"It opened… How?"
Celestine stared at the opened door with a look of surprise.
Rest shrugged in relief and turned to Celestine.
"It's open. Let's go inside."
With that, he took the lead and stepped into the villa.
Celestine and her attendant hurried to follow after him.
"Rest, could you please walk me through the answer?"
"Hm?"
"Why is the answer to that riddle 'cat'?"
The answer to the riddle written on the door had been "cat."
"Hmm… I'm not sure if I can explain it in a way that makes sense…"
Rest fell into thought about how to put it.
This was the kind of puzzle only a Japanese person could solve.
The key to solving it lay in the twelve zodiac animals — in other words, the Chinese zodiac.
(A rat's head, and then a shishi… a boar's tail. That's what the zodiac signs mean. And "those who cannot join" means animals that couldn't be placed into the zodiac — in other words, the cat.)
There was an old folktale about how the cat was left out of the zodiac because it was tricked by the rat, and the riddle was modeled on that story.
In reality, the zodiac animals had been assigned retroactively and had nothing to do with cats, apparently.
"It seems to be based on a legend from a book I read long ago… I've forgotten the title, and it might be hard to explain."
"I see…"
Celestine didn't appear fully convinced, but she didn't press the matter any further.
I'm grateful for a lady who knows how to read the air.
"More importantly, let's investigate inside the villa."
Rest changed the subject and began exploring the villa's interior.
The villa was two stories high. Furthermore, there was a staircase leading underground.
The first floor contained a living room, a toilet, a kitchen, and a shower room.
"Huh?"
"Kyah...!"
Celestine let out a short scream.
The moment they entered the living room, they caught sight of a humanoid figure wriggling there.
"Is this... a golem?"
A humanoid something with smooth, white skin.
It had no eyes or nose on its face, like a roughly made mannequin, and was moving about in the living room.
It held a broom in its hand, seemingly cleaning the living room.
"A golem... In my country, owning a golem without permission should be forbidden, shouldn't it?"
Peering past Rest's back at the golem, Celestine spoke.
In some countries, magically animated autonomous creatures like golems were prohibited.
That was because there were humans who would use such magical creatures as soldiers or assassins.
(Disposable soldiers without hearts... If one wanted to abuse them, there's no limit.)
Moreover, in a past incident, there had been humans who used deceased human bodies like zombies.
Or perhaps there were even humans who had stuffed the souls of the dead into dolls and kept them alive.
Those kinds of magic were condemned by most people as acts of playing with life itself.
"This golem has been moving since the queen dowager was still alive, right? How has it kept going all this time without any mana supply?"
"There's likely a power source inside it. Perhaps a magic stone filled with a monster's mana?"
"Golem technology isn't something they teach at the academy, either... Well, I suppose that's obvious since it's a prohibited art."
The golem was simply cleaning the living room. It showed no signs of turning hostile toward them.
"So they use a golem powered by ultra-advanced magic technology as a cleaning robot. What a luxurious way to use it."
"A cleaning... robot? What exactly is that...?"
"Ah, sorry. It's nothing."
There was no way anyone in this world would know what a robot was.
If they did, that would make them a reincarnated person.
(Celestine isn't a reincarnated person! Well, I figured as much!)
"There's nothing in the living room... So that means the next place to check would be upstairs?"
She had blocked entry using a special kind of magic.
There had to be something in this villa.
"Let's head up. The basement can wait."
Rest climbed the stairs.
When he reached the second floor, there were two rooms there.
"This one looks like a study...?"
He opened one of the doors, revealing a room lined with a wooden desk and bookshelves.
The musty smell unique to old books assailed his nose.
"Oh, this room is... ah."
"What's wrong... ah."
Celestine opened the door to the other room.
Rest followed behind and peered inside... and was struck speechless.
"It's beautiful..."
"............"
The room had a large window, with a balcony on the other side.
Stepping into the room, he was captivated at first glance.
By the view outside that window.
"The sea... it's incredible..."
Through the window stretched an endless ocean. And a clear blue sky.
The scenery was so grand that it didn't lose out to the view from the cape moments ago.
—————————— Work Introduction The King of Poison — Awakened to the Greatest Power, I Command Beautiful Princesses and Become Master of a Frenzied Harem Volume 3 now on sale. Manga adaptation also in progress!!
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