The late afternoon sun slanted low as they stepped out of the guild, spilling over Peltora's cobbled streets in ribbons of gold. The noise of the adventurer quarter rolled around them in waves, hammering from nearby smithies, the tang of hot iron and leatherwork hanging in the air, a hawker calling out prices for skewered meat that hissed and smoked on his brazier. Redd tugged his hood down as they moved through the bustling thoroughfare, the crowd parting in places for a group of hunters dragging a fresh wyvern hide, the scent of blood and ozone still clinging to it.
"So that's it?" Redd muttered, falling into step beside Ludwig and Celine, his hands stuffed deep into his sleeves. His tone carried that disbelief only someone used to the grind of years could summon. "You just get in… and you're already B rank?"
"B-plus," Ludwig corrected with the faintest trace of humor, his eyes forward, scanning the vendors and the street corners out of habit, or maybe precaution.
