Chapter 45
The letter, containing only six characters, was a bit absurd, but its contents were quite satisfying.
It meant that they had finally managed to extract information by interrogating the Cultist. If it had been trivial information, Yustia would not have called him over, so it was safe to assume it was something useful.
‘How will the Goddess Church respond?’
The Goddess Church had yet to release an official statement. The Empire was the same. He did not know whether they were preparing thoroughly or if there was some other reason.
Well, frankly, none of that mattered much.
He was not planning to move together with them anyway.
He just hoped they would not ruin things by acting rashly. After finally obtaining information and heading out to catch one of the Seven Great Evils or whatever it was, it would be incredibly frustrating if the target had already escaped.
In any case, since Yustia had sent him a letter saying she had obtained information, he had to go to the Cathedral.
As Franz finished organizing his thoughts and looked up, he saw Arian wearing a sulky expression.
Their gazes met in midair, and silence fell between them.
Arian was the first to break that silence.
“Are you leaving again?”
“Looks like it. Why? Is something wrong?”
“W-well, how should I put it? You’re busy with Magic Tower work, and you’ve been going all over the place lately, so I was wondering if you might be overworking yourself...?”
Arian spoke at length. Then, as if something displeased her, she sighed.
She was right.
Lately, he had been doing a lot of “external work,” or rather, handling matters outside the Magic Tower.
Franz, too, would have liked nothing more than to stay holed up in the Magic Tower and leisurely do paperwork, but he could not. One matter involved the fate of the world, and the other was the Emperor’s command. If he neglected even one of them, he would surely end up tangled in something even more troublesome.
If he had to deal with two major incidents, they could have at least come separately.
The fact that they overlapped like this was simply frustrating.
Still, he appreciated her concern.
“I’m fine for now. And if it gets too hard, I’ll take a short break in between. Thanks for worrying.”
Franz said that and stood up.
He was going to meet Yustia.
Arian handed him a neatly folded robe and asked,
“Are you going to see the Saintess?”
“Well, for now, yes?”
Franz tried to take the robe, but Arian tightened her grip on it, preventing him from taking it.
Arian’s gaze, which had been fixed on the robe, slowly rose until it met Franz’s eyes.
“A party will be held at the Ducal House of Phrygia in a week. Would you be able to attend?”
The Ducal House of Phrygia was Arian’s family home.
A week...
Franz could not answer easily.
He was not fond of gatherings with many people, such as parties, but if it was Arian’s request, he could certainly attend. As his secretary, and also as a friend, Arian was quite close to him.
But what if an opportunity to catch one of the Seven Great Evils arose that day?
Would he not end up being unable to attend the party Arian had invited him to?
After pondering for a while, Franz soon reached a conclusion.
“Alright, I’ll attend.”
The very idea that an opportunity to catch one of the Seven Great Evils would arise that day was nothing more than a hypothesis. And if he kept making assumptions like that, he would have to be careful even when breathing.
Who knew? A Cultist might be releasing poison into the air right now.
So, in the end, it came down to this.
Do not worry in advance about things that have not happened yet.
And even if unavoidable circumstances prevented him from attending that day, Arian would surely understand.
Of course, he should still try his best to attend if possible.
“Then I’ll tell my father— no, the Family Head.”
A faint smile spread across Arian’s lips.
Only then was Franz able to take the robe from her.
Soon after, Franz put on the robe and was about to leave the Magic Tower Lord’s Office.
At that moment, Arian’s voice came from behind him.
“You haven’t forgotten that you’re supposed to take the carriage, have you?”
“Right, I haven’t forgotten.”
Franz said that, casually waved his hand, and left the Magic Tower Lord’s Office.
It seemed he would have to install shock-absorbing suspension on the carriage.
His back hurt if he rode it as is.
---
Franz used Teleport to arrive at Saint Seraphia Cathedral.
As usual, Yustia was bestowing God’s teachings upon the Followers.
Seeing her recite the doctrines of the Goddess Church with such a serious expression made him think, ‘She really is a Saintess.’
Anyway, how long will it take this time?
Last time, his timing had been good, so he did not have to wait long. But looking at it the other way, if his timing was bad, he could end up waiting a long time.
It would be nice if he could know beforehand.
It was quite troublesome since there was no one he could ask.
Just then, Franz spotted a familiar bald head.
It was the Cleric who had helped him meet Yustia during his previous visit.
His head seemed to shine even brighter than it had that day.
“Cleric.”
Franz immediately approached him and spoke.
“Ah, yes. Do you need any help...? Magic Tower Master! You’ve come again!”
The Cleric, who had been doing something else, realized that Franz had spoken to him and smiled brightly.
