n

n

n

n…Banemor mansion…

n|Huh…? Did Benevirau check up on me and panic seeing me knocked out? Not good – what about the final fight? I promised to help out Ehmi not to get married and the other representatives of the Victueo family were already defeated… Also, it would straight up look bad for me if I didn’t show up. With time stopped for everyone else, it just looked like no fighting happened, didn’t it, Ludier?|

nHe thought to himself with a frown, directing the question to the unique shadow of the dead ice magician…

n|Ludier?|

nHe asked again, not sure why there is no answer from the unique shadow living rent-free in his mind, while staring at the ceiling, feeling overwhelming numbness spreading all over his body as if he didn’t move around for a whole week.

n|Ludier…? Wait… oh no…|

nHe thought again, and something clicked in his brain, jogging his memory and making him recall what exactly happened.

n|No – that’s a joke – why would it…!|

nZoemi gritted his teeth, concentrating and looking within himself into the world of the dancing shadow in order to find any trace of the unique shadow of the dead ice magician…

n…all to naught…

nLudier really wasn’t there anymore, erased by an attack of something called the law of Aquarius.

n”…what the hell is that supposed to be… there was no Heavenly Star Nation mentioned in the game at all…! Ludier couldn’t die like that for the second time!”

nThe black-haired boy greeted his teeth and breathed out in annoyance while using the copy of the healing magic to get himself back into shape…

n”…huh…?”

nWith absolutely no effect.

nThe numbness did not go away and neither did his head clear up.

n”Nnn…? Eh…? AH! Zoemi! You…! you’re awake!”

n”…!?”

nWell, there was some effect – his previous words caused the blond-haired girl sleeping with her head on the other end of Zoemi’s bed, to twitch and wake up – after which she gasped and moved closer to him with a very concerned expression.

n”Do you have problems with breathing? How about your stomach – do you feel pain or pressure anywhere?”

nBurushi did not waste time and began asking the surprised boy while already checking his body with her own hands.

n”I-it’s okay – everything is okay… well, except for the numbness… it feels like my limbs are full of led – but aside from that I feel no different than normal.”

nZoemi blinked a few times, surprised by the girl’s actions and behavior, and even ended up smiling faintly to calm her down.

n*wham*

n”No, it’s not okay! Do you even know what spells I had to use on you?! You were out of it for almost nine months! NINE MONTHS! I had to create a magic equivalent to an intravenous drip just so your dumbass body wouldn’t die of malnutrition! Not to mention about modifying some of my spells to prevent muscle dystrophy from occurring on your stupid, dumb lifeless body…!”

nBurushi punched Zoemi’s shoulder and cried out, actually tearing up, as her chin trembled when she looked at the black-haired boy.

n”You…! You absolute moron…! What feels no different than normal…!? I almost lost hope that you will ever recover – you…! You…!”

n”!!!!”

nThe blond girl ended up actually bursting into tears and cowered, trying to hide her face from the absolutely shocked boy.

n”Thickheaded dumbass…!”

nBurushi sobbed – and ended up leaning forward and hugging the still utterly confused boy.

n”Burushi… did… did you say that I was unconscious for nine months?!”

nZoemi didn’t push her away, her raw emotions seemed too genuine to be just an act, so he just awkwardly patted her on the back while trying to wrap his head around what she just said.

nDeep inside, he hoped that the blond heroine simply became that good of an actress overnight – after all, he expected that the Ghosts of Bellcepora who were already making their moves begore, would straight up use that chance and assassinate him if there has been so much time when he couldn’t do a thing.

nAlthough – moving him back to the Banemor territory could have a lot to do with that, in the end, Benevirau already had experience with fending the over three-hundred years old assassins off.

n”You were! Miriette and Horeo were losing their minds for the first two months! No one else has any memory of your fight with that crazy white-haired guy, so to them, it looked like you just went down with some unknown illness! Uncle Benevirau is worried sick too! Ah…! That’s right…!”

n”…?”

nBurushi cried into Zoemis’ shoulder before she suddenly flinched in realization and pulled away, looking into the confused eyes of the black-haired boy.

n”I need to tell him that you woke up!”

nShe declared and rushed away from Ozemi’s bedside and dashed out of his room while wiping off the tears from her eyes.

n”…everyone, call in…”

nZoemi still did not entirely believe what she was saying – even though she seemed to remember his wight with William. – although Ludier’s unique shadow was gone, Zoemi still had his puppets and sentinels that he created in the past.

n”(Master?! Everyone! Master is back!)”

n”(Master’s back?! Finally! Took him long enough~!)

n”(Master! Welcome back! We missed you!)”

n”(…did you sleep… well…?)”

nOne by the tone the sentinels and puppets responded to his call, and with just their greeting Zoemi realized that indeed some time must have passed – they all became much more eloquent and were actually talking instead of just sending through the information he asked them about.

n”I wouldn’t say that I slept -more like…, you know what? Nevermind. First of all, how much time I was out of it?

nZoemi frowned for a moment before shooking his head and asking in order to get the confirmation he wanted.

n”(Eight months, twenty-four days, ten hours, fourteen min…)”

n”Alright – I understand. Thank you. Burushi wasn’t joking… not that she looked like she was ut still…”

nThe black-haired boy stopped the first sentinel that answered him and breathed out heavily.

nIt really has been almost nine-month.

nHis body did feel somewhat different – as nine months could change a lot in the body of a growing boy – but before he just write it off as that symptom coexisting with the numbness in his limbs.

n”Is Miriette alright? How about my father?”

n”(Both are good~!)”

nHe took another breath and asked – and received an immediate answer, that certainly helped him stay calm.

n”What about Ghosts of Bellcephora? Was I overthinking when I assumed that they were actively trying to mess with me? I attached one of you to Kiorterell, didn’t I? Update me about that then, please.”

nHe asked, and this time the answer did not come right away as seemed like the responsible sentinel was either taking its time or straight-up ceased to exist.

nSpeaking of which, there were many sentinels that ceased to exist for various reasons – including the two that vanished from the face of the earth right after possessing two bodies in the woods near Victureo territory.

n”(They stay together and search for any information on the white-haired man who killed Evorietto – the same white-haired man who fought you, master. The last words that the ghosts connected to Evorietto heard were the law of Aquarius. Ghosts are actually scared – they all clumped together and never act on their own – everything they do is connected with tracing the man and learning about the strange power he was using.)”

nBut for the one attached to the Ghosts capable of possessing others, it turned out that it was just taking precautions so that it would not be found out.

n”…are you serious…?”

n”(Very – especially that Kiorterell thinks that Rethaq’s death might also have something to do with that man. Whatever is happening in the kingdom at the moment, seems to have very little with the actual Ghosts of Bellcephora.)”

nZoemi sighed and rubbed his forehead nervously – and the sentinel attached to the possessing Ghosts answered indifferently.

n”Wait- what is happening in the kingdom? What did I miss?”

nZoemi asked, straightening his back and raising his brows.

n”(A lot.)”

n”…”

n…and then and there came the answer of the indifferent sentinel, making the black-haired boy sigh and roll his eyes…

n”(Don’t get angry at him, master – there really was a lot of thing happening! But the healer girl knows most of it, and she is coming back here with Benevirau – she surely will give you a summary!)”

nAnother sentinel jumped in to explain, not wanting to make their creator upset.

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