Reincarnated as the Villainess's attendant

Chapter 484 158 - Perserios territory - part 4 - Countering the plan that was thirty years in the making (part 16)

　　Within a single heartbeat, the acid magician spotted the black-haired boy looking her way and cried out, looking away in embarrassment just to straighten her back and curtsy within the same fluent motion as the control over the body switched between Roiso and Mirienne – and funnily enough, her hazmat suit was now more baggy from the waist down so she could grab its sides with ease and go with the trained motion.

　　Not only that, even though the broken gasmask was now fixed, it wasn't returned to its original look and now had a clear window showing the acid magician's face properly, with the one remaining magic crystal on the side.

　　The girl's features weren't stunning, but she had this soft charm around her – that definitely went against how she acted during their last meeting.

　　"I would very much like to say the same back to you, Mis Etwistrall, Miss Efemare. But with our current circumstances, we will have to question you and your actions. A lot."

　　Zoemi nodded back at the girl but his expression wasn't nearly as cheerful as hers.

　　"..."

　　Mirienne flinched and looked down, slowly straightening her back. She could help herself and kept stealing glances at Miriette, but the look that her idol was giving her was exactly like the one the black-haired boy was making.

　　"You were under the hex, weren't you? I know that we met only briefly, but someone like you would not harm..."

　　"Miss healer... I wasn't hexed and neither was Roiso."

　　Burushi moved forward as if trying to get between the two of her friends and the acid magician but then froze when the girl with neon pink eyes now visible from behind the clear face shield shook her head and spoke up clearly.

　　"What...? But... Then, what happened...?"

　　The blond girl blinked a few times, taking a few steps back, looking at the other girl with disbelief.

　　"Can we not talk about it in the open...?"

　　"No. We will have this talk right here. You can act all embarrassed and shy all you want, but you already showed how you act when you think you have an advantage. We will take as much precaution against you as we want, especially since you just admitted that you weren't hexed."

　　The acid magician asked in an uncomfortable voice, nervously rubbing her shoulder, but was rejected by Miriette without even a second of hesitation.

　　"...I see..."

　　The acid magician gulped down her saliva and nodded.

　　"If you think you have a chance with us, let me remind you that I can send you back up in the air anytime. But this time I will not bother to assure a safe landing for you."

　　Before she could say anything else, the dark-haired girl scoffed, glaring down at her without even a shred of compassion.

　　"I was just checking in my head whether my story makes any semblance of sense."

　　"Not a good thing to say out loud if you want to be convincing."

　　Mirienne murmured timidly to which Zoemi shook his head from left to right and commented with an unamused expression.

　　"...Mirienne, if you will make lord Zoemi angry at me I will kill you even if that means killing myself..."

　　For a second, the control over the body of the acid magician switched and Roiso murmured feverishly, causing Zoemi who overheard her raise her brow.

　　|They can't talk in their head with each other or is this their attempt of tricking us...?|

　　"(It looks like it...)"

　　"(...?)"

　　Zoemi thought to himself although his thoughts were transferred to the two corpse puppet sentinels who tilted their head at the same time, looking at him with confusion.

　　"(Master, the other girl seems to like you very much, why not ask her about stuff?)"

　　"(Yes, yes! The first one likes Miri a lot less than the other likes you!)"

　　Still, the two of them looked at each other and their eyes sparkled, before they fidgetted excitedly, happy to share their idea.

　　|Good call – although she didn't seem hesitant about killing me before... Let's get back at her or that.|

　　The black-haired boy agreed with his sentinels, getting curious while the acid magician looked troubled.

　　"Roiso."

　　"!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!!"

　　Zoemi spoke up and the reaction was immediate – the control switched to the more unstable personality who almost fell over from shock at having her own name called out by the black-haired boy.

　　"Y-y-y-ye-ye-y-yes...?! Wh-wh-wh-wha-what can I he-he-help you w-wi-with...?!"

　　The girl stuttered horribly, straightening her back as soon as she could as if trying to erase her failed first attempt at answering the call.

　　"I remember you saying that a few months ago you would love to get my attention, but now you are only nauseous. If you weren't hexed, then what exactly happened back then?"

　　Zoemi did not hold back with the attempt – he approached the acid magician despite the potential danger, getting as close to her as he remembered the effective range of her ability was, and asked in a rather sweet voice – which caused the girl to swoon just by that simple act alone.

