Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

There used to be a legend of a man, a man who travelled with a band of monsters. Sometimes he rode on their backs, the others they followed in his footsteps. The man was my father, a merchant at heart and the owner of the only circus in Aesteradia. But then, I was born and everything went to hell. My mother died in labor and he lost his mind drinking against the creatures until he himself became one.

The rattle of his cage and the rabid barks, it still echoes in my head till this day. But what could I do except put him down, that was no way for a man to live, with no dignity nor coin. And then it was turn to kill the beasts, I used the same poison on them until nearly all of them slept their final sleep. However, one monster persisted, a fairy. A bloodfed fairy. She'd been hexed in some way by my old man, and although I tried to kill her nothing worked.

Then one day, she extended her hand with an offer. I bring to her blood, she would bring me riches and power. At first it was nothing more than selling weapons to rival clans, but as her powers grew so did her hunger, and before I realized I was feeding a monster and had become one myself, wing and all and looked pretty much like her as well.

Mercedes Copperhint, that's my name, but compared to me and my father–this new band of monsters, we were nothing, nothing at all. Men and women of cloth clad in armor riding giant land birds with tall flags, lances and all manner of weapons as the charge. Boats that paddled through the blazing desert and a god that controls the tide and guides us forward. Not to mention the countless others, the people of the supposed town that had sunk into the hells, marching with the same people who'd done that to them.

Looking around some more, there was a frost dragon with a little girl riding on top, then another giant creature, a spider woman and a lamia just as large as her. Accompanying those monsters were translucent spirits of minotaurs with a lone female riding on a carriage with her legs crossed and her eyes covered by some magic that I couldn't understand.

'What in the world did I get myself into?' That thought has been floating in my head since forever, but today as the hero's army marched through the desert towards the hermit kingdom, I can't help but wonder just where the hell it all went wrong. 'Was this how my father felt in that cage? A monster amongst other monsters?'

Looking down at my arms, I could see my fingers quivering. The magic imbued within me by my patron devil, it helped me keep my nerves, but each day seemed to be getting harder and harder.

"I can't believe we're still doing whatever this bastard orders us to!" Barked the cat boy, Felix. His ears were all perked up in anger and the woman next to him, Astra, gave him a mean, rotten glance.

"This is all your fault you fucking loser! If only you had some balls maybe we could've gotten away from this enslavement!" While the two bickered with each other, the boy's aunt, Hilma remained quiet, her gaze turned to Jenna–who'd only joined us in our little cabin to meet up with her old friends.

A crazed look flashed across the silver haired human, she was insane–quite literally and hollow look she gave everyone without saying even so much as word, was quite unsettling especially since she hadn't even said hi despite having come to meet her old companions. As the room rocked with the ship, everyone's knees brushed against each other. Just like us, there were hundreds of other rooms on these ships packed full of soldiers and workers.

The bright sun and the proximity between warm bodies was practically baking us. Magic helped a little, but the desert could go on forever while mana only lasted for an hour before needing a bit of recharge.

"Heyhey~" Suddenly Jenna fiddled with her bag and like a raccoon rummaging through trash she brought something out from her sack. "Here! Here! Wanna try it? I made it from that drake's scales, I call it a frost bite! Uahaahahaha~"

Holding what appeared to be a candy stick of light blue color, she shoved it right in Hilma's face. The woman tried to pull her face away from Jenna's hand, but the insane kept pushing it against her body until Hilma finally gave in and grabbed it out of her hand.

"Just eat it! It'll help you stay cool!" Jenna explained, a creepy smile crescent across her lips.

Although hesitant at first, the muffled air around the candy inspired some confidence. Taking a bite out of it, Hilma didn't chew, simply gulped and the very next second a waft of cold glacial ice spun around her like a tornado before settling into a gentle frost trying to cover her skin. The heat, however, melted the snow and somehow falling in complete harmony with each other, the warrior woman sighed in relief, a cold gentle breeze.

"Well what do you know it worked…" Visibly content, Hilma looked at Jenna with the gentlest of smiles.

"I knew it! I have more!" Without a second's pause, the insane lady began handing out the candy sticks. Taking a single bite from them instantly provided relief from the heat, and after just a moment the cabin was as cold as winter with the breeze bleeding out to the other room and the rest of the soldiers.

Enthusiastic as she was, Jenna left the room and kept distributing those candies to the others, all the while, the boat rocked back and forth as the army ventured along. Who would've known that the only insane person on the ship would turn out to be the most helpful, after all? Hmm…I guess even monsters have their uses and this army, well it was full of them each with their own tricks, including my own.

Let's just hope that nobody does something stupid and gets us killed, killed like a monster that rattles its cage a little too much.