“As you already know, recently I am helping out the royal family a bit. During that time I happened to come across a very interesting document.”

Zoemi’s smirk turned into a smile and he took out a folded piece of parchment from his inner pocket.

He unfolded it and turned it so that both aristocrats could what was written on it.

“As you can see, we have your family seal here, it’s a simple business transaction with a certain group. You placed a lot of orders on magic-blocking and mana-restricting artifacts, didn’t you?”

*WHOOOO*

Zoemi spoke calmly and peacefully, but then the piece of parchment in his hands combusted and burnt to nothingness right then and there.

“I don’t have time for some derogatory accusations, and I certainly don’t have time for someone like you. If you don’t want to be next, get out of my way.”

Duke Espine scoffed and threatened the young man.

“I also have two other documents.”

Zoemi didn’t falter and merely shook off the ash from his finger and took out two more pieces of parchment, also showing them off to the angered duke.

“One of them is for procuring the enchanted weapons with corrosion attribute and the other one is for… submission collars.”

“…”

The black-haired young man said continuing to smile and interestingly enough, this time the red-haired man did not try to burn the documents – instead, his expression darkened and he squinted his eyes.

“The threat of war made me improve the equipment of my forces that would be dispatched in case of the actual conflict. As for the collars, the warlocks and witches of Barbariacca nation are known for using hexed monsters and the novelty device promised to have the same effect. It’s all for the good of our kingdom.”𝑜𝒱𝑙xt.𝑐𝒪𝕞

The duke declared with unfaltering confidence.

“But of course. And the kingdom is its people, right?”

“Indeed.”

Zoemi nodded with understanding and asked to which lord Espine nodded in agreement.

“True~! After all, there is no other territory that cares for its people like Espine territory. There have been numerous reports about commoners from other parts of the kingdom moving there for a better quality of life.”

“…”

The black-haired young man eagerly clapped his hands together and caused the duke to glare at him in suspicion.

“And of course looking for a better quality of life means that around seventy percent of the eager settlers would enlist in your personal army! Oh, tight, it’s one hundred percent for the people from the former Banemor territory.”

“…eh…?!”

Zoemi’s smile turned hostile and Leveo, the only person for whom that information was new, let out a shocked gasp.

“You know, my lord? I lied about this document being the only order you placed for the submission collars.”

Zoemi continued and reached out to his clothes and this time he pulled out a whole stack of papers.

“Do you care to explain why you invest so much money into the collars for taming monsters and have less than a few dozen of them around? It feels as if those collars are used on something other than monsters… let’s say the disillusioned commoners who discover that they have fallen for a lie?”

The young man added throwing the stack of incriminating evidence to the duke’s feet.

Some of the papers caught on fire from the flame armor and turned into ash.

But… it was okay. After all, that was a provocation… no, even less than that. It was just a cat playing with the mouse before devouring it.

“I am the great duke of the Bellcephora kingdom. I will not listen to fabricated accusations thrown in my face by some nobody.”

Although for a split second it seemed as if the anger would overtake lord Espine, the red-haired man managed to keep his cool and declared in a rather disgusted tone, staring down Zoemi as if he was a pile of manure thrown carelessly in front of him.

“Oh? Wait, so that piece of intel didn’t reach you?”

This time the black-haired man was genuinely surprised. The return of the Banemor family was supposed to be a secret, but Zoemi didn’t have many hopes for it to stay a secret. This was quite an interesting turn of events.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Duke Espine scoffed arrogantly without a single doubt in his mind that he outranks the youngster in every aspect of social status.

“Zoemi Benevi Banemor~”

While the black-haired young man was introducing himself, the pale-blue-haired man was pulling out his sword – it was a simple shortsword but its cutting edge was gleaming with an icy-blue light.

“Dear, watch o…!” *SHING*

While her husband was focused on the black-haired youth, duchess Espine saw the pale-blue-haired man readying the weapon and called out, stepping in to block the attack with her magic. Her body was glowing with the intense green light and the air in front of her looked as if it was boiling – but even then she failed to react to the lightning-fast slash.

*WHOOOSH*

…followed by a gust of icy-cold wind…

“…”

“…”

For a moment everyone was silent as Mizoe calmly sheathed the blade with a stoic expression.

“Tsk. You will not get away with this. And as for you…!”

*khhhhhgh* *thump*

Duke Espine scoffed at the pale-blue-haired knight’s failed attempt and looked back at Zoemi, but his words were interrupted by the disturbing sound of the carriage behind his back, breaking apart.

The carriage itself had been cut diagonally and the gravitation called for the upper half while the unharmed horses let out disturbed neighs because of the noise.

*thump*

Then, the head of the coachman who was in the way of the slash rolled off his shoulders and his body soon followed it to the ground…

“Wha…?” *haaa* *thump*

Duke gasped turning back… and at that moment his flame armor spell released with the sound of a person breathing out in relief the upper half of the body of his wife slide to the ground and the other half fell forward.

“…ah…”

And only a second later the separation of the duke’s own body alongside the bloody line corresponding with the cut on the carriage behind him took place.

In the distance, a few guards were looking away with upset or horrified expressions as the snow – very out of place at that time of the year – began falling from the sky in the wake of the ice mana that was released into the air.