Chapter 208: Vs Goldalfa — After

Chapter 208: Vs Goldalfa — After

We were called over to the VIP area in which the Beast Lord was situated shortly after we defeated Goldalfa. We could’ve actually just refused him, but Fran ended up consenting to the offer because she was offered food.

「There you are.」

「Nn. Wanted to see me?」

「Well yeah, I mean you’re one of them legendary Black Heavenly Tigerkin, ain’t ya? No way I wouldn’t want to check you out after figuring out all that.」

The Beast Lord carefully observed Fran as he spoke, an action that ultimately led him to furrow his brow in confusion.

「Yeah, I don’t get it, I’m not really seeing it... At first I thought it was just ’cause you were a bit too far away for me to really tell...」

「I feel the same. She seems just like any other Black Catkin to me.」

The Evolution Concealment skill seemed to be capable of doing one hell of a fine job, as neither Roche nor the Beast Lord could actually tell that Fran had evolved. Both were left in a state of confusion due to the discrepancy between their current impression of her and what they’d witnessed earlier.

「Mind me asking how the hell you’ve managed to cover it up like that?」

「Your Majesty! Asking a question like that is not only rude, but also a breach of her privacy!」

「Oh come on...」

The Beast Lord seemed extremely curious because he couldn’t figure out exactly what the hell was going on. That said, I wasn’t really planning to let him in the loop. I figured that telling him would probably end up causing us more trouble than it was worth further down the line and that it’d be better for us to refrain from doing so.

Fran, however, disagreed.

「Willing to tell.」

『Wait, Fran, hold up!』

(Got an idea.)

『Care to share?』

(Just leave to me.)

『You uh... sure?』

(No issues.)

Fran seemed to be insisting that she knew what she was doing, so I ended up yielding and allowing her to do whatever it was she’d thought up.

「But only under certain condition.」

「Oh? What kinda condition?」

「Looking for God-tier Blacksmith. Will tell if told blacksmith’s location.」

Her idea was a pretty good one. The God-tier Blacksmith’s location was something extremely valuable, and thus, most likely confidential. In other words, it was unlikely that the Beast Lord would be willing to tell it to Fran under normal circumstances even if he was looking out for the Black Cat Tribe and its members.

His personality seemed to indicate that the opposite was quite possible as well, but one could never really know for sure. Plus, having a bargaining chip was pretty much always better than not.

(Master, activate Principle of Falsehood.)

『Roger that.』

The best part about the idea Fran came up with was that it allowed us to gain at least some information regardless of whether or not the Beast Lord lied. All he needed to do was assent and we had ourselves some profit.

「Agree?」

「...I will leave this decision entirely up to you, Your Majesty.」

「Oh hell no, you’re not getting out of this! You think about it too unless you want Royce on our asses for making another dumb decision.」

The Beast Lord ended up deciding to tell us what he knew after discussing it a bit with Roche.

「...Close in a bit.」

「Nn.」

「We had originally secured a single ticket as we had suspected that you would likely not want to remain in the VIP area.」

「Nn.」

The atmosphere in here was a bit stiff, and more importantly, Fran herself wasn’t really able to relax. She’d yet to be able to let her guard down around the Beast Lord and his companions.

Fran got ready to leave the VIP area with a huge platter of the food she’d taken from it in tow right about when the noble Roche had mentioned approached it.

She’d offered to pay for what she was going to eat, but the Beast Lord ended up dismissing the notion and calling the platter a reward she’d earned given that she’d beat Goldalfa. And so, we ended up leisurely getting ourselves ready to watch the matches to come.

***

The reserved seating area was full of nobles and other people with a tonne of spare cash. A bunch of them spotted us immediately, but they didn’t end up saying anything, quite possibly because they were afraid of us. Or rather, of Urushi.

He still seemed to be feeling the rush he’d gotten from the super intense battle we’d just fought, as his face had a bit of a wilder look on it than usual. Honestly speaking, it was a bit terrifying to look at. I didn’t really bother asking him to fix it because it kept people away, and all in all, ended up functioning as a convenience.

『So the next match still hasn’t started yet?』

「Nn.」

「Woof.」

We’d kinda destroyed the arena. The staff had to repair it before the next match began.

I’d considered the possibility that they’d have like a reigning champion or something carry in a giant ass ring into the arena, but that wasn’t what’d actually happened. They were instead fixing everything through the application of Earth Magic. To that end, the person responsible for the repairs was currently drawing some sort of magic circle.

***

It took about twenty minutes for them to create an entirely new arena and bring in the next pair of contestants.

Today’s second match was between Amanda and Erza. I honestly wasn’t sure which of the two we were supposed to be rooting for.

Their battle began before I was actually able to make up my mind.

Amanda began moving around the Arena and attacking with her whip while Erza stayed centered around the same area while waiting for a chance to throw a counterattack.

I couldn’t help but enjoy spectating the two of them as they fought. One’s whip was raging within the barrier’s confines as would a dragon, while the other’s mace was cleaving holes in the arena every single time it was swung. There was but only one issue...

「Ahhhhh...!」

「Iwwaaaaahhh!」

That one issue was the fact that the buff manwoman would moan each and every time he was struck with the whip. I couldn’t help but begin debating whether or not Fran was actually old enough to be watching the two go at each other.

I felt like I most likely would’ve directed her attention elsewhere and disallowed her from watching if we weren’t going to end up fighting the winner.

I expected the match to last quite a while given that Erza had both high defenses and the Pain Conversion skill, but I was wrong.

「Ahuuunnn!」

「It’s over!」

「Ahhh... Haaaahhhhnnn!」

Amanda swung her whip in a downwards arc and sent Erza flying. He’d passed out by the time he landed, which made sense.

Not feeling pain was useful and all, but one would still eventually lose consciousness and control over one’s body should one take way too much damage.

「I can’t believe it! Erza, Ulmutt’s Hero, was defeated with ease! Well, that’s an A ranked adventurer for you! This round goes to Amanda of Hariti!」

I was surprised to hear the caster openly declare that as the city’s hero. It seemed that Ulmutt’s people were a lot more accepting than I’d been giving them credit for.

『Did you manage to catch that last attack of hers...?』

「Barely?」

『Yeah, same here.』

Amanda’s whip moved so quickly that I hadn’t even been able to fully keep track of it from afar. Fran and I were both starting to worry that we wouldn’t be able to repel her attacks.

『Looks like our next match is going to be one hell of a tough one.』

「Nn!」