Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Morning came, and Hilma the warrior woman rose from her beddings and sat up straight. Leaning her back against the tent, she looked around with a dreamy gaze. Yet with her mind still catching up with her vision, she stretched and yawned and didn't notice anything unusual about her surroundings, even though a problem was staring her right in the face.

Resting her head against the tent's wall, she sat in silence with nothing going on inside her head. Quiet, that's what she wanted at least for now, since the moment everyone else wakes up, her problems will start piling up faster than she could grasp.

'I wish Felix and Astra weren't such knuckleheads.' She thought, and finally, with her head turning to their beddings lying empty on the ground, she realized that something was wrong. 'Where are these two?'

Their makeshift beds were empty. Surveying the tent again, Hilma noticed Linkle staring at the tent's ceiling with her eyes open but not speaking a word or getting up. As for Jenna, the insane woman was still sleeping. Nobody else was there, and even Mercedes was missing from her bed.

"Hey…" Calling out to the witch, Hilma matched her gaze the moment she looked at her. "Where's Felix and the others?"

Lifting her head, Linkle placed a hand under her head so she wouldn't have to hold it up by the neck to look at the warrior woman. Staying quiet for a few seconds, the old, withered-looking witch took a good minute before she gave her a response.

"Mercedes's probably counting rations and other resources, kind of her only job at the moment. Not sure about the others…" Sitting herself up, Linkle decided to get out of the mattress and turned to Jenna, sleeping beside her. "I should get to work, too."

Kicking the side of Jenna's mattress, she called her name, and with a jolt, the girl woke up and reached for the heavens. Her hands outstretched, she looked around and as her mind settled, she stared at Linkle and complained with a straight face.

"Don't wake me up like that, hag."

Shaking her head, Linkle let the insult slide and instead focused on the task at hand.

"Enough complaining, we need to set up shop for potion and scrollmaking. Reina probably already finished her smithy yesterday, and I don't wanna give that girl any more reason to brag in front of my face."

"Eat first…" Jenna insisted with a glaring look akin to a child throwing a tantrum at its parents.

"Fine, we're going to the mess first and then we're going to start working," Linkle replied, extending a hand towards the girl.

With a smile, Jenna grabbed Linkle's hand and followed her out of the tent. Left to ponder where the rest had gone, Hilma got off her mattress and began reading herself to head out and look for them. To her surprise, however, just as she was about to leave, both Felix and Astra came with a plate full of food in their hands.

"Where the heck have you two been?" Hilma asked, furrowing.

Rolling her eyes, Astra glanced at Felix.

"I told you we should've just eaten by ourselves, your aunt's so annoying sometimes."

"What?!"

"Just…shut up both of you." Walking forward, Felix held a plate towards Hilma and offered it to her. "We went out to get food from the mess, wait too long and it turns soggy and leftover is all you get. Here's your plate."

Looking down at the plate of food, Hilma noticed that Felix was holding two. Realizing why that was, she shook her head and calmed herself.

"Sorry. I thought you two were trying to get into trouble again."

"You don't have to look after us anymore, you know?" Astra complained while setting her plate next to her bed.

As Hilma's gaze turned to her, Felix drew her attention again.

"That's right, we're not kids anymore. You don't have to be so protective all the time." Having been a guardian for her nephew for as long as she could remember, Hilma's eyes widened with a strange sense of confusion and fear.

If she wasn't meant to look after him anymore, then what was she even supposed to do? A lack of purpose rushed her subconsciousness like a ripple across her fair skin. Gulping heavily, she sighed and settled on the ground with the plate loosely gripped within her fingers.

"I, I guess you're right." Forcing a smile, she looked at her nephew. "You're not a kid anymore, I should probably stop being so protective."

Nodding in response, Felix turned to his plate and began eating. And although Hilma tried to do the same, the realization that her nephew didn't need her anymore made it much harder for her to get every other morsel of food down her throat. Ever so often, she would catch the two glancing at her, but whenever she tried to look at them, they quickly looked away. Were the two hoping that she would protest? Were they still looking at her for guidance or simply checking up on her to see how she was handling the revelation? Hilma did not know, and so she ate in silence, forcing every bit of food into her stomach.

"I think…" Not entirely feeling well anymore, Hilma set the plate aside and, without even washing her hands, lay her head back onto her pillow. "I think I'll lie down for an hour or two more."

"Same, not much for us to do but converse our strength for when the war starts." Following in her footsteps, Felix decided to lie down first, and Astra didn't lag behind for long either. Keeping their tent zipped, the trio slept in silence, all the while, the workers and people like Mercedes did everything in their power to ensure that the soldiers were well-rested before the afternoon practices.

However, with the winds of conflict fluttering everywhere, the soldiers fell one after the other before it was even time for practice. Nobody knew why, but everyone, even the blind citizens, were falling like flies.