Chapter 698

As we watched the mantis man checking the tournament table, his head suddenly turned to us.

The sight of him turning his head was quite horrifying.

I readied myself to activate telekinesis at any time. But what the mantis man said next was something that I didn't expect.

「Could it be, you're the Black Heavenly Tiger, Fran?」

「Nn」

「Oh! I knew it, my friends in the royal capital said that they were indebted to you」

The royal capital? Half-insect kin in the royal capital means――

『He's Eliante's acquaintance?』

Eliante was the guild master of the adventurer’s guild in the royal capital of the Kingdom of Kranzel, she was a half-insect spider kin. She was also acquainted with the members of the Antennae and Shells, a mercenary group that she used to belong to.

This mercenary group is an unusual group of mercenaries made up entirely of half-insect kin.

「…You're, Eliante's acquaintance?」

「That's right!」

The mantis man let out a happy voice when Fran mentioned Eliante's name. Well, I can't really read the expression on this guy's face though, I can only guess from his voice.

「It's a pleasure to meet you. I am the leader of the mercenary group called 『Antennae and Shells』; my name is Neidhart」

Neidhart bows politely. Despite his mantis-like appearance, he is quite refined.

「You're the leader?」

「Yes. Well, there were no other members who would do it, and they just forced me to become the leader」

Even though he said that, I could sense a kind of presence in Neidhart that was befitting of someone who stood above others.

It may have been his own humble way of saying it, or the fact that the other members of the group were not good at leading, but even without that, Neidhart looked very suitable as the leader of the group.

「I'd heard you're a lovely young lady, but you were even more lovely than the rumors said」

「?」

「Excuse me. That was rude of me」

Even though it is an impolite line, it doesn't feel unpleasant at all. I guess it's because his attitude is that of a gentleman.

「Thank you for helping my friends. Please let me know if you ever need any help. Never leave a friend behind, always return the favor. That's our principle」

What a nice guy! He's so nice in both personality and manners!

「They helped me a lot too. We're even」

「Please don't say that, I heard you've saved my friends' very life. I really do feel grateful, so please don't hesitate to ask if you need our help」

「Okay」

「That said, I won't go easy on you if we were to meet in the tournament, okay?」

「Just as I hoped」

Fran smiled at Neidhart's words. She seemed to get a kick out of imagining how strong Neidhart was.

He's in the same block with Fermus and Elsa. So, in order to meet Fran, he would have to make it to the final and defeat them first.

「…Is everyone else here?」

「Robin and the others are still in the royal capital helping Eliante. It's about time for us to move on to the next battleground though」

「Isn't Neidhart the leader?」

「Oh, are you wondering why I'm the only one here?」

「Nn」

「Well, I'm here to recruit new members」

It seems that Neidhart's goal is to draw attention to himself by participating in the tournament and attract the interest of the half-insect kin to join his mercenary group.

His mercenary group consists of only half-insect kin. It's not that it was exclusive to half-insect kin only, but their purpose is to help each other by gathering together with other half-insect kin, who are often looked at as odd in society.

They are treated less favorably if their characteristics were a lot different from that of humans. There is half-insect kin who have been persecuted and have developed a strong fear of other species because of their strong insect-like characteristics.

For such people, a mercenary group of only half-insect kin could be a safe haven.

That's the reason why they prefer to not welcome other races such as humans, elves, dwarves, etc. into the group, and stick with a group of only half-insect kin.

However, there is not many half-insect kin who have strong traits of their roots. Even if they wanted to increase their numbers, they were not able to find good people.

「That's why I've been searching for talent in various places. I think it's a good idea to participate in this tournament, because if I do well, I'll catch the attention of a lot of half-insect kin」

Neidhart's participation in this martial arts tournament would certainly be a hot topic. If the story of their mercenary group were to spread along with it, there would surely be people who wanted to join the group.

「I see」

「Fran-dono too, if you meet any half-insect kin on your traves, please advertise us」

「Okay. If you ever meet any black cat kin, I'd like you to tell them about our evolution too」

「Very well then, let's help each other」

Neidhart should know quite a bit about the black cat people. That's why, he should know about their evolution conditions.

This is probably because such information can be used as a weapon for a mercenary group.

「Oh, right, one piece of advice」

「?」

「It seems that there are people who were investigating you. I don't know who they are, but I'm guessing they're not adventurers」

「Are they gathering information for the tournament?」

「It may be, but at this time of the year, a lot of people enter this town. As a famous person, you might have created resentment without knowing it, so you'd better be careful」

「I understand. Thank you for telling me」

「Not at all. Very well then, let's meet again sometime」

「Nn」

After giving a bow, Neidhart left the scene.

『People who were investigating Fran, huh』

(Enemy?)

『I don't know. It's also possible that they're just looking for information on famous adventurers』

Urushi is still away for surveillance. It looks like we'll need to be more careful from now on.