Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

The news about Aphrodite's chosen carried itself to the king in no time. Had it been the king of crows, he would've met with the new arrivals, however, his son Zeil was far too arrogant to parley with a pack of commoners.

Instead, enraged that they didn't meet him as soon as they'd arrived and even forced their way into the church, was in his eyes, reason enough to send a battalion of soldiers to take them as prisoners.

Amongst those soldiers, was the demi-wolf Regalia, not because she was ordered to, but due to the fact that she knew how idiotic Zeil's decision was. And so, trying to keep things from getting violent in the middle of the city, she stood before the party and calmly asked.

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"The king wishes to speak with you," her red eyes wandered through each and every one of them, and just a look was enough to let her know that she'd made the right choice. "You can come with us unchained, or things can get bloody–something I'd like to avoid inside this holy place."

'If they decide to fight, most of these pebbles will die before they can blink.' On edge about the response, Regalia was ready to dig into her palm to draw some blood and conjure herself a weapon. However, thankfully, recognizing the gravity of the situation, Raven stepped up and replied calmly.

"Lead the way," he said, not wanting to bring the force of an entire kingdom's army on their backs.

'Phew~ This could've turned ugly.' Thought Regalia, turning her gaze to the leader who'd just replied to her. 'Hmm?'

Staring at him for a moment, her eyes sparked up for some reason, and her heart began racing. However, shaking her head, she didn't let those feelings linger, instead turning around, she began marching her battalion back in the direction of the castle.

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'Quite handsome, isn't he? I wonder if other men from Athenia are the same.' She thought while leading the entire group back. However, a quick glance at Amedith dissolved her suspicions, as though he looked like a girl, the scent of a man was drifting from him and spiraled right up her nose. 'Suppose not.'

Checking out the rest of the party members throughout the way as well, she tried to figure out the dynamics of the group in terms of their classes and reliability. However, reaching the devil-fae Liliyana, Regalia was left slightly confused as her mana was far more peculiar than anything she'd felt before.

'Not like it's gonna do us any good anyways.' She thought the moment they reached the dark castle made of pure ivory and obsidian. Like a tall beacon of something sinister, it stood tall as the late king's home. It served as both a threat to the enemies and a place of great comfort for allies.

But as the carpet was rolled, and Regalia led the party down the path to the throne, she knew things wouldn't be so black and white as they'd been under the late king's rule.

"Why aren't they bound?!" Screamed the arrogant king, his sisters smiling at his loose control of his temper.

Their eyes were wandering across the party as well, and Amelia especially found herself staring at Raven. She'd never seen such a sharp look on a man's face, especially when accompanied with confidence to stand in front of the king without even flinching at his shouting. The other sisters had their eyes on party members as well, but for Nessa it was Amedith and for Aurora, it was once again Raven.

The men in Elenaris, even those who were somewhat charming, didn't quite have that charming glow. Now was it the blessing of Athenia's land or the curse on Elenaris that caused distinctions? None of them knew. Either way, they each had taken an interest in the men of the group as well as some of the girls. Namely, the dark elf–who was supposed to be a mortal foe of Elenarians.

"They're not bound because there's no need for them to be bound," moving closer to the Ivory throne, Regalia glared into the king's eyes to intimidate him, but an attention-grabbing cough from Avarice, broke her stare. "You're a foul king, Zeil. Do what you must and suffer the consequences."

"You don't need to tell me! I know what I need to do!" Still riding on a high horse, Zeil glanced over to the guard and gestured to them once. "Capture them and throw them in the dungeons!"

"I'd like to see them try," said Erika, although in a whisper.

"We'll escape, for now, cooperate," Raven advised, still trying not to push his group into a war against an entire army. "If needed we can just use the teleportation ring, so let's just see how this goes."

Although not exactly happy with how everything was progressing, none of them tried to resist the guards and simply let themselves be escorted down into the basement dungeons. There, at the end of a moss-ridden hallway, the group was temporarily forced into a cell before their fate was sealed by the king.

'The inner city, it's more posh than the rest, but I guess dirt isn't just on the streets in this kingdom.' Referring to the new king, Raven settled down on the ground, thinking about their next move.

The goddess of absurdity had already given them a task, and though he would've loved to just jump in and kill everyone from the monster alliance, it was best for him to figure out more about them before planning an assault. 'Don't want anyone to die as I did at the minotaur cave.'

The first thing that came to his mind was to strike a deal with the king to help get rid of the monster alliance. In turn, he'd need every bit of information possible on those monsters. However, given the nature of the bastard, Raven knew that there was little room for him to negotiate with him.

"So what are we doing now?" Mel asked, peeking through the cell bar at the retreating guards.

"Think, that's all we can for now," leaning against the wall, Raven gazed at the ceiling. "Call me crazy but my intuition tells me, we can get a lot more out of this opportunity than trying to figure out what's happening with the monsters ourselves."

"I feel the same," Erika asserted, but it wasn't her instincts but Asmodia's that picked up the hint.

Wandering around in the cell anxiously, Liliyana hoped that they were right, otherwise, this stay in yet another prison was already suffocating her from the inside.

"And what if we don't get a trial at all?" Amedith asked.

"Well then…" Placing his hands on the back of his head, Raven took a deep breath and replied. "Show them no mercy for they'll have none."

Those words were enough to signify exactly what he had in mind.