Chapter 153
“Then, I will be taking my leave now.”
“Yes, I hope all your remaining matters are resolved well.”
After exchanging brief farewells with Perchi, Franz immediately left the mansion.
Not only had he achieved his goal of obtaining information, but he had also managed to borrow a villa, making it a truly massive harvest.
As he drove the car back the way they came, Yusti-ah suddenly spoke from the passenger seat.
“So this is what the front seat feels like. It’s a bit scary, but also fun.”
In her hands was a small glass bottle containing tea leaves.
It was a gift Lena had given to Yusti-ah and Arian, who had taken a liking to the tea.
In truth, she had offered it to all four of them, but Hera had declined, perhaps still harboring some guilt, and Yuna had politely refused, saying she didn’t know much about tea yet.
“After riding in something like this, I might not be able to ride other carriages in the future.”
Yusti-ah said and let out a soft chuckle, pfft-.
Because she experienced 21st-century technology firsthand, it was only natural for her to feel that way.
However, Franz had no intention of stopping here.
“Are there any areas for improvement or anything uncomfortable?”
“Well…? I don’t think there’s anything in particular. It’s my first time riding it today, after all.”
“Tell me if you think of anything later.”
Actively incorporating user feedback was the way to make a good product.
The carriage Franz was currently driving was ultimately just a prototype, so he needed other people’s opinions in order to release it to the world someday.
How long had they driven while sharing such light conversation?
The car descended a slope and began to run across wide plains, and it wasn’t long before the blue sea appeared on the right.
The sight of the rolling waves reflecting the sunlight and sparkling was like looking at stars embroidered in the blue sky.
“The feeling of seeing it from a carriage is different again.”
“Indeed. It’s as beautiful as the snow in the North.”
“I would like to show this sight to my kin as well.”
Yuna, Arian, and Hera looked out the window and left their respective impressions.
Yusti-ah simply turned her head to the right and watched the sight in silence.
Holding the steering wheel, Franz couldn’t leisurely appreciate the sea, but his mood was just as good as theirs.
‘Honestly, I didn’t understand it back then.’
It was a story from his days working at a company in the 21st century.
When his colleagues said they took a vacation and went on a trip, he honestly couldn’t understand their feelings.
Even if they called traveling healing or whatever, it was quite a tiring endeavor, so he had wondered if they really wanted to experience such exhaustion even while taking a vacation.
So whenever he took a vacation, he always stayed cooped up in the corner of his room, playing the games he had fallen behind on.
But now, he felt like he understood.
Why had they been so obsessed with traveling?
Things they normally didn’t know, things they hadn’t seen - the very act of escaping from everyday life brought a sense of leisure to the mind.
Franz was enjoying this moment more than ever before.
Vrooom-!
“F-Franz?! I think we’re getting faster?!”
“We are getting faster.”
“Isn’t it dangerous?!”
He understood her feelings, but there was nothing particularly dangerous about it.
There was nothing but a barren field around them.
Sitting in the front seat, Yusti-ah was feeling a terror on par with when she met the Demon Lord, but Franz was unaware of that.
About an hour after leaving Perchi’s mansion like that.
The car, which had been running across the field at a terrifying speed, gradually slowed down and soon came to a complete stop.
“We’ve arrived.”
A cozy mansion was in front of Franz’s eyes as he got out of the car.
However, that didn’t mean the villa was small.
It was only because the object of comparison was a noble’s mansion; it was larger than the houses commonly seen in the city.
It had its own garden, and a balcony that overlooked the garden nicely, so it was fully equipped.
Looking around the villa, Arian spoke.
“It’s charming and pretty. It feels exactly like a villa.”
She was the young lady of a duke’s house, one of the few in the empire, so it was understandable she would feel that way.
However, Yuna, who had lived her entire life as a commoner, seemed to harbor a slightly different impression.
“This is charming…?”
“Yuna, think about the size of the mansion you live in. The mansion of the House of Esteban is unusually large, but the mansions of other nobles are also larger than this.”
“So that’s how it was…”
While the two were conversing like that, the door of the villa opened.
The person who came out from inside was an elderly man, and judging by his attire, he seemed to be working as a servant.
The old man spotted Franz and his party and slowly took steps to approach them.
“This is the villa of the House of Count Genes, but what business brings you here?”
“I came after hearing from the Count that I could borrow this place.”
Saying that, Franz took out a handkerchief from his pocket.
It was the item Perchi had handed him, saying the servant here would understand if he showed it to him.
