dmims Page 143
Page 143
"—Zanze??" The sudden backstab almost made him jump off the ground.
"Ah, you're disliked now, serves you right." Frillie immediately gloated. This made him silent for a moment before offering a revised plan:
"...It's still Frilian's fault, anyway. She and Celie don't get along. If we say a few bad things about her now, she'll definitely believe it."
"Hey, are you actually planning to smear someone right in front of them??"
"Just kidding, even I wouldn't do that in front of other people."
"...Isn't it also not okay to do it behind his back?" Knowing that he was retaliating, Frillie was just annoyed and helpless, but she was too lazy to say anything more.
Philon looked at him expressionlessly, his expression clearly conveying a message without words—wait patiently when you get home!
Perhaps she's still bothered by the idea of eloping? Or by the attempt to smear Frilian? Although it was indeed just a joke.
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Frilian and Philon did not linger here for long; as examinees, they soon reached the deepest part of the dungeon.
But Ash didn't follow, and Zanze remained where he was, staring at him with an overwhelming sense of annoyance... or rather, unsure of what to say.
It wasn't until Ash couldn't take it anymore that he broke the silence:
"...Why are you staring at me? If you have something to say, just say it."
"Why has my copy become your chair? And... what are your hands doing?"
"Don't get me wrong, I just felt a bit lonely here by myself, so I wanted to keep her company."
"A companion-type partner?" The strange statement made Zanze unconsciously frown: "...As the prototype, what are my feelings?"
"It's okay, I can play with two people at the same time. In fact, I prefer the feel of the original body and... cough, anyway, that's about it."
In the end, to avoid being ostracized and for the sake of his reputation, he stopped talking, smiled awkwardly, and casually used binding magic to tie up the exhausted clone and tuck it under his arm.
He then stood up, freeing one hand to place on Zanze's head, gently stroking his ankle-length hair.
"...Lord Ash, I have emphasized this many times before: I am not your pet."
Under his excessive rubbing, Zanze's body swayed involuntarily, but he just stared at him expressionlessly. After a long while, seeing that he didn't react, he lowered his gaze in frustration, muttering, "Besides, it's not that I'm lonely or anything, it's just that I feel that the way you're using my clone is really a bit wrong..."
"I will handle it properly."
"really?"
"...When have I ever let you down when it comes to serious matters?"
“But that’s on the premise that you treat this as a serious matter, right?” Zanze’s expression was subtle and complex.
This finally made Ash take things a little more seriously. He ran his fingertips through the girl's hair, looked into her eyes, and slowly said:
"Although I understand that I may have made mistakes occasionally and may have indeed caused you trouble, if you're talking about using her for personal gain, I think that's just making reasonable use of the rules. Since the exam didn't prohibit helping each other, it was consensual and everyone was happy, so what's wrong with that?"
"..."
Seemingly only now realizing the problem, Zanze simply lowered his gaze and eyelids, remaining silent as if playing the role of an exquisite doll.
"When bad things happen, they don't say anything."
"..."
"But really, don't worry. Although that's what I just said, I'll actually talk to Celie after we get out. Of course—I'd be even more happy if you elope, okay?"
"Lord Ash..." The strange suggestion made Zanze hesitate, wondering what to say.
"The second half of the sentence was a joke."
“I know that…” Even though she knew, she still had that strange expression.
This made Ash hesitate for a moment, as if infected by her, before continuing to dispel her concerns:
“Selie will definitely say it’s all my fault then and won’t really blame you, so for now we just need to assume it’s all Celie’s fault.”
"...Your relationship with Lady Celie is indeed very good."
"She's a troublesome person, but I'm just being mature and tolerant of her."
"....Yeah?"
"Both of them are definitely a lot of trouble, aren't they?" Zanze nodded slightly with a strange expression, but kept his true thoughts to himself.
She wanted to say something more, but then another examinee arrived, prompting her to quickly turn and leave... afraid that if someone saw her and Ash together, in such an obviously intimate relationship, it would create unnecessary misunderstandings.
It really made one think it was some kind of shady deal. While it wasn't complicated, it still bothered her. However... then Ash's words of advice came from behind her:
"--Really, don't worry. If you ever ask, just push the blame onto me for now."
"...How could I possibly do that... Lord Ash, you're such a...troublesome person." Zanze didn't turn around, but as he uttered this helpless murmur, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but turn up slightly.
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Surprisingly, the people who arrived after Zanze were all acquaintances of Ash.
Besides Yubel and Connie, there was also Viabel, the captain of the Northern Magic Team, who had escaped with them.
