A Guildmaster's Antics
A Clover Guild Story
By Meowstic-anon

Ever since the formation of the guild, most of the time I spend is handling the paperwork regarding the shares from the jobs done by the guild members with the landlord of this place. Another thing I had to do was establish relations with other Pokémons in the area to make sure we were all on good terms. While the members are all good sports, mistakes happen and all that complaining comes back to me, and they're all quite a headache to go through!

"There... I'm done with this one."

No matter how much I did, the papers somehow kept piling up as more and more members joined the guild. The pile is getting a bit overwhelming to the point where, if I just looked at it, I would just cringe away at the sheer volume, "Fwehh~!! It's already dawn, and I'm exhausted already!!"

Since nobody is on this floor for most of the time, I tend to talk to myself in a different tone than I usually act towards others, some might even consider it not 'guildmaster-like'. Because of that, I had to keep up this act of being 'all responsible and done no wrong' to make the members feel reassured that this guild falls into the right hands... But, would that be considered deceptive? Is it the right thing to do... that I kept a facade? I don't even have an answer for that...

"...and I had to complete it all by sunset," I give a sigh, "but I really don't feel like doing it, ahh!!"

The dilemma. Some things never changed about myself; whether I'm a human or a pokémon, I still have this procrastination mindset. And of course, instead of doing the work like I should have, I got more and more lost in thought.

"Wait.... was I doing what I'm exactly doing way back then!?" a realization hit me, and just thinking about it frustrates me. I told myself I wouldn't do the same thing when I was a human—I despise the periodic desk routine I had taken on for years, and ever since I came to this world, I was free, but now, I'm in shackles yet again... and it's my own volition... Is it because they're also like me—a former human? Or is it something egotistical? Sneasel did elect me, and everyone agreed, and it's not like I could decline... They did come to this world just recently, unlike me, and I did lie on some details to make it go smoothly, and I can't just... but... ohh... I don't have an answer for that either...

I don't want to think about these doubts, but they still linger at the back of my mind at times, waiting for the perfect opportunity to knock me down... I should change the subject.

"Umm... maybe I should ask for assistants; yeah, Booker would be a good candidate, but he came here so recently and he's still learning the language... and given the fact he often goes to a Mystery Dungeon with Sneasel, it would be wrong for me to snatch him and make him do this for me..."

"Hmm... Nick, Charm, and Chespin also have their respective partners and would fall into the same category as Booker, so they're all out."

"Macom would be the one, but just like Nick and Tybo's cases of being quadrupedal, they might not be on the most optimal side of things, so they would be out of the question..."

"Now then... Kina, Sableye, and Skiddo. They had their own duties in the guild; bringing them into this would only hinder their job, so they're out as well."

"Erm, Kaiji and Kris... hmm, nah, not a chance. Augustus would be the ideal one, but he also came to this world recently... And the rest are unknown for me to evaluate as they joined the guild quite recently."

"That would mean KFC would be the perfect fit, but I don't think this is his sort of fort-"

"Guildmaster, What's matter?" Speaking of the devil, KFC, the Combusken appeared in front of me while I was spacing out and said, "I heard you calling out everyone's names a-"

"KYAAAAH!" That really gave me a fright. "...I mean, yeahhh... haha, I'm just remembering all the members of the guild that have joined so far, that's all!"

"...Ah! It has almost been a month since we formed the Clover Guild, is it not?" The more I talk, the more apparent it is that I'm just making things up right on the fly, "I wanted to do a... uhh... throw a party. Yeah! A party to celebrate such an occasion!"

KFC gives me 'the look' while I'm trying to keep up with my smiling facade. "That would be nice. But I'm here to check up on you because you don't seem to be well lately."

To be honest, that set me back a little, so I lowered my smile and spoke to him solemnly, "Elaborate."

He inspects me more closely: "Your aura's shape... is in distress."

"You should take a rest."

"...I appreciate the concern." I inadvertently nodded and said, "Maybe I'll do that."

