Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Elana the Seventh, a queen born in a long line of half-djinns, was far from what any of her ancestors could've expected. More playful than stern and more optimistic than realistic, she was a free soul soaring through the skies of her own world. But none dared criticize her, for being a Djinn came with many gifts, one of which granted the citizens everything they could ever hope for.

No god nor any deity could take hold of her people, for anything they could offer, she'd already granted them beforehand. Lush land and beauty, no sickness, no animosity between citizens, they loved each other and made love with each other, and their children grew up happy.

But the most serene of places often attract the worst kind of attention, and Elanavia was no different since the king of Aranuvia, Aran–the fifth had begun annexing the queen's territory. The ocean between their major islands was filled with much smaller islands. Each with its own unique resources, something both rules wanted for themselves.

While Aran was more strategic and violent, Elana was more focused on diplomacy. However, with the heroes arriving with the news of the king's fleets, she too was bound to send her own soldiers at sea. The only peculiarity in the whole situation? She already knew that the king had dispatched his people, even so, the queen was waiting for Raven and his party for some reason. And how was she spending her time? By watching her jester act a fool in front of her.

"Two wise men!" Announced the jester, his eyes focused on his dignified queen seated on a throne of obsidian. Stretching his hands forward, he smiled and continued with pounding emphasis in his voice. "One says to the other! The people are famished!"

Silence lingered as the parrot-nosed jester let the words settle.

"They have no work, no jobs! And crime runs rampant, what should be done to stop this at once!" Drawing his hands to his chest, the jester looked down and stretched his left hand to the side. "The other wise man speaks. He says, imprison the unemployed public, that should create more jobs for the rest."

Lifting his head again, he was met with a question.

"How would imprisoning the unemployed create more jobs?" Asked the queen, a light smile resting on her lips.

The jester chuckles before giving an answer.

"The first wise man asks the same, the other answers…" Taking a pause, he holds his smile and looks down again. "More prison guards to hire!"

The mere absurdity of the joke makes the queen burst into laughter, but the jester isn't finished.

"But all unemployed people are already imprisoned! We'd have to hire them to imprison themselves!" He says in the voice of the first wise man before answering in the voice of the other. "Great, we don't have to pay them then!"

Holding her belly, the queen laughs to her heart's content. The joke itself wasn't that funny, but the absurdity of the jester to even tell it to her was enough to make her continue laughing. As her laughs finally died a minute later, she took a deep breath and looked down at him with her burning oak gaze. Her violet horns reflected the light coming in through the window behind her, nearly blinding anyone who dared look at her directly.

"You've grown a silver tongue ever since you've gone bald, oh jester~ AhAhaha!"

Taking his hat off, the jester bowed and drummed his bald head.

"Silver tongue, you say?" Lifting his head, he squinted his eyes to face the queen despite the blinding glow when her head was lifted by a certain angel. "If only my wife thought the same, Your Highness, maybe we'd have more kids!"

"Phh!" Spitting air through her mouth, she leaned back into her throne and started to laugh once again. Holding her belly she barely kept herself together. "Oh by the ancestry's spirits, we need to pay you more…ahaha~"

"Your praise is enough, your grace," replied the jester while the rest of the councilmen watched him with deep scorn.

Not a single one of them had laughed at his jokes for the man was serving not them but the queen, on whose taste he'd crafted his jokes. The others were left to be jealous through a long list of jokes that weren't that funny but the absurdity of them kept the queen laughing.

"I shall take my leave now, your grace." Lifting his head, the human dwarf turned around and left the council hall.

His departure filled the scarcely illuminated room with a silence that none dared to break. There was nothing left to do, the people were happy, the roads were well-built and the farmer's lands rich with bounty. The councilmen felt insulted for even being summoned to the queen's mansion.

"I suppose you people want to leave too?" The queen whispered yet her voice echoed loud enough for it to be audible to everyone. Turning their heads in her direction, the council members masked their disappointment with a smile before heading off one by one.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Left alone in the hall with just her servant blowing a massive fan in her direction, the queen turned her gaze to the only seat that had been empty even before the council members had been called.

'Those guys should be arriving any minute now, I should get ready with the details of my plan.'

Closing her eyes and turning her head to face the front, the djinn could see the hero's party just landing on her island.

"I want someone to escort our guest here before nightfall," she ordered the servants standing beside her. Leaving the fans in their wall holders in an instant, they rushed out to get someone with much higher authority and also capable of bringing the heroes to the mansion safely.

Opening her eyes with a stern look in them for once, the queen folded her lamiaan tail and turned them into walkable human legs. Getting off her throne laden with sharp spikes of obsidian, she began to stretch her arms and legs, her back and the rest of her body unharmed from the spikes.

"You want to play a stupid hand, I'm gonna show you where that leads you…" Fire burned in her eyes as she planned retaliation not just against Aran but also her council that was being poisoned by the man who sits on that empty chair. "I give you prosperity and laughs, but you morons can't be sated…"