Reverse Hero

Squad 6

I woke up the next morning in my bed I haven't slept in forever. I noticed next to me that Hestia was curled into a ball while happily muttering incomprehensible things in her sleep.

I got out of bed without waking her, got ready for today, and left after saying goodbye to Haruhime, who was the only one awake.

I made my way down to the guild, where I saw a whole lotta familiar faces, good and bad.

"You're late," Ais said as she looked at me enter.

"I'm right on time actually."

"For things like this, being on time means being early."

"Then just change the meeting time to earlier."

"That-...Whatever, I don't have time to argue with you right now. Take a seat."

I took the only available seat left, it was next to a familiar elf I sometimes got lucky enough to go into the dungeon with, Lyu.

"..."

We both didn't say anything as we both just waited for instructions. Last I heard from Lyu, she was a level 7. Apparently, her goddesses came back to Orario, but I heard about that a few months ago so she may even be a level 8.

"As you know we will be starting the expedition to hunt the Dragon that has terrorized this world for so long. All 8 of us here will be responsible for leading a squad into the dungeon. All of your squads have already been picked out by me.

All 8 of us are here. Naturally, that included me, Ais, and Lyu. As for the other 5, there was Finn, who seemed to have finally recovered from his trance. Bete, who couldn't stop sending me glances. It was hard to see if they were full of hatred or fear. Maybe both. Ottar, who was just silently listening like Lyu and I. Tsubaki the blacksmith, I didn't interact too much with her though, and finally, there was one other 'Person,' Lido.

"Most squads will be on the front line. These squads will involve mine, Bete's, Lido's, and Ottars. The squads in the back will include Lyu's, Tsubaki, and Finn's. Lastly...We have Bell's, whose group will be a wildcard of his choosing. You will all be training for one month, that is all."

"..."

It looked like others had things to say about me getting to do what I wanted, but didn't dare to speak up. Ais's influence nowadays must be way higher than before.

"And now for all of your squads, when you meet up in the town square you will see them all lined up in sections, there are roughly 100 people per squad. They do not know who their leader is yet, so do make sure to make a good impression."

The reason it was a secret was likely to keep people from dropping out or complaining a lot if their leader was someone they didn't like. Me for exapmle

"Ais, do you truly believe that Bell is worthy of our trust?" The one who spoke up was one of the only people who could even contest with Ais, Ottar. 

"I don't expect you to like him, but everything he did was for the purpose of killing the dragon, plus he still has his magical restraints on."

"You guys are stuck with me! Sorry!" I said in an overly childish manner which seemed to get under the skin of some.

After that, Ais lead us all to the town square TONS of people were lined up, people of all races, and people ranging from old to young. It just depends on ability I guess.

We were divided up, one by one where Ais would publicly announce who was going to be with who, then we would start training. Ottar was assigning Squad 1, Bete Squad 4, Finn Squad 8. etc. Right before Ais said who she was going to lead, she decided to do my squad.