"Don't push yourself," he advised me.

"I'll be off now, see you."

"Byebye," I waved at him, then I grinned when he left, "I can never get used to his name without thinking about that fast food joint."

The guild banner on the left side of the office has a hidden door behind it. To open it, there are certain switches around the room, and I'm the only one that knows about it... so far. Not even the landlord knows, as I made it myself. That hidden room is quite small and has no windows inside. It has a bed, a small desk, a coat rack, a wardrobe, and a bulletin board.

On the desk under the bulletin board, those are frisms, notes I had written down when I arrived here, and a bunch of other items I've gathered; it's quite a mess! Although it has almost been a month, I have no leads on the spike of humans-turned-Pokémon nor any progress on any theories just yet.

I lie on the bed, face down on a fluffy pillow made out of cotton from a Cottonee. "I really do feel bad for having this from the start, but Chespin seems to have it covered recently," thinking more about it, I can't help but be a little pensive, "I would have given them what I have, but it wouldn't be enough for everyone, and it would be a bad look that I'm being , so... sigh I'm sorry about that."

I could say things I find difficult when I'm alone, but when I'm about to say it to someone, I don't have the guts to tell them.

"Maybe I'm not fit to be the guildmaster after all..."

That doubt again. I should just stop thinking at the moment. I then turned over and stared at the ceiling. Remembering back to what KFC had told me earlier, I couldn't help but chuckle a little.

"That would be something he would say to me right now." I yawned and shut my eyes.

...

My partner laughs at me as he sits down on the top of my head while I'm sitting beside a tree after Master had utterly destroyed me in that spar earlier.

"Lily~! I found you! C'mon don't sulk just 'cuz Lady Marigold beat ya, y'know? Hey, hey! I know she'll teach ya her wand mastery if ya beat her, but you should work on your aura first!"

"Larkspur..." I shook this illusory Pidgey off me. "You're heavy...!"

"Wheh," he transforms back into his normal self and gets up. He looks at me with his fake tears and yells, "Y-you're saying I gained weight? You're so mean~!"

"Shut up! I didn't mean it like that!!" I shouted back. "Geez, you're terrible at cheering me up~."

"Kyukyukyu! But I saw a grin!"

...

After taking a short nap, I got up and looked at my treasure bag on the coat rack. Next to it is my old outfit from when I traveled with Master and my friend. Staring at that outfit made me wonder, "...What if?" That's where I decided to be more adventurous, just for today, and have nothing to do with this guild stuff. I'll have to face the consequences later, after I'm done with this selfish wish of mine. That's what I thought, and I'll take that fair deal.

"...I'm really irredeemable... am I?" I said this in a melancholy tone as I took the outfit off the coat rack and started to dress up.

The outfit is a dark blue alpine hat with a feather of a Braviary at the front. It used to have all sorts of flowers all around the top, but they all withered away long ago, so it looks more dull compared to back in the day, but that's alright, I suppose. Then, there's my justaucorps—they're in dark red with a red-orange color design to it, and a Recovery Scarf—a white-green scarf with a clover in the middle. On the left chest, there's an Explorer's badge pinned to it; it has a red gemstone in the center. I forgot what rank it was, but I was sure it was high level. There's also a white domino mask with gold patterns around it, but I wouldn't bother wearing that around this time.

Looking at myself, I still can't get over how extravagant our clothes were. Master always wanted to give us the best out there because we have to be stylish, or whatever she's on about. Larkspur doesn't seem to mind at all since he gets all comfy with his own outfit... I mean, I really like this outfit, but I don't want to stand out too much from the crowd, so I just settled on a black capelet nowadays, but then it would be the same thing. Well, at least it's not as grand as the former; that one feels like I'm some sort of royalty when I wear it!

"Now!" I clap both my hands together and head back to the office. I can't be seen like this in the guild, so I approach the window behind my desk. I tried to imitate her fighting style, and I believed I got it down perfectly since she always does it every time there's a fight.

