Chapter 83

After a brief interrogation later—

It turned out my father—who’d been a closet pervert—couldn’t back down and decided to commit to a “stoic, hard‑boiled” persona.

“You see, the students at my school always said Corta was a tough, no‑nonsense guy. Before I knew it, it was easier to act like that was my personality. Besides, doesn’t ‘Corta’ sound like a hard, sturdy name?”

Ah—so he became the persona others defined for him. To think my parent lived such a sorrowful life…

“In truth, I envied men who could effortlessly talk to women, but I was a coward—I couldn’t. I had no choice but to adopt the persona that I don’t do those things because I’m stoic.”

“Stop it already! My mental stamina is hitting its limit! Don’t disillusion me any further!”

“Franz, I’m a man too. It can’t be helped—this is the limit of manhood! My true feelings slipped out because I was so incredibly jealous of you. No one can stop the cry of the soul! Not even oneself!”

It’s so pathetic I feel like he’s reached a whole new frontier.

After that, my father tried to force all the girls to stay at our house, but I stepped in.

“The inn will charge a cancellation fee since it’s the day of, so let’s just let them stay there! Besides, Mom will kill you!”

“Franz, my boy… if it’s for these ladies, it’s a death worth dying at your mother’s hands!”

“What are you doing—trying to display manliness in a situation like this?!”

Why are you wearing that face that says “zero regrets in this life”?!

“Listen here, I may be an accountant, but a man’s passion cannot be balanced in a ledger!”

“Please, just don’t say another word! I’m begging you!”

In the end, we stuck to the original plan and invited only Cerulia and Mary to the house.

Given my father’s attitude, I briefly considered paying for them to stay at the inn, but showing them my childhood home couldn’t hurt, so I compromised.

On the way back he kept spouting nonsense—“Perhaps I should’ve aimed to be a Black Mage as well.” Truly pathetic.

When we arrived, my mother, Milky, came out to greet us and wept with joy, which was mysterious in its own right.

“Franz has girls like this with him… He didn’t even have girlfriends when he lived here… Since he’s an only son, I worried if he’d ever be able to get married… But this looks like it’ll work out… The lineage will continue…”

“Stop it, that’s bordering on sexual harassment! Both of you, quit embarrassing your son!”

It was good the mood didn’t become hostile—but that was a problem too.

That day my mother pulled out all the stops and served them a proper feast.

“My, these are quite large shrimp.”

“I don’t know the name of this shellfish, but it’s quite delicious.”

Lightstone sits by the sea, so the seafood was excellent—fresh catch right away.

“Right, how about we all play a round of King’s Game after dinner?” my father suggested, his voice dripping with ulterior motives.

“Franz, is there a Black Magic spell that lets me offer a father as a sacrificial tribute?”

Mom, I understand your feelings, but that is a clear crime.

Exhausted from the trip to the sea—direct sunlight really drains you—we each fell asleep in our assigned rooms. Of course, I didn’t share a room with the two of them.

The next morning, since we were here, I decided to give Cerulia and Mary a tour of the house.

“This is the storehouse—it’s actually the oldest part of the property. It might even be a cultural heritage site. Well, we just use it for storage.”

I introduced the massive building that stood as a separate wing—probably larger than a student apartment in the Capital. Stonework from that era was meticulous, so it had remained in excellent condition.

“My, Master came from quite a good background, then.”

From Cerulia’s or the incredibly wealthy Mary’s perspective, the size probably seemed laughably small.

“I think it’s certain we have some history. But we weren’t nobility or anything like that at all; we’ve just been common citizens for generations.”

“But even for the commoner class, the upper crust could become mayors or members of the city council, right?”

Mary—don’t be fooled by her looks—was well‑versed in that area.

“That’s a story from three hundred years ago, back when the class system was much stricter. Also, becoming a council member was more of an obligation than a right. Council members were unpaid. It was meant to be a way for those with status to serve the city. Of course, it was an honor, but some citizens fell into ruin because those obligations became too heavy.”

My family, too, had apparently been unable to maintain a grand mansion in the city center long ago and continued living modestly—you can tell by the fact the house is in the suburbs.

“Even so, it’s nice that you were reasonably well‑off.”

Mary tried a locked door. With her strength she might’ve smashed the lock, so I hurriedly handed her the key ring.

“There’s nothing in there even if you open it.”

“But this is a storage room now, right? There might be something interesting inside.”

I didn’t expect anything good, but explaining the building alone was boring, so I unlocked it as requested.

As expected, the inside was dusty.

“This feels like it’s been truly abandoned,” Cerulia said, covering her mouth.

“Yeah—the back part’s probably been left untouched for over a hundred years.”

“Then there might be amazing treasures!”

Mary brightened; I guessed she was the adventurous type.

Mary pushed deeper into the back. Since she can float, she crossed the distance in an instant.

“This is very heavily sealed.”

“Wait up. I can’t get back there that fast…”

Carried by Cerulia, we reached a particularly dim corner of the storehouse where a cabinet’s doors were secured by over ten locks.

“There’s definitely something here. Hey, can I open it?”

“Do whatever you want. I doubt my father has ever opened it anyway.”

Mary removed the locks immediately—well, not so much removed as smashed them with brute force—and the cabinet doors swung open with a long, unpleasant creak.