The guildmaster rewarded her by promoting her to rank D, and offered a bonus on top of it for what she had done.
Down in the main hall, every adventurer in the building was waiting for her. She walked in and was buried in praise and compliments. One after another they came up to introduce themselves and to marvel at her.
The sword prompted Fran to treat the whole room out of her bonus. They were all her allies now, and it was worth keeping the bond between them in good repair.
So Fran bought drinks for everyone, and the guild applauded the generous, brave little girl.
That night she drifted off to sleep while her teacher watched her with something close to awe. This girl, he thought, was genuinely special.
Fran mumbled, half asleep, that she wanted curry.
Teacher promised her warmly that tomorrow they would feast.
Elsewhere — in a place of rainbow hues — divine beings whispered something to the sword.
He came awake with a jolt, wondering what it was that he had just seen. Had that been a dream? How could an inanimate object like a sword dream at all?
The next day the two of them walked along the lakeside, where Teacher had decided to teach her how to make curry, rich with spices and deep with flavour. They cooked it together, Fran drooling at every stage of the process, relishing it before a single spoonful reached her.
In the days that followed, teacher and student completed a string of side quests.
Then one day a guard approached them. He had warmed to the pair of them, and he told Fran that the vice captain had been asking after her. If she let herself get tangled up with that man, he said, he would not let her go easily.
As night fell, Fran walked through the market discussing with her teacher where exactly the vice captain might be found.
And then Teacher sensed someone behind them.
He told her to keep walking straight ahead and to lure the stranger somewhere quiet. She climbed up onto the roof of the fortress and found herself face to face with August, deeply dishevelled, sweating and itching wildly.
He lurched toward her like a corpse walking, bellowing at her for putting a curse on him. To avenge his pathetic condition he had brought reinforcements: an enormous blue cat, who promised to cut her to pieces.
Rage went through Fran. She explained to her teacher what he was looking at: black cats and blue cats were sworn enemies.
Far from there, a woman walked through the middle of a forest with a long black robe trailing behind her. Out of the night sky, hellspawn vultures came down at her. Without breaking her stride or her composure she swung her mace into them and cut them in half.
On the roof of the fortress, the tension had gone tight. The blue cat sneered. Taking down a black cat was nothing. It was easy.
Teacher, curious, asked about the history between them, and Fran told him. Hundreds of years ago the blue cats deceived the black cats, and scarred their position in the world for good. Ever since then, out of pure spite, blue cats had gone on hunting and slaughtering black cats wherever they found them.
And the gigantic blue cat standing in front of them was none other than the thousand slasher, Giron, hero of the battle of Lutz.
August rejoiced. His reinforcement would slaughter Fran, and that was that.
The blue cat walked toward her entirely unbothered, and whispered to her that he knew she was afraid.
Fran could not hold the mask up any longer. She shook with fear, sweat running down her chin, as he swung his sword at her. She tried to resist the blow and her own terror swallowed her. He threw her into the wall, and she lay there whimpering.
Giron took her by the hair and lifted her face and looked down at her with contempt. Then he recited his crimes to her, one after another, each one going into her like a nail while she lay there helpless.
Black cats had been belittled their entire lives. Fran's head filled with memories of being treated as something worth less than livestock.
She was very close to giving up when her teacher spoke.
He promised her that this tale of injustice would not go on. He would not let her die at the hands of her oppressor.
It was almost as though a new spirit had come into her.
Fran glared at Giron and demanded that he count out his kills.
Giron scoffed, and began to count. Every number shook her to the core. Every murder pushed her — to end his life, and to avenge all the people who had never been able to stand up for themselves.
Fran lunged, and took his sword straight out of his hands.
Giron, entirely unable to process what had just happened, stared at her in horror. Shame filled him. How could he lose to a black cat? To something so far beneath him?
One by one, Fran sliced off his limbs and dropped them into dimensional storage. He lay in appalling pain in a pool of his own pride.
Teacher asked her to grant him the final blow.
Fran believed it mattered that she be the one to end that immoral life herself. It would stand as an example to every black cat who was too frightened to dare — that one day they might stand equal to the world.
With that thought, she swung her sword, and Giron's head went bouncing across the tiles.
She glanced across at August, who was shuddering at what he had just watched, and considered sparing the world one more criminal — and then a blue orb came floating to her.
It was a message from the guildmaster. He wanted her in his office.
The guildmaster was waiting there, gushing over his spirit orb as though it were the highest achievement magic had ever produced. Fran gave it one brief, unimpressed look. It did look like a slime, after all.
A quiet tragedy unfolded behind his composure. He found her reaction an insult to the dignity of orbs everywhere.
Having recovered his bearing, he explained why he had not allowed her to kill August. The count had secretly given the order to have the vice captain apprehended; he wanted August punished for offending the royalty. He guaranteed Fran a bonus and a reward, provided she stayed discreet about the entire incident.
Just as Fran turned to walk out, she went headfirst into a woman coming the other way.
Before she could work out what was happening, the woman's face lit up with joy. Her whole presence brightened at once, and in a breathless surge of feeling she announced that she was none other than Fran's mother.
The mysterious lady crushed Fran into a bone-breaking hug. Fran did her level best to escape and found herself trapped. She assured her sword that this was not her mother and that she had no intention whatsoever of calling her that.
After what felt like an eternity the guildmaster ordered Amanda to release the child. Her fondness for children did not entitle her to behave like that.
He introduced the woman in front of them as Amanda, A-rank adventurer and ace of the guild.
Intrigued, Teacher ran appraisal, and what came back was hard to believe. She was the guardian of children. She carried a Thunderbird feather accessory, and a magical whip.