Harsh Escort

The first day of our new quest started off pretty calm.

We helped them pack up their campsite and once we were back on the road, something startling happened.

"Please stand back." The oldest of the guards says as he took about five paces ahead of us.

Reaching into the interior of his armor, the guard brings out a rough-looking scroll.

After unfurling it placing it onto the ground, the other two guards draw closer and place their palms forward.

In about thirty seconds of silence, the ethereal blue glow of the scroll glowed brightly and then disappeared.

Appearing where the scroll used to be was an illustrious-looking carriage, riddled with arrows, mud, and numerous other impurities. Why would a summoning scroll give you such a shoddy item?

"What type of magic is that?" That's what I actually end up saying.

"It's a magic consumable known as a 'Scroll of Resummoning', based on the name I'm sure you can put it together." The old guard says in a slightly smug tone. Asshole, sorry I'm from a backwater village. What would you rather me do m'lord? Simply know everything like a magic almanac?

Once the carriage was resummoned, another scroll was brought out by one of the younger guards, from which a strange, four-legged creature was summoned.

I'm assuming that it's this world's version of a horse-drawn carriage, yet instead of a horse, it's a strange-looking oversized dog. Not necessarily one of the wolves we've seen in the forest, almost a tamer-looking animal.

"Don't worry lad, Franklin here has never hurt a soul!" The older guard says as he must have confused my long gaze on the dog as something akin to fear.

Franklin, what a surprisingly normal name.

As everyone climbed into the carriage, the layout was as follows.

Myself, as well as Surge and the youngest guard, were on riding on top of the carriage, whilst one guard drove, and the eldest guard rode inside the carriage with Teresa.

Those of us on top were meant to act as scouts, alerting the rest of the carriage of any threats.

However, most 'threats' were just monsters that I could take care of with a Stone Shot or Wind Pellet.

After taking out my eighth weird monkey monster, a question popped into my mind. One I'm pretty sure the guard could answer.

"Excuse me, but what did you guys mean by 'd-rank' monster before? I'm not familiar with that sort of thing." The guard looked at me, although I couldn't see their face, it was with obvious confusion.

"Are you serious?" She asks, tilting her head.

No, I asked it completely sarcastically.

"Yes, I'm entirely unfamiliar." I end up actually saying.

"Well, monsters are placed on a ranking scale, being ranked from F to AA. In some cases, a monster is given an S ranking as well, but as the name implies, only special monsters are given that title." She says, her voice becoming monotone.

"What makes a monster a certain rank?" I ask, I don't care if I sound stupid, I need this information.

"Strength, intelligence, and most of all capacity for leadership. It doesn't matter if individually a monster is weak, if they can lead other monsters, their ranking will skyrocket." The guard says, nodding as she continues. "For reference, adventurers are put on the same ranking scale, however, they're usually not comparable. It takes on average three adventurers of one rank to take down a monster of their respective rank. So, being that you can take down three D-rank monsters, you're essentially a C-rank adventurer." The guard says, looking me and Surge up and down.

"Thank you, that actually clears up a lot," I say, turning back to keep on the lookout.

Interesting.

But are the bears and pack animals D-rank because they act as a group? For example, is one bear alone an F-rank but a pack D-rank? Because taking down a large number of weak creatures shouldn't really be comparable to taking down something that on its own is A-rank.

There are too many holes in this explanation, but it seems to be the best one I have.

Either way, knowing that I am at minimum c-rank makes me a bit less nervous about our chances of making money.

Based on the effectiveness of these guards, you don't have to be too high rank to secure a good job.

Unless- no way.

Just as these thoughts were swimming around in my mind, a strange feeling comes over me.

It felt as if I was covered in a thick coating of syrup, making it hard to even move around. Kind of like wearing a weighted raincoat.

I could tell that Surge and the guard felt it too, as the guard's hand shot to the loud whistle around her neck.

Blowing into to, she then opened her mouth to yell.

Yet before any air left her lungs, tearing through her armor, an arrow was lodged directly into her throat. Followed immediately by two others.

"We're under attack!" I yell at the top of my lungs, conjuring an ice dome around the top of the carriage, just in time for it to be cracked by an arrow aiming straight for Surge.

The carriage comes to an abrupt start, and I can only assume either the driver or the horse is dead.

Creating a hole, I leap off the top of the carriage, slowing my fall with wind magic.

There's one issue, however, even from the top of the carriage, I couldn't see them.

I could freeze the entire surrounding area with an Ice Age, but there's no guarantee that would kill them. Being as they're attacking a royal carriage, they have to have some protection against magic.

Slamming the end of my staff into the ground, I summon a large cube of stone to surround the carriage. The eldest guard has already joined me outside of it, and my prediction of the guard and horse being dead ends up true.

Moving as fluid as water, the guard rips off his helmet, as well as an eyepatch he had on underneath.

"Eight enemies, one mage, one archer, and six melees running at us from the east. There are two swordsmen, one with a hammer, and three using daggers." The old guard says, throwing his shield in front of me, just in time to stop an arrow aimed at my heart.

"Do you not know the basics of a battle boy? Always stay alert! Do you know no defensive magic?" He scolds, easily fending off three more arrows between himself and me.

No! I didn't even know those existed!

"Are they all to the north?" I ask instead, placing both hands on my staff and channeling a ton of water mana.

There's a spell idea I've been wanting to try out. It may not be the best idea to test a new spell in the middle of combat, but there's no better battlefield for this to work on.

"Yes, the melee fighters are within thirty feet of us whilst those at the range are nearly one hundred." The old guard says, assuming the vanguard position. Perfect, it seems he knows what to do.

The spell idea is simple.

It's what I did to the guards surrounding Teresa, on a grand scale.