Busy with preparation for leaving the city, Raven had no time to spare. In the meantime, however, the rest of the crew were all busy tying their own loose ends. And for Erika, it meant a final day of her priestly service.
'I hate this…' For once since she'd been a priestess, she no longer wanted to do her duties. Not just because of the whispered confession, but the heat inside that box that made her sweat like a damned pig.
"I–uhh…" The voice of a young boy trailed into her ears from the front. Looking at him through a veiled netted window, Erika clasped her hands in prayer.
"Go on, child, confess your sins, your worries, or perhaps your doubts," urging the young boy who'd only recently turned of adult age, she hoped and wished to absolve any and all sins for which he'd come to confess.
With quivering lips, he tried to speak up, but with the coil of a metaphorical devil's fingers, the words were choked back down his throat. Tinged with fear of speaking out, the young boy closed his eyes and prayed.
"Is everything alright?" Asked Erika, growing increasingly concerned by the silence.
And while she was busy tending to their duties, Aria was busy doing tasks of her own. One last session of training with the kids–after all, who knows if her party would ever come back alive. However, unlike most times, Mel was missing. The fair elf would often watch the dark elf training the young orphans, but having plans of her own she'd stormed off to the Succubus's Maze instead.
'Whatever, focus on the task…' Shaking those questions out of her head, Aria turned her attention back to the kids before lowering her body into a fighting stance.
"Ten more sets and I'll buy you all roasted chicken!" Barely hiding her smile as a flush of joy twinkled in the kid's eyes, Aria put up a stern front and kept training the kids as harshly as possible.
'Grow strong you idiots.' She hoped, for being an orphan herself, she knew nobody else would look after them once they turned into adults.
Moving down the line–quite literally, Mel was being confronted by the mistress behind that veil of beads in her special room. Surrounded by virgins, both young boys and girls, the Mistress stared at the elf through the gaps while her body was being licked, sucked, and fucked in every way other than penetration.
"I lost a valuable asset the last time you visited," she said, a devious smile riding her lips.
A bit overwhelmed from being forced to follow one of the girls into the secluded room, Mel had no clue who she was dealing with, and yet her heart was gripped with fear.
"The hero's lover, I wonder what brought you back," moving her hands on the boys suckling on her voluptuous breasts, the mistress ran her fingers through their heads, which in turn made their bodies shiver before going limp for a few seconds.
Watching it all unfold, a mix of fear and perverse sexual excitement trailed into Mel's heart. But keeping herself from showing it at all, she quickly voiced the reason that had brought her there.
"I-I wanted to buy a c-chastity…" She blurted, and the Mistress couldn't help but smile.
"My my, was the unicorn just glitters after all?" The Mistress's words went entirely over Mel's head, but to her surprise, she was suddenly more than happy to get what she wanted.
'Torment the boy more, I want that goddess's chosen to suffer.' Her hatred for Aphrodite being second to none, she couldn't be more happy with the direction things were heading.
As for Amedith himself…He was left all alone at the Inn after the fight with Aria in the morning. Bored of staying in his room, however, he made his way downstairs to the empty bar and dinner at the Inn. However, as he walked around the curved steps a little, he noticed someone familiar seated at the very corner table.
"The hero…" Whispered Helga, her eyes glaring at him.
Wearing her silver armor with a chainmail skirt and a pint in hand, she looked far too drunk for this early in the morning. Beckoning Amedith closer, she gestured for him to sit across from her at the table.
'Where's everyone else?' Thought the hero, a bit unnerved by the eerie silence.
Even still, making his way towards the barbarian, he pulled out a chair and settled down on it.
Squinting her eyes, Helga downed the rest of her drink. Slamming the mug on the table, she wiped her lips with the back of her hand and answered the hero.
"I heard Raven is your party's new leader…" Her question caught Amedith off guard.
He didn't know that the news had gotten out, much less made it to the ears of every citizen in their town. Embarrassed to admit the truth, Amedith dejected his gaze and scoffed.
"Wanna know why you lost the leadership?" Holding secrets of her own, it pained Helga to see a reflection of her past in the hero's dejected gaze.
"Because that bastard wanted to be the leader, why else?" He replied, turning his head to face the female barbarian.
"NO!" Slamming her fist on the table, Helga froze Amedith with shock. However, quickly composing herself with a deep breath, she looked back into his eyes and answered. "I used to be a general, do you wanna know what I did when my men died on the battlefield?"
Feeling intimidated, Amedith couldn't open his mouth to answer.
"I took responsibility until it was clear that I wasn't fit for the role and stepped down," getting off her chair, Helga grabbed her ax from the side and rested it over her shoulder.
"You're no different, except for the fact that you never will realize or admit that the fault was your own incompetence–Or the fact that you never set an inch of your foot out of this city to protect the rest of the world like the goddess wished you did."
"Where the hell is all this coming from?!" Agitated by her insults, Amedith jumped out of his chair and glared right at her face.
Instead of getting angrier, however, Helga asked one question that shut him down.
"If you had to save the person you love the most, but you only have one shot at the rescue; between you and Raven, who do you think could pull it off better?" And though it pained him to admit, Amedith knew exactly what his answer would be. Yet when he refused to voice it out, Helga leaned closer to his face and whispered.
"Forget my daughters, I'll save them for him for when this journey of yours is over."
And with that, the mightiest adventurer in Athenia left the Hero alone with his thoughts.
[The is about the confession by the young guy who was talking to Erika, purely smut involving him plus his friend's mom–you can skip it if you want as it doesn't affect the story in any major way, although it'll come up as a memory for Erika later while something similar happens soon]