Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Past the death of Batimos, the god of rot, Athenia's prison had turned into an office of sorts. Her clones had separated in the arbiters of life and death, one winged an angelic white and the other dark as a demon. What they held in common, however, was their likeness to the goddess herself–turning the prison itself into a curious circus when watched from a throne lifted up above.

"Marking people for death, bringing about life in the world…" Heaving a sigh, Athenia placed her pink wine glass on her armrest. "Who would've thought that once I've started the records, it will all fall on me to record the coming of life and the passage of the dead."

Separating her consciousness and looking through her clones, who then looked through the eyes of those about to die, Athenia was recording the death of every living person in the territory, which was either unoccupied by any god or had already been charted by her heroes. But more than the burden of death was the burden of life, as Athenia was a bustling city brimming with fertility, and every day, nearly a hundred children were either born or brought in by vagrant clans.

'Taking these refugees has been a custom for my city, but at the pace everything is going along with Raven's plan to move the children there to be trained later, we might have to start thinking about expanding the city walls.'

Right as she was mulling over the overpopulation problem, Athenia noticed that Raven had finally impregnated a woman, and that too the queen. She'd been following the saga of infertility between the king and the queen closely so it wasn't much of a surprise.

"Freezing the embryo until it's safe for it to be born." Thinking about Raven's plan for the kid, Athenia was somewhat impressed. "As expected of a spirit, she can manage her body to will."

"Who are you talking to?" Pulled out of her thoughts by the jolly voice of a fair, Athenia focused her eyes and found Cassiopeia sitting at the end of her armrest. Facing forward the fairy was playfully swinging her legs back and forth with her head turned to the goddess.

"When did you get here?" Athenia asked, reaching forward to touch the fairy's wings from the back.

"My lady sent me with a message." Flying off the armrest before Athenia could touch her, Cassiopeia moved in front of her face. "Queen Mono, she had changed bodies again. A new model of automaton, as she calls it. My lady wants your heroes to visit Mono and check on her before they venture anywhere else."

"But why? Isn't that girl known for making those mechanical things? Why do we have to check on her?" Swinging in the air with her hips swaying in a dance, Cassiopea smiled at the goddess and continued to explain.

"Apparently, Grace told Mono about her emotional instability. This model is supposed to cure that, but there's no way to know for sure without pushing her a little, and that's what my goddess wants your heroes to do–test the new model of the queen and ensure that she is still worthy to be Elanaria's chosen."

"That sounds like a pain." Pointing to the crowd moving around underneath them, Athenia made the fairy shift her attention to the ruckus. "Do you see how busy I am already?"

"Well, you don't have to do anything but deliver the message." Cassiopea shot back in her melodic voice.

Rolling her eyes, Athenia sank into her throne and fanned her hand indicating her agreement. Turning quickly around, the fairy smiled at the goddess before crossing her legs and sitting in mid-way.

"Now the treats, please~" Giggling as was her nature, she demanded a treat for her hard work. And since her childish nature reminded Athenia of her behaviour as a kid towards her fathers, she simply held a smile and, with a flick of her finger, made the treats appear in floating trays all around Cassiopeia. "Thank you! I love this job, ahaha~"

"I wish I could say the same about mine…" Noticing a clone flying towards her as she spoke, Athenia stretched her hand forward to proactively accept the folder that she was holding. Taking it in her hand, she quickly opened it and flipped through the first few pages. "And what is this exactly? No name, no race, no trace of parents, no nothing–what am I supposed to do with these?"

A bit disappointed by the fact that the folder barely contained any information, Athenia looked up at the clone to complain. But before she could, the snarky version of herself began speaking.

"Those four souls aren't from Atlaris–they're from Gaia."

"What?" Looking right back at the folder, Athenia flipped the pages again. "You're telling me, somehow these four souls made it our world from another world?"

"Earth, to be exact. It's called Gaia now ever since its god left that planet." Baffled by the news, both Athenia and Cassipea stared at the clone. They couldn't believe what they were hearing. A soul from another world–that too a godless one had made it to their world? There was no way that could happen. Unless… "Have you finally connected the dots?"

Folding her hands in a commanding fashion, the clone leaned to the side.

"The heavenly council must be behind this. Now what they're planning to do with those souls, I have no idea. Maybe your father's library has a clue, but obviously, you and I both know that place doesn't like revealing its secrets."

Clicking her tongue, Athenia's frustration grew even further.

"Fuck me, what are they planning now?" Cursing her fate, she got out of her throne and decided to visit the Infinite Library. She expected to be disappointed, but it was as good of an attempt as any. And even though her fears would soon be realized, at least now she knew that the other gods were finally making a move.

'Time for another blessing maybe?' She pondered but wasn't exactly sure what that would be.

As for the heroes themselves, they've grown in the mortal world quite a bit and at last, it was time that their minds and bodies caught up to their growing experience as well.