Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

"We should get the preparations ready," said Melicia to Raven, wearing the same mocking smile.

Glancing over to her as well, the mage let down his hands and began walking towards his party member. He\'d wasted enough time in the castle, it was nearly halfway through the afternoon, and his plans to spend some time with his ladies had been squashed by the mess created by royals and royalty.

Now focused more on this revenge by proxy, Raven decided to push other plans for a later time–especially the visit to the maze with Lana, and preparations to move out of Athenia and into the ocean dark.

\'Linkle–I need to check on her too when I get the chance.\' With so many moving parts, even Raven who was usually strategically astute and efficient needed some time to let the information settle inside his head before he could do anything with it.

"We should catch up with the others, and tell them what\'s happening," Raven advised, and Melicia quickly followed with Maria being dragged along in tow.

However, telling the elf to let go of the collar, Raven kept the queen\'s dethroning a secret for now as it would only be revealed once the wedding night was going on. Masking Maria with some plain clothes they could find with Viola\'s help in the castle, the duo made their way out of the palace with Maria looking like a maid following them around.

"Ughh…this is so," looking down at her dusty clothes, an unappealing shade of brown and black, Maria was far from pleased but she no longer had a choice. "So embarrassing…I\'d rather be dead than seen like this."

"You should be glad you\'re not, \'cause Markus would\'ve done exactly that if it wasn\'t for your son telling him otherwise," Raven responded, making the ex-queen scowl.

But that was the extent of her retort as the rest of her arrogant spirit had completely been broken. Following without another complaint, she was taken to the boartooth for the very first time. She hadn\'t been to the lower city ever since she was married to the late king, and then too, her journey through the place had been extremely brief.

The loss of wealth and structure as she descended the Athenian architecture that sloped downwards, made her heart cease as she smelled for the first time on foot–the disease of poverty. To her diamonds and jewelry were mere stones of curiosity, but even one ring from her fingers from yesterday could\'ve changed the lives of plenty in the lower city.

\'This place is so dusty…\' Covering her mouth, she tried not to cough as it would get Raven\'s attention back on her. But no matter how much she tried to hold back, the moment she stepped into the ale-reeking interior of the boartooth, her throat began to burn and a fit of coughs just flooded out.

Thanks to her, everyone in the inn turned to look at the trio as they entered. It was Raven and Melicia which wasn\'t much strange of a sight, but even behind that mask of modesty, nobody was fooled because of Maria\'s amber eyes. Like a blazing stone, they looked–burning and bright.

"The queen?" Breathed an adventurer, getting even those who haven\'t noticed to gasp with realization. "The bitch queen…"

His expression soured, and his bottle of beer came crashing down on the table. A clatter of stomps, shattering of glass, and grunts of anger–all echoed in that confident space, and the situation was only held back by Raven\'s presence.

They knew him well, and they knew they couldn\'t handle him, but more than that, the adventurers respected him in a way that the late-night and early-morning drunks would never be able to comprehend.

"Why did you bring her here? To take away what little peace she has left for us?" Barked a dwarf, one of the many that Raven used to get drunk with.

"This is stupid," getting out of her chair, a pair of bark-skin demi-druid twins began moving closer to the queen. Both the girls had a fierce look in their eyes, almost as if they intended to poke her eyes in. "Was taking our fathers and our land away for your army wasn\'t enough?! You wanna take this place too?!"

The duo threw a punch towards the queen, and Maria went flinching into Raven\'s arms. But before the punch could hit and even Raven could do anything, a howling scream from the kitchen made everyone\'s hair stand on the ends.

"ENOUGHHHH!!" With voice came footsteps, hefty enough to shake the very structure of the building. Like a giant moving mountain, Dune Boartooth arrived from the kitchen–knife in hand and his body blood-soaked from having just butchered a pigling for meat.

As tall as an orc, and even more burly, there was nobody in that hall more menacing, especially with his silver fur soaked in fresh blood.

"ANOTHER WORD FROM YOU HONKERS AND I\'LL SKEWER YOUR LIVES AND FEED THEM TO THE OTHERS!" And his threat was the end of it, nobody dared to piss him off more than he already was.

However, when Dune\'s eyes lay on Maria himself, they expected him to freak out just like them, but instead, the man turned his gaze to Raven.

"IS SHE WITH YOU!?" Although not as intimidated as the rest, Raven responded only with a nod. Leaning closer, Dune growled like a wolf threatening an opponent, but then slowly backed off, he kept glaring at Raven. "My daughter likes you, or else you\'d be mince for bringing a royal in here!"

Turning around, the menace left, leaving everyone behind him in an awkward looming silence.

"Ca-can we get a room already?" Maria begged, her hand squeezing Raven\'s arm.

She knew she wasn\'t liked, and the fear from it was enough to give her a heart attack.

"We probably should get to our room, yeah…" Raven replied and the trio made their way directly to their room.

Although things might seem to have settled, as the group would arrive in Raven\'s room, a surprise was already waiting for them. Erika and Asmodia, both were waiting inside with Tanya laying on the bed–since neither wanted to leave her at her house after everything that had happened.