"Here goes nothing." I stretched my right leg to the back as much as I could, and then I swung it high up in the air, aiming at the window, "Hyah!" I tried to kick it down, and it didn't break the glass at all like I expected it to, instead, it gave a loud 'thud' sound and might as well have broken my right leg!!

"Yaouch! Ow! Ouch! Ahhh!" The pain... this is probably the worst mistake I've ever done! "Tch. How does she even do it? Her large damn dress is in the way too! I don't get how that works!!"

After the pain subsided, I just did my usual method and used Telekinesis. The glass 'popped' off from the window frame, and I put it on the floor, a rather boring solution, but I suppose that's par for the course.

Before heading off, I took out a Substitute Doll from my golden ring and put it at the chair and made it wear my black capelet with the Friend Bow and Clover Guild badge, like anyone would actually fall for it, but Pokémon do fall for that; then again, those are 'feral types' so maybe higher intellect Pokémon can see through it? Overthinking this will not lead me anywhere, so I digress.

Jumping onto the window frame and trying not to fall over, I setup a bunch of Reflect barriers in the sky and used them as platforms to jump on to until it reached close to the ground. Fortunately, it's the time when most of the members of the guild are off doing their usual Mystery Dungeon explorations, so being spotted here is very unlikely.

"Here we go~," I jumped at the first platform; it made me jump, literally, as this was all but a theory in my head until now. Doing this in practice at such a height is really reckless of me, but you know what they say: "It works if it works." Even after the first jump has proven to be successful, it doesn't shake off my fear that something is gonna go wrong with this little stunt of mine...

After I made my last jump, I safely landed in a patch of clovers. It's a coincidence that these grew behind the guildhall. Anyways, the plan is to pretend to be some sort of traveler, and I had my old badge to prove it. I think that will be convincing enough to separate myself from the Guildmaster, at least for the time being.

...

Once I arrive at the plaza, I make my way through the Kecleon Shop to purchase some supplies. Along the way, residents are staring at me as I pass by. "I knew this was a mistake..." I muttered.

The Kecleon clerk greets me enthusiastically: "Hello~ ♪ Welcome to the Kecleon Shop! ♪"

I came to buy wands and Technical Machines or TMs. But since it's almost high noon, the stocks have almost sold out. All I can buy is a couple Blast Wands, Tunnel Wands, an Escape Orb, Light Screen, Misty Terrain, Icy Wind, Thunderbolt, and Protect TMs.

"Thank you! ♪ It is all yours to take! ♪" Kecleon happily handed me over the items, and I gave him the appropriate amount of Poké in return. Although these are not much, I could make use of them with some creativity. I put the wands inside the golden ring portal from the back of my treasure bag, while the rest went in the bag.

Another reason I came to this shop was to confirm a rumor. According to the message board post, if I say their secret password, they'll give me their secret menu or whatever the rumor claimed.

"Kecleon." I called out his name.

They responded with a hum, and I said, "Purple."

"Huh?" He's rightfully confused, "...Ah, Sorry! I afraid I'm all out!"

"What do you sell, though?" I asked.

"Joy Seeds, Exclusive items, anything that's rare! ♪" He suddenly lifts his spirits again, "but if I wasn't mistaken, you have a really high Explorer rank, so I would have sold these to you even if you didn't know the password."

He ponders, "Hold on, I haven't seen you around here before; how do you even know that password?"

I fiddled, "...A friend told me. Well, thanks, Kecleon."

He smiles, "Glad I could help ♪ You're..."

I'm about to say my name, 'Lliam', but then I had thoughts that it would spread and the guild members would catch wind of this and it would all get messy, so I'll say my other name.

"Stargazer, that's the name," I somehow still remembered to do that stupid pose with the lines that Master forced me and Larkspur to memorize, "don't mention I'm here as we—I remain in the shadows... yeah." I had to omit the rest to save myself from dying of embarrassment. 

