Abarb was smiling at Fran with his creepy, snake-like eyes.

「Hee-hee-hee!」

It was not a friendly attitude by any stretch of the imagination. The old man became suspicious of him and questioned Abarb.

「W-Weren't there soldiers guarding outside the door?」

「Oh, them? Kukuku, are you sure they weren't negligent in their duties? They were just so defenseless that I couldn't stop myself from killing them!」

「What?」

The next moment, Abarb's sword was swung. His target was the leader of the healers, aiming precisely at his neck.

This was clearly intended to kill him.

Well my telekinesis deflected the blow, turning that into a failure!

It was easy to see what he was going to do next since he made no attempt to hide his killing intent. He had underestimated the healers, viewing them as weaklings, so he didn't even use a sword art. Blocking him was as easy as taking candy from a goblin.

「Wow! You blocked my first hit? Not bad!」

「Eh? What?」

The three healers were bewildered, still unable to comprehend the situation.

Despite his bad reputation, he was a participant of the martial arts tournament and a high ranking adventurer. They probably never dreamed that they would be attacked out of the blue.

「Shiya!」

「Ahhh!」

The old wizard screamed and held his head. Abarb thought he had killed him for sure, and his face broke out into a sadistic smile.

However his sword was blocked by the barrier I had put up.

It's no use dude! You can't break my barrier with that level of swordsmanship!

「W-What are you doing?」

「……Are you pretending to be weak? If so, you're a good actor…… Well, it's no matter. I don't have much time, so hurry up and give me the girl.」

「W-What do you mean?」

「You see, my client desires strong adventurers. I would normally be no match for this abomination in strength… but now I can capture her easily, don't you think?」

「Y-You're terrible……」

Abarb's goal is Fran herself! Maybe he is trying to kidnap the weakened Fran and turn her into an illegal slave.

(Grrrrgh……)

『Urushi, don't kill him. We need him to talk.』

「Grrr!」

「Gyii! Wha-!? You weren't summoned! How!?」

「Grrrl!」

「A-And how can all that damage already be healed……?」

Ah, I see… If he believed that Urushi was a summoned beast, he must have thought he couldn't be summoned while the caster Fran is asleep.

Besides, he was seriously injured in the match against Hilt so he also thought Urushi was not fit for a fight. Sucks for him, I've already healed about 50% of Urushi's injuries.

「Gugaa……」

Abarb screamed, falling down to the ground as Urushi bit off both of his legs from the shadows. But, he was still a rank B adventurer.

Despite receiving a mortal wound, he took out a vial from his pocket, the same poison he used in the Diaz battle.

Immediately after he felt he was about to lose, he took the appropriate measures to save himself. I can see his experience as an adventurer paying off.

「Damn! If it comes to this……」

「Grr!」

「Wha-?!」

But for Urushi, who was immune to poison, it was nothing but bitter water. Urushi jumped up from the shadows, biting Abarb's hand holding the vial, and swallowed it down.

「I-Impossible!」

Abarb made a stupid-looking face while staring at Urushi, who was spitting to get rid of disgusting taste of the poison.

Looks like he realized that poison has no effect on Urushi. I bet Abarb has no stronger poisons at hand, so if the Seven Blinks didn't work, there is nothing he can do.

「Grrrrr!」

「Kuh!」

Urushi growled to intimidate Abarb. Is it my imagination or does Urushi seem to be more annoyed at being forced to drink the bitter poison than at the fact that Abarb is trying to capture Fran?

Anyways, we have to hear what he has to say.

「Yes, yes. That's enough, Urushi.」

「Arf.」

For the first time in a long while, I used my Body Double Creation to create a human body and appeared in front of them.

「Whoa! W-Who's there!?」

「Eh? When did you!?」

Sorry to have startled you, healers.

「Umm, I'm Fran's Master. Right, Urushi?」

「Woof!」

Urushi rubbed his head against my hand.

「I-Is that so?」

The fact that Urushi, Fran's pet, has taken to me was proof of my status. The healers were relieved, and Abarb's face contorted in hatred.

He sensed that my body double was not very powerful and mistakenly thought that I was so strong that he could not see through my disguise. My body double was pretty weak in reality though.

「Damn……」

「So? What's it gonna be? If you spit it all out, we'll just patch up your wounds and send you to the guild.」

「And if I don't?」

I squat down in front of Abarb and look him in the eyes.

「You don't think you're going to stay in one piece after trying to mess with my little Fran, do you?」

「……Sigh. She was supposed to be easy prey…… Very well, I'll tell you everything.」