By that time even Benevirau started getting pissed off about the stubbornness of the nobles stopping the completion of late lord Banemor’s will and ended up going to the capital two days earlier to have a serious talk with them all, leaving Zoemi to housesit on his own.

Well – Zoemi, as he was now, should not actually count as ever being alone – the sentinels in his shadow always ready to teleport him away at the sight of threat that he could not stand up and the unique shadow of Ludier Galamroze living in the boy’s mind were the best examples of that.

Although they weren’t the only ones.

For example, ten of Zoemi’s puppets were working hard to keep the mansion and the garden in perfect order.

As for the other five, the initial three that the black-haired boy sent out to check on the suspicious mana stone merchant had been augmented by two more as it turned out that the whole thing might be turned into the prime blackmail material if only investigated properly.

…and after enough proof would be gathered – hence, the increase in the number of the puppets looking into it…

Still, even after only scratching the surface Zoemi was beginning to think that the Vanterl family might not have been all that power-hungry when they convinced the current queen to left lord Lazaram and instead pursue the current king of the Bellcephora kingdom.

It was enough to say that the amount of money the royal magician kept wasting on mana stones before his former partner became an important person in the kingdom was enough to put the entire Lazaram family ears dept into debt.

…and, not surprisingly, the amazing deal that the mana crystal merchant offered the passionate inventor only happened after the new queen was crowned…

*GGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHRRRRROOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHH*

”Oh, grandpa is back already?”

Suddenly, the roar of thunder caused all the windows in the Learen city to tremble, and the black-haired boy raised his head above the pillow and looked at the window, putting aside the book that he was reading to put his mind at ease.

”Huh…? Ah! Welcome back~!”

”Zoe… ekhem, young master – I’m back.”

Zoemi got up and walked out of his room going to greet the dark-blue-haired butler at the door, but instead, the two of you met in the hallway – and funnily enough for a moment it really sounded like the young-looking butler would call out to the black-haired boy by his first name, but he ended up catching himself in time and changing the way he addressed him to a more appropriate for servant calling out to his employer.

”How was your trip?”

Zoemi smiled triumphantly finally seeing that there actually was some progress done in those weeks – at least when it came to adding Benevirau as a member of his family, it really seemed like the dark-blue-haired butler would end up folding in any day now and start calling him by his first name.

”Fast – your advice turned out to be far more practical than I ever hoped for – also, I think the water jet can also double as another offensive spell – I am pretty much sure that I ended up accidentally cutting a boulder in half when I first invoked the enhanced spell.”

Benevirau owed his head and declared, bowing his head with respect.

”I bet that the complaints about the downpour you cause every time you travel will go down thanks to you not using an entire waterfall-worth of water to propel yourself. Still, do you think it would be possible to do something about the lighting and the thunder you cause each time? Your magic is suited for stealth but conjuring a thunderstorm to get enough water without turning the territory into a desert is a bit, you know, overwhelming.”

Zoemi Nodded his head with satisfaction before titling it and pointing it out.

”True… but it also doubles as an offensive spell if needed – it helped me fending off the initial attacks of Ghosts of Bellcephora as well as the attempt of the King’s Guard to take me down.”

The dark-blue-haired butler allowed himself to snicker and boasted.

But soon enough his smile made way for a sour expression.

”Unfortunately, except for testing out the improved version of my water-powered flight spell, the entire trip was pointless. I might have as well spent that time talking to that boulder that I split apart.”

He sighed and revealed, lowering his head apologetically again.

”It’s impossible to convince someone who doesn’t want to be convinced – isn’t that what you said before yourself?”

Zoemi waved his hand dismissively.

”…so, even the lower houses didn’t reconsider their stance – I see. You know, the showcase of strength might work out this time around. Right now most of them are considering me an annoying brat who tries to take away the land and wealth that they could put their hands on otherwise.”

”No, they would not be able to, as long as I am alive.”

The black-haired boy said and his words caused the dark-blue-haired man to frown and grumble in annoyance.

”We both know that, but they all think differently. With you ruing the territory they don’t even consider it being a part of it – but with me, who they thought is weak and easy to bully, they are starting to get fussy. Some might be even worried that if you would begin listening to me, I could start giving out some stupid orders and cause problems for them – or worse. Therefore I believe that it would be best to show them that I am perfectly capable of causing them problems on my own. And that working so hard just to make my life more difficult might not be the best, nor the safest, decision they could make.”

Zoemi explained, and an overwhelmingly captivating and villainous smile appeared on his face as he straightened his back with pride.

”The thing is, how to do that without causing everyone to start panicking and doubling down on stopping me from inheriting anything under the pretense of me being an irresponsible lunatic? The Victureo’s tournament would be perfect, but as I mentioned on a previous date, Auequas’s family will surely take all available spots to hinder me…”

He added frowning while looking outside the window.

”I might have something that could solve that problem for you, young master.”

”Huh…?”

Benevirau suddenly declared, reaching for his inner pocket before handing Zoemi a white envelope sealed with a wax seal with the crest of the Victureo family.

”Another invite…?”

Zoemi muttered to himself while breaking the wax seal and pulling out a letter written neatly with lots of care put into making each letter look beautiful.

”…”

The black-haired boy furrowed his brows reading through all of it.

The gist of it was rather interesting.

The sender was Ehmi Gamemi Victureo – and although Zoemi never actually met her in her actual form, she definitely had at least some of the memories from when her body was taken over and hosted the closest being to a god that their world had – she asked Zoemi in a very friendly manner whether he would be willing to represent the Victureo family in the upcoming tournament.

As it turns out, Victureo family imposed a rule in which they would put forth their own three representatives – and if any of them would win the entire tournament, Ehmi would be free, able to just marry whomever she wants, or not marry anyone at all.

In response to that, the annoyed queen who had been putting her nose where it did not belong, again, had literally forced them to allow people from outside the families that qualified to participate in the tournament as representatives.

At the same time – apparently, to stop any unwanted rumors – a rule was added that no actual member of the Victureo family would be able to participate, basically forcing them to turn to representatives, completely cutting off Ehmi from participating herself, as well as taking away the chance of helping her out from her father, lord Telorius who was a variant lighting magician so the second-best candidate to win.

And that was the point of the letter – Ehmi asked Zoemi whether he would agree to become one of Victureo’s representatives and would save her from the unwanted marriage.

”Grandpa… I just got an excuse to show off the progress you helped me make, without risking others questioning my morals.”

Zoemi’s smile became all that more captivating and villainous as he folded the letter back into the envelope and waved it around while experiencing overwhelming joy.