He was at the ready to just use the spell immediately in case he would notice Benevirau’s shadow, but surprisingly enough despite its massive size, the unique shadow of the thousand-years-old water magician was nowhere to be seen.

Previously it was visible all the way from outside the city, and Zoemi had no trouble differentiating the unique shadow from the darkness of the night, so it could only mean that the young-looking butler had left.

The question was, for how long?

To preserve as much mana as possible just in case, the black-haired boy didn’t choose to teleport straight into the mansion and instead simply walked.

No one knew him so it wasn’t as if he would be captured or anything, and certainly, any thug would not pose too much of trouble either – but Zoemi activated his shadow enchantment just in case anyway.

Going on foot had allowed the black-haired boy to get a better look at the city than he could have done while in the carriage.

Especially since during the night, it seemed even busier than during the day, with the workers did with their work and going for the drink or whatnots.

The atmosphere seemed joyous and peaceful with the only noises being the laughs of the people in taverns and bars, although that could be said about any city at a first glance – but still, nothing could suggest that the citizens had lived under a tyranny of any sorts.

If anything, the living condition seemed to be even better in Learen than they were in the capital of the Bellcephora kingdom itself, which was a considerable feat as almost all the inventions of the royal magician Lazaram would be implemented there first, making it an extremely popular place to live for the aristocrats that would not be able to inherit the land because of their older siblings.

Yes – the capital of the kingdom was filled mostly with nobility, and yet Learen seemed to be just as – if not even more – prosperous, while most of its population was composed of magicless commoners.

Still, it wasn’t as if Zoemi had come there for sightseeing – his aim was the Banemor mansion, or rather the green-haired boy who could have been taken prisoner there.

Momentarily, there was nothing more important than making sure that Banemor haven’t done something to him…

”Please, mister, leave me alone…!”

”…now hold on here – I didn’t see you here before, did I? Are you a new waitress at one of the taverns? Which one? I wouldn’t mind having another drink if a pretty girl like you would pour it for me… And maybe if you would work really well, I could give you a nice tip…?”

…nothing… nothing was more important…

”Wh-what do you mean work really well?! Please, let go of my hand!”

”Oh, come on sweetie. Don’t act like such a prude…”

…really, honestly – even though Benevirau wasn’t anywhere near the city, nothing possibly could stop Zoemi from hurrying to the mansion to make sure that Reo – who had the same chance of being in the mansion as not being there at all – was alright.

Seriously, it would be best to just contact Reo using the message spell, but the green-haired capture target was unable to use it at all – which shockingly extended not only to actually casting it but even receiving it in any way shape, or form.

…which was really bothersome as any magician, and everyone who had even a little bit of mana in them, should be able to receive the message spell…

”Oh, come one, why would you enter that alley if you weren’t working that kind of job on the side…”

”No! It’s not like that! Let me go!”

Despite his original plan, the black-haired boy couldn’t just walk past the conversation he overheard from the back alley of the mana crystal shop, especially the distraught voice of a girl who seemed to get more and more scared.

|Oh for the f…!

Therefore, he just gritted his teeth and dashed to the side, moving away from the main road, to the point where his shadow enchantment augmented hearing had led him.

After a few long seconds, he reached the spot just in time to see a drunken man who must have chosen that spot to take a piss was grabbing onto a petite brown-haired girl that seemed to be around Zoemi’s age, wearing a maid uniform on the simple and more functional side…

…a maid whose small frame didn’t include the… ekhem… particularly impressive bust – that was definitely the part of her that had caught the drunken man’s attention – which was further proven to be a correct assumption by the man’s attempt to grope the struggling girl.

|Why can’t a single place be free of perverts?!|

Zoemi clenched his fist, rushing at the fighting duo.

*creak*

”GHA…! UGHWAAAA…!”

”You! No one had taught you that it’s rude to bother strangers? This miss said to let go of her.”

The black-haired boy grabbed the man by the wrist of the hand that was locked on to the girl’s chest and twisted it back until it let out a dangerous sound, ready to break at any given moment, which of course caused a rather loud and pained reaction of the offender, who seemed to sober up extremely quick thanks to the stimulation.

”I-I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to! I swear!”

The man cried out immediately letting go of the girl and bowing his head without looking at the black-haired boy’s face.

”Tsk…! You are lucky that I don’t know you – if ANYTHING like that will happen again, you can say goodbye to your arm.”

”!!!!”

Zoemi didn’t want to cause too much commotion, so he ended up releasing the man with just a warning, having him scuttle away in panic without looking back.

”…it sucks that things like that happen – have a nice rest of the night.”

The black-haired boy made sure that the drunken man would not return to bother the girl again, and then turned back to her and nodded his head apologetically, before fully intending to continue his original plan.

”Z-Zoemi…?!”

”?!”

But that got slightly derailed again when the girl gasped in confusion, calling after him.