Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 727: Prime Suspects And Unexpected Allies

As soon as Amedith learned that a traitor was in the army, he wasted no time in looking after the culprit. The very first to strike him was the Twin of Mono, simply because she was unaffected by the poison despite having consumed a meal. However, it wasn’t until she explained to him how her semi-artificial body distilled all poisons that she might be consuming. But of course, her testimony wasn’t enough, and with Liliyana on his side, he made her check for any aura of lies that the woman might be exuding.

To his surprise, the Twin was telling the truth, and so with a quick apology, Amedith moved to the next suspect huddled up inside their tent.

”Felix!” As soon as he entered the tent, however, he was shocked by the sight of a priestess trying to heal not just Felix but Hilma and Astra as well. None of them was awake, and the sweat on their bodies was a sure sign of being poisoned. ”What the...”

Hearing the trio groaning in pain, the magus shrugged his doubts and instead stepped forward with a holy spell resting his lips.

”Get them the medicine now!” He said to the priestess before brushing her off and taking her place, kneeling on the ground. Placing his hand on the surface, he ignored the disgruntled look on the woman whom he’d just pushed aside. ”Usma’en eratuia!”

Keeping his eyes closed, Amedith traced with his mind a rune right under their bodies. Emerging with a bright golden light, the runes wrapped around the skin and started melting into it slowly. In unison, the trio heaved a sigh of relief. A constant wave of healing was keeping them from feeling the poison’s symptoms thanks to Amedith’s magic.

”I, I’ll go get the medicine,” said the priestess, a bit embarrassed that she was easily outshone by another human.

Unaware that he was a magus like everyone else in the army, she rushed off to the worker’s tent, hoping to one day outshine him.

”Well, that cuts another name from the list,” breaking the silence inside the tent, Liliyana walked up beside Amedith. Offering him a hand to get up, she stood by quietly.

”I guess so,” taking her hand, Amedith got up and looked at her, ”That leaves that guy we ran into when the army first marched into the city.”

Still staring at the sick trio, Liliyana nodded in silence.

”Let’s wait for the priestess to come back with the medicine, and we can go look for that guy next,” Amedith suggested.

Outside that tent, however, something was happening that would ruin his plans. The hero of Eclanor was waiting for Raven to be done with something in front of a gathering of elves. His words traveled through the mind to keep things discreet from the visitory–something Frazer was having a hard time understanding, since from his side of things, it felt like Raven was just standing without saying anything.

But as he was done, Linkle took the elves to the very back of the tent site. Once inside, she would start transfusing blood from elves to the poisoned soldiers, as long as their blood was compatible with each other. However, to do so, she would also need to drain the infected blood, and since the ratio of elves to other races was quite lopsided, only those in the worst condition would be given a transfusion.

Meanwhile, telling Regalia to take the djinn sisters away from the hero of Eclanor to avoid further conflict, Raven walked in front of the man with the mantle of heroes resting on his shoulders, along with the general’s coat.

”What do you need now?” He asked, his expression foul at the mere presence of the man.

Scrunching his nose, Frazer didn’t shy away from showing his frustration as well.

”The giants have ordered us to help you and your army with this task,” Frazer grumbled.

Taking in that information, Raven glanced at the rest of Frazer’s party. From what he knew, there were four girls and he, but one of them, the Dryad, was currently missing.

”Where’s the pink girl?”

”Getting our stuff ready for when we have to leave,” replied the humanoid spirit girl, her tone as sharp as a viper.

Looking at her, Raven noticed cinder bursting from her skin ever so often, which in turn reminded him of Viola, who was the exact opposite of this woman. Slowly turning his head back to the man in charge, Raven looked him in the eye and asked.

”If I tell you to jump, will you jump?”

”What?”

”Again, if I tell you to jump, will you jump?”

”What the fuck kind of question is that? What am I, your pet monkey or something?”

”Then I’m not taking you with me; tell those cowards to keep you in this city.”

”What did you say?!” Agitated by Raven’s words, Frazer lifted his fist and tried to throw a punch without thinking. But as he attempted to pull his hand forward to hit him, his hand felt struck. ”What the hell?!”

Glancing back with anger riding on his forehead, his eyes widened at the sight of Muena holding his fist.

”We have a task, Frazer. Did you forget already?” Asked the dryad, her voice sounding a bit motherly.

In an instant, Frazer’s anger dropped, and even Raven noticed that something had changed. Shifting his attention to the monster girl as the hero stepped to the side, he tried to make out the true contour of her face that was hiding behind those petals.

”We will jump when you tell us to. Will that suffice, general?” Muena said, matching Raven’s gaze.

Thinking about it for a moment, Raven still wanted to send them off, but then he wondered if Frazer would try something stupid–after all, he appeared to be the petty kind who gets butthurt about everything. In which case, it serves to keep friends close, and it serves even better to keep the enemy closer and watch them closely.

’Mel, keep a close eye on this dryad.’ Suspecting Muena as the poisoner, as she was a dryad, Raven assigned the group under Melicia and decided to check on Amedith’s search thus far.

On his way, he ran into Choux. The girl wasn’t sick since she often hunted for her meal instead of eating from the mess. Placing a hand on her shoulder, Raven decided to later go along with her into the desert and find something for the army to eat that wasn’t poisoned. But for now, the search for any proof that would pin either the giants or the dryad as the poisoner continued.