Amanda recognised the young adventurer at once, since she had been the talk of the town.
The guildmaster explained that he had sent Amanda to investigate the unnatural goings-on in the Maru Plains, and that she had come back to report her findings. Fran, still thoroughly suspicious of this new company, said her farewells and left.
The next morning Fran ran into the ace again, picking herbs for the same quest she was on.
Later that day she went to see the librarian, who told her that the only dungeon near the guild was the dungeon near Olmut.
From then on she kept bumping into Amanda everywhere she went. The constant hovering irritated her enormously. She complained about it to Nell — she could not get rid of this woman.
Nell laughed and teased her that perhaps Amanda had grown particularly fond of her. There was no denying that she cared deeply about children; she even owned an orphanage for the ones who had nobody. In fact, her love and her devotion to them had been recognised by the gods themselves.
Amanda, by this point, was standing directly behind Nell. She swore she had not been following Fran, and that all of it had been pure coincidence.
Fran did not believe a word of it, and stated flatly that she was not going to call the ace her mother. She found the woman altogether eccentric.
Fran was summoned to the guildmaster's office.
He showed her all the crystals he had gathered in his own adventuring days, and told her he wanted her to have them. Teacher was quite certain there was more to this generosity than met the eye — and there was. The guildmaster then asked her to go on an investigation of the spider's nest.
In that case, Fran said, she wanted ten crystals. The guildmaster nearly had a heart attack. After some bargaining they settled on five.
Curious about how desperate he seemed, she asked him why this mattered so much. He answered honestly. This was an essential D-rank investigation, and it would prove to his subordinates that her promotion had been fair and not bought — and it would also put down a truly absurd rumour going around that the guildmaster had a thing for young girls.
In return, he added, he would allow her to visit the dungeon.
Just then Amanda appeared and guilt-trapped him into adding her to the investigation as well, on the grounds that the lack of female representation on the roster was blatant misogyny.
Back in her room, Fran ate her curry and sulked that the investigation was going to be boring, since there were no enormous villains in it anywhere.
Teacher encouraged her to do the master this small favour. The man had, after all, handed over the crystals so that she could learn what they were worth.
The sword activated appraisal on them. They had all been taken from D- and C-rank monsters. Without wasting any more time he absorbed the lot and triggered self-evolution, coming away with forty-five self-evolution points.
Fran cheered — her teacher had reached rank nine. She demanded to see what he had learned. There was swimming, water manipulation, and a good deal besides. The one that caught the sword's own attention was kin summoning, because if he mastered it he might be able to call kin and familiars of his own.
With her sword strapped between her shoulder blades, Fran was greeted by an overly enthusiastic Amanda, delighted to see her. Fran did not share the sentiment.
The investigation was being overseen by the Azure Guardians, a C-rank party. Cruz Rafel introduced himself and his people, and then asked everyone present to state their names. One by one the adventurers stepped forward and gave their introductions.
When it came to Fran's turn, the whole atmosphere shifted. Every eye in the group went to her.
A scoff broke the silence. One of the adventurers, Crad, dismissed her rank as nothing but a favour, implying that she had charmed the guildmaster into granting it.
Fran, furious at the accusation, denied the rumours outright, which only made Crad angrier. Before he could do anything about it, Amanda moved in and put him in his place.
Cruz Rafel ignored the commotion entirely and gave out his instructions. The party would investigate the spider's dungeon, retrieve any crystals they found, and kill most of the monsters that came at them along the way.
The hours passed as they made their way toward the dungeon. Crad, with his own nasty intentions, kept trying to do little Fran some harm on the road. Amanda intercepted him every single time, like a guardian angel with a whip.
As the sun went down, they arrived.
Fran was assigned the first watch. She was sitting in front of the fire when Crad appeared behind her, his grudge undiminished. To prove that her rank was unearned, he challenged her to a duel.
Fran ignored him at first. Then he insulted her teacher, which touched a nerve.
She accepted. First she cast a protection spell of earth and wind over the camp, so that her duty as lookout was still being done, and then the fight began.
Crad was firmly convinced that her sword was no match for his spear, which showed how little he knew about what he was facing. The spear came forward and she sidestepped it, and went on dodging everything he threw. His condescending overconfidence built a great deal of fury in Fran. He used his ultimate skill, double spear — and to his surprise she blocked even that.
They circled each other warily. Then she landed one solid hit, and down went Crad, and his ego with him.
Fran, of course, praised the greatness of her sword for the victory, though in truth it had not been the sword that beat him.
His subordinates dragged him away to safety, and Amanda came forward, applauding. Then she proposed a practice battle of her own.
Fran agreed on one condition: if she won, Amanda would stop pestering her.
Amanda accepted, with a condition of her own. If she won, Fran would call her mother.
Teacher remarked that this was one way of digging your own grave.