169. The Lion-Topped Carriage

A sudden but important reminder popped itself into my head as we made our way in the guild’s direction.

『You think leveling up Thought Isolation might be a good idea seeing as how we’re about to have to talk to the Guildmaster?』

（Nn. Sounds good since still level 1.）

『Yeah, but there kinda is a problem. Iunno how he’ll react to us suddenly having the skill at a decent level.』

If I was him I’d think it pretty sketchy for us to suddenly have something that’d stop him from reading our minds.

（Already too late. Identity as intellegent weapon already exposed.）

『Hmm. Is it really too late?』

（Nn. Justification, can just say used Master’s ability. Master just that amazing.）

『Seriously?』

（Nn. Since Intelligent Weapon.）

You know, now that I think about it, I might actually be pretty awesome. The fact that I knew about the Divine Blades had always made me think of myself as an inferior good. I mean, I at least had enough confidence to think if I’d be targeted if people found out about me, but that was pretty much it. Reflecting on it from a more logical standpoint made me actually seem rather desirable, as Intelligent Weapons were better than Magic Swords, but not as good as Divine Blades.

In other words, the fact that I was an intelligent weapon could actually be used as a pretty decent arbitrary excuse for when we wanted to just bullshit through things. People wouldn’t really find it odd because of how strange Intelligent Weapons were in the first place.

『True true.』

Eh, yeah, I was convinced that there weren’t any detriments to actually going through with it, so I used up 18 of my self evolution points and just flat out maxed the skill.

〈Thought Isolation has reached its maximum level. It has evolved into the the Perfect Thought Isolation skill.〉

Oh shit! The skill evolved? Sweet, Perfect Thought Isolation sounds hella awesome. Mind reading? Induced Thought? Come at me bro, I got this. The best part about the skill was that I could adjust the extent to which I blocked my thoughts out. I could use it to mess with people that could read minds by only allowing them to read specific thoughts.

（Other skills, what to do?）

『Would probably be better for us to just hold onto them for now and think things through a bit more carefully first.』

I had a limited number of points, so it’d be best for me to be a bit more prudent in their use.

『Let’s think carefully about how we want to use them.』

（Nn. Got it.）

I was thinking of leveling up the Divine Sword Arts skill myself, but I didn’t really mind relinquishing the points to some other skill if Fran wanted to, seeing as how she was the one that was going to be using them and all.

That was especially true because of the fact that she was more creative than me. She came up with some pretty interesting stuff back when we were fighting Rynford, so I was really looking forward to seeing what she’d be able to think of and pull off in the future.

***

Erza stopped just a bit before we arrived at the guild.

「Hmph. It’s started getting really crowded. Everyone’s in our way.」

There were a lot more people here than there were where we were a few minutes ago. To make matters worse, they weren’t just walking along or anything either. They’d all gathered up in a crowd, which in turn made it more difficult for us to get through them.

『You think something happened?』

「Erza. Something happened?」

「It seems like a bunch of high ranking foreign nobles have just arrived in town. They’re here to watch the Martial Arts Tournament because it’s coming up soon. It’s just going to keep getting worse from here on out because we’ll be getting a huge influx of nobles and adventurers. Everything always gets really crowded around this time of year. It’s Ulmutt’s busiest season.」

Ohhhhh. So the nobles are taking up basically the whole road and making everyone else sit off to the side while they do? I guess that means it’s kinda like, but not as bad as the old Japanese Daimyo stuff they used to do; everyone here has to just sit and wait until they’re through.

「I think we should just take the high road from here.」

「Got it.」

I looked down on the crowd from Fran’s back as she leapt onto the rooftop

In doing so, I saw the most extravagant looking carriage I’d ever seen since reincarnating. The wooden lion stuck on its roof looked so real that could honestly see it coming to life at any given moment. Its body was crafted of a lustrous ebony, and its ornaments a gaudy mix of gold and silver. Much to my surprise, its near excessive decorations didn’t make it look vulgar or over the top, but instead caused it to give off an elegant air.

