n

n

n|...wait a second...!|

nAnd then Zoemi remembered something...

nA smaller event that was supposed to happen not only much later in the route of the second prince but also in a completely different place...!

nThat small-scale event was supposed to play out in the evening - after a heated talk about the hierarchy of the society the furious Miriette would smack the heroine's books from her hands and they would fall in a puddle of mud, then, Miriette would leave the scene agitated, leaving the heroine alone, mourning the destroyed books.

nThat would be the moment that the second prince would accidentally stumble into the crestfallen heroine picking up the dirty books while sobbing, and after a short conversation, he would offer to escort her back to her room.

nUsing the exact same words he did just now!

nZoemi trembled.

n|Could it be that because of his actions to protect Miriette until now the route of the second prince got artificially accelerated and the scripted events are being forcefully distorted to fit the situation!?|

nHe thought in horror.

nWould this affect the dark-haired girl immediately?

n|No, she cannot be linked to anything that occurred here at all...|

nThe black-haired attendant shook his head dismissing the initial thought.

nEven the future event that somehow triggered and got molded in response to the second prince's abnormally high affection level was still only one-third through the route...

nEven though it was worrisome, that still wasn't so bad for his master...

nThe route of the second prince became bad for Miriette only at its very end, after all.

nZoemi's master still hasn't done anything bad to the heroine so she was safe.

nYes, Miriette was safe for the moment, but then...

n|Who's going to help Reo...?|

nZoemi turned back towards the scripted event that was proceeding without the heroine, taken away by the second prince...!

n|Wait... she didn't want to leave, but Surou took her away anyway... what if he is the same as m...|

n

"Hey, Xeonith, I will apologize, okay? I'm sorry for pranking you!

"

nA sudden revelation suddenly struck the black-haired attendant – but his thought process was interrupted by Reo's nervous voice – the green-haired capture target was terrified...

n...as he should be, each and every one of the rock projectiles hovering in front of Xeonith was looking dangerous and painful...

n

"As I said, I'll teach you to not stick your useless attribute everywhere – and I will do it the hard way, to make sure that you remember it.

"

nEven though Reo sounded sincere Xeonith just wouldn't listen.

nMaybe he was just done with dealing with the green-haired boy's pranks through the prior year, or maybe the exploding oatmeal was the straw that broke the camel's back...

nEither way, he did not mince his words.

n…but he certainly – and unknowingly – chose the wrong words, considering who was listening...

n|Did he just say that the wind attribute is useless...?|

nZoemi's eyes stopped reflecting light and turned cold and dead as his reasoning was overtaken by fury...

n

"Shadow connect.

"

nThe attendant with dead eyes whispered, and a hair-thin black thread shoot out from his murky black shadow and slithered through the broken floor, weaving and dodging between the countless feet of other students until it reached the shadow directly under the chair that Reo was cowering behind.

n|Useless? That annoying, stick-in-the-mud capture target with no after story, called Miriette's attribute 'useless'...?|

nThought Zoemi before suddenly disappearing into his own shadow as if a bottomless void suddenly opened underneath his feet and swallowed him whole.

n

"Deploy barrage!

"

n

"...!

"

nXeonith called out in a stern, cold voice – with no hesitation whatsoever.

n

"Wh...! WHAT IS THAT...?!

"

nAt the exact same time, someone from the crowd of students observing the whole situation called out in an absolutely panicked voice - pointing out at the human hand that suddenly emerged right from below the chair in front of the green-haired fourth son of the Bellcephora kingdom's treasurer.

n

"Shadow expansion!

"

nGrowled Zoemi as soon as his head reached over the shadow – following his hand back to the surface of the outside world.

nThe fist-sized rock missiles shoot towards the green-haired prankster as if they were bullets shot from a machine gun.

nEven with the sudden appearance of the black-haired boy, Reo could only activate the single defensive spell that the normal wind magician had at their disposal – wind wall – and put his hands up defensively, praying for the first hit to knock him out to save him from the pain.

n

"KYAAAAAH! IT'S THE GHOSTS...!

"

nBut before any projectiles could reach the green-haired capture target, an unnaturally deep shadow surged like a tidal wave out from the spot where the black-haired boy was climbing out - and engulfing every single one of the missiles...!

nNot a single trace remained!

n

"What!? Who the hell are you?! How dare you interfere with the duel of the...! Ugh...!

"

nXeonith started shouting furiously and rushed at the black-haired individual who managed to get out of the murky shadow under the chair right before it turned back to normal – but stopped and even took a step back once the black-haired boy raised his head and showed his face, or more specifically, the scarred right side of his face.

n

"Geez, I don't know, the shadow moved... who might have done it? Surely not the darkness magician standing in the way! That would be ridiculous! Ah! I know! It must have been the water magician's work! Show yourself, you ruffian!

"

n

"HIIIIIII...!

"

nZoemi, stand up on his wobbly feet and almost fell down, but delivered a mocking speech regardless, and even turned to the panicked audience and pointed his finger at a random blue-haired student who screamed in a high-pitched voice and ran away crying.

n

"Damn it! The culprit as ran away!

"

nThe scarred boy clicked his tongue and shook his head.

n...both the shadow jump and shadow emerge that swallowed the barrage of the mana-filled projectiles had completely drained Zoemi's mana reservoir, pushing him into a state of extreme mana depletion...

nHonestly, only because the amount of mana he had at his disposal was small, that severe mana depletion didn't knock him out – still, the sheer willpower that he showed up by speaking clearly without mumbling, was already praiseworthy.

n

"You're Espine's attendant, aren't you? Why are you helping this moron?

"

nThe brown-haired Xeonith pulled himself together, as it would be rather shameful if anyone realized that he got spooked by some burn scars, and called out the black-haired boy.

n

"And you are the esteemed lord Derizno! Why are you destroying the school's property and bullying the weaker student?! That's not what a noble should do! You big bully!

"

nZoemi frowned and scolded Xeonith, pointing at him with a shaking finger – by the way, his eye's still looked dead and on top of that they became unfocused because of the mana depletion...

n

"Bullying? I am!? If anything he was the one doing the bullying of everyone else!

"

nThe brown-haired youth became agitated, waving his arm around – showing off all the students covered with the oatmeal - but Zoemi's sense of reason was already as dull as it could be, and he liked Reo more from the get-go – if that was not clear enough already....

n