Chapter 22
――Two weeks after they kicked Rent out.
Guy and the others in the Sky-Cleaving Sword were in dire straits.
After days of consuming huge quantities of mana recovery potions, their savings dwindled rapidly.
Eventually, their funds fell below one-tenth of what they’d had when they kicked Rent out, forcing them to change their approach.
They had no choice but to stop buying mana recovery potions and fight without using Skills.
――Rank B, the rank closest to Rank A.
That assessment was based entirely on their Skills.
They’d relied on their Skills for everything up until now.
Now that they could no longer use their Skills, their combat ability was on par with Rank C—or lower.
Naturally, they failed a Rank B request.
Yesterday, they’d even failed a Rank C request, which they’d accepted despite the humiliation.
It was the greatest blunder since the Sky-Cleaving Sword was formed.
Today, too, they set out early, as if driven by the clock.
With no money to spare, they couldn’t drink heavily like before. They had to spend as long as possible hunting monsters, leaving them utterly exhausted.
When they returned to the inn, they collapsed into bed, only to drag their heavy bodies out early the next morning and head off to hunt again.
Naturally, the atmosphere among the members was dreadful.
Guy, who’d been basking in having two women at his side, was now sitting on a bed of thorns.
“Guy! This is all your fault for kicking him out! How are you going to take responsibility?!”
“Seriously. Do something about this.”
Having conveniently forgotten that they’d supported Rent’s expulsion themselves, the two women berated Guy, the one who’d first suggested it.
Their shallow affection for Guy had already worn thin.
“Shut up! Keep your mouth shut, bitch! You switched from Rent to me, so don’t act all high and mighty and blame me! You shameless slut!”
“W-what?! I only buttered you up because I thought you were better than that piece of trash! Don’t get carried away!”
Misa had switched to Guy for her own gain from the start.
She’d already given up on Guy, who was no use to her in this situation.
And El was no different—
“I’m disappointed in you, Guy-san. Do something about this already.”
El had fallen for Guy’s manly leadership.
Guy had always led them with confidence.
But now he couldn’t come up with a solution to their predicament and did nothing but take his frustrations out on the two women.
El was thoroughly disillusioned by Guy’s pathetic behavior.
Still locked in an ugly argument, the three of them went to the Adventurers’ Guild.
Every morning, before setting out, they checked at the Guild to see where Rent had gone.
It had become their daily routine lately.
“Hey! Have you still not found Rent?!”
“I’ll check, so please wait a moment.”
Fuming with rage, Guy pounded on the counter and pressed the receptionist for an answer.
The receptionist, now quite used to this, calmly went about her duties.
All while hiding her exasperation.
“We’ve confirmed that Rent-san has changed his base of operations. His new base is Merba, the Labyrinth City.”
“Damn it! It’s that far away?!”
“But at least we found him. Now we can teach that piece of trash a lesson!”
“We’ll punish him.”
Guy and the others hurriedly packed their belongings, spent what little money they had left, and boarded a high-speed carriage bound for Merba.
The regular carriage Rent had taken needed two weeks to reach Merba.
The high-speed carriage took half that time.
Guy and the others would meet Rent a week later――.