Chapter 155
Franz concealed the momentum of the magic power he had drawn up and looked around.
Corpses scattered messily in all directions, leaving red puddles of pooled blood.
What reflected in his eyes was truly the scene of a massacre.
Taking care of those guys was fine, but the problem was handling the aftermath as well.
If someone were to see this sight, a commotion would surely arise, and in the worst-case scenario, it could even lead to diplomatic issues with the empire.
Haa-.
Franz let out a sigh filled with frustration and snapped his fingers.
Using telekinesis, he gathered the surrounding corpses into one place and trapped them in a Transparent Sphere using spatial magic.
The sphere gradually reduced in size, compressing their corpses until they were completely obliterated on the spot.
“It splattered all over my clothes too…”
As he lowered his gaze, their sticky blood was smeared all over his clothes, evoking a sense of displeasure.
If he returned to the villa like this, he would definitely be interrogated.
Franz, who had no intention of letting anyone know what had just happened, immediately erased the traces with magic.
He usually preferred to wash his own clothes, but this time was an exception.
Snap-.
Having finished all the cleanup, Franz immediately snapped his fingers.
“I should hurry back and get some sleep…”
From driving to dealing with the cultists, he had been truly busy today, so his fatigue was considerable.
Unfortunately, however, Franz had to abandon his dream of a good night’s sleep upon returning to the villa.
“Explain what happened.”
Led by Yusti-ah, the four women were gathered in the room, their expressions full of dissatisfaction.
Franz was momentarily flustered by the appearance of the women he thought would be asleep from intoxication, but he soon regained his composure and replied.
“I’m not quite sure what you want me to explain…?”
“Fine. Since you don’t seem to have any intention of speaking, I’ll talk first. Right after you went in to sleep, I felt the use of divine power. I came to see what was going on, and you weren’t in the room.”
His action to drive out the lingering alcohol in his body had become a problem.
But if it were just this much, he could still easily make an excuse.
Thus, Franz was about to say something.
Yusti-ah subtly stepped aside, and Arian, who was behind her, came forward.
“I felt a wave of magic power so intense that I woke up from sleeping in surprise. So I came to the Magic Tower lord’s room, and the Saintess was already here. I trust you will explain this properly.”
If they knew he had used magic, there was no longer any way to talk his way out of it.
Unless they were crazy, no mage would fire magic wildly into thin air.
However, their stories didn’t end there.
“I felt a strange trace of a curse since coming to this villa, so I came to consult you, but the situation turned out like this.”
The trace of the curse Hera felt was probably the watcher’s.
He was no expert in that area and didn’t know the details.
Finally, Yuna, standing in front of him, swallowed hard and spoke.
“Franz, you smell like blood. If you don’t want to talk, I won’t pry, but I just want you to know that we’re worried.”
Now that things had come to this, there was only one option left for Franz.
He needed to confess what had just happened.
If he hid it to the end, there would be no way for them to know, but he didn’t want to fall out with them over something so trivial.
“While we were sleeping, cultists tried to take our lives. After fighting them, they seemed like individuals who specialized in assassination.”
Franz felt a sense of guilt even as he spoke.
Because everyone almost suffered harm due to his hostility toward the cult.
Although this time he had managed to resolve it before an incident occurred, there was no guarantee it would be the same next time.
If they were to get hurt, what kind of face would he even make when facing them…
“If it’s something like that, shouldn’t you have told us even more? It’s a relief that it was something you could handle alone, but if you had died without giving us any information, the rest of us would have been as good as dead too.”
At Yusti-ah’s words, Franz had no choice but to keep his mouth shut.
Because it was the absolute truth.
There wasn’t even the slightest room to make an excuse.
“I know what you were thinking when you did that. I’m so grateful for the sentiment, but I can’t accept it. At the very least, I don’t want you to overdo it alone.”
“Right, I’ll be mindful of it from now on.”
“You worked hard today. It was fun. You must be tired, so get a good night’s sleep.”
With those final words, Yusti-ah slipped out of the room.
After an awkward atmosphere lingered in the quiet silence for a moment, Yuna spoke.
“Franz, Yusti-ah is just saying all that because she’s worried about you, so don’t let it bother you too much.”
“Yeah, I suppose so.”
“Then I’ll get going too. Sleep well and see you tomorrow.”
Yuna slipped out of the room, and Hera immediately scratched her head and spoke.
