Chapter 1230: Their Objective

We waited for a little while, and the group of adventurers at the entrance to the village. The warrior at the forefront appeared to be their leader.

Maybe around the Rank D level? He wasnt particularly strong.

Hey, you guys fellow adventurers?

Nn. Were adventurers.

Ah, I see. This should be pretty simple then.

The leader nodded with a smirk while clearly looking down on Fran and Eiworth. White was dressed like a government clerk, so he didnt appear strong either.

I guess this warrior didnt have enough of an eye to gauge our abilities.

Despite being incredibly rude, the adventurers didnt werent immediately hostile. It might just be a stalling tactic, but we wanted information. Thus, we decided to engage with them for the moment.

What do you want?

Oi, oi! What kind of greeting is that?! All we want is to hunt a bit around here with this village as a base, just like you guys.

I see. They thought Fran and Eiworth were ordinary adventurers who happened to be staying in the village.

Not happening.

Huh?

No entering the village without permission.

Weve been entrusted with a request from the Kranzel government. Anyone unrelated to the request isnt allowed inside.

Fran and Eiworths response made the adventurers very displeased.

A government request? You think such a pathetic lie is gonna pa.s.s?

Yeah! How could some girl and geezer get a government request? Theres no way!

Get out of our way, you weaklings!

So they bring out all their friends and try to intimidate us now. The adventurers raised their voices, expecting Fran and Eiworth to cower in response.

Of course, the two were obviously unfazed.

They simply stood there without a single change to their expressions, which caused the leader to get a bit irritated. Things werent going according to his plan.

Tch. Just move aside. I dont have any time to waste on you.

No.

h.e.l.l if I care! Boys, lets go!

Yeah!

While they had yet to draw their swords, the adventurers tried to push through forcefully. Well, not that they could get through Fran and Eiworth.

A wall of earth rose to block their path.

I said no.

These men are truly poor of hearing. Perhaps they need to be shown a bit of pain before they understand?

Dont get ahead of yourself, weaklings! Youre the ones in for pain unless you let us talk to the villagers.

Tell us and well relay the message.

Also, the man with us is essentially the villages administrator.

Indeed. And as the administrator, I must say your words and actions were far from polite. As such, I cannot permit you entry to the village.

As soon as White spoke these words, the men changed their atmosphere. Each lowered their shoulders and put their hands together, as if begging Fran.

Please, youve got to help us here! We didnt come all this way to return empty-handed! Our losses will be huge at this rate. You should understand if youre fellow adventurers, right?

So the next strategy was a desperate plea? Did they really think Fran could be tricked just because shes the youngest?

They thought a fellow adventurer might sympathize with being forced to return without any gains. Theres no way such an obvious lie would work on Fran.

Were running low on food too. Im begging you, let us stay in the village.

Thats your own fault.

Kukuku, so the third-rate adventurers dont have enough of a brain to plan a day trip! Kuhahaha!

Fran simply told the adventurers to deal with it, while Eiworth laughed in their face like a psychopath. Trying to get pity out of these two was clearly counterproductive.

Amidst Eiworths raucous laughter, most of the adventurers turned hostile. However, the leader only furrowed his brow slightly.

Theres something off about this guy. They must have some hidden agenda considering the squad they sent to the back of the village

The leader merely continued staring at Fran and Eiworth, seemingly deep in thought.

Hey, can I ask you one thing?

What is it?

Is it true that theres a dragon in this village? And its said to be an evil dragon, right?

Who leaked the info!?

Were these guys after Bisdra? Even low-level dragon materials will fetch a high price, so theres no shortage of hunters for a baby dragon. Theyre much easier targets, after all.

Frans lack of facial expressions and Eiworths cunning came in handy, as they showed zero response to the question. Very impressive.

A few merchants and adventurers were allowed access to the village. One of them probably leaked Bisdras existence, like casually mentioning him while drunk or something.

The fact that he was an evil dragon wasnt public knowledge, but I guess the villagers would know. Maybe someone let it slip.

Dunno.

Is the dragon here or not?

Youre annoying.

Hurry up and answer my question already.

Just as Fran said, they were being quite annoying. It seems they wanted to elicit some kind of reaction. That said, Fran and Eiworth were the only ones with good poker faces.

The man took one look at Whites face and smirked.

I see! So the dragon must be here!

White!? I thought you were supposed to be an intelligence agent!? Well, I didnt notice any change in his expression, so it must have been a really tiny twitch. We can give credit to the adventurer leader for being able to discern such a detail.

So can we just take a quick look at the dragon or whatever? Please?

Its not here.

Tch. d.a.m.n you a.s.sholes from Raydoss! High-rank dragon materials sell for a lot, so hand it over!

The leader clicked his tongue and shouted. At this point, we could definitely say there was someone leaking info about the village.

My appraisal on the leader indicated his combat abilities were average, but he possessed skills like Negotiation, Intimidation, and Deceit.

This man was probably some kind of fraud or rogue adventurer, with a specialty for negotiations through intimidation and other tricks. Such an approach might be pretty profitable if backed by his strength as an adventurer.

But this time, he picked the wrong opponents.

Im not from Raydoss.

Me neither.

Fran and Eiworth denied his statement, and the leader only got more furious.

W-Who cares?! Just hand over the dragon! You want us to report to the Adventurers Guild that youre hiding an evil dragon?

Go ahead and try it, honestly. The guild was already well aware of Bisdra. Perhaps whatever source they found didnt get the full picture.

Kukukuku Kwahahaha! Black Lightning Princess, show them your card.

Eiworth burst into laughter in response to the mans pitiful threat, then encouraged Fran to show her adventurer card. Yeah, I agree that revealing their ident.i.ties would settle things pretty quickly.

Nn. Here.

Take a look.

Huh? Your card is gold?

It appears they didnt think they were up against anyone strong. The men went silent as soon as they saw Frans card.