Chapter 686

TENKEN 686 Interferer

「Gyagyahah!」

The moment Fran steps back, the Lesser Ogre jumps at Katley.

As it was just a small fry as a practice opponent for beginners, its movements were sluggish and not very nimble.

It has no weapon skills, and its wooden stick is not that dangerous of a weapon.

But it could still inflict a painful blow and break one's bones if it were to hit a bad place. It could also cause a concussion if it were to hit one's head.

You can imagine it as an elementary school boy wielding a wooden stick, maybe?

It was an enemy that could be defeated by the Fran now with just the tip of her finger, but a normal adult with proper armor should be able to handle it with ease.

However, it must look like a terrifying magic beast to Katley. She must be terrified not only by the look, but also by the clear hostility being directed at her.

Frightened by the Lesser Ogre, Katley swung the sword in her hand as hard as she could without using any swords skill.

「Yhaa!」

「Gyii!」

Because of her longer reach, Katley's sword reached the opponent first. It only grazed its skin slightly, but the Lesser Ogre screeched and retreated.

「Gigigyah!」

It rubbed its wound with its hand and licked the blood off its finger, which made it realize once again that it had been injured. The Lesser Ogre then started to irritably hit the ground with the stick in its hand.

「Uuh...」

「Gigyih...」

Katley is frightened by its presence, but at the same time, the Lesser Ogre also seemed to be wary of her sword.

A strange tension developed between the two, and a stalemate occurred for a few seconds.

Fran won't be helping her this time, she'll just watch and let Katley overcome the situation.

But then, there was an unexpected turn of events that we didn't see coming.

A red light flew from the other side of the passage, obliterating the Lesser Ogre's head and defeated it.

It was obviously not a stray bullet, but a shot aimed at the Lesser Ogre. Of course, both Fran and I knew that there were other adventurers at the end of the passage.

But I didn't expect them to intervene with us. Could they be the bandit adventurers that Aurel had been worried about?

「Katley, get behind me」

「Y-yes」

Fran and I both lightly braced ourselves as we watched for any sign of them coming towards us.

(Master, this presence....)

『Yeah. It's the red-haired woman from back then』

As we had expected, the one who appeared from the other side was the one who had caused a bit of a stir when she confronted Fran at Barbra cooking contest.

「Yo, is everything good there?」

「Hmm...」

「Oya? Isn't that kid... the one from that stall?」

「Sis, it's the Black Lightning Princess」

「Oh, the B ranked adventurer, right?」

I don't think she wouldn't have noticed Fran's presence, but she looks seriously surprised. Could it be that she knew that there was someone strong but didn't realize it was Fran?

Is there any adventurer who has the strength of this woman's level, yet has poor detecting skills?

The man with her didn't know it was Fran either. He looked surprised when he saw her face.

I appraised them and found that their names were Sibylla and Biscot. But I don't know if that's their true name or not.

They were definitely falsifying their identity; both of them had garbled characters in some parts of their abilities, and their status and skill levels were clearly too low. It's hard to believe that two people with such ability would be together at the same time, so it must be the effect of some kind of magic item.

It only means that they have the contacts to be able to get that kind of thing.

「...Why did you interfere?」

「Huh?」

Fran asks in a rather angry voice to the woman. It's probably because she can't read the other party's intentions.

「The kid looked like she was in trouble, so I saved her. Why don't you go in and help her before?」

「We're in training now」

「Training...? With that level of ability, she is probably still in the basic training stage, right? It's too early for her to go into actual combat」

「That's not for you to decide」

「Huh? First of all, why do you have to stare at me like that? I saved her, remember?」

「This is none of your business」

It's a complete breach of the adventurer's code, but Sibylla doesn't seem to know what's even wrong. She twisted her neck in confusion.

「Aah! S-sis Sibylla!」

「What's the matter, Biscot?」

「Now that I remember, I thought we were supposed to always ask for approval before helping other adventurers in the dungeon...」

「Is that so?」

「Yeah, I remember Clicker saying something like that」

These two are definitely not an adventurer... Are they mercenaries or knights in disguise? It might not look like it, but I guess they were just trying to help Katley.

「Even so, isn't it too early for her to be in here? She's just too weak. You must've brought her here by force, look, she's completely terrified」

「...S-she didn't force me to come here...」

She must have been a little offended to be called weak. Katley turned to Sibylla while hiding behind Fran's back.

「Huh? Really?」

「Nn」

「It's the truth...」

Though Fran did drag her here, Katley has agreed in advance to enter the dungeon. Even Fran would not take her into the dungeon if she did not want to.

Well, I don't think there's any aspiring adventurer who doesn't want to go into a dungeon though.

Katley has made up her mind to enter the dungeon and follows Fran.

「I didn't intend to offend you, but... please go back home for today. You should work on your swordsmanship and put on some better armor before you come back. You're still young, you still have lots of time」

Sibylla speaks in a gentle voice as if she's trying to convince her.

Her act would have been complimented by the general public if it had been done outside the dungeon. But in a dungeon where there were only adventurers and aspiring adventurers, that was a complete crap.

In the first place, although she doesn't even know Katley's circumstances, she speaks so superiorly and disregards her resolve. Katley also knows it better than anyone else that she's weak and feels frustrated at it.

She was angry at herself, who deserved to be called weak, and Sibylla, who disregarded her resolve.

「...Katley...」

「Y-yes. What is it, onesama?」

「What should we do?」

「Eh?」

「Go back home?」

Fran didn't offer any words of comfort to Katley, who clenched her fists and looked down. On the contrary, she asked her if she wanted to leave. It was as if she wanted to tell her to give up.

It must be a kind, yet harsh words for Katley, whose heart was about to break. I would not be surprised if her heart had completely broken and she'd nod at Fran's words.

But Katley shook her head and looked up. She somehow looked better than before.

「...I'm not going home yet. I came here on my own volition, so I will also leave on my own volition. I don't know if I could become an adventurer or will I ever give up on it, however... That's for me to decide!」

「Nn」

Seeing Katley like this, Fran nodded in satisfaction.