"I would prefer to take you to my territory, but as the things are now it would not be safe. The head of the Derizno house is looking at my family's mines with greedy eyes. Instead, I will leave you and young Mizoe here under the care of my friend. He is a newly appointed noble and his territory is by the border with a small city-state far away from the lands of the high nobles. I am afraid that the head of the Derizno family hearing about what happened in the Banemor territory will follow Espines' path and try to claim my land for himself any day now."

Ludier glanced at Zoemi with compassion and tried to smile reassuringly even though his words weren't exactly encouraging.

"I mean...!"

All of a sudden the ice magician flinched as he realized that it definitely wasn't something that he should have said to the child because he clearly suggested that something happened to the Banemor family.

"Tell me... do really strong magicians called sages exists?"

But he wasn't actually dealing with a child, not someone with a mind of a child, at least – Zoemi nodded his head with a somber expression and asked in hesitation.

"...ah... one of Learen's bedtime stories, isn't it...?"

Ludier's reaction certainly wasn't promising.

"Sages of whom each created a single high noble house. It is a nice story but... in the end, all sages were simply human, when the time came, they laid to their final rest like everyone."

The ice magician was doing his best to put the child's expectations to rest as slowly and gently as possible. From his choice of words, it was easy to guess that he tried using vague phrases so that the young boy would not catch on to the real meaning, but that obviously had no effect.

|Sages existed but are all dead... that's why Benevirau didn't show up and chased away the enemies...|

Zoemi gulped down his saliva and leaned back against Ludier's torso.

This... really was a different timeline, wasn't it?

While the people seemed to be the same, the setting was obviously different and the relationships and interactions worked at least slightly different than in the timeline Zoemi originated from.

But... if that was the case then...

|...Miriette is gone... my Miriette is gone...|

The realization hit the boy like a truck – or rather like a motorbike that had claimed his life in another world.

Before he knew it, streams of tears poured down his face and the droplets fell on Ludier's arm, getting the man's attention.

"Benevi? Benevi, why are you...?!"

Ludier gasped in shock and hurriedly picked up the boy, not knowing how he should react in such a situation – after all, his child wasn't born yet, and he had no experience with dealing with children.

"..."

Zoemi didn't say a thing, merely biting his lips and crying his heart out.

Back in his timeline, right before the god of stars, Guide, forcefully transported him into the Heavenly Star nation's territory, Zoemi was ready to throw away his life to stay with Miriette.historical

After he found himself in the land of the star power, he was doing his very best to survive just so he could at met his beloved at least one more time.

But now...

Even if Miriette existed in this timeline, it wasn't his Miriette.

A completely foreign girl who would merely look like her but know nothing of him.

Such a timeline... such a world...

It wasn't worth livi...

*WHOOM*

"MY LORD, WATCH OUT!"

"Huh?!"'

as the dark thoughts were sucking Zoemi in like quicksand, an odd pearl-colored circle appeared in the middle of the road that the three people on two horses were traveling, causing young Mizoe to call out moving forward while Ludier gasped in shock.

Mizoe pulled out a simple training sword and Ludier raised his hand conjuring an ice spear, ready to unleash it if the situation called for it, while watching the circle enlarge until it had a size large enough to encompass an average human.

*WHOOM*

A moment later, the circle shimmered and turned transparent – but instead of showing the road behind it, it turned into a window peering into a white space.

Suddenly, the curtain of white fell down, revealing a single teenager.

...a somewhat androgynous youth whose looks alone stunned Ludier enough to release his magic, and shocked Mizoe to the point of him dropping his sword.

The stranger had black hair fashioned in a spiky haircut, although it looked like it wasn't their original hair color. They had a devilishly charming face, even though one of their pearl-colored eyes was covered with a big eyepatch.

A crop-top black shirt with long sleeves, a rugged cape, trousers with lots of unnecessary black leather belts and knee-high black boots were all included in the outfit the teenager was donning but didn't encompass it all. After all, the stranger also had bandages randomly wrapped around the exposed parts of their body, wherever they decided was the coolest spot for it.

At that one moment, even the despairing Zoemi was too bewildered by the sight to think about anything else.

"...!"

Despite their edgy looks, the teenager seemed surprisingly shy – their face became pink from embarrassment and they raised their hands as if they wanted to excuse themselves and back off.

"..."

But then they accidentally made eye contact with the black-haired boy and their face became serious.

The stranger raised thier hands to thier face and struck a – supposedly - cool pose.

"I am the Demon Lord Mirienne! Zoemi! Miriette was also a part of the Presence just like Bellcpehora! Her memories are currently locked away, but they will return sooner or later as long as you become her attendant again! She is your Miriette, so don't you dare give up before you will defeat the impostor demon lord, the trash named Cherro, and achieve a happy ending!"

"!!!"

The teenager declared, causing the eyes of the black-haired boy to bulge out as he jolted up in disbelief.

"Th-that's all that I had to say for now...!"

The self-proclaimed demon lord stuttered and hurried to the side, disappearing by the edge of the pearl-colored portal...

*WHOOM*

...that ended up closing and disappearing into the thin air a split-second later...

"Huh...? What in the world was that?!"

Ludier shook his head and was the first one to get over the bizarre situation.

"Mizoe, that weird kid looked to be around your age, do you know them?"

"N-no..."

The ice magician called out to the pale-blue-haired boy, but Mizoe shook his head just as confused as he.

"I don't know anyone named Zoemi, but the daughter of Doregon and Misena Espine is called Miriette... we need to get away from this place as soon as possible! Benevi, hold on tight, it will shake a lot."

Ludier gulped down his saliva before deciding and smacking the reins of the horse he was riding on, forcing the animal to gallop while securely hugging the black-haired boy...

|Demon lord Mirienne, huh... You better not be lying!|

Zoemi clenched his fists and thought to himself.

A sudden ray of hope.

The Miriette from this timeline is his Miriette...!

Now, with that information – no matter how unreliable – he could not allow himself to succumb to despair, could he?

|Her memories will return eventually, as long as I become her attendant... so be it!|

Just like a drowning person clinging onto anything whether it resembled a lifeline or not, the black-haired boy stuck to the idea and chose to run with it then and there.

"...Ludier... just like my father asked me to... I will grow strong and thrive..."

As the horse was carrying them like the wind, Zoemi spoke up, getting the ice magician's attention.

"Umm... yes, that's what your father wished for."

Ludier agreed, slightly confused about the timing of the child's words.

It might have been a trap, it might have been some sort of illusion - it didn't matter.

What it did was give Zoemi a reason to keep living and that was all that mattered.

|Wait... before demon lord Mirienne showed up, Ludier said that he is going to eft me and Mizoe in a small terriotry near the border of a city-state... But, wouldn't that... be...?|

"Are we going to the village near the Marigotiee kingdom...?"

Zoemi thought and then asked in a shocked voice.

"Huh? Well, why, yes! That's right! Someone has been serious about his studies I see!"

The question surprised Ludier, but he ended up using it to change the subject and praised the black-haired boy.

|Wasn't that place the home of Teo and Veo in the previous timeline...?|

Zoemi thought to himself, closing his mouth and dropping the subject.

And their travels continued...