Chapter 855

The day after Fran spared the blue cats because of Drulay’s plea.

Fran woke up much later than usual.

She slept very badly last night. That must have been due to the unimaginable stress from sparing the blue cats after hearing their disgusting insults.

Fran usually fell asleep within seconds of getting into bed, but this time she tossed and turned for about an hour.

She would normally be unfazed by these kinds of things, but I guess that wasn’t the case when it came to blue cats.

『I’ll wash your face.』

「Nnnn……」

『Here, put on your shoes.』

「Nnnn……」

Fran was still half asleep, so I helped her get ready with telekinesis.

At first I had to force her drooping head around like a puppet, but she quickly got it together after I took breakfast out from the dimensional storage.

As expected from a glutton like her, the smell of delicious food was the only thing that could wake her up.

「Nom nom.」

「Om om」

『Is it good?』

「Curry buns are the best.」

「Woof!」

They’re still on the “one plate of curry a day” punishment, but this isn’t curry. It’s a curry flavored meat bun, which doesn’t count.

……Yeah, I know it’s a technicality.

But I wanted to give Fran her favorite food to cheer her up.

After the meal, we decided to talk to the guildmaster first.

『After that, we can try going to the Sanatorium again.』

Fran was in a terrible mood after yesterday’s events, so we ended up forgetting about the Sanatorium.

I hope we can check it out today.

『Today is the day we’ll go to that tower.』

「Nn.」

While discussing our next move, we went down to the Adventurers Guild, which was pretty deserted in the early afternoon. Since our current room was built right on top of the guild, that made it pretty convenient.

「Oh, perfect timing.」

「Nn?」

When we went to greet Prear, he was reading some kind of letter.

「I just got the info you were after.」

He said that with a grin. Fran sat in front of Prear with a serious look on her face, staring into his eyes silently.

「……Let me hear it.」

「This is a bar, you know? Order something.」

「……Juice.」

「Coming right up.」

Despite Fran’s aura of “hurry up and say it,” Prear began to prepare the juice in his usual fashion.

As one would expect from the guildmaster of this outlaw town, he withstood Fran’s pressure as if it was nothing.

「Here you go.」

「Nn.」

Fran gulped down the sour juice that Prear served her. Perhaps due to the acidity of the juice, her agitation seemed to have been lessened somewhat.

She was still frowning, but the intimidation leaking out had eased, and she waited patiently for Prear’s words.

After confirming this, the old man opened his mouth.

「I’ve got two big tips for you, the one you asked me for, and one you didn’t. Which did you want to hear first?」

「……The one I didn’t ask for.」

If you’re giving us information we never asked for, that must mean it’s really important.

「Since yesterday, the Dragon King Syndicate has been showing signs of significant movement. They’ve been seen making a commotion in residential areas and on the main street. Be careful. Worst case scenario, you might get caught up in their war.」

「I already saw them yesterday.」

「What the hell? Please tell me you didn’t fight them or anything.」

「Don’t worry. I didn’t fight them.」

「Good. Anyways, the reason for the commotion is that one of their higher ups just up and vanished.」

「So they’re looking for a traitor?」

We had assumed the higher up in question was trying to break off relations with the gang, but apparently that was pretty unlikely.

「Nah, he’s a pretty loyal guy as far as I can tell. Not the kind of guy who would abandon his comrades and run away by himself. Anyways, the Dragon King Syndicate seems to be going a bit haywire in their search for him.」

That’s quite the reputation he’s earned from Prear.

『Hmm. A higher up in the Dragon King Syndicate and a pretty loyal guy?』

（I know one.）

『Yeah.』

The name of a certain dragonkin was on both our minds.

「Is that Gazzol?」

「You know him?」

「We met him the day before yesterday.」

「D-Don’t tell me, you――」

「We only fought a little. Then I healed him and let him go.」

「You telling the truth? You really didn’t kill him?」

「Nn.」

「……You’d better not be lying. I’ll believe you.」

Despite saying so, he still looked doubtful. He knew Fran could beat Gazzol, and that she had dimensional storage for hiding things.

（What happened to him?）

『Hmmm. All we know is that he disappeared.』

He said he was going to tell the rest of the Dragon King Syndicate not to antagonize Fran. Maybe that caused him to clash with the higher-ups, so they erased him?

But the fact that the Dragon King Syndicate was looking for Gazzol meant this wasn’t an internal conflict. Or maybe it’s all an act to cover it up……?

『Hmm. No clue.』

（I see.）

I’m curious as to why he went missing, but it’s not like we’re close friends. I didn’t care enough to go looking for him, and I guess Fran felt the same way.

She mainly seemed disappointed that she lost a potential source of information. I’ll just keep Gazzol in the back of my mind in case he comes up again.

「Now for the info you asked for, regarding the helpers of the Beastmen Union.」