Chapter 250
Yusti-ah spoke. She said she had told Franz she liked him.
The power those words held was naturally immense, so a momentary silence flowed through the Magic Tower master’s Office.
“So you mean… you confessed just now?”
The one who broke the silence and spoke up was Arian. Her fingers were fiddling with an ordinary teacup.
Arian was not the only one harboring such doubts. Naturally, everyone’s gaze focused on Yusti-ah.
Though Yusti-ah herself was merely sipping her tea in a relaxed manner.
Soon, with a gentle smile, she soundlessly set down her teacup.
“For now, yes.”
“What does that mean?”
“I did say I liked him, but I didn’t hear his answer. Just as Yuna didn’t.”
If someone who didn’t know the situation heard this, they would definitely think it was strange. It wasn’t that she couldn’t hear the answer, but that she chose not to hear it.
However, at least the four present did not think so. They knew better than anyone else why she hadn’t listened to his answer.
When everyone stood on equal footing, he or she would fight fair and square to win him over. That was the meaning behind it.
“Then the only ones left now are Hera and Arian?”
Yusti-ah leisurely sipped her tea.
The sight of her fretting over not being able to convey her feelings to Franz was nowhere to be found.
“Is… a confession absolutely necessary…? Honestly, it’s embarrassing…”
“Hera, do you think that man would understand if you beat around the bush?”
“That is certainly true, but…”
“If that man were shrewd and honest with his desires, we would all be pregnant by now, wouldn’t we? Well, if he were that kind of man, I wouldn’t have liked him in the first place.”
Yusti-ah let out a long sigh. The days she spent fretting because of his denseness still lingered in her memory.
Of course, there was a good side to it as well. Considering the path Franz had walked, many women must have naturally thrown themselves at him, and they would have fallen away on their own due to his foolish denseness.
In the end, the one who held out until the last moment was the winner.
“But why is everyone looking at me with those eyes…? Is there something on my face…?”
“It’s just fascinating that such words are coming out of your mouth.”
“Did I say something I shouldn’t have…?”
“You said we’d be pregnant. Isn’t that a bit much for a Saintess to say?”
Yusti-ah chewed over Yuna’s words. She couldn’t understand what exactly was wrong with saying they would be pregnant.
Thus, she concluded there was some sort of misunderstanding.
“In the Goddess Church, pregnancy and childbirth are sacred things, you know? It’s not like it strictly forbids Clerics from marrying, either.”
How could the conception and birth of a new life into the world be considered impure? What was impure was the desire held by a human, so one shouldn’t confuse the two.
That wasn’t to say Yusti-ah didn’t have impure thoughts, either. She was also a human, so naturally, desires existed within her.
“Then why don’t Clerics get married? Is there no one to marry?”
“Right now, I’m working diligently at the Cathedral, but if I become someone’s wife and mother, I naturally wouldn’t be able to devote myself to the Cathedral, right? Those people simply do not wish for such a life.”
Being a cleric wasn’t something one could do just because someone ordered one to. They were in that position only because they wished purely to become Clerics and wanted to follow the Goddess’s will.
Therefore, their thoughts shouldn’t be viewed through the eyes of an ordinary person. After all, they were people who had chosen to abandon a normal life to walk the path of a cleric.
Of course, there was exactly one exception among them…
The position of Saintess, however, wasn’t something one could attain just by wanting it. Yusti-ah herself had been half-forced into the role of Saintess.
“Anyway, I won’t rush you, but you two should brace yourselves. My heart felt like it was going to burst the entire time I was saying it.”
Although they were conversing peacefully like this now, everyone present knew they were actually rivals.
Though no one could predict who would be the first to be chosen by Franz.
Meanwhile, Franz, who had come out on a business trip related to the gate, was facing a rather troublesome situation.
“Could it be that the device is malfunctioning…?”
“…I wish that were the case, but the device is operating normally.”
