We were currently back at the inn; 30 minutes had passed since we met the Beast Lord.
ăWant to just call it a day?ă
ăStill okay.ă
Fran, whose face finally had its colour restored to normal, shook her head. It seemed sheâd fully recovered after staying away from the Beast Lord for long enough.
ăYou sure? Donât force yourself, alright?ă
ăNn. Will go take bath.ă
Fran liked baths, so having one for a change of pace sounded like a pretty good idea.
It would take her at least half hour to return. Normally, I would use the time she spent in the bath to practice using my skills, but today was going to be different. I happened to have a certain something else in mind.
ăHey Urushi, letâs go appraise the Beast Lord and his companions.ă
ăWoof?ă
ăLetâs go hang around the guild, appraise them the moment they leave it, and then run the hell away.ă
ăRuffâŚă
ăDonât sweat it, itâs not like weâre going to go pick a fight or anything.ă
ăWhimperâŚă
Urushi was scared of the Beast Lord, and therefore not exactly willing, but I insisted anyways because I wanted to know more about his abilities, especially seeing as it was possible for us to encounter a worst case scenario in which we ended up antagonizing them.
We needed to know if they had any skills thatâd aid them in a pursuit. Itâd be difficult to escape them if they did, but fairly easy otherwise. The former of these two possibilities implied that there was a chance weâd have to devise ourselves a few schemes ahead of time. There was also the fact that examining their skills in more detail would allow us to learn about what we might end up having in the future.
Things were looking pretty good so far. Goldalfa and the Beast Lord were both the more combat oriented types. Neither really had too many skills thatâd help them in a chase or search. The ones they did have were rather high level, but still not enough for them to actually prevent us from escaping them. Hence, all our issues lay with the other guard and the coachman, both of which Iâd missed the chance to appraise.
There was also always the possibility that the Beast Lord had a ninja-like covert ops division protecting him from the shadows.
ăDonât worry. We wonât need you to get really close to them or anything like that. In fact, itâd be better for us to stay rather far away.ă
ăâŚWoof.ă
ăLetâs try looking for them real quick. Weâll just totally back out if theyâre not in the guild anymore, alright?ă
ăâŚWoof.ă
Urushiâs fear of the Beast Lord made him reluctant to go with the plan I suggested.
Welp, just asking him didnât work. It looked like I had to try giving him the carrot.
Apparently, you werenât actually supposed to train dogs through a reward or merit based system, as itâd lead to them only doing things when also given treats. That said though, the same probably didnât apply to Urushi. I knew that I myself wasnât always exactly conscious of the it, but Urushi was in fact a Magic Beast, and not a dog.
ăWell, how about this. Iâll make you some super spicy curry after we get back. Itâll be so spicy that not even Franâll find it too hot to eat.ă
ăGrowlâŚ!ă
Sweet. Looks like heâs taken the bait.
ăAlright! Letâs do this!ă
***
I situated myself on top of a roof that happened to have a good angle on the guild not too long after I finished negotiating with Urushi.
My wolf companion was hidden in a position a bit further distance away. It was safer for me to be alone. I was just a sword, so most people wouldnât notice me so long as I made sure to use Presence Isolation. It didnât even matter whether or not they happened to have Appraisal Detection, as theyâd probably just think of me as a mysterious item that was capable of appraising things at most. Besides, it probably wouldnât even come to that. Appraisal Detection simply told its user that they were being appraised. It wouldnât be able to pinpoint me as the thing doing the appraising in the first place. Plus, they probably wouldnât be able to trace me back to Fran even if they did. Who in their right mind would suspect that the sword she was carrying around was the same as the one thatâd appraised them?
That said, one could never be too careful, so I made sure to shrink my body down as much as possible whilst also changing its shape.
ăHmmm, should be good.ă
The form I took was like that of an odd looking metal ball, and hence, functioned for more than enough of a disguise.
The reason I had Urushi accompany me is because I needed a pair of feet to get around town. I was a sword, so I kinda couldnât just randomly head out. I mean, Iâd considered using a doppelganger, but, my doppelgangersâ skills had their levels reduced, which in turn would make me more susceptible to being discovered. I figured stealth was more important than anything else at this point in time, so I chose that over the ability to carry out the whole operation alone.
The Beast Lordâs presence was a fairly obvious one, especially seeing as how he wasnât trying to hide his presence. Thanks to all that, I managed to sense him fairly easily even from outside the guild.
