Chapter 238
Seeing Yuna’s appearance, Franz went blank for a moment. Her two small hands were the only things covering her completely bare upper body.
The two forms flattened by the pressure of her hands made things truly difficult for him.
“F-Franz, I can’t see my swimsuit…”
Her pupils had lost their way and were wandering aimlessly. Along with the light blush spreading across her cheeks, she seemed quite embarrassed.
“I-I see. I’ll find it for you right away.”
Franz shifted his gaze to an innocent spot. He couldn’t bear to look straight at her.
'There it is.'
Spreading his magic power over the area, Franz was able to spot Yuna’s swimsuit.
The swimsuit was slowly sinking toward the depths of the lake. The way it moved with the current made it look just like seaweed.
A thread of magic power extended from Franz’s hand, grabbed the swimsuit, and slowly pulled it up to the surface.
The red swimsuit began to show from beneath the surface, and soon it was grasped by Franz’s hand.
“Here, Yuna.”
“Yeah, thanks.”
Yuna smiled brightly and reached out her hand to grab the swimsuit.
If it were any other time, it would have been a perfectly normal action. She was just taking the item being handed to her.
But this was not a normal situation. Yuna’s two hands had been covering a specific part of her upper body, and taking her hands away meant that the covered area was exposed.
“Ugh-?!”
Yuna hastily withdrew her extended hand and curled her body up. Her face, which was already red, was now dyed crimson as if it would burst at any moment.
“D-did you happen to see…?”
“W-well…?”
Franz couldn’t bring himself to answer that he hadn’t seen it. Not only had his eyes gone wide, but he had even made eye contact with her. It seemed better to gloss over it than to tell an obvious lie.
“Sorry, I showed you something unsightly…”
“No, it wasn’t that bad…”
Franz tried to continue speaking but stopped. It felt like it would only make things worse.
It is often said that to remain silent is to avoid further blunders. It felt exactly like that.
After a brief silence in the awkward atmosphere, Franz held out the swimsuit once again.
“Take this for now.”
“Ah, yeah.”
Yuna carefully took the swimsuit. Because she was completely covering her chest with one arm, the same mishap as before did not occur.
It seemed like the situation was wrapping up, but unfortunately, there was one more mountain left to cross.
“Franz, could you tie this…?”
At Yuna’s sudden voice, Franz, who had been looking at an odd spot, shifted his gaze to her.
At the end of his gaze was Yuna’s pure white, smooth back.
The graceful curve from her chest, past her slender waist, to her pelvis was so beautiful, it was hard to reconcile with her image as the Hero who had subjugated the Demon Lord.
Gulp.
Swallowing his saliva, Franz carefully slipped his hands under Yuna’s armpits. Then he grabbed the long, dangling strings of the swimsuit.
'Why am I like this…'
During the days when they traveled as members of the Hero’s Party, he had seen even worse sights than this, whether in a good way or a bad way.
But why was his heart pounding like this? He was just bewildered.
“There, all done.”
Franz slowly pulled his hands away.
On the nape of Yuna’s neck and her back, two neatly tied ribbons sat side by side.
“Franz, thanks.”
Yuna turned her body to face Franz. Then, smiling brightly, she hugged him.
At her bold attack, Franz could only stiffen up rigidly. She had changed so suddenly that he couldn’t adapt at all.
Afterward, Yuna headed to where the other three were.
“Yuna, where did you go?”
“Ah, I was just looking for something for a bit.”
“You weren’t with Franz by any chance, were you…?”
“Hmm, well?”
Yuna smiled playfully and looked at Franz.
Since the situation that would unfold next was obvious without even looking, Franz sighed and approached them.
Every time he took a step, splashes rose in the calm lake.
As soon as he arrived by their side, Yustia glared at him with sharp eyes.
“Franz, were you with Yuna by any chance?!”
“Well, for the time being?”
“W-what were you two doing secretly?”
Yustia’s face was strangely flushed. It seemed she had let her imagination run wild.
It is often said that those who feign modesty are the most eager, and perhaps it was true.
