Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

"You question my authority?" The words, although spoken through Mono's lips, carried the grace of a splendorous god. Like a trail of pure mana flowing in a swirling stream, her words sparkled the air with glittering gold shimmering down everywhere. Crossing her legs with her eyes illuminated a golden glow, she first turned to the treasurer and then glanced across the faces of his accomplices.

"Perhaps it's time to remind you, that I take as easily as I've given."

"N-no…" Knowing his fate was sealed, the demi-humans, all of whom knew themselves guilty of corruption, came stumbling down their seats and pressed their heads to the ground.

"Forgive me!"

"W-we won't repeat such a mistake!"

"Show us mercy! Mercy!"

They kept begging on their knees and had Elenaria been her usual self, she would've preferred to remain passive in all of this. However, glancing over to Raven, she was reminded of her sister Athenia. And that memory of her convinced her to bend the heavenly rules to nudge things in a better direction.

"Had I done this before, perhaps my chosen would've been alive still and his children lashed in punishment," turning her attention back to the begging councilmen and women, she reached forward with her hand glowing with a dark cloud of sparkling energy. "But no matter, it was a necessary lesson.

One that taught me, about how sometimes you need to bend the rules because inaction can lead to things much worse."

Sending the cloud towards the corrupted, she watched with a smile as it split into multiples and wrapped itself around their neck. Squeezing tight, the cloud forced their mouths open. Slipping right in, the curse held within it began to spread and change their bodies into abominations.

Their bones tore through their skins, their heads split open with numerous organs and eyes spilling out like rainfall. Growing eyes inside the wound, their genitals, and even their viscera of internals, their bodies kept on malforming until they'd turned into mangled monsters that looked nothing like their original bodies.

"Now if anyone else has something to say, make your stand now or accept this child whom I've once blessed in her life, and have now blessed her in this state of undying," none dared to challenge the goddess, especially after seeing first hand what the result would be.

Shivering in their seats, their hands quivering and their teeth clattering in unmatched fear, they dared not even look at her, for they knew deep within that they too were sinners, although in a much smaller capacity.

"That settles it," turning her attention back to Raven who'd been watching the entire scene unfold with deep curiosity, Elenaria parted her lips to speak once more. "As for you, tell that goddess to keep her hands off my chosen and I'll have her erect the first temple to Athenia right beside my own.

The people can choose for themselves to whom they owe their faith, so long as she keeps her word and relinquishes some control of Nerva to me."

'Nerva, again?' Raven knew he'd heard the name once or twice being uttered by Athenia, but she'd never explained what it was since. Even so, sensing he didn't have time to discuss the matter, he decided to ask about something that was much more important.

"The deal still stands though, right? We kill the monsters and you keep your word?" The goddess simply nodded and the light in Mono's eyes began disappearing.

As the light finally settled, Mono blinked a few times and looked around the council. She only had faint memories of what had happened, but that didn't bother her much as she was, at this point, used to being unconscious for well over a century.

"Abominations, huh? I suppose the goddess did something?" Holding her hand forward, Mono sent a jolt of electricity from her fingers and fried the monsters to death in an instant. Melting like slimes, they lay there with charred bodies and a whiff of burnt flesh lingering in the air.

"Mono," seeing how everything seemed to have settled, Raven moved in front of the new queen and decided to make a request. "I'm sure the goddess will tell you all about our deal, but before that I need that Centaur girl from the dungeons to come with me."

"Amelia?" Her eyes squinted with curiosity to the demand, while the petrified council members were pulled out of their trance.

They wanted to protest the very suggestion, but from everything that had happened, none of them could open their lips much less speak their minds.

"If I'm gonna take my party to take care of this monster infestation, then I need at least one centaur with me. We already have a dark elf and one more that could potentially prove useful. The Arachnes are a different case, but since Amelia is the only centaur I've seen in this city, I wanna take her with me in case we need her to infiltrate or learn more about centaurian behavior."

Making a sound case for himself, Raven managed to convince Mono, but even so, she had one condition.

"I'll let you have her, but remember she's a prisoner of mine and once you're done with her, you'll hand her back to me," she demanded, and seeing no issue with the matter Raven simply nodded in agreement.

Shifting her attention to Regalia quickly, Mono ordered further.

"Take him to the dungeons and get that girl out, make sure to dorn her in regular clothing, or else she'll attract too much attention on the city streets," with Amelia being the only centaur in all of Elenaris, she was bound to be outed, but it was still Mono's duty to make sure that the traitor serves her sentence without being simply murdered by the enraged public.

"Now if you're done," having been quiet all this time, Shamisha finally spoke up, her eyebrows frowning in rage. "You have a month to prove yourself as a competent ruler, just like you said, so how about we start working on a plan instead of wasting our time twiddling dicks!"

Not exactly pleased with the outcome, it would be a while before the apprentice could accept the superiority of her own master. In the meantime, Raven and Regalia were already off to get the centaur girl from the dungeon.

'Hopefully, all other preparations for the war against the monsters are done; especially whatever it was that Amedith wanted Linkle to make with that orb of darkness.' Leaving matters of politics finally behind, it was time for Raven and his party to focus on the task at hand.

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