It wasn’t equipped with any magical devices and was just an ordinary handkerchief, so he had harbored some doubts but accepted it for the time being anyway.
“May I take a brief look at it?”
“Yes, by all means.”
The old man, who spoke politely, took the handkerchief and began to examine it from various angles.
He soon returned the handkerchief to Franz and said.
“It is definitely the Count’s item. I apologize for doubting you.”
“Not at all. Isn’t it something you naturally have to do?”
“Thank you for understanding. It is a bit late, but I will introduce myself. I am Arba, a servant of the House of Count Genes.”
The old man who introduced himself as Arba bowed his head politely.
He didn’t know exactly what method he used to recognize the handkerchief, but he decided not to pay it any mind.
As long as he could borrow the villa, there was no particular problem.
“Then, I would like to give you a tour of the villa. Would that be alright?”
Before answering his question, Franz looked at the party that had come with him.
Seeing that everyone had no particular reaction, there seemed to be no problem.
Turning his gaze back to him, Franz nodded and spoke.
“Yes, then please do.”
Afterwards, Franz received a tour of the villa from Arba.
As expected of a Count’s villa, the interior facilities were just as excellent as the exterior.
Also, because he had been managing it personally, it was in quite neat condition despite not having been used for a long time.
After finishing the tour of the villa like that, Arba spoke.
“By any chance, how long do you plan to stay here?”
“I don’t plan to stay for very long, so it will be about a week at most.”
How great would it be to eat and play here for the rest of his life, but unfortunately, he had a lot of work, so he couldn’t do that.
Still, Franz earnestly desired to achieve that dream someday.
“Understood. It would be uncomfortable for you if I were here, so I will go to serve the Count in the meantime.”
“If that’s the case, I would like to escort you there.”
“I am grateful that you would care for a mere servant like me, but if you did that, I wouldn’t be able to face the Count.”
“It will only take a very brief moment, so please do not worry.”
Hadn’t he ended up kicking out the elderly man just because he was borrowing the villa?
For Franz, who still had the soul of the strong sense of propriety remaining within him, it was quite an uncomfortable matter.
Afterwards, Franz persuaded him and brought him right to the front of Perchi’s mansion.
It was something that only required snapping his fingers twice, so it wasn’t that difficult.
Thus, the only ones left at the villa were Franz and the four women.
A distinct tension lingered in the gazes they exchanged with one another.
“Rock, paper, scissors-!”
Rock, paper, scissors is the symbol of fairness regardless of position or age.
Having decided which rooms to use through that decisive showdown, they picked up their luggage and headed to their respective rooms.
Of course, Franz did not participate in that match.
He had said he would just use whatever was left, since the rooms were all more or less the same anyway.
Franz set down the bag he had brought in a corner of the room and thought.
“Is there nothing I can do right now?”
The code Zeni-ah had told him was where the sun rises from the Sheer Cliff.
In other words, in order to confirm it, he had no choice but to wait until tomorrow’s sunrise.
In the meantime, he supposed it would be fine to spend the time a bit leisurely.
Well, since they had come a long way, he also felt like enjoying it.
Organizing his thoughts like that, he went outside, only to find the other four already gathered.
Arian spoke.
“Magic Tower master, we need to decide what to do from now on. Do you happen to have any opinions?”
“Since it’s the first day, let’s not overdo it and just rest appropriately. We have plenty of time ahead anyway. If we enjoy everything at the beginning, it might not be fun later.”
“I have the same opinion. We spent a ton of energy just moving today. I think everyone must be tired.”
The others also agreed with Franz’s opinion, just like Arian.
It was true that the special carriage caused less fatigue than the carriages of the old era, but even so, it couldn’t be completely devoid of fatigue.
Of course, if Franz had set his mind to it, he could have eliminated the travel time altogether…
‘Because there’s no romance in that.’
How could he resist taking a drive along the coast?
Today was a sufficiently satisfying day just with that alone.
Afterwards, everyone enjoyed an appropriately leisurely time.
They gathered to drink tea and share quiet conversations, and occasionally bickered and fought.
For dinner, they even held a cooking competition among themselves using the ingredients they had brought.
The night arrived like that.
Franz’s body, which was about to fall asleep under the influence of the fruit wine, suddenly broke out in goosebumps.
Snap-, Franz’s eyes shot open, and his gaze turned out the window.
He had felt an ominous magic power countless times before.
It was definitely that of a cultist.