Chapter 228
The coiled snake flicked its tongue and raised its head.
It had a massive body that wouldn’t lose out to a typical subway train, but it didn’t exactly give off an intimidating aura.
Compared to Levi’s original form, it was nothing but a drop in the bucket.
It was rather funny that such a creature was currently rolling around in the Magic Tower master’s office in human form, though.
Anyway, what needed to be done was no different from what they had been doing so far.
Observe its behavior to gather information, and use its corpse as a specimen for investigation.
“Yuna, could you play around with that guy for a bit?”
“Yeah, leave it to me.”
Drawing her sword, Yuna strode toward it.
Staring blankly at her, the snake stretched its body like a spring and opened its mouth wide. Four sharp fangs on the top and bottom gleamed menacingly.
“Franz! Did you know?!”
Yuna asked while lightly dodging its attack. She was so overflowing with leisure that it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say she was using the monster as a toy.
“Snake meat is delicious when roasted, too!”
Franz knew that as well. During their Hero’s Party days, he had eaten it together with Yuna.
But what was the reason for bringing that up right now?
Did she perhaps want to eat the monster in front of them? Or was she just teasing the giant snake?
“Wanna come over to my house to eat roasted snake?”
Yuna’s booming voice echoed through the cavern.
“Pfft-.”
Franz burst into laughter without realizing it. He hadn’t expected her to say something like inviting him over for roasted snake.
With so many things to eat in the world, he wondered if they really had to eat a snake, but…
'Once wouldn’t hurt, right?'
Regardless of its appearance, the taste was definitely good.
Even while Franz was having such distracting thoughts, his eyes were analyzing the snake’s behavior.
Its behavior wasn’t different from a normal snake. It moved quickly and tried to bite its opponent with its sharp fangs.
If there were a difference, it would be its venom. Its venom seemed to be a strong acid itself, rather than a neurotoxin.
Sizzle-.
The venom flowing from its fangs melted the floor, and a hazy white smoke rose up.
It was then.
The creature suddenly stopped its attacks. It seemed it was about to pull out its hidden trump card.
Did Yuna sense the anomaly as well? She stopped what she was doing and approached his side.
'I wonder what it’ll show us.'
He hoped it would be something surprising, if possible.
It would be like new magic, or creating a new substance. Even if it wasn’t that, anything that could pique his curiosity would be fine.
He had already finished preparing to respond no matter what action was taken.
Its mouth opened wide, and a magic circle was drawn in front of it. It was a dark-colored magic circle signifying the darkness attribute.
'It’s not poison-type, and it’s not mental-type…'
Its magic was a status ailment type, and one that directly affected the physical body at that.
The moment purple smoke spewed from its magic circle.
Franz was able to realize the true nature of the magic.
It was a petrification magic that turned everything the smoke touched into stone.
“No reason to even deploy a shield, huh…”
It was a shame that its magic didn’t meet his expectations, but thanks to that, he knew one thing for sure.
He wasn’t sure where the dimension beyond the gate was, but the magic system they used was the same.
And that meant the magic of this world was also in the palm of Franz’s hand.
Snap-.
As Franz snapped his fingers, the spewing mist and the magic circle scattered into a sparkling cluster of light.
The panicked snake belatedly opened its mouth wide and lunged, but…
Franz had already lost interest in it.
A thin streak of light descended from the empty air and pierced its head.
Rumble-.
As if announcing its death, the ground began to shake. The power sustaining the labyrinth was weakening.
It was about twenty minutes later when Franz and Yuna exited the gate.
“That’s a shame. There was nothing at the spot where we killed that snake.”
Yuna let out a short sigh and drooped her shoulders.
Just as she said, there was nothing in the boss room of this labyrinth. It felt like a literal snake’s lair.
Still, they couldn’t say there was no harvest at all. Just learning the information that there was a possibility of not getting a reward from a boss room was a sufficient harvest.
In addition, they had secured the giant snake’s corpse, so it could be considered quite profitable in its own way.
“Still, it was really fun for the first time in a while.”
Yuna showed a bright smile.
Franz escorted her to the entrance of the mansion, even though it was a distance that took barely a few minutes.
“But were you serious about roasting and eating the snake?”
“I was serious, though…?”
Yuna answered as if it were obvious.