"Wow, that's weird but sort of cool! Off you go then, mister Stargazer! ♪" he giggles, "have you met Guildmaster of the Clover Guild? He's a Meowstic like you! ♪"

"...I would." These words he's saying feel surreal to me.

...

Having the time to myself and not caring for the world felt great, but I somehow found myself bored after a while.

"Maybe I should go back," I thought, but I really wanted to enter a Mystery Dungeon before returning since it has been a while. I don't want to grow rusty now!

"...I have no idea what I'm doing, huh." Like I fear that one of the guild members will recognize me and my cover will be blown.

I've always said that, and only now have I questioned about it, "What is there to fear about?" I mean, I would lose nothing if they knew... but it's more like... I don't want them to worry that I ditched my duties for something selfish... "Why am I like this?" I rubbed both tips of my ears, and then I saw an Oshawott passing by.

"Is that... Augustus?" I lean against a wall and peek from the corner, "What is he up to?"

Judging from his direction, he's heading to the docks. I went ahead through a shortcut.

...

He sits at the port and stares at the water. Shortly afterwards, he begins to play around with his scalchop. And it turns into minutes. I was thinking of leaving him alone, but then it crossed my mind that he's somewhat the catalyst for bringing us together, yet he seems to be alone most of the time and does his own thing. I do recall him tagging along with other members' explorations, like Booker and Sneasel, and that's it. Unlike Macom, I don't know much about what he does after that. I then realized what I was saying, and it feels like I'm some kind of perverted stalker that is willing to breach someone's privacy!

I decided to confront him about it, not out of pity but because I just wanted to know if he was doing alright in this world despite his circumstances.

"Kyukyukyu~." I struck a dramatic pose and tipped my hat. "What brings you here on this fine day?"

"Isn't that supposed to be my question?" Augustus quickly answers, "Also, what's with the getup, Guildmaster Lliam?"

"Guildmaster? No, I'm just a random adventurer, Stargazer, remember that name!" I strike the pose while I'm cringing my life away.

"(Holy shit, what am I doing?)" Again with the poses, my body is committed to the muscle memory, dammit!

While he is speechless on what he has witnessed, I continue, "Seems like I got bored from wandering aimlessly, and I decided I'll be yours for the whole day~."

Augustus avoided eye contact and said, "Well, I'm... not into guys..."

"IT'S NOT LIKE THAT YOU DOLT!!" then I cleared my throat, "I-I mean... I will be with you for the whole day."

"But aren't you busy with the guild?" he retorted.

"I told you..." I sigh, "It doesn't fool you, huh?"

"I may not know much about Mystery Dungeons but I'm sure as hell I'm not a dumbass," he boldly remarked.

"Fair enough." I waggled my hand, saying, "Just don't tell anyone I'm here; promise me that, and I'll teach you anything, some basics and whatnot."

"Okay, deal," Augustus then hands me a piece of paper that looks like it's from the Job Bulletin Board.

"I wanted to do this one, but I couldn't find anyone to partner with me. Booker and Sneasel were already off when I arrived, same goes for the others..."

I give the listing a read:

+-----------------------------------------+ | = : = : = : = : = : = : = : = : = : = : = : = | |{>/------------------------------------\<}| |: | My family and I are starving! | :| | :| Please deliver us some apples! |: |

| :| Client: Grumpig |: | |: | Objective: Deliver 5 Apples | :| | :| Place: Lush Prairie 5F |: | |: | Difficulty: C(20) | :| | :| Reward: 500 Poké + Gold Gummi |: | |{>------------------------------------/<}| | = : = : = : = : = : = : = : = : = : = : = : = | +-----------------------------------------+

It's shocking to see there's a lot of red flags in this paper, like why would they give out Gold Gummi if they're starving, and the list goes on... but since Augustus wants to do this job, I suppose I'm obliged to accept...

"Do you have 5 Apples in your bag already?" I return the paper to him.

He nods in reply, "I've got plenty in my bag."

"Good. We will walk southeast of town until we reach there." I point in the direction to go, "Oh, it shouldn't be too far."

