Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 814: Tooth And Daggers

Tomorrow was the day–the day the heroes would finally make it to the other side. No longer trapped in this tower, they will be free to move and continue on with their journey. Even so, there was a whole night that was yet to pass. And while sleeping inside the tower wasn’t ideal, it made little sense to leave now since most of the night was already spent.

Keeping watch without being told to do so, Will-O sat high on a wooden column. Lying on a small piece of woollen fabric, she twisted and turned as her eyes grew weary from keeping watch. And yet, watching the door, she yawned and yawned without actually falling asleep. The last few days had been turbulent for the fairy; her body ached everywhere, and her mind was no less restless.

And so when the doorknob to the room creaked first, she did not realize it. It was only after a hooded man entered that she realized something was wrong. Hawk–eyed she watched as he approached the lines of beds on which the party members were sleeping. Covering her mouth, she flapped her wings and descended around the man’s body.

In doing so, she avoided being detected while at the same time noticing that he held a weapon. The same clover blade in each hand, and the smell of iron coming from his attire. There was little need to fear the man; he couldn’t do much against the heroes even when they were asleep. After all, a certain someone who didn’t require any sleep was always awake and keeping watch over the surroundings.

Getting closer and closer to the party, the man’s body split into duplicates. Each took his position above each member of the group, and with their blades held high, they looked at each to confirm that everyone was ready. Unfortunately for them, a swarm of spiders began crawling out of Raven’s bracelet.

At the start, it was a mere distraction, but the rate at which the spiders kept flooding the floor horrified the clones. Turning towards the door as the arachnids crawled up his pants, he tried to escape, but was met with a smiling fairy.

”Booo~” Huffed Will-O, and a gust of strong wind sent the man flying.

His body crashed against one of the beds, and in a matter of seconds, everyone was off their bed. Clenching their weapons and breathing offensive spells already, Raven and his group turned over to the unconscious man. His head had struck a corner of a bed, making him bleed all over the floor like a gushing fountain.

”One of the assassins, I saw a clover blade on him,” Willi-O shared, and as she did, everyone’s eyes turned to the only person who’d woken quite groggy.

”What’s with the racket?” Garcia yawned, her chainmail armor peeking out from the opened buttons of her white shirt.

Sitting upright, she covered her mouth to hide her yawn like a true lady. But the moment her eyes fell on the scene, the words that came out of her mouth were anything but ladylike.

”What the fuck happened?” Covering her mouth some more, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. However, as her eyes honed in on the clover blade as well as the attire worn by the assassin, she remembered something of great importance. ”Shit, that assassin...the one that came to kill me the night Ironheart came into my room!”

Looking up at Raven, she squeezed a fist by her anxious heart and panted.

”His attire matches his, and that blade I saw in Dealer’s head! It’s much cruder than mine, believe me, mine are made of silver and that’s definitely not silver!”

”How can you be so sure?” Erika asked out of curiosity, not doubt.

”Because,” reaching inside her chainmail, Garcia took a silver necklace out from between her breasts. ”The gambling houses use silver, not gold, to play games, and my family used to make those silver coins–just like this one.”

Holding in her hand what appeared to be a silver medallion with a family crest, Garcia climbed out of her bed. Reaching into her pocket next, she tossed Raven her once-blessed coin.

”I mean, just look at it yourself, I made that back when I was still learning to smelt, but even then the quality of work isn’t as abysmal as those blades.” A silverworker’s daughter turned into an elected official of the city thanks to her absurd luck and hard work. Rarely did she flaunt her family crest, and since Raven had already seen through her memories, he turned his attention to the assassin instead.

Walking over to the bleeding man, the hero got to his knees and placed a hand on the man’s shoulder. Closing his eyes, he tried to peer inside his head, but to his surprise, his head was empty, almost as if he lacked a mind altogether. However, the pool of blood around him proved otherwise. Then who was he, or rather, what was he?

Opening his eyes, Raven had his doubts, and so he turned the man’s face towards him and lifted his upper lip to get a better look at his teeth. Sure enough, the proof was there–a vampiric canine, sharp as a dagger and bloodthirsty.

”Vampire,” glancing over at Garcia from over his shoulders, he furrowed his brows. ”I think we found the culprit of those murders.”

”V-vampire? But...” Squinting hard, the elf grabbed her own head and tried to make sense of the situation. ”But the only vampire in the council is also a servant of Fortuna, why would they try to kill me then? And what about Justice Host? Why would she isolate herself surrounded by followers of Mesmerazia?!”

”Your goddess said it herself, didn’t she?” Taking a step forward, Amedith stood in front of the elf. ”She wants someone more eccentric as her chosen? What’s more erratic than a vampire going around and killing everyone?”

”No! She won’t do that! There’s no way that the Ditsy I know would do something so moronic!” Garcia protested, still trying to evade the truth that was staring right into her face. However, since without confronting the vampiress directly, no answer could be reached, Raven decided to put an end to this chase, that very moment and that very night.