Chapter 37
――It was the fourth day of Guy and the others’ carriage journey.
To shorten the trip, high-speed carriages took routes more dangerous than those used by ordinary carriages.
The road the carriage was traveling on now cut through a deep forest.
It was the most dangerous stretch of the journey.
That said, it was still an established carriage route.
Monster attacks were rare.
They were simply a little more vigilant than they would be elsewhere.
But now, that rare occurrence was about to happen――.
"High Orc!"
At the driver’s shout, the carriage came to an abrupt stop.
"Huh?"
"W-what is it?!"
"Who’s disturbing my sleep?"
The three members of the 'Sky-Cleaving Sword,' who’d been fast asleep, woke at the sudden stop.
They’d gotten drunk and passed out in the middle of the day.
They woke up in a leisurely, utterly unalarmed fashion.
The passengers’ accusing stares bore into them.
Even the 'Twin-Headed Silver Wolves' seemed exasperated.
If it had been the Twin-Headed Silver Wolves, even drunk or asleep, they would have noticed the approaching monsters before the driver did, immediately readied themselves for battle, and leapt out.
This time, that duty fell to the 'Sky-Cleaving Sword.'
That was precisely why the Twin-Headed Silver Wolves had stayed put despite noticing the High Orcs.
They were confident they could repel even three High Orcs on their own, so they were waiting to see how the others handled it.
And they were already disappointed by the trio’s initial response.
Then an escort knight’s angry shout rang out.
"Three High Orcs! We need backup immediately!"
The High Orcs were hulking figures clad in metal armor.
Each wielded a massive warhammer.
A normal Orc was equivalent to a D-rank monster.
But High Orcs, their superior species, were formidable foes that required a B-rank party to defeat.
And there were three of them――.
Fortunately, however, there were two B-rank parties on the carriage.
Both were famous.
The escort knight didn’t sound too pessimistic.
"Come on, get off already, Last-in-Line-sama!"
The male scout from the 'Twin-Headed Silver Wolves' rushed up to Guy with enough force to kick him out of the carriage.
"Shut up! I’m going!"
Misa and Elle followed Guy as he leapt out of the carriage.
The five members of the 'Twin-Headed Silver Wolves' followed them.
"I’ll leave this to you," said Sinistra, whose silver hair was long.
"Give us your orders," said Destra, whose silver hair was short.
Guy visually assessed the three approaching High Orcs and relayed what he saw to everyone.
"The 'Twin-Headed' take the one on the right. We’ll take the one on the left. Knights, hold the one in the middle. You don’t have to kill it—just hold out until we take ours down!"
Guy had stumbled right out of the gate, but he was used to giving orders.
And the order was a reasonable one――if they could carry it out...
Following his orders, the five members of the 'Twin-Headed' charged at the High Orc on the right, surrounded it, and began fighting.
The two escort knights thrust their long spears forward, ready for the High Orc.
As ordered, their plan was to hold it off and buy time.
And then――.
"Elle, cast a support spell. Boost our attack power."
"My magic hasn’t recovered yet, so I can’t."
"Tch. Misa—"
"I’m out of magic too. I can’t cast any spells!"
"Damn it!"
He shot the two of them an accusing look, but Guy had run out of magic as well.
In a fit of desperation, he charged at the High Orc――.