Franz always appreciated the help, but he wondered whether the man really needed to make such a fuss every time.
Besides, had they not met quite often by now?
He should have been getting used to it.
Well, Franz was not in a position to complain.
“Have you come to see the Saintess again today?”
He said it as if it were obvious.
It was a question, but his tone was closer to certainty than inquiry.
Franz felt puzzled. He had visited a few times recently, but not enough to warrant such suspicion.
Anyway, since it was not wrong, Franz decided to continue the conversation.
“Yes, but I don’t know when she’ll finish.”
“She’ll probably finish soon. By the way, have you heard?”
Judging by the fact that she would finish soon, his timing did not seem too bad this time either.
Anyway.
“Heard what?”
Franz felt needlessly uneasy.
Usually, in situations like this, the only thing that followed was news that a dispatched Mage had made some kind of mistake.
If he had to guess, perhaps they had broken a stained-glass window while cleaning.
Or maybe they had overwatered the garden so badly that the plants died.
In any case, it was probably not good news.
However, the words that came from the Cleric’s mouth were far from what Franz had expected.
To use a twenty-first-century analogy, it was not like hitting the target next to the mark, but the one two targets over.
“Some fellow was saying that there was a strange atmosphere between the Saintess and the Magic Tower Master. So I gave him a good scolding. There is no way two pure and devoted individuals like you two could have such a relationship. Isn’t he a truly foolish fellow?”
“Yes, he doesn’t seem quite right in the head.”
The Saintess of the Goddess Church was a symbol of purity.
For a Cleric, of all people, to say something like that to her face certainly made him seem like a fool.
Anyway, there was nothing between them that could have led to such an interpretation, so why were such rumors spreading?
In fact, he had even slapped her not long ago, so if anything, rumors that they were on bad terms would have made more sense.
Anyway, they had gotten a little closer recently, but they were absolutely not in that kind of relationship.
Indeed, baseless speculation and rumor-mongering seemed to be the same in every era.
The Cleric continued to ramble on endlessly.
He was so talkative that Franz wondered whether all the hair he had lost had somehow turned into words instead.
How much time passed like that?
The Saintess’s teachings, which had seemed like they would never end, finally concluded.
Franz, exhausted from his conversation with the Cleric, was finally able to face Yustia.
The two began talking in a secluded corner of the Cathedral.
“Franz? Is something wrong?”
Yustia tilted her head and asked.
But even so, he could not badmouth a Cleric to the Saintess.
He would have to grumble about this to Arian when he returned to the Magic Tower later.
“I’m just a bit tired.”
“Indeed, your eyes look a little dark, and your expression doesn’t look good. Shall I offer a prayer for you?”
Yustia offered a prayer as casually as if she were asking, “Would you like a quick injection before you go?”
Well, she was roughly in a similar position to a doctor.
Anyway, he was not actually tired, so the prayer was unnecessary.
“No, I’m fine. More importantly, what information did you find out?”
At Franz’s words, Yustia’s gaze quickly scanned their surroundings.
Seeing that she seemed worried about eavesdroppers, Franz snapped his fingers.
A transparent hemisphere enveloped the two of them.
It was Soundproofing Magic.
“If you had something like that, you should’ve used it earlier...!”
“I thought it was fine since there was no one around.”
“Ugh... Anyway, since it’s you, I won’t beat around the bush. The Cultist spilled information about the Seven Great Evils.”
He had thought they might be able to extract some small piece of information, but he had never expected it to be such crucial intelligence.
It was like picking up a clam in the mudflats and finding a pearl inside.
“So, what’s the information?”
“He said this: ‘When the sun rises over the Ishtar Dukedom, the sleeping dragon awakens. Belphegor is there.’”
“...?”
Countless question marks appeared in Franz’s mind.
First, he understood that something called Belphegor was in the Ishtar Dukedom.
But that was all.
He did not understand anything else.
But to search the Ishtar Dukedom...
‘If you consider only the size of its territory, it’s the largest in the Empire.’
He remembered it being about three times larger than the Phrygia Dukedom, despite holding the same title.
Searching that entire place one by one to find a single individual?
It would be like looking for a needle in a desert.
“For now, the Goddess Church is also trying to decipher that code. We’ve passed the information to the Imperial Family as well, so they’ll probably be working on it too.”
“Alright, I understand. Thanks for letting me know.”
“It’s not someone else’s problem. This much is only natural.”
Franz and Yustia’s conversation ended there.
Franz walked out of the Cathedral, lost in thought.
The Ishtar Dukedom, huh...
Come to think of it, how is Yuna doing?
I suppose I should pay her a visit.
And while I’m at it, I can ask her about the code too.