Augustus raises his hand, asking, "Can't we just ask Skiddo to transport us there?"

And I answered, "We could, but I think he already has his hooves full, and besides, I don't want to be seen by anymore people."

He looks at me in a particular way: "Then why are you trying to stand out with that outfit?"

"I like it, okay!?" I cross my arms and shout, "So are we going or not!?"

...

And so, we took a 15 minute walk until we arrived at Lush Prairie. Honestly, I was expecting a much shorter distance, but I suppose I got spoiled on constantly taking shortcuts by using the power of the ley lines... I shouldn't do it when I have Augustus with me, or else it will get complicated really quick!

By the entrance of the Mystery Dungeon, I went behind and lightly tapped his back, pushing him forward and saying, "You'll take the lead~."

"But..." he looks back at me.

"I'll guide ya from the back; I wanna see how ya handle it head-on," I raised my right arm up in the air and chant, "Go! Go! Lead on!"

"Like that's gonna help..." while unenthusiastic, he enters the Mystery Dungeon.

The first floor of this Mystery Dungeon has nothing much going on. We picked up some Blast Seeds, 4 Iron Thorns and some Poké. We haven't encountered any enemies, which is a miracle but doesn't help my case as I'm supposed to teach him something.

By the 2nd floor, I taught him that he can eat Blast Seeds to launch a fiery attack on an enemy who's in front of him. It didn't go well at the first time since he immediately looked back at me, confused as to why it didn't work, only for it to blast at my face few seconds later.

By the 3rd floor, the weather is cloudy. Fearing it was going to rain, we picked up our pace until we encountered an Exeggcute, that was blocking our way. I let Augustus handle that while I supported him by casting Reflect on him from behind. He seems to know how to engage in battle at least, and he defeated that Exeggcute by slicing it up with his scallop shell... No, wait. That sounds more gruesome than it actually is. The Exeggcute just fainted and nothing more! Anyhow, he's actually using the move, Razor Shell. I suppose I'll give him something, I opened my bag.

"I have a present for you~." I show him a TM.

"What's that?" He stares at the crystal blue disc.

"This is the music album of The Book of Secrets~." I jokingly said.

"Wait really!?" Augustus' shocked to hear that.

"No." I shake my head, "I'm just kidding, it's Icy Wind TM."

"I figured..." trying to hide away his disappointment, he follows up with a question, "What does it do?"

"You will learn to use the move if you do it like this," I put the TM close to his head, and a bright light flashed and the disc turned from crystal blue to dull grey, "...and, presto. You learnt the move!"

He looked at himself, struck a pose, and wondered, "How am I gonna use the new move?"

"It's magic. I ain't gotta explain shit," I then pondered on how to phrase it, "but really, you... envisioned it, like what do you want to happen, yeah, something like that."

Unconvincing on how it sounds, he says, "Y-you're not even sure?

"I mean, it just happens naturally for me; that's what I did, yeah, yeah." I nodded and tapped his shoulder, saying, "You're on your own on this one."

"Hmm..." he closes his eyes and concentrates, later, I felt a chilly gust surround him.

"Hey, it's working!" I said. And then I got knocked down by the attack from him, "Geh! Friendly fire, friendly fire!"

"Oops!" He rushes towards me, "A-are you alright!? Sorry!"

"Nah, it's fine." I got back up and said, "You got it down, so that's good. C'mon, we've gotta move on."

By 4th floor, we are close to the end of the dungeon, but we are confronted by a Beautifly and Yanma, which are standing in our way.

"Hey Augustus." I suddenly yell out, "Quiz time~!"

He looks back at me, "say what now—"

And then Yanma attacked while his guard was lowered, so I protected him by swiftly casting a Reflect, "Watch out!"

"Like you tell me!" Augustus raised his voice, "you're distracting me!"

"Okay, okay, sorry." I asked him a question: "What do you do when fighting those two?"

