"Divinity?" Klimt repeated, thinking for sure he must have heard wrong.
"That's correct. After the incident inside the Dungeon, I started to sense a small amount of Divine Energy coming from the child, exceeding that of a normal blessing. Though I can't even begin to guess why." Tarua said as he took control over Frion's body in order to give his report on the young Black Catkin.
And what a report it was, answering some of Klimt's questions, raising others and downright shocking him at times.
Art had been a Demon all along. Fran was accompanied by what Tarua believed to be one of the mythical Counter Guardians. All the Demonic Beasts in the dungeon spontaneously died. A group of extremely rare B-rank Demonic Beasts showed up out of nowhere for no reason they could understand. The challenge rating of the Dungeon seemed to have permanently increased from F-rank to C-rank. And to top it all off, Fran suddenly turning up in Tarua's vision as having some type of divine power, too strong to be a mere blessing.
Klimt had sent them out hoping that it would clear the air of all these mysteries, not drop even more on their heads. He had tried to ask Amanda for a report as to what happened, but she had blatantly refused to give one, saying she was taking the day off to go shopping with Fran and Art and to not disturb her if they knew what was good for them.
Most people would and indeed did say that this is just the normal belligerence one had to expect when dealing with an A-rank Adventurer, only this was different. This was not the usual casual dismissal of his problems. This had been an open threat. She was telling him that if he tried to dig into what had happened there that day, she would make him pay.
It must have involved Fran, and it must be something that Amanda was afraid of the consequences of it getting out. It was the only explanation. Even though they had only spent a week together, Amanda was deeply attached to the young catkin girl, even more than she was with other children.
After Amanda had told him that Fran was the daughter of two of her former orphans, Klimt did some digging and found out about the two high spirits children that Amanda had rescued from slavers and brought back to her orphanage where they became like Amanda's own children. The two of them eventually ran away to become Adventurers. Those he asked had confirmed Amanda's story about them, and had told him how close she had been to the two, and how heartbroken she had been when they ran away.
If forced to make a choice between her loyalties to the Guild and Fran, Amanda would likely choose the girl.
This put Klimt in an awkward position, as the King was definitely going to want to know how and why an already cleared Dungeon had suddenly gone up three threat level ranks. It was not something that had ever occurred before in history, as far as Klimt was aware.
It wasn't as though it was a bad thing. Without a Dungeon Master, no Dungeon Monster could exit the Dungeon to terrorize the surrounding area. And while the Dungeon's difficulty had increased more than a hundred times over, so did the benefits. Now, they would be forced to send at least 3 B-rank and 4 C-rank parties to the dungeon once a month in order to gather the materials, but the materials themselves would be over a hundred times more valuable.
Their little city was going to see an unprecedented economic boom once they managed to set up a system for going forward. Indeed, the top brass would be less worried about what had occurred then ravenous about how to recreate what happened.
The Goblin Dungeon was next to worthless, hardly even qualified to be called G-rank, and could only serve as basic training for the newest of rookies. The materials that could be gathered from the place weren't worth the trek over to gather them. But if it could have its rank boosted up to D-rank, suddenly it would become an extremely valuable resource, like an everlasting gold mine.
So on one side, Klimt was going to have greedy nobles and other Guild Masters, wanting to get to the bottom of what happened, and on the other side, Amanda, Archer, Art and Fran herself, who wanted him to ignore everything.
Well, which side he would support is obvious. Annoying as the Nobles might be, they didn't have the power and influence to overthrow the entire country. ...Then again, having Amanda as their new Monarch wouldn't be so bad.
If he wasn't fired over this, it would be a miracle. His only hope was to claim complete ignorance and hope that the people who were actually on the mission didn't squeal.
So long as the name 'Fran' never came up, this would all blow over.
"Tarua, what do you think is going on?" Klimt asked his nephew's Guardian Spirit.
"...I believe that the Gods are having some kind of power struggle and that the girl has somehow gotten herself caught up in it." Tarua said, scratching at Frion's chin as he said it. "The girl is blessed by the Goddess of Chaos and is accompanied by one of that Goddess's servants, her equipment holds to a blessing of the Beast God. On top of that is the Counter Guardian, a spirit which the Gods would not normally permit into this world, even in a weakened state. All these things point towards the Gods having an invested interest in the girl. However, the Kipine, the guards of the Divine Library, left the Divine Realm in order to attack her, suggesting that the Goddess of Wisdom is opposed to them."
