing yourself on me.

"

"HUH?!

"

Out of nowhere, heard a voice right behind his back, and hurriedly turned around to face whoever was talking to him but…

*WHAM*

…a single swipe of a giant paw slammed him to the ground, making it go right into a harmless slumber, as the other shadows continued to dance.

——-

"…nnn…?

"

Zoemi's eyelids trembled and he sleepily opened his eyes, confused about what exactly had happened.

Why did it feel like his body had grown large and he had to squash some pesky troublemaker?

"Oh…! Umm… Are you feeling better now? Oh, and hello.

"

The green-haired boy, Reo, looked at the black-haired attendant from the other seat of the moving carriage and asked with a worried smile.

"Y-yeah… I guess…? How about you?

"

Zoemi furrowed his brows while sitting up and massaged the side of his head before asking his companion.

"You are asking me? You were the one who fainted after those Light Order guys took you to walk around the execution ground! Did they harm you? The light attribute doesn't have any passively harming spells, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was a modern magic device or ancient artifact that sucks out mana or something!

"

Reo raised his brow and scoffed dismissively before leaning g forward and explaining in a feverish voice as if he received some sort of revelation while the black-haired boy was knocked out.

"No, no… they didn't do anything to me… I used a… spell that turned out to require far too much mana than I ever imagined so it got me into a severe mana depletion… I was also asking about your mana depletion… everything's alright?

"

Zoemi raised his hand apologetically and slowly shook his head from side to side – judging by the rough estimation of how much mana he recovered, which already included the amount he got from Reo, it couldn't take him long to regain his consciousness.

"…why would I get into mana depletion…? I didn't use any spells…

"

"…?

"

The green-haired boy tilted his head in confusion and blinked repeatably at the attendant's words.

"…wha…? But I…? Huh…

"

|…ah, I see – he is playing tough…! What a good guy!|

Zoemi furrowed his brows but his expression soon brightened as he settled for the first explanation that came to his mind.

"I was going to let you in on the story of the Banemor family, but maybe you should rest a bit more…? You seem out of it… Seriously, what were those people thinking – they were treating you as if you were guilty even though there is no proof!

"

The green-haired boy asked in concern, leaning slightly lower to look up at Zoemi's face from an angle, before frowning and getting agitated at the members of the Light Order they left behind.

|Uugh… I never actually tied to cast any of the necromancy spells on an actual target after activating it, so I had no idea that they require such a ridiculous amount of mana… dear heavens… It seems that I have been underestimating Aspakeony this whole time… She felt slightly stronger than Horeo, but that must have been only because her mana had to be split between the thousand corpse puppets… scary…|

Unfortunately, the black-haired boy wasn't really paying attention anymore, trying to piece together what has happened in his head.

|…did I even succeed with using corpse puppet spell on sir Ludier's ghost or whatever it was…? I can't sense anything different… Have I just wasted all that mana for nothing…?|

Zoemi furrowed his brows, lowering his head even more – which in turn seemed to convince Reo that the black-haired boy has not made a full recovery, which was, in fact, partially true.

"Zoemi, maybe you should lay down some more?

"

The green-haired boy asked, waving his head to get the black-haired attendant's attention.

"Hmm? No, no – I am alright. You should take a rest, though – your mana hasn't recovered yet.

"

"…?

"

Zoemi glanced over and shook his head with a reassuring smile – but that didn't really have an effect on the concerned Reo.

"What are you talking about? I don't have mana depletion – I didn't use…

"

"It's okay, don't play tough – I can more or less sense that you have a lot less mana than before – you dropped from the average water magician level all the way to the wind magician… wait…

"

Reo rolled his eyes, thinking that Zoemi was being the one trying to act tough instead, but his words were interrupted by the black-haired boy's assurance – that was followed by the realization.

"….ummm… Reo…? Why were you on the water magician level before? I thought that your mana reservoir is the same as any other average wind magician…?

"

"!!!!!

"

Zoemi asked, furrowing his brows in confusion which made Reo start raising his hand up to his vest's inner pocket – but the green-haired boy managed to stop himself in time.

"A-are you sure about that? I am just a normal wind magician though… You… you must be feeling confused because of the mana depletion. Hey, how about I will tell you about the plan after all? We eft the capital so it should be okay, right?

"

The green-haired boy tensed up immediately and after attempting to shrug the question off he went right back on his own words from a moment earlier and steered the conversation towards the case which was known to Zoemi as the Banemor questline.

"Huh… maybe…?

"

Zoemi's head was still a bit woozy indeed so the black-haired boy didn't think put much thought into the reason for the strange fluctuation in the mana amount at Reo's disposal – and murmured to himself.

"Sure… let's talk about the plan.

"

After a brief hesitation, the black-haired boy attendant nodded – to the great and visible relief on Reo's part.

"Well… when I said plan – I really meant the necessary backstory – the plan is that we will pass you to the servant as the son of the missing daughter of the late lord Banemor. Your age might not exactly match, and he will surely not believe us at the beginning and definitely will try to catch you off guard and find any discrepancies in the story… Therefore the preparation is needed.

"

The green-haired boy breathed out and nodded as his face became serious.

"I personally believe that knowing less is better in this situation – we know for a fact that young lady Learen Etrolia Banemor who barely graduated from the Aspakeony Academy had one day ran away from home together with a traveling merchant for whom she felt burning passion seemingly meeting him a few times through the years on multiple occasions. Since previously she tried to convince her father, lord Vizta Emmer Banemor, to allow her to marry the commoner and was splendidly banned from leaving the castle and clearly had disobeyed her father, there must have been some leftover bad blood between them… therefore the best defense against any question regarding the Banemor bloodline would be that your mother is dead and has never spoken about her family.

"

Reo said in a single breath and closed his mouth waiting for Zoemi's reaction.

"Alright, I see where this is coming from – then, how about knowing something about lady Etrolia or the man she ran away to mary?

"

The black-haired boy nodded and asked – he did remember some of the Banemor-exclusive customs that came up in the game, so he didn't really need instructions in that regard anyway.

"The man was called Neramis, but most of his clients just called him Nera – he was four years older than Learen at the time of them eloping. Honey-blond hair, bright blue eyes, and a devilish heart-stealers smile. Apparently, he was handsome enough to make even noble ladies come by his cart and buy something just to have a conversation whenever he was in town. He had a head for business, but his commoners' background had kept him from making it big. There is a theory that he seduced Learen to make up for his low birth as marrying into the high nobility would open a lot of doors to him – but as we all know, because of the customs, that was doomed to fail from the start… still, it's not overly clear whether that actually was his intention or not, because of the way he died.

"

Reo continued, bringing his hands together and nervously tapping his leg as even he himself seemed to be invested in the story he was telling.

Zoemi stayed silent, not even moving a muscle when the name of Aspakeony's newest corps puppet was mentioned, listening attentively as those were the details that were omitted in the game – most likely because in the game there was no plotline following assuming the identity of the heir to the Banemor territory….