Chapter 534 Chapter 175 - Preparation for the Grand Ball (part 2)
"Please slow down a bit now – this one is pretty tricky and none of us wants me to mess it up."
The red-haired woman with the fashion sense of a nice lovely granny reached out her hand and took a deep breath, Even though there was nothing even remotely suspicious in the corridor they were walking through.
Nothing suspicious for normal people, that is.
Zoemi with his ability to see the unique shadows of everything possessing mana allowed him to realize just how many deadly and destructive traps were installed on almost every step of their way towards the treasury.
No wonder the red-haired woman was constantly reminding him to follow her exact footsteps – it really did seem like one false move was going to blow up a quarter of the royal castle.
The sheer amount of trouble that one had to go through just to her to the treasury the normal way made Zoemi feel respect towards his guide – she must have kept in mind a way to deactivate and then reactivate every single trap, and even if she wasn't in a hurry, this must have been extremely stressful for even the most confident person.
"(Dad, it takes so long...)"
"(Yeah, why couldn't we connect to that room with darkness magic and go there by shadow gate?)"
Ettemi and Oemir managed to read the mood and contacted Zoemi via the message spell instead of speaking to him directly, so as to not disturb the red-haired woman's concentration.
"|We could, but that would give teacher Valto a scare... I already shared with you how his unique shadow looks, are you okay with facing him in a battle where you cannot kill him?|"
The black-haired boy responded peacefully strolling after the cautious guide.
"(...n-no...)"
"...not, really... we're sorry, dad...)"
The two corpse puppet sentinels flinched and looked to the side awkwardly.
They were powerful enough to hold their own against most of the opponents Zoemi could think of – but that only counted the battles where they could go all-out.
To prepare for the meeting with Valto, Zoemi shared the memories of seeing the events from another timeline with his sentinels.
The former tutor of Horeo, Miriette, and Zoemi, should be a transcended magician, not quite the sage though – but the trouble with dealing with him laid with the impeccable control of his spells and ingenuity in their use.
That alone made him a very difficult opponent to face, and once added his ice attribute into the mix, he jumped from the level of difficulty to a straight-up nightmarish opponent to face with any type of restrictions.
With the complaints from the corpse puppet sentinels no longer being a thing, the rest of the way passed in silence.
It took them quite a long to finally get to the same door that Zoemi remembered witnessing in the different timeline, but it was definitely worth it – especially because of what happened next.
*knock* *knock* *knock*
"Lord Erest – I brought the young lord Banemor and his... acquaintances..."
The red-haired woman unlocked the last trap and knocked on the door, before turning around to glance at the black-haired boy and the three androgynous youths following him, unsure about how she should call them.
Zoemi was one thing, his title was clear enough, but for the two corpse puppet sentinels?
The woman didn't know what they were.
She didn't consider them anything else than human but from that point on, she had no idea.
They didn't look like bodyguards, and in the first place, they didn't act like servants either...
...so in the end, she settled on the safest option that should not hurt the pride of the person much more important than her...
"Ah, Miss Tahlas, please, do let him in!"
"...!"
After hearing the voice of Valto coming from the inside, the red-haired woman straightened her back, and although Zoemi could not see her face, he definitely could see her ears and a part of her neck – all of which were red from blushing so hard.
|Aww – teacher Valto not only has a coworker in this timeline. She is even having a crush on him!|
Zoemi thought to himself feeling a lot better – honestly, ever since he saw the version of his teacher from the other timeline looking as if he spent every waking moment of his life in the archives, he was really worried about the man's health.
Even as a royal tutor, Valto had the tendency to completely sacrifice himself for the job to the point of almost collapsing a few times during their lessons.
But thankfully it seemed that there was someone who would be more than pleased to help him out in need.
They entered the archives and Zoemi was greeted by almost the same scene that Zoemi from the other timeline went through – the blue-haired man on a wheelchair behind a desk, copying some sort of ancient texts.
