Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

After all these days fighting off an army, racking his brain and trying to maintain a healthy political stretch between the kingdoms and the island, Raven was finally laying in his own bed. His entire room was bedded to accommodate his girls, and while company was lovely, with Erika still off in the desert, he couldn't help but feel a pang of anxiety.

'It should be done by now…' Already, it was the night of the second day. He was certain that by now, Asmareth's city was wiped from the face of this world. 'An eye for an eye, I'm sure if that justifies it, but–'

The sudden clatter of something moving in the hallway made him lift his head off his bed. Glancing at the door for a spell before looking around at the many girls, he decided to go out and check himself since none of them were awake or had been woken up by the sound.

'Could be Tan, but still better safe than sorry, suppose.' He thought to himself as he donned a pair of clothes by using darkness fibers as living armor made of fabric. Slipping out from the girls as a shadow, he emerged directly on the other side of the door without having to open the door at all.

There, as he emerged, he instantly noticed Amedith–still wearing his feminine spy clothes and leaning against the grand staircase. His eyes turned to the mage as he sensed his presence as well, and for a moment, as a smile came, Amedith waved at Raven.

"Couldn't sleep either?" He asked, his smile faintly disappearing with each second.

A bit cautious, Raven approached him–he wasn't sure why, but something felt off about him. It wasn't the smile or the dress, but something incorporeal.

"What are you doing here, at this hour?" Leaning against the staircase beside Amedith, Raven stared at the man watching for even the smallest of movements. "You have to be back to scouting tomorrow, the last thing I want are scouts winking at the job and getting themselves killed."

A chuckle burst through Amedith's lips. Glancing at Raven sideways, he wanted to ask if their general was being entirely serious.

"I'll be fine…" Turning around, Amedith learned his back against the handrails. Crossing his legs, he gazed into the dark with a gentle smile on his face. "But if there's anyone we should be worried about, it's those people Erika must've killed today."

Eyeballed sideways again, Raven knew where this conversation was headed. Once again, the righteous warrior had a problem with how things were run, and although Raven felt the same way as him on the matter–having an essential member questioning things was bound to cause more disruption amongst the non-essentials and the soldiers.

"You think I don't know that?" Shaking his head, Raven heaved a sigh before allowing all of his weight to be supported by the railings. Keeping quiet for a moment, he searched for his next words, all the while, Amedith already had more to say.

"You know, I've accepted a lot of things since we started this journey." Taking a brief pause, Amedith turned to his side to face the general. "From losing the hero's title, you becoming my adoptive mother's lover, us taking over cities and islands, and even committing horrors that would make our past self vomit just thinking about it."

Taking a deep breath, Amedith heaved a sigh as well. Raven turned to face him as he did so, but before he could say a word, the warrior spoke once more.

"I've even accepted that my mother's genes were more potent in me, hence my feminine characteristics. And to be honest, after reading how most maguses married amongst themselves to keep their race alive–essentially engaging in incestuous relationships–I'm glad my father was a smarter man and didn't repeat the same mistake with me."

"I sense a but coming, is there?" Nodding to his question, Amedith took over again.

"To forcefully convert the people of another kingdom–how does that make us any different than the gods who force their faithful to blindly follow them? Like Batimos, for example, he used the corruption of the horrors to control his people, and now we're gonna use our own powers to convert these people. At what point would the world need saving from us instead of the other way around?" For once, there was frustration on Amedith's face. He'd thought about the matter long and hard, even tried to justify the slaughter to himself, but when he realized that nothing could justify something like this–at least not to him–he'd begun seriously reconsidering his contribution in all of this.

To nobody's surprise, Raven had no clue what to say to him. The two may not have the entire story about what must've happened with Erika and the city, but they did know one thing from the way the priestess had set out to make her march through the desert.

"Best case scenario, the civilians are still alive–the worst…" Lifting his head, Raven looked at Amedith and held his stare for a moment. "They're all dead and burning in hell."

Clicking his tongue, Amedith frowned. Anger and frustration had become his constant state of being in recent days. Spying was one thing, and so was fighting against soldiers or horrors, but to devastate a city with countless innocent souls living inside? It drove him mad, and he wasn't afraid to show it.

"Lily once told me that we should walk our separate paths if your ideals and ours stopped aligning completely. Maybe it's time, maybe we should–"

"Shut up, Amedith." Grabbing the spy's hand, Raven squeezed it until it hurt. And as Amedith's expression contorted from it, the general offered him a solution that had been keeping him up all night. "I'll make sure Erika brings those people back, and if they're in hell, then she's gonna make another trip. And no, we won't convert them forcefully, we're just gonna show them the truth. The truth about their god, the truth about ours, and the state of the fallen castle thanks to those otherworlders sent by their beloved deity and then…we'll let them choose."

"And what if they choose wrong?" Amedith asked, pulling his hand away from Raven.

Turning his head forward again, the general slapped his hand on the railing and picked himself up.

"Then I'm no zealot of a god–Helga would kill me if I followed Athenia blindly, and I'm assuming you might try to do the same." Turning to face Amedith, Raven offered him a handshake. "As for your question, they'll be free to leave, go wherever they want, I'll even help them with transportation and resources for a while. Does that sound good enough to you yet?"

Staring back at the general for a good while, trying to judge his very heart and intention, Amedith wondered if he truly meant those words or if Raven was just trying to get him off his back. But when he noticed no signs of deception in him, the spy finally let down his shoulders and took the handshake.

"Sometimes I wonder if it's you that has a monster in you or Erika," he said, truly confused about said topic.

"Well, she has a devil in her and enough faith to burn a city…literally." Shrugging his shoulders, Raven shook Amedith's hand for a few seconds, but then focused on something else. "Still wearing the nail polish?"

Rolling his eyes, the spy scoffed and looked away from him.

"I already said that I've accepted a lot," he said, blushing ever so slightly.

"Fine fine, ahaha…"

Although it was strange for Amedith to be dressing a girl still, it was one of the best ways to have himself be underestimated by the enemy…and well, get a lot of genuine compliments on his appearance rather than being embarrassed when he has to explain that he's not a girl.

"How's everything between you and Liliyana, by the way?"

"Hmm? It's going alright, but her godmother wants a kid already…"

"Doesn't everyone at this point?"

Taking a deep breath while looking down the staircase, the men heaved a sigh for they were tired of the girls asking them for kids.

"We're getting old, aren't we?"

"Not sure how long maguses live, so I can't quite say that for myself."

"That leaves me and Erika then, huh?" Thinking about how being the only two humans of the group, they were likely to die before anyone else, Raven somehow felt older than he was, temporarily, even though he had just touched twenty. "Let's just get back to sleep, we're gonna have a lot of convincing to do with Erika tomorrow."

"Mhmm~" Nodding his head along, Amedith parted ways with Raven, and not long after, the general returned to his room and fell asleep as well. Morning came, they would try to convince Erika, and although reluctantly, to allow for the citizens to be free, trusting Raven's judgement, she would eventually forfeit.

About three thousand people were to be relocated between the many territories held by the party, and not just that, the truth behind God's wretched nature had to be delivered to them in a way that they could accept without letting their biases get in the way. A most troubling endeavour, but one needed nonetheless.