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nVatlo Jora Erest, the magic tutor to the first prince Horeo and his fiance Miriette and Zoemi, was just suddenly called for a secret audience with the king on the last day of tutoring the trio and never show up again.

nNot even Horeo knew what happened to the man as his father refused to tell him anything, passing it off as a piece of secret information.

nBut to think that Valto would appear before Zoemi in such odd circumstances and with no knowledge of what happened to Zoemi to boot!

nIt was especially odd considering that Zoemi made quite the show when he announced that he was actually a fire magician, he also had no scar at the time then too already! It wasn’t weird to think that every aristocrat in the kingdom knew about him! Yet somehow Valto who was apparently spending his days in the archive room of the royal castle no less didn’t know a thing?! It wasn’t normal!

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n|Did… did it just revealed in the story that I the other Zoemi was trying to pass off as a fire magician…?|

nZoemi blinked repeatedly, shaking his head while completely flabbergasted by the premise and the guts of the other version of himself he was watching.

n|It definitely did… I believe he might have tried to pass off being a shadow magician as being the transcended fire magician with so much mana that not only his hair and eyes became black, but his spells too…|

nThe voice of the original personality spoke in hesitation as if he was squinting his eyes trying to figure stuff out without taking his eyes off the screen.

n|Huh? Hey… that’s quite a wild assumption… How did you figure that out?|

nZoemi asked and tried to turn towards the direction the voice was coming from, but once again the sense of motion was a foreign concept in the murky-black world.

n|I believe I was partially awake during that supposed perfect timeline… That’s why the other you saw that dream – it was a part of my memories.|

nThe original personality responded and while he talked the hesitation disappeared from his voice as the artificial soul became more confident in his own knowledge.

n|You mean, the part of the memories of the other you.|

n|No. Although you, as a being that grew from my soul getting thrown into the other world, do have a different version of yourself living in different timelines, I am different. I am an artificial soul that got created for the sole purpose of protecting the second princess. Our souls are connected and exist beyond time and space.|

nZoemi asked calmly but the original personality corrected him in a serious voice that honestly made the black-haired boy speechless.

n”…”

nCompletely lost and not knowing what to think, Zoemi simply turned his attention back to the screen when the events from a different timeline were playing out…

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nThe blue-haired man frowned and raised his hand towards Zoemi and the boy tensed up in fear

nYes, actual fear.

nThere was something different about Valto, no, it wasn’t like that…

nWhen Zoemi was younger he always thought that Valto’s shadow didn’t match him at all. Valto was a very proud person, he was confident about his knowledge and took much pride in his ability, he also was a bit prejudiced, but in the end, he was a gentle person with a big heart who just needed to learn a bit more about the world to accept and welcome it.

nThe thing was, his shadow was always an extremely disturbing giant humanoid skull with four eye sockets spiked with icicles. Its imposing aura was much more threatening than both Miriette’s and Horeo’s shadows, even though the young first prince’s unique shadow was far larger than the teacher’s, as it straight up seemed to be thirsting for murder and destruction.

n…and at the current moment, with Zoemi immobilized at the entrance of the archive and treasury could clearly see that Valto’s aura was finally matching his shadow perfectly.

n*rustle*

n”…”

nAt the sudden noise coming from the hallway, Valto glanced at the door and waved his hand to the side with a sigh.

n”So you were not alone, huh…”

nHe clicked his tongue and Zoemi’s body slid to the side.

n”…”

nThe boy wanted to say something but realized that his mouth got frozen shut.

n*click*

nThe door opened and a young woman with bright green hair and an even brighter smile entered the room with a spring in her step.

n”Hey-o…!”

n”…!”

n*WHAM*

nValto’s face became severe and he smashed his fist against the desk without even uttering a word.

nBefore the green woman could even react, an ice-stake thicker than a man’s tight erupted from the floor in front of her and impaled her through the stomach, piercing her body against the ceiling.

n”Wh-wha…?!”

nThe woman uttered with blood trickling through her lips.

n”Heferi Soklo Eruneo, second daughter of the great count Eruneo, cause of death – poisoned to death by her husband, supposedly buried in her family tomb.”