　　...although it might have not been worth it, judging by the face that Miriette made...

　　"I... I thought that if I can't have you anyway, then I would settle for the next best thing – killing you in a cool way..."

　　Roiso admitted with a flushed face, smiling a bit creepily and slowly looing p at the black-haired boy, trying to check his reaction.

　　"That was it back in the first outpost? You just trying to act cool?"

　　Zoemi didn't show how he truly felt about that answer and instead raised his brow and asked in an intrigued voice, leaning a bit closer in.

　　"Y-yes... did... did you like how it turned out...?"

　　Roiso trembled and her smile became at least twice as creepy.

　　"Not much, honestly."

　　"...!"

　　Zoemi frowned and shook his head, which was like a physical hit to the acid magician, who grabbed her stomach and looked down in extreme shame as if searching for a hole she could jump in and burrow herself forever.

　　"I much prefer cute obedient girls."

　　"...!"

　　The black-haired boy added offhandedly, which again caused a change in the acid magician, as she flinched and froze in place.

　　"You said that since you couldn't have me, you at least wanted to kill me – but who decided that you couldn't have me?"

　　"!!!!!!!"

　　"?!?!?!?!?"

　　"??!?!!!!!"

　　"?!?!?!?"

　　"?!?!!?!!!!"

　　"??????"

　　"?!?!?!?!"

　　Zemi managed to confuse everyone around him, not only Roiso.

　　Although Roiso was the one to get bright red but also sparkly-eyed.

　　As for the rest - the air emperor's jaw dropped and the murky-black sphere on her head rolled off and fell on the ground forgetting that they can float. Xeonith shook his head and hurriedly looked between Miriette and Zoemi, utterly confused about what was going on between them. The boy's corpse puppet sentinels simply didn't know what was it actually about but were confused about why their master wanted to belong to someone. Burushi raised her hand to her chest and gulped down her saliva while blushing heavily.

　　And finally Miriette...

　　"...I shouldn't have left it open like that. Listen – although I agreed to share you with Teo..."

　　"Hold on – he is serious?! So there is a chance?!"

　　Miriette made a grumpy expression and looked to the side, clenching her fists before facing Zoemi – which caused Burushi to jolt up and gasp, staring at her wide-eyed.

　　"AH! I see!"

　　All of a sudden, the second corpse puppet sentinel gasped in a loud voice, gathering all the attention.

　　"Master is going to make a harem after all! I knew that my idea was good!"

　　The sentinel called out triumphantly, nodding to themselves with a proud expression.

　　"See?"

　　Instead of explaining anything – although the black-haired boy thought that his action should be obvious – Zoemi merely shrugged his shoulders and motioned at the rest of his group with a cheeky smile.

　　"Wait... but that doesn't mean that I have a chance with you...!"

　　Roiso trembled, hugging herself as if trying to contain the wild emotions brewing inside of her.

　　"The first two spots in the harem are reserved – as you already heard – but if you ask me, there is plenty of place for a cute girl like yourself – not to mention that even Mirienne will not be losing out. She might not like me like that, but she will be able to be close with Miriette. You only need to tell us everything you know about this whole situation – including your own motivation for following the orders from the Barbariacca nation."

　　Zoemi thought that he deserved some sort of prize for his acting, the acid magician looked thoroughly fooled by the empty promises and all.

　　Miriette wasn't worse than him either – Zoemi knew how she would react if she thought he was serious.

　　There would be hell and the acid magician would no longer be alive.

　　The unintentional assist from the innocent second corpse puppet sentinel was appreciated because it made for a nice fit.

　　But why in the world did the others seem to think that he was doing anything else other than tricking the acid magician into sharing the information they wanted to know...?

　　"Mirienne – we are betraying the others and switching sides right now!"

　　Roiso didn't fail and proved to be as unstable as Zoemi expected her to be since their first meeting.

　　"I... ugh... but what about the others...? We can't leave them like that!"

　　The personality of the acid magician switched and she bit her lips, greatly bothered, and although it was hard to believe even for Zoemi, she sounded as if she was agreeing with the other one, just holding back because of a few people she cared about.

　　"We will help them out too! Look! It's lord Zoemi and young lady Espine! They can do anything!"

　　Mirienne switched back to Roiso and waved her hand between the black-haired boy and the dark-haired girl.

　　"...fine. But the first thing we will do afterward is to save the other two...!"

　　The personality changed again, and the acid magician had officially folded in.