On their way to the Adventurer's guild, the Hero sulked behind the girls trying to shield himself from the bystanders. However, despite his attempt at hiding from the public, they all watched him from behind as the party made their way to the guild. Upon getting there, Raven took charge and led the group into the dainty building. Met with the curious gazes, however, the Hero kept hiding behind Mel.
"We still have that job left," looking at the quest that got him killed, still hanging by the massive quest board, a bitter taste in his mouth fouled Raven's mood. "You guys never finished the job, huh?"
Although he marched forward, his party behind him felt daggers shooting at their hearts. And with the room having fallen completely silent on their arrival, that guilt in their hearts stung even deeper.
"W-we were still trying to fill your spot…" Said Mel, slowly moving towards the quest board as well.
The others followed behind the two while the rest of the guild members watched their every move. Even the receptionist who was aware of everything that had happened on their last attempt kept quiet–even though she wanted to stop Raven from taking the flier for the same quest.
"And you found nobody," his eyes glued to the quest marking the minotaur cave, Raven felt drawn to take the challenge once again. "Well, you guys don't have to look anymore so let's finish the job, what do you say?"
Taking the flier off the board, he turned to the rest with a snarky smile on his face. Reminded of what happened last time, shock took over their faces. Wide-eyed, they stood there gawking at him as if he'd gone insane.
"Wait!" The receptionist finally gathered the courage and spoke up. Rushing out from behind the counter, she nearly tripped trying to get closer, but managing to keep herself on two feet, she snatched the flier right out of Raven's hands. "Nope! You're not going to no minotaur cave!"
A bit stunned by her actions, everyone in the guild stared at her with a visible look of confusion. Never had any adventurer seen a guild receptionist grab a flier away from someone. That too with verbal dissent.
"None of you are going anywhere!" Tearing the flier in her hands, she firmly crossed her arms, making her breasts nearly burst out of her frilly yellow top. Turning her freckled face to everyone in the Hero's party with her amber gaze squinted, she took a deep breath and broke the silence once more. "After almost losing your party member on your last mission all of you have been demoted from gold to bronze rank! And this quest is only available for gold and above adventurers!"
"What?!" Screamed the entirety of the Hero's party as well as the adventurers present inside the guild hall.
"Yup! I'm demoting you all, and no ifs and buts!" She added before turning around to return to the desk.
Watching the young receptionist's waddling away, everyone was at a loss for a word. Being demoted as an adventurer wasn't something that happened usually, much less to the hero's party. Even so, with their eyes glued to her bouncing bottom while she walked away, none of them could speak a word of retort.
'I'll add her to the list of girls I wanna sleep with too.' Mentally listing her name in the long list of girls, Raven scoffed off the minor setback. Instead, turning to his party he made them an offer.
"Forget that, you guys can choose the quest, but I'm leading the party this time," he knew that suggestion would rouse disagreement, but right as the Hero tried to open his mouth, Raven glared at him for a spell–making the hero keep his mouth shut.
"Wait, Amedith has always been the leader. Why do you want to change that?" Placing a firm hand on Raven's chest, Mel demanded justification. "Besides he's the destined hero, the goddess' chosen, we're supposed to follow him not you!"
There it was, the entitlement towards the chosen. The very mention of it made Raven's expression contort into rage, but keeping calm he took a deep breath and barked back at Mel.
"He nearly got me killed, or did you forget that part?" Grabbing her hand that lay on his chest, Raven pushed it off. "Maybe next time you should jump into certain death instead of me, just to save his incompetent ass, hmm?"
Being slapped with those words, Mel's contour fell. Clicking her tongue, she cast her gaze down with guilt as much as shame.
"He's right," Aria muttered from behind Mel's shoulders.
Surprising even Raven, she grabbed the archer by her arms and pulled her back and away from Raven.
"Amedith nearly got Raven killed, and don't forget his poor judgment got us in that mess in the first place," hearing Aria's retort to him, the Hero's eyelids stretched wider than a hawk.
"I-I didn't mean to do that!" He complained, finally jumping out into the front from Mel's shadow.
"Your intentions don't matter, the fact we all could've gotten killed still remains," Raven pushed further in his attempt to take charge.
Although left gritting his teeth in frustration, Amedith bit his tongue knowing full well that his incompetence couldn't be excused. Taking advantage of the situation, Raven shifted his gaze from one member of the party to another as if giving them one last chance to present their dissent.
Being devout to the goddess, Erica seemed hesitant to let Hero be pushed to the side. But being faced with many reasons against letting him be the leader, even she couldn't bring herself to speak through those quivering lips.
"Alright then it's settled," wearing a smile once more, Raven was delighted with the outcome. After all, taking charge of the party was just the first step for him to replace the cowardly hero.
Spending only a few minutes in the guild to pick up some quests to level up their rank, Raven was about to lead his party to the plains to hunt some slimes. However, the moment he stepped outside the guild, the distant voice of a woman calling out to the Hero managed to get his attention.
'Who the hell–' Curious about who it could be, he turned in the direction of the sound, but the moment he laid eyes on her those doubts were quickly washed away in an instant.
"Mom? What are you doing here?" Said the Hero, watching the supple frame of a mature woman making her way towards them.
No stranger to the woman either, everyone in the party put up a genuine smile. However, the closer she got with her hips swaying side to side, the more Raven was inclined to add her to the list of girls he wanted.
'The taste of a mother, especially the bastard hero's…' Although smiling genuinely on the outside, something sinister was brewing in his heart.