nValto declared and opened his clenched fist.

nWith that signal, the green-haired corpse puppet instantly froze over into a crystal-like sculpture.

n”…!”

nZoemi gasped but couldn’t make a sound no matter how much he tried.

nAspakeony’s corpse-puppet got destroyed just like that!

nAnd Valto didn’t even flinch!

n”…Could it be… Shapeshifting…? Did I do something to offend the Ghosts…?”

nValto muttered just loudly enough for Zoemi to hear, and the boy’s mind was blown.

n|Does he know that the Ghosts are still around?!|

nThis shocked him almost as much as the next thing that happened.

nThe next moment, in a flash of golden light a person appeared, it was the light-attribute corpse puppet, with her body glowing gold she was attacking from an extremely close range.

nShe was aiming at Valto’s neck from his blind spot.

nSuch a tactic would be perfect for dealing with a water magician or even an ice magician if they were taken by surprise.

n…or rather, it was supposed to be…

n*crack*

nRight in front of Zoemi’s eyes, the corpse puppet’s hand turned into ice and shattered into thousands of pieces before even reaching Valto’s body, and the blue-haired man didn’t even turn around to look at her!

nBefore Zoemi could truly take in what has happened, the whole light attribute corpse puppet was reduced to tiny pieces of shaved ice on the floor.

nThe seconds passed in complete silence, seconds turned into minutes…

n”That’s it…? So it wasn’t Kirissu…? Or did she just give up?”

nValto broke the silence and looked back at Zoemi.

n”I gather that you are the new recruit or something? You’re too naive to be one of the original members… Unless Elsby turned her shadow beasts into those… you can never be sure what the darkness attribute is capable of…”

nHe frowned.

nUnfortunately, even though he really wanted to, Zoemi didn’t have any means to respond.

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n|Is it telling us to get teacher Valto to help us? It looks like he possesses two attributes and is almost a sage.|

nAlthough the other timeline Zoemi was encased in ice, the one watching the events play out on a screen in the murky-black world could say everything he wanted.

n|I don’t think that’s the case…|

nThe original personality responded in a bothered voice.

nHe sounded like he was doing his best to remember what exactly happened in the supposedly perfect timeline, but considering that he wasn’t truly awake during it, it wasn’t an easy task.

n|Can we both agree that if something happens to me in that timeline, we will stop sitting here patiently and try to get out?|

nZoemi sighed and asked, trying to motion at the screen, but not really achieving anything since he wasn’t even sure that he had any limbs in that world.

nMaybe he just existed there as conscience and nothing else?

n|First of all, I believe that the second princess will not let us die.. let’s watch and see…|

nThe original personality hesitated and sounded as if he bit his lips in hesitation.

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n”It is not the right time.”

n”…?!”

nAll of a sudden, with no prior indication, Valto turned his head sharply to the side and said in an annoyed tone.

n”I’m dealing with a very serious situation right now! Why would a king want me to…?”

nHe shook his head and Zoemi realized that Valto must have been contacted by a wind magician and is having a conversation through a message spell.

n”Wha…!? Oh… Your highness… Ah… I see. I understand, your majesty… I see… I was too hasty… Yes, thank you, my lord.”

nEven though he couldn’t be seen by the other person, Valto bowed apologetically.

n”…haaaaaa…”

nIt seemed like the conversation was over because Valto turned to Zoemi with a very awkward expression.

nIn an instant, Zoemi could feel the cold leaving his body and regained control of his mana.

n”Zoemi, I am terribly sorry for this misunderstanding…”

nAs the black-haired boy was rubbing his hands together to get rid of the numbness he realized that the blue-haired man was bowing his head to him now.

n”T-teacher, you don’t ha-have t-to…!”

nEven though the ice was gone didn’t mean that Zoemi would stop shivering.

n”Well then. In my defense, you’ve changed a lot.”

nValto raised his head, there was not even a trace of guilt in his eyes.

nThat was much more like the teacher that Zoemi knew before.

nAnd he had so many questions for him!

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