849: Reunion with Velmeria

Frederick had suddenly appeared and took control of the situation by force.

His gaze turned in the direction of Fran, who was currently still in hiding. He didn’t seem to be completely aware of our presence, but he probably sensed something strange in the alleyway.

After a bit of deliberation, he poised himself for combat.

『I think we better reveal ourselves.』

（Okay.）

Fran stepped out of the alley while maintaining her stealth skills. He should recognize us now that we’ve appeared in his field of view.

The reason we still maintained our stealth was because of the mysterious archer.

We didn’t want to expose ourselves to such an unknown opponent, since we still couldn’t determine where they were.

「It’s been a while.」

「What a surprise, to think I would meet you here…」

He seemed pretty surprised too. Both of them were at a loss for words, not knowing what other was after.

It was clear to us that Frederick intended to prevent a war between the two organizations, but for what purpose? He probably didn’t understand why Fran was here either.

Neither of them could confirm that they were actually allies, and time passed with them both silent.

Then, I sensed someone else approaching. However, this was someone we knew too.

After a minute of waiting, a girl with a blue ponytail appeared. Velmeria, the half-water dragonkin, and the only daughter of Count Bailleys.

She emerged from the alleyway wearing a completely black outfit, similar to one she wore before.

「Frederick, my apologies. I lost sight of the arche――Fran?」

「Nn. Velmeria, it’s been a long time.」

「L-Long time no see. Anyways, I couldn’t detect any sign of you at all… Have you improved your skills again?」

「Because I’m training. But you’ve gotten stronger too.」

「Fufu. I’m training every day too. Besides――」

「Wait. I know you two have a lot to talk about, but this is not the place. Let’s move.」

「I agree.」

I didn’t sense any hostility coming from the two, so I can agree with a change our location. But how are we gonna clean this place up?

If we just left the outlaws lying on the ground, wouldn’t they be slaughtered by whichever side got reinforcements first?

In that case, there wouldn’t have been any point to stopping them in the first place.

「What are we gonna do with them?」

「I have already notified the security forces of the Sanatorium, so we can leave the rest to them. They would be more happy to treat these folks, since that would allow them to pocket the treatment fee.」

So they’re forcing people into their treatment centers and taking money for it. Well, the healers of the Adventurers Guild do practically the same thing, so I guess we’ll just leave it to them.

「Let us return to the safe house for the time being.」

「Fran, follow us.」

「Nn…?」

「What’s wrong?」

「Something’s… weird.」

Fran paused to take a look around.

『The same feeling as the other day?』

「Nn…」

Fran felt the same strange feeling a couple days ago. If this is a repeat occurrence, we’ll have to thoroughly investigate the surroundings!

But that turned out to be impossible, because of the security forces of the Sanatorium. Frederick said he called for them earlier, and they just now arrived.

I’m very curious to know what triggered Fran’s senses, but getting out of here seems to be the wisest option.

Following Frederick, we left the area.

We moved with them to an inn room within the residential district. It seemed to be a pretty good place to hide since the outlaws couldn’t make a big scene here.

Of course, we used all our magic and skills to hide our presences on the way back to the room. Only someone of extremely high ability would have been able to track us.

「Well now, I have many questions. But first, Velmeria… what happened?」

「I’m very sorry, but I let the archer escape. I found this in what I believe was the archer’s position.」

Velmeria put the arrow in her hand on the table. Frederick picked it up and began observing it.

「This is certainly a very unique construction.」

「Right, it’s hollow inside.」

Now that you mention it, it did seem hollow.

I also took out the arrow I had knocked down with my telekinesis, making it look as if Fran had taken it out of storage, and she handed it to them.

「This one is hollow too.」

Fran spoke as she looked into the arrow. Though hollow, it’s not like there was anything special within. I thought they would be poison or something, but there was no sign of poison in either of the arrows.

I didn’t understand the point of the arrow’s shape, but Frederick seemed to recognize them.

「This arrow looks just like the ones Dogsinger uses…」

「I see. Now that you mention it, they did say she uses a special kind of arrow.」

「Dogsinger?」

Is that someone’s alias?

「She is one of the executives of the Dragon King Syndicate.」

「The Dragon King Syndicate has a group of combat specialized executives known as the “Three Claws”. Miranleil the Dogsinger, Gephe of the Evil Way, and Gazzol of the Windscales, each of whom is said to be as strong as a Rank A adventurer if you challenge them in their field of expertise. Please be careful if you ever encounter them.」

「Gazzol? The wind dragonkin?」

「Did you know him?」

「Nn. He attacked me, so I beat him up.」

Fran nodded her head lightly, but Velmeria simply froze, completely stunned. It’s no wonder though, since Fran mentioned she had already defeated the guy immediately after being warned about him.

「So who is this Dogsinger?」

「W-Wait just a second. Before that, you said you beat up Gazzol?! D-Did you kill him?」

「Nn? I didn’t kill him. He was holding back too, so I just beat him up a bit.」

「V-Very impressive… I thought I had closed the gap between us a little, but it may have gotten even wider…」

Well, Gazzol was the type of guy who preferred rampaging around on a wide battlefield. He probably couldn’t utilize the greater half of his abilities fighting in a dark alleyway. It would have been a much closer fight if he got serious.

「Windscales is one of the better ones in the Dragon King Syndicate, so I’m glad to hear you didn’t kill them. Let’s move on to the Dogsinger.」

「She uses a bow?」

「Correct. They call her “Dogsinger” because she fires hollow arrows, which make a distinctive noise when flying through the air, like a large dog barking.」

「I see.」

So this arrow proved that Dogsinger was involved. But isn’t that a bit too obvious?

Frederick must have been thinking the same thing as me.

「Dogsinger may be a woman of questionable character, but she has a brain. She wouldn’t leave behind such clear evidence.」

「So you believe someone may be trying to pin the blame on her?」

「That’s a strong possibility.」

I knew it. Someone was manipulating things behind the scenes.

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