"What were you two thinking?! What would have happened had that monster been stronger than you?!" Aoi stared down at Steven and I who were both on our knees while Emma and Fang stood behind us nervously.
Aoi's demeanor was nothing like it usually was. Usually he had an uncaring expression on his face but he genuinely seemed pissed off at us with a slight hint of worry and relief. He really was a guild leader at heart.
Behind Aoi I could see Felix and Vylan standing there with a smile, clearly amused by what was going on. Aoi continued to lecture us for another ten minutes until Vylan finally decided to step in.
"Boss man, I'm sure they get it by now. Besides, you did the same when you heard Reiner was missing." Vylan verbally jabbed him with that comment and gave a playful smirk.
Aoi went to open his mouth but quickly closed it and turned away, returning to his normal stoic expression. Despite his attempt to return back to his normal expression, I could still see a small hint of red at the top of his ears.
Vylan quickly took control of the conversation, "as much as I support being there for your friends. Just rushing into things blindly is highly dangerous and can get even a seasoned adventurer killed. That's usually why guilds always have at least one strategist. You know, that voice of reason that stops us from doing dumb stuff."
Emma's eyes widened at the last word Vylan said, "strategist?"
Vylan shifted his expression from me and Steven to Emma, "that's right. Essentially the brain of the group. Using the most logical actions, they can be the ones to either make or break the team. Yours truly is the strategist of Aoi's team. I may not act like it, but I'm usually referred to as the brain of the group. Of course even I slip up at times and the team has to be there to fix whatever may arise from it."
Emma had a certain look in her eyes as Vylan laid all that info onto her. It was almost as if she had come to some sort of conclusion which could allow her to reach greater heights. An awakening of sorts.
Emma turned her focus towards me, "John. Allow me to be the brain of our group. I'm not strong physically nor am I good at magic but I can use these specs of mine to keep everyone going and create plans. So I ask you once more, allow me to be the brain in our group. Allow me to use my one strength to support your cause! Before you came along, I had created the plan which for the most part was keeping us alive! So imagine the potential of me being able to use people who specialize in fighting!"
I thought for a moment, this was the first time she's actually asked me for anything. It honestly caught me off guard since she usually just kept quiet about some things. Regardless, I was more than happy to allow her to become our strategist.
I gave her a warm smile, "I'd be more than happy to have someone like you in charge of strategies. I'll still be making some of our plans though."
Emma nodded enthusiastically, "that's fine! I don't mean to take the leader position away from you."
Behind Emma, I could see Vylan and Aoi whispering to each other while eyeing my group. I couldn't quite make out what they were saying but I think I caught some compliments towards my group.
"Well then, all we need to find now is Alice and Akari!" I said in an excited manner.
"Sorry but even when we do find them, there's still things we need to do here. Like freeing these people, no, my people by the monsters that have been ruling over their lives." Felix said, stepping forward while adjusting his tie.
"I haven't forgotten. The plan is to regroup and then train up before taking on the monster controlling everything."
Aoi finally finished his conversation with Vylan and stepped up, "while you two were off fighting that monster, we managed to get info on where the next village is. Essentially we just have to follow the path which wraps around the mountains. There's also an island further north that's always snowing. It might be smart to check there just in case your two friends ended up landing there."