"Damn it, just get up! You are making this moment so cheesy and drawing too much attention! GET THE F*CK UP!"

John instantly snapped to his feet with a frantic, energized speed. He looked like he was vibrating with pure adrenaline, his puppy dog eyes now replaced with the focus of a loyal soldier awaiting his first command.

"So what... now?"

The tension in the guild hall was so thick it felt like physical weight pressing against Maddy’s chest. Johnn stood there, vibrating with an almost frantic energy, his hands clenched as he waited for a verbal confirmation.

Maddy didn’t speak. Her jaw was set so tight it ached, her eyes narrowed into thin, lethal slits. She gave a sharp, aggressive nod, her chin jerking down once, twice, accompanied by an expression of such pure, concentrated annoyance that most men would have backed away in fear.

"Is... is that a yes?"

Johnn asked, his head tilting like a confused retriever.

"The nod? Does the nod mean we’re a party???"

Maddy’s eye twitched. She repeated the gesture, this time with her teeth bared in a silent snarl, her head snapping down so hard her hood nearly fell off. But Johnn, stupid as ever, his brow furrowing in genuine confusion, as he stammered"

"I—I still don’t quite get it! I need to hear the words for the registration magic to bind! (LIE!) Is it a yes?"

It wasn’t just Johnn. The entire guild hall had begun to move. Like a slow motion tidal wave, the crowd of adventurers, the wide eyed staff, and even the local townspeople who had wandered in from the street began to lean forward, even the bitchy receptionist.

"Is it a yes?"

A whispered voice drifted from the left.

"Just say it!"

Hissed a rogue from behind a pillar.

"Say the word, Adventuing Mother!"

Pladed the young clerk.

They began to close in, their footsteps soft and measured, circling Maddy and Johnn until the space between them was non existent. A wall of faces, all wearing that same desperate, wide eyed "puppy dog" expression, loomed over her. Johnn was the closest, his face just inches from hers, his eyes shimmering with a pathetic, hopeful light.

"Is it... yes?"

He whispered one last time, the entire room holding its collective breath.

Maddy felt the Lich within her screaming for a dark magic attack, but the Mother simply couldn’t take the suffocating pressure of a hundred idiots staring at her anymore.

"YES!" she roared, the word exploding from her lungs. "YES, DAMN IT! FINE! WE ARE A PARTY! NOW BACK THE HELL UP!"

The silence shattered instantly. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

"SHE SAID IT!"

"THE DUO IS SEALED!"

The guild erupted into a madness that could only be described as a wedding celebration mixed with a victory riot. Men grabbed each other by the shoulders and danced; the veteran warrior began pouring free rounds of ale for everyone within arm’s reach. They cheered as if the world had been saved, throwing flowers and scraps of parchment into the air like confetti.

Johnn let out a triumphant :

"WOO HOO! We are officially... PARTNER!"

And punched the air, accidentally cracking a ceiling beam in his excitement.

"You won’t regret this! I promise!"

He yelled over the din, beaming with a radiance that threatened to blind everyone in the room. Maddy stood in the center of the chaos, her arms crossed tightly over her chest, looking like she wanted to evaporate into the floorboards.

"Just... swallow me earth. Goshhhh!"

She hissed, her soul practically leaving her body from second-hand embarrassment.

A few minutes later, the crowd had been shoved aside, mostly by Johnn’s sheer presence, and they stood before the high ranking quest board. This wasn’t the barren wasteland of the F-rank section; this was where the maps were detailed, the seals were wax pressed, and the rewards were listed in platinum.

Johnn was vibrating. He couldn’t stand still, he couldn’t breathe normally, and he kept stealing glances at Maddy like he’d just won the yes of his prom crush. He tried to strike up a "professional" conversation, his voice cracking slightly.

"So, uh, Partner! Now that we’re... you know, official... what’s your combat style? I mean, just look at that... huge... sword! It’s huge! And that... round... shield! Yeah, it’s so round! So... sturdy! You must be a frontline tank, right? Or a heavy hitter? I can provide the distraction while you—"

"Johnn," Maddy interrupted, her voice dangerously low. "If you don’t get a grip and make yourself comfortable, all the good quests will be gone. Totally gone, dumbasss."

She wasn’t exaggerating. Because of the spectacle they had just caused, every high rank adventurer in the building had surged toward the board. Hands were flying, snatching parchments left and right.

"Wait, wait!"

Johnn yelped, finally snapping out of his daze. He lunged for the board, his hand grasping at the air, but he was a second too late. The last few papers were ripped away by a group of C rankers who scurried off before the Hero could protest.

"Damn..." Johnn sighed, sagging his shoulders. "Everyone is really gunning for the south. The Mana Distortion down there is all anyone talks about lately. I mean, who wouldn’t want to go? It’s the fastest way to rank up and get filthy rich."

Maddy’s jaw locked. In her mind, she was screaming. The south, that was the direction of her home, the territory where her "family" lived. She had been banking on a quest in that direction to give her a legitimate reason to travel back toward her colony while maintaining her cover.

"Just as I thought I could visit my children..."

She glanced back at the quest board, watching the remaining high rank flyers flutter in the draft of the opening doors. The competition was brutal, and the logistical maneuvering was even worse.

"So this is how REAL adventurers compete for quests..."

She felt the irritation bubbling up again. She was officially a partner to the most powerful man in the room, and she was still functionally jobless in the one direction that actually mattered.