Chapter 863

「So any ideas on the culprit?」

Fran nodded at Gephe’s words.

「Nn. They might be related to the Sanatorium.」

「……Seriously?」

It wasn’t only Gephe, Wangon also looked surprised. Even for these outlaws, the idea of the Sanatorium doing evil had never crossed their minds.

「Numerae was silenced right after he mentioned the Sanatorium, which means they could be involved. Well, since we couldn’t hear any more from him, they’re our only real suspect.」

「So they’re suspicious, but no confirmation. Tch.」

Gephe muttered and clicked his tongue in frustration. He must have been feeling a strong irritation toward the mastermind.

Sensing this, Mea advised him not to get ahead of himself.

「See? That’s exactly what I’m talking about. Don’t rush into things without thinking again, because that’s precisely what they want you to do.」

「I know. You better hold on to that dog’s leash then, yeah?」

「Ah? You should fucking stop talking to the lady like that!」

「Shut up! Stop barking already! Grah!」

Oh boy, they’re at it again. They say “the more you fight, the better you get along”. But I think “opposites attract, similar repels” describes these two better.

Seeing the fact that they shared such a similar personality with their enemy only increased their annoyance at each other.

Fran activated King Intimidation to shut the two up again.

「No fighting. I told you that earlier.」

「I-I’m sorry……」

「Sorry…… It was an accident.」

「Next time, I’ll make you quiet.」

「Okay……」

「U-Uh-huh……」

After Fran’s threat, Wangon and Gephe became surprisingly docile. The same went for the outlaws who had been making noise around them.

Awe, fear, respect, worship. They seemed to have a variety of emotions, but they all recognized Fran as a complete superior.

The outlaws of this city may be easier to deal with than I thought. There’s some annoying parts, like their bloodlust and petty pride, but they accept you if you prove your strength.

「I’m gonna want to beat the shit out of this guy if I stay here any longer, so we’re pulling out. I’ll let you know if I hear anything, so let me know if you find anything on Gazzol too. Please.」

「Nn. Okay.」

「Hey puppy! Temporary truce! You better spread the word to the others!」

「That’s my line! I don’t want to see you damn lizards anymore!」

「Hmph!」

「Keh!」

They turned away without further talk, so we can let them off the hook this time. I never expected a normal conversation from them anyways.

「We’ll return to the Beastmen Union for now. You’re staying at the Adventurers Guild, right Fran?」

「Nn.」

「Then I’ll leave a message at the guild if anything comes up. If you need us, come to the Beastmen Union. I’ll tell them to let you through.」

「Okay.」

Fran nodded, but Mea looked a little worried.

「Fran. Don’t do anything rash, okay?」

「Nn. I’ll be fine.」

「I hope so…… We wish to destroy the black market slavers as well. You can call on us at any time, you know.」

That worried expression never left Mea’s face. She must have understood how Fran, a black cat, felt about the illegal slavers.

After both the beastmen and dragonkin had left, we remained in the plaza to discuss our next move.

『Well, our best clue is dead so……』

（I’m going to the Sanatorium.）

『Yeah, let’s do that since it was the original plan anyways. But we’re just gonna check it out today, okay?』

（Nn. I know.）

Since we didn’t have any other leads, we decided to scout out the Sanatorium. We can just get a checkup for today, while taking a quick look around.

Along the way there, we scanned for the warding stones too. Fran had sensed many disturbances since we were here, such as after our encounter with Gazzol.

There might be more agents lurking around aside from Numerae.

And sure enough, we found something.

（Master, I found one.）

『Which direction?』

（On the roof of that building.）

『Okay, let’s go up there.』

Like I thought, I still couldn’t feel anything. The warding stones must be impeding my senses. On the other hand, Fran managed to detect them without Awakening now that she remembered the feeling.

After climbing up to the roof, we saw the warding stones placed there, but nothing else.

I placed the stones into storage, and found a box-like object left in the center, called a “Long-Range Surveillance Ward”. It seemed to be something equivalent to a surveillance camera.

So the culprit wasn’t watching us in person, but monitoring the entire city using these magic tools. They must have been watching us through this when they caused Numerae to self-destruct.

『Nice find. There wasn’t even a person to sense this time either.』

She was able to detect it earlier by sensing some kind of electromagnetic wave emitted by Numerae. This time, however, she found only the magic tool.

（Hmmm. It’s kinda different from the surroundings? It being not weird is weird.）

『What do you mean?』

（Nn. It’s like――）

Fran’s explanation about her sensing was pretty difficult to understand, but I somehow managed to get it. The main idea was that the entire city block gave off a minimal, but noticeable aura. Meanwhile, she felt nothing from the area blocked by the warding stones, which made them suspicious-looking voids.

This method of detection was possible only because Fran could intuitively detect presences and mana at long distances without the use of skills.

『But this makes it harder for us to go to the Sanatorium.』

（Why?）

『They’ve probably realized that we discovered their surveillance wards.』

If so, heading to the Sanatorium now might be like diving headfirst into the enemy’s main stronghold. Going in without preparing any countermeasures was scary to me now.

Still, it’s better than having an enemy being able to monitor us without our knowledge.

（Then let’s take a look from the outside.）

『I guess that’s about all we can do. Urushi, let me know if you find Gazzol’s scent.』

（Woof!）

I can always consider going in myself as a last resort. Let’s just hope we can find something.