939: The Two Northern Superpowers

After separating from Jayne and Orfalve, Fran returned to the Adventurers Guild to get information about the Holy Nation of Silard and the Militant Nation of Hagane.

The two queens told us a lot about the two countries, but they had no idea why they would come to this town.

If they ended up fighting around here, we might be able to see their divine swords in action.

But on our way to the Adventurers Guild, we saw no sign of the holy knights or soldiers. Did they already leave or something?

We went inside in order to question the adventurers. However, before we could talk to them, the woman at the reception desk called out to us.

「Black Lightning Princess-sama, you have returned! The guildmaster would like to speak with you, so could you please visit her office?」

「The guildmaster room?」

「Yes, thank you for your cooperation.」

「……Okay.」

I guess she’s waiting for Fran. It’ll be quicker if we can talk to the guildmaster directly, so we can just go along with it. Fran, however, hesitated. It seems she still didn’t like that sultry guildmaster.

She walked into guildmaster’s office with heavy steps, where we found several other men and women waiting for us.

One was the always reliable dandy, the submaster. With this man in the room, Replare wouldn’t be able to do anything too outrageous.

In addition, Izario was sitting on the sofa. He monopolized the three-person sofa in front of the guildmaster and was chugging booze straight from the bottle.

This is a Rank S adventurer……? Wait, maybe Fran is kinda similar. She has no problems stuffing her mouth in front of important people too.

Well, at least they were people we knew.

The problem was the other visitors. One was sitting on the chair to the right of the guildmaster’s sofa, and the another sat on the chair to her left. The guy on the left chair had another man standing behind him, the holy knight escorting him, no doubt. Judging by the aura they exuded, none of them should be the wielder of a divine sword.

There was such a tension between the two strangers that I could tell they hated each other at first glance. Neither attempted to make eye contact with the other, yet they were completely focused on their presence.

While I don’t recognize their faces, I could easily guess which countries they worked for. If I had known they were going to be here, I would have refused to come.

「I was going to call for you later, but you came just in time.」

「Please, have a seat.」

「Nn.」

After giving the holy knight a side glance, Fran sat down next to Izario, facing the submaster. Izario reeked of alcohol as usual, but it was better than sitting next to any of the others.

Once Fran seated herself, the submaster began speaking.

「First, please allow me to introduce you to everyone. The one sitting next to you is the Rank S adventurer――」

「Izario, the Talentless. Once more, it’s a pleasure to meet you, little lady.」

「You’re still calling yourself that……?」

「A man can call himself whatever he wants. Fancy names like “Crimson Blade” or “Flames of Annihilation” just don’t suit me. Talentless, now there’s a perfect fit.」

Izario shrugged off the submaster’s reproachful gaze. The tone of his voice confirmed that he was neither modest nor shy.

It seems he seriously believed the nickname Talentless suited him.

Fran tilted her head. As expected, she still thought that Talentless didn’t make sense as the alias for the Rank S adventurer.

「Why choose Talentless?」

「Haha, because I like the sound.」

「Hmmm.」

Fran didn’t attempt to dig any deeper. If he said he liked it, there’s not much more she could do.

It seems like the submaster wanted him to use a more impressive alias. After all, he was Rank S, the pinnacle of all adventurers.

If a man like that goes around with a weird alias, it’s no exaggeration to say it would affect the morale of everyone below him. Izario, however, cared little for this fact.

「Come on. We’re in the middle of introductions, no?」

「Y-Yes, of course. I apologize. The gentleman sitting here is a knight from the Holy Nation of Silard. He heads the Office of the Divine Blade, the agency handling the usage of their divine sword. This is a man of the highest importance.」

「Pleased to meet you.」

「And standing behind him is the current Divine Sword Knight.」

「The Divine Sword Knight! Really?」

Fran asked back in surprise. Then, the man standing in the back nodded again with a smile on his face.

「Good day to you, young lady. I am Adol, the current Divine Sword Knight. I am pleased to make your acquaintance.」

The man we thought to be a mere escort was, much to my surprise, the Divine Sword Knight, Adol Yaresfeim. That means he should be the owner of the divine sword Alpha. At first glance, he seemed like a kind and handsome young man. I might have believed that impression had it not been for the backdoor agreement he supposedly made with Filuria.

But was this man really the Divine Sword Knight? He certainly had some strength, but not nearly enough to be comparable to a divine sword wielder.

And he didn’t even seem to have the divine sword with him. To be honest, I seriously doubted if he could actually wield one.

Based on his current state, I’d say he’s probably weaker than Zefmate.

Fran was surprised not only by his title of Divine Sword Knight, but also by the lack of ability that contradicted his title.

Still, Fran suppressed her emotions and bowed her head. She was now capable of making these kinds of judgments.

「I am Fran, a Rank B adventurer.」

「Replare-dono has informed me that you are a great adventurer, so I am honored to meet you. She also says that the defense of Sendia was more fierce than I had imagined.」

「Nn. There were several hundred thousand antidemons.」

「Those are some truly immense numbers! It seems a few members of our holy knights fought and died at Sendia, but that makes sense if the city was in such peril.」

Adol’s words contained no lies. Apparently, those scumbag holy knights were killed by antidemons before they could regroup with their main force.

Honestly, this made me feel rather relieved. We no longer have to worry about the worst possible outcome, with the holy knights hunting us down as their enemies.

As much as I’d like to question him about his relationship with Filuria, I’d rather avoid stirring up the hornet’s nest. We should just get through introductions for now.

「Finally, the one sitting over there is the Hagane commander.」

「It’s a pleasure to meet you, Black Lightning Princess-dono. I am Shikimi, the commander of our expeditionary forces.」

「Nn. Nice to meet you.」

The person bowing their heads before us looked somewhat androgynous. I’m pretty sure she’s a woman, but I almost confused her for a handsome nobleman at first.

Shikimi seemed somewhat stronger than Adol. But if she’s the commander, she shouldn’t be the divine sword wielder, right? The divine sword Berserk owned by Hagane is said to kill its wielder. That’s not the type of weapon the commander should be using.

「Perhaps one day we will have the opportunity to settle down and have a nice long chat.」

「Nn. I’d like to talk too.」

「Fufufu, I look forward to our meeting then.」

I didn’t sense any hostility coming from her, but I couldn’t read her true intentions either. Her words appeared to be friendly, though she also seemed to be the type of person capable of easily disguising her emotions.

Maybe she’s actually the one we need to be more careful of.

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