Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

A night prior to the current day, Reina arrived at the inn to drop off Choux's rifle. Staying no longer than absolutely needed, she returned to their vessel once the repaired weapon was back in the fox's hand. The smith had no clue whether it would work or not, for she was no witch nor a wizard, and with her attempts to fire the weapon been in vain, she felt that it was best to just drop it back into Choux's hand and patiently wait for the party to move further inland so she could return to her mundane blacksmithing days.

As for the arctic fox, she was more concerned–almost overwhelmed by the gathering of demi-humans and beastmen inside the inn. Watching Moxy setting everyone on tables and bringing them something to drink as the perfect waitress that she was, the young fox was captivated by her swift movement, both in body and mind. Even more so, she couldn't contain a strange joy blossoming from the bottom of her heart, all because she was surrounded by people who looked like her and nobody paid her any mind or hurled insults like they did back in Aranuvia.

Chatter echoed through the hall and the place was for one livelier than it had been in years. The owner, busy inside the kitchen knew things wouldn't be this way in just a few moments, despite that she kept the stoves running and her hands tossing stuff inside the pan. Feeling lost amidst it all, Maria was standing under the door frame that connected the two rooms, her hands folded tight and her nose scrunched up as she glanced in and out of both rooms–feeling unsure of what to feel about the gathered group.

Their deplorable state, especially the ones covered in mud from digging the tunnel–they reminded her of her own past and how she nearly died in the streets as a young girl. The more haunting part of the memory, however, wasn't her life on the streets but rather the many times the true princess came to the castle's gates and tried to bang on the door while screaming her true identity.

'What could I do but ignore her?' She pondered, a hand clenched under her throat while gulping an outpour of emotions. Her soul was still with a devil unknown, and the only way they could ever hope to retrieve it, that is if it hadn't been consumed, was to venture into the hells and snatch it back while the party was busy dealing with the situation with Linkle. 'Selfish, isn't it? I wonder if that's part of the curse? Part of losing your soul must be the lack of possible change.'

Still stuck on claiming herself irredeemable, she leaned against the doorframe and simply watched the clock tick by.

"She's upstairs, sleeping…" The moment Regalia spoke those words, the chatter inside the hall died in an instant. Everyone knew who she was talking about, and with the wolven leader as well as the Burly Rhino both facing her by the staircase, they knew just exactly what their plan was.

"You can talk to her, but don't do anything rash," breaking eye contact with them for a moment, Regalia glanced over their shoulders at the others sitting at the many tables. "We don't know what she's capable of, and I'm sure you don't want her to hurt even a single hair on their heads, isn't that right?"

The men, although frustrated and angry from their core, didn't let their emotions rule them, and thus with a nod agreed to the wolf-girl's demands. As soon as agreement was found, Regalia looked at Liliyana and motioned her to lead the way forward.

Following the young devil, a small group of people went up to confront the merchant. Regalia and Liliyana both knew that Mercedes was bound to tell the truth about the bombs being rocks instead, however, not knowing how that happened she was bound to make accusations–ones that could be easily dismissed given the scepticism of the group.

Using the key provided by Baba, Liliyana opened Mercedes' room, and the moment everyone stepped in, the merchant slowly rose from her bed with her hands rubbing the drowsiness in her eyes. Only a moment later as she noticed the demis and the beasts as well as the rebellion leaders, her eyes went wide as a hawk. Slipping out of her bed and wearing a somewhat concerned look in her eyes, Mercedes frowned while feeling both confused and bothered by the abrupt visitors.

"How did you get in?!" She screamed, her fingers curling into a fist.

Watching as the merchant grit her teeth in anger, everyone held back on their own rage and let the leaders of the group step forward to question the young merchant. Raga the wolf followed by Bamm, nearly grabbed Mercedes by her collar and barked demands in her face, but holding back yet again, he flashed her his fangs and grunted a visceral grunt. Continue reading on empire

"YOU'RE GONNA TELL US EXACTLY WHAT YOU WERE TRYING TO DO AND WHERE THE FUCK IS HARPY!" Flinching at the screams, Mercedes spared not a second in shifting into her fairy form by cladding herself in a glittering aura with wings.

"FUCK YOU!" She yelled and flew back as fast as a dragonfly in an attempt to escape through the window. To her surprise, Regalia conjured a tentacle familiar with her patron's help and pulled her right back.

Slamming the Merchant's body against the walls and dragging it across the stationed armors and many blunt weapons inside that room, the wolf-general then slammed the girl's body on the ground like a ball meant to bounce. The illusion of the fairy was broken by the sudden assault, and even the bystanders were left shocked–even terrified of what she'd just done.

However, standing with her hands folded and a neutral look on her face, Regalia hummed to herself while gesturing to Raga to question the merchant again.

"What are you looking at? I said you can't hurt her, but that doesn't mean I can't blow some steam," rolling her eyes, she snapped him out of his thoughts. Gesturing to him again, she added. "Now go ask that bitch whatever you want, we still have a meeting with the duke after this!"

"Y-yeah!" Replied the big bad wolf, knowing full well that when it came to intimidation and power, he was obviously outmatched in that room.

A few hours after Mercedes had confessed everything through bloodied lips, it was finally time to put an end to this mess. The meeting with the duke was about to happen, and soon enough the party will have the backing of Viscount as they handed Mercedes to the queen–but was it as good of an idea as they thought it might be? Well, only Monty could answer for he was knees deep into the muck that was the upper city.

'WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS PLACE?!' He must've said that a thousand times at this point and it stood true every single time. A kingdom ruled by a parasite and a keeper as their queen? 'WHAT THE FUCK HAVE THE HEROES HERE HAVE BEEN DOING?!'

The longer he stayed there, the more he felt like he was losing his mind.