Chapter 517

Fran accepted Khanna's request to escort them, but the sun was soon setting.

We camped on the roadside of the pass and used earth magic to create walls and other stuff around our camp as a defensive measure.

『We won't be in the way of traffic and I think we'll be fine here on the road side』

「Nn」

This pass is not a completely straight road, it is said that dozens of side roads lead to various places. Some of them are said to lead to the Raidos Kingdom, and naturally, that road was monitored by guards, so free passage was not possible.

「Yo-you can use this much magic...!?」

「Yo-you've gotta be kidding me...!」

Dianne and Shella were shocked when they saw the camp that Fran had created.

They may have known that Fran was a powerful warrior, but they didn't expect her to be skilled in magic. It seems Khanna and Dianne were more astonished than when they saw Urushi in his larger form.

The atmosphere on the road was not as bad as I had expected. Dianne, who had completely lost her mind, and Shella, who was still terrified of Fran, hardly spoke at all. On the other hand, Khanna was very active in talking to Fran.

Dianne and Shella were also trying to hide their presence at a distance from Fran and Urushi while Khanna was sitting next to Fran, enjoying a bowl of curry-flavored soup.

As one would expect of a squire, Shella braved herself to be a tester for poison, but Khanna still ate the seemingly crude dish served by Fran without complaining. Well, it might look crude, but it's still a high-class dish made with a lot of magic beast meat and spices.

She rather enjoyed eating the grilled skewers as they are and her cheerful expression doesn't seem to be an act.

「Fran-san is an adventurer, right?」

「Nn?」

「I think, Fran-san is about the same age as me but isn't it unusual for an adventurer to be that young?」

「Umm... but there are a few」

「Is that so... Umm, hey. Why did Fran-san become an adventurer?」

She doesn't seem to hate adventurers like Dianne and Shella and was interested in adventurers. Is adventurer that rare? But every town should have a few of them though. Or had she never seen the outside world before? But she's quite resilient enough to use magic and not complain about our camp.

「To become stronger」

「Stronger, huh? But can you become a knight or a soldier instead?」

「I'm still a kid so it's impossible」

「I see... Umm, is it hard to be an adventurer?」

「Why?」

When Fran heard Khanna's question, she asked back, sincerely curious.

「To be that strong at the same age as me, it must have been very difficult, wasn't it?」

「...I became an adventurer because I wanted to be strong. That's why I never thought of getting hurt or fighting a strong opponent as a hardship」

「I-I see...」

When Fran's eyes looked straight at her, Khanna looked away as if she was under pressure. Our values are too different from each other. I'm not saying that we can't understand each other, but I don't think it's possible to understand each other all in one night.

What seemed like hellish days for Khanna must have been irreplaceable for Fran.

On the other hand, Fran could not understand Khanna either. I'm sure that this nice young lady has a pain that only she can understand.

That's just what people are like.

「An adventurer's job is to defeat the magic beast and bandits, right? And also, escorting the merchant」

「Nn? No, you're wrong」

「Eh? Really?」

Eh? Really? I was also surprised to hear her reply too.

「An adventurer's job is to go on an adventure」

「Go on an adventure?」

「Yes, by adventuring someone can become an adventurer」

「But what about catching the bandits or hunting the magic beast? Isn't that what adventurers do?」

「Yes, they do. But it's actually the job of the Knights and soldiers. But since they won't do it, so the adventurers are the ones to do it」

Hmm, I don't think many adventurers would agree with Fran. Fran's definition of adventuring is to be going into a magical area or a dungeon and fighting in general.

Maintaining public order by defeating bandits and magic beasts is essentially the work of the Knights. However, the boundaries were pretty fuzzy there. Since adventurers were fighting magic beasts in the dungeon, they could fight outside as well, and fighting bandits and such could be considered an extension of that.

「...B-but those who have power should use their power to protect the people!」

「Is that so?」

「Yes! Great power comes with great responsibility」

「Dianne!」

Khanna tried to stop her, but Dianne's words didn't stop there.

「Y-You has so much power and yet you see the weak and think nothing of them? Don't you want to help them?」

「I always thought of it though, that's why I helped you guys, right?」

「...You don't understand anything, don't you...?」

「Nn? I wanted to help you, so I helped you. That's why, I don't care even if I'm weak, if I want to help, I'll try to help. Do you only help people because you're strong? And you'll just abandon them if you were weak?」

「Th-that is...」

「Dianne, silence!」

「...! I'm sorry...」

Dianne, who had been yelled at by Khanna, fell silent with a pale face.

But it was a difficult problem. The responsibility of power is a convenient story for the weak to take advantage of the strong. Or it is the conceit of the strong who are drunk with power.

In Fran's case, she wouldn't be thinking about such difficult things. In the first place, if there was someone in trouble in front of her, she would help them without even thinking about the reason. As she said, she helps people because she wants to. That's all.

If the other party is annoying, she would usually abandon them, or help them and demand an exorbitant reward.

This may be another difference between adventurers and knights. Knights are people who are fed by taxes, so to speak. They must be taught about their duties and rights from the time they join the knight order.

Aah, as long as it's not a rotten scum knight that is.

However, 「Work for your paycheck!」 was not enough to raise morale or maintain their pride. That's why they use phrases like 「helping the weak」 and 「serving the cause of justice」. If that kind of education goes too far, more knights like Dianne will be born.

Adventurers, on the other hand, are entirely responsible for their actions. In other words, the power they acquire is their own, and it is normal for them to use it for themselves.

「I don't mean to speak for Dianne, but I've also heard that some adventures do things like a bandit」

「It's not the adventurers only, even knights and nobles must have their scum too. Or there are no bad guys in your country?」

「That's... might be true. There are also some bad knights and nobles after all」

Khanna agreed when she heard Fran's words. She seemed to have some idea of what she meant. When I think about it, it's not normal for a young lady to be travelling in such a small group, so she must have her own reason.

「Then, what an adventurer――」

Perhaps because she was so interested in adventurers, Khanna's questions went on and on until she went to bed.