Chapter 97
To summarize the contents of the letter sent by the emperor:
A date must be set to bestow the ducal title, so come to the Imperial Palace.
It was a hassle, but it couldn’t be helped.
The ducal title was the highest rank among nobles, and there were only a few in the entire empire.
It wasn’t something that could be given lightly with a simple, “Hey, you be a duke.”
Well, since I’m going anyway, I might as well report what happened in the North.
About the cultist subjugation and the sealed weapon.
Come to think of it.
“Does the emperor know anything about the weapon?”
You never know.
There might be secret information passed down through generations of the Imperial Family.
Of course, I wouldn’t get my hopes up too high.
It was then.
“Wow, quite a lot of paperwork has piled up, hasn’t it?”
Arian, who had entered the Magic Tower Lord’s Office at some point, said as she looked at the documents piled on the desk.
Franz tilted his head.
“Huh? Why didn’t you go?”
Around the time they returned from Duke Phrygia, he had told her to go home first and rest.
There was no need for her to come to work and suffer on a day like this.
It was out of consideration, just in case travel fatigue had built up.
Yet she had gone out of her way to come to the Magic Tower Lord’s Office, which only made him wonder.
He even wondered if she actually just liked working.
“Still, since we’re back, I figured I should check in, so I came. More importantly, what’s that in your hand?”
“A letter sent by Your Majesty.”
“Ah…”
Arian showed a complex and subtle expression.
A feeling of dislike that she was trying not to show.
Whenever Franz met the emperor, he would return burdened with a pile of troublesome work, so Arian, whose time with him would decrease, couldn’t possibly like it.
It was just that, given who the other party was, she couldn’t express it outwardly.
“It looks like I’ll be away tomorrow, so keep that in mind. Go home for today. Don’t get any ideas about working needlessly.”
“Yes, you worked hard today.”
“You worked hard too.”
The conversation ended, and Arian bowed her head lightly in greeting.
Soon, she slipped out of the Magic Tower Lord’s Office, and Franz, left alone, stretched his arms out wide.
'Let’s get some of this piled-up work done first.'
If I’m away tomorrow, even more work will pile up.
It would be easier to handle a good amount of it beforehand.
Although a considerable amount of paperwork had piled up, he used to face more than double this amount every single day, so this much could be considered a luxury.
Scratch-, scratch-.
Only the sound of the moving pen echoed in the silence.
Franz worked on the backlog late into the night like that.
Time flowed on, and the next day arrived.
Waking up in his familiar room for the first time in a while, Franz finished getting ready and stepped out.
He subsequently ran into Arian in the Magic Tower Lord’s Office.
“Magic Tower master, good morning.”
“You’re here early?”
Arian offered a greeting with a smile, and Franz expressed his question to her.
He had come out earlier than usual, yet she was already there.
“My eyes just opened a little early.”
Arian spoke nonchalantly with a smile, but waking up and coming to work early was harder than one might think.
You know how there are times like that.
Like when your eyes open on their own thirty minutes before the morning bells chime.
At times like that, people usually get annoyed for no reason and go back to sleep, but Arian suppressed that urge and came to work.
'It’s impressive, but is she a workaholic by any chance?'
It was a situation worthy of suspicion, considering she came to work early today and came in yesterday when he explicitly told her there was no need.
It was great that she worked hard, but if she were actually addicted, it would be a bit troubling.
Franz found himself worrying about her for no reason.
“Would you like a cup of tea?”
“Sure, I’m not particularly busy anyway.”
When Franz nodded and replied, Arian began to brew the tea while humming a tune.
The tea leaves she used weren’t the ones Yusti-ah had gifted, but the ones they had picked out together at the shop.
Of course, Franz didn’t care at all about what kind of tea leaves they were.
Soon, two teacups with steam rising from them were placed on the table.
Franz and Arian sat facing each other and began to drink their tea.
Slurp-.
Franz thought as he sipped the tea.
“Who would have known a day like this would come.”
Just a short while ago, he hadn’t even had the leisure to drink hot tea.
He had been in the middle of normalizing the Magic Tower, and he had to do far too many things in the process.
Hot tea was a luxury only those high-ranking folks with nothing to do, those with abundant time could enjoy.
Compared to that, how is it now?
Wasn’t he splendidly enjoying hot tea?
The elegant aroma of the tea leaves wafting into his nose, and the bittersweet taste is truly excellent.
Of course, his belief that cold tea was just as delicious as hot tea hadn’t changed.
He just kept quiet about it because there was no one who understood.
Anyway, the mindset of Dran nobles was truly as stuffy as could be.
