"Oh, that would be nice, Iris." The old man looked at Iris with a warm look before changing into a demon and glaring at me, "You hear that, brat? Go make some money with your skills." Honestly, such blatant difference in treatment. With a lot of noise and nagging later, I was kicked out of the bakery.
Standing outside the shop with an annoyed look, I resisted the urge to destroy the shop. After hurling a few inaudible curses at the old man, I joined the group of four who were already standing in front of the guild. What surprised me was the Hero. He had remained quiet the entire time. Most of the heroes I came across were noisy and all self-righteous. They would have intervened and preached my ears off the moment they saw the way I treated Iris or the dark-haired Grain earlier. Instead, this defective hero decided to send killing intent my way. Quite interesting indeed.
The front of the two-story building in front of me with the symbol of a sword and axe crossed together with an arrow in the middle, all placed on the back to a large shield, was the guild hall. Being in the afternoon, there were not many outside nor moving in and out.
I followed the group into the building reluctantly. Just as I suspected, there very few adventurers were in the building. Behind the counter was a beautiful young receptionist. She had long ears and a swishing tail behind her. She was a wolf-girl. It looked like this world was a little far more accepting of beast people.
Iris led us to an empty table and walked over to the receptionist. I saw them talk for a short while before she run up the steps. The atmosphere felt a little strained with the three of us left alone. The hero, Light, was glaring at me, the gothic looking Grain was evading my gaze while secretly gritting his teeth. The only one who was staring at me with a curious look, was Layla.
"So, Layla, tell me about this city." I turned to her and asked. She was an interesting young lady. I felt she only needed to be more comfortable in her own skin, instead of trying to gain the attention of the defective hero. I could tell she was quite skilled as well. Not that it mattered to me much. Everyone did what they needed to do to make them feel comfortable. Although I did not think she was.
"Oh. Well, there isn't much to tell. As you already know, the name of the city is Lorks, after the royal Lorks family. It is barely large enough to consider itself a city. Aside from that, there isn't much going on with this city except the demons and monsters getting active lately." She twirled her hair playfully as she spoke. Her speech and mannerism spoke confidence about her. "That means the demon king has awoken. Ah, you don't have to be scared. When darkness arises, so shall the light. That is a saying in this city. Meaning when the demon king awakens, the hero shall too. I'm sure he will take care of the demon king soon." Layla turned inconspicuously to Light who had not said a single word the entire time and winked at him.
I could see a certain pride in his eyes when Layla mentioned of the hero. He lifted his head and puffed out his chest in pride. "Light, huh?" I turned to look at the defective hero and his raised chin. I was amused at his actions. His name seemed like they were begging the world to make him the hero. I ended up letting out a chuckle, which I guess rubbed him the wrong way, because his prideful air sniffing face changed into a scowl.
"The emergence of the demon lord, huh?" I cast my gaze around the relaxed atmosphere in the guild hall. Not just there, but the whole city. Even though it said the demons were active, the people in the city did not seem as panicked. "Does not seem like it." I finished my statement while I relaxed in my seat.
Layla seemed to catch my drift. "Of course. That is because the people have something to rely on. Because of that they have nothing to fear." She tried to sound mysterious as she also leaned in her chair as well.
"Is that so? And what is that thing they can rely on." Even if the hero was not defective, their party was a little too small to face the demon lord. Unless they were still gathering members to join their crew to face the demon lord, I could not see then winning in any way. The demon lord in any realm was created to be far more powerful than the hero's party. He or she was meant to be the absolute final boss. That was, of course, unless the hero selected was a reincarnate, which old monsters like my old man would not allow.
It did not mean that it was impossible to allow a plucked person or a reincarnate to become a hero of another world. After all, that was usually the premise under which he or she was brought in. That, however, was when things had either turned dire or when some of the gods just wanted to have their fun. Meaning, even if a reincarnate or plucked person was brought to a world such as hero and demon lord type world, there would still be a hero chosen by the world.
Just as Layla was about to answer, three people came down the steps. Iris was followed by a bald handsome muscular man with a beard, who was in turn followed by a smart looking dark haired young lady in glasses. The rest of the group stood when they saw the man and walked over. Layla who saw me sitting there without any expression on my face quickly walked over and pulled me up. I chuckled. 'I like her. She reminds me of Ruthia.' I did not know why I needed to stand though, not like he was royalty or anything. Haha. Not like I'd care either.
"Riggs my boy, how is your father?" The bald man spoke to me first. He looked uncomfortably happy to see me. Uncomfortable for me. Actually, a little too happy. His boisterous laugh echoed out the entire room regardless of the weird looks most of the people in the room were giving him, which made me change my opinion of him. I liked him. He gave zero fucks. He was the father of Iris and the guild master of the adventurer's guild of Lorks. His name, if I remembered was Brand.