Despite Heinri's cold dismissal, Zenon grumbled while secretly feeling apologetic.
He had seen how busy his days were whenever he visited.
Heinri had not only become the Crown Prince but was also working to receive an early abdication from the Emperor.
Though the vigorous Emperor was stubbornly holding on, judging by the general atmosphere, it didn't seem like it would take much longer.
In any case, Heinri was truly busy. Honestly, if Zenon weren't the next Magic Tower Lord, he would have been arrested long ago for insulting the imperial family.
If that had happened, he probably would have become cellmates with Duke Roam and his wife.
'No, that's not right.'
The term Duke Roam "couple" is inaccurate. Their titles had been confiscated.
Roam met a disgraceful end, and the vassals who tried to somehow inherit their position were torn apart.
As far as Zenon could guess, probably none of them met Heinri's standards.
Or perhaps there were circumstances among the noble lords......
'Who cares.'
Zenon shook off his thoughts and moved quickly. He didn't know the imperial palace's affairs well anyway, and had no interest. Heinri would handle it appropriately.
More importantly, he needed to plant the newly acquired flower seeds quickly. He had to plant them soon so they would bloom.
He had already decided where to plant these flowers, so Zenon's steps were unhurried.
After several warps and passing through private warp gates, the scenery changed dramatically.
Stopping by shops here and there to purchase some gardening supplies, by the time he arrived, both hands were full.
"I should have brought a spatial storage magic tool if I'd known this would happen."
Zenon, hugging the load greedily for fear of missing anything, stopped abruptly.
It was because he discovered two massive shadows standing tensely facing each other at the castle entrance.
'Should I warp away even now?'
He habitually checked the moat and was about to enter, but perhaps for today, he could just let it slide......
The moment he thought that far, both shadows simultaneously turned to look at Zenon. Zenon, who accidentally met their eyes, let out an awkward smile and reflexively opened his mouth.
"Uh, um, hello?"
It was a greeting close to a mutter, but it seemed they heard it well enough. As proof, they were making incomprehensible crying sounds like that.
"Grrr."
"Kyaaak!"
"......You two seemed to be fighting, so don't mind me and continue what you were doing."
"Grrrrr!"
"Kak!"
Unconsciously flinching, Zenon distanced himself with a pale face.
Those things, meaning the massive troll and massive wyvern, were exchanging sharp cries, so it seemed they were having some kind of conversation.
However, since he wasn't Anelli, he couldn't understand the monsters' conversation at all.
Fortunately, the monsters didn't rush at Zenon. Precisely, the moment the troll, who hadn't been at Beladia Castle for long, showed wariness toward Zenon, the wyvern intervened with a cry as if scolding him.
Zenon remembered Anelli greeting that wyvern happily. Probably the wyvern had a fairly close relationship with Anelli.
The wyvern also seemed to know about Zenon one-sidedly.
Since it was playing the boss role among all sorts of monsters and beasts that had gathered at Beladia Castle, perhaps it even had a good personality.
"Kiak!"
......It does have a good personality, right?
"Well then, I'll be going."
Zenon drew a large circle and slowly passed by them. The wyvern flapped its wings threatening the troll, and the troll stomped its feet in response.
Whether they did or not, Zenon hurried his steps and crossed the moat.
While crossing the bridge, he glanced down and saw a shadow passing below the surface, cutting through the water.
"Kids these days grow so fast."
Just yesterday, the tail didn't seem that long.
He had witnessed the wyvern throwing hunted beasts into the moat a few times, so the surrounding monsters seemed to be taking good care of them.
Just as he entered the outer castle with admiration, this time he encountered countless bones.
They were living as if they were residents of the castle, calmly going about their own lives, but upon discovering Zenon, they were very pleased and shook their shoulder bones.
Click, click.
Instead of crying sounds, the noise of teeth clashing echoed all around.
"......Uh, nice to see you too."
With an even more disgusted face than before, Zenon crossed them faster than light.
The skeletons, who had won a fierce gang fight against the goblins that had previously occupied the castle, proudly occupied one side of the outer castle.
Moreover, for some reason, they thought of Zenon very favorably.
Sometimes to the point of looking servile.
"No, wait, it's not that heavy so you don't need to carry......!"
Several skeletons shared Zenon's load and led the way, rattling.
How exactly was he being perceived among these monsters?
