A single horse-drawn carriage raced across a green plain.
The carriage, pulled by three horses with golden coats, was a magnificent sight, adorned with elaborate designs.
“This is the life,” Aston said luxuriously.
Inside the carriage, Aston, with his legs stretched out comfortably, sipped wine.
The mage, Gail, gazed at the blue mountain range visible through the window. “It hardly feels like we’re on a quest.”
“This is the kind of treatment we deserve.”
After all, this time they had a direct request from Lord Fennel, one of the Seven Great Noble Families.
Everything, from their equipment to their other needs, was provided for with generous funds. They enjoyed luxurious treatment, including transport in this extravagant carriage to the cave in the northern snowfields where the Fire Foxes, their target, resided. The journey from the royal capital would normally take over ten days, but high-class lodging had been reserved for them at each post town along the way, and the group was enjoying a glamorous trip.
“It’s like we’ve become nobles ourselves,” Yuma, the archer, commented.
“In fact, we will become nobles after we retire,” Aston replied, draining his glass.
Adventurer parties are ranked according to their achievements.
Aston’s party, having defeated numerous A-rank magical beasts, was Gold class.
Because they defeat even the strongest opponents with hardly any injuries, they are known by the party name Iron Phoenix.
“At this rate, we’ll reach the highest rank, Black, too.”
The Black class are essentially national contributors, and upon retirement, they are eligible to become nobles.
In fact, many former Black-class adventurers who became nobles after retirement hold key positions in the central government, including the director of the Royal Healing Institute.
While multiple sponsors are required to ultimately become a noble, befriending a great noble like Lord Fennel would make it easy to clear that condition.
“But look how far we’ve come.”
“Remember when we used to walk our butts off to dungeons?”
“Well, we had a porter, so the travel wasn’t that bad.”
Everyone laughed heartily.
“Still, Aston, you’re something else. When I heard you were bringing a kid from the slums into the party, I couldn’t believe my ears. But he was fine with leftover food, sleeping outdoors, cooking, carrying luggage, and acting as a decoy when needed. Basically, we got a slave who didn’t cost us anything.”
“Kuku, hahaha. Zenos was a good throwaway. I’m sure he had some good dreams too.”
Laughter welled up from the bottom of his stomach, and he couldn’t stop.
He wondered what Zenos was doing.
He had given him severance pay as hush money to prevent him from bragging about being in this party, but perhaps it hadn’t been necessary. He was just a slum dweller, after all. He wouldn’t have a decent job, and no one would pay him any attention. He should be grateful that the time he was picked up by them was the happiest time of his life, and by now he should be dead on the side of the road.
Suddenly, the carriage came to an abrupt stop.
“Hey, what’s going on? You spilled wine on my armor!” Aston yelled.
The carriage driver replied, “My apologies. A wild magical beast appeared. Could you please deal with it?”
“Tch. I was enjoying my drink.”
Aston and the others got out of the carriage with bitter feelings.
Ahead on the road, five large, horned rabbit-like magical beasts were growling.
“Horn Rabbits? Don’t block my path, you D-rank pests. Oh well, let’s get this over with quickly.”
Aston drew his sword, Yuma nocked an arrow, Andres held up his staff, and Gail gripped a protective charm.
The battle began.
Aston blocked a blow from a Horn Rabbit that leaped at him.
Clang!
The impact was heavier than he expected, and it traveled through his body.
“Guh, you…”
He pushed back and tried to cut it down, but the enemy was faster than he thought. In the end, it took them almost half an hour to defeat all five.
His body felt heavy. Perhaps he had drunk a little too much after all.
“Damn it, what a waste of time,” he grumbled, about to return to the carriage, when Yuma called out from behind.
“Hey, Aston. Your arm is injured.”
“Huh?”
Sure enough, there was blood seeping from around his elbow.
“Tch, I let my guard down. Unbelievable.”
He clicked his tongue, and then a thought struck him.
Come to think of it, how long had it been since he’d been injured in battle?
Something stirred deep in his chest.
A small, thorn-like discomfort.
But at this time, Aston didn’t yet know what it was.