791: Blue Cats Will Be Blue Cats

A few minutes after parting ways with Sophilia.

Fran had turned off the main street and moved into a back alley.

It was not a shortcut. If we wanted to go to the Adventurers Guild, this would actually be the long way around.

She was only taking this alley to catch the people tailing her. We noticed them following us as soon as we left the cafe.

They were quite good at hiding their presence, but they failed to hide their malice towards us.

For me and Fran, they might as well be wearing neon lights.

We could have ignored them and headed for the guild anyways, but they were a bit special. We wanted to ask them a few questions.

Fran stopped in a narrow, unpopulated alley. Just as she had hoped, her stalkers appeared.

「…Don’t move.」

「Put your hands on the wall!」

One of them came up behind Fran, and the other went ahead to block the exit. The blue cats approached slowly, their sharp eyes fixed on us.

These blue cats are always doing the same thing, huh?

However, I can see the proof of them being active in Gordicia.

Compared to the blue cats that we’ve slain back in the continent of Jilbard, they were much more capable. These two were on a whole different level from those thugs.

Putting it into adventurer ranks, they might be C level. Since there were two of them, they were quite a force to be reckoned with.

Still, they were unable to sense Fran’s strength. This was probably more due to Fran’s improved concealment abilities, rather than the blue cats being incompetent.

If it was these guys who attacked us the first time back in Alessa, we might have been in some serious trouble.

「What do you want?」

「We’re already deep in Gordicia, so drop the beginner act. You already know what’s coming next, right?」

「Hee-hee, we’re hunting slaves.」

「Can’t miss out after laying eyes on a black cat.」

「Like taking candy from a baby! Don’t budge if you want your limbs attached!」

The blue cats pressure us with their intimidation as they give Fran a warning. They probably didn’t want their new product to be damaged in a fight.

「Now put your hands up!」

「Don’t think you can escape!」

They’re idiots.

Fran smiled when she heard what the blue cats said. There was no gentleness to it, only the fierceness of a savage beast.

There was a ferocious presence emanating from her, as if she was a tiger in front of raw meat.

「You blue cats are blue cats wherever you go.」

「…! Get her!」

「Yeah!」

As Fran released her aura slightly, it seemed that they finally understood the difference in power.

The man behind slashed at her, while the man in front of her threw a knife at the same time. I can give credit where it’s due for going on the offensive after instantly realizing that they could not escape.

Unfortunately, the correct action would have been to instantly drop your weapon and beg for your life.

「Pinpoint Stab!」

「Useless.」

「Wha-!」

Fran easily flicked away the knife with her left hand, and then she used me to deflect the sword from behind without even turning around.

That was the art that comes with level 8 of Sword Arts. It might have been enough to stall a normal Rank B… but they chose the wrong opponent.

Fran turned around while slashing off both legs of the guy behind her.

「Gyaah!」

「Damn!」

Another knife was thrown at her, but Fran avoided it with a backflip and a twist.

The man was stunned after Fran landed in front of him. Meanwhile, she struck him in the stomach with the penetrating force punch that she had recently learned.

「How did you――Gubuh!」

The blue cat fell down coughing up blood from his mouth, while the other blue cat was flailing around after losing both his legs. The latter was being very annoying.

「Gyaaaah! It hurts! I’m dying! Save me!」

Apparently, they were trying to call over the guards by screaming.

Was he thinking it would be better to get thrown in jail than die, or was he confident that he could convince the guards to save him? Or maybe even the guards were in on it?

「It’s no use. I’ve set up a wind shield so your voice can’t reach the outside.」

「Wha-…! When did you…?」

「When I entered this alley. Because I knew it was gonna end like this.」

「…!」

She had already decided their fates as soon as she found out that her stalkers were blue cats.

「Heal.」

「…!」

First she closed up the wounds on his legs and stopped the bleeding. We couldn’t have him bleeding to death. The man immediately understood this was not done out of the kindness in Fran’s heart.

A hint of fear flashed in the blue cat’s eyes.

「Don’t think you can escape.」

「Kuh…」

「Now then, I’ve got a lot I want to hear from you. If you don’t want to talk, all you need to do is just hang in there.」

「!」

Fran lifted me upwards and the man looked up at me with despair. He must have realized what was about to happen.


Five minutes later. The blue cats endured for a while, but eventually gave up and spit out the information we were after.

「Are you illegal slavers?」

「Yes…」

It seems that their hearts had been completely broken by the endless physical torture using recovery magic, and after exposing all their lies using Principle of Falsehood.

They were, as expected, members of a crime syndicate that dealt in illegal slaves. It seemed that the blue cat slavers were at the center of it all, but a great number of other people were also secretly cooperating with the business.

The reason why they were trying to call the guards was because some of them were members of the illegal slaver organization. Even if they were caught by the clean guards here, they could escape with the help of their friends.

The slaves they caught were sent to various destinations, including among others, the Kingdom of Raydoss.

Blue cat slavers and Raydoss working together… Both were at the very top of Fran’s kill list, so I couldn’t imagine a more fitting enemy for her.

「Do you have a boss?」

「Y-Yes! Yes!」

「Where are they?」

「S-Sendia…! In the illegal city of Sendia!」

「Sendia.」

Another place we’ll have to go while we’re on this continent. Well, I would be fine ignoring it though…

「Master.」

『I know. I won’t stop you.』

「Nn.」

My little Fran was very motivated.

「After we go to Castel, Sendia is next.」

Looks like we’ve got even more stuff to put on our to-do list.

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