“I thought we could talk for a bit, but it doesn’t seem like the right atmosphere. Let’s just get a good night’s sleep tonight and see each other tomorrow.”
As even Hera left the room, only Arian and Franz were left.
Arian looked around and gauged the mood, then reached out and grabbed both of Franz’s cheeks.
“I was worried, you know.”
“Sorry.”
“But I also share the same opinion as the Saintess. Please tell us, no matter what it is. I’ll help you as much as I can. Though I don’t know if I’ll be of much help.”
“Thanks, Arian.”
“Then go to sleep quickly, so we can go watch the sunrise together tomorrow.”
Arian, who greeted him with a bright smile, slipped out of the room.
Left alone in the room, Franz let out a long sigh and sat on the edge of the bed.
Was it because everyone had been together until just a moment ago? The empty room felt exceptionally hollow.
'Don’t want me to overdo it alone, huh…'
If it had been in the past, everyone surely wouldn’t have said anything.
They had only gathered under the goal of subjugating the Demon Lord, so there wasn’t a bond so deep. No, rather, they were closer to being on bad terms.
But it wasn’t like that now. Many things had changed in the meantime, and that included his relationship with them.
Therefore, there was a need to change his method of trying to handle things on his own.
'I’ll sleep for now, and apologize tomorrow.'
He had clearly been nagged at, but he didn’t feel too bad about it.
* * *
Yusti-ah, who had scolded Franz to her heart’s content and slipped out of the room, was sitting on the sofa in the dimness where only the moonlight shone through the window.
“I could have said it a bit more nicely…”
She knew what he had been thinking when he acted that way.
He didn’t want to cause harm to the four of them, including her.
Thanks to that, they didn’t get hurt, and they didn’t have to worry throughout the trip, so how could they not be grateful for that?
However, she had ignored that fact and ended up pushing him into a corner.
He didn’t show it, but he must have definitely felt bad.
Perhaps this incident might cause them to drift apart…
Haa-.
A sigh popped out naturally from her frustrated heart.
“I was planning for the two of us to take a walk on the beach after everyone fell asleep… What an idiot…”
“Hm? You were thinking of something like that?”
“H-Heeek?!”
Startled by the voice suddenly heard from behind, Yusti-ah jumped up in surprise.
But that was only for a moment; after confirming the owner of the voice, she patted her startled chest.
“Yuna, you startled me…!”
“I didn’t mean to startle you. Sorry.”
“It’s fine. More importantly, aren’t you going to sleep?”
“You seemed really mad, so I came to help you cool off a bit. But looking at it now, it seems there was no need for that.”
The basis for Yuna’s judgment was the words Yusti-ah had spoken just before.
Yusti-ah, who was well aware of that, had her face dyed red, but it wasn’t very noticeable due to the darkness.
While the two were conversing like that, someone else appeared.
“Are you two not sleeping?”
“Well, we were just talking for a bit. Hera, what about you?”
“I don’t think I’ll be able to fall asleep right away. More importantly, is Yusti-ah okay? Your emotions seemed a bit heated.”
“I’m fine.”
Right, she was fine, as long as she didn’t drift apart from Franz like this.
The problem was that she felt inexplicably anxious.
A sigh popped out of Yusti-ah’s mouth once again, and at the same time, someone appeared from the darkness.
That someone was none other than Arian.
“What are you all doing? If you want to go watch the sunrise tomorrow with the Magic Tower lord, you should probably sleep early, you know?”
“I just don’t think I’ll be able to fall asleep.”
“Is that so? Then how about going for a quick walk? Well, like the four of us women walking along the beach or something?”
The word four meant everyone present, including Arian.
She never expected to be invited by Arian for the beach walk she had planned to do with Franz, but…
“Sounds good. Let’s go.”
Right now, anything is fine.
Afterward, the four slipped out of the villa and began to take a walk along the nearby beach.
“Ah, after you all left, I grabbed the Magic Tower lord’s cheeks, you know?”
“What on earth did you do…?!”
“Hehe, it’s a secret.”
It seemed this was the wrong choice after all.
* * *
As time flowed on, the night passed before they knew it, and the dim dawn arrived.
The sun, still hiding beyond the horizon, gradually dyed the sky with its own color, expanding its territory.
The sun rises from the Sheer Cliff.
It was time to uncover the truth about that code.