After thinking about it a bit, I realized that the Beast Lord hadnât actually seemed all that intimidating at all when he was riding the carriage earlier in the day. The discrepancy between the two states caused me to immediately question it. Had he been trying to hide his aura back then? Or was it the opposite? Did he just recently decide to start seeming all terrifying because he had to deal with Dias or something?
Welp, Dias seems kinda young and all, but he is still technically an old man. Hopefully the guy doesnât give a heart attack.
One of the only issues that I could really see with this whole plan of mine was the fact that I didnât know how long the meeting was going to last. Ideally, I wanted to get back before Fran finished with her bath, so we probably only had around another 15 minutes.
The other thing that could totally mess up my plans was the possibility of the Beast Lordâs party choosing to leave Diasâ room through the Dokodemo Door they used to port into the guild in the first place. I wouldnât even so much as have a chance to appraise them if they didnât leave through the Guildâs front door.
Fortunately, I soon discovered that my worries were needless, as I sensed that they began moving, and more specifically, heading in the direction of the buildingâs entrance.
ăAlright, Iâve only got one shot at this. Iâm going to have to get the hell out of here the moment I finish appraising them.ă
It probably wouldnât be an issue if none of them had Appraisal Detection, but you know, just in case.
ăThere they are!ă
The Beast Lord stood at the forefront. He was immediately followed by Goldalfa. The shorter guard we spotted earlier had taken up the rear. The coachman guy was missing, so I decided to just appraise the third guy and call it a day for now.
ăFuck yeah! It worked! Iâm out of here!ă
I executed the escape plan I thought up just in case they happened to have skills that would allow them to chase me down. That is, I warped over to Urushi, grabbed him, and started spamming Long Jump in the innâs direction while also consciously hiding my presence. I figured I was probably going a bit overboard, but ended up carrying it through just in case. I chose the safest possible option because peeking at the Beast Lordâs status had caused me to feel a bit nervous.
It turned out the last guard was just as ridiculously strong as Iâd been expecting him to be.
It looked like the Dokodemo Door he had came from his job in the form of an innate skill, and was actually referred to as the Dimensional Gate skill.
Man, that was nerve racking.
ăWeâre back~ă
ăWoof.ă
It seemed I messed up and ended up eating up a bit too much time, as Fran had gotten back before us.
I immediately recognized the state she was in as a bit abnormal. The lights were off, and she was on top of the bed with her face in her knees and her arms around them.
ăHey Fran, why are the lights off?ă
ăNnâŚ!ă
Fran rushed towards us the moment we called out to her. She then wrapped her arms around Urushi and buried her face in his fur.
ăWoah. Whatâs up?ă
ăWoof?ă
ăMaster⌠UrushiâŚă
ăWhatâs with you all of a sudden?ă
ăNothingâŚă
Her words were in direct contrast to her expression. Her eyes were red, and she seemed rather uneasy. It looked as if sheâd just been crying.
ăWoof woof?ă
ăNn. Tickles.ă
She didnât end up cheering up and smiling until after Urushi started to lick her.
That was when it finally hit me. The Beast Lordâs strength had totally broken her will, there was no way for her to have already recovered from it. Sheâd merely been putting up a front so she wouldnât worry me.
And then there was the fact that we were just flat out gone by the time she got back. She wasnât in exactly what Iâd call mentally secure right now, so she ended up in a state of anxiety; she worried that weâd abandoned her.
And hence, Fran, a girl Iâd always thought to have nerves of steel, had ended up crying.
I was assaulted by a sense of guilt. It was all my fault. I couldâve just appraised the Beast Lordâs guard whenever. There wasnât really much of a point in going out of my way and doing it now of all times, even if I did feel a bit worried that weâd end up making enemies of them. I shouldnât have acted on my impulses. I shouldnât have letl Fran all on her own.
ăSorry.ă
ăNot problem. But sleep together tonight.ă
ăHuh? Wait, what? Youâre talking to me, right?ă
ăNn.ă
ăBut Iâm a sword you know? Iâm not exactly what youâd call huggable.ă
ăDonât care.ă
ăWell, as long as youâre fine with it.ă
ăUrushi too.ă
ăWoof?ă
And so, I ended up spending the night as Franâs body pillow. I mean, I did have a sheath and all that, but I was still technically a sword, so⌠I didnât exactly see how it was even the slightest bit comfortable, but whatever.
Fran ended up falling asleep wrapped in Urushiâs fur while also desperately clinging onto me with both arms.
ăWelp. I got nothing to do.ă
I wasnât exactly able to mess around with my skills given that I didnât want to wake Fran up. The only thing there really was for me to do was to stare at her face as she slept.
You know, this doesnât seem too bad from time to time.