Reincarnated as the Villainess's attendant

Chapter 488 160 - Perserios territory - part 4 - Countering the plan that was thirty years in the making (part 20)

　　She had to do more than just a few courses and each time she would return with a new person or even entire groups.

　　Zoemi heard about people being trapped under the avalanches and landslides before but considering that this one was an attack done by a magician and it was freezing up mana, the survival rate was miraculously high.

　　At one point Burushi woke up too and after a very short catching up, she began checking the condition of the survivors.

　　She even tried to heal up Metavicero who Zoemi was keeping unconscious on purpose, but that obviously wouldn't pass with the black-haired boy, who looked as if he was about to smack Burushi's hands away each time she approached.

　　"Could you at least take your leg off her head? You heard Roiso and Mirienne talk about her, she is under many curses and cannot disobey orders she's given by the people of Barbariacca nation...!"

　　The blond-haired girl did not give up her attempts of helping out the colorless girl and while she did try a slightly different approach Zoemi's expression was growing darker and darker. Burushi read that as he got more angry so she backed off feeling really bad about being unable to help another wounded person.

　　"Oh. That's right, she did say something like that..."

　　"...eh...?"

　　But then Zoemi tilted his head and groaned in realization, and stepped away from Metavicero, making Burushi raise her brows and let out a surprised voice.

　　"The mana-freezing property of the snow is gone already, sorry for being out of it. My mana reservoir hurts again. I'm... sorry."

　　The black-haired boy apologized and passed the stunned healer, stumbling his way towards Miriette sitting a little bit to the side right by the snow-covered, stagnant air emperor.

　　"Xeonith, can you make, like, really hard handcuffs from rock, or preferably metal, and tie up that girl? Anything is fine actually, just make sure she would not be able to freeze it away and break free like that."

　　Zoemi looked over at the brown-haired corpse puppet and asked him, vaguely motioning in the correct direction.

　　"I will figure something out."

　　"Good, thank you."

　　The young man nodded after a second or two of hesitation, which caused Zoemi to smile faintly and continue his way toward the dark-haired girl.

　　"Mind if I join you?"

　　Zoemi asked stopping right in front of the dark-haired girl who looked up at him with worry in her eyes before she scuttled over and tapped the stone that Xeonith and the sentinels conjured for her earlier.

　　"I would be able to deal with hexes and even those messed up curses to some degree, but when some weird attributes are thrown in to mix, that's when even I need a breather."

　　Miriette complained, and leaned against Zoemi's shoulder the moment he took the seat next to her, wrapping her hands around his arm.

　　"According to Roiso and Mirienne, and to some extent even that girl, there should be only one more experiment, apparently his name is Geroizen, but we will have to ask our acid magician about his deal."

　　Zoemi said in a reassuring voice resting his head against Miriete's head and gently caressing her hand.

　　"Isn't she blocked by the curses like this one is, though? Or is that whole thing about curses even real? Are we supposed to believe now that Metavicero is unable to disregard orders but Mirienne and Roiso can just decide that it's okay to switch sides as if it was nothing?"

　　The dark-haired girl furrowed her brows and breathed out heavily, nuzzling against the black-haired boy.

　　"That is a good question to ask them, and speaking of which, where is the acid magician...?"

　　Zoemi nodded and frowned in realization when he couldn't spot the girl who should be standing out between the villagers.

　　"She went back down to look for anything useful and whatnot, she got really excited because she managed to get everyone out safely, so she's riding the wave of enthusiasm while wanting to be of as much help as possible, I guess."

　　Miriette pointed at the hole in the snow created by the acid magician's passive shield spell.

　　"Well. As long as she won't run out of mana while digging too many tunnels, and causes a cave-in getting us in trouble and killing herself in the process, it should be fine."

　　Zoemi breathed out and lightly shrugged his shoulders to not disturb Miriette too much.

　　"I am not worried about her – although it does bother me that she did not realize that you knocked out her friend. I am not saying that it's easy to spot her because of how well she is blending in with the snow, but what else do Mirienne and Roiso think happened to her after she caused a snowstorm like that?"

　　The dark-haired girl rolled her eyes and motioned toward the unconscious and tied up Metavicero getting healed up by Burushi.

