Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Rowing the plank towards the bay of the island, the entire party was growing tired of simply sitting in silence. Already a handful of people were waving at them from the shore. Curiosity glinting in their eyes, they reflected no sense of self-preservation as nothing ever went wrong under their queen's rule.

"I still prefer idiots waving us in than pirates…" Whispered Regalia, her face devoid of any joy ever since she was kidnapped and tortured.

"Speaking of idiots," pausing her paddling, Mel glanced around at the members of their original group before her eyes landed on Raven's back. "Isn't it the first moon of autumn tonight, your birthday?"

"Birthday?" Blurted Linkle, Regalia, Mino, and the rest of the monster girls inside the jewel. None of them had expected Mel to bring up a birthday, especially since Raven and the others were orphans.

Speaking up to ease their doubtful expressions, Maria began her explanation.

"Every orphan in Athenia shares the same birthday, the first moon of autumn–it signifies the start of new life." Stretching her hand forward, she created an illusion of mist in the gradient of red and violet. The illusion consisted of the interior of the Athenian church with nuns holding the infants to the light of the moon seeping in through the stained glass windows. "They are named if they don't have one already, in either case, they're also given the 'Phordite title."

Her illusion fizzled away like bubbles through a resting glass of wine, Maria couldn't hold it for long, but thankfully, the brief explanation was already over. Her fingers were aching and so was her skull, a headache had taken hold of her, however, with her command on illusion getting better, she was happier than ever.

"So that's what they were doing every year," jumping in with a parched throat, Aria spoke through her coarse voice. "I thought they were sacrificing the children or something, that shit looked like something a cult would do."

"As much as I want to disagree," stopping the paddling as well, Erika chimed in with a sigh. "The first time they made me do it, it creeped me out too."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Oh my god, I was trying to talk about something else and now you've taken this conversation in an entirely different direction!" Squinting her eyes while shouting, Mel turned her head to the dark elf. "Now I forgot what I wanted to say thanks to you!"

"Don't blame your bad memory on me!" Aria shot back, already frustrated because of the makeshift boat ride.

Shaking her head as the two began fighting amongst themselves, Erika really wanted to hold back, but unable to do so, she dropped a massive bomb on them both.

"And to think you two are sisters…"

The revelation stopped the rowing altogether.

"WHAT?!" Said everyone in unison, their head turned to face Erika–the eldest sister of the original bunch.

Looking around, trying to avoid eye contact, she tapped a finger on her thighs while regretting her decision. She even wanted to curse in her mind, but refrained from doing so, even Asmodia was surprised and couldn't utter a word. Somehow the devil never saw that information in her host's memory and it almost felt like Erika was making it up.

"AYE! ANSWER ME!" Grabbing the priestess from her shoulder, Melicia forced her to look at her.

"DON'T JOKE ABOUT STUFF LIKE THAT!" Pulling her to the front from the other shoulder, Aria forced Erika's attention to be on her instead.

"YEAH!" Pulling her back again, Mel yelled into the priestess's ears. "She's a dark elf and I'm fair with woodland elf ancestry, no way we're sisters!"

"YEAH! AS IF–"

"I…" Interjecting the quarrel between the two over Erika, Maria once again decided to break the conversation. "I think I know what Erika meant by sisters, why don't you two let go of her so I can shine some light on the situation?"

Glancing over to the ex-queen of Athenia, the two elves glared at her for a while, but then reminding themselves of the age difference between them and her, they wondered if she did in fact know something about the nonsense Erika had just uttered.

"There used to be a fair elf village near our kingdom when I was a young adult, it apparently got decimated by a dark elf clan," keeping her eyes to the front, Maria tried not to look at anyone as she spoke in a matter-of-fact manner. Rowing the boat again, she kept herself distracted from their gaze and continued with what she assumed must've happened. "Many elves fled into our kingdom mostly the fair, the dark ones were shooed away by my-then future husband. Every dark elf, except the kids or those still being cradled in the massacred wombs of fair-elven women."

Finally, looking back at the shocked faces of the elves, Maria held their gaze for a while, trying to notice any similarities between the two.

"Although, if my year count is right and you're both nineteen at this point…both of you must've already been born before that happened, maybe just before the massacre happened." As her explanation came to an inconclusive end, everyone turned their heads to Erika for more answers.

She was older than the rest of the orphans and had faint memories of the elves being taken in by the nuns. Being as young as she was, however, the only thing she truly remembered was seeing the two in a single basket and wrapped in a single white blanket.

"You're gonna tell us what you know or–" Right as Mel was about to grill Erika over the matter, the plank hit the bay and everyone who wasn't paying attention was sent bumping into the person in front.

Despite that, the elves would've never let that matter go–had it not been for soldiers marching up to their rowboat with their weapons. Spotting them charging in their direction, Raven used his mana-fused eyes to command everyone into action.

'Incoming, get ready!'

And so they did, unaware that those soldiers were their ticket straight to the island's queen.