Chapter 577 (1/2)

It was the day after we had arrived at Lake Vivian.

The Academy’s students were dispatched in groups of ten around the town of Sheftent. They were asked to gather medicinal herbs and defeat any magic beasts with a threat level of F there.

Since it was an official request from the Adventurer’s Guild, each group must have a student registered with the Adventurer’s Guild, and the other students would be treated as their party.

Many students were active as Adventurers in Lady Blue, not only in the Special Battle Class but also in the Advanced and other classes. They must have thought that the request this time would be quite easy for them, but actually, it was not that easy.

It was because the vegetation, animals, and weather around Lady Blue and Lake Vivian were quite different. If they thought it would be the same as usual, they might have a hard time later.

Each group was accompanied by one instructor and one Adventurer, and the spirits seemed to be following us as well. So, without any abnormalities, there wouldn’t be much danger for them.

「I’m Charles」

「Fran」

「I’m looking forward to working with you. It’s reassuring to know that the Black Lighting Princess is with us」

「Likewise」

Fran was also assigned to accompany one of the groups. The adventurer who was assigned to accompany the same group as us was a young E-ranked Adventurer.

They seemed to have balanced the instructor and Adventurer pairs, with strong Adventurers paired with weaker Adventurers and the weak instructors paired with stronger Adventurers.

And that was the reason why Fran, the strongest instructor they had, was paired with Charles, the weakest of the Adventurers. Moreover, I don’t know if they were aiming for it or not, but Charon and Khanna were in the same group as us.

「I look forward to working with you, Fran-san」

「Nn」

「Me too, I’m glad to be in the same group with Fran」

At first, the students were uneasy when they saw how unreliable Charles looked, but when they knew that Fran would accompany them, their smiles returned.

The upperclassmen probably knew that Fran was second only to Weena Rhyn in terms of ability.

But still, it was the new students who seemed anxious. They only saw Fran as a fledgling Adventurer.

They should have seen her riding on Urushi’s back before, but she hadn’t properly shown them her abilities yet. They must think that she was a strong magic beast user, but Urushi was now hiding in her shadow, and they only saw Fran alone.

Thus, they might think that their escort was the newbie duo of Charles, who was a fledgling, and Fran, who looked just like a child. That was probably what made them feel uneasy.

Currently, Fran and the third group were asked to gather medicinal herbs and defeat a pack of wolves. Our location now was in the middle of the mountains, a little away from the lake.

Charon was walking in the lead while looking at the map. Those requests could be done in no time if I or Fran helped, but this time we had to let the students do it.

「Let’s pick some herbs around the river ahead」

But then, it was Khanna who replied to Charon’s words with an uneasy expression.

「Eh? But you sure you want to come closer to the water?」

「It’s the lake that we should stay away from. So, there wouldn’t be a problem on the river, right, Charles-san? It’s safe for us to go near the river up ahead, right?」

「Eh? Yeah, you’re right. It’s fine if it is the river up ahead」

「Thank you very much. Let’s head there then」