Chapter 868

The name Filuria came out of Sophie’s mouth. I heard that name before we entered the tower too. Who is she?

「Who is Filuria?」

「The highest authority in the tower, known as the Medical Director. She’s also my legal guardian.」

Why would someone like her lie about Fran being an assassin?

The mastermind we’re after is most likely someone from the Sanatorium, and this Filuria sounds really suspicious.

「What’s she like?」

Nelsh frowned at Fran’s rude question. It seems he was concerned with her disrespect towards this Filuria in addition to Sophie.

But he still didn’t show any signs of stopping her. Perhaps he realized that nothing he could say would stop Fran.

Besides, the conversation was getting a bit heavy. Maybe he thought Sophie would give him trouble for interfering too.

「She’s a woman from the family of healers who have led the Sanatorium for generations, the 30th I think? She’s not only the head of the Sanatorium, but one of the most powerful people in town.」

「Hmm. So why did she lie about me being an assassin?」

「That I don’t know. Maybe someone tricked her, or maybe she has some reason for trying to capture you……」

「What’s her personality?」

「On the surface, she’s kind and polite. Exactly the type of person to be called a saintess, I suppose?」

On the surface? So what about under the mask?

「……And in reality?」

「If people knew what she’s really like, no one would call her a saintess. She is one incredibly scary woman.」

Fran was not the only one surprised by Sophie’s words. Nelsh’s eyes widened as well. It seems this Filuria hid her true colors well.

After a sideways glance at Nelsh, Fran tilted her head.

「Sophie, how do you know what she’s really like?」

「I have better ears than the average person, so I can hear things from far away.」

As a musician, Sophie had better hearing than normal. She apparently could sometimes overhear secret conversations even through walls.

「It’s only recently that I’ve discovered her true nature though.」

「Really?」

「Yeah. My hearing got even better after I raised my level fighting antidemons, and I’ve been hearing more things because of it…… Many things I never wanted to hear.」

Maybe overhearing something is why Sophie ran away in the first place?

「Why didn’t you tell anyone?」

「Are you telling me to expose Filuria? I mean, doesn’t everyone have a side of themselves they want to hide?」

「?」

「……Okay Fran, I can see that doesn’t apply to you.」

Well, it’s not a crime to put up a front. Many people wear a mask of smiles and laughter to cover up their internal ugliness. Everyone does it a little.

However, this Filuria seems to be on the darker side.

「For the past few days, Filuria has been acting much worse than usual. No, maybe she’s been that way from the start and I just didn’t notice it……」

「Did she do something other than the order to catch me?」

「She definitely did. Filuria has several bodyguards and I overheard her giving a suspicious order to them. Something about taking someone down.」

Could it be her giving the orders to incite a war between the Beastmen Union and the Dragon King Syndicate?

「Sophie, do you know a guy named Numerae?」

「I believe he was among Filuria’s bodyguards, one of the guys she gave the order to.」

She’s 100% guilty! This Filuria lady seems to be behind everything.

「Did you know him?」

「Nn.」

Fran told Sophie what she knew about Numerae. He was trying to incite a war and cause chaos on someone’s orders, before being killed by remote control.

Sophie probably thought Filuria would never go that far. She turned pale after listening to Fran’s story.

「Putting two criminal organizations against each other? Why would she do such a thing……?」

「I don’t know. But Numerae was definitely trying to do that.」

「But why?」

「Maybe she wanted to injure a lot of people, then heal them to make money?」

「I don’t think there’s any point to that given the Sanatorium’s current state……」

The Sanatorium already had plenty of funds and influence, so it’s not like they needed to pull any fancy tricks. It seems Sophie couldn’t understand Filuria’s motivations either.

「About the warding stones and the surveillance wards, I’ve seen those too.」

「Really?」

「Yeah, there’s some in this tower, and they tried to put one in front of my room once too. I pretended to find it by accident and then threw it back at Filuria.」

Filuria said it was a security device for detecting intruders at the time, but it was clearly intended to spy on Sophie.

「How did you find it?」

「I had a strange feeling about it since the area around it absorbed sound without echoing it.」

Sophie must be like Fran, being able to use her talents without any skills. In her case, it was her ears. She could sense the unnatural lack of echoes.

「She said one of her subordinates made the wards, but I knew she was just trying to keep an eye on me.」

Afterwards, she must have given up on installing the surveillance ward after finding out that Sophie could detect the warding stones.

「About the subordinate who made it, what are they like?」

「A famous adventurer, so you should know more about her than I do. The Rank A adventurer “Ward Dealer”.」

「……?」

『I think I’ve heard that name somewhere……』

While Fran tilted her head, Sophie raised her voice in surprise.

「Y-You’ve really never heard of her?」

「Nn.」

「Seliadot the Ward Dealer, called that because of her talent for warding arts. She is an adventurer famous for traveling all over the world.」

After hearing that, I finally remembered. She was the adventurer who had set up the barrier around the Spider’s Web dungeon near Alessa.

「And she was also famous for one other thing.」

「What’s that?」

「She’s usually known as the Ward Dealer, but some call her the “Miser”. All she cares about is money, and she’ll apparently do anything to get it.」

You’d think any Rank A adventurer could easily make tons of cash, but this Ward Dealer seems to be absolutely obsessed.

She’s become famous for it, ever since the time she murdered a noble and everyone under him just because he tried to cheapen out on her commission fee. Because of the incidents she’s caused, some countries even put bounties on her head.

It was also said that she obeyed contracts involving money to the letter, so she would never betray her employers.

The guild viewed her behavior as problematic, but she never antagonized the guild directly, and she was a master of the very rare Warding Arts skill.

In the end, the guild only responded with a “harsh warning”, so basically a slap on the wrist.

『So we might have a Rank A adventurer on the enemy side……?』

（Nn.）

We could easily imagine how troublesome her abilities are just by looking at these warding stones. Since we aren’t at full power right now, we need to avoid antagonizing her at all costs.