The Goddess of Wisdom stands in opposition? The Wisdom Goddess had been one of the ones Klimt had figured to be blessing the girl, along with the Goddess of Magic. Goddess of Wisdom was thought of as being the creator of the system which oversees the distribution of Skills throughout the world, and has control over recorded history. Not one to be taken lightly. If angered greatly, an entire country could have its history erased, causing it to simply fall to pieces as all the treaties that supported it were forgotten.
Meanwhile, the Goddess of Chaos was considered a wild card, with influence equal to even the highest of Gods. She possessed the power to create Dungeons and through them could create just about anything, including Divine Beasts. Kingdoms had been made and destroyed by her Dungeons, and while rare, those who were marked by her blessing often made their way into legends, if only due to the madness that followed them wherever they went.
Then there was the Beast God, the creator of the original Beastkin, who was one of the ten original Gods, and was known to have fathered the Warrior God, the God of Cooking, the Goddess of Love and the Goddess of Seasons. Out of the original ten Gods, he was perhaps the one who took the most interest in the world, and had always taken notice of the strong. No individual who had received his blessings had ever failed to reach the level of power equal to an A-rank Adventurer, with several of histories S-rank Adventurer's baring his mark.
And these were only the three Gods who they knew had taken an interest in the girl. It was likely that there were still others in the shadows. How many of the 88 Gods were involved in whatever was happening?
This was getting far too complicated, and far too dangerous.
"When the Gods play their games, it is best for us mortals to simply find a good stone to hide under." Klimt said, rubbing his fingers over his eyes. "B and even A-rank Demonic Beasts have already appeared around her, and since they were defeated, things may escalate even further."
The man gave a heavy sigh.
He needed a vacation.
"Guild Master, there is a letter from the Count. He wants to schedule a conference to discuss recent events." Ms. Flannel reported through the door.
...Why did Elves have to be cursed with such long lives?
"Oh, that looks so cute on you two!" Amanda squealed as Fran and Art showed off the little sailor outfits that Amanda had picked out for them, complete with little caps that went over one of Fran's ears.
That day, Archer had wanted to focus entirely on his smithing, and had needed to have his sword body left at Gallus's shop while he worked. Meanwhile, Amanda took Art and Fran shopping around town for clothes and anything else they might want. Amanda had been little taken aback when Archer had handed over a sack of over ten million gorudos and told her to buy whatever the girls wanted, ignoring the fact that you could buy a dozen normal clothing stores for that much money.
Carol was right, the man had no idea about the value of money.
While, Amanda wasn't about to complain. They were having fun, visiting various food stands and buying all the things that a girl needed when heading towards the sea. Amanda had been shocked to learn that they had been using [Purification Magic] over basic skin care products, and had quickly taken the girls to a store that targeted Adventurers of the fairer sex to buy scentless creams, soap, shampoos and sunblock.
After that had been the expedition where they went from store to store buying swimwear and cute ocean themed outfits, since the girls would be spending a lot of time in the port towns in the near future.
But even as Fran showed off her new outfit, her hand went up to her left shoulder, and she shifted uncomfortably. "Is something wrong?" Amanda asked the girl.
"Nn. Everything's good." Fran said with a shake of the head, though Amanda smiled knowingly. Even if Archer was still technically equipped to her, and he was still in telepathic range, not having him there was making the girl uncomfortable.
He had been the one to free her from slavery and provided for her, and now she was attached to him. Her parents had been the same way. After Amanda had rescued them, they had followed her everywhere, practically hanging from her hips as she walked. They had been so skittish at the time, so incapable of feeling safe, that Amanda had to be in bed with them before they could go to sleep. They had cried every time she had to leave in order to do her job, and had been overjoyed when she came home in the evenings.
Even if their personalities seemed so different, Fran was so much like her mother at times that it dragged back all of the memories.
"Amanda: Alright?" Fran asked, causing the Half Elf to realize her eyes were watering.
"Yes, I'm fine. Just got a little something in my eye." Amanda said, wiping away the tears.
Fran walked over, throwing her arms around Amanda's waist and burying her head in the woman's stomach, taking Amanda by surprise. "Amanda should come with us."
"That's right! With the four of us as an Adventuring party, we'd be invincible!" Art agreed.
