Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Under the guise of magic, Jenna led the hero's party to an empty room inside the shambling castle. To the surprise of everyone, Monty was already lying in one of the beds inside but before they could question her about him, Jenna urged them to set Maria on the table the top of which was already layered with blood.

Grabbing a bracelet off the table, she threw it to the side and waited for Raven to set Maria on top. Although confused as to what exactly was going on, the mage did as he was told before briefly turning his attention to Monty's bleeding hand. A scar in the same shape as the bracelet ran around his wrists and the jewellery was the very same that he'd seen on the citizens of this city. Enjoy new tales from empire

"What's the deal with the bracelet?" He asked.

"I'll tell you once I've stopped her bleeding," Jenna responded while grabbing pincers, bandages and surgical staples off a shelf. Hurriedly bringing them to Maria, she cut through her clothes that were sticking to her skin, and then seeing as the wound ran deep and nicked her organs, she clicked her tongue but continued to operate on her body. "Do you guys have any potions?"

Looking up at the group, she glanced around and to her relief Raven quickly grabbed the only bottle he had sitting in his waist pouch. Taking it, she rushed back to her shelves and started rummaging through a bunch of bagged powders.

"Keep pressure on the wound, it's not as bad as it looks thankfully…" Grabbing a silver bag at the very back of the shelf, she heaved a sigh and brought it to the table. Quickly uncorking the potion, she poured it into the powder. A puff of smoke hit her in the face, but quickly sealing it with her hand, she shook it for a while while coughing out the fumes that she'd just inhaled. "W-what's the deal with…h-her? P-priestess can't heal?"

Barely holding in another cough while asking those questions, she was met with silence as nobody knew to what extent to could trust her just yet. And after Raven's rant about 'to hell with doing the right thing', they didn't want to stand out or go against anything he was thinking, at least not yet.

"Doesn't matter, can you help you help her now is what I'm concerned with," Raven responded, his hands keeping the pressure on Maria's wound.

Feeling her warm blood soaking his hands and the sensation of her insides twisting in agony, Raven wanted to go back to beat up the keeper some more, but it was already dead and the soul of the queen had perished alongside it. Even so, not wanting to underestimate the horror, Raven ordered Erika and Regalia both to check up on the keeper's body.

As Jenna continued to operate, the mixture of the potion and the powder was poured inside of Maria's wound. A foul smell flooded the room as the semi-solid clung to her internals, but to everyone's surprise, it quickly replaced the ex-queen's flesh, both in organs and the muscles. Despite that, Jenna kept Raven from removing his hands from Maria, and the others were told to check up on Monty as well.

"What is going on here?" Aria couldn't help but as she moved next to the unconscious spy.

Grabbing the bracelet off the ground, Jenna moved closer to Raven again. Placing it on the edge of the table, she stared at the golden bracelet before hesitantly lifting her head to meet his eyes.

"My mother used to make these, that is until our god decided that we don't need her anymore, and so…" Drawing a deep breath yet again, she gulped a flood of emotion trying to gush out of her body. "I was forced to make these for our people until everyone had them on their wrist."

Turning her head to face Monty, she pointed towards his injured wrist. Following her finger, everyone cringed at the sight of the bare flesh left behind where the bracelet must've been.

"The queen placed it on him, I thought he was gone, but then I saw him struggling against its control and after that, I just couldn't keep passive to his suffering anymore."

"So you helped him? But why didn't you make the bracelet for this very reason? Why would you serve the queen if her intentions didn't align with yours?" Administering more caution than usual, Raven gave Jenna a suspect glare. Ready to slice through her body with the corruption he'd gathered, he was ready to kill her without mercy for he was done being lenient.

"Do you really think I have a choice?" Shifting her attention back to the man across the table, she held his stare just for a spell before having to look away from the sheer embarrassment of her actions. "Between Batimos, our stupid power-hungry god and a monster of a queen who gave herself to that damned crown willingly…"

Her lips quivered as she spoke, her eyes grew teary, and her nails dug deep into the table's wood. It was clear that she too was a prisoner like any other citizen and the only difference between them was the lack of the bracelet on her wrist.

"The people…they chose to wear those things you know…" Slowly lifting her head to look at Raven again, she was met with a look of pure shock reflected on his face. Nodding with a crazed smile, she chuckled at the insanity of both her and the other citizens. "Yeah, can you believe it? Ahahaha~ These idiots, they thought since it's an order from our god we just need to follow him blindly and they'll find salvation in the afterlife."

The longer she chuckled to herself, the more tired she appeared to grow. Pushing herself away from the operating table, she made her way to one of the dusty beds and without even so much as brushing the sheets, just laid on top of the dust and cobwebs.

"She's gone insane," whispered Mel from behind Raven, and he couldn't but agree to her assessment.

"At least she helped us with Maria," finally pulling his hand off of the ex-queen, Raven looked down at her and checked her breathing. Ensuring everything was fine, he too stepped away from Maria and just sat down on the ground pondering what the hell had even happened.

'Athenia, if you can hear me right now…' Calling out to the goddess in his head, Raven told her the only thing that made sense to him at the moment. 'We need an army and a whole lot more people's faith in you to get us through this damaged nightmare!'

Although she couldn't respond at the moment, the goddess was on the same page as the mage, the time for leniency was over for Elenaria was being attacked, the council knew of their partnership, and thus recruiting more gods or winning their people over had to be expedited or else who knows what could happen.

As if to emphasise just that, both Erika, Regalia and the spirit were rushing back to the infirmary with even news most dire. The keeper's body was missing and Batimos had sent his angelic emissaries.