Even a single glance was enough for me to tell that they weren’t just your everyday low end nobles.

The only thing I didn’t get was why they had so few escorts. Their carriage looked like something that’d normally be accompanied by dozens of guards.

I actually couldn’t believe that it was totally exposed to danger save for the coachman and the pair of guards that stood to its left and right. It wasn’t even a part of a caravan or anything like that either. I knew that we were in a in town right now and all that, but still, weren’t the people inside of the damn thing being you know, a bit too careless?

Or so I thought… until I observed the coachman and the carriage’s two guards in more detail.

『Damn, they look strong.』

Just looking at the way they carried themselves made me intuitively realize that they were extremely capable.

『Hmmm, I should be able to get away with it if I do it right now…』

I wanted to appraise all three of the people outside the carriage, but Fran was moving too quickly, and made it so I was only capable of appraising one of the two guards.

『Whaaaa?』

（Master. Problem?）

『Nothing really important. Just that carriage’s guard is hella stronk.』

I knew he’d be strong, but I’d never been expecting him to be that strong.

_______________________________________________________________

General Information

Name: Goldalfa

Age: 44

Race: Beastkin (White Rhino Tribe / Black Steel Rhino)

Job: Sharpaxer

Status Level: 72/99

HP: 1256

MP: 422

STR: 654

VIT: 582

AGI: 267

INT: 173

MGC: 247

DEX: 299

Skills

Intimidation: Lv 8

Super Herculean Strength: Lv 8

Herculean Strength: MAX

Fist Techniques: Lv 5

Fist Arts: Lv 5

Presence Detection: Lv 3

High Speed Regeneration: Lv 4

Regeneration: MAX

Club Techniques: Lv 6

Club Arts: Lv 6

Mining: Lv 8

Resistance to Abnormal Status: Lv 7

Blink: Lv 3

Resistance to Mental Abnormalities: Lv 7

Elemental Blade: Lv 8

Greater Earth Resistance: Lv 4

Charge: Lv 7

Axe Techniques: MAX

Axe Arts: MAX

Divine Axe Techniques: Lv 6

Divine Axe Arts: Lv 7

Magic Perception: Lv 3

Vigour Mastery

Goblin Killer

Dampened Sense of Pain

Dragon Killer

Strengthened Skin

Innate Skills

Awakening

Shockwave

Titles

He Who Protects

He Who Is Like a Great Mountain

Dungeon Conqueror

Dragon Killer

A Ranked Adventurer

Equipment

Earth Dragon Horn Great Axe

Earth Dragon Scale Armour

Sticky Flame Spirit Mantle

Bodyguard’s Bracelet

Ring of Poison Detection

_______________________________________________________________

Shit, he’s an A ranked adventurer, and an evolved beastkin too. He was just as strong as Amanda. Were the other two like that too? I guess that explains their lack of other guards. They literally don’t need them. Actually, having three people that strong is already just flat out excessive. The three of them would honestly probably be able to just totally roll the entire city of Ulmutt all on their own.

Fran turned back in excitement the moment I told her about him.

（Amazing! Rhino tribe famous for strength, but few in number.）

『Wow, really?』

You know, thinking about it, this is actually my first time seeing any rhino beastkin, which kinda makes sense if they’re really rare. That said, the guy just kinda just looks like a human with a big frame.

Both the Super Herculean Strength and Vigour Mastery skills caught my interest.

I didn’t get to appraise either skill, but I figured they were the respective upgrades to Herculean Strength and Vigour Manipulation. I was interested in his innate skills as well, but I couldn’t appraise or intuit either, so they were left as unknowns for the time being.

We might be able to find the answer if we do a bit of research at the guild or ask Aurel or something. He’s got a tonne of experience, so he might know. Moreover, there’s actually a fair chance he might have some info on the person himself as well.

（Nn. Will ask!）

It seemed Fran herself was totally on board and going full steam ahead.

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