Chapter 280 - Start Of A New Questline (part 2)

Chapter 280 – Start Of A New Questline (part 2)

"Lord Moyena, good morning – I hope that you are in good health."
Zoemi bowed his head lightly and smiled at the visibly excited upperclassman.
"Reo is enough! Zoemi! I am so sorry that you have to go through this ridiculous situation!"
"…!"
Reo didn't even wait for Veo to properly close the door after Zoemi stood up and approach the black-haired boy and show him his support, positively surprising him.
"…?"
"…"
As Reo realized that he might have acted a bit too familiar with the black-haired attendant and looked to the side in embarrassment, Zoemi used that chance to glance over at Horeo – who winked at him and nodded his head with an encouraging expression.
"Then… Reo… It's nice to see you, is there something that you want to discuss?"
The black-haired boy decided it was okay to indulge the green-haired boy who – at least up until that point – had been exactly as his character in the game that Zoemi had played in his previous life.
…and he was also Zoemi's favorite character after Mireitte too, so the black-haired boy was quite pleased that he didn't turn out like Xeonith…
"Yes. I do actually."
Encouraged by Zoemi going along with his open and amicable personality, Reo straightened his back and nodded with a serious expression.
"First of all… have you heard about the Banemor territory?"
"…!"
The green-haired boy asked, and Zoemi's eyes widened in realization.
|Ah! So we really will go through the Banemor questline! Hmm… poor Reo… if I remember correctly, this was the event where he completely fails to impress his father and stops pulling pranks altogether, giving up on winning the fatherly affection…|
The black-haired attendant thought to himself carefully observing Reo's face.
"I do. It's a territory on the edge of the Bellcephora kingdom that lost the high noble family ruling it – but the administration was taken over by the family servant according to lord Banemor's will."
Zoemi nodded and spoke the line he remembered seeing on the screen in his past life.
"That's right. Banemor territory was always prosperous and racked in a lot of money through taxes for the kingdom – but according to the kingdom's laws, only the ruling family is supposed to pay the taxes to the crown – and the loophole of that law is used by the servant to not pay a single coin for over sixteen years already."
Reo nodded back vigorously and started explaining regardless of Zoemi's confirmation.
"Why can't another family take over the territory then?"
The black-haired boy tilted his head and asked, consciously using the line that the heroine from the game should have used to correctly activate the questline.
"There are two reasons for that. First is that lord Banemor's will clearly states that he leaves everything to his missing daughter or her child or children if she had those… which could be easily dismissed if not for the second reason…"
The green-haired boy raised his hand and extended his index finger and partly did the same with his middle one.
"The second reason for this troublesome situation is that the servant who upholds the late lord Banemor's will is an extremely strong individual who had managed to singlehandedly repel an entire King's Guard that has attempted to remove him, without breaking a sweat. That man said that he will not allow anyone to take over the Banemor's territory until he would be shown proof that his master's missing daughter or her child or children are dead. Which is ridiculous because there is no proof that they are alive either, with his daughter running away with a traveling merchant and going missing over sixteen years ago…"
"…"
Reo sighed and added with an awkward smile – but in his words was a piece of information that didn't appear in the game's quest log, but Zoemi found it quite significant…!
|…that servant is supposed to be extremely powerful… so it is not all that far out there to assume that he knows about Aspakeony and her necromancy… Isn't that guy just asking Aspakeony to find the corpse of the missing young lady and make sure that there really isn't any descendants left…? Then his words would make a lot of sense…|
The black-haired boy thought to himself.
…unfortunately, at the moment getting Aspakeony's help was impossible considering that she had gone missing together with seemingly all of her corpse puppets…
…still, Zoemi had already copied her magic…
|Maybe in this world, it will be possible to help Reo impress his father…? Having him as an ally could turn out rally profita…! Ah…! I see. That's why Horeo must consider Reo useful – Helping out Moyena family deal with the Banemor's territory conundrum would certainly show me in a good light and make it easier to clear me of the suspicions! But.. he doesn't know about the quest or that I can use necromancy… so… what is the plan actually…?|
The black-haired boy thought to himself with satisfaction but then furrowed his brows in a realization.
"…where do I come into play in this scenario…?"
Slightly confused Zoemi ended up tilting his head and asked the green-haired boy in front of him.
"Well, the servant asks for a proof of death – but what if we show up with a living person?"
"…huh…?"
Reo revealed and his expression brightened, but the same thing couldn't be said about Zoemi.
"Banemors were known for being very strong shadow magicians – which fits your current self quite well – what sir Moyena tries to say is that we will introduce you as the child of the missing daughter, and after the stubborn servant will step down, you will relinquish the rights to the territory in favor of the royal family – essentially returning the Banemor territory back to the Bellcephora Kingdom."
Silent until that point first prince came in clutch with his explanation, making everything pretty clear.
"By doing so, you will surely win a favor of a few people who are bound to gain on the situation."
Horeo added, glancing at Zoemi meaningfully.
"Yes! It's exactly as his highness had said! Then, what do you think about my plan, Zoemi?!"
Reo nodded his head vigorously and turned back to Zoemi, looking at him expectantly with sparkling eyes.
"(My prince…)"
Zoemi lowered his head for a second and reached out for the shadow of the wind magic's message spell and tweaked it a bit so that he could merely think instead of actually speaking.
"[Zoemi – I know this might sound shady, but it's actually a perfect opportunity. Even if the plan fails, we can use the attempt alone to show off your will to cooperate for a right cause, and in case we actually succeed and you relinquish the rights to the territory – it will be enough of a feat and proof of a just person that you are to permanently shut the mouths of our opponents.]"
Horeo flinched for a moment but caught on to what was going on almost immediately and started responding hurriedly not even giving Zoemi a chance to finish his sentence.
"(I wasn't going to try and argue, it's just that…)"
"[When you will be in Banemor territory while the students return to the Academy after the break ends, I can arrange with Miriette to teleport there so that the two of you can finally meet without making things troublesome.]"
And once again, Zoemi started thinking but was interrupted by Horeo – with the small difference of Horeo's word having a huge impact this time around.
"I ACCEPT! WHEN CAN WE GO THERE? ACTUALLY, WE CAN TELEPORT THERE RIGHT AWAY!"
"!!!"
Zoemi straightened his back and immediately grabbed Reo's hand while wholeheartedly voicing his full trust and support for the plan, positively shocking the green-haired boy who didn't expect the attendant's face to get this close and ended up blushing.
'Thank you, Zoemi! But it would be better if we take the carriage – that way we will have more time to get you acquainted with the whole situation and how to play your role correctly – I have done a lot of research!"
After a couple of seconds, Reo ended up shaking his head and composing himself enough for being able to speak and declared.
"Ah…. that's true. Yes… let's do it the way you planned it."
Zoemi flinched and nodded with understanding.
"I will arrange for the carriage to be prepared."
"Your highness! Thank you very much, I will be eternally grateful!"
Horeo joined in and made the green-haired boy bow deeply while his voice shook from excitement.