Connie had barely reached the innermost gate, and before he could even marvel at the thoroughly destroyed hall, he noticed Ash still teasing the bound clone.
This scene immediately enraged Connecticut, who rushed forward in a huff.
"—Uncle! That's too much! You just grabbed Rabinha and ran away! And you completely ignored us! Do you know how hard it was for us to escape?"
"...What are you talking about? This is an exam. How could I help you guys all the time? I only helped because Rabine didn't even have a chance to draw the bottle back then." Ash was helpless at this moment and flicked her forehead with his finger.
This made Connie cover his forehead, take a step back, and whimper like a bullied puppy.
"Even so, the uncle is definitely biased! He could have just saved her, why did he have to carry her so far?"
"...No, that's not true. You should focus on your exams." Actually, he found the shy Rabine amusing and unconsciously hugged and played with him for a while, but he couldn't easily explain it away. He could only silently look away and change the subject, but...
"Thinking about it seriously, Rabinhea was much more well-behaved back then, something must have happened between you two... I have a feeling!"
She might not be so sure about other people, but she had her own unique judgment about the personality of her childhood friend. Her gaze was scrutinizing, as if she wanted him to tell her the truth.
But could he really bring himself to say those things? It was impossible, wasn't it? He could only pretend he hadn't heard anything and say nonchalantly:
"Shouldn't the exam be more important right now than this?"
"Change the subject?"
"It's just a business matter."
"Uncle isn't an examiner, he's just one of the candidates, isn't he?" Connie said, hands on his hips, leaning slightly forward, but his tone was righteous and stern.
"But as a member of the Magic Association, I have a duty to uphold the fairness and impartiality of the exam!"
“But~ in the end we only need to deal with Zanze, which is lucky~” Yubel, who was watching the show from the side, licked her lips and said, “Can I do it? I’ll do it.”
Ash could tell from her expression that she was definitely confident.
Despite the vast difference in strength between the two sides, Yubel's cutting magic has a very high ceiling. Even normal mages can't do anything with Zanze's hair, so Yubel's unique cutting magic might be able to counter it.
In particular, Ash was even more certain of this when he had chatted with Zanze in the past and Zanze's attitude towards Yubel seemed to regard her as a natural enemy.
So he silently reached out and pressed down on Yubel's head, pushing her away from the restrained clone: "Never mind, you guys just go ahead."
"Ara...you're bringing this up now?" Yubel raised an eyebrow in surprise. "As a member of the Magic Association, I have a duty to uphold the fairness and impartiality of the exams...you said that, didn't you?"
"We've known each other for so long, it's too formal to say this."
"Now you're talking about this? You only use things that are advantageous to you, don't you?" Yubel shook his wand, his face full of teasing smiles.
"...So what if that's the case? Nobody loses anything, everyone benefits, so what's wrong with that?"
"You have such a good personality~" Seeing that he wasn't ashamed even after being exposed, and even started to argue again, Yubel, who just wanted to tease him, couldn't help but laugh: "It's just a clone, it's useless to keep it, right? Why are you still protecting it?"
"I just feel it's a waste."
"Waste...? You don't have a strange interest in monsters, do you? No, wait, you have some strange ideas about Zanze? Because he rejected you, you went after his clone? That's a bit extreme, isn't it?" Even Yubel was starting to feel uneasy.
Connie frowned and said unhappily, "How could that be? The old man just couldn't bear to see humanoid creatures being killed."
"You're overestimating this guy's kindness, aren't you???"
The bizarre speculation made Yubel doubt her own ears, and she even cast a reproachful look at Ash, suspecting that he had deceived the innocent girl.
But he didn't want to say anything more, to avoid making things worse with the strange situation, so he silently pushed the three of them in, while he stayed where he was, staring at the clones bound by the binding magic.
He didn't actually have any strange ideas, he was just simple...
"...I don't really have any strange interests, but when I think about it seriously, wouldn't this make a ready-made life-size figure? It would save me a lot of money on decorations."
As he reached out and gently touched the seal, completely petrifying the stone-like clone girl, he began to regret why he had destroyed the other clones earlier.
Otherwise, having so many stone statues would be interesting just to look at in the room! It would also save a lot of money on renovations.
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Ash had a well-thought-out plan. He secretly took away the petrified Zanze clone and the Water Mirror Demon when the exam ended.
The Water Mirror Demon had someone secretly transport it to the capital, but fearing being seen as having strange interests, he could only hide the copy of Zanze in his wardrobe, planning to send it to the capital after he left.