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Besides Zoemi and his corpse puppet sentinels, Miriette, Benevirau, and the guest Elsby, even Arreta was pulled out of the bed by the noises they mentioned the group was making.

"Miss Auequas, since you are awake anyway, how about making some tea for everyone?"

The dark-blue-haired young-looking man noticed Arreta peaking at them through the barely opened door and called her out in a polite way.

The young woman was being very stealthy, but she had no way of hiding her mana, which was how the blind water sage was perceiving the world.

"...I... I am a gardener though..."

Caught red-handed on eavesdropping, the brown-haired woman went inside and pointed out timidly. Glancing curiously towards the jet-back-haired young woman surrounded by shadow beasts.

"You are, indeed. But I clearly remember instructing you about all matter of the chores you could help with around the house, and we went through preparing and serving different kinds of beverages. Please, treat it as thanking me for going along with your request."

Benevirau nodded in confirmation, but there was no trace of doubt or hesitation in his voice when he sent Arreta out despite her attempts to stay.

"...is... is normal tea okay with everyone...?"

The brown-haired woman breathed out in defeat and asked looking at the others.

"It will be okay as long as you get the new snacks we got for the young master. Now off you go."

Benevirau was far from the limit of his patience, but it was clear that he had something he wanted to talk or ask about that he didn\'t want the young woman to know about.

But for Arreta it sure seemed that she was being sent away like a scolded child, and moved towards the kitchen with her head hanging low.

"She seems like a nice person. Naive, but cute..."

When the brown-haired woman left, Elsby pointed out, trying to lighten up the atmosphere.

"She\'s trying her best, but she grew up extraordinarily sheltered and it shows in some of her actions."

Benevirau breathed out, raising one hand and massaging his temple with a tired expression.

"Honestly, with her around, I feel more like a parent teaching a child the ways of the world than I did raising Mekirien..."

The dark-blue-haired sage breathed out and snickered, reminiscing about the first member of the Banemor lineage who became a high noble.

"Elsby, it\'s okay if you want to stay like this, but there is no reason for you to sit on the floor."

Zoemi breathed out in relief and said while sitting on the cozy couch while his two corpse puppet sentinels sat on his both sides.

There was still a place for one other person to sit there, but it was immediately taken by Miriette who was glaring at Elsby as if threatening to not even think about getting close to the black-haired boy.

The dark-haired girl was pissed off enough about Elsby just being there, so she was barely holding herself back when she couldn\'t even cuddle up to Zoemi because of his predicament.

Still, it wasn\'t like there were no other spots where one could get themselves comfortable – and Benevirau pointed Elsby to the large, cozy armchair while sitting in another armchair of the same design.

"I hope you don\'t mind me changing the subject, but considering who you are and who you were hanging out with for most of your life, there is something I would like to ask you about."

"...!"

Zoemi glanced over at Miriette, smiling at her reassuringly in an attempt to calm her down even a little bit, before turning to the hesitant Elsby, who jolted up in response to his question.

The jet-black-haired young woman hugged her knees tighter and looked up at the sitting boy while her shadow beasts huddled closer together forming something akin to a defensive wall.

Miriette and Benevirau were watching the two curiously as honestly, Zoemi could ask about literally anything.

"You all killed and taken in the power of quite a large number of magicians and sages alike – by any chance do you learned or explored the possibility of permanently taking away someone\'s mana without murdering them in the process? Or maybe some other Ghost had such spell in case one of you would betray the others or had to be cut off from the group for the sake of others?"

"Ah...!"

The black-haired boy waited a little bit so that Elsby would have the chance to refuse to listen to him before asking – and once he did, Miriette was the one to loudly gasp in realization.

As for Benevirau, he didn\'t gasp but he momentarily stopped breathing, holding his breath in disbelief.

Elsby blinked a few times, looking at Zoemi as if she expected him to start laughing and waving his hand dismissively while saying that he was only joking.

But the black-haired boy wasn\'t saying things only for the laughs and was keenly observing the jet-black-haired woman.

Elsny gulped down her saliva and looked down and then to the side, furrowing her brows and thinking deeply about something.

After a few seconds she ended up standing up and sitting in the armchair she was offered before and even recalled almost all of her shadow beasts, leaving only a puffy-looking feline shadow creature the size of an average housecat, purring in contentment by her feet.

Miriette leaned forward, looking as if she was about to say something, but Zoemi leaned forwards and made eye contact with her.

