Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

A week passed and the party had finally managed to sneak into the centaur king's city. Unlike the dark elves and Arachne, the outsides were guarded miles and miles before the city even came into view–and trying to keep their presence a secret so as to not alarm the king just yet, the party had been playing a long game of hide and seek with the guards before finally arriving at the city.

However, before doing anything, what concerned Raven the most was the dark armor worn by the centaurs which had given their weapons a run for their money.

"Whatever metal they're using is obviously enchanted," throwing the now cracked golden sword given to him by an angel, he pulled himself a chair and sat down on it. "None of my weapons of darkness worked against them, neither any amount of Amedith's holy magic…"

Going over their fight against the guard who'd spotted them, Raven was still concerned about how they would handle the rest of the soldiers when it came to it. Shifting his attention to the zombified centaur–the very same who'd brought them into the city as prisoners, the mage wanted to know more about him and the dark metal armor.

The house they were in belonged to the same man, and it could easily serve as their base of operation as long as nobody visited him. In the meantime, they had time to stretch their feet inside the monster city as well as let Linkle research the armor for its weak points.

"At least we're finally here!" Tired of wandering in the forest, Aria walked over to the fireplace inside the dusty hall and began trying to light it up.

Brimstone paths and the renovated new buildings had turned ruins back into a city, all with the hustle and bustle of the regular public wandering the streets like nothing was happening. Either the illusion set by their king was working far too perfectly or the people themselves didn't care about his atrocities or were in on it.

In spite of that, the party was trying to settle into the dainty house of the guard, tucked underneath a cobblestone bridge. It wasn't the best place to set up a base but it was closest to the city's much-guarded entrance and far away from what appeared to be a grounded coliseum where the king allegedly lived.

"Ekkkk!!" The sudden scream from Mel propped everyone back to their feet.

Glancing at each other for just a moment they quickly rushed into the kitchen. Arriving there, Raven noticed a collection of humanoid heads especially dark elves stacked over the counter like decor. Their eyes were all plucked and replaced with jewels the size of a fist, and their ears shaved off with dried blood around the edges.

Holding her own tip of the ear, Mel stepped away from the countertop and rushed closer to Raven.

"Fucking hell!" Grabbing his arm, she squeezed it tight before shifting her attention to the zombie centaur.

His face hidden behind a dark helmet the party had been able to slip past the checks without any trouble, but after seeing what she saw, Mel wanted to knock that helmet off and rid him of his head as well.

'We've not seen too many elves have we, especially the dead ones?' Realizing how it must've felt for Mel to see a fair elf's head decorating the countertop, Raven placed his hand on her cheek and began caressing her sides.

Slowly moving his thumb onto the tip of her eleven ears, he comforted her for a minute until her heart calmed down. And once she was calmed, Raven led her back to the other room while holding her in his arms.

'Aria was fine seeing dead dark elves, but I guess not everyone in our party is the same in that aspect.' Settling on the chair with Mel sitting on his lap, Raven realized just how desensitized he himself had gotten towards bloodshed and murder. Glancing over to the only other dark fae he wondered if he would feel just as surprised seeing Liliyana hurt even though he was used to scenes of gore.

'Probably a topic best left unexplored.'

Shifting his attention to other matters while the party relaxed in front of the fireplace, he was reminded of the monster girls left behind with Linkle. It was not only to reduce their numbers while traveling but also so she could figure out a solution for the cramping.

"I should go and check if the witch has found a solution to our problem," Getting off the chair, Raven stepped into the middle of the room and clutched the teleportation necklace in his hand. "You guys stay here while I bring them back."

And with that said Raven activated the necklace and teleported back to Athenia. There as the light dissipated from the spell, he came face to face with Linkle staring at her cauldron bubbling the dark water that Raven had found in the Arcane cave.

"You're early," glancing sideways at him, Linkle kicked herself off the wall and reached for the giant wood stirrer. "I'm not done testing this, and I've only just sent Vlad with the holding jewel's strap to Reina. She's gonna engrave an enhancement rune on it with Darius's help."

"It's been a week…" A bit perplexed, Raven's eyes squinted lightly.

"I…" Sealing her lips while continuously stirring the pot, Linkle stared into thin air before heaving a response. "I have other customers to attend to as well. And those monster girls didn't help with time management either. Taking care of them is a headache since I usually just prepare meals for one…"

Despite her obviously desperate attempt to mask something, Raven could feel something was wrong, but before he could ask, the witch turned to face him with a stern look in her eyes.

"Why don't you go meet up with Helga? She came here looking for you a few days ago, I'm sure the enchantment on the bracelet will be done before nightfall!"

Still just staring at her for a moment, Raven wanted to ask her about the secret she was poorly hiding, however, the mention of Helga and her looking for him struck him as far more interesting than the reason for the delay in his order.

'I'll ask her another time.' Making a mental note to pursue the topic later, he quickly left the workshop and headed to the storefront. There Mino, Maine, and Amelia were all still sleeping on the ground. At first, he thought of waking them up, but since he obviously couldn't take them through the streets of Athenia, he decided otherwise.

Off on his way to meet with the barbarian, he had no clue about the death of the king just yet. It was still mostly kept a secret by Maria but that illusion was about to break.