Chapter 73
“Arian, hold on a second. A telepathic message came from the Magic Tower.”
Franz cut Arian off.
If it had been nothing important, he would have listened to what she had to say first, but hearing that the saintess had business with him, he couldn’t bring himself to do so.
“Yes… If that’s the case, it can’t be helped…”
Fortunately, Arian seemed to understand upon hearing the words “telepathic message,” so Franz felt relieved and focused on the telepathic message.
“I’m sorry, but please hand the necklace to Yus, no, the saintess.”
[Ah, yes.]
Following the clerk’s short reply, a brief silence ensued.
“Is it a cultist problem?”
The fact that Yusti-ah had gone out of her way to come directly to the Magic Tower meant she had such important business.
Even when she had found out information about the Cultists, she had just sent a letter, so perhaps this was an even bigger matter.
If there was any saving grace, it was that thanks to the necklace, he didn’t need to go directly to the Magic Tower himself.
If he had ended up leaving Arian alone, he would have felt truly uncomfortable.
[C-can I just talk like this?]
The lingering silence scattered, and Yusti-ah’s voice could be heard.
“I can hear you fine, so just talk.”
[A v-voice in my head…? My head feels all ticklish, so it doesn’t feel good at all…]
Finding Yusti-ah’s reaction so amusing, Franz burst into laughter with a Pfft-.
People usually felt awkward when experiencing a telepathic message for the first time, but this was the first time he had seen someone describe it as their head feeling ticklish.
[W-what is it? Why are you laughing?]
“I laughed because it was funny. But I’m busy, so tell me as quickly as possible.”
[Hah-, what’s so funny about it? More importantly, I think I need to move to a different spot first. This isn’t something to talk about where someone might hear.]
“Tell the person who gave you this necklace. Say that I ordered it.”
Seeing as she said no one could hear, it seemed to be an important matter just as he had expected.
Soon, Yusti-ah seemed to exchange some words with the clerk, then moved locations and sent a telepathic message once again.
[It’s fine now.]
“But what kind of talk is this that you came all the way to the Magic Tower yourself?”
[The guy we captured alive before spilled some information.]
Seven Great Evils Belphegor.
It meant that the old man who used unique magic had confessed the information after being tortured.
He had wondered if the man might die during the torture because he was so old, but as expected, the Goddess Church’s torture experts were on a different level.
“What did he say?”
Since the Seven Great Evils were the ones he was chasing, Franz naturally grew interested.
[Duke Phrygia’s Ice Spear. You shall reach the tip of the second spear, he said.]
“Another code?”
Franz clicked his tongue.
If he was going to spill the information anyway, he should have just clearly said where it was and told them to go find it. Both last time and this time, he didn’t know why they kept spouting codes.
Of course, even if he did that, there was no chance he would live, but at least the torturer might have shown him a little consideration.
Come to think of it, that was also up to the torturer.
Anyway, he didn’t like it.
“Is that it? Was there no other information?”
[Yes, they said he kept denying knowing anything else, claiming that was all he knew.]
“Well, I understand for now. I’ll look into it in my own way too.”
Coincidentally, he was on his way to Duke Phrygia right now, so he could just look into it.
“It would be nice if it were solved as easily as last time.”
Last time, the problem had been solved incredibly easily thanks to running into Yuna by chance, to the point where calling it a code felt pointless.
But that was truly nothing more than a coincidence, so he could assume there was no chance of that happening again this time.
It might take quite a bit of time.
Anyway, the business was finished with this, so now it was about time to…
[But where did you go? From what I heard, you went out with your secretary, didn’t you?]
He was about to end the telepathic message, but Yusti-ah brought up another topic.
“I went out for a bit to attend a party held by the Ducal House of Phrygia.”
[Ah… come to think of it, your secretary was the young lady of the Ducal House of Phrygia, right?]
“Yeah, so I’m going to look into the code while I’m at it.”
[Hmm-. Well, understood. I’ll be busy working, so have fun playing around.]
What in the world…
Yusti-ah’s dissatisfaction just felt unfair to Franz.
The reason he was attending the party was that he hadn’t been able to take care of Arian much until then.
It wasn’t like he was going because he was excited to go haha hoho-.
But it was entirely possible for Yusti-ah to feel that way, so he didn’t really have anything to say.
“Well… get back safely.”
