859: Archer Spotted

『This is Miranleil’s arrow, though I’m sure the archer is just a fake.』

「Nn. There was no sound.」

The culprit was obviously the same guy as last time. They must want to incite a full blown war.

Wangon and Gephe stopped moving when they saw the arrow suddenly caught by Fran. They were both at a loss as to what just happened.

They stared intently at the arrow in Fran’s hand.

Then they noticed it at the same time.

「That arrow is… the one that your archer uses!」

「Y-Yeah, it is similar! But she’s not even here! Either way, I knew this kid was set up by you guys! Cowards, the lot of you!」

「What was that!?」

「Ah!?」

The two started to get angry again, but Fran paid them no attention.

She ignored both of them, instead staring in the direction the arrow came from.

We searched around for signs of the archer.

（…Mnh.）

『Nothing?』

（…Nn.）

Fran had a annoyed expression on her face. It seems like she was really close to finding something, but she just couldn’t get it.

I activated all my skills to look for the archer too, but I couldn’t detect them at all. Even if Fran was better than me in quick instincts, I thought I could outdo her if I was able to take my time…

But I couldn’t manage to sense anything out of place. Was there actually someone in that direction the arrow came from?

Sure there were plenty of people, since this was an illegal city packed with long rows of tall buildings. There were certainly crowds of people in those buildings, but none of them were doing anything. There were no signs of killing intent, no signs of hostility, and no signs of any power.

Is it possible they are pretending to be an ordinary citizen by making themselves seem weak?

If we could prove the existence of this culprit trying to incite a war, we might be able to stop the conflict between the Beastmen Union and the Dragon King Syndicate. And if we want to do that, we have to catch them directly.

Then Fran suddenly closed her eyes, despite the fact that we were surrounded by dragonkin and beastmen who might become our enemies.

Although she was holding me, this was quite a defenseless state.

Wangon and Gephe got irritated at that sight. They must have felt that they were being mocked.

At about the same time, they both opened their mouths and reached for Fran’s shoulders.

「Hey! What the hell do you think you’re doing?」

「Girl, where did you get that arrow!?」

But neither of them managed to touch Fran.

「Awakening. Brilliant Lightning Rush.」

「Wagyaah!?」

「Ow!」

Fran awakened and even used Brilliant Lightning Rush. Singed by the black lightning, the two men screamed and pulled their hands back in a panic.

Even though Fran was not seriously trying to harm them, they still should have felt a lot of pain. The two were rubbing and blowing on the black lightning inflicted burns on their hands.

Seeing those two fearsome-looking men like that was so humorous that I almost laughed out loud.

I was hoping they would just keep quiet now, but they couldn’t back down after showing that pathetic display to their subordinates. They tried to yell at Fran again.

「Stop fucking arou――」

「What the fuck are――」

「You’re annoying! Shut up!」

She’s probably getting really frustrated. First at the archer for preventing her from stopping the fight, as well as the two men for disrupting her concentration.

Fran yelled back quietly, but with a heap of intimidation. Her shout of anger was not very loud, just barely enough to be heard at the edge of the plaza.

On its own, it would sound like a child throwing a tantrum.

But the effect was enormous.

The outlaws around her all fell silent with the blood drained from their faces.

The beastmen were in a completely frightened state, with their ears folded and tails between their legs.

The dragonkin were also stumbling and obviously intimidated by Fran’s power.

That’s gotta be the effect of the King Intimidation skill. She had activated it intentionally to silence them this time, rather than all the previous times it leaked out accidentally.

The effect of the skill combined with the aura of Fran’s Brilliant Lightning Rush gave her an air of authority that overwhelmed even men as strong as Wangon and Gephe.

A few of them were giving her strangely passionate stares, but I’ll overlook it as long as they keep their mouths shut.

Fran nodded her head in satisfaction when she saw that the plaza had fallen silent, and then closed her eyes again. I’ll stay on guard, but I doubt any of them would attack us now.

Rather, everyone was frozen in place without so much as a twitch, as they knew they could not risk incurring Fran’s wrath again if they irritated her.

Five or ten seconds passed in this strange atmosphere, then Fran’s eyes suddenly burst open.

（Found it!）

『Oh, really?』

（I somehow figured it out. The shocky thing told me the location.）

Shocky thing? She must mean electricity. After activating Brilliant Lightning Rush, her ability to sense electricity and electromagnetic waves got enhanced.

That must be what allowed her to uncover the culprit’s location.

Fran rushed up into the air, stared a little ahead of herself and shouted.

「――Black Lightning Roll!」

Fran’s body transformed into black lightning, moving several dozen meters in an instant.

「Got you.」

「Eh?」

After moving along with Fran, my field of view switched in an instant, and I saw a man’s back in front of me. He panicked, trying to turn around after hearing Fran’s voice, but it was already too late.

Fran kicked him in the back and pointed me at his head.

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