Chapter 265: Argentlapn

Chapter 265: Argentlapn

We found Argentlapn’s Adventures’ Guild immediately after passing through the town’s front gate.

The size of the guild was, like Greyseal’s, quite impressive.This made me believe that all the Beastkin’s Country’s guilds were large, but apparently that was a misunderstanding. Us seeing two larger guilds in a row was just a coincidence. Greyseal was a portside city and Argentlapn was right by the best place one could pass through the Scorpion Lion Forest. As far as adventurers were concerned, both were hotspots.

『There seem to be a good number of adventurers hanging around.』

“Nn.”

Upon entering, we found more than 30 adventurers sitting around what looked like a bar and drinking booze.

All their gazes immediately flew right at Fran, evaluating her. Most were beastkin, so they immediately recognized Fran as someone who had evolved. The realization not only shocked them, but also eliminated any thoughts they had of harassing us. The reckless and ignorant adventurers that would’ve otherwise tried were immediately told to stand down by their buddies.

“Welcome.”

“Nn. Want to sell monster parts.”

“Sure thing. Could I please see your guild card?”

“Nn. C ranked adventurer. Fran.”

“I-I knew it...!”

The receptionist already knew who Fran was. The guild’s intelligence network reached both far and wide and its employees were held to a high standard, so they were always kept in the loop. She soon realized that she’d been timidly staring at Fran’s card, so she lightly cleared her throat before returning it.

“I-I’m sorry, please excuse me. We handle all monster related transactions over there,” she said, pointing towards a table

“Got it.”

Fran brought out the corpses of the venom dogs she’d slain on her way over to the guild. They were not yet dismantled because we hadn’t had the time to get to it.

For some odd reason, the adventurers were riled up by her bounty.

Wait, why do they seem so impressed? Venom dogs are only F ranked threats, aren’t they? How is killing 10 of them any bit of a big deal?

Diving deeper into the conversation led me to understand the reasons for their admiration.

“That’s quite the number of venom dogs, miss,” said the guild’s receptionist, her eyes wide. “Did you perhaps encounter a pack?”

“Nn,” replied Fran.

“Wow, how impressive... I should’ve expected nothing less.”

“Yes. Safety comes from one’s individual combat prowess, but can also come from numbers for those who are lacking.”

Partying up allowed you to take on stronger opponents by working together with other people also capable of putting up a fight. Moreover, it also allowed the possibility of escaping by sacrificing one’s companions in times of desperation.

That was why it was only natural for those that liked to solo or work in small groups to temporarily join up with each other and form slightly larger parties before attempting to move through the forest.

I, however, was against it. Partying up with people would only serve to slow us down.

“Hey there.”

“Nn? Hi?”

“You’re planning to head through the Scorpion Lion Forest, right? You wanna join us? We may not really look it, but we’re E-rankers, so we won’t slow you down or get in your way.”

A handsome looking human adventurer approached and called out to Fran right as she attempted to leave the guild.

I couldn’t help but feel a bit of suspicion with regards to his motives. I highly doubted a non-beastkin E ranker would be able to discern the extent of Fran’s might at a glance.

That said, why was he going about assuming Fran isn’t a weakling?

“Called out to me, why?”

“Well I mean, you’ve pretty much got everyone’s sights on you, and I just overheard something about you saying you were a C ranker.”

“You believed that?”

“Well, you beastkin tend to have higher stats than us humans, and a good portion of you tend to be able to hold your own in a fight. I met another young, but incredibly strong beastkin girl around your age the other day too, so I’m pretty confident that you’re a strong one.”

“I see.”

Welp, don’t I feel like an asshole. He’d actually been wanting to party up with Fran and not trying to mess with her.

That said, we ended up turning down his invitation because he wasn’t leaving until the day after tomorrow, and we couldn’t afford to just sit around and waste time with our schedule. Moreover, I’d been thinking that it was possible for us to just get on Urushi and fly over the forest. Though, that would eat through his mana, so I wanted to go as far as possible on foot first. Thus having companions wouldn’t quite work out with what we had in mind.

“We should leave now.”

“Nn.”

So, with that done, we thanked the receptionist and headed back out the front door.

“It’s still morning, and we’ve still got the whole day ahead of us, so why don’t we head right over to The Shortcut?”

“Think will encounter manticores?”

“Why again do you seem like you’re looking forward to it...? Though, you’ve probably gone and jinxed it now, so I’d say we’re more or less sure to run into one.”

“Can’t wait.”