Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 515: Nothing Is Free

While the hero’s party was busy ransacking through Mercedes’s room, the merchant was sitting across the very lord that her demi-human customers were about to steal from that very night. Smiling at the man with a glass of wine in her hand, she chuckled and laughed at the duke’s jokes, all the while the screams of the winged women–one of the leaders of the revolutionaries that had been tailing Mercedes, bled out from the next room over.

”Fantastic work girl, I can’t dare imagine what would’ve happened if you hadn’t informed me of these pests conspiring behind my back,” content with the merchant’s service, the man leaned forward in his chair with his wine glass held towards Mercedes for a toss. ”But then again, I suppose you want something out of this situation, don’t you? Wouldn’t be a wise move by a war merchant to defuse the situation otherwise.”

Smiling back at him, Mercedes tossed his glass and down the rest of the wine in a single gulp. Allowing the fizz to burn her throat, then her heart and her belly, she chuckled all bubbly before looking into his eyes.

”You’re a smart man, Lord Viscount. Of course, I desire appropriate payment,” resting the empty glass on the table, Mercedes continued to smile. ”But how about we wait until we’ve concluded this ordeal? I need to be with the middleman who shall take the bombs to their hideout soon.”

A scowl flashes across Viscount’s face, he didn’t expect the woman to continue with her deal with the demi-humans and the beasts. Curious the man crossed his legs and with a hand supporting his chin, he signalled her for an explanation with his free hand.

The smile turned to a smirk and the merchant began unraveling what she had in her mind all along. Even so, keeping her patron’s desires a secret she only told the duke what he needed to hear. Money was to be made on both sides and now that she had her payment, any survivors from the demi humans or beastmen were bound to chase after her for her betrayal. To prevent that, she had a request–one the duke was more than happy to fulfil.

”Allow them to use the bombs so that my part of the deal remains clear, but keep your guards ready and if you require so I’ll provide you with weaponry or maybe even rig the bombs they intend to close the tunnel with to not go off at all,” although her idea wasn’t free of risk, Viscount wasn’t entirely against it. He had his own reasons, of course, demi human and beast women were right up his pallet and the men could be used as slave labor in his more shady dealing that took place underground.

”You have a deal,” he said with his hand extended.

Shaking it without a second’s delay, Mercedes was off on her way to get back to her shop. The cries of the winged women had died down, and that silence put a smile on her face as she left, even though she knew that the woman was far too pretty to be put down.

’Consider her body a gift from me, Duke. It might just be the last woman you ever get the chance to fuck, who knows really? Ahaha~’ Like a fairy of dark, the merchant’s heart was getting giddy at the thought. Not only had she sabotaged the demi human’s plans but also set up the lord of Lululalia for failure. But before she could celebrate she had something much more important to do, and for that she quickly slipped into her carriage and made herself throw up the wine. ’T-that bastard…if only he knew what he was guzzling.’

Laughing yet again all alone inside of her carriage, she smiled at the memory of her slipping a slow poison in both of their glasses. Why both and not just his? Well, that question led to the nature of her patron.

The bloodfed fairy, she loved to taste blood and even now as Mercedes was throwing up the wine–the mere thought of the side effect, the patched and bloody throat, the aching belly and bloodied gums, was making her giggle behind the merchant’s eyes. An offering of sorts by Mercedes, one that her patron rewarded her for often. Enjoy exclusive adventures from empire

However, with the effects of the poison not yet surfacing, Mercedes rode back to the nameless inn hoping to get the chest full of bombs to transport to the hideout. Most of the equipment she had already sold to the man who’d been coming over to her shop every night, but the bombs being much much heavier and risky to transport, she was supposed to bring them as close to the cave in the mountain wall as possible.

Upon arriving at the inn, she was far too consumed by bloodlust to notice the hint of other people’s presence inside her room. Collecting the chest with the bombs tucked tight with foam and straws she struggled to get it down the steps, even nearly fell over face first but with the help of her fae magic, managed to keep herself on foot.

Loading the heavy box on her carriage, she was off in broad daylight–expecting none to notice what she was doing since the box lay inside the carriage alongside a bundle of other merchandise. To further mask her intentions, she tries to peddle the items in the local market to vendors and once her alibi was settled, she slipped away and rode her way to the cliffside.

There without meeting with anyone, she simply left it masked with a rag and then loaded a bunch of trash on top. Making sure the pile looked like nothing but garbage she finally left the spot. Unbeknownst to her, however, that box that should’ve been filled with bombs had nothing but disappointment to compensate for its weight. Raven and his party had already taken care of it and had she not been so hasty perhaps she would’ve noticed and stopped to find out more about it at the inn itself.

With no way of knowing that and her mind clouded with dreams of bloodshed, she returned to her room still dreaming of the profits and the offering she would soon present to her patron who was unknowingly giggling at the back of the merchant’s head.

As for Raven and his party, they still had one task left, talking to the duke and bringing an end to this charade.