Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Standing outside the Bricks and Cobbles, Lilith was waiting alongside the cloaked princess for the hero's party. The centaurian woman reminded her of her sworn enemies, but looking into her eyes, she instantly noticed the lack of vigor in Amelia's eyes. She was broken and tired, and just done with everything.

Dragging herself along every moment, even breathing seemed like a chore that she wanted to give up on. Alas, she had her uses, and her punishment was yet to be over, something she recognized and whispered to fulfill before killing herself eventually.

"So you're the princess, huh?" Lilith questioned, and though the already dejected gaze of the centaurian flickered with hurt, she nodded at her in response.

Shifting her attention back to the streets, Lilith didn't let Amelia's presence bother her too much. Instead, focusing on the excess of automatons and countless demi-human workers–sweeping up the filthy streets and even working on lamps as well as other machinery, she was quite impressed by how quickly things were put into motion by the new queen.

The streets were flooded with automatons, especially those made by Shamisha's students. Each one of them appeared to have a task, and they worked diligently towards achieving the desired end.

"It took them only a few hours to clean up the outer city…" Baffled by the efficiency, Lilith folded her hands and let her eyes wander through the crowds.

Nobody but the party was allowed outdoors today as it was the decree of the new queen so that the automatons and workers could get the city all cleaned up. Even the sewers that reeked of filth had already been cleaned last night.

Slowly lifting her head, Amelia watched the same crowd working throughout the streets. The automatons were led by Shamisha's students and the demi-human crowd by new recruits from the army.

"She'd been working those demi-humans all night," Amelia muttered in response to what Lilith had said.

"Well don't feel bad for them," glancing sideways at the princess, Lilith spat out a reply. "They're criminals just like you."

A bit shocked by her words, Amelia looked at Lilith with her eyes widened. But the moment her eyes met hers, she couldn't help the guilt from making her turn her gaze back to the ground.

'If it weren't for you or your siblings, the king would've been alive and I could've begged him to save my people just like I'd originally planned when I first came here…' Holding a grudge against the centaurian for throwing a wrench in her plans, Lilith clicked her tongue with annoyance but kept her mouth shut.

Soon after the small exchange between the two, an oak-wood carriage arrived to carry their bait to the dark elves. Mono had sent it on Raven's request, and hence it was decorated with royal insignias to fool the elves into thinking that Amedith was someone important from the kingdom.

Following the sounds of screaming and complaints from inside the Inn, the hero's party was finally outside. Raven was still in the lead as he walked up to Lilith. The preparation had been made for them to leave, but she hadn't heard him say that he was willing to help her himself.

But with an extended hand and a look of pure focus in his eyes, she quickly shook his hand–feeling a beam of hope at the end of that dark-dark tunnel.

'Three weeks, three monster clans to take down. You can do it, Lilith–this parasite can't take you before that!' Amping herself up, she guided the group to climb inside the carriage. One after the other everyone got in, and the carriage was just about to leave when Lana rushed out of the Inn screaming.

"STOP!" Rushing to the carriage's open window with Raven peeking out, she took just a moment to catch her breath before looking up at him with a weak smile. "You all better come back in one piece!"

Handing a cloth-bound wooden lunch box with loads and loads of meat and rice, Lana bid them bye in the way she thought was best–by feeding them on their journey. Finally with the lunch box secure and everyone settled in, the carriage took off in the direction of the city gates.

But there once again, the party was forced to come to a stop as waiting for them there was Regalia with a bunch of dead bodies scattered all around the city gates.

It was the bodies of Kathy's henchmen stupid enough to attempt to brute force their way out of the city from the gates. But to their misfortune, Regalia was waiting there with hopes of meeting Raven and his party before they left.

"Aren't you a royal guard? Shouldn't you be around the new queen?" Raven teased with a playful smirk crescent across his lips.

But ignoring his words, Regalia placed one foot on the carriage's step, and then grabbing the open window frame, she pulled herself upward to plant a parting kiss on Raven's lips. Pulling his head towards herself with one hand and keeping herself stable with the other, the once dignified wolf-girl was making out with the mage in front of a dozen guards.

And even when she stopped and stepped away from the carriage her following words only left them more baffled.

"Next time we meet if you survive this journey, I want a dozen of your puppies inside me," making even the party members blush, Regalia turned around without a care and gestured to the guards to open the gates for their passage.

Not wasting a moment more, the party finally departed for the corrupted region encircling the monster clans. It would take them a while before they got there, maybe even two or three days depending on the terrain, but with all the monster girls including Amelia inside the bracelet, there was at least room enough for everyone to be comfortable inside the carriage.

It gave them time to think things through, and Lilith also made use of it by giving as much information as possible about the dark elves and other monsters to the party. Her parasitic wings kept trying to overpower her, but with her death so close she simply struggled through the hurt.

'I won't die yet…' She thought, her teeth gritted shut. All the while both Liliyana and Asmodia could see the girl's life fleeting before their eyes. But since she'd kept her approaching death a secret from everyone, Liliyana didn't want to push her about the matter, as for Asmodia?

She was in a foul mood from her conversation with the goddess, besides, she couldn't care less if the dark elf lived or died–as long as the party could achieve Athenia's goals.

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