Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

With her means to cause a slaughter–to shed blood on this land gone, Mercedes was abandoned by her patron and her powers were all gone. Sitting inside the nameless inn, her shop now devoid of life inside the armor sets, she sat there in silence, pondering how it all went wrong. From a powerful warlock with fairy magic to just another peddler with mediocre weaponry to sell, the downgrade had made her depressed and had it not been for her inventory being mostly sold out to the demi-humans and the beastmen, she probably would've ended her life.

'What about that duke? He knew everything that was going on up the mountains, but then why am I the only one suffering?!' She complained to herself while making her way to the balcony. Leaning against the railing, she heaved a tired sigh and hoped that someone would kill him or at least beat some sense into the man to make suffering equal. 'Maybe I'll kill him myself someday, for now, I'm stuck with these idiots and have no way to acquire new equipment to sell.'

Although her words were coarse, her mind and body would betray her thoughts. Free of the blood fairy's influence, she was forcing herself to be foul even though her humanity was trying to creep up to the surface. Empathy, she hadn't felt it for the longest time, and it to her was like a poison–one worse than what she'd drank for her patron.

"I don't feel bad for these idiots, shut up brain…" She grunted, hoping it would help her win the mercy of her patron once more. But the fairy was already gone in search of another victim to corrupt.

'Whatever–' Trying to shake those thoughts out of her head, she noticed someone familiar approaching the inn through the canals. Turning her head in their direction, she was shocked to find Raven, Maria, and Monty arriving back from the city up above. 'Oh shit, these guys are back already? But…Where's everyone else?'

Confused about their presence, she turned around and made her way downstairs. Expecting the trio to come walking in through the front door, she kept her lips shut and instead mingled with the rest of the crowd still living inside the inn. Raga–the wolf, Harpy–the winged lady, and lastly Bam–the Rhino, all three were present in the hall along with a handful of their underlings.

Noticing Mercedes, they wanted to approach her for more business, but given the tensed look on her face and the way she kept glaring at the door, they decided not to disturb her, at least not until Moxy and Choux were done delivering them their meal to the table and they'd finished eating it up.

Riyanzah and Seraphim were curious about the strange behaviour by Mercedes as well, especially since the women decided to sit down at their table right in front of them. Her head turned around, the merchant stared at the entrance like a hawk, but the moment it opened her head instantly turned to her front.

And while she ignored the visitors, the others jumped out of their seats to greet them. The very first to do so were the sisters, phasing through everything with a bright smile on their faces, they wasted no time in hugging Raven from both sides. Holding the same superiority complex, however, they didn't let the others come too close by erecting a wall of pure magic.

"You two!" Moxy complained, but with food in her hand, she decided to rest the plate on the table before doing anything harsh.

Choux helped her by cleaning the used utensils still lying on the table, and by the time the two were done setting the plates for the demi-humans and beastmen, Raven too had taken a seat on an empty table with the sisters surrounding him still.

"We don't have time for this, take me back home. My sister must be worried sick, waiting for me," Monty complained, and both Raven and Maria agreed that it was for the best.

Looking at Moxy, the mage felt his heart aching more than usual at the weak smile she flashed back. Both of them knew that they rarely got a chance to hang out together, and from the looks of it, it didn't seem like that was about to change anytime soon if ever.

"I need the necklace…" Raven asked.

With a sigh and a shake of her head, Moxy reached into her pocket and gave him the teleportation necklace.

"Care to take another passenger? I wanna see my father and check if he's doing okay," having been away from Athenia for so long, the fox-girl wanted to be with her father for at least a few hours. "Baba's doing better than she was a while ago and I think I've taught Choux enough for her to manage on her own for a while."

"Wh-what?! NO!" Clinging instantly to her skirt, the arctic fox, hugged Moxy's legs with fear. Pressing her head against her body, the little girl didn't want her to be left behind. "I'll come too! I don't wanna–"

The sound of a walking stick hitting the floor cut the girl's sentence short. Approaching the table from behind was Baba, the old owner of the establishment and to the surprise of the visitors, she looked much livelier than last time.

"Take her with you, I can handle a handful of customers," looking into Moxy's eyes, the old woman smiled before continuing to walk so she could check up on the customers.

Following her with her gaze, Moxy turned around to stop her, but with yet another stomp of her walking stick, Baba reminded her who the boss of the establishment was.

"Kids these days, they think just because you're old you need to lay in bed all day, syahh~" Cackling to herself, she made her way to the table and began collecting all the used utensils.

"It's settled then," although just as worried about her, Raven trusted the old lady to know her own limits. Sure he got a few awkward gazes from Moxy and Choux, but even they knew there was not much they could do about it. Which brought him to the last person he wanted to talk to, the one who was trying to hide her presence but still listened to what he had to say. "And you, Mercedes, you're coming too. I have some stops I wanna make with you later."

"EPP!" Jumping in her chair, Mercedes hurt her spine as she landed back on her butt. Turning around with the pain still shooting up her spine, she gave Raven an awkward smile with no clue as to what the hell he was talking about. "Wh-what do you mean?"

"You'll find out," his answer obviously didn't help her anxiety. But after all that she'd done, the merchant knew that she had absolutely no choice.

'Well fuck…' She cursed as it was time to pay for her crimes.