"It opened... but how?"
Celestine stared at the open door, her face a mask of astonishment.
Rest shrugged in relief and looked back at her.
"It’s open. Let’s head inside."
With that, he took the lead and stepped into the villa. Celestine and her attendant followed close behind, their movements hurried.
"Rest-san, could you explain the logic to me?"
"Hmm?"
"Why was 'Cat' the answer to that riddle?"
The solution to the puzzle inscribed on the door had indeed been 'Cat.'
"Well... even if I explained it, I’m not sure you’d understand..."
Rest paused, considering how to frame it.
It was a puzzle that could only be solved by someone from Japan. The key lay in the Twelve Zodiac Signs.
The head of the Rat and the tail of the Boar... they represent the start and the end of the Zodiac cycle. The one that couldn't join them is the animal left out of the sequence—the Cat.
There was an old folk tale about how the Cat had been tricked by the Rat and missed out on a spot in the Zodiac; the riddle was clearly using that as a motif. In reality, the animals were supposedly assigned to the signs much later, making the story of the Cat apocryphal, but the cultural weight remained.
"It’s based on a legend from a book I read a long time ago. I’ve forgotten the title, so explaining the nuance might be difficult."
"Is that so...?"
Celestine didn't seem entirely satisfied with the answer, but she didn't press him. He was grateful for her tact.
"More importantly, let’s see what’s inside."
Changing the subject, Rest began his investigation of the interior.
The villa was a two-story structure, with a staircase leading down to a basement. The first floor consisted of a living room, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a shower room.
"Oh?"
"Eek!"
Celestine let out a sharp cry. The moment they stepped into the living room, a moving silhouette caught her eye.
"Is this... a golem?"
It was a humanoid figure with smooth, white skin. It had no eyes or nose; the thing looked like a crude mannequin as it moved about the room. It held a broom in its hands, seemingly intent on sweeping the floor.
"A golem... In this kingdom, the possession of unauthorized golems is strictly forbidden," Celestine said, peering at the construct from behind Rest’s back.
Magical creatures that moved autonomously, such as golems, were banned in certain countries. This was because they could be utilized as mindless soldiers or assassins.
Disposable soldiers without hearts... there’s no end to the ways they could be misused.
History also held darker tales—necromancers using the bodies of the dead like zombies, or those who attempted to achieve immortality by binding souls to dolls. Such magic was widely reviled as a desecration of life.
"This golem has been active since the Queen Dowager’s time, right? How has it kept moving all these years without a fresh supply of mana?"
"There must be a power source inside its body. Perhaps a magic stone saturated with a monster’s mana?"
"They don't teach golemancy at the Academy, so I wouldn't know. Then again, it makes sense given they’re contraband."
The golem showed no interest in them; it simply continued to clean the room.
"...To think an advanced piece of magical engineering is being used as a cleaning robot. Talk about an extravagant waste."
"A cleaning... robot? What is that?"
"Ah, sorry. Just talking to myself."
There was no way anyone in this world would know the word "robot." If they did, they were a fellow reincarnated person.
Well, Celestine certainly isn't one. Not that I ever really suspected her.
"Nothing else in the living room... In that case, maybe upstairs?"
The villa had been sealed with special magic for a reason. There had to be something here.
"Let's go up. We can check the basement later."
Rest climbed the stairs to the second floor, where they found two doors.
"Is this a study?"
He pushed open the first door to reveal a room filled with wooden desks and bookshelves. The sharp, musty scent of old paper and mold hit his nose.
"As for the other room... Oh."
"Did you find—ah."
Celestine opened the second door. Rest peered inside a moment later and found himself breathless.
"Beautiful..."
"..."
The room featured a massive window with a balcony beyond it. From the moment they entered the room, the view held them captive.
"The ocean... This is incredible."
Through the glass lay the vast, unending blue of the sea beneath an open sky. The scenery was so majestic that it rivaled the view from the cape they had visited earlier.