Zenon buried the truth he didn't want to know but was curious about deep in his heart and let out a long sigh.
"Please take me to the inner castle front yard."
When he spoke to the skeletons with a resigned voice, the skeletons clicked their teeth again.
He didn't need an answer, so please just stop making that sound.
* * *
After Zenon announced he would make Beladia Castle his residence, the Magic Tower was turned upside down.
Generally, there were two main reactions: 'Since you're going anyway, properly investigate the Trebi Mountain Range and become the first archmage to conquer the mountain range' was the crazy talk, and 'Did you have a late puberty and run away from home?' was the reprimand.
The former was mainly from the young and vigorous mages of the tower, and the latter was from the dignified elders and his master.
For Zenon, it was difficult to provide clear grounds to persuade them.
If he said it was for research, the Magic Tower was already a place fully equipped with excellent research facilities. And Beladia Castle wasn't exactly a good place for humans to live either......
Especially his master, who had a history of fainting backward during a video communication when a skeleton suddenly poked its head out behind Zenon, kept insisting he return immediately.
Even now, that was the case.
—At your age, running away from home, what nonsense!
"Who said anything about running away? This is independence."
—Who calls independence moving to a monster den!
"Monster den? That's not true."
—Then what is that thing flying behind you if not a gargoyle!
Oops, it's not yet time for gargoyles to be active.
Zenon clicked his tongue briefly and subtly moved locations. Gargoyles are monsters that mainly active at night, and it was still bright out.
It must have woken up a bit early.
"Maybe he's seeing things now that he's aged."
—How dare you say that to your master!
"Instead of supporting your disciple's independence, why do you keep nagging with words that won't even work?"
It's about time he gave up.
Zenon glanced at the finished flower bed. He had been so busy planting the seeds he received from Heinri one by one that the day had passed, and his contact with the Magic Tower was later than usual.
Probably his master was this angry because of that reason too.
Even though he was diligently making contact and showing he was perfectly fine, he was still worried.
"Aren't you supposed to go eat soon?"
—Are you the one eating and living in that desolate place?
"Of course. How can a person live without eating?"
—What about Nesi?
"She's here. Gamon too."
—You've stolen even an old man's precious pet, so make sure to take care of Nesi and Gamon properly even if you starve!
At his master's spiteful curse, Zenon just laughed.
Because he knew very well what kind of heart his master had in attaching Nesi and Gamon to him.
Even when offered to send people, he refused to bring anyone, so as a second best option, he sent reliable animals.
Anelli did the same, so everyone must see Nesi as a reliable wolf.
—So when exactly do you plan to return? You need to attend the regular research presentation.
The regular research presentation was one of the Magic Tower's major events and also a place to review new magic tools to sell externally.
If you achieved good results, it was possible to jump several floors in the tower, so everyone usually put their life into the presentation.
Naturally, it didn't end in just a day or two.
"I'll go, but I can't stay long. The flower bed arrangement isn't finished yet."
—This crazy guy, what flower bed arrangement!
"Skeletons have bone hands so they can't plant plants delicately. I have to do it myself even if it takes time."
That's not all. This Beladia Castle really had too many places to work on.
Even if basic maintenance and cleaning were solved at once with magic, detailed decoration work inevitably required bringing items directly and putting in effort.
At Zenon's somewhat nonchalant words, his master let out a deep sigh.
—Are you doing all that to impress someone?
"How did you know? I was actually planning to complain about that. I've been worrying about how to effectively impress someone, and every day seems too short."
—To that resurrected one?
Even without explaining, his master seemed to have quickly figured out who Zenon was waiting for at this place.
A bit embarrassed by that, Zenon gave an awkward smile. His master continued without waiting for Zenon's answer.
—I heard the resurrected one's trail suddenly disappeared. The paladin who went on an unofficial pilgrimage with the resurrected one returned in tatters. Do you know how much Moriko nagged me about that?
"Why did Priest Morico come to you to argue about that paladin becoming a rag?"
—Why! Because you were traveling with them, to dig out the full story!
Zenon frowned and shook his head. Those temple people, honestly.
—I suspected for a while that he ended up like that from fighting you, and I almost blew up that temple!
"You should have just blown it up."
—No, this guy!
At his master's gaze looking at him as if he was saying something childish, Zenon pouted his lips.
He was serious.