Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

As the woman of the darkest skin rose to her feet, the elven women behind offered a courtly bow. Glancing back and then to the front again, the leading woman curved a smile and stepped further ahead, one hand outstretched–the other slightly sheltering her palm.

"I am Joselia, the head of the consulate–one nation amongst many that serve–" cutting her sentence short, the woman pressed her left hand to her throat and corrected. "That used to serve the god of law, Lord Hamleth."

"Used to?" Raven asked.

Before an answer reached the woman’s lips, however, Aria stepped forward and pinned the woman with her eyes.

"Joselia, that’s a fair elf name, and you’re not a fair elf–" pinching her own pointy ears, the barbarian brought attention to Joselia’s ears as well. "Fae and dark elf, with a fair elf name. Everything about you is deceptive, and those two men behind you–neither seems too happy to greet us either. What are you planning here under the guise of surrender? We’ve had enough deals that turn sour these past few days, so make this quick."

"Another dark elf bossing everyone around, what else is new?" Though the green-haired man spoke in whispers, he was just loud enough to let everyone hear him. Standing behind one of the women who had stepped forward, he had one hand on her shoulder with his face close to her ear.

The man whispered something more, and the woman simply nudged him with her elbow, pushing him back. The brief interaction did not go unnoticed, but before answering anyone or anything, Joselia decided to introduce everyone.

"That would be Ellia and her brother Brian right behind her; the two are quite inseparable, so I would beg you not to take their shenanigans too seriously." As her eyes met Aria’s again, the woman smiled at the barbarian. "The other two would be Jeanne and Valeria, and behind them Haurum–their would’ve been fiancée, but he has lost that privilege as of now. They help me run the consulate as valuable members of our kingdom. Perhaps I will go over their duties later as I’m assuming you have more urgent questions."

"Like the ones I just asked, and you avoided?" Aria pinned, her scepticism digging deep into the woman’s very soul.

A flicker of frustration filtered through the woman’s impermeable facade. Yet, in a flash and an eye blink, Joselia turned her frown into a smile. As her eyes opened the next time, she looked deep into the elf’s eye and spoke up.

"You don the name of a fair elf, do you not, Madam Aria?" Shifting her gaze to the rest of their party, she added. "A half devil, half fae accompanies you, a magus who takes on the appearance of a woman, and yet lies with the half devil stands shy behind the hero. Not to mention the very nature of the chosen himself, we’ve heard rumors of his command of the demon lord’s essence, but who am I to judge such curiosities?"

Setting her gaze back on the elf, Joselia took a deep breath and sighed.

"Fate paints us in curious hues. We cannot change who we are, for destiny is an impulsive painter." Silence lingered amidst the city of rubble. At this point, doubt was the hero’s second nature, but for once, he tried to look past it and shook the woman’s hand.

Squeezing around her fingers, Raven spilled into her mind, looking for any signs of deception. Feeling his essence knocking on the chambers’ conscience, Joselia welcomed him with a bow of her head. A bit surprised by the gesture, Raven was reminded of the incident with Mono and decided only to look for any signs of deception, not to upturn every memory that she had.

The others stood quietly in watch, enraptured by the strange ritual being performed on their leader or being performed by their leader. Both had opened their minds to each other, and in it, the one thing that drew them in common was their hatred of the council gods and the desire to rid the world of the demon lord once and for all.

Although Joselia’s limited knowledge of the subject had confined her hate to one god alone. Hamleth, the supposed god of law, has defiled the very commandments that he expected his followers to uphold. Ever since the attack on Athenia with the help of the otherworlders, her faith in her god had slowly dwindled. Dropping so low to the point where she managed to abolish his church in their kingdom not long ago.

Withdrawing his hand, Raven stared curiously at the fae woman. She was an anomaly lying on top of an anomaly. But, her followers? They appeared as an open book. Not all seemed happy about the decision, yet their faith in Joselina was somehow above that of the heavenly ruler. A dark elf leading a kingdom full of fae and fair elves.

’And yet I did not see an ounce of deception nor manipulation of any sort.’ Almost as if he were disappointed, Raven turned back to the woman and simply stood there quietly. ’An actual peace offering with no strings attached...why can’t the rest earn something from her?’

Unknowingly, Raven too had started to trust her, even if just a little. Perhaps, it was the very aura around her that made her so likeable, or maybe it was simply because she was above blindly following orders from a god and actively decided to abolish its authority. Either way, with their hands shaken, the surrender was settled, and the deed was done.

"Splendid, champion of heroes." With a smile, the woman retreated a few steps and gestured for her followers to start packing up for their return. "We will wait for you with open arms at the consulate. I’m aware that you have business elsewhere as of now, so please come again, accept our offering, and we will aid you in this most holy quest to rid this world of evil."

"Wait," right as Joselina was about to turn, Raven couldn’t help but ask one last question. "Why are you offering me these three women? Aren’t they important for your council?"

With yet another bow, she explained.

"Of course they are, but as it’s already been established, you will require someone whom you can trust to keep an eye on the territories under your protection. We’ve studied your actions for a long time, and that seems to be a pattern, an astute one at that." Fully turning around, she offered him a smile. "Besides, we’re also aware of your refined taste in women. So please accept them as your betrothed, and no need to fret, the girls volunteered themselves."

"Volunteered my ass," complained Haurum, the man whom two of the elven women were promised to.

"Haurum..." Narrowing her gaze, Joselina’s glare turned as sharp as daggers. "You lost your privilege to complain when you neglected your duties for years. The women have all the right to abandon you, and they themselves have chosen to serve a more competent man, so hush and pester the rest of your servant wives."

Though her words were laced with poison, not once did Joselina raise her voice. She was trying her best not to scream at the man, and Haurum was doing his best to cope with the fact that he was losing two of his potential wives.

"Whatever!" Scrunching his nose at Raven, he smirked. "I’ve had my fun with them anyway, so have at them, you do–"

"Shut the fuck up!" Mimicking Melenai’s bardic powers, Amedith stepped up and cut the man’s sentence short. All eyes turned to the magus, who appeared even more frustrated than the man being yelled at. "Do not ruin what is a perfectly good alliance, you moron! Do you have any idea what happens when some egotistical bastard like you keeps wagging his tongue, thinking he is above others?!"

Opening his arms wide, Amedith waved at the rubble all around them.

"That is what happens! I do not want war with people we can reason with," quickly looking at Joselina, he softened his expression a little. "You seem to have a sense of justice, the sense to separate the good from the wrong. Please, just go contain this man before something or someone gets hurt."

"Yes..." Swallowing for her throat had gone dry upon hearing the shy-seeming magus yell, Joselina couldn’t help but chuckle nervously. Not because she was nervous, but for having forgotten that the man apparently had a deeper sense of justice than half the population of the consulate, including some of the council members. "We will be waiting up ahead for your arrival with great fanfare. May we meet again in a more favorable light."

Leading her people back in the direction of their city, the half-fae woman quickly disappeared with what must have been the entire city’s population. All following her, elves and fae, a dark elf with heavy fae ancestry.

’We will meet again soon. First, we need to assess our losses and do something about that god-damned teleporter jewel!’ What he thought would take a few weeks at best would eventually end up taking an entire month. An entire month of being docked at the dark sand beach, but at least in that time, plenty of work got done–in the city next to Alliance and everything before it.