Amanda smiled at them as she patted Fran head. "In Adventuring, there is no such thing as an invincible party. No matter how strong you get, there is always something out there that is beyond your reach. Never let yourself believe that you have reached the top." She said gently. "And as much as I want to go with you girls, I'm afraid that I can't. My place is here. If I left, it is likely that Reidos would come poking its head into our lands again."
Fran squeezed Amanda a little harder as Art's face fell a little. "Will miss you." Fran mumbled.
"I'll miss you too." Amanda said, hugging the girl back. "Make sure to send me letters every time you stop at a new guild, alright?"
"Nn." Fran nodded, then her ears twitched. "Archer says that he's done."
"Is that so? Then why don't we all go take a look at this super weapon he's been working on?"
"Nn."
Fran slipped in through the back door of Gallus's forge, along with Art and Amanda, ready to see the latest sword that Archer had managed to forge.
She already knew that it wouldn't be a Godblade, as Archer's shared [Magic Blacksmithing] LvMax skill had already told her that the Magic Stone of an S-rank Divine Beast was required to create such a weapon, but even so, Archer's weapons had always been stronger than most overs around. Only Amanda's Magic Whip of the Sky Dragon's Whisker could boast an offense stronger than Kuroko and Shiroko, and only due to its [Control Weight] effect allowing her to drastically increase the momentum behind her attacks.
Though Archer always commented that it wasn't hard to create a powerful weapon if you simply plan on constantly breaking it.
"So, how did it go?" Art asked, all smiles as she entered the forge.
[Not as well as I had hoped, but as well as could be expected. It's a good sword.] Archer said as he used telekinesis to lift up the blade so that they could have a look at it.
It was a very pretty sword, though Fran knew that the gold of the hilt and runes was actually the legendary Orichalcum, rather than normal gold. It wasn't meant to be decorative. The only things there were the things that had to be there in order to serve its function. But even without the set pieces that usually decorated expensive weaponry, there was a beauty to it.
Fran knew that it was a blade that exceeded any that could be made by a normal blacksmith, if only based on what went in it. The materials and Magic Core of an A-rank Dragon, the legendary Orichalcum were among the most powerful materials out there, only surpassed by those of a Divine Beast, and the sheer amount of Mana.
Normally, the greatest limiting factors in the creation of a magical sword would be Mana supply, both the amount the blacksmith had and the amount the materials could take. Pure mithril couldn't accept more than around 200 units of mana at once without breaking, but Orichalcum was a nearly god-like material and, with the right impurities added, could accept several thousands all at once without breaking. Which was why it was the only material capable of creating a Godblade.
But even with these materials, you would need the Mana and control necessary to work with them. Even Gallus, who was high level for a blacksmith and had been training all his life, only had 273 MP to work with, and Mana Crystals were expensive. After using up his entire Mana supply, it would take hours of meditation in order for the dwarf to recover it. Even if he spent several millions of gorudo on Mana Crystals, there are disadvantages when controlling Mana from a Mana Crystal, which could ruin the weapon if he isn't careful. So unless he wanted to draw the process out over multiple days or buy expensive MP potions, he would have to make do with his own maximum Mana Pool. This was why most Magic Blacksmith's couldn't produce more than one powerful magic sword or armor in a week.
Meanwhile, with [Doppelganger Synthesis SP] going, creating him ten extra bodies, and [Body Split] to squeeze out one more, Archer had a total MP of over 50,000, with twelve [Automatic MP Regeneration] skills stacked together. Then his trick of regenerating all of his Mana when he ranked up. The total amount of Mana spent on that sword was over 120,000, enough Mana to perform a [True Resurrection] spell with their [Angelic Magic], something that Archer called a "True Magic".
According to Fran's [Magic Blacksmithing] skill, there had been countries which had spent tens of billions of gorudo in order to create Magic Swords that could compete with the Godblades, swords like "Crystalos", the Sacred Blade of Water, but they had required entire rooms full of Mana Crystals and several dozen Magic Blacksmiths to make, with a process that took weeks. Archer had created Lumiose by himself in just a few hours.
Archer really was amazing.
[What do you think of your new sword, Fran?]
Fran froze at Archer's words, not understanding what he was saying. "New… sword?" Fran had assumed that Archer was making the blade for his own use, like with Kuroko and Shiroko. Why was he saying that the sword was Fran?
