273. Reasons

Reasons

TL: SupremeTentacle

ED: Exkalamity

“You, weak,” said Fran.

Guendalfa did not reply

“So I don’t think he can respond very well while unconscious…”

“That punch? Goldalfa would barely feel.”

“Well, yeah. Goldalfa was almost immortal. Not a fair comparison.”

So what the hell are we supposed to do with a knocked out rhinokin anyway…?

Fran wasn’t satisfied and was glaring terribly at Guendalfa.

“Get up.”

She kicked him, but the only response she got was an unconscious groan. The rhinokin showed no sign of waking, so she kicked him again and again. A guard came out of the station and approached us.

“Okay okay, that’s enough, everyone break it up,” he said.

“Hmph,” said Fran, giving one last kick.

“Oh man though. Hell of a way to knock him out in one hit!”

Oh shit! We may have gone way too far. I hope they’ll still let us in.

The guard poured a generous amount of recovery potion on Guendalfa’s body and spoke to Fran.

“Sooo, can you let him go now? I know he was being an ass, but I don’t think he deserves to be killed.”

Huh? So we’re not in trouble at all? Wait. If he knew he was being a little shit, this means that he saw the confrontation leading up to the fight. Why didn’t he stop us?

“Didn’t stop, why?” asked Fran.

“To be honest, he had it coming and I wanted to see someone beat the crap out of him,” said the guard. “I already knew how strong were, so I thought you would be the perfect person for the job.”

“Nn. Easy,” Fran boasted.

Oh god dammit Fran. Don’t go tooting your god damn horn just ‘cause he praised your ability to beat up some random grunt.

“I used to know Goldalfa back in the day,” said the guard. “He really saved my ass when I was starting up myself. I really looked up to him. Guen too. He was really attached to his uncle back in they day. He would go on and on about how he was going to do everything to help ol’ Gold out once he became the family Patriarch.”

Goldalfa as some sort of patriarch? Yeah, I could see that. The guy’s mad strong, so I could totally see him pulling it off.

“Goldalfa became the Beast Lord’s guard and renounced his position before it was even passed to him,” continued the guard, “Guen saw that as betraying expectations. The position went to Guen’s father instead. And as of recent, Guen’s started channeling his emotions into surpassing his uncle.”

So that’s why he challenged Fran. If he could beat Fran, who beat Goldalfa, then the implication is that he would be stronger than Goldalfa. He’s oversimplifying it and kind of wrong, but I can at least see where he’s coming from.

“Sorry about him,” said the guard. “I’ll make sure to tell him off. I’m not sure if this is enough to make up for this, but if you need any help just call me. I’ll do whatever I can. You have my word.”

The guard bowed then effortlessly picked up Guendalfa with one hand and slung him over his shoulder. I was shocked because the guard was a scrawny man and Guendalfa was no lightweight. After a quick appraisal I saw that the guard was a high leveled oxkin on the verge of evolving.

Not bad for a city guard.

He was apparently going to be throwing Guendalfa into the slammer for a bit so he could cool his head.

“At this point I think we should just forgive him. It’s not like dealing with him really cost us anything, after all. ”

“Nn. Good exercise.”

After that we managed to enter the capital without further incident. We got its location of the Adventurers Guild from a guard when passing through the gate, so we didn’t have to stop and look for it en route. Passing through the city had once again demonstrated to us the sheer amount of respect with which beastkin treated those that had evolved. Not a single beastkin adventurer messed with on our way to the guild, and all the non-beastkin that seemed to want to were quickly shut down by their buddies. Guendalfa had been the only odd one out.

Vestia was an enormous city, so we expected the guild to be scaled up proportionally. But upon reaching it, we found that it was disappointingly only about the same size as the guilds in Roserraccoon and Argentlapn. Fran entered the guild.

“Good evening,” she said.

“Welcome,” replied the receptionist. “How can I hel- ahh. Would you happen to be Fran?”

“Nn. Know me?”

“Yes! All of us guild staff in the beastkin country know you. The staff from the Argentlapn branch sent out a message from a magic communicator informing the other branches of your arrival.”

Wait, there’s such an item for long distance communication? That’s probably how the guildmaster in Roseraccoon quickly received the info on the assassin I nabbed. Thinking about it, It only makes sense for every branch to have such a device. But then, why would they need to have us deliver a letter if they have something that convenient? I thought they gave us this letter because they had no other way to send messages over long distances. Then again, Dias did mention they he talked to other guildmasters around the time of the tournament. At this point I don’t know what to make of the situation so let’s just hand over the letter.

“This. From Roseraccoon’s guildmaster,” said Fran.

“A letter?” The receptionist received the envelope. “Let’s see. Hmm… I see. There’s no mistake. Please wait a moment.”

After examining the seal on the letter, the receptionist got up and hurried to an office in the back. After a couple minutes of waiting, she came back, brought us around the counter, and took us to the back.

“Guildmaster, I have brought her,” said the receptionist.

“Good work. Please return to your post,” said the voice of an old man.

“Understood.”

We entered the office and saw an old man with a crooked back, a set of white fox ears, and a white tail.

Normally, I’d get all excited if upon encountering someone with real fox ears and a fluffy tail, but an old man…? Yeah, no.

“I am Melrosse,” he said. “Master of the Vestia’s Adventurers’ Guild.”

“C ranked adventurer, Fran.”

“Hohoho I see. You are even more powerful than the rumors suggest. Indeed very reliable.”

My first impression was that he was just a kind old man. But his eyes carried a very sharp glint as they evaluated Fran.

There’s more to him than he gives off. We can’t underestimate him.