Chapter 1042

1042: Nadia and the Black Cats

Fran managed to finish explaining all the divine swords to Nadia. It took like an hour.
She also told her about Lindwurm and Oratorio, but Nadia can be trusted with those secrets, right? I guess a lot of people already knew, so it’s only a matter of time until the cat’s out of the bag either way.
Apparently, Fran’s current excitement was similar to a grade school child telling their parents about the secret of a friend they learned at school, along with the “Don’t tell anyone else!”
She had explained the greatness of each divine sword, in between her excited breaths.
「That many divine swords gathered in one place, huh? It must have been a spectacular sight.」
「Nn.」
「I also never could have imagined there being so many failed divine swords. Master, maybe this is unnecessary, but be careful. Suddenly gaining a lot of power can cause one to make a lot of extra mistakes.」
『True, I’ll keep that in mind.』
I can admit I get carried away sometimes. Besides, Nadia having wielded Overgrowth made her words were very convincing.
I’m sure she’s thinking about all the mistakes she made in the past.
Well, a warrior’s past blunders is none of my business. I won’t pry into the details.
「Did you make mistakes too, Auntie?」
『Oi! You’re really going to ask?!』
「Hahaha. Yeah, a bunch. Let me tell you about a few.」
As expected from Nadia. She shrugged Fran’s impolite words with a smile and told her all about the funny failures of herself and others.
Fran listened to all of them with a twinkle in her eye. However, the good times never last.
The sun was beginning to set, with the mansion’s maids telling us it’s about time to go. Considering the burden on the still recovering Nadia, we shouldn’t stay too long.
She recommended that we stay the night, but we still needed to show our face at the Adventurers Guild.
『Nadia, can I ask you one last thing?』
「What is it?」
『What do you plan to do now? Still remain on this continent? Or leave and try to evolve?』
Her answer will be really important. It may even affect Fran’s future plans as well.
「I will, of course, be saying goodbye to Gordicia. I can’t hunt fiends if I stay here. My job as gravekeeper is over too.」
Like I expected, she was aiming for evolution.
「Then you can come with――」
「Not happening.」
「Why not?!」
「Because I don’t want to drag you down. I’m just a liability after losing Overgrowth.」
「Not true. You won’t drag me down at all!」
「No, it is true. I know myself better than anyone.」
Fran tried to deny Nadia’s words, but it was true that Nadia’s stats dropped considerably. Almost halved in fact, probably due to her loss of Overgrowth and reduction in level.
Back in Castel, Nadia had exceeded the max level for black cats. However, her level was now reduced to 45, probably due to her race being reverted back to normal. Her level had become capped again.
Many of her skills got downgraded too, and her equipment was destroyed during the battle for Castel. She could previously match the strength of Rank A adventurers, but now she was only midway between Rank B and C.
Despite being among the strongest unevolved black cats in the world, that’s not very impressive. Moreover, her effective stats were reduced further due to not being in peak condition.
Nadia knew her own state very well.
「There are quite a few black cats on this continent, since you can make a living here as long as you’re willing to fight. It’s perfect for training, and much better than living in a place dominated by blue cats. I’m thinking of taking all of them with me to the Beast Kingdom. Schwarzkatze, right? Who could’ve thought there’d be a village for us black cats.」
Apparently, it was very hard for anyone outside the Beast Kingdom to imagine a village for black cats. Moreover, the nation worked to protect the black cats from persecution.
Nadia had been ridiculed as an inferior race and discriminated against by other beastmen since her birth. The village of Schwarzkatze must seem like an utopia.
「I’m sure many black cats would be willing to join me.」
「Then I’ll go with you!」
「Fran, didn’t you come here on a request? You have to go report back. Come on, standard adventurer procedure.」
「……Nn.」
Nadia managed to completely counter Fran’s selfish behavior by treating her as a full-fledged adventurer. Fran would love nothing more than to drop everything and go to the Beast Kingdom, but she knew doing so would disappoint Nadia.
And of course, Fran could not disappoint Nadia. She had no choice but to nod begrudgingly.
「Then I’ll ask Mea to take care of you! She’ll definitely get you all to the Beast Kingdom!」
「Wasn’t she that princess with Lindwurm? Are you sure that’s okay? I know nothing about proper behavior in front of royalty, you know?」
Nadia seemed taken aback at the mention of Mea’s name. I guess that can’t be helped if she only knew Mea as the princess of the Beast Kingdom.
Rather, that’s the normal reaction. Well, there shouldn’t be any problem since Mea acts nothing like a normal princess.
「You’ll be fine with Mea.」
「Even so…」
「Mea isn’t princess-like at all. She’s like a normal adventurer. Don’t worry.」
Oh, I guess we share that opinion. Fran’s always cared very little for nobility and such, so the fact that she recognized Mea as not princess-like was rather surprising.
「I guess I don’t have any connections, so this is my only option…… Fine! Bring it on! Please introduce me to her!」
「Nn!」
『It’s too late today, so we’ll bring her over tomorrow or the day after.』
「Hold it! Let me go over to her! Calling royalty over would just be plain rude!」
「No Auntie! You can’t move yet!」
「Gnrgh……」
At any rate, things were about to get a lot more complicated in Gordicia. Getting Nadia and the black cats out of here seems like a good plan.
「Oh, I’ve gotta at least ask Mulsani for some fancier clothes……!」
「Mea would be fine even if you’re naked.」
「As if!」
Wow. Fran certainly has quite the image of Mea……