Chapter 528

「Hey, who are those guys?」

「That must be the onlookers. The old man must have called them here」

「They've been slacking lately too. I thought I'd give them a shot to wake up. Let's show them how strong you are」

「Or do you not want to show your skills publicly? If that's the case, I'll kick them out immediately」

「No need, it's fine」

Well, it was not going to be a fight where we have to show up the cards in our hands after all. Fran was rather pleased with this. It was because this was a nice chance to improve the status of the Black Cat kin.

I was worried that she might get a little too motivated though.

「Ooh, that's good then. I'm sorry for not telling you before」

「Good grief, this old man is so brazen」

「I don't want to be told that by this brazen old hag!」

As they were talking about this and she was doing some light stretching, a man approached her from among the onlookers.

He was clearly an adventurer with power a level higher than the rest of them. At the very least, he was a C-ranker. Depending on his skills and abilities handling, he could have been a B-ranker.

『He's quite strong』

(Nn. Appraisal)

『Aah, what are you doing?』

(It's natural to appraise stranger who approaches us)

『Is that so?』

(Nn. If he found out, then we can either defeat him or run away, that's all)

She was so simple! Apparently, I was an idiot for worrying about it.

When I used the appraisal skill a sense of weight lifted off my shoulders, I found that he was still quite strong. His status was at the top of rank C, wasn't it? He was much weaker than Colbert, but he had a good balance of water magic, underwater action skills, and trap detection. He was an all-rounder with a high rating in areas other than his combat prowess.

「Hey, sorry to barge in on you. I'm a B ranked adventurer and my name is Lovren」

「Nn. And I'm a――」

「You just need to give your name」

「?? Okay, I'm Fran」

「Yeah, I'm sure I'll learn a lot today. Nice to meet you」

「Nn」

Fran shook the hand that was offered to her. He was a fresh, handsome guy with dark hair, but he doesn't seem like a bad guy. And he was a B-ranker, huh?

「Anyway, Guild master, what's the point in hiding her true identity? After all, I'm not the only one who's noticed it」

「Well, those who don't realize it are negligent. And it means they have bad ears for information and poor eyes for judging others!」

「Haha, so strict...」

「Why are you laughing!? Well, enough about the low rankers. But the problem is that there are a lot of C's and D's who underestimate Fran! They've been in lukewarm water for too long, and their senses have been dulled」

「Well, we haven't had any major incidents in the last 20 years after all~」

「Don't be so cocky! It was because you're such an ace, that's why the adventurers of Lake Vivian look like fools! The people of the Royal Capital haven even called us water striders!」

「What a strange thing to say」

「Guh...」

「Well well, it's no use worrying about it. You're just segregating yourself」

Lovren doesn't seem to care. Apparently, he was a pretty easy-going guy. Grandpa Gull, on the other hand, was the impatient type. So, I don't think they'll get along.

Well, it seems like Grandpa Gull was a little hot-blooded huh?

Well, that was fine. I'm more concerned about something else.

『Fran, you recognize that kid?』

(No)

『Of course, huh』

There was a boy who kept staring at Fran and Urushi since we showed up. Although the other group's members were also looking at us with suspicion and contempt, this boy was the only one who was letting out his killing intent at us.

I wondered if we had beaten him up somewhere, but Fran didn't seem to remember him either.

『He's looking at us as if he was looking at his parent's killers』

(... I don't know)

『Well, it's no use thinking about him, we'll just need to be a little more cautious』

(Nn)

I wonder if it was because his relatives were killed by the Black Cat kin or something like that? Or maybe he was the child of an enemy that Fran had defeated?

「Two people from the E-rank, come!」

「Ou!」

「Understood!」

A man in his early thirties and a woman in her mid-twenties stepped forward at Grandpa Gull's words.

Both were warriors that used the spear. Apparently, there were a lot of spear users in this guild. Of the nine people here, seven were spearmen, and the other two were a mage and an archer, so all the warriors were equipped with spears.

「Let me show you these spear handling skills that I got from Daghour-senpai!」

The tip of the spear that the man held up looked like a harpoon. No, it was not that it looked like a harpoon, but wasn't it a real harpoon?

I wondered about it, only to realize that using a spear on a lake would be easier. Furthermore, if the junior adventurers were taught by their seniors, it would lead to an increase in the number of spear users.

Upon appraisal, I found that he possessed skills such as harpoon skills and spear throwing, in addition to spear skills. In addition to swimming, diving, and other underwater skills, he also had water walking skills.

Certainly, it was true that the adventurers in this area were specialized to work around Lake Vivian. I also took a look at the other examinees, but they all had similar skill sets. I can see why the Guild Masters would feel frustrated by this.

「I can't believe they brought a kid this time. I guess they were more concerned with the fact that the examiner must be an outsider than their ability... Don't resent me if you get hurt, okay?」

「...」

「Hey, why don't you say something? Or are you just too scared to――」

「No need to talk, come」

Fran interrupted the man's words and provoked him with a gesture of her finger to call him over. I guess the man's story was boring for her.

The reason why she didn't go first was that she'd been told to let them strike first and show what they were capable of. Yeah, yeah, it was great that she remembered what she was asked to do!

「This brat... Don't underestimate me!」

This guy seems to have zero tolerance for agitation.