Chapter 236

The Spar Request

『It looks like it's time to do the thing Gamud asked us to do . Why don't we head on over?』

「Nn . 」

『So we're going to be fighting some young adventurers...?』

「Ready to do best . 」

『I uh... am pretty sure that isn't what he wanted you to do . 』

「Nn?」

If anything, we should be more focused on holding back just enough . There was a good chance Fran would destroy the adventurers' hopes and dreams if she beat them too badly . I knew that Gamud thought well of the group and all, but I highly doubted they'd were Fran's match . The Guildmaster seemed to be aware of that the nature of his request was to beat them down . Still, I doubted they would bethatweak . There wouldn't be any reason for Gamud to ask Fran in particular to spar them if they wouldn't at least be able to put up a fight .

Then again, that might not be the case . Gamud had never proven himself not to be the type of educator that'd throw a chick off a cliff and tell it to fly, just to help it develop a sense of height . Either way, there wasn't much of a point in sitting around and brooding . We'd be able to figure it out when we saw them .

With that in mind, we left the room Regus had grabbed and headed back downstairs . I figured there probably wouldn't be any issue with us just skipping straight over to the guildmaster's room, but I felt like that violated the Adventurers' Guild's pipeline . To that end, I had Fran report in by speaking with one of the guild's many receptionists .

「Gamud here?」

Though, she kinda ended up skipping the whole reporting part given that she just straight up asked for Gamud .

「Good morning Fran . We've been awaiting your arrival . Please follow me . 」

The lady that'd responded to Fran's query led us not to Gamud's office, but instead to a different room in the back . The room in question seemed like an armoury, as it was crammed full with all sorts of equipment .

Awaiting us in said room was the guildmaster, all suited up and ready to go .

「I'm glad you made it!」

「Nn . Why armoured? Joining in spar?」

Fran's voice was clearly filled with anticipation . Unfortunately for her though, he ended up denying her query by shaking his head in rejection .

「Nah . I'm just going to act as the ref . The armour I'm wearing is supposed to be a contingency, y'know, just in case I happen to get hit . I won't be taking part at all myself . 」

「Oh . 」

At first, Fran reacted with disappointment, but she soon recalled that she'd be going up against a group of adventurers so she managed give a bit of a motivated nod .

「Mmph . 」

『Don't smash them too hard, okay?』

「Nn . Will do best . 」

Uhh... that's not what I meant...

Fran squeezed down on both her hands in order to express just how motivated she was . It became clear to me that I could no longer do anything for the adventurers she was about to fight but pray for them to have more fortune in their next lives .

「Are you ready?」

「Anytime . 」

「Then let's go . I'm pretty sure the brats are currently using our facilities for training's sake . 」

Gamud led us to an indoor training ground with a diameter of about 30 meters . Its walls looked pretty thick, you probably wouldn't be able to damage anything outside the room from within unless you really wanted to .

「Gather round, brats!」

「What's good?」

「Good morning!」

「'Sup . 」

「Heya!」

I'd only been expecting two or three people, but there turned out to be nine . Their personalities varied greatly . The participants included everything from lazy-looking hoodlums to the super uptight kind that had their backs straight with enthusiasm .

Appraising them allowed me to find out that they were much stronger than I'd been initially expecting . The two strongest two were D rank worthy . One was a level 27 Phantom Swordsman, and the other, a level 26 Flame mage . The rest averaged in at about level 22 . Even the weakest, a scout, had managed to make it all the way up to level 20 .

「Today's training is going to be sparring . 」

The adventurers immediately began to talk amongst themselves the moment Gamud filled them in on what was going on . It seemed the reason for this was more so because they just happened to be a group liked to chat as opposed to anything else .

「Again?」

「Can we fight Forrund instead? I'd like that more . 」

「Yeah, I know right? Mr . Gamud's pretty bad at holding back . 」

「Oh god dammit! Shut up!」

Gamud's shouted immediately brought silence back to the training ground .

「Alright . Why don't you introduce yourself?」

「Nn . Fran . 」

Every single one of the adventurers' gazes shot to Fran as she introduced herself before shifting over to one of the group's shielders .

I didn't understand why they'd bothered until after I appraised him .

Only then did I learn that he, Red, had access to level 7 Appraisal . In other words, they'd looked at him because they themselves weren't capable of gauging Fran's strength . They were had to rely on him to fill them in because they were still too green to guestimate her skill level at a glance .

Unfortunately for them, it was in vain . Fran's real stats were covered up and hidden away . He wouldn't be able to pick up anything more than just the random bullshit we decided it her stat card out with .

Red ended up shrugging his shoulders and making an expression that almost made it seem like he was making fun of Fran . The gesture seemed to be an expression of the fact that the spar they would soon engage in wasn't anything worth noting .

His message led his peers to relax . If I were to guess, I'd say that they probably assumed that they had to fight Fran because she was going to join them .

「She's going to be taking all of you guys on today . 」

「...Are you sure?」

One of the group's members responded to Gamud in a questioning tone .

「I am . No need to hold back . Be as rough as you'd like . Are you ready, Fran?」

「Nn . 」

Gamud's words led everyone in the group save for the really serious-looking one to start grinning . They appeared to have assumed that Gamud's instructions had been directed at them and not Fran . Chances were, they were thinking that Gamud wanted them to beat Fran up a bit in order to show her that she still had a ways to go .

「Gawts it . 」

I had to say, Gamud was a bit of a dick . He'd purposefully made his words easy to misunderstand so that it'd be easier for Fran to shatter their pride .

That said, I did have to admit that most of the adventurers Gamud had gathered were indeed fairly talented . They were only as stuck up as they deserved to be . Still, having Fran kick them down a notch was to their benefit .

「First up'll be Dewfo . 」

「You seriously want me to go first?」

「What, did you not want to?」

「Well, I wouldn't say that...」

The first person Gamud had ordered to fight was the highest leveled one, the Phantom Swordsman .

Fran glanced at the guildmaster to double check his intentions, to which he replied with a smile and a wink . Seeing him bat an eyelash filled me with a sense of revulsion, but I still managed to get the message . He wanted us to immediately blow the group right off their feet .

『Don't go too hard on him, you hear?』

(Nn . Won't make unfixable with Greater Heal . )

『Oh god damn it! That's not what I meant!』

Personally, I'd been a bit more on the Middle Heal side of things myself . But unfortunately for Dewfo, Fran had already drawn me and happily started walking towards the battleground's center .