Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 244: Lilies In The Valley

”Oh the lilies, I adore them~” Asmodiaʼs sudden control over Erikaʼs lips, confounded the young priestess. She was busy etching poison runes on the interior of the last well in town before having to rendezvous with the rest of her party. But noticing a Lilly growing out of the wellʼs walls, the devil couldnʼt help herself from plucking it out.

”To my betrothed, I promised these flowers, long before they drug me to Infernal. Burn did the flowers with nothing but ashes to replace their memories. And much like her presence, the ashes drifted to the wind.” Staring at the lily for a moment, Asmodiaʼs lips curved into a faint smile, but it only lasted a few seconds before she breathed her infernal breath and turned the flower to ash.

Disappearing back into Erikaʼs body, the devil took to herself after that eulogy, a millennium too late. The whole thing struck Erika as odd, however, paying it no more mind than she needed to, she finished placing the poison curse on the last well she could find in the city of centaurs.

Turning into the red mist right after, she trailed her way through the air to get back with the rest of her party.

While she was busy doing her task, Raven and the others were being informed about the nun by Helga as well as the visit from Razor and the helping hand at the coliseum, Isaac. Splitting himself into dark clones controlled by his fae side, the mage sent them off to sneak past the sea of guards around the structure to both talk to this man and even check what Gara was like with their own eyes.

In the meantime, the ever-present horror simply watched over the entire ordeal. Her presence stretched like an umbrella over the entire city. Asmodia felt her presence while Erika flew through the skies, however, seeing no signs of an obvious threat she said not a word to the priestess as it would only strike fear in her heart about something that she could do nothing at all about.

However, the presence of that giant horror peering into their souls didnʼt remain a secret for long, as the moment Erika joined the others, she was quickly informed of everything that Helga had told them so far. From the nun to the immortal manʼs visit as well as Ravenʼs clones whoʼve been sent to spy on the king and his close associates with no real threat to the party itself.

”That book…youʼre gonna owe me for stealing it,” despite the tense situation they were in, having taken over a bar, Helga the barbarian had already downed an entire barrelʼs worth of alcohol. She never got to drink around her children, and so when the opportunity arose, she spared no breath not guzzling poison.

”Y-yeah…” A bit nervous from the drunken barbarianʼs raging face, Aria pulled her hands off the bar counter and hung her head too low.

Circling the spot everyone had already taken a stool to sit on, even the monster girls with the exception of Arche who was only offered a barrel inside her bracelet prison. Her size was proving to be quite a hindrance in mingling with the rest, but to the queen of Arachne not knowing her capture too deeply helped in making harsh decisions that she may not be able to make otherwise.

At least thatʼs what she was thinking but she had no real way to do any harm as of yet.

”H-here, you go pri-piecetess!” Smashing an iron mug on the table in front of Erika, Helga turned around, kicked the dead centaur ownerʼs body to the side before reaching for the shelves and taking out a bottle cased in glass. ”Dragonʼs blood mead…”

Pressing the bottle against her cheeks, she took a deep whiff of its fragrant aroma. It reminded her of her time as the wife of a dragon lord before killing him and the rest of his children. Bringing the bottle to the table, she quickly uncorked it with an unsavory line–at least to the priestess.

”I made these myself once, from the bodies of a dragon lordʼs wife after fucking them with a burning iron peg,” chuckling to herself as she poured it to Erika, she glanced up at the scowling face of the priestess and decided not to give her another drop. ”What? Your goddess Aphrodite fucked a foot soldier every night on the battlefield and youʼre disgusted at my sex life?”

Shifting her eyes to Raven, she took a quick sip from the bottle and heaved a heavy sigh before speaking.

”H-hey, tell me, how many monsters have you fucked so far? Anything disgusting yet? Ahaha…” For a moment her eyes shifted to Amelia who was drinking just a few seats beside Raven. ”How about that girl? I bet her insides are grimy, slimy, and hotter than a coal iron!”

”WH-WHAT?!” Amelia almost choked on her drink from the detailing of her insides by Helga, sheʼd never been spoken to this way being a princess, and that only led her shock to grow further. ”TH-THATʼS NOT TRUE! I-I HAVE A REGULARLY BACK!”

”Oi, Miss pissy drunk, get off of her back will you?” Mino chimed in defense of Amelia, sheʼd already promised to help the girl and thus wasnʼt gonna let things get worse because of Helgaʼs foul mouth.

”You guys are no fun…” Rolling her eyes, Helga drank the entire bottle of dragon blood mead before breaking the bottle on the side of the counter. And then, finally, as her body calmed, she took a stool on the other side as everyone and spoke normally for once.

”You know, we used to have a choir when marching into battle, angels would sin, the devil would be snickering for opportunities and the enemy quivering at the sight of Murdokʼs undead army.”

Again she went talking about a god, none of them had even heard of. Aria knew about him somewhat from the tome, but her knowledge about him was limited to minor extremes. She was about to ask Helga to elaborate, but before she could, the Valkyrie began to sing herself.

Reverberating through her lungs was a melody only an angel could replicate, and that seemed to be even more the case as her white feathered wings spread out through her back. Surprising her audience with not just a beautiful song but also her wings, the Valkyrie continued to tell tales of the battlefield from whence she fought with the gods and against the gods.

But even when her singing was over, the night was still young and so came the time for Raven, Helga, his party, and the monster girls to enjoy each otherʼs company with nothing to worry them for once.