Chapter 5

The Silver Wings, an S-rank party, set out to complete a request they received from the Adventurers' Guild.

In the forest, where monsters lurk, while it is generally wise for ordinary adventurers to be cautious and walk quietly, they walked loudly, laughing boisterously.

"Ha ha ha ha! Did you see that scum's face? He looked so desperate! He must have thought he could become a noble by parasitizing us!"

"It was really funny. Ah, it feels so good!"

"Ah, I can't stop laughing when I think about it. Let's finish this menial request quickly and go drink some alcohol."

They went to hunt B-rank Red Wolves, which had become easy for them to defeat, without any preparation, thinking they wouldn't get hurt.

"Hey, baggage carrier! You just stay quiet and watch. If you get in the way, I'll kill you."

"Y-Yes..."

They had acquired a new slave. With this, their party could advance to higher ranks.

"Hey, it's the first time Red Wolves have attacked us! This saves us the trouble of looking for them!"

Red Wolves do not challenge those stronger than themselves. Therefore, they would not have attacked if Nigris were present.

*

"Damn it! Why did we lose to B-rank Red Wolves...!"

"It's just that we were too careless!"

The Silver Wings, an S-rank party, had suffered deep wounds. They punched the forest trees to vent their frustration.

However, even then, the leader, Azel, could not calm his anger.

"Hey, new baggage carrier."

"Y-Yes...?"

The newly recruited adventurer was thrilled to be invited to an S-rank party. However, reality was cruel, and he was faced with hellish menial tasks and slave-like treatment.

"It's because you were there that we failed..."

"B-But I was told to just watch..."

Displeased by his backtalk, Azel drew his sword and pointed it at him, repeatedly saying, "Ugh, ugh," as he prepared to strike.

"Aaaaah!"

"It's because you backtalked me that this happened!"

Azel cut off the new recruit's arm.

"Hey, you! That's going too far!"

"Shut up! Do you want me to cut you down too? Huh?"

The S-rank party struggled against B-rank monsters. This meant that all the trust, status, and achievements they had built up might be for nothing.

The fear of this possibility alone began to dominate Azel.

"Only we know about this. We'll kill him and say the new recruit held us back and caused the failure."

Azel, Mira, and the other two members agreed without a word. It was just bad luck. A coincidence.

If they had obeyed, they could have become nobles.

The new recruit was then killed.

"Let's hurry and kill the Empress of the Slums."

"A request from a high noble. But I heard the Empress of the Slums is a formidable opponent?"

The Silver Wings also took requests from nobles. Among these, one of the major tasks was to assassinate the Empress, who served as the left hand of a high noble, the Chancellor.

Killing the Empress of the Slums was an extremely difficult task.

"Idiots! The Empress will make us SS-rank if we kill her!"

It was because of this request that they decided to expel Nigris.

To become SS-rank, they needed to achieve a significant feat. The task was to eliminate the thorn in the side of the kingdom, the Empress of the Slums, who was beyond the reach of the kingdom.

"She is known for her cruelty and for killing anyone who disobeys. If we are caught, we might be killed too. The Empress is said to have a terrible personality, so we need to be cautious—"

"We are the Silver Wings! I've heard the Empress hates men. I want to see her submit... Don't kill her until I'm done with her!"

Realizing that they wouldn't listen to reason, he understood that any attempt to persuade them was futile. He had a bad feeling about it.

Losing to B-rank monsters was really just a coincidence. They had never been injured before, but it happened right after they expelled Nigris.

It must have been a coincidence. It was probably due to the heavy drinking last night.

Thinking this, they set off on their return journey.