Chapter 36
――The day Guy and the others learned that Rento was in the city of Merba.
They hurriedly packed their belongings, scraped together what little money they had left, and boarded a high-speed carriage bound for Merba.
The journey to Merba took two weeks by the ordinary carriage Rento had used, but only one week by high-speed carriage.
Guy and the others, eager to arrive even a day sooner, grew impatient.
After completing the formalities, they greeted the escorting knights with a condescending, “You’d better do a decent job looking after us!” and climbed aboard.
There were a dozen or so passengers inside the carriage.
One was a five-person adventurer party.
The rest were merchants, travelers, and others who didn’t make their living by fighting.
The seats at the very back were the most popular.
Since the rear was open, they were well ventilated and offered a view of the scenery outside.
It was tacitly understood that the strongest passengers would normally sit there.
When Guy and the others boarded, those seats were occupied by the B-rank party ‘Twin-Headed Silver Wolves.’
As the name suggests, the ‘Twin-Headed Silver Wolves’ were led by the silver-haired twin swordsmen Destra and Sinistra.
They were a veteran five-person group in their tenth year as adventurers.
Though they were the same B rank as Guy and his party, their track records and reputations were on a completely different level.
Even the roughest, most violent adventurers showed them a measure of respect.
But Guy’s response was――
“Hey, move. Those are our seats.”
The ‘Twin-Headed Silver Wolves’ were a bunch of dimwits who’d never managed to rank up to A.
Guy was convinced that although they had more experience, he and his party were stronger—and acted as if he were practically picking a fight.
Misa and Elle shot them similarly disrespectful looks.
At that outrageously rude behavior, one of the ‘Twin-Headed Silver Wolves’—a male scout—began to rise, radiating menace.
If they hadn’t been inside a carriage, he would have drawn the dagger at his waist.
“Now, now. Calm down.”
Destra, whose silver hair was short, soothed the man and calmed him down.
“Well then, we’ll leave this to you.”
Sinistra, whose silver hair was long, readily gave way and stood up.
Once the two leaders yielded their seats, the others followed suit.
The healer was unconcerned.
The mage looked on with contempt.
The scout made no effort to hide his anger.
Each reacted differently, but their leaders’ orders were absolute.
The other three also moved without a word.
“Hmph. Cowards.”
“Don’t get cocky just because you’re stuck at B rank!”
“You pathetic little weaklings can just sit in the back and tremble.”
Taking their cue from Guy, who didn’t give the others a second thought, Misa and Elle grew bolder too.
Their frustration over Rento had reached its peak, and they didn’t care who they took it out on.
And if their target was someone known to be their superior, all the more satisfying.
Guy’s standing with Misa and Elle had been slipping, but his manly behavior—as the two of them saw it—seemed to have won him back a little favor.
But to the two silver-haired adventurers, the trio’s thoroughly arrogant attitude was no more than a passing breeze.
Both wore genuine smiles, their expressions as still as the surface of a tranquil lake.
――The rearmost seats in a carriage served two purposes.
One was to indicate the hierarchy among adventurers.
For people like Guy and his party, who cared about rank, it was a seat they absolutely couldn’t give up.
They believed that the opinions of those around them determined their worth, and couldn’t tolerate anyone but themselves sitting at the back.
They had to show such insolent fools the difference in their standing.
And the other purpose—
It was to be the first to leap into action in an emergency and protect the passengers alongside the escorting knights.
For Guy and the others, who could measure their own worth only by how others saw them, rank was more important than anything.
On the other hand, for the two silver-haired adventurers, who valued “living in a way they could be proud of,” rank meant nothing.
The ‘Twin-Headed Silver Wolves’ hadn’t taken those seats because they cared about rank.
They sat there simply because it was the duty of those with strength.
The other passengers.
And the escorting knights protecting the carriage and its driver.
What sort of judgment would those who witnessed the exchange between the two parties have passed on them...
The high-speed carriage bound for Merba had gotten off to an ominous start.
It was a harbinger of the ill fortune awaiting them ahead――