232. The Rumours
Regus had told us quite a bit for free. That said, we were asking him to do a good bit of work, so we were naturally planning to reward him for any of the services he was going to provide going forward.
The price was set at 30k Golde regardless of what he managed to find. It was apparently a bit higher than the market price, but he promised to do his best to give us a decent bang for our buck. With that decided, we went our separate ways.
『Let’s go talk to Gamud.』
「Nn.」
The receptionist immediately sprang into action when we showed her our guild card and asked to see the guildmaster.
Her actions apparently weren’t driven by our rank, but rather, because she’d recognized Fran as the Black Lightning Princess. It seemed information about her had already been disseminated to the guild’s associates.
She ended up getting a secretary-like person to guide us up to the guild’s second floor and into the guildmaster’s room.
「Hey, long time no see. I heard you got quite a bit done in Ulmutt.」
「Nn.」
There, we found Gamud, the Barbra branch’s guildmaster, and a former A ranked adventurer known as the Dragonfeller.
He’d fought alongside Forrund, Amanda, Colbert, and everyone else during the Evil Being incident. The sight of him using a warhammer the size of his body to send Rynford flying had left a pretty deep impression on me, possibly in part because he’d totally saved our asses back then.
「I probably would’ve spectated myself if I wasn’t stuck here cleaning up after the incident.」
「Can’t be helped.」
「Riiiiight? Man, I would’ve loved to see you take Fermus on. Those threads of his are one huge pain in the ass to deal with.」
Fermus and Gamud were both A ranked adventurers that’d made Barbra their home base, so they were probably more than just acquainted with one another. There was a pretty decent chance they’d worked together on at least one occasion some time in the past. Their nicknames were rather similar, so I suspected that they’d probably been a part of the same party.
Asking him prompted him to explain that my suspicions were on point. They’d both been a part of an incredibly famous A ranked party known as The Dragonslayers. Their names were so well known that they’d practically become the stuff of legends. Normally, I would’ve just wrote off the last bit he mentioned as a casual brag, but he was an A ranker, so I was actually kinda tempted to just take what he said at face value.
「So whaddya need? I’m pretty sure you didn’t stop by just ’cause you wanted to see me.」
Fortunately for us, Gamud wasn’t too interested in pleasantries, he cut straight to the point and asked us about our business. We responded in kind and told him we were looking for Gallus.
「I see. So you’re looking for Gallus…」
「Current location?」
「Sorry, but I dunno. All I know is that he ran a maint on one of my weapons ’bout 10 days ago, so he was still in Barbra at least till then.」
「I think he said something or another ’bout going to Ulmutt, but he never mentioned when he was leaving.」
「Okay.」
Gallus had apparently informed Gamud of his destination, but that was all the guildmaster knew. I immediately jumped to the conclusion that we weren’t going to get any more info out of him, so I told Fran that it was probably time to leave.
「Oh yeah, didja happen to really not like mercs or somethin?」
But the guildmaster stopped us by asking Fran a question right as she started to get out of her chair.
「Nn?」
「Well… it’s just that I’ve been hearing some odd rumours.」
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「What kind?」
「Oh, y’know, just that the Black Lightning Princess hates mercenaries, that she kills all the mercs that antagonize her, that she’ll crush any mercs she happens to hate, and that she’ll start casting spells at any mercs she happens to see without warning.」
Huh? Why the hell would anyone think that?
「At least that’s what I’ve been hearing from all the mercs that make this town their base. They’re scared shitless of you.」
Did he just straight up ask all the mercs he knew whether or not they thought we hated them or something?
「No relation to mercenaries.」
「Oh, that so?」
「Just, will crush all enemies.」
「A-Ah… I getcha.」
「Nn.」
Thinking back, I realized that we’d gotten ourselves involved with and viciously attacked a pretty large number of mercenaries. In fact, the first group to fuck with us, the adventurers we met in Alessa, had been a group of ex-mercs.
There was also that run in we had with Blue Pride back in Ulmutt. It was technically the Beast Lord that took them out, but that probably wasn’t how it seemed to the average onlooker. Most people probably would’ve suspected that Fran had done something.
That explained why the Dimuyr guys we met on our way to Barbra were so terrified of us.
To them, Fran was overwhelmingly powerful. She was more than capable of wiping them out in an instant. That alone would’ve been perfectly fine, but combining it with the supposed fact that she hated mercenaries made it so it was only natural for them to be terrified of her.
「You mind if I relay that bit of info to the mercs?」
「Do it.」
「Oh yeah, I’ve also got a request I’d like you to complete. 」
「Request?」
「You’re the perfect person for it seeing as how you can go head to head ‘gainst an A ranker.」
It sounded like he wanted to us to do something along the lines of taking out a powerful magic beast. I didn’t see any problem with taking on a request, but I really didn’t want to do anything that’d take up too much of our time.
Luckily for us, that wasn’t really what he’d had in mind in the first place.
「Y’see, there’s these guys I just so happen to have my eyes on. I’d like you to spar them and show them that there’s always someone stronger out there.」
「Can’t do yourself?」
「Forrund and I have been looking after them since they were just kids, so they think it’s only natural for them to lose if they’ve gotta fight me or ‘im. We’ve beat them up so many times that it doesn’t make ’em feel frustrated anymore.」
Gamud’s argument made sense to me. People kinda expected to lose against their masters and whatnot.
「You mind handling it tomorrow morning? It shouldn’t take too long.」
「Don’t mind.」
「Hell yeah. I’ll wrangle the brats in so you can do your thing. They’re older than you, but i’m sure you can give ’em a good smack and make ’em learn some modesty. Gahahaha!」
「Nn.」
Fran worked out the details of when and where with Gamud before finally making her way back out the Adventurers’ Guild’s front door.