Suddenly, the blade didn't look so pretty.
"Don't want it."
[What?]
"My sword: Archer." Fran said, stepping away from the new blade as she looked past it to where Archer's sword lay.
[At my current rate of growth, I'd have to be rank 45 before I could match Lumiose. Which would require us to absorb eight times as many Mana Stone Points as we have so far. If such a rank is even possible.]
"Archer is the only sword for me." Fran insisted with a shake of the head.
[With your strength and my blade, there is no way we can compete against true A-rank threats.] Archer said, not understanding why Fran was clinging to the weaker weapon. [On the battlefield, pride and sentimentality must be discarded. The only thing they will get you is death. If a sword can't protect you, then it is of no use.]
"Mom, you're joking, right?" Art said, as shocked as Fran was.
"I won't replace you." Fran said, shaking her head hard.
[Fran… For the sake of your evolution, you need a better sword. Even Lumiose is only a stepping stone.] Archer said.
His words caused Fran to feel a tightness in her throat.
She couldn't do it. She couldn't even imagine it. Even for the sake of Evolution, she could not replace Archer.
"Have you completely lost your mind!?" Amanda shouted, startling the girls. "I thought you were an arrogant ass before when you said that weapons are nothing more than tools, but I never thought that you would extend that to yourself!"
[Fran needs the best weaponry I can give her. Until now, that was my own blade, but I simply am not good enough.] Archer said solemnly. [She's outgrown me.]
"You have absolutely no idea how much you mean to that girl, do you?" Amanda said, crossing her arms. "You say that your blade isn't good enough, but it is already in the top hundred weapons in the country, even if you don't consider its unique abilities. Sure there are A-rank Demonic Beasts, and a few B-rank threats, that can't be easily killed by it, but you are overreacting."
[But there are enemies that she won't be able to beat with my blade. As a weapon, I am inadequate.]
"She needs you. Not just as a sword, but as support. It doesn't matter to her which is the stronger weapon, the one she wants is you. You are her Sword in the Stone." Amanda said, quoting the story that Archer had told her of Arturia and how she had loved Caliburn the most.
[...And just like Caliburn, I cannot compare to Excalibur.] Archer said calmly. [Simply maintaining the equipment contract with me is enough for her to get all of the benefits I can give her. In battle, she should use Lumiose.]
Fran moved to Archer and grabbed onto the strap that was hanging from his scabbard. "Don't care." Fran said. "Archer is the only weapon for me."
[...Fran.] Archer said, his thoughts sounding tired. [You aren't going to give up, are you?]
"Nn." Fran replied with a shake of the head.
[What an unreasonable Master I have. Honestly, all three of you act like spoiled children.]
"Hey! What do you mean three!?" Amanda said, blushing indignantly.
[Fine. Wield me in normal combat if you must, but if something does come along that I can't be, you WILL use Lumiose. Don't. Be. Stubborn.]
"No promises." Fran said, her face didn't change, but Archer could tell she was smiling cheekily on the inside.
Next chapter, Archer beats up an A-rank Adventurer using spoons.
Just so you all know, the stats shown for that one Flame Godblade are the kind of stats that Shishou gets at rank 25 (I have no idea what/if the max rank is). It was not a Godblade that focused much on its blade, and there are implied to be Magic Swords that are stronger in that regard. So at the rate Archer is going, Archer would be equal to Lumiose in around 4 months.
Archer is already at the rank that Shishou was around chapter 300 (4 months into his adventures), because he doesn't not absorb every magic stone he can get his hand on for no reason. Archer basically accepts that his existence is suspicious and doesn't cripple himself trying to hide his advantages. Also, Archer, who would have been exposed to Rin's mood of thinking, would be much faster to come up with a concept as simply as buying Magic Stones.
Fran's current level is the same as her level becomes after she finishes the Lich's dungeon in canon.
This is a cause for confusion, but the sword actually has three consciousnesses:
Fenrir (the Divine Beast), who has the voice of an old man and is the source of the blade's absorption abilities (At least I think the old man is supposed to be Fenrir)
Rani/Announcer Voice (the Angel), who stores and manipulates the skills
Archer/Shishou, who control it since the other two are too weakened
It is shown that while Fenrir is the most suppressed identity, he has more self-awareness than the Announcer Voice. Either that or he is just lazy.