"Huh?" Augustus thinks about it a bit, "I guess I'll use Icy Wind."

"What if I told you that you could step it up?" and I added, "You soak them with water using Razor Shell or even Water Gun then use Icy wind. It's more likely to freeze them!"

"Woah!" he looks amazed, "That works!?"

"I can't see why not." I shrugged.

And so, Augustus tried it out, and those two became frozen into ice cubes. We went by them.

"Good job~." I clapped, "I'll let you handle what's going to happen on the next floor, remember that our client is also on the next floor but... I have just this feeling; don't let your guard down!"

"Understood." he nods.

By the 5th floor, we found ourselves in a room, and there's a long hallway beyond. I could sense Grumpig is waiting patiently at the other side, and I can also sense a number of Pokémon in standby nearby from the corners of that room. This is truly a strange... Regardless, we pressed on and met this Grumpig to deliver their apples.

"Why thank you so much, laddies!" he says happily, accepting the apples. He slowly changes his expression into something unpleasant, something of a grin that he has caught a prey.

"Tch." I quickly pulled Augustus' arm away from that guy.

"WOAH! W-What's going on!" he shouts as I cover his eyes with my other hand.

"Something's not right." I cast a Reflect around us.

"...As expected from someone at the Ultra Rank level... I have no clue why you took in such a lowly rank job, but thanks for ruining my plans!!" Grumpig went... grumpy and kicked a large bell, "boys, dinner time!!"

A bunch of all sorts of Pokémons—two groups of types: fire and grass—jump out from the bushes by each corner. It appears that they're all under Grumpigs control, and if I recall correctly, his species is classified as a manipulator. Psychic types are truly untrustworthy... like I'm one to talk.

"So, what are you gonna do?" We lean against each other as we get surrounded, getting closer inch by inch with every passing second. "You've gotta act fast on this one, Augustus.

"I-I..." he seems indecisive at this moment.

"Whatever you say, I'll follow through with your plan~." I asked the question again, "now, what shall we do?"

"Al-alright... hmm," he ponders as the enemy draws closer.

I could just read what's in his mind, but I respect people's privacy, so I wouldn't do that, "Sounds like you came up with a plan, so let's hear it!"

First, we have to light up the Iron Thorns on fire by the tip with our Blast Seeds, then we launch them across the room, lighting up the bushes while Augustus puts the fire out. That, in turn, turns it into steam.

"What the heck are you doing!?" Grumpig smacked the bell as steam formed and ordered his goons to attack; we dodged and continued on with the plan.

Next, he will use Icy Wind to condense the steam into rain, damaging the fire types at the same time as the cold air also damages the grass types, hitting two birds with one stone. And they're all down except for Grumpig. It's my turn to strike!

"Darn... you guys are so useless!" Grumpig tries to flee, but with my swift speed, I managed to catch up to him by the nape.

"I don't like what you're doing, swine." I whispered to his ear, "Don't show your face around here ever again—Shadow Ball!!" I put my hand on his chest and created a Shadow Ball, giving him a fatal blow. He fainted shortly afterwards.

"Guildmaster!" Augustus finally caught up to me.

"Kyukyukyu~ Augustus!" I put both my hands between his shoulders and proclaimed, "That was really amazing!! Really clever on using items and moves to your advantage!"

"Y-you think so?"" he blushes, "Haha... thanks."

We went beyond Grumpig and found another floor. I could only assume this is his stuff. While we didn't actually fulfill the job request, we did end up finding treassure and saving unsuspecting Explorers the trouble of taking this job. The moment we went back, however, they had all left the scene. I should have bound them and handed them over to Magnazone, but I'm confident they'll never come back here.

...

We arrived back to town by late afternoon. We spent time at the Blue Claw Inn, we sit in a spot where we are less likely to be seen, assuming everyone else in the guild is done with their work. We had the usual berry bowl with a gummi smoothie to celebrate our successful dungeon adventure. We quietly chomped up the food and left in a flash. We are now heading back to the guild.

