Expecting to lead his party to the adventurer's guild to let them know that the minotaur quest was done, Raven was back at the Boartooth to get everyone ready. However, to his surprise, walking down the upper floor corridor, he ran into Mel leaning against his room's door. Noticing him as well, the elven archer picked herself up and walked up close to the dark mage.
"Where the hell have you been?" She asked, her face contorted in anger.
She'd obviously been waiting a long time which fouled her mood further.
"Forget that, where's everyone else? I need you guys to come with me and report to the guild that the minotaurs are all dead," frowning at Raven's words, Mel took a step back and just looked at him confounded.
"What do you mean, dead?" She asked, unsure if she'd heard him right.
"I killed them what else?" Having already gotten used to the fact that he'd slaughtered those minotaurs, Raven didn't realize just how absurd that sounded to Mel.
"Wait wait wait…" Blinking her eyes like a puppet, it took a moment for the elf to even think of what to say. "The entire cave, you mean to tell me you got rid of every single minotaur in there?"
Finally realizing how it must've felt for Mel, Raven let out a mocking scoff to shamelessly stroke his own ego.
"Yeah, all it took was a few scrolls and some good connections," stepping closer and closer, he reached for her face, trying to touch her by the chin his hand was instantly slapped away by Mel. "That's why I told you that I would be a better leader, you know it, but I'll give you time to accept it all."
A bit disgusted by his attempt to touch her, Mel pushed Raven a few steps away from her body. Glaring at him with her teeth gritted shut, she was reminded of why she hated him so much. A self-obsessed egotist, capable of anything he'd put his mind to–something she thought to be Raven's doom.
'You'll fail one day or another you bastard, and when that time comes, I'll enjoy it as much as I can.' About to complain about the voices leaking from his room every night, Mel's lips parted to speak but were forced shut the moment Aria and Erica climbed up the stairs behind Raven.
"Oi," grabbing Raven from behind, Aria turned him around to face her. "What the hell are you spreading around town, when did we ever defeat the minotaurs?"
"I don't think it's right to spread lies, Raven. The goddess won't be happy about this," Erica added, her hands clasped together and a light blush streaked across her downcast head.
For a spell, Raven knew something was wrong with the priestess, but brushing that aside, he grabbed Aria's hand and got it off his attire.
"I sold the horn to the witch at Lifeclover, she might still have them whole but I doubt she'd hold on from crushing them to dust before long," tired of explaining himself, Raven lifted his hand with the bracelet. "And if that won't convince you, talk to their queen yourself."
With just a brush of his fingers against the ruby, a bright beam of red light nearly blinded them all. Shielding their eyes in time, they looked from between their fingers at the emerging body of a voluptuous cowgirl.
"Finally!" Mino exclaimed, stretching her limb after being trapped in that ruby for hours.
"What the hell?!" The first to respond was Aria, who jumped instantly backwards into a defensive position.
"A monster?!" Her eyes widened in fear, Erica stood frozen visibly unsure as to what she was supposed to do.
Mel on the other hand, wasted no time reaching for a dagger in the utility pocket of her leather armor. She tried to leap forward and stab Mino in the back, however, catching her in time, Raven squeezed her hand just hard enough to make her drop her weapon.
"Calm down, she's under my control," conjuring the collar of darkness around Mino's neck, Raven pulled her closer to his body. Wrapping his hand around her waist, he glanced around his companion's baffled faces. "I brought her here after defeating the cave minotaurs. She's my servant now, thanks to this bracelet I found in her treasury."
Intentionally lying to his companions, Raven wanted to keep the interaction between him and the witch a secret. After all, she seemed to like her privacy and if he told them the bracelet was a gift from her, these girls were sure to visit her later for some answers.
Hesitant to make a move or even take Raven on his word, the three girls kept glancing at one another, to figure out if the others had any idea what to make of the situation.
"She's a monster, who knows how many innocent people she'd killed! How can we trust her even if she's supposedly under your control?!" Erica dissented, her taste of the divine wouldn't let her fight alongside such a monster.
"Then do you wish to slaughter her like a pig? Cause go ahead try but she can't fight back so I really hope you can live with killing a helpless creature," letting go of Mino, Raven gently pushed her toward Erica. Yet the pure priestess couldn't bring herself to hurt her after what she'd just learned.
"Fuck me, what kind of predicament is this?" Aria cursed.
Moving a step forward, she looked into Mino's eyes. Shaking her head, she simply shoved her back into Raven's arms.
"If she'd fighting with us, then fuck, sure let her live," upon hearing Aria's words, the other two instantly tried to interject, hushing them with her fingers however, Aria kept talking. "But the moment she crosses a line, it's my fist and that ringed nose of hers."
And to that nobody could dissent, except of course the Hero, but since he was nowhere to be seen that problem hasn't come just yet.
"T-thanks…I'll do my best to help," Although her heart bled to bow to other species, the minotaur queen–knowing that her life was on the line, faked compliance.
Sending her back into the bracelet by spanking her ass, Raven had the other either curling their fist in annoyance or looking away in shame.
"Damn it…That was probably the girl from last night," said Mel to herself, not realizing that the others could hear her as well.
"Oh, you guys can hear that?" Unaware that the noise was a problem, Raven looked at her with a look of pure confusion.
"YES!" Screamed all the girls, half embarrassed and half enraged.
Although to Raven it only sounded like praise. Smiling his dastardly smile, he moved on from the topic to get them all to accompany them to the guild. Picking up Amdeith from his room as well, the entire party was finally on their way to earn back their rank.
'After that comes the boring part, waiting for the king to summon us…And then comes revenge against that damned murderer who killed Darius's fiancee.' Planning everything inside his head, he began focusing on the only hard part, waiting.
'Sex and the Succubus' Maze it is!' He thought, smirking at the thought of at least a few more days of pure ecstasy.