934: Another Feast in Nocta

「Auntie…」

Fran headed to Mulsani’s mansion and was immediately invited in after giving her name. It seems his company had been notified of her possible arrival.

Mulsani was currently away on business, but a maid showed us to Nadia’s room.

The room was pretty small with no hint of luxury at all, but it looked well cleaned and cared for. I could tell that a lot of effort was being put into her treatment.

He must have considered Nadia’s tastes and prepared the room she would prefer.

「She’s still not waking up.」

『I tried appraising her, but I don’t see anything wrong…』

Even after using restoration and life magic, there was no change in Nadia’s condition. This was just like what happened with Fran and the others after the defense of Sendia. No, Nadia was probably even more battered and worn out than them.

「…」

Fran sat in the chair by the bed and stared silently into Nadia’s face. A short moment of tenderness passed, but then Fran stood up with a look of resolve.

「Master, let’s go to the guild.」

『Already? Are you sure?』

「Nn. Auntie will get mad if I skip work.」

『I see.』

Fran gave Nadia one last pat on the head before turning her back on the bed.

「Auntie. I’m going now.」

I could see Fran’s quietly burning motivation. If we allowed the Dragon King’s schemes to continue, even Nocta might be placed in danger.

Completing our job would also result in protecting Nadia. By crushing the Dragon King and the slavers under him, we could restore peace to the continent.

Fran resolved herself to do so.

After leaving the mansion, Fran hurried to the guild without any stops to eat along the way.

As expected, handing over the letter wasn’t the end. Since Fran was in Sendia at the time of the incident, the guildmaster and submaster requested to speak with her.

Fran explained the situation in her own words, albeit missing a few details. Well, she basically just told them all of the Dragon King’s crimes.

「Thank you for informing us. We’ll try to find out more about the Dragon King on our side too.」

「Nn. Please do.」

「We had no clue Sendia was in such danger… so I appreciate the accurate information. To be honest, there were so many mixed reports that I couldn’t tell what’s actually true.」

Quite some time had already passed since the battle for Sendia, so it seems Nocta received several reports about the incident. However, there were apparently several contradictory reports, so the guild couldn’t tell the truth from reality.

A divine sword wielder appeared and saved everyone. No, it was a dragonkin with Divine Dragon Form who saved them. No, a million antidemons attacked Sendia and destroyed the whole city, killing the saintess. No, it was actually the defacto ruler of Sendia who died. The beastmen did everything they could. No, the dragonkin did more. Etc.

There were just so many rumors, some completely ridiculous and some containing truth. It turned out to be even more complicated in this case, since the ridiculous sounding information was the most accurate.

With so much random hearsay mixed in, it seems the news about Fran and her friends may not have spread as widely as I had feared.

Especially in regards to Fran and Mea. It would be impossible for a third party to accurately recognize what state they were in. At the very least, it seemed unlikely that many knew about the two’s Divine Beast Form and White Beast Form.

We kept the details on the divine swords and Mea’s transformation a bit vague, reporting mainly on the Dragon King’s misdeeds.

I doubt the Adventurers Guild would take our word on everything, but they were definitely not on the Dragon King’s side. After all, his men clearly murdered Sendia’s guildmaster.

There could be no doubt that the Dragon King was our common enemy.

Let’s give it another push.

「…Want more meat?」

「Really?」

「Yes, that would be great!」

As I expected, their appetite for meat was unbelievable. Let’s not call it a bribe, but we can offer them meat at a discount.

And with meat, of course, comes feasts. That’s what adventurers do.

Well, this time it was the guildmaster asking us to do it. She wanted to give the adventurers a chance to vent before they got frustrated from the endless battles.

They’re apparently going out to support a neighboring city tomorrow, so booze was getting kept to a minimum. There’s still a little though.

「「「Wahahahahaha!」」」

「Cheers to the Meat Girl!」

「「「Cheers!」」」

Unfortunately, I forgot about the increase in the number of adventurers. Those who had missed the previous party were also rushing to get in on the action.

They must have asked their friends and acquaintances to contact them if another party was about to start. The number of adventurers, including demonkin and dwarves, had more than doubled since the last feast.

That meant additional time required to prepare the necessary amount of meat. In the meantime, more and more adventurers just kept showing up.

The guildmaster said she’d pay for as much meat as we had, so there’s no need to hold back though!

Soon enough, every corner of the guild building was filled with drinking, singing, and revelry.

「「「We are adventurers~…♪」」」

「「「The golden adventurers~…♪」」」

When the chorus of that song started, Fran joined in as well. We’d been listening to it all throughout the battle, and it’s become Fran’s favorite song. She’s got the lyrics down perfectly too.

Everyone sang it together while cooking the meat. Oh yeah, and it was Fran and Urushi scarfing down the most. They were pretty much grilling meat for themselves and donating the leftovers to the adventurers.

In the middle of the big feast, we saw a man enter the basement training area.

Despite the sheer number of adventurers, we noticed him in particular.

（Master, that sword…）

（Woof.）

『That’s a divine sword, I’m sure of it.』

Gaia, Lindwurm, Oratorio… We’ve seen so many divine swords now, that it seems we’ve somehow become able to sense their presence.

Well, it’s mostly a hunch, but I felt certain this time. After all, the three of us got the same feeling.

The man with shaggy gray hair carried a long sword at his waist, his divine sword.

And this man was walking toward us with a leisurely gait.

（…Is he strong?）

『I can’t tell, but… There’s no way a guy with a divine sword can be weak.』

（Nn.）

We continued staring at the man, but none of us could get a good estimation of his strength. He somehow looked both strong and weak at the same time. That meant he must be so far above us that we couldn’t even tell his abilities.

Someone like that can only be called a “monster”.

And such a monster now stood right in front of us.

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