Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 877: One Of A Kind - Part 2

Upon their arrival at the guest room section of the mansion, Brenna met the group led by Maria at the door. Her hand was gripping her belly tight while sweat trailed down every inch of her body. With lidded eyes and a gasping pair of lips, she looked at Raven for a spell before turning her attention back on Maria. Grabbing the woman by the shoulder, she wheezed through her words.

”S-stay here! I told you not to call him or anyone yet…”

”Whatʼs going on–” Raising a hand as Raven tried to provide support with his hand, Brenna took a step back and leaned against the roomʼs door. ”Brenna, whatʼs happening? Are you okay?”

Lifting her gaze, the herbalist stared at Raven, her chest swelling from her rapid, sharp breaths. Pushing her hand on the wall behind her, Brenna supported herself. With a sickly exhale that was let out with a tremble, she pressed back against the wall and tried to explain.

”Nobody-nobody goes in,” swallowing what little saliva had left in her dry mouth, Brenna licked her lips and continued. ”Let me handle this.”

”Let you handle what?” Asked Mel, her eyes growing narrow with concern.

”Let me look at you at the very least,” taking a step forward, Erika stretched her hand towards Brenna while adjusting her magical glasses on her nose. ”I donʼt have to touch you, so donʼt worry, let me jus–”

As her aura wrapped around Brennaʼs body, Erika froze in her tracks. The signs of another life were apparent in the womanʼs body, but the moment her aura had wrapped around the lower ends of her belly, what she felt had dropped her heart. Frozen still as an idol, the priestessʼs gaze was buried deep into the herbalistʼs skin. Her heart had already skipped many beats, and her lungs were burning as sheʼd forgotten to breathe.

Grabbing her arm from the back, Raven forced Erika to turn back and look at him. Staring into the priestessʼs eyes with a narrowing, commanding look, he squeezed her arm.

”Tell me, what is going on!”

Doubts and hesitation flashed by the priestessʼs trembling gaze, but out of sheer rigidity of the situation, Erikaʼs lips parted and gave way for the haunting words.

”Miscarriage… presumably all of them.” Her eyes blinked, then stared through the veils of reality, trying to find some refuge in the darkness of oneʼs own mortal coil. ”H-how?”

As her eyes turned back to Brenna, the rest struggled to follow what sheʼd just said. Struggling with the ache of what had happened–not just to her but everyone–absolutely everyone else, the herbalist turned her gaze away from the crowd, and while staring at the ground, she said.

”Diane, Lana, Rose, Tanya, Aura, and the others…” Slowly lifting her head, she set her gaze on Raven. ”I had a dream–we all did–that goddess said that there could only be one of her sons, and then we woke up… and there was blood everywhere. The girls sought me out, and I tried to help, but nothing worked. Even Viola… hers was the worst as she was much further along.”

Breaking eye contact with Brenna, Raven turned his head around as anxiety gripped his heart from within. Looking around rampantly and squeezing his eyelids shut hard as if trying to force himself to wake up from a nightmare, he kept shaking his head and tried to make sense of what heʼd heard.

”N-no now way,” breathing heavily, he looked up at Brenna once more. ”All of them?”

His face contorted with apparent grief nearly edging him to the brink of tears. Taking a deep breath as Brenna stared back at him with a blank look and no words, Raven closed his eyes and pressed his lips shut. Feeling for a shoulder, he grabbed onto Mel, and although the elf herself was shaken by the news, Melicia grabbed him by his arm and kept him standing as he leaned into her.

Even through the clothes, she could feel his heart pounding like a drum. It rang in her ears louder than anything sheʼd ever heard. In the haunting quiet of the moment, everyone was struggling with the grim realization within their own minds. For if even one of them spoke the truth that theyʼd found, what was left of their spirit after yesterday wouldʼve shattered entirely–leaving nobody to go against that wretched goddess.

”Just go for now…” Grabbing the doorʼs handle behind her, Brenna turned her gaze away from them all. ”Some things are better left to us women, okay? You donʼt wanna talk to them yet. Maybe later, just not now.”

Opening the door, Brenna struggled to walk but managed to get inside without any help. As the door locked behind her, the rest of the group was still left reeling from shock. How it mustʼve affected the girls–especially Viola… The thought plagued Raven, but even though he was standing in front of their room–right now, at that moment, there wasnʼt anything that he could do.

Dropping to the ground, he sat there in the middle of the corridor feeling lost. A minute or two later, Lady Gray went inside the room with but a few words.

”Youʼre young, but first kill that witch who did this to the mother of your children, and to your children themselves.” Her anger was masked by her years of experience in dealing with miscarriages and other woes. And although her words were of comfort, they also gave direction to the heroʼs rage.

”HAA!” Grunting out loud, Raven gritted his teeth and punched the ground. The tile shattered under his fist, and as his head lifted, he screamed. ”IʼM COMING FOR YOU, NERVA! YOU COWARDLY WHORE!”

His voice rumbled throughout the mansion, making the hair on everyoneʼs back stand on end with a cold shiver running up their spine. Trying to contain his anger and his sorrow, Raven decided to leave the mansion for the night despite numerous insistent requests from his group for him to stay or at least let them accompany them.

In the end, however, the hero went alone. Both to scream his heart out and slaughter some of Nervaʼs true children–the horrors.