Chapter 186
An ironic situation where the gazes of seven people were focused on a single book.
Rustle-.
As Franz gestured with his hand, the pages turned smoothly.
He went out of his way to use magic power because the book was so old it might tear.
Of course, that too was only possible because Franz’s magic power manipulation was outstanding enough to overwhelm ordinary mages.
“Just by the Demon God exhaling, plagues spread, and with a single gesture, life and existence come to an end. To save the chaotic world, the Goddess Luan bestowed power upon five humans.”
“This is content that isn’t in the New Testament.”
“It certainly is. Let’s turn the pages a bit more for now.”
“A bow, an axe, a sword, a spear, a shield. Five humans took up five armaments and confronted the Demon God.”
“No weapon crafted by mortals could leave a scratch on the body of the Demon God, one of the two creators, but the armaments held by the five were different.”
“The arrow severed the left arm, and the axe cut off the left leg. The sword sliced off the right arm, and the spear severed the right leg. The shield wholly absorbed the Demon God’s attacks.”
Franz felt like he knew why this content wasn’t in the New Testament.
Because there was room for it to be interpreted as something humans achieved on their own, rather than something the Goddess accomplished.
If one were to think of it in a bad light, it even made it look like she had neglected the world and allowed the Demon God to ravage it.
And so, the next page.
The atmosphere suddenly changed completely.
“Even so, the five humans could not overcome the creator, the Demon God.”
“To this, the Goddess Luan spoke, saying that there is nothing that cannot be done if one does not give up, and so the Five Heroes did not give up and raised themselves.”
“The Five Heroes sacrificed their lives, their existences, their emotions. Their noble will and blood became power and were imbued into the armaments.”
“F-Franz, wait a moment. Should we wait a little bit for the next page?”
Yusti-ah urgently mediated the situation.
However, she wasn’t the only one who showed such a reaction.
“Yeah, let’s drink some tea for a moment.”
“I-I’ll go brew the tea.”
“It would be better to catch our breath first.”
Yuna, Arian, and even Hera showed similar reactions.
Seri-ah and Zeni-ah were maintaining their silence with their heads turned away.
Franz knew exactly why they were showing such reactions.
“Because the following content is obvious…”
The first thing sacrificed was fear, or whatever, the next was their existence, and the next was their lives. It would probably be something along those lines.
In the end, they protected the world in exchange for their lives.
And at this very moment, the one standing in their place was none other than Franz, the only one who possessed and could handle the holy relics.
This meant…
'They must think that my death will directly lead to the Demon God’s death.'
It was a reasonable deduction and an incredibly valid conclusion.
If Franz himself had been in their shoes, he definitely would have thought the exact same thing.
Of course, that was only a story for when this world was in the same era as the Old Testament.
“The situation is completely different now.”
The Goddess Luan must have carefully chosen among humans to bestow her power, but it was safe to assume that they weren’t people who had learned how to fight professionally.
Compared to that, how was it over here?
Weren’t they true combat experts who had wiped out a massive army of millions of demons with just four people and ultimately subjugated even the Demon Lord?
They had even grown stronger than they were back then, so purely in terms of combat power, they would be superior to the heroes of the Mythical Era.
In addition to that, humans had developed, completing a better magic system, and had begun to establish a systematic structure.
And the most important thing was…
“As long as we find that entity, the Demon God will be resurrected in an incomplete state.”
Even so, it was certain that it wouldn’t be an easy task, because it was a creator on the same level as the Goddess Luan.
But at the very least, he was confident he wouldn’t die.
He had only struggled and suffered until now, and he was supposed to die?
He was going to endure and endure by any means necessary so he could lounge in bed in his old age.
He would go on walks and give unsolicited advice to his juniors, saying, “Tut tut, that’s not how you do magic.'
As for marriage and childbirth plans, well…
Franz shot a glance, looking at the women in the Magic Tower Lord’s Office. Excluding Seri-ah and Zeni-ah, of course.
Feeling his gaze, they suddenly tilted their heads, but Franz turned his head away, pretending not to notice.
Your Highness
“Everyone, please have some tea. I brought cookies too, so eat them together.”
It seemed Arian had completely raided the pantry.
Afterwards, everyone in the Magic Tower Lord’s Office enjoyed the tea and refreshments, finding a moment of leisure amidst the busy situation.
Though everyone was busy walking on eggshells around Franz, so there wasn’t any proper leisure to be found anywhere.
After that brief teatime ended, Franz brought up the topic as if he had been waiting.
“Let’s just read it. I won’t die even if you tell me to, so don’t worry about it.”
