Chapter 952

952: Investigation Request

After the Silver Lady finished her explanation on the divine swords, we split up and went to the Adventurers Guild. In the meantime, we asked the Silver Lady to keep an eye on Nadia.

She seemed to be no stranger to Nadia’s situation, so she accepted our request instantly.

Since she had the ability to fight as well as move incredibly quickly, she could easily carry away Nadia if there’s ever an emergency.

We’ve taken care of the antidemons around Bultori, so our work here was done. We’d probably be heading back to Nocta tomorrow, and Fran wanted to see Nadia as soon as possible too.

Fran walked to the guild at a brisk pace.

However, there was someone blocking our path. Well, not exactly “blocking”. They simply approached her at the entrance of the guild.

But their identity was the problem.

「Hello, young lady. Are you on your way to the Adventurers Guild?」

「……Nn.」

Adol stepped up to greet us, followed by a bunch of his friends from Silard. His face looked relatively normal, so our initial impression was that he was completely fine now.

Upon closer inspection though, his movements seemed dull compared to this morning. He was clearly putting up a facade, probably since he needed to make his country look good.

We wanted to avoid them as much as possible, but there’s nothing we could do if they were waiting for us at the entrance. Fran tried to hide her presence and slip by them, but that obviously didn’t work, since she was their target from the beginning.

The Silver Lady just warned us about them, so I had to wonder what they were plotting.

「That’s a beautiful magic sword, isn’t it? Where did you get it?」

「……Master.」

「Oh? So you inherited it from your master?」

Looking at the empty smile on his face right now, I was reminded of the blank expression he had during the battle. They were completely different expressions, yet they both gave the same impression. Maybe because of his brainwashing education, but Adol seemed abnormal somehow.

「You mustn’t trust the Militant Nation of Hagane. They commit terrible atrocities and treat their citizens inhumanely.」

「Hmmm…」

「You saw those poor soldiers, yes? Forcibly conscripting old men and sending them off to die is but one of their many crimes.」

I’d love to reply “I don’t want to hear that shit from you”. You really think those “pitiful old men” were forcibly conscripted? Then why were they filled so much motivation?

Fran looked incredibly uninterested as Adol’s words went in one ear and out the other. Adol continued spouting nonsense, while the men standing behind him had their eyes fixated on us.

But they weren’t just standing idly. I sensed a slight movement of mana. Those guys might in charge of using Appraisal and such to look for hidden talents.

However, their expression immediately changed to one of contempt. They probably thought they’ve learned the extents of Fran’s abilities through the appraisal, thinking her to be a weakling.

「……Now, if you’ll excuse me.」

「Nn.」

The men behind Adol said nothing, which probably signaled that Fran was of no use. Adol abruptly cut the conversation short and left.

I guess we didn’t need to use our excuse about being summoned by the guildmaster.

We didn’t want anything more to do with them, so I’m not gonna complain about them leaving. But come on, that’s just plain rude. Did they really think we didn’t realize what they were doing?

Even without prior information, anyone with eyes would have found them suspicious. I guess they wouldn’t be able to complain too loudly because of how troublesome Silard was though.

As a result, maybe Silard never managed to realize how unnatural their own behavior was. Then they just continued doing the same thing.

And besides, shouldn’t someone at Adol’s level be able to recognize Fran’s true abilities……? Why didn’t he say anything?

『Hmm, I don’t know if we should be laughing at their stupidity or scared of their unpredictability. They seem to have a problem with internal communication at least……』

（I hate those guys.）

『Well, at least they lost interest in us.』

「Nn.」

『Let’s try to stay far away from now on.』

（Okay.）

We then returned to our original goal of reporting back to guildmaster, but……

There we were met by an unexpected person. Replare, the guildmaster of Nocta, was waiting for us.

After a short greeting, she explained why came all this way to Bultori, with Bultori’s guildmaster giving some supporting details.

「An investigation request?」

「Exactly. I have to admit that this antidemon season has been a little too unpredictable.」

「I’d say it’s a complete anomaly, it’s just too different from the norm. So many powerful antidemons are popping up everywhere.」

「That’s why we’re sending a team to investigate the center of the continent.」

「It will be a small scouting team, consisting only of elites.」

And so, the two guildmasters designated Fran to take this request. Since this was a direct request from the guild, she could not refuse without good reason.

She might have been able to excuse herself by citing exhaustion or unfamiliarity with the geography, but Fran wanted to do it.

Not only did she feel happy about being relied on, but Gordicia’s problems would directly affect Nadia’s safety. If there was a chance that her work could eliminate the anomaly, she would gladly accept the job.

（Master. Can I?）

『Well, it is just an investigation……』

The request was for investigation, not destroying a horde or hunting a commander. Moreover, the conditions were incredibly advantageous to us. Regardless of our findings, the request would be considered complete after surveying the designated area. I’m sure Fran would take a hit to her reputation if she refused.

「You want me to go alone?」

「No, I will ask you to go with Izario-dono.」

If Izario’s there, we’d risk getting caught up in Ignis’ power…… But he’s not the kind of guy who would intentionally attack us, and if it comes to it, we can use teleportation to make some distance.

With Izario, we’d be quite safe even if some formidable antidemons show up. In fact, this only made the request more appealing.

It seems Fran was only expected to act as a scout and messenger. If the need arose, she was even allowed ditch Izario and report back alone.

「……What about the guys from Silard?」

「They’ve already reached their quota and they don’t work for the guild. We can’t ask them to join the investigation.」

I thought about refusing if we had to continue working with Adol, but now my biggest concern was gone.

「Okay. Then I accept.」

「Did something happen between you and Silard? Well, I don’t hear too many good things about them.」

「Not yet.」

「Yet, you say…… If you have any problems, come to us, okay? The guild will take care of it.」

「I’ll let you know.」

「Ufufufu. Leave it to me. In return, you’ll handle the request, yes?」

「Nn.」