"So he wanted his copy to handle the five-limbed bear... quite confident of him considering how weak that copy was."

While both the villagers and most of the group that arrived in the village were stunned at the disappearance of the man's corpse, Zoemi merely sighed and shrugged his shoulders.

"We are not enemies, just so you all know. With that in mind, could you point us in the direction of that man's house?"

The black-haired boy added, after returning to the horses and taking his spot thanks to a bit of help from the law of Capricorn.

Less than five minutes later, they were on their way.

The villagers didn't seem to trust the boy at all, but they knew better than to try to deceive the noble lady from the Perserios family.

"They had this aura about them as if they were selling out one of their own."

Roiso shifted her position to lean against Zoemi and said in a conspicuous voice.

"They weren't deaf and blind, they heard and saw me. They surely think that I want to kill that man."

Zoemi raised his brows at the girl who was a bit more forward than usual.

"You don't want him dead though... Haaa, what a bunch of useless people."

Roiso let out a theatrically long sigh and looked to the side as if mourning the naivete of the villagers.

"That martial artist seemed to be one of the people you knew about from before? What is his name?"

Mizoe, keeping his eye on the road and constantly watching for the house the villagers described to them, asked with interest.

"I... Have no idea. I only know that he was taking part in the same expedition that my father arrived here with, and that he married the sickly third lady of the Tencelion family. I am interested in him instructing me in martial arts and stuff, since despite having the knowledge about star power in my brain, having a sparing partner would be preferable. Don't take it the wrong way, dad, but your ice is a bit too overwhelming and I still have a long way before I could actually take one blow from you."

The black-haired boy closed his mouth for a moment before nodding apologetically at Mizoe.

"Hmm... truth be told, I was not aware that the third daughter of the Tencelion family was married in the first place... I believe her name is Fountrein... I honestly thought that she was of such poor health that she had no chance of ever finding a husband."

Rokiana tilted her head and revealed in a bothered voice.

"Well. Not only did she achieve that, but she also managed to safely give birth to a child, and said child is actually older than me."

Zoemi said hesitantly – his information didn't come from the conversations of his parents that he managed to overhear before the Banemor territory was raided and taken apart but from the past timeline.

There were some major differences between the previous and the current one so he could not be completely sure about everything. Still, up until that point despite the circumstances of some people being different, at least everyone he was aware of was alive up until that point.

"So... answer me honestly, are we just stopping by so that you could make a friend?"

After receiving that piece of information, the blue-haired teenager squinted her eyes and asked with a hint of accusation.

"Not exactly just a friend. An ally. Hopefully a reliable one."

"...I knew it..."

Zoemi corrected the slight misunderstanding and ended up nodding which caused Rokiana to roll her eyes and sigh.

"Big brother Geroizen will be a great help! He is ridiculously loyal once he thinks of you as his family!"

"..."

Roiso perked up and whispered in Zoemi's ear all excited – to which Zoemi's eyes widened but the boy stopped himself from saying anything.

After a few minutes the group seemed to have found the house, or rather a summer residence of the Tencelion family – the thing was, they didn't seem to be the first people there.

"This should be the place, but it seems they have guests over... huh...?"

Mizoe nodded to himself with satisfaction, but then his brows furrowed after he had a closer look at the carriage parked by the gate.

"Son... please correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't this carriage looks like the one lord Modari usually takes while going on his business trip...?"

The light-blue-haired man stroke his chin while tilting his head and lightly nudged the black-haired boy in the side.

"I am not imagining it, am I...? Look, those are definitely the horses from the Tallaran stable..."

Mizoe shook his head and actually rubbed his eyes as if he could not believe what he was seeing.

"You are definitely not wrong, dad... What is going on...? Were you aware of Tallaran family being in contact with the Tencelions?"

Zoemi confirmed his father's suspicion while scratching his head in confusion.

This time things didn't have anything to do with the events of the current timeline matching the past ones.

The current situation wasn't making any sense in the current timeline!

"If that helps, I also wasn't aware that Tencelion and Tallaran families had anything to do with each other."

Rokiana looked between Zoemi, Mizoe, and the carriage that was the focus of their attention and chimed in.

"Roki, you also didn't know that lady Fountrain and Paluous were married."

"And now even you are against me, Roiso?!"

The hooded girl shifted in her spot to have a better look at the blue-haired girl and pointed it out, which caused the devastated teenager to gasp in disbelief.

"Anyway. No matter what business lord Modari has with Tencelions, it doesn't change our plans..."

"True."

Zoemi ended up taking a deep breath and shrugging his shoulders to which Mizoe nodded and dismounted the horse and helped the children and the wolf puppies get down.

"Ah, but Leveo and Teofee might be in the carriage since lord Modari took them with him the last time, I'll check."

With his feet firmly on the ground, Zoemi perked up and announced, already turning towards the parked carriage.

He didn't even realize that Roiso was following right after him

*knock* *knock*

"Teofee? Leveo? Are you in there?"historical

The black-haired boy knocked on the carriage's door and asked in a loud voice.

*rustle*

There was a response, although no one said anything, the keen-eared boy clearly heard someone fidgetting.