[Yes, I will.]
The telepathic message with Yusti-ah ended with that.
She had briefly voiced her complaints at the end, but it didn’t seem like something he needed to pay much mind to.
, because worrying about it wouldn’t change anything anyway.
But apart from that, the situation wasn’t exactly great.
He had wanted to take this opportunity to rest completely for about two days without thinking about work, but that had all fallen through.
Someone once said that having a lot of work was a blessing, but he was practically dying from being so overwhelmed with blessings.
No, this wasn’t the time for this.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Franz turned to look at Arian.
“Arian, I’m sorry. What were you going to say?”
“Uh… that’s… No, it’s nothing. I just won’t say it.”
Arian smiled, but there clearly seemed to be another meaning hidden within it.
It definitely seemed like she had been about to say something important…
Since he was the one who had put off listening to her story, he couldn’t bring himself to ask what it was, even if it had been unavoidable.
This was awkwardly tense for no reason.
“Shall we get going then?”
“Shall we?”
In a slightly awkward state, the two mounted their carriage.
Soon, the carriage set off toward Duke Phrygia once again.
“What did the Magic Tower say?”
“Ah, it was Yusti-ah looking for me.”
“…Why was the saintess?”
Arian’s voice sank even lower.
She hadn’t been on good terms with the saintess, so that was definitely the reason.
But it wasn’t something for Franz to worry about, so he continued the conversation without paying it any mind.
“Did I tell you that Your Majesty entrusted me with the task of finding the Cultists before?”
“Yes, you told me about that.”
“It’s because of that. A cultist spilled some information this time.”
“Aha…”
Arian nodded as if she understood.
Would she have gotten angry if he had said Yusti-ah came all the way to the Magic Tower for personal business?
Perhaps she would have. She had been quite angry when Yuna came out of the room after taking a shower, after all.
Anyway.
“Could Arian possibly know?”
Arian was from the Duke Phrygia, and the code Yusti-ah had given him was also about the Duke Phrygia.
He thought that she really might know.
So Franz broached the subject.
“Arian, can I ask you something?”
“Yes, go ahead.”
“Do you happen to know about Duke Phrygia’s Ice Spear?”
“Ice Spear…?”
“Yeah, it seems like there isn’t just one, but there are several.”
Since he said, “You shall reach the second,” there was definitely a first one.
There might even be a third or a fourth.
Could it be easily resolved this time too…?
Franz was secretly expectant.
Since the locals knew best about their own region, he thought Arian might be able to solve the code.
But unfortunately, those expectations came to nothing.
“W-well? I’m not really sure either…”
“Really? Well, it can’t be helped.”
It was a shame, but that was it.
Just because she didn’t know didn’t mean it was Arian’s fault.
It was something he had to do himself anyway, so he didn’t really have any complaints.
Just as Franz was about to give up
“But perhaps my grandfather might know.”
It was welcome news to his ears.
If it were someone who had lived in that region for a long time, even if deciphering the code was impossible, that person would at least be able to get a hint.
“Really? Then could you ask him later?”
“Yes, I’ll do that.”
“Alright, let’s hurry up and go then.”
Franz urged their carriage to greater speed.
Perhaps this matter would be resolved more easily than he thought.
* * *
Having finished her business, Yusti-ah exited the Magic Tower.
“Ugh, how creepy!”
Just recalling the time she conversed with Franz - a telepathic message or whatever it was - still made her head feel ticklish.
It was to the point where she found it truly fascinating that people could use such a thing so casually.
Anyway, to go out playing with his secretary at such an important time…
‘Last time, he didn’t even call me and went around with Yuna.’
Something didn’t sit right with her.
She didn’t know the exact reason, but it was just annoying.
Yusti-ah was about to leave the Magic Tower’s grounds, snorting in dissatisfaction.
“Huh? Yusti-ah?”
At the somehow familiar voice, Yusti-ah turned her head, and sure enough, a familiar face was standing there.
“Yuna…?”
“Yusti-ah, what are you doing here?”
“That’s what I want to ask you…?”
“I just came to hang out with Franz…?”
Hang out, just her and Franz?
Seeing as they had resolved the issue with the Cultists without even calling her last time, it seemed there was definitely something going on between the two of them.
Yusti-ah couldn’t just let this situation slide easily.
“Since we’ve met like this, shall we have a little chat?”