As Franz enjoyed his tea, lost in thought like that.
Arian spoke.
“You kept your promise.”
Promise?
Did I make some kind of promise with Arian…?
“I have no idea.”
No matter how much he searched his mind, he had no memory of a promise.
It was a truly perplexing situation.
Even more so since she was speaking as if she were happy about it.
It was obvious she would be disappointed if he said he didn’t know.
“Well, yeah…?”
Franz gave a vague answer for now.
Even if he didn’t know what the promise was, seeing as he had kept it, the situation itself didn’t seem bad.
As long as she didn’t specifically mention what the promise was, there was a chance he could just gloss over it.
However, Arian knew Franz better than he thought.
Actually, the problem was that Franz was terrible at lying.
“You forgot what the promise was, didn’t you…?”
Gulp-.
At the question that seemed to pierce right through his thoughts, Franz swallowed hard.
And soon, he spoke in a low voice.
“…Sorry.”
“I figured. Still, it’s fine. It was a promise made in passing to begin with.”
“So what was the promise…?”
“Who knows? What could it be?”
Arian smiled mischievously like a playful child.
Franz laughed awkwardly.
He already felt sorry for her, so he couldn’t bring himself to ask her to tell him more.
“What in the world was it?”
Since she said it was a promise made in passing, it surely wasn’t that important.
Then again, if it had been an important promise in the first place, there was no way he would have forgotten it.
While he was agonizing over it, time flowed on, and before he knew it, it was time to head out.
Of course, Franz still hadn’t found the answer.
“Arian, I’ll be back.”
“Yes, have a safe trip.”
Arian saw him off with a smile.
Fortunately, she didn’t seem to be in a bad mood.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Franz headed to where the carriage was parked.
Among the carriages owned by the Magic Tower, there was one with a unusual appearance.
Naturally, it was the carriage Franz had developed.
Franz immediately climbed into the driver’s seat.
He planned to drive the carriage himself and show it off to the emperor.
What kind of expression would the always-dignified emperor make?
He was already looking forward to it.
Snap-.
As Franz snapped his fingers, a magic circle began to draw itself on the ground.
The magic used was teleport.
Soon, the carriage he was riding in vanished from the spot.
Why did he bother getting in the carriage if he was going to use teleport?
To show it off to the emperor, of course.
Franz’s vanished carriage appeared in front of the Imperial Palace’s Castle gate.
At the appearance of an object they had never seen before in their lives, the guards fell into confusion.
“W-what is that?”
“Seeing as it has wheels, it seems to be a carriage, but…”
“Isn’t it missing horses to be called a carriage?”
“I’ll go check it out first. You stay here just in case.”
One guard began to approach the carriage Franz was riding in.
His expression was half curiosity, half tension.
It was the moment he was about to look around the carriage.
Whirrr-.
The window rolled down.
“Nice to meet you.”
“H-heek?!”
When the window suddenly rolled down and a person appeared, the guard startled and let out a scream.
Franz felt a little sorry.
He hadn’t particularly meant to startle him, after all.
Once the guard had calmed down to some extent, Franz revealed his identity and passed through the Castle gate.
“Where could Your Majesty be…”
It had just said to come visit, and since they hadn’t made a specific appointment, he couldn’t conclude that the emperor would be in the Audience Chamber.
But it was fine.
There was always a way.
Franz immediately used mana detection and was able to find the emperor spending time with the princess in the garden.
He had been planning to show off the carriage anyway, so it was a relief that they happened to be outside.
It would be a bit much to drag the emperor outside just for that, wouldn’t it?
Franz immediately sped up the carriage, and it wasn’t long before he arrived near the garden.
Upon the appearance of an object they had never seen before, the soldiers guarding the emperor approached, and the servants tending the garden sent glances their way.
Naturally, the emperor and the princess were also looking at the carriage.
Under everyone’s gaze, Franz stepped out of the carriage very naturally.
There was no way the soldiers belonging to the Imperial Family wouldn’t know Franz’s face, so their vigilance naturally loosened.
Brushing past them, Franz approached the emperor and immediately bowed his head in greeting.
“Magic Tower master Franz Gilbert greets the sun of the empire.”
“It’s fine, raise your head.”
Franz raised his head at the emperor’s command.
“I heard you went to the North, but I’m glad to see you looking healthy.”
“It is all thanks to the protection of the sun, Your Majesty.”
“More importantly, what in the world is that…?”
As he said that, the emperor’s gaze couldn’t tear itself away from Franz’s Special Carriage.
At that, Franz smiled.
Thinking that, as expected, a man couldn’t help himself when it came to carriages.