Chapter 1149: High Rank Adventurers

「Want a mock battle?」

Seems Fran is also interested in Dore, seeing as how she instantly challenged her to a mock battle. Well, I suppose Fran wasn’t that serious about the proposition.

As expected, Dore refused the offer as well.

「I am very sorry, but a mock battle with you seems like it would be very tiring. Forgive me, will you?」

「Nn.」

「Good girl, I like those who know when you back down.」

Fran didn’t seem too disappointed either. She must have expected that her challenge would be rejected from the beginning.

Maybe she was still excited after the fierce battle the other day, so she couldn’t help but challenge them.

「I really am sorry. I am a bit interested to tell the truth… but I have to perform my job as Jean’s bodyguard.」

「Okay. Sorry for asking.」

「Don’t worry about it. For kids your age, asking for things is practically your job.」

Judging by her smile, it seems Dore really does like Fran.

We continued exchanging information with Jean and the others, until Forrund and Donadrond approached us. It seems their meeting had just ended.

「Oh! Cysanth-dono! Dore-dono! It has been so long!」

「Hello, Donadrond-kun. You’ve grown quite a bit since the last time I saw you.」

「Come on, Dore. It’s only been a few years, so there’s no way he changed much. You should really stop saying that to everyone.」

「Oh Cysanth, is that so? I could have sworn he got bigger…」

「Huh? Now that you mention it… He really did get bigger!」

「Hahaha! My mutation just a few days ago definitely bulked up my body as well as my horns!」

Yeah, Donadrond definitely changed a lot in that mutation. Anyone who knew him from before would get a bit of a shock.

「Forrund-kun, everything still good?」

「Nothing ever changes for the Hundred Swords.」

「Yeah.」

「Ufufufu. You’re still as shy as ever.」

「Shy? Most people would call that unsociable. Just look at how quiet the Hundred Swords and the Black Lightning Princess are. Are young’uns these days even capable of enjoying life?」

「No way, Cysanth. I think it’s just you enjoying life a bit too much. The guild tells me you’ve been spending a lot of time at the casino, as well as bars with pretty girls serving you drinks.」

「Kah! The whole point of life is to enjoy it! I haven’t had nearly enough fun yet!」

Cysanth confidently replied to Dore’s exasperated statement. Is it just me, or is this old guy a bit too wild?

That said, he quickly realized that Donadrond and Forrund were staring at him. While Cysanth brushed off his old friend Dore, it seems he cared about his image with the youngsters.

「O-Of course, training is important too, but you can’t dedicate your entire life to that, right? Who wants to end up like old Dimitris?」

「True. He is a bit on the weird side.」

So even these former Rank A adventurers thought Dimitris was eccentric.

Maleficent and Persona eventually joined in socializing. Before I knew it, we were surrounded by a small crowd of mostly adventurers.

While they seemed interested in our conversation, none could approach us.

「L-Look at those high-rankers.」

「Who is that girl?」

「Dumbass! That’s the Black Lightning Princess! They say she’s the adventurer closest to reaching Rank A!」

「R-Really? Now that you mention it, her aura is kinda impressive!」

Come to think of it, no ordinary adventurer can approach such a group casually.

Two Rank A adventurers: Forrund of the “Hundred Swords” and Maleficent the “Black Spot”, as well as his partner, Persona the “White Sheet”. Two former Rank A adventurers: Cysanth the “Tempest Spear” and Dore the “Dance Princess of Death”. The Rank B adventurer who is considered Rank A at war time, Jean the “Slaughterhouse”, as well as the Rank B adventurer Fran the “Black Lightning Princess”. Finally Donadrond, who had no alias but was well known by adventurers for his recent accomplishments, not to mention his mutation in the previous battle.

All of the most powerful adventurers in the region were gathered in one place.

As expected, the meeting contents could not be spoken in a public area. Donadrond led us into a tent before explaining our future plans.

Tea time is generally a forbidden luxury when you’re so close to the front lines, but Fran served everyone tea and sweets regardless. Guess I can turn a blind eye to that since it’s an important meeting.

Dore was so happy that she gave Fran a series of head pats. Seems like everyone else got a boost in morale too.

The tent was filled with the sounds of munching as Donadrond finally finished his explanation.

「Fuhahaha! So we will be returning to the eastern front and focusing on that side?」

「Right. We decided bringing down Rajhil will be too costly to our forces.」

The original plan was to take Rajhil, but they eventually came to the conclusion that doing so was impossible.

Not only would we suffer countless casualties, but many of the city’s citizens would die too. There’s practically no benefit to taking the city after such losses.

Instead, our new strategy involved distracting Raydoss with a huge army preparing to siege Rajhil. Meanwhile, a small group of elites will capture our actual objective, a fort in the east.

Fran, Jean, Cysanth, Dore, Maleficent, and Persona were assigned to the eastern division, while Forrund and Donadrond lead the adventurers attacking Rajhil.

Even for a decoy army, they require someone strong enough to handle the Red Knights, else they’ll be wiped out in a flash.

Fran was assigned a special role, leading the adventurers of the eastern division. It seems everyone else already had another job, such as Jean being in charge of the undead, and Cysanth/Dore being his bodyguards. Maleficent will apparently be waiting on standby until our enemies bring out the big guns.

『Fran, are you really okay with this? Can you handle being in charge?』

（Heheh. It’s fine, I can do it.）

Hmmm… She certainly seems confident, but I have to worry if things will really work out.