　　"I have known her only for around a day and I already can tell that critical thinking isn't really her deal. It could even be that she is convinced that the colorless girl was here only for a bit just to cause the snowstorm and then got away."

　　As the two of them chatted casually, the hazmat-wearing girl popped up on the surface, this time with a sour expression clearly visible through the transparent face shield of her altered gasmask.

　　She returned empty-handed and seemed to be upset about it greatly.

　　The acid magician got up from the snow and walked toward the dark-haired girl and the black-haired boy.

　　"I'm sorry, lady Miriette, lord Zoemi. I wasn't able to save any animals or salvage any items. I am not sure why but when I searched for people, my magic did not seem to affect them all that much – but when it comes to everything else, it all melted together with the snow. I apologize once again for this failure."

　　Mirienne bowed down towards Miriette and Zoemi with a heavy sigh and even heavier heart, but what she said didn't really surprise either of the two.

　　"Don't worry about it. You managed to save what was truly important and that matters the most. You worked hard and I am grateful."

　　The dark-haired girl assured her with a dismissive wave of a hand.

　　"That's right – you probably can't feel it yourself, but the situation was a lot more tense with people trapped under the snow and you were much more concentrated. It is not surprising that you relaxed just a little bit in relief after you heard that everyone was saved, and could not muster the same level of control over your magic. Or it must have been something like an adrenaline wave but magical, We can't be sure. Anyway. Good job."

　　"...my lord...!"

　　The black-haired boy had a little more to say and nodded at the acid magician with a soft smile, which immediately caused her personality to switch to Roiso whose face beamed gleefully at him for showing her any form of kindness.

　　"Say. We were wondering about the curses. If your colorless, snow-controlling friend cannot oppose her orders, how come you joined our side with no problem? Did no one actually order you to be loyal to the Barbariacca nation? Or they really didn't and you will stab us in the back – even against your will – when someone from their side will show up and command you?"

　　Miriette looked between Zoemi and Roiso and her face clouded at the pleasant atmosphere they had going on, so she didn't hesitate to ask about the same thing she talked about with the black-haired boy moments before the acid magician showed up.

　　"About that... eh...? Now that I think about it, it is weird that I could betray them just like that..."

　　Miriette's words caused Roiso to furrow her brows in concern, before straightening her back and tilting her head in confusion. Which also caused Miriette and Zoemi to look at each other with a rather surprised expression.

　　"I believe I stopped feeling the influence of the curses around the time I got eaten by the giant snake monster..."

　　Roiso looked up and pointed her finger at the cloudy sky, subconsciously clenching her knees together, sounding as if she did not want to mention the altitude she spent most of her time while imprisoned within the air emperor.

　　"Odd... or maybe not really...?"

　　"What do you mean...?"

　　Miriette raised her brow and muttered to herself and Zoemi glanced over and asked curiously.

　　"Remember when she was up there, she cried and pissed herself ad was marinating herself in her own acid, which caused her mana to be melted away from her mana reservoir? That might be what literally got rid of the curses she had to bear this whole time. Her attribute is the result of an experiment and is proven to destroy mana and spells, something like that doesn't sound all that farfetched if you think about it."

　　The dark-haired girl explained, leaning away from Zoemi to straighten her back and be able to make eye contact with him without twisting her head in an uncomfortable way.

　　"There is a chance that it happened like that... the acid attribute is like similar to the darkness attribute with the corrosion turned up to thirteen on the scale that should go up to five... What do you think about it?"

　　The black-haired boy nodded with a serious expression before turning towards the acid magician with her face crimson red from embarrassment and asked.

　　"Aside from the fact how it happened, I would not be all that surprised if that was the case... I... Mirienne, take over. I'm going to die from shame...!"

　　Roiso nodded while fidgetting timidly, before she straight up gave up and called out, making the other personalty take control of the body.

　　"...and what, do you think I am not embarrassed over what happened or something...?!"

　　Mirienne groaned with a sour expression and shook her head in disbelief.

　　"What she wanted to say was that I don't usually douse myself with my own acid, so a chance of it corroding the curses away is pretty high."

　　The acid magician put herself together and answered through shame.