Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

"Should we…leave?" Stranded with an awkward situation before them, Mel tried to take a step back, but the creaking of the wooden floor underneath froze her right in place. "Shit!"

Waking up to the sound with a yawn, Linkle rubbed her eyes for a spell before picking herself up on her bed. Sitting upright with her eyes still dreamy, she kept blinking for a while before finally she realized what was happening.

"What the fuck?! Who let you in?!" Grabbing her blanket, the witch quickly covered her lascivious grooves.

"S-sorry, we just teleported in!" Erika blurted out, her entire face beet red from the sight she'd just seen.

"Teleport?" It took Linkle a moment before she looked down at her fingers and noticed the ring. Just one glance at it reminded her of the necklace and everything she'd discussed with Raven. "Fuck me…"

Slowly looking up and glancing across everyone's face, she pulled the blanket over her head and turned back into her old and wrinkled visage. Shrinking under the blanket, she dressed herself with but a snap of the finger, then slipping out of the blanket she glared at the party in front of her again.

"If you tell anyone about what you saw, I'll cut off your tongue and stitch it up your asses," nodding her head with a forced smile, Linkle walked up to the stairs that led to her workshop above. "Now, fuck right off."

An awkward feeling lingered inside the room for a while, especially for Amedith who'd not been able to see anything since Mel had been covering his eyes since the moment she noticed Linkle's nude body. Finally, letting go, the elf grabbed the hero's hand and got out before everyone else. Following her lead, both Erika and Aria slipped out of the basement as well.

Left all alone with Linkle and Mino inside the bracelet for now, Raven waited for the footsteps upstairs to disappear before walking up to her to talk.

"Why do you hide your identity so much?" He asked, his eyes squinted in curiosity.

Glaring up with her eyes still bleeding with anger, Linkle held up her finger and pointed at the exit above.

"I don't ask why you do what you do, so don't pry too much into my business either," she answered.

"I'll find out one way or the other, I have to know who I'm doing business with," Raven shot right back.

Scoffing in his face, Linkle fanned her hand towards the stairs.

"Sure thing, now go!" done dealing with everyone, Linkle forced him out and quickly shut the basement latch to be alone again.

'Now what to do ?' With everyone already having left before him, Raven had not a clue where they'd been, much less where he should go to prepare for the month-long training. Though the first thing that came to his mind was visiting Darius to check on him, and perhaps then the blacksmith to see if he could get an upgrade on his equipment. 'I don't have much gold left though.'

Having just enough for maybe a scroll that too left with Erika who was now gone, he was forced to dump those plans and instead decided to head right to the root of the problem, the goddess's church. In doing so, however, not only did Raven but the rest of the party shattered the illusion that they were out and adventuring, the city streets were flooded with rumors.

Getting sideways glances from all over, being whispered about, and even given taunting looks, every single one of the party members felt more than a bit pissed off. After all, the one judging them had not a clue what they'd faced, and if it were them instead of their party, none of them would still have had their minds intact after the encounter.

The worst of it affected the priestess, as her faith was already tested last night and now she was being shamed while walking through the streets.

'Did it really happen, everything that I saw last night? The eyes in the sky, the radiant entity whose face I couldn't make out, did it all happen, or is a demon fiddling with my insecurities?' Subconsciously trailing the path toward the church, Erika was following the same route as Raven.

At first, she'd been accompanied by Aria, but somewhere along the path, the dark elf had slipped away without her even realizing it. And though she should've run into Raven since they shared the path, he was instead snatched by a curious lady who was one of the few excited to see the party back.

By the time Erika arrived at the church, everyone from her party was already busy with whatever it was they deemed most important, and for her that meant praying to a god that may or may not listen to her at all.

Walking into the empty church, she was slightly confused by how dusty it had gotten since her last visit. The nuns who were supposed to be helping people with prayers and confessions were nowhere to be seen either.

'Where's everyone?' She wandered slowly making her way towards the preacher's podium. Looking around through the glass, the tables, the desks, her confusion grew further as they seemed like they hadn't been touched or cleaned since the last time she was there. Once arriving at the podium she decided to go through the door on the side to the nun's dormitory to check up if anyone was there.

'The head priestess, I should find her.'

Walking through the empty dorms her heart dropped more and more, and as she arrived at the head priestess's chamber, the only thing she found was a blood-written note.

'The goddess took my husband, so I offer you her maiden. Take them as your own in their sleep, use them as your pawn, and all I want in return is to be united with my love slain by that damned angel!' Finishing reading the word on the letter, Erika was reminded of the angel at the upper city church.

"The head priestess was married?" She muttered left aghast by the mystery.

The priestesses and the nuns swore themselves celibate, but when the very pillar of the establishment was lying, then such tragedies born of hatred were bound to befall them. Crumbling the head priestess's contract with the devil, Erika–the ever-passionate priestess, was beyond raging at everyone involved in this entire mess.

'My sisters, you offered them to the…' Holding back tears and curses, she was on the verge of a severe mental break.