“It feels like you’d die even if we told you not to, you know?”
Yusti-ah pouted her lips and voiced her complaint.
Franz didn’t really have anything to say to that because of the things he had done up until now.
But other than her, no one else could refute Franz’s words, so the Old Testament was opened once again.
And the contents written inside were exactly as Franz had expected.
The first emotion discarded was fear, and so on and so forth…
“This is the end of the content written about the Demon God.”
With those words, Franz closed the Bible.
Everyone was maintaining their silence with gloomy expressions, so a sigh naturally escaped from Franz’s lips.
“Are you just going to sit there like that? Aren’t we having a strategy meeting? If you keep acting annoyingly like this, I’ll just do it alone.”
Just because it’s a gloomy situation doesn’t mean anything will change if you stay still.
The harder the situation, the more you have to put in effort and rack your brains.
They blinked their eyes, showing bewildered expressions at Franz’s anger. It was because he hadn’t gotten angry even once recently.
Then suddenly, Yuna let out a chuckle, bursting into laughter as she spoke.
“Franz, you’ve gotten a lot nicer. In the past, you would have grabbed us by the collars and cursed at us, saying things like, “Get a grip-! If you don’t do it, we’ll all die-!'”
“That is certainly… something I can agree with too.”
“Who says otherwise? He was a real madman back then. I’ve never seen someone so ruthless in my entire life.”
What on earth were they saying right in front of him?
If they had done well in the first place, there wouldn’t have been any reason to say such things.
Franz was inwardly displeased by their words, but for some reason, he didn’t seem to hate them.
This too must be a change brought about by the time that has passed.
“Anyway, if you’ve snapped out of it, let’s have our strategy meeting. It won’t take long from here on out, so just focus for a moment.”
Everyone, including Franz, began the meeting based on the information that had come out so far.
They were only deciding on their future movement plans and the things they needed to prepare, so just as he had said earlier, it didn’t last very long.
Time passed, and the meeting was about to wrap up.
Yaaawn─.
Franz yawned without realizing it.
When he looked back on today, it was certainly understandable that he was tired.
He had been running around the city since the morning.
He was fighting fiercely with behemoth right after the Seven Great Evils.
Then he returned to the Magic Tower and spent energy to unseal the holy relics.
After that, he had truly been moving busily all day long - going to the Imperial Palace, and then gathering everyone to have a strategy meeting.
The women with Franz also knew this fact, so…
“Franz, let’s go in and sleep now.”
Yuna said, looking at him with a worried gaze.
It wasn’t just her; everyone was looking at him with similar emotions.
“What about you guys?”
“We? Well, we can just make do with sleeping here. Or we can go to Arian’s place.”
“Hmm… Still, I feel a bit sorry…”
Even with the blankets he currently had, there were only a few.
So it would be impossible to have all of them sleep here.
It was when Franz was agonizing over this.
“Why are you talking so much? If we tell you to sleep, just go in and sleep.”
Suddenly, Yuna stood up and lifted Franz up.
Heading straight into Franz’s room, she carefully set him down on the bed.
“Sleep well and see you tomorrow. You worked hard today.”
With those words, Yuna slipped out of the room.
Left alone in the room, Franz stared blankly into the air before letting out a chuckle, bursting into laughter.
Because being lifted right up by a woman was a first in his life.
But he didn’t want to experience it a second time. It was a bit shameful.
While Franz was getting ready for bed in his room like that, a battle of wits was taking place beyond the wooden door in the Magic Tower Lord’s Office.
“Where should we sleep?”
“I think it’d be good if a few stayed here and a few went to Arian’s place?”
“Then I shall stay. I have sharp ears, so I can hear the sound of Franz waking up.”
“Would you all rather go sleep at my house? I’ll stay behind instead.”
Did the saying go that even if the earth were to end tomorrow, one would plant an apple tree?
Even if the world were to end tomorrow, these women absolutely could not stand the sight of someone else cutting in line.
Seri-ah and Zeni-ah slowly shook their heads at their behavior and returned to their room.
How much time had passed since then?
“Here, I brought everything. Four sleeping mats, four blankets for covering, and four pillows.”
Under Arian’s lead, they had brought bedding for four people from the Magic Tower’s dormitory.
The Magic Tower Lord’s Office wasn’t particularly spacious, but pushing the couch and table to one side created a passable amount of space.
The space was narrow enough that the four of them had to sleep with their blankets pressed up against each other, but no one voiced any complaints.
As time passed like that, the next morning arrived.
“Guys, let’s get started slowly.”
Finally, the search for Deliaspi Dyne began.