The black-haired boy nodded and smiled apologetically, asking the girl to bear with it without actually speaking a single word.

Miriette rolled her eyes and made a sulking expression, but still nodded back and leaned back into the backrest.

She continued giving Elsby an angry look but was glancing over at Zoemi to calm herself.

-----

"I have the... tea...?"

Elsby was thinking for so long and everyone else in the room was staying so silent, that when Arreta actually returned with the tea and snacks she was sent to bring, she froze at the door with the tray in her hands.

Even though she kind of realized that she was hardly welcomed into the conversation, now she actually felt that she was intruding on something she should not be a part of.

"Thank you, Miss Auequas. Put it on the table and have a seat too."

"Eh...?! I can...?!"

Despite everything, Benevirau smiled and nodded benevolently in the general direction of the brown-haired girl who gasped in disbelief and looked between the three other people looking the most tense.

...that being Zoemi, Miriette, and Elsby – the two corpse puppet sentinels sitting on both sides of the black-haired boy and draining the mana around him looked as cheerful and easygoing as ever...

The brown-haired woman walked in and followed the instructions given by the dark-blue-haired man.

Then, once she put the cup with a steaming hot tea in front of Elsby, the jet-black-haired girl looked at it and bit her lip.

"Unfortunately, the only spells that have the permanent effect you are interested in, are the ones that involve killing the target."

As if the beverage was the trigger that signaled her time to talk, Elsby breathed out heavily and said, reaching out and picking up the cup.

"...I see... Thank you."

Zoemi sighed, making a bitter face, and smiled gratefully, also taking the tea offered by Arreta.

"As for the others having access to such spells – no one have access to such power anymore. You see, when we still were stronger than average light magician but nowhere near the level of a sage, our minds were mashed together and I remember someone fearing that they would be shunned out of the group and left with no mana at all – but the ones with the strongest will assured the rest that even though they could do that, we are a family and no one would be rejected... ugh... but now that I think about it, that must have been just a load of bullshit anyway..."

Elsby wasn\'t done speaking and explained after taking a sip of hot tea and grimacing from the bitterness.

Zoemi raised his bor curiously and took a sip from his own cup.

...it wasn\'t even the case of Elsby being a sweet-tooth, the beverage made by the brown-haired girl was so bitter that everyone who tried it simply had to wonder whether that was done on purpose...

"...you don\'t look too upset..."

The jet-black-haired woman raised her brow and asked, slightly anxious, and honestly, at first, Zoemi thought she might be talking about the tea before he realized that she must have meant her previous reveal.

"Not really? You say at the start that you don\'t know such spell, the rest was just added context – unless you wanted to give me false hope?"

The black-haired boy shrugged his shoulders and smirked at the woman.

"..."

Miriette didn\'t say a thing but she squinted her eyes, and if the looks could kill, Elsby would be in deep trouble by that point.

"Now I understand why were you gone for so long... Miss Auequas, you need more guidance in the art of preparing tea."

Benevirau spoke up, taking at least some attention away from Elsby while making Arreta blush in shame.

"...and I would need some practice with talking to people who can\'t read my mind when I let down my defenses..."

The jet-black-haired woman murmured in an embarrassed voice rubbing her feet together while feeling extremely awkward.

"Everyone has to start somewhere. How about we will leave it like that and call it a night? We can discuss whatever else will come to our minds at a later date and once everyone feels comfortable with it."

Zoemi put away the cup without risking another sip, while Miriette and the sentinels didn\'t even pick up theirs in the first place.

"That might be for the best. I will show Miss Espine to the quest room now."

Benevirau agreed and stood up, walking towards the door with no delay.

"It\'s okay, sir Benevirau – Zoemi\'s sentinels can send me either to the academy or the room in our castle later."

"...oh... oh, right..."

Miriette turned to the dark-blue-haired man and assured him in a gentle voice – to which he reacted in a rather surprising way.

Benevirau straightened his back and took a deep breath as if he realized something.

"...he meant me..."

"?!?!?"

Elsby raised her hand and said timidly, once again hogging all the attention.

"Just like the commander is the bastard child of the Bellcephora family, I am a bastard child of the Espine family."

"Talk about a small word..."

The jet-black-haired woman explained, sounding almost apologetically and making Zoemi shake his head and mutter in disbelief.

...although it was said as a comment on the interesting situation, the black-haired boy wasn\'t even thinking how real his statement was.

The world they were living in was truly small when put into comparison...