Chapter 256
Late at night, the moon illuminated the world in place of the sun. Franz was walking the streets of Ester with Hera.
He didn’t quite know the reason, but it was because Hera had invited him to take a walk together.
“The moon is quite bright today. Don’t you think?”
“Well, yeah.”
The round moon floating in the sky was certainly shining brightly, just as she said.
Anyway, how long had it been since he looked up at the sky like this? He had once heard that people often lived their lives looking only at the ground, and that seemed exactly right.
After that, they just walked slowly without any particular conversation, and as time passed and the silence gradually grew awkward, they arrived at a quiet park.
Perhaps because it was late at night, there wasn’t a single person in the park. Only the streetlights made of magic stones were shining brightly.
“Franz, shall we sit for a moment before we go?”
“Sure, let’s do that.”
Just what did she have to say that she was hesitating so much?
Thinking that, Franz sat on the bench.
Hera, who sat on the bench after him, gauged his reaction, then shifted her seat slightly to the side, and then a little more, moving closer to Franz.
Thus, the distance between them became close enough for their clothes to brush against each other, and the unusual proximity made him feel pointlessly awkward.
A quiet night where the chirping of grass bugs rang out, chirr. At the end of the ensuing silence, Hera opened her mouth.
“Franz, what do you think of me…?”
This was a comrade from the Hero’s Party and one of the few friends he could open his heart to. And this was the chieftain who led the Elves.
Those words momentarily came to mind, but they were certainly not the answer she was hoping for.
“Hera, I…”
“I-I’m sorry, but could you pretend I didn’t just say that…? It seems I’m being too cowardly.”
Hera offered an awkward smile, as if embarrassed.
Franz simply granted her request. He didn’t know exactly what was cowardly about it, but if she didn’t want it, there was no reason to answer.
“Give me a moment. A brief moment will do.”
Her hands resting on her thighs repeatedly clenched and unclenched for no reason, and her legs moved busily back and forth. It was as if she were a child feeling anxious right before being scolded.
Unable to understand why, Franz simply waited in silence.
How much time had passed since then? Suddenly, Hera’s movements stopped.
“…Franz, I like you. I wanted to dress it up with prettier words, but it seems I have no talent for that sort of thing.”
“It’s okay. Your feelings have been conveyed clearly enough.”
“Mmm, that’s a relief then. You probably already know, but I won’t hear your answer right now.”
“Yeah, I know.”
The reason they weren’t listening to his answers was likely to ensure fair competition. so that things wouldn’t be decided by the order of confessions rather than the depth of love.
Should he say it was thanks to that? Franz had been able to ponder for a long time, and he had finally made a decision.
On the day Arian confessed, which would come before long, he would have to share that decision with everyone.
“Ugh -, I feel like all my strength has been drained…”
Hera slumped her shoulders.
He could tell without asking just how much courage it took to confess to someone. Her heart must have been pounding tremendously. Her hands and feet might have been trembling.
Franz silently wrapped an arm around Hera’s shoulders and carefully pulled her in.
Bump - .
The precarious remaining distance disappeared as their shoulders touched. A warm heat could be felt through the cool night air.
“You usually act like a clueless fool, so why only at times like this… Then again, I even liked that side of you, so there’s nothing more to say…”
“So? Have you forgotten a bit about wanting to become a slave?”
“That desire still remains. But I’m not quite sure if it’s that I want to become a slave, or if I purely want to serve you.”
Hera spoke in a tone devoid of playfulness, as if it were the unadulterated truth without a lie mixed in.
He really wished she would forget about that already…
Franz thought so, but he didn’t bother voicing it. It didn’t seem like saying more would change anything. If it was going to change, it would have changed a long time ago.
It was quite some time later when Franz returned to the Magic Tower with Hera.
“Then I’ll go ahead and sleep. Don’t overwork yourself and go to bed early too.”
“Yeah, go on in.”
Waving his hand to see Hera off, Franz headed straight for the Magic Tower Lord’s Office.
