Reincarnated as the Villainess's attendant

"Well then, it should be obvious that we should secure his mother first – if that is even possible in our current situation."

Miriette casually walked into the snow shelter, stepping over the unconscious Devios, and declared, revealing that she must have been listening to their conversation this entire time, but did so with such pride no one would have accused her of eavesdropping even if they thought about it.

With her unwavering confidence, she made it seem like she was a part of the talk from the very beginning.

"That is exactly what we should do if we don't want to end up fighting him head-on."

Zoemi nodded with a serious expression, and the suggestion in his voice made the atmosphere a few magnitudes heavier.

"I have good news about that - although the higher-ups wanted to keep her back in the capital, locked and under constant surveillance, they realized that if Geroizen will lose contact with his mother, he will lose the only thing that keeps him loyal. So she is being held in the North Talon Tribe - which is the first and main location where the Barbariacca forces are stationed."

Metavicero tried to sit up but that didn't work out for her too well, so she just slumped on her side and said with a faint smile.

"And I have no problem with disclosing the location of that military camp as a thank you for getting rid of the curses they put on me~"

She added as her expression turned triumphant.

"And I can melt the spell-blocking pylons! I melted one on accident before and was forced to sleep outside the camp to not destroy all of them from then on!"

Roiso realized this was her chance to redeem herself in the eyes of the black-haired boy and cheered out in excitement - which honestly only got her more shocked looks.

"Did you say, spell-blocking pylons...?"

Zoemi blinked repeatedly before asking in hesitation.

"Yeah - you can enter with already activated spells, but you can't conjure new ones while inside!"

"So that is what those totem-like things are?! I thought those were just for making the camp seem like a real settlement of barbarians! I was ordered not to use spells in any of the camps so I never noticed a thing..."

The acid magician nodded her head vigorously, to which even the snow magician gasped in shock at the revelation.

"Considering that they must have gotten destroyed because of your passive acid shield, we can assume that it's not the same type of spell-blocking as it was with the ancient bracelets – those were absorbing active mana and siphoning it out and turning it back into a passive state. With that in mind, it looks like they are just big active spells themselves – or rather big cursed objects. Would that be correct?"

Miriette squinted her eyes, glaring at the wall with a serious expression, figuring things out easily and turning to the snow and acid magicians for confirmation.

"I... I think so...?"

"Of course it is! Lady Miriette can't be wrong!"

Metavicero went wide-eyed and nodded cautiously while the personality of the acid magician switched to Mirienne and she cheered out enthusiastically.

"Alright. If that's the case – Mirienne, I have a question for you and Roiso."

"Yes...?"

With all of that information, Zoemi nodded and approached the acid magician who straightened her back, looking up at him attentively.

"During our first encounter at the first outpost, was it George who teleported you away, or was it someone else?"

The black-haired boy asked tilting his head just the right angle to make himself look the most captivating, to assure that Roiso will come out and tell the truth.

"It was Geroizne, my lord! He always keeps an eye on us and helps if we are in trouble!"

...and the personality switch was exactly what happened, making the acid magician clench her fists with excitement while nodding her head vigorously.

"If you ask me, that's because he sees the similarities between us and his mother and can't just leave us on our own. But he is very considerate and I can't say it's unpleasant."

"He has a soft spot for sick women, understood. The thing is that since he can potentially use teleport at a higher efficiency than a literal prodigy AND he knows about this location – we need to get mo ing immediately for our plan to even have a chance."

Metavicero chimed in, adding her own opinion, but Zoemi just shook his head and explained the reasoning behind his question, making others realize the danger they were actually in.

"Roiso and Mirienne, Burushi, and Miriette if you don't mind – you are coming with me if you want – Miss Metavicero, tell us the exact location of the military camp."

The black-haired boy Didn't waste time anymore and started giving out instructions, whether the others were ready or not.

"Xeonii, little ones, you are in charge of keeping Devios, Miss Metavicero, and the villagers safe. Preferably get them away – you all should be aware of what star power can do to beings like you."

He called out towards the corpse puppets who were somewhere outside – they didn't respond and instead got on their newly appointed duty without any delay, making Zoemi smile with satisfaction.

"Are you ready?"

Zoemi turned to Miriette and reached out his hand, causing two of the three sentinels orbiting above the snow magician to float to him.

---------

The North Talon Tribe's 'village' was almost the size of a small city and certainly looked like a settlement one would expect to see in the mountains.

But there were a few small details that could escape those who didn't know that it was in fact place where the most troops from the Barbariacca nation were stationed.

The place was a little bit too orderly, people walking around were decently casual with each other but depending on the person-to-person interaction there was some strictness that a supposedly small community would not have – at least not at a scale visible right in front of the group hiding in the tiny snow shelter created by the two murky-black spheres for their convenience.

The second and third thing was the age group of the settlers.

There were no children at all – the youngest person looked to be in their very late teens already, and a reverse situation could be said about the old ones.

There were no elderly people – the oldest person walking through the cobbled street looked to be in their forties.

Even the architecture could be used to pinpoint something out of place – the buildings were all clean and neat, but there were no ornaments or decorations in sight.

Everything was just the bare minimum that would allow for fulfilling the structure's objective of giving shelter from the weather and wild animals.

Even the mana-blocking totems that the acid magician spoke about were giving away the truth about the place.

Over a dozen or so massive pillars covered with sculptures of animals, real and mythical, were not placed in the center of the village but on the outside, and even if they could pass as wards against evil or other local beliefs like that, they didn't look like they were taken care of like objects of any importance.

They were placed on their spots and seemingly forgotten while they were doing their job.

"We've seen enough. Roiso, Mirienne..."

"I could just create a reverse tornado and suck out the air from the village, making all of them faint, you know?"

Zoemi nodded with a serious expression and looked over at the acid magician, but Miriette frowned and tugged on his sleeve, sounding very grumpy that his first words after the time it took them to observe their enemy weren't directed to her.

"Definitely not. We are not risking George's mother's life – things can already go bad, but if he cares about her enough to betray his homeland, we should not cause her any harm and reduce the possibility of causing it to begin with. But I would be more than grateful if you were ready to cause a massive distraction at the right moment."

The black-haired boy glanced at her and shook his head decisively, before turning back to the acid magician.

"Get rid of the totems as soon as possible, maybe even all at once if you can."

Zoemi asked her and immediately looked at the tense blond-haired girl fidgetting nervously behind his back.

"Burushi, be ready – with the totems gone, my sentinels will locate George's mother and transport us to wherever she is. Miriette and I will take care of any hostiles in the area and you need to heal her immediately – we can't even begin to think about removing the curses without making sure she is safe."

"I understand – I would prefer a little bit of time to use the private visit first, but if it can't be done I will just use fully covered insurance to overpower every natural illness known to humanity!"

The healer magician straightened her back and hit her ample chest with her fist, trying to sound tough but ended up with the opposite effect.

"...what did I tell you about not saying stuff like that as a heroine – you literally are raising dangerous flags right now..."

Zoemi's expression darkened as he sighed and faced the settlement.

"If everything is clear then... Ladies and sentinels, let us begin the show."

He breathed out and nodded, raising his head up high with pride, spreading his arms like a host welcoming the guests to a splendid party.

"At once!"

And the performance indeed began, as Roiso took control over the body she shared with Mirienne and raised her hands aiming at the general direction of the village.