Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 458 A Fool’s Errand

ʼYou need to separate my brother from my sisters, theyʼll do everything in their power to keep him alive, even shake hands with a devil.ʼ

Those were the words to which Elana had sent off Raven. Sailing on a vessel twice the size of the one theyʼd built, Raven racked his brain trying to figure out how to separate the girls from their brother. Not a momentʼs rest did they give his arms, they clung onto them as if trying to make them fall off.

However, brushing past that pickle for the time being, he decided to check up on everyone while the ship was manned by the waves themselves. The first person he stumbled into was Melicia, who was standing at a slight distance from Aria. Both the elves have gotten a bit dramatic since the potential of them being sisters was revealed.

Not letting their upset mood deter him, Raven placed a gentle hand on Melʼs shoulder. Moving in beside her, he followed her gaze to the ocean wide and eventually it stretched to the horizon.

”You okay? We might need to really fight this time, I wouldnʼt want you stressing too much before then,” turning her head to Raven with a light smile, she responded.

”So you only want me to stress when weʼre fighting for our lives, huh?” As a chuckle left her lips, her expression dropped in an instant. Staring at her man, she wanted to reach forward and hold him for comfort, but as if the ocean itself had a hold on her, she couldnʼt bring herself to go through with it.

”Maybe? Yeah,” but as Raven turned to her with a smile as well, both her head and her lips lifted once again. Holding her hand, the mage intertwined their fingers and pressed their palms together. ”But weʼll be stressing together so itʼll be alright.”

Chuckling behind closed lips, Mel shook her head at the absurdity of the situation. To mellow it down somewhat, she rose to the tip of her toes and planted a brief kiss on Ravenʼs dry lips. Wetting them for him, she started stepping back until their hands were barely holding on to each other. Glancing past him, Melicia brought Ravenʼs attention to Aria.

”Go on, I know what youʼre doing.” Finally breaking her hold on him, she smiled while staring into his eyes. ”Iʼm not emotionally dead yet, ask me again when Iʼm a hundred or however long it takes an elf to become old and decrepit.”

Her words lingered in Ravenʼs head for a moment, a flash of his wrinkled hand appeared in front of him. Yet Mel being an elf looked much the same, although with a wider curve to her body and juggling numerous kids that dangled from her body. A sweet thought, but it was in passing and didnʼt stay for long.

Turning around as Mel urged him, Raven quickly walked over to Aria who seemed just as downed as the fare elf before sheʼd talked to him.

”Iʼm just…” Even her greeting was rather cold. ”Not in the mood to talk, sorry.”

Staring into the horizon with no intentions of looking away, Aria pretended as though Raven was never there. But not wanting to leave her without a word, Raven conjured a replica of a dandelion flower made of pure darkness and gently placed it in the elfʼs hair. That small gesture wasnʼt enough to make her turn and look, however, it was at least strong enough to make her grip on the shipʼs wall tighter.

”Youʼre an ass, you know that?” She said, barely holding a laugh as Raven moved away from her.

”Oh, I know…” He replied while heading into the underside of the vessel.

Climbing down into the storage, he could hear the growling of a wolf echoing further up ahead. It was no doubt Regalia, but in between the growls, there was the sharp sound of slashing swords and the sizzle of spells.

ʼAmedith and Liliyana too? What are they doing there?ʼ

He wondered, unsure why they could be sparring in such a damp place. But the moment he entered the room ahead of storage, he was met with a curious sight–one he hadnʼt expected. Pillars of light illuminated the entire room, and in the center of the room was a table over which Amedith was inking runes on parchments.

Looking more closely, the mage realized that the grunting had been coming from Regalia not for sparring but because of the constant flow of blood she was letting out for Amedith to write with. Liliyana was helping her regenerate and keep the whole process going, but never was Raven informed as to what exactly they were doing.

”Whatʼs all this?” He asked, and the trio finally turned to him.

”A bunch of rubbish is all!” Amedith screamed and threw away the quill.

”Donʼt do that!” Liliyana shot back while chasing the feather.

Turning to Regalia, the most sane seeming of the trio; Raven folded his hands and patiently waited for her to offer a response. At first, the wolf awkwardly looked around, even scratching the back of her head and completely turned around to face away from him, but as Raven called her name again, she took a deep breath and steeled her heart.

”We were trying to write runes,” facing Raven again, Regalia leaned back against the table and lowered her head. ”And since we didnʼt have ink we decided to use my blood, but that didnʼt seem to work out since none of them know how to write them well.”

”I almost had it too…” Most upset of all since heʼd been at it for hours, Amedith was just fuming in his chair, his girly red seeming strangely cute and comical. ”I wanted to write a rune to summon those demons like I did last time but–-”

The taste of that power, that heavenly essence had plagued him since that day as he hadnʼt been successful in replicating it by himself. His anger had led him forward in that instance, but now he needed that spell in his arsenal against the many ships.

”Mino and Erika are both out too or we couldʼve used their help,” placing the feather back on the table, Liliyana elbowed Amedith on the side and made him flinch. ”Donʼt do that next time!”

”Ow!” He cried, but his anger quickly simmered down as he felt her tail already brushing his leg under the table. Blushing a little, Amedith fanned his hand at her and turned back to Raven. ”Anyways, theyʼre gonna be back anytime soon?”

”I doubt it,” glancing at Liliyana, Raven overcame his natural repulsion and nodded. ”Youʼll be our only healer, if needed Will-O might have to use the same power she used before.”

Dreading that thought, Liliyana clenched a fist and pressed it against her heart. She knew she couldnʼt run from it, being the only healer it was up to her to keep everyone healthy so that it wouldnʼt come down to Will-O using that power.

”Now about this rune carving, how about I help you a little?” Moving closer to Amedith with a plan already set in his mind, Raven grabbed the warrior by his hand and looked through his mind to extract the shape of the rune. Holding a finger upwards, he then conjured a slab of darkness with the runeʼs shape protruding from within.

Letting go of him, Raven grabbed the slab and placed it on the table.

”Will this help in printing them en masse?” And seeing the dazzled faces, he already knew what heʼd done. Even so, he waited for the words…

”FUCK YES IT WILL!” And then he smirked.