Chapter 161
Scratching his head as if annoyed, Franz stepped out of the villa and soon encountered armored knights and mages.
The knights' armor and the mages' robes bore the crest representing Ganiphus, so guessing their identities was not a difficult task.
One of the knights dismounted from his horse and spoke to Franz.
“The King wishes to meet you to inquire about yesterday’s events.”
Considering they had caused such a ruckus right in his own front yard, he could somewhat understand the King’s summoning him.
However, the knight’s attitude was strangely irritating.
His gaze and actions felt as though he was looking down on him. He seemed to have immense pride in his status as a knight.
'There’s no need for me to bow my head and yield here, though.'
Even setting aside his status as a Magic Tower lord belonging to the empire, wasn’t he the hero of the continent who had subjugated the Demon Lord?
Furthermore, yesterday’s event saved Ganiphus from the calamity known as leviathan, so even receiving the utmost hospitality wouldn’t be enough.
Even putting all of that aside, wasn’t that kind of attitude toward someone he was meeting for the first time a bit much?
He figured the King might just let it slide if the King taught him a moderate lesson without killing him…
Franz was continuing to ponder this with a narrowed brow.
“Even if you refuse, we can easily do so by royal command…”
“W-what are you saying right now-?!”
Just as the knight was about to continue speaking, an elderly mage loudly interrupted.
Judging by the magic power he possessed, he was quite an excellent mage. If he were in the Magic Tower, he would be at the level of a department head.
Glancing sideways at Franz, he continued speaking with a pale face.
“I know the royal command is important! But isn’t your attitude toward an honored guest completely wrong!”
“Honored guest? Does the Magic Division Commander perhaps know who that man is?”
“Is he not the Archmage Franz who saved the world from the Demon Lord? If he sets his mind to it, he could blow away not only your neck but this entire country.”
Having warned the knight with a stern voice, he turned to face Franz.
“I am the Magic Division Commander of Ganiphus, Runerval Garascov.”
Runerval placed a hand on his chest and bowed his upper body, greeting him politely and respectfully.
Since someone who could be reasoned with had stepped forward, Franz also had no reason to go out of his way to use force.
“I am Franz, serving as a Magic Tower lord in the empire.”
“It is an honor to meet the hero who saved the continent. I apologize on behalf of that ignorant sword-swinger for the earlier disrespect. I am truly sorry.”
Runerval bowed deeply, going down so far that he soon exposed the crown of his head to Franz.
Seeing that the crown of his head was glaringly bald, Franz ended up averting his gaze in pity.
Because even in this world where all sorts of miracles and magic ran rampant, there was no cure for hair loss.
Anyway, he would have to let this incident slide, if only out of pity for his crown.
“It is fine. Isn’t life originally full of this and that anyway?”
“Thank you for understanding with such generosity.”
He bowed his head once again.
His heart kept breaking at the sight of the occasionally visible bald crown.
Franz subtly shifted his gaze elsewhere and spoke.
“Anyway, you mentioned the King wishes to hear about yesterday’s events…”
“That is correct. It is nothing bad at all. He merely wishes to hear the story.”
“Then could you perhaps wait a moment? I have companions who were also present there yesterday.”
“Yes, please do so.”
If it were something entangled with politics, he would have somehow resolved it alone, but if they were just going to hear a story, it would be better for everyone to go together.
They had suffered just as much, so shouldn’t they receive the proper treatment they deserved?
And if they were to give a reward, they could receive a whopping five times more.
Turning around and heading straight for the villa, Franz began to wake everyone sleeping in their rooms.
The first room he entered was Yuna’s room.
Yuna was lying diagonally on the bed with her blanket pushed aside. It seemed she had quite terrible sleeping habits.
Then again, even during their Hero’s Party days, Yuna’s leg was always resting on top of someone else.
“Yuna, wake up.”
“Uheup?!”
Springing up, Yuna looked at Franz with a dazed expression. It seemed she couldn’t easily shake off her sleep.
'I didn’t want to use this method, but…'
Franz placed his hand on Yuna’s head. And then, he injected magic power into her body.
“U-uaang?!”
Letting out a strange sound, Yuna flinched in surprise.
It was like a sort of electric shock, so he hadn’t really wanted to use it, but its effectiveness was certainly guaranteed.
“Yuna, we’re going somewhere right now, so get ready immediately.”
“U-yeah. Got it.”
Having woken Yuna up like that, Franz headed straight to the next room.