Upon arrival, the paperwork still remained on the desk in the Magic Tower Lord’s Office.
His original plan had been to finish his work after ending his walk with Hera, but…
Now was not the time for that. A more important matter had arisen.
“The will to destroy the world has completely vanished from the heart of the elf archer Hera!”
The world has taken another step closer to peace!
There is a special reward. Would you like to receive it? Y/N”
A translucent hologram floated before Franz’s eyes. It was something he was well accustomed to seeing, so he wasn’t particularly surprised.
Franz slowly reached his hand toward the hologram. The moment his hand touched 'Y', light gathered in the empty air and created something.
It was a key fragment. A key fragment was formed, just like when Yuna and Yustia confessed.
Franz took out the remaining two fragments from the bag at his waist.
The moment all three key fragments gathered in one place, they floated into the air and began to spin in a circle.
“Conditions have been met. The creation of the Key of Dimensions is commencing.”
The exact same notification window that appeared when crafting the Divine Artifact Mistilteinn floated before his eyes. After that, the room was dyed in a light so bright he couldn’t keep his eyes open.
When the light finally vanished, a complete key rested on Franz’s hand. The key, shining brilliantly in gold, seemed like an extraordinary object even at a glance.
Franz, who had been staring at the key for a while, suddenly raised his head.
'Is it telling me to use the key…'
Before his eyes was a brightly glowing door. In the center of that door was a keyhole, which was clearly the place to insert the Key of Dimensions.
Franz, who had been looking at the door with a rather serious expression, soon shook his head and put the key into his bag. At the same time, the door before his eyes also disappeared.
'It would be a lie to say I never thought about wanting to go back…'
The food didn’t suit his palate, the inconveniences of daily life, and various other reasons existed, but the most important among them was that he hadn’t been able to open his heart to anyone.
He wanted to eat kimchi stew so badly, but he couldn’t tell anyone. He wanted to eat a hamburger, but he couldn’t tell anyone.
Things so trivial that anyone listening would scoff at them had gathered, creating the emotion called loneliness.
Still, he had been able to reach this point because there were people who believed in and supported him, but he couldn’t do anything about the feeling of an empty corner in his heart.
'Of course, that was only true until recently.'
Yuna, Yustia, Hera, Arian. Since growing closer to the four of them, he hadn’t particularly felt that way. That remained true even now, and he was even feeling a sense of happiness instead.
So it was a shame, but it seemed there would be no immediate use for the key.
Bluntly speaking, what if he left for his Original World and couldn’t return? He would definitely regret it, so it would be better not to do it at all.
Anyway…
'If I somehow analyze this, could I manifest it as magic…?'
For now, he couldn’t even begin to fathom such magic. Magic that dealt with dimensions didn’t exist in the first place. But there was definitely hope. After all, excellent examples were popping up all over the world.
These were gates, doors connected to other dimensions. Perhaps the answer lay in them.
'If things go well, going to the modern world together might not just be a dream…'
Franz was smiling. This situation of facing the unknown, and the future that would be drawn from now on, was so incredibly enjoyable.
* * *
On a night with a bright moon floating in the sky, Yuna was sitting by the window, peering into something.
A small purple jewel. That jewel, glowing softly under the moonlight, was the one Franz had handed to her.
'Something strange definitely happened when I received this…'
To be precise, it was more like memories had flowed in. Memories of another person - no, memories of herself that she surely couldn’t have experienced.
In those memories, Yuna herself, unable to overcome the grief of losing her family, went around killing people all over the Continent.
It wasn’t a very pleasant experience: seeing her mom and Yuria turned into bizarre lumps of flesh, and seeing herself mercilessly killing people.
Amidst all that, the most vivid memory was the scene of being killed by Franz.
'Is this really real…?'
Since it was a question with no answer, Yuna let out a long sigh and threw herself onto the bed.
Well, if there was something she didn’t know, she could just ask Franz. After all, he was the one who had given her the jewel.