Well, of course she was. This was Yuna, not anyone else.
“I see. Should we call the others, then? It’s better to eat all together.”
He didn’t exactly say that out of a desire not to die alone. Snake meat was actually delicious, too.
Yusti-ah and Arian would absolutely say they hated it, but…
Where would they have the right to refuse? If told to eat, they had to eat.
Yuna also liked being with everyone, so she would surely accept it happily.
“Is… that so? Yeah, I guess so…”
Yuna’s answer didn’t deviate from his expectations.
But why was it? It felt as if disappointment was hiding behind her answer.
“I’ll head back, then.”
Franz was bothered by Yuna’s answer, but he didn’t go out of his way to ask. As always, he just waited, thinking she would bring it up first if it was something that needed to be said.
Just as Franz finished his farewells and was about to snap his fingers.
Yuna suddenly hugged him.
Flustered, Franz stopped dead in his tracks.
“Franz.”
“What is it…?”
“Would you be disappointed if I said I wanted to see you alone…?”
“…Not particularly.”
The bond between them wasn’t so thin that he would be disappointed over something like that. He was just flustered that Yuna had such a thought.
“Anyway, when is she going to let go…”
Of all things, Yuna was wearing armor, so her body was being pressed against hard metal, which was quite painful.
Given the mood, it wasn’t easy to push her away either.
“Then let’s hang out just the two of us… Let’s roast fish in the backyard together, and roast snake, too.”
“Sure… Let’s do that…”
Yuna hugged him even tighter, adding to his agony. It was getting to the point where even breathing was a struggle.
'I can’t take any more. My ribs are going to break.'
It was the moment Franz, unable to endure it any longer, tried to push Yuna away.
Creaaak-.
The closed front door opened.
“…”
“…”
“…”
In the silence, Yuri-ah’s, Yuna’s, and Franz’s gazes crossed.
It was a truly awkward situation for the two who were caught hugging, and for the girl who discovered them.
“Um… Sis, sorry. I’ll go back in…”
“Waiiiit-!”
Yuna urgently approached Yuri-ah.
Only then freed, Franz gasped, inhaling the breath he had been holding.
Jokes aside, if it had been a few seconds longer, he would have fainted.
“Yuri-ah, huh? It’s not what it looks like.”
“Sis, I know everything. You don’t have to say it.”
“You don’t know anything…!”
Yuna’s face was dyed red, looking as if it would burst at any moment.
Being caught by family, not a stranger, she was probably incredibly embarrassed.
Well, it was embarrassing for him as well.
“Yuna, I’ll be going.”
“Ah, yeah…! Sorry. Bye.”
Did she think it was good timing? Yuna accepted his farewell with an urgent voice.
Soon, just as Franz was about to use Spatial Movement Magic,
“Brother-in-law…! Get home safe… Mmph?!”
Yuri-ah offered a greeting, but Yuna covered her mouth mid-sentence.
Feeling needlessly awkward, Franz gave a slight nod and snapped his fingers.
Snap-.
It was a truly eventful day.
* * *
It was a few days after resolving the gate that appeared at the Duke Esteban’s Residence.
During that time, Franz had been quite busy.
He had to report the series of events to the emperor, and he also discussed an organization dedicated to Gates and Labyrinths.
Not stopping there, he gave princess Erzebet a simple magic lesson.
That was what happened at the Imperial Palace.
At the Magic Tower, there were the development of the Magic Airship, organizing and dismantling the specimens brought from the labyrinth, analyzing information, and so on…
Even though he was leaving all the simple tasks to the clerks and the Arians, he was still short on hands.
They say having a lot of work is a blessing, but it seemed even that was a case of too much of a good thing.
“Magic Tower master…”
Right after he finished a meeting with the Magic Tool Development Department, Arian suddenly came looking for him.
She had a rather troubled expression on her face.
“What’s the matter?”
“A guest has come looking for you…”
“Who is it?”
“Well, a person named Gro Man said he came looking for the Great Warrior and Great Sorcerer Franz something-or-other…”
Franz could immediately understand Arian’s reaction.
Gro Man was someone he had met in Roman, the nation of barbarians built upon a desolate land.
He must have spoken in an incredibly loud, booming voice.
He had no idea what was going on, but…
“I’ll go see him for now.”
Franz stood up from his seat.