1078: Back to Rokkars
「…Fran-san. I’ll be taking my leave for a bit.」
「Nn.」
「See you later.」
Satia gave a light wave to Fran before quietly disappearing into the shadows. We planned to meet up after arriving in town.
Her demons also took away Flut and the bodies of the demon knights.
「Will Flut be okay?」
『That Life Demon seemed pretty good at healing, so I’m sure he’ll be fine.』
Fran looked anxiously in the direction the demons left. She must still feel guilty for being unable to protect Flut. That said, her discussion with Satia alleviated those feelings for the most part.
「…I won’t let Raydoss get away with this.」
As a result, she could now direct all her anger at Raydoss. The rage previously reserved for the East and South Dukes was now aimed at the country as a whole.
『Fran, I won’t tell you to suppress your anger. Just keep in mind that you’ll scare the villagers if you go back in this state.』
「Mrgh.」
『Let’s try calming down a bit, okay?』
「Nn. Thanks Master.」
Fran took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. By the time we returned to the Metelmam villagers, all of them looked worried.
After all, she disappeared for an hour and came back followed by a giant wolf carrying a man in his mouth.
Getting worried was the natural reaction. We asked the mayor about Derrick, and apparently no one knew who he was.
It seems none of the villagers noticed anything suspicious while he was lurking among them in disguise. He must have been acting very inconspicuously, and it’s not that surprising for the village to receive the occasional visitor.
As expected from a spy specializing in infiltration. Capturing him was a huge windfall.
『Urus.h.i.+, I’ll give you an all-you-can-eat buffet of spicy curry later!』
「Woof!」
（Master, me too!）
『Yeah, I know. You did well too, so eat as much curry as you want.』
（Really?）
『Yeah!』
（Yay!）
If binge eating will make you feel a little better, feel free to dig in.
After that, we reached Rokkars without any issue. Everyone cheered when we saw the outer walls of the city before the sun left the sky completely.
The smoothness of our march was made possible by the villagers following us with almost zero complaints. That’s probably due to seeing Fran’s strength, and the sense of crisis from their village almost being wiped out.
We met up with the soldier captain we had spoken to when delivering the refugees from Dars, and entrusted him with the people of Metelmam as well.
「Thank you so much. It’s all thanks to you that everyone from the village survived.」
「…Nn.」
「Umm…」
The mayor began thanking us, though he seemed to have something else to say. Though he did not know the details of Fran and Flut’s relations.h.i.+p, he was aware of their friends.h.i.+p. Meanwhile, said friend sustained heavy injuries and fell into a coma, but was also the one who tried to kill them.
However, the mayor quickly made up his mind.
「I’m sorry about what happened to your friend, and wish him a speedy recovery.」
「…Thanks.」
「Please excuse me.」
Fran shook the mayor’s hand with a slight smile and parted ways.
（I’m glad we could save the villagers.）
『Yeah, me too.』
After all these events, the sun had set completely. We should head to the guild soon.
「Satia?」
「Fran-san, over here!」
It seems Satia had entered Rokkars before we knew it. She wore a hood over her head, hiding her face.
「First we go to the Adventurers Guild.」
「Got it.」
Our plan was to report to the guild first, then have them introduce us to the town’s lord. We need to discuss what to do with Derrick. To tell the truth, he’s already recovered from the effects of Satia’s poison and returned to normal.
We’ve got him bound and gagged, and he’s missing a leg. As long as he’s in Urus.h.i.+’s mouth, we don’t have to worry about him escaping. For now, at least.
However, this guy has skills like Rope Escape, Flexibility, and Lock Picking. Keeping him bound seems quite challenging.
It’s not like we can have Satia watching him all the time.
The easiest way is probably forcing him into a slave contract, but Fran would never agree to it, not even for an enemy. She might even fly into a rage if the guildmaster so much as suggests that method.
We arrived at the Adventurers Guild without coming up with any good ideas. The giant Urus.h.i.+ almost caused a commotion a couple times, but the guards managed to contain the situation.
Thanks to the greater number of security guards than usual, we arrived at the guild promptly. The soldiers started clearing a path for us about halfway through.
We had Urus.h.i.+ dive into Fran’s shadow, so Fran started dragging Derrick by the collar. d.a.m.n, he was pretending to be lethargic and motionless, but I noticed his eyes scanning the surroundings. He’s clearly searching for an opportunity to escape.
Though Fran didn’t notice it, I certainly did. We can’t be too careful around him.
「Fran-dono. I heard you brought back the people of Metelmam?」
「Nn.」
The guildmaster greeted us, having already heard the situation.
「It seems you’ve been through a lot…」
After seeing Fran dragging Derrick, he inferred that the request did not end peacefully.
「Can you tell me what happened?」
「Nn.」
「Who is this man? Should we take him into custody?」
「No. I’ll take him with me.」
「Uh-huh. What about this lady? Is she one of your companions?」
「A friend. She’s coming with me.」
「I see.」
The guildmaster readily agreed to Satia’s presence, probably believing her to be a fellow adventurer.
He took us straight to his office, where we told him the whole story. Oh, and we covered Derrick with wards of wind and darkness to cut off his hearing and sight.
After listening to our report, the guildmaster looked up to the ceiling and sighed.
「Sigh, such an intricate plot… This is more than a provincial guild can handle. And you brought in a princess too?」
「Sorry to barge in unannounced.」
「Kah! So graceful, she’s clearly of n.o.ble birth! This is the real deal!」
「I already told you that.」
「Siiigh… So what do you think we should do now?」
「Introduce me to the lord.」
After hearing Fran’s words, the sighing guildmaster shook his head with a frustrated smile.
「That’s me!」
「…? The guildmaster is also the town lord?」
「Temporary lord Fabel Magran, the fourth son of Count Magran. My dad died of an illness and this d.a.m.n war broke out right after. All my older brothers are still in training at the royal capital. They can’t get back even if they wanted to, so I’m the acting lord until then! Give me a freaking break, my n.o.ble education was super half-a.s.sed!」
Never expected that one. At first I thought he might have gotten the job from nepotism, but maybe that’s just the way it is in the smaller towns. I’ve heard stories about n.o.ble children becoming adventurers when their older siblings inherit the t.i.tle, so I guess it’s possible for one to become the master of their hometown’s guild if they do a good enough job.
「First things first, I’ll send an envoy to the capital about the Phyllius princess who wants a secret discussion.」
「Sounds good. So, what do we do with this guy?」
「Hmm. We can’t just kill off such an important man from Raydoss. Guess we have to keep him here at the guild for now. I’ll arrange for all the restraints and guards I can get.」
「Please do.」
「But first, let me interrogate him. I need to corroborate the information you’ve given us.」
「Okay.」