The martial arts tournament has finally begun. However, Fran is in the seeded bracket this time, so she wonât be participating in the qualifying round.
Well, Fran said she wanted to participate in the qualifier, but as expected, Diaz and the others wonât let her. They asked her to be patient for the sake of the other participants in the qualifying round, so she gave up this time.
ăFran, over thereă
ă? The seats are over thereă
ăFran may cause a commotion if she were to sit on the regular seats. Iâm sure the special seats for officials wonât draw that much attention, so letâs watch from thereă
ăOkayă
Today, we came to watch the qualifying round. I donât know if there will be any strong opponents, but we simply have nothing else to do for today.
Holding the food from the stall in both hands, she walked towards the special seats. On the way, we spotted a familiar face.
Fran then calls out to the girls walking in front of her.
ăKatleyă
ăOneesama!ă
It was Katley, the aspiring adventurer who adored Fran. She was walking in the same direction, accompanied by a man who seemed to be their escort.
ăDid oneesama also come to watch the martial arts tournament?ă
ăNn, you too?ă
ăYes!ă
Katley looked happy, but beside her was a little girl who looked up at Fran anxiously. She squeezed Katleyâs hand and gripped her skirt with her other hand.
ăWho?ă
ăHer name is Nilfe. Sheâs Dimitris-samaâs granddaughteră
ăI-Iâm NilfeâŠă
Nilfe muttered his name in a very low voice.
Dimitrisâ granddaughter? So, sheâs Hiltâs sister? Her green hair certainly looks like hers. But I didnât feel the same presence as hers. She seems to be a shy and weak girl. Other than the color of her hair, she had nothing in common with Hilt.
A bald, fine-looking macho man standing behind Katley and Nilfe bowed his head lightly. Heâs got a pretty good face. He seems to be Dimitrisâ disciple.
ăGrandfather asked me to show her around. He said if I was going to be an adventurer, I had to be able to escort heră
For Aurel to leave the role of guiding Nilfe around to Katley, he seems to have fully approved of Katley becoming an adventurer. Well, getting to know someone of her age is certainly a good experience too, I guess. But Fran seemed to be bothered by Kaleyâs words.
ăI see. If thatâs the case, your current introduction is no goodă
ăEh?ă
ăEven if itâs not a formal request, if youâve accepted the job as an adventurer, you shouldnât give out any information about your client or escort. Even to acquaintancesă
It seems that Franâs mentoring has not ended with the completion of the previous request. Well, sheâs her first kouhai (junior) after all, sheâs willing to give her an advice or two.
Katley, whose carelessness was pointed out by Fran, immediately realized her mistake.
ăâŠYouâre right⊠Iâm sorry Nilfeă
She bowed deeply to Nilfe, with the look of a newbie adventurer who screwed up a request.
I think itâs not something that she should be so upset about, but Katley seemed to have taken it very seriously. The other reason was probably because of her respect for Fran.
ăNilfe is the granddaughter of a famous person. The more reason you should be carefulă
ăYouâre certainly rightâŠă
ăU-umm, I donât really mindâŠă
Nilfe shakes her head in frustration as Katley apologizes. She looks young, but she seems to have understood what we were saying.
ăDid you come here to see the qualifying round?ă
ăY-yes..ă
Fran was not asking Katley this time, but Nilfe. It seems that she could tell that Katley adored Fran and was interested in her.
ăLetâs go together thenă
ăYes!ă
ăYesâŠă
As we walked, Katley talked to Nilfe about Fran.
Sheâs telling the overly exaggerated story of Fran again though. Itâs a little better now that Fran had corrected her a little, but itâs still a bit exaggerated.
Fran is so indifferent about it that she hardly ever comments on it.
Nilfeâs expression changed as she listened to Katleyâs passionate talk about Fran. She clearly has developed some respect for Fran.
Katleyâs story sounds like something that comes out of fiction no matter how much I think about it, howeverâŠ
ăT-thatâs amazingă
Nilfe, who trusts Katley, doesnât seem to think that her words are a lie or an exaggeration. Well, sheâs still young after all.
Her small body trembled as she listened excitedly to Katleyâs story.
ăThatâs so coolă
ăRight? Fran-oneesama is amazingă
ăYesă
The gleam in her eyes is exactly the same as that of Katley looking at Fran. This could be the birth of a new child who respects Fran.
Even after arriving at the special seat, Katleyâs praise of Fran didnât stop. Maybe in Nilfeâs mind now, Fran is as big a hero as Dimitris.
ăWhat have you been up to lately?ă
ăIâm training every day to become an adventurer. The rest of the time, I do chores in the cityă
I heard that in Ulmut, there are jobs that one can take as an apprentice even if they are not registered as an adventurer. I guess itâs just something for newbies. And because of the martial arts tournament, there are plenty of chores that need to be done, so there are a lot of jobs posted around this time of year.
This apprenticeship was not only a great way to earn money, but also a way to hear various rumors, which Katley seemed to enjoy very much.
Especially at this time of year when rumors from all over the country are flying around.
ăI heard that the appearance rate of undead is increasing around Ulmută
ăWhy?ă
ăThe reason is still unknown. However, since many travelers are coming here at this time of the year, many of them die around Ulmut. The merchant who told me the story said that the corpses of such unfortunate travelers might turn into undeadă
ăI seeă
ăAlso, there are a lot of mercenaries coming in as guards for those travelers, so there have been more fights recentlyă
ăBetween adventurers and mercenaries?ă
ă Itâs also happening among the mercenaries. There are also more pickpockets and swindlers, so grandfather is busy all the timeă
The festive atmosphere must have attracted bad people as well.