"Guildmaster Lliam." Augustus stops walking, "Why did you ditch your work at the guildhall?"

"I, uhh..." that was totally out of nowhere, and he hits a bullseye! "W-what makes you say that?"

"I figured," he huffs, "because what else are you trying to hide?"

"Ugh..." I stuttered, "because... well, umm, you see..."

After we had our talk, we went our separate ways, despite him going to the guildhall. I decided to use my golden ring to summon a portal to my office instead of doing the Reflect platforming stunt again.

...

"AAAH!" As expected, the portal is unreliable as always. This time, the portal opened up from the ceiling of my office. I crash landed on the floor.

"WHO THE FLYING HELL IS THAT!?" Someone shouted out loud.

There are three Pokémon in my office. Nick—the Vulpix, Macom—the Mareep, and Booker—the Ribombee. They were inspecting the Substitute Doll on the table. It's still wearing the outfit I put on this morning.

"Ugh!! The pain..." I groaned.

They all rush in and help get me back up. "Thank you."

Their expressions are a mix of frustration, worry, and relief.

"Where were you?" Macom speaks out.

"We thought you got kidnapped, o-or even worse!" Booker comments.

I sit down in a kneeling position on the floor, "I'm sorry."

"N-no what's the matter? We heard from KFC," Nick walks up to me, "you can tell us."

"Well," I'm a bit reluctant on saying it, but since they knew, "You might laugh at me for being such a kid..."

"Huh? Of course not!" "No, we won't!" "Just tell us, we won't judge." they all said in unison.

"Okay... you see, uh. Well. Actually," I kept stuttering, but then I remembered what Augustus told me, "...being open, right."

I took a deep breath and explained, "...I got bored being here all day long, and I just wanted to go on an adventure... I'm sorry." I lower my head.

"I get that; I was thinking that it's strange you stay here all day for like weeks now." Macom said.

"Don't bear all the responsibilities to yourself." Nick adds his comment.

"We are all in this together, right?" Booker looks at me from the table.

"...Yes. You are all absolutely right." I nodded in shame.

"You should have asked us to help out!" Booker suggests.

"Well, I can't..." I shake my head.

"Don't you trust us?" Booker replies.

"Ugh! You guys are so pushy!" I suddenly shouted.

I then explained my reasons to them in detail...

"Well, we'll try to help even if it isn't the best..." Macom said.

"It's much better than you doing it all by yourself." Nick adds.

"Also, it's okay to be honest about how you feel. We will understand... or at least try to." Booker gives his input.

They all have a point. Looking back, I must be the dumbest one in the guild... Maybe what I truly feared was not to make them worry, but rather, the rejection and that they would leave me behind one day... When I was a human, I was always the introverted, lonely type. Having a friend; someone to talk to, is always special to me; it's something that happens once in a blue moon. Ever since they left and everything that happened, I couldn't bear to lose, yet again.

That one night, by chance, people accepted me because I took the first step. It made me happy. I'm glad to be their leader. I'm happy to hear their adventure stories, and while I wasn't included, I'm glad I was one of the people that made it happen, but because of that, I had to keep up an act that isn't true at all... That was my mistake. I just don't want them to be bothered with such trivial things, but it ended up hurting me more...

I should have been more open about how I feel, and I'm lucky that they all understand where I'm coming from, it wouldn't be the same if they're natives or just anyone else... I had to change. No more a mask; I have to trust them more with handling the guild work, and I must let myself have fun with their adventuring. I will do anything with all of my power to protect this precious guild. I might sound selfish yet again, but if that's selfish, then, I'll gladly be that selfish person.

When they were about to leave, with Nick going first, I called Macom and said, "Oh right, Macom, I forgot to tell you, there are rumors that there's an abandoned location in the northern regions. I want you to investigate on that."

"I'll see what I can do." He says as he leaves the office.

And I'm all alone again. I take a seat and look at the papers. It seems they managed to complete everything I was supposed to be doing. I smiled, "You guys..."