Reincarnated as the Villainess's attendant

"Zoemi!"

"Relax, it will not take lo-WHOAH...!"

Miriette called out and caused the torrent of wind strong enough to pull the unaware boy from his spot and throw his toward the helmet-wearing girl.

*SPLASH*

*KSHHH*

Just in time too, as not even a full second later, a waterfall of neon pink substance materialized out of the thin air and poured at the exact spot where Zoemi was, and eat into the ground with a sizzling noise.

"Aww... you made him dodge..."

The acid magician groaned and rolled her eyes in an exaggerated motion that included her rolling her entire head.

"Her passive defense works only against active spells, but that doesn't mean her other spells work the same way. What were you even thinking?!"

Miriette crouched and grabbed onto Zoemi's hand, ready to fly away at any moment.

"Sorry, that was my fault... her shadow was flickering as if she was on the brink of mana depletion and I just... huh...?"

The black-haired boy nodded apologetically but then froze in shock once he laid his eyes back on the acid-attribute-wielding girl.

Her shadow changed.

Her UNIQUE SHADOW changed...!

"Who the hell are you...?!"

Zoemi asked, weirded out before he stopped himself from speaking to the enemy magician.

"Zoemi... did you hit your..."

"Roiso Baru Efemare. The main ingredient used to change miss Etwistrall's attribute. Oh, and I wasn't paying attention - but in case she said that she doesn't need to breath, she meant that I don't need to breathe~"

The acid magician introduced herself again, but this time in quite a different manner than before - and cut Miriette off in the middle of a question.

"Efemare family doesn't have an heir."

Miriette pointed out, in a grim voice.

"Well, of course not."

The acid magician shrugged her shoulders and smiled awkwardly.

"Since I was born with the darkness attribute, they hid my existence from the world. Honestly, judging from what my lovely parents always said to me, I was almost killed off because of that."

The voice didn't change, but the mannerism and intonation of the words did.

If Mirienne was faking having a different personality, she deserved an award.

"Kind of an inconvenience, wouldn't you say? I was lucky to survive. The funny thing is, they started treating me a little better when the word came out about lord Zoemi here becoming first an attendant, and the taking over the Banemor family. My lovely family was even moved enough to allow me to actually train my magic - as if I didn't try to do that secretly for years."

Although the acid magician looked more and more unhinged as they spoke, they continued nonetheless while swaying from side to side instead of walking around.

"There was this rumor that said that once a darkness magician will be able to use a shadow gate, they will get contacted by the Ghosts of Bellcephora. You know, those traitors from three hundred years ago... they were supposed to offer great power to the promising darkness magicians... what bullshit. I would like to personally melt the bastard who spread it. I wasted so much time trying to meet the requirements for a stupid false rumor."

"..."

The acid-attribute-wielding girl revealed, and her voice sounded so defeated and broken, that Zoemi started to feel genuinely sorry for her.

"But then yet another rumor started spreading. That of you, lord Zoemi, sending people all over the kingdom to kidnap other nobles and steal their mana... with that betrayal, my most lovely family decided it was not worth keeping me around after all. So they sold me off the first chance they got. That's how I ended up an ingredient."

Continued to talk as she swayed from side to side like a pendulum.

"Listen, Roiso. It's nice and all that you are willing to share the trauma and all, but why aren't you unconscious already? There's literally no oxygen around you. The content of carbon dioxide alone should have knocked you out five minutes ago."

Miriette straightened her back and asked in a typical for her, spoiled noble girl way.

"..."

The acid magician stopped her swaying so abruptly that it seemed like she was held down by an invisible hand, and focused her attention on the helmet-wearing girl.

"Man... you must be stupid or something, I have already told you that I do not require oxygen or anything like that. Everything I need to keep Mirienne's body alive is the vapors of our magic."

The acid-attribute-wielding girl snickered, pointing at her broken gas mask leaking drool.

"You are the dumbass here. What is the point of stalling?"

Miriette asked while Zoemi was staying silent with a concerned expression.

"Ugh. Straight to the point, eh? And I went only halfway through my explanation. Ah, who cares. I stalled you long enough it seems."

*KSHHH*

The acid magician groaned and rolled her eyes in annoyance, just to then giggle in the creepiest way, while spilling the corrosive saliva.

"What...?"

"Miri, I have lost connection with every single sentinel outside the Perserios territory..."

The helmet-wearing girl scoffed, about to tear the acid-attribute-wielding girl a new one, but then Zoemi spoke up in a ghastly serious voice.

"What do you mean you've lost contact with? Did they rebel against you? We're they all destroyed?!"

Miriette gasped in disbelief, asking hurriedly.

"I am not sure... all of a sudden they just..."

"I can answer that~"

"!!!"

The black-haired boy shook his head - and then got interrupted by the acid magician's content voice.

"The truth is I am too weak to actually do any real harm to you, at least judging by your performance during a certain tournament, but we really need you to stay in this territory as we massacre the Perserios's forces, so we can pin all the blame on you. Isn't that nice?"

Roiso, speaking through Mirienne's mouth announced, spreading her arms open for the grand reveal.

"And how are you supposed to achieve confining me to this territory? By blocking my sentinels? I can use shadow gate and teleport even without them."

The black-haired boy scoffed at the acid magician, but that only made her more excited.

"No. You can't~ you can't because we cursed the entire territory alongside just the tiniest part of the mountains where we gathered our forces. Nothing can leave until the plan is complete~ neither people nor spells~"

The acid magician revealed and curtsied splendidly towards the grim black-haired boy.

Suddenly a flash of gold blinded both Zoemi and Miriette.

"You talk too much, Roiso."

Someone said in a tired voice, and when the light faded away, the black-haired boy and the helmet-wearing girl were the only people out in the open in the first outpost.

"I got a bad feeling about this... really bad... we should confirm whether she was serious about the curse like that. It sounds way stronger than it should be possible."

Miriette gulped down her saliva and clenched her fist on Zoemi's arm.

|Little ones... can you all confirm...?|

The black-haired boy thought to himself, gritting his teeth hoping that he will get a response from any sentinel outside the supposedly cursed area.

"(Master...! There's this weird barrier here, I can see another sentinel trying to get through too...!)"

"(Master, I apologize! I can't teleport to grandpa Benevirau - whenever I use the spell I appear at the edge of some field and can't move any further...!)"

"(Master...!)" x9

"..."

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case at all, and every sentinel that called back was confirming what the acid magician said.

They were trapped within the Perserios territory...