Franz was standing in a harvested wheat field alongside two investigators, as well as a few knights and Mages.
The one who voiced his concern was an investigator, and in his hand was the danger level measurement device that Franz had created.
The problem was that the needle of the device was pointing to a place it had never pointed to before.
It was a danger level higher than the gate they had first encountered in the Underground City created by Deliaspi Dyne.
“Shall we stand by here for now?”
“Then what do you plan to do, Magic Tower master…?”
“I will go inside first and check the situation.”
There was no one here who didn’t know of Franz’s status.
An Archmage who defined his era with his outstanding martial and intellectual prowess.
No one dared to offer an opinion to him, so they all merely wore worried expressions.
“Please do not worry too much. If I am alone, I can escape at any time.”
“Understood. Then we will wait here.”
Having concluded the conversation with that, Franz took a step beyond the gate, seen off by the others.
Wasn’t this a gate with a danger level he had never encountered before? His heart was pounding in more ways than one.
From his toes, to his knees, then his thighs, his entire body soon disappeared into the gate.
“Where in the world is this…”
Soon, what Franz faced was a massive temple. Its appearance, made of stacked stones, was reminiscent of an ancient ruin. If there was anything peculiar, it was that the surroundings were entirely a desert.
It was then. As he stared at it blankly, he suddenly felt a strange sensation. More accurately, he should say something that was originally there was now gone.
Franz immediately turned around and was met with an empty, barren field.
'…Crazy.'
It was normal for a gate not to close even after entering a labyrinth. That was why he had confidently told the investigator he could escape at any time if he was alone.
But right now, there was absolutely nothing where the gate was supposed to be. That meant there was no way back to the Original World.
Franz, who had panicked for a moment, regained his composure not long after.
Standing around blankly like this would only be a waste of time, wouldn’t it? It was better to move first and do something.
Snap-.
As he snapped his fingers, mana rippled outward with Franz at the center. It was as if a small pebble had been thrown into a tranquil lake.
It was an action intended to gather information about the surroundings, but unfortunately, the results fell short of expectations.
Aside from the ruin in front of him, there was nothing else around. It felt as if this space existed solely for this ruin.
While harboring doubts about the structure of the labyrinth, Franz slowly began to look around the outside of the ruin.
The ruin was quite massive, to the point where it brought to mind the ancient pyramids he had only seen in pictures.
After a short while.
“Is this the entrance?”
At the end of Franz’s gaze was a hole that appeared to be an entrance. It was a hole large enough for not only a person but also a carriage to pass through.
The moment Franz took a step toward that hole, a mana reaction was felt from the surroundings, and sand surged upward.
Soon, the surging sand settled, and what remained in its place was none other than a knight, wearing armor and holding a sword in his hand.
A blue light flashed from the gaps in its armor, but it didn’t seem to be a living creature. There was a high probability that it was moving using a mana stone as its power source.
The reason they popped out was obvious. It was likely to prevent him from entering the ruin.
'If you’re going to do that, you shouldn’t have trapped me in the first place.'
Letting out a short sigh, Franz snapped his fingers.
Snap-.
Along with the crisp sound, mana unfolded, and he grabbed the knights using only mana, not magic.
The knights struggled to break free, but it was impossible to overcome Franz’s mana.
As Franz gestured in the air, the bodies floated up into the sky. Clank, the sound of metal clashing against metal was quite crisp.
Following that, their armor was torn to shreds, and the mana stones inside dropped onto the sand with a thud.
'If it’s at this level, the Mages and knights who came with me would have been enough.'
Their level was about that of the Monsters in the labyrinth he had gone to with Yuna. Compared to the powerful divine power felt from the gate, they could even be considered trivial.
Even so, he couldn’t let his guard down just yet. He didn’t know what kind of monster might be living inside the ruin.
“Then, shall I head inside slowly?”
Gathering the mana stones that had fallen to the ground, Franz slowly took a step toward the entrance of the ruin.