Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

The chest full of bombs had been hauled inside the hideout, but the leader of the group–the white-furred wolf, had yet to open the box to check its contents. The winged woman had been for a whole day with no signs of her returning, and that fact was making him anxious and his anxiety only soared with the approaching footsteps echoing through the tunnel.

Looking across the table at the entrance, he hoped and prayed to see her again–but instead, the person walking out with the raccoon man beside was a rugged horned devil and a crimson-haired demi-human wolf. Had the visitors been human, their leader would've been much more alarmed, but his judgment loosened by their skin, he cast gaze to the raccoon and demanded and demanded an explanation.

"T-they–"

"We're here to warn you," said Liliyana, cutting the doorman off.

"Don't lead your men through those tunnels, the merchant plans to backstab you," added Regalia, her hand stretched forward with her finger pointing at the chest lying on top of the table before the wolfman. "Just open that box and you'll know what I mean."

'What the hell are these two talking about?' As unsure as everyone else over the visitor's intentions, the leader turned his attention to the box, stared at it for a while before opening it. His eyes widened with horror as he noticed that in place of the bombs that they were promised were a bunch of rocks that weighed nearly the same.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" He howled, lifting his head and growling at the visitors, however, already expecting such a response, the girls remained calm and that helped them gain control of the situation a lot better than otherwise.

"We'll tell you everything, our leader is currently talking with the Duke of this land but if the negotiation doesn't pan out, you might wanna empty this place before they chase you all the way to your hideout if you don't show up through those tunnels that they expect you to come out of."

Hearing that warning, the wolf was baffled, stunned and just simply could not make sense of anything. Sure he was doubtful of the merchant but the involvement of these people–these demi-humans and monsters as well as some strange negotiation with their enemy? It was all too much for him to process at once.

"A-and why should I believe you!" He barked in their faces while worried gasps whispered all around him.

"Because we saved you from sending your people to certain death maybe?" Moving closer with a confident stride, Regalia showed no interest in dragging things along by trying to gain the man's trust. Instead, she focused on his fears and exploited them as best as possible. "We don't have much time, you know. We can spend it sitting here waiting for the duke's men to barge through those tunnels and set you aflame or we can go to the merchant's shop and get her to confess exactly why she sent you rocks and instead of the bombs that she was supposed to?"

Seeing no immediate out from the situation, the wolf clicked his tongue and began looking around at his people. While some appeared confident in their abilities, most of them were far from capable of facing a duke's well-armed army. Thus came the time to make a decision, whether to follow these girls to the nameless inn and question Mercedes directly or to stay inside the cave and await the duke's army–the result of which would be countless dead bodies.

'FUCK, WHY EVERYTHING BAD HAPPENS TO US?!' He cursed in his mind, but to his surprise, another voice joined him in his head along with the rest of the demi-humans and beastsmen gathered inside that hollow.

"I, Athenia–the goddess of life and death promise you shelter from this wretched life you live. Follow my chosen and they shall deliver you into my light, you shall know happiness and so will your children, all you need do is follow, listen, and worship me."

The words of a goddess echoed in their heads. They'd never heard such a sweet melody, such benevolence in her voice. Her radiant presence flooded into their hearts, and to the most trusting the feeling of pure bliss washed over them. Submitting themselves in their hearts to that voice, they began stepping towards the girls without even waiting for their leader's response.

Still doubtful of those claims by the goddess, the white wolf stood by his table and watched as nearly everyone walked up beside the visitor. Gritting his teeth in anger, he reluctantly raised his hand to gesture to one of his underlings.

"Go get that fat Rhino to pull our people out of the tunnel…we're leaving," his words filled the room with silence, even though in the hearts of the many, either doubt or relief was budding.

Even so, with most resigning to leave with the visitors, the man had no choice but to heed the demands of the majority.

"Don't make me regret this," he said, glaring into the wolf girl's eyes.

Staring right back with a smile, Regalia walked up close and offered him a hand.

"Regalia Bloodstorm, Raven "Phordite–Athenia's chosen, I'm one of his companions and eventual wife," nodding at the man, she awaited his response.

"So the false hero that's visiting town?" Growing a sharp look in his eyes, he glanced down at Regalia's hand. "Why is he helping us? And you said something about a negotiation, what's that about?"

"Why don't you come to the inn and make that bitch merchant spit the truth to yourself?" Regalia responded, and to that, a sinister smile took over the man.

"Now that's something I really fucking wanna do," beyond pissed about the stone instead of bombs, the wolf spared no time to shake hands with the woman and finally revealed his name to her.

"I'm Raga, the leader of this pack," nudging his head slightly to the back, he added. "That fat guy you'll see soon is Bamm, we have another winged girl who's leading this group, Harpy but she's currently missing."

Tilting her head slightly Regalia couldn't help but ask.

"Any idea where she could be? We might be able to help." Explore more stories at empire

"Ohh I'm sure that merchant knows," smiling a toothy smile with his razor teeth apparent, Raga pulled his hand away and patted Regalia on the side of her arm. "Why don't we go there already, I can't wait to make that bitch talk."

Smiling at the thought of torture, Regalia turned around and began leading the group's leader to the inn. And to the surprise of the merchant who was happily sound asleep, hell was coming and there was little she could do about it. But before the group could make it there, there was something of note also happening within the duke's mansion. For everyone else but the visitors to the cave, had gone over to negotiate only to end up saving the damned duke's life!