Chapter 210
Waking up suddenly, Franz made eye contact with someone.
His parents wouldn’t have secretly visited his room late at night, so he rightly assumed it was one of the four who had come with him.
“Who in the…”
Just as Franz was about to ask for their identity.
The moon, which had been hiding behind the clouds, peeked out.
The soft moonlight entering through the window illuminated the room, and the identity of the person hidden in the darkness was revealed.
Eye-catching red hair.
The one who had come to find Franz was none other than Yuna.
“Yuna…?”
“F-Franz, please don’t misunderstand. I was just planning to see your face for a moment and leave.”
There wasn’t really anything to misunderstand. It wasn’t like Yuna was going to do anything.
They had even slept together under a cramped tent before, so just coming into his room was no big deal.
'Anyway, to think Yuna isn’t sleeping…'
The superior physical abilities of a hero allowed Yuna to fall asleep anytime, anywhere.
In a damp cave, inside a cramped tent, she had even slept hanging from a tree branch.
There was no way she would lose sleep just because her sleeping environment changed, so he rightly assumed there was another reason.
“Do you happen to have any worries?”
“Worries? Hmm, I don’t think anything comes to mind right now.”
Weren’t worries and anxiety among the biggest causes of insomnia? So he thought that was the case for Yuna too, but embarrassingly, he had guessed wrong.
Then just what was the reason she was up until this hour…
“Ah, so that’s what you were curious about. I wasn’t unable to sleep, but I just woke up in the middle.”
“Then why did you come out instead of sleeping more?”
“I told you earlier. I was just planning to see your face and leave.”
“I see…”
Franz trailed off for no reason.
The fact that she came to see his sleeping face was - how should he put it - a little ticklish.
Thanks to that, silence continued and an awkward air began to circulate.
After a short while.
“Then since you’re here, keep me company and chat for a bit.”
Saying so, Franz patted the empty spot on the bed right next to him.
“Keep you company? I’m fine with it, but don’t you need to sleep more?”
“I was so startled because of someone that I don’t think I’ll be able to fall asleep right away.”
“I have nothing to say if you put it like that, sorry.”
Yuna let out a silly laugh, Ehehe-, and sat next to Franz.
A distance where their shoulders would touch if they leaned just a little.
Yuna’s heart was pounding more than ever before.
“How was today? Was it fun, or was it uncomfortable?”
Franz couldn’t help but be concerned.
It was the girls who decided to follow him to his family home, but the cause of that decision definitely lay with him.
Furthermore, he hadn’t been able to take good care of them since arriving at his family home, so his inability to do so was even more pronounced.
“I had fun. The other girls probably feel the same.”
“I see. That’s a relief.”
“More than that, I have something I’m curious about. Franz, what was your childhood like?”
“My childhood…?”
It was when he was 7 years old that Franz crossed over into this world.
His previous memories remained vivid, so maintaining family relationships wasn’t that difficult, but…
“It was a little hard, wasn’t it…?”
“It was hard? In what way?”
“It’s hard to pinpoint exactly, but everything was hard, just this and that.”
A person who had been living in the modern 21st century suddenly entered a game with a medieval fantasy setting.
He had to completely change everything he had built up over 20 years, from basic common sense to lifestyle habits.
That was naturally a difficult thing, to the point where he might have given up if it weren’t for the motivating factor of magic.
“Your mother mentioned earlier that you were a kid with absolutely no cuteness.”
“…Mother said that too?”
No wonder the sound of giggling could be heard all the way to his father’s research lab…
Since that sound continued for quite a while, they must have definitely talked about many other things as well.
He didn’t particularly remember doing anything that would make him a laughingstock, but wouldn’t it be different from a parent’s perspective?
Furthermore, stories tend to get increasingly exaggerated as they pass from mouth to mouth, so he couldn’t help but be worried.
“She seemed to have worried a lot because you were mature unlike other kids your age. Still, she said you sparkled incredibly when you were learning magic.”
“Well, that was my only interest back then.”
Hearing his own story relayed through someone else was a truly peculiar feeling. It felt needlessly embarrassing, yet also enjoyable.
In any case, it wasn’t too bad.
The conversation between the two continued for quite a long time.
In the room dimly lit only by moonlight, their voices echoed softly.
How much time had passed like that?
“Ah, come to think of it, your mother…”
Just as Yuna was about to say something.
Thud, Franz’s head touched her shoulder.
Yuna’s heart, which had calmed down while naturally conversing, began to beat like crazy once again.
“F-Franz…?”
Even when she called his name, Franz remained silent. More accurately, it would be better to say he had fallen asleep.
