"The stolen Neramis's cart was what lead the search party to the bandits' den. Banemor's men captured every single ruffian and after thorough and final investigation they learned of what happened – the ruffians attacked the cart with the blond man and the sick woman planning to kill just the man and take everything else, but the merchant pulled out a sword and proved to be problematic enough that the woman managed to escape before the attackers were done with him. Apparently making sure that she Learen would get away safe was the only thing on Neramis's mind because the moment he realized that she got away safely, he lost concentration and got stabbed to death by multiple opponents.

"

Reo revealed with a downcast look – he certainly wasn't enjoying that part of the story.

"That is the last time that Learen was either seen or heard of. At the time of going missing, she was about five feet tall, had long jet-black hair, a doll-like porcelain skin, upturned nose, and cat-like shaped eyes which she enjoyed highlighting with distinct makeup. She was extremely stubborn and despite running away from home, she wasn't known to be rash in any way. It is very likely that the entire thing was originally going to be a ruse that she planned to make her father agree to the marriage with a commoner. Unfortunately, even if that theory was true it went down the drain very fast with Neramis's death.

"

"From what the bandits said, it seems that Learen was sick – what was that about? She was a mage, right? She must have been since she graduated from the Aspaekony Academy. What happened to her that she had to escape and didn't even try to fight against the magicless bandits? Correct me if I am wrong, but Banemors was known to be a family of shadow magicians, so she must have been one too – commoners aren't used to seeing magic – and the thugs and bandits are always cautious about mages – it should be possible to scare the opponents away with that.. unless something else was going on…

"

The green-haired boy was taking a breather – so the black-haired boy took the chance and voiced the first few questions that came to his mind.

"Y-yes, she was a magician, a shadow magician…

"

Reo flinched and tensed up at the mention of the Academy, and hurriedly nodded his head to confirm some of the black-haired boy's points.

"There are many theories that sprouted about it at the time – for example… Learen was turning from the shadow magician into a darkness magician. Learen was pregnant and her magic abilities were unsteady making her unfit for anything combat-related. Learen was actually the one who orchestrated it all because she hated her family and wanted to run away, making use of the naive lovestruck merchant, and ditching him at the most convenient time. Still, none of them can be confirmed as lady Learen was never found. She completely disappeared – some people think that she did turn into a darkness magician and accidentally got stuck during shadow travel or shadow jump and died corroded by the darkness attribute mana because she didn't know her limits.

"

The green-haired capture target started swaying from side to side, all fidgety and uneasy…

"…

"

…mainly because of the expression on Zoemi's face…

"Zoemi… are you alright…?

"

Reo hunched down and asked in a timid voice, trying to figure out whether he said something that could have upset the black-haired boy.

"Nothing… it just reminded me of something unpleasant… there is actually another option too, but that is still very bad and means that lady Learen is indeed dead.

"

Zoemi shook his head and straightened his back, making sure to change his grim expression, soured by the thoughts of the faith of most darkness magicians.

Every single magician wielding the darkness attribute who had any semblance of potential would at some point get approached by the Ghosts of Bellcephora who would have tried to share their power with them, inevitably killing the unfortunate person in the process.

It was plausible that Learen was incapable of fighting back because her body was in the middle of getting devoured from the inside by the corrosive darkness mana, and later her body couldn't have been found because she simply fell into pieces and turned to dust – just like how it happened to Zoemi's mother.

"What is that option…?

"

Reo asked cautiously, audibly gulping down his saliva, nervously awaiting the even more disturbing story.

"…

"

Zoemi shook his head to get rid of the anger that was slowly poisoning his mind and looked at the troubled green-haired youth.

"The bandits might have been lying about not killing lady Learen because they were hoping that Banemors people would let them live if they hide the truth.

"

The black-haired boy shrugged his shoulders, deciding there was no reason to traumatize Reo with the knowledge of three hundred years plus old group of elite soldiers turned traitors who are still alive and kicking after all they did in the past…

"Well, if they did that, they were either very spiteful or very stupid – when I told you that it was a thorough and final investigation, I meant that it was final for the bandits, as they were all killed without exception.

"

The green-haired boy shrugged his shoulders with a slight frown that suggested it was the most fitting end for these kinds of people.

"Reo, tell me…

"

Still, his travel companion's words struck a certain cord and made Zoemi realize something else.

"The servant who took over the territory and is governing it waiting for the possible heir appearance… where in the world was he when all of that happened? Isn't he supposed to be this insanely powerful individual who can stop the entire King's Guard without breaking a sweat?

"

He asked, furrowing his brows in concern.

Looking at the situation from that perspective it seemed like the whole thing was indeed orchestrated by someone – that someone being the servant pulling the strings from the shadows…

"It doesn't seem to be that way, although such theories did arise – more than a few times… The servant in question is a man named Benevirau, in his own words, he claims to be a water sage – a stronger version of a magician. Apparently, he did know about the Learen's plans to run away from home but thought she would be smart enough to not act on them – while the actual thing happened, he was traveling with the Bellcephora's kingdom merchant fleet, assuring the safe delivery of supplies to our allies in Thradoansa who were dealing with an aftermath of a natural disaster occurring at their island. It was impossible to contact him with magic alone as seasonal magic storms blocked all non-physical communication with Thradoansa, and he returned six months later. Even though he is said to immediately rush and search on himself, the trail was already long cold so he shamefully returned with nothing. That failure of bringing back Learen is – according to Benevirau himself – the reason why he will not change his mind on keeping lord Banemor's will.

"

"Still sounds guilty, everything else seems like an excuse… Is he aggressive? I get the feeling that even the most convincing acting would fail and he will straight up attack us under any pretext.

"

Reo answered while shaking his hand dismissively but Zoemi didn't seem very convinced.

"Also… I have heard that at some point water mana wants to become ice mana – why is that guy who is supposed to be so strong wields one of the basic attributes?

"

The black-haired boy added, sounding rather doubtful.

"Sorry, I only repeat what I learned from the report I managed to get my hands on… Whenever Benevirau is mentioned it always has something to do with water – whether it is appeasing storm or bringing rain to the area suffering from drought.

"

Reo lowered his head and apologized for being unable to give a proper answer, while nervously shifting his legs.

"Ah… No, sorry – I was still agitated because of the story – I apologize for making you feel bad.

"

The black-haired boy went went-wide eyed at the green-haired boy's act and bowed his head even lower than he did.

"It's alright… Benevirau is a difficult person to understand – but at least he appears to be very reasonable… when it benefits him. He claims that he is at least a thousand years old, and oddly enough it seems that it isn't a lie, which is… even more, disturbing than his strength – although he claims that the two are connected. In his words, when you have a certain amount of mana, your body stops aging whatsoever.

"

Reo slowly straightened his back and threw in some interesting fact that was most likely meant to clear out the atmosphere in the carriage.

"Oh, yeah, that one makes sense.

"

The black-haired boy nodded as if that was the most obvious thing to know – but he did so only because he was also aware of Aspakeony.