Chapter 691

TENKEN 691 The Surveillance Continues

After dropping Katley off at the mansion, we came to the Adventurer’s Guild. Naturally, we wanted to report about Sibylla and her companion.

The adventurers were noisy when we entered the guild.

Well, Fran is like a celebrity in this city after all.

The adventurers don’t take the bard’s stories as seriously as Katley does, and many of them remember her performance in last year’s martial arts tournament.

In fact, when we walked around the town and other places, Fran was sometimes looked at with admiration even by those who were not a beastman.

「Ara? If it isn’t Fran-chan!」

「Elsa」

The person who greeted Fran was Elsa, a B-Ranked adventurer.

「Long time no see!」

「Nn. It’s been a while」

She’s as fierce as ever. I thought I’d gotten used to her from the last martial arts tournament, but I’m still amazed when I see her after a long time.

A muscular afro onee-san comes up to Fran with her ballerina-like footwork. Contrary to my desire to run away, Fran greets her with a smile.

「Are you going to participate in the tournament again this year?」

「Of course」

「That’s great to hear! After all, it’s unlikely that last year’s first and second place winners will be able to compete this year」

「Is that so?」

Elsa’s words were met with a disappointed response from Fran.

「Well, they’re an adventurer, they can’t help but give priority to requests... So, I’m glad Fran came」

Amanda has to keep a check on the Kingdom of Raidos, and Forrund is still in the Royal Capital, or maybe they were carrying out some kind of request against Raidos?

Could this be our chance to win first place? Fran will be disappointed, but our main rival has decreased in numbers.

This year, the Beast Kings wouldn’t be here, and the A-Ranked adventurers who fought so hard last year might not participate. Then, it was unlikely that there would be anyone stronger than Fran.

As for potential rivals, would it be Colbert and Fermus? They are definitely strong opponents, but Fran has already defeated them. A year has passed since then, and Frans has grown even more, so there is a good chance that she will be able to beat them this time too.

Well, I don’t know if Fermus is going to participate or not though. I believe last year he said that he had no choice but to participate because Diaz asked him to.

Also, the strongest ones we’ve encountered since coming to this city would be Diaz and Sibylla. However, Diaz is a guild master and Sibylla is (presumably) a spy for Raidos.

「What do you want with the guild today? Or did you come just to see me?」

「It’s not」

「I-I see...」

「I have something to report to Diaz. I was going to go see Elsa later」

「Ara! I see!」

Fran has become a bad girl! She’s now capable of using an advanced technique of dropping then raising one’s mood. Well, Elsa is wriggling her body with a look of delight on her face though.

「Guild master is upstairs. But he’s been acting weird since yesterday」

Well, I’m pretty sure this is our fault.

「...Was he angry?」

Fran asked fearfully, but Elsa shook her head with a wry smile.

「I don’t think he’s angry. It’s just that he’s kind of absent-minded. He hasn’t gotten any work done at all. And yet, he’s been wandering around his room making strange growling noises like a caged animal」

「I see」

He certainly didn’t seem to be angry, but it was clear that he had something on his mind.

「Could it be, guild master’s weird behavior has something to do with Fran-chan?」

「Nn」

「I See... Well, let me ask him if he’ll meet you for now」

「I’m counting on you」

「Don’t worry, I’ll do anything if it’s for Fran-chan! Anything! Even if guild master says no, I’ll definitely bring him to meet you!」

「Don’t force Diaz if he doesn’t want to」

「Ara? You sure?」

「Nn」

A few minutes then passed after the exchange.

We’re now walking on the stairs to Diaz’s room. I thought he’d refuse to meet us, but to my surprise, he casually invited us.

When Fran entered the room, she was greeted by Diaz, who had a somewhat distressed expression on his face.

He used to be an old man who looked young and stylish for his age, but now he looks older than his age. He seemed to be very tired after just a single night.

「Can I really see you?」

「I’m just a little lost, but I hear you have something to report to me?」

「Nn」

「If this is a continuation of yesterday’s story, I’d say that I need more time... But this time is just a report, isn’t it? It means that you have something completely different to report, don’t you?」

The guild master could not ignore the report from the high-ranking adventurer it seemed.

I think I need to apologize for thinking that he’s the type to bring his personal feelings into work. Well, he certainly do his job well, but he did bring his personal feelings into works though.

「Shall I leave?」

「It’s fine」

After hearing the report, the hand that Diaz will move will probably be Elsa. If so, it would be better for her to listen too, so that we would not have to do it twice.

「Yesterday, I met a suspicious people in the west dungeon」

「Suspicious people? How suspicious are they?」

「Nn――」

Fran then tells them everything we know about Sibylla and her companion.

The fact that we first met them in Barbra but now they’re in Ulmut. The matter about how they’re too ignorant about adventurers even though they looked like very skilled adventurers. And how unsettled they were at the mention of the Kingdom of Raidos’s deed.

「...They could be a spy for the Kingdom of Raidos」

「I see... This is certainly a vexing situation. Fran, are you aware of their whereabouts?」

「They’re staying at the inn near the town entrance」

Urushi has come back to report once we had left the dungeon.

「I see. I’ll have someone check them out as soon as possible」

「Urushi is still watching them now. If they tried to escape, he should notify us」

「Much appreciated」

「Are we gonna catch them?」

「Hmm... That may be difficult. We’ll easily catch them if they’re just a small fry, but from your story, they must be quite strong, right?」

「Nn」

「...I also don’t want to mess with them and cause damage to the town. Besides, now is not the right time. If something happens now, it might affect the martial arts tournament, right? For the prestige of the guild, we want to prevent that from happening」

「So what are we gonna do? Just keep an eye on them?」

「Well, yes, for now. We’ll capture them after the tournament. Until then, we’ll only keep an eye on them. You’ll be helping us too, right?」

「Nn. Of course」

Fran nodded enthusiastically at Diaz’s words. After all, this might be a chance to fight Sibylla and her companion. There was no way Fran would refuse.