Given that it wasn’t what she had expected, Yuna let out a long sigh, Haa-.
But she had no complaints. She had only wanted to see his sleeping face in the first place, after all.
Just being able to converse with him from this close for a long time was a great stroke of luck in itself.
“Franz, do you know what your mother said earlier? She said she was worried because you didn’t seem to have any thoughts of marriage, but she was relieved. And she asked us to take good care of you.”
Yuna spoke in a very quiet voice so that Franz wouldn’t wake up.
Should she say it was rather fortunate that he couldn’t hear her? After she said it, a wave of embarrassment washed over her.
After calming her heart, Yuna carefully laid Franz down on the bed. Then she looked down at him sleeping soundly.
Should she say he was truly defenseless? It was certain he would lose his life if he were attacked by someone.
“So this is a punishment…”
Muttering softly, Yuna lightly kissed Franz’s lips.
Their soft lips touched soundlessly and then parted.
“T-Then, good night…”
Belatedly realizing her own actions, Yuna slipped out of the room with creaky, stiff movements.
Click-.
At the same time the door closed, strength drained from her body and a sigh escaped her lips.
The sensation she felt on her lips was still far too vivid.
It was then when eyes flashed in the dark corridor.
Yuna looked at those eyes and thought. It seemed she was doomed to not get any sleep today.
Time flowed and flowed from then, until the next day.
Franz stood facing his parents.
“You could stay a little longer before going…”
“It’s difficult for me to be away from my position for long. I’ll come visit often from now on.”
“Please do so.”
Regret was evident in his parents' eyes.
Franz also wanted to stay and relax for a few more days if he had his way, but he couldn’t bear to leave his position empty for long.
“Take care, all of you.”
His parents also offered their greetings to the four standing beside Franz.
The four received the greetings politely without getting flustered.
They even exchanged jokes, having gotten somewhat close in just a single day.
“Then I’ll be going. Stay healthy and well.”
With those final words, Franz snapped his fingers.
Snap-.
The schedule at his family home was safely concluded with a cheerful sound.
Now, all that was left was to wait for the emperor to contact him.
What kind of story would the delegation dispatched from Nostra, the owner of the land where the battle with the Demon God took place, bring up?
He just hoped it would pass without any major issues.
* * *
In the east of the continent, in Nostra, a nation with national power rivaling the empire, there was currently a problem coming to a head.
“It’s as incredible as I’ve heard.”
“Are you saying a single mage made all this…?”
Created by Deliaspi Dyne, who was called the Father of Magic, the massive underground city exists.
The investigators couldn’t hide their astonishment at that massive ruin right before their eyes.
“The problem is that there’s a guy in the empire who is even worse than the guy who made this.”
At the end of their gazes, traces of a fierce battle remained.
It looked like massive sword marks all over the place, or traces of huge explosions.
They were such tremendous traces that it was hard to believe a fellow human had made them.
“His name was definitely Franz, wasn’t it?”
“Does a single person having combat power equal to a nation even make sense?”
“Still, thanks to him, didn’t we manage to avoid expending a great deal of effort on subjugating the Demon Lord? Though we did have to pay a certain amount of support funds, of course.”
“Well, that’s true. Rather than that, let’s hurry up and investigate.”
Going down along the seemingly carved-out walls, they entered the underground city.
They weren’t the only ones in the underground city; dozens of soldiers were with them as well.
After a short while of looking around and investigating the already collapsed city.
A report from the soldiers who had headed to the place where the battle took place arrived.
“There was something strange over there.”
“What do you mean, something strange?”
“It’s difficult to explain in detail… I think it would be best if you went and saw it for yourselves.”
In the end, the investigators moved along with the soldier.
And they were able to directly face the strange thing they had spoken of.
“What in the world is this…”
In the empty air where there was nothing, there was something shimmering in blue.
Its overall shape was close to a giant oval, but its boundaries were blurry. And it looked as if it were sucking something into its center.
Because objects thrown at it disappeared instead of passing through, there was a possibility that it was an entrance to something.
The investigators put their heads together and discussed what to do with the thing in front of their eyes for a long time.
“Your Highness, all right. Then let’s conduct an investigation.”
By repeatedly putting objects in and taking them out, they confirmed that it was safe.
There was no rule saying that would apply to a human as well, but they couldn’t just leave it neglected either.
Investigating was the duty of an investigator.
As long as they were in the nation’s employ, they had to do their jobs.
Thus, one investigator and about ten soldiers stepped inside the shimmering blue thing.
It was about 10 minutes later when they came back out.
“S-Save me…!”
The one who came out was a single investigator, and even he had one of his arms severed.
It was the first discovery of what would later be called a gate.