This time, though, the man was greeting the visitor with a bright smile right from the start.
"Zoemi, I'm very happy to see you like this. I hope that all the security measures didn't inconvenience you too much – before lord Lazaram fleed the royal castle, he messed up with the inventions that he installed all over the place, causing any sort of non-physical communication to get jammed. If it wasn't for the fact that it is extremely troublesome, especially for Miss Tahlas over here, I would be willing to begrudgingly applaud him for creating an artificial mana storm like that."
Valto put down the quill and raised his hand, welcoming the black-haired boy to his workplace.
"I've heard your life has been rather colorful as of late – I hope that you aren't pushing yourself too hard."
The man added, pushing himself away from the desk and then moving his wheelchair towards his student.
"How are you, teacher? I could say the same thing to you. But, do you remember to eat well in between work?"
Zoemi smiled and reached out his hand for a handshake that Valto reappropriated immediately.
"I do not work all that much, I am not that young anymore. Miss Tahlas is very stern about the working hours we are supposed to abide by. She also recently picked up an interest in cooking, so whenever she makes too much food she shares it with me during the day. For which I am very grateful as everything she makes is delicious."
Valto rolled his eyes and waved his hand dismissively, before turning to the side and nodding at the red-haired woman who instantly turned just as red as her hair.
"L-lord Erest...! I-it's nothing! I-I am just doing that because I can't let my superior fall ill right before my eyes! Upkeeping the archives such as these is too much for one person!"
Tahlas mumbled in an embarrassed voice and turned to the side, starting to organize a random pile of old documents and books.
"It's really refreshing to work with someone professional like her, it really helps me with focusing on the tasks we're given."
Valto turned back to Zoemi and declared proudly, although the moment he had his back on the red-haired woman, she looked at him with this sort of sad longing in her eyes that even the black-haired boy recognized as a sign of a one-sided crush.
"What exactly brings you here today? Our young king told me that it was something about preparing and getting stronger and that you are allowed to take any treasure that you will find to be helpful for your case – but he didn't go into any more details than that. What exactly do you need, and what are you preparing for?"
Oblivious to the feelings of his coworker, Valto turned his wheelchair and began moving in the direction that Zoemi already knew to be leading to the hidden entrance to the treasury.
Zoemi followed him, motioning at his sentinels to stay a bit behind for a moment.
"There is a chance of a group very similar to the Ghost of Bellcpehora to show up and attempt to seize control over our kingdom. We believe they might be involved with the Barbariacca nation, and that they will attempt to assassinate the king during the ball celebrating his coronation."
The black-haired boy decided to tell his teacher the truth – at least for the most part.
Instead of straight-up telling him that the original, very much still alive and more dangerous than ever, Ghosts of Bellcpehora were behind everything, he chose to go the safer route and merely spoke about them as a group sharing some traits.
It technically wasn't a lie either, because the Ghosts became far much powerful than the records ever stated, so one could argue they could count as a different group.
"That would explain the King's Guard being so busy these past few days."
Valto took the information shockingly well.
"You don't want me to help out?"
He added, glancing up at the black-haired boy.
"Who knows... are you counted amongst the treasures stored in here, teacher?"
"Pffft! You worry about me too much, boy. You yourself are in a similar situation to mine, aren't you?"
Zoemi shrugged his shoulders instinctively moving behind Valto and starting to push his wheelchair – to which the blue-haired man snorted and shook his head, before looking down and sighing.
"We do share many similarities now, aren't we? That reminds me – were you made aware of a commoner girl who awakened to the healing attribute? Did you have a chance to get there to check up on your condition?"
The black-haired boy furrowed his brows a bit and tilted his head as he glanced down and asked.
"I did hear about her, but with all of my responsibilities down here, I never found the time to contact her. Go into that alley now, please."
Valto shrugged his shoulders and pointed at the rows of books diverging from the path they were following.