The person sleeping in the next room was none other than Arian.
Not wearing any pants, Arian was fast asleep with one leg sticking out of the blanket.
“Why is she in her underwear too…”
In truth, there was nothing particularly wrong with it.
This was the room she had decided to stay in.
Whatever state she was in inside was her own freedom.
Franz forced himself to look away from her and spoke.
“Arian, wake up.”
“Nueeng…?”
Everyone had drunk a lot of alcohol yesterday, so it seemed they wouldn’t wake up easily.
In the end, Franz had to use his last resort.
“U-uet?!”
“We’re going somewhere right now, so get ready.”
Having woken Arian up like that, Franz headed straight to the next room.
The next room was the one Hera had decided to stay in.
Opening the door and entering, he saw Hera stretching on the bed.
“Hera, we’re going somewhere right now. Will you get ready?”
“I shall do so. But, are you not going to do it to me? I clearly heard a similar sound twice.”
“You’re awake, so there’s no need to… never mind. I’ll do it.”
He felt like adding further explanations would only drag the conversation out.
Franz placed his hand on Hera’s head and infused magic power into her.
“Heuut? T-this is quite…”
“There, done, right? Hurry up and get ready.”
Now, the only one left was Yusti-ah.
Coming out of Hera’s room, Franz went straight into Yusti-ah’s room.
“…”
On the bed, something was wriggling inside the bulging blanket.
Just like Hera, Yusti-ah was probably awake too.
“Yusti-ah, we’re going somewhere right now, so get ready.”
“I-is that it? The people before me all made strange noises…?”
Was it going to end up like this again?
It wasn’t particularly difficult. He just had to infuse magic power for a moment.
But it wasn’t even a good thing, so he wondered if she really had to receive it…
Though, one way or another, he had no choice but to do it.
“Stick your head out.”
Yusti-ah’s head popped out from the round blanket. It was just like a turtle.
Franz placed his hand on her head and infused magic power into her.
“H-heuyak?!”
“Done, right? Now hurry up and get ready.”
“S-so it was this. It’s a bit different from what I expected…”
Just what had she been expecting?
Franz had that question, but he didn’t bother voicing it and slipped out of the room.
Not long after that, the girls, having finished getting ready, began to come out of their rooms one by one.
Eventually, once everyone had gathered, Franz spoke.
“From now on, we’re going to see the King of Ganiphus. He asked us to tell him what happened yesterday, but I’ll do the talking appropriately, so don’t worry about it.”
“Well, it was quite a mess yesterday.”
He thought she would naturally be surprised, but unexpectedly, Yusti-ah reacted calmly.
It wasn’t just her; everyone seemed to share an atmosphere of moderate understanding and acceptance.
Franz stepped out of the villa with them and immediately faced Runerval, who was waiting outside.
“Ah, you’ve arrived. Unfortunately, we do not have a carriage, so it seems you will have to ride separate horses. Will that be alright?”
“If it’s just that, it’s fine. Please just tell me where the King is. I will transport everyone together using Spatial Movement Magic.”
“T-this many people at once, you say…?”
Runerval spoke, sounding astonished.
Of course, for an ordinary mage, moving even a single person with Spatial Movement Magic was a difficult task. Even then, there were many cases where a mistake would cost them their life.
But wasn’t the person standing here an unprecedented Mage who had used 10th Circle Magic? He could do something like that as easily as eating a meal.
“However, I do not have a map, so there is no way to show you…”
“If it’s a map you need, I have one right here.”
Franz deployed his magic power, projecting a map of Ganiphus like a hologram.
Seeing that, Runerval’s jaw dropped as he took a step back.
“T-this makes no sense…! To go beyond detecting and actually materializing magic power into particles to display it…!”
Franz was rather bewildered by his reaction.
He didn’t remember doing anything all that amazing.
At this rate, if he saw the magic he had used when fighting leviathan, he might just faint on the spot.
“I-it’s this way. The entrance to the castle is right here.”
Having regained his senses at some point, Runerval pointed with his finger.
“Then we shall go.”
Erasing the hologram map, Franz immediately snapped his fingers.
A magic circle large enough to surround dozens of people was drawn, and it soon began to shine brightly as the magic activated.
Just like that, Franz arrived in front of the castle along with everyone who had been present.
“H-heuaaa… This is a miracle, a miracle…!”
It seemed Runerval was quite a talkative person after all.