“Yuna lost her swimsuit, so I helped her find it.”
“If that’s the case… No, wait a minute. Her swimsuit?”
Yustia looked at Yuna in shock.
Yuna’s swimsuit was a bikini consisting of two parts, top and bottom.
Losing that meant…
“D-did you happen to see it?!”
“I didn’t see it. No, I couldn’t see it. Happy?”
In the end, Franz told a lie. If he spoke honestly here, he wouldn’t be able to handle the aftermath.
Perhaps they would all rush at him claiming they lost their swimsuits. No, knowing them, they definitely would.
However, whether he saw it or not wasn’t particularly important to them.
“Magic Tower Lord, my swimsuit…”
“Franz, I think my swimsuit washed away too…”
Not long after, Arian and Hera said such things while covering their chests with their hands precariously.
Of course, there was one person who couldn’t do that…
“S-since it’s come to this, it can’t be helped. I have no choice but to just take it off… L-let go of this…!”
Yustia tried to take off her one-piece swimsuit, but was ultimately stopped by Yuna.
It was a real relief. If she had taken it off, it would have truly become an unmanageable situation.
'What should I do from now on…'
Although this incident ended safely thanks to Yuna’s help, there was no guarantee it would be like this in the future.
They would surely take even bolder actions in the future, to the point where taking off a swimsuit in front of him or sharing a kiss would feel like nothing.
Would he really be able to handle that situation?
And would he be able to steel his heart and make a decision?
Amidst the ensuing worries, Franz let out a long sigh.
Quite a long time passed since then, and it was already late afternoon.
He was getting ready to head back, but weren’t they all making troubled expressions?
“Why? Is something wrong?”
“Well…”
Arian explained the situation on behalf of everyone.
Franz, who was listening to their words while nodding, let out a snort of laughter.
“So you’re saying you wore your swimsuits instead of underwear?”
At Franz’s question, everyone nodded at the same time.
No matter how excited they were, what kind of situation was it that they were wearing swimsuits instead of underwear? It was so absurd that a hollow laugh came out naturally.
Well, it wasn’t like he didn’t understand how they felt.
Snap-.
As Franz snapped his fingers, all the water soaked in their swimsuits escaped into the air at once.
Because they had enjoyed themselves, he was able to enjoy himself as well, wasn’t he? This was his repayment for that.
“That’s better, right? We’ll be leaving soon, so everyone get dressed.”
Not long after, they finished getting dressed and were ready to leave.
Franz headed out of the Cave with them.
Eventually, outside the Cave they arrived at…
“Wow…”
“This is also a spectacular sight…”
The sun was hanging on the horizon, squeezing out its last bit of strength.
The sky dyed in sunset colors and the widely spread plains were truly a breathtakingly beautiful view.
It was definitely a good idea to come together.
The corners of Franz’s mouth curled up slightly.
* * *
A few days had passed since he returned from his business trip and vacation to Raham.
He had to catch up on the work that had piled up during his leisurely time away.
Among them, the most important task was definitely this.
'The development of a magic tool that can measure the threat level of a Gate.'
Currently, there is only one way to measure the threat level of a Gate: going directly through the Gate and facing the Monsters.
But that was not only dangerous, but also potentially inaccurate. If the first Monster encountered happened to be an exceptionally weak Monster in that Labyrinth, the subjugation squad that went inside trusting that information could be massacred.
Therefore, the most urgent matter at this point was to develop a magic tool that could measure the threat level from outside the Gate.
Of course, it wasn’t an easy task. Gates were made of divine power, not magic power, and with their current technological prowess, divine power could not be measured.
That was why Franz had been racking his brain for days. The only person who could make it was he who could handle divine power while simultaneously handling magic power perfectly.
“Magic Tower Lord, a letter has arrived.”
He was working as usual when Arian suddenly came to see him.
By now, he could tell who it was without even needing to check the letter.
“It’s from His Majesty the Emperor, right?”
“Oh, yes. That’s right.”
He figured as much.
It seemed that it was finally about to begin in earnest.
The meeting attended by all the nations of the Continent was the Continental Summit.