Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 912: Kleismeth’s Plan

”Am I to understand that the goddess wanted an audience to make some sort of deal?” Still in disbelief from what he was hearing, Raven narrowed his brows and stared at Moeria sitting in front of him. Still struggling with a constant stream of thoughts and migraine inside Mono’s body, the otherworlder could barely look up at him without drawing a headache. ”But since The Madam showed up, it ruined her plans, and instead of explaining, she decided to try to kill her. Why would she do that? To ruin her only chance to bond in good faith? This just doesn’t make sense to me.”

”She–” Feeling another headache as soon as she opened her mouth, Moeria pressed a hand to her forehead and squinted hard. ”Tsk...No wonder that girl got rid of her body. What is this constant migraine and problem-solving?! Just let me not think for once, you damned body!”

”Gods, just talk, Moeria!” Helga complained, slapping Moeria’s arm from the side.

Their brief commotion at the helm had brought the attention of the gathered soldiers, including Regalia and Reina, both of whom were supposed to focus on getting the ships to the bay area. And with the war preparations already underway, any distraction, no matter how small, couldn’t be taken lightly–especially not from someone who could potentially peer into the future.

”A-alright,” swallowing her ache, Moeria glanced up at Raven and began her explanation again. ”I saw that Kleismeth wanted to strike a deal with you, but her attacking the Envoy is essentially her backup plan to get you to her!”

”She expects me to strike a deal with her after she has tried to kill Valentina?”

Shaking her head to the question, Moeria corrected the hero.

”She’s the goddess of foresight. Of course, she must’ve known that Valentina wouldn’t die, or even if she did, there must be something that she has to offer that would make you reconsider this war against her followers.”

”Sounds like another arrogant god trying to jerk us around,” Helga muttered under her breath.

Eyeing her from the edge of his eyes, Raven couldn’t have agreed more with her words.

”How did you even come to this conclusion, Moeria?” He asked, looking into the seer’s eyes again.

Taking a moment to gather herself amidst the mental storm raging inside her new body, Moeria smacked her lips and wet them with her tongue before speaking.

”The god of creation is absent. Meaning he is either neglectful or preparing for a greater threat than us–” Looking at Helga, she added. ”The holy war, I believe it must have rattled the council–the exact reason why Kleismeth wants to defect onto our side, and Oruon is busy with no care for his city. Asmareth is dead, and two of their goddesses are already working with us. The one who died was killed by his own people, while the ones still living are allied by whom the council considers their enemy. If I were in Kleismeth’s shoes, I would’ve used a different strategy, but allied with us all the same. It’s more sound than staying true to an already lethal council.”

”Still, that doesn’t explain why she tried to kill Valentina. That attack strikes off any chance she had to form an alliance with us.” Raven’s question echoed in every present mind. None of them could come up with an answer; however, Moeria already had enough data to conclude the reason for the change in Kleismeth’s plan.

Reaching out, she grabbed Raven’s hand and gave it a tight squeeze. Looking at him narrow in the eye, she prayed that he would believe what she had to say.

”She wants you to kill her...”

A deafening silence descended on the helm. Nobody had known what to expect, but a death wish by a goddess was far from the realm of possibilities–at least in their heads. However, with confusion apparent on everyone’s faces, Moeria presented the last piece of the puzzle to make everything fall into place.

”Obviously, she doesn’t want you to erase her from existence. No, she wants to die to get the council off her back.” Reaching into her pockets, the seer produced a small piece of parchment and held it towards the general. ”Here, I wrote it down in brief broken sentences for it to make more sense.”

Eyeing the parchment without taking it, Raven read it from a distance. The letter detailed, albeit in brief broken sentences, how Kleismeth wished to be perceived as dead by the council gods. After all, if she were dead and the gods assumed that her soul was crushed as well, then not only would they not waste any efforts in trying to find her, but they also wouldn’t know that a god that can peer into the future with even greater ease and precision than Athenia was on the Hero’s side. A dead god would get her alliance with the chosen hero, and the hero would get a goddess who could warn him of potential harm.

”She wants to be on the winning side, and right now, all clues point her to us,” Moeria concluded, feeling a wave of relief wash over her now that she no longer had to continue explaining herself.

In silent contemplation, the whole crew spent a few minutes of their time. Only the humming of the trident under their feet could be heard, that is, until Raven decided to speak up with a rather stern decision.

”If she is willing to desert the council gods, then, given the opportunity, she will desert us as well,” dismissively waving his hand at Moeria, Raven washed away his interest in forming any form of alliance with Kleismeth. ”A goddess who can’t pick a side and lashes us by almost killing one of our people. I say, we’d be doing both sides a favor by killing her and putting an end to her career as an oracle.”

”W-what?!” Baffled by the decision, Moeria quickly stood up and tried to grab Raven’s hand. ”But with her, I can use my foresight to predict almost anything! Sure, Athenia can help me do the same, but it cannot be compared to the goddess of foresight herself!”

”Moeria, enough,” gently pushing Moeria’s hand away from Raven, Helga sat her back in her chair. Watching Raven walking away from the helm, the seer was shocked at the short-sighted decision that the general had made. ”You’re good with predications, but I trust Raven to be a better judge of character.”

Placing a hand on her shoulder, Helga gave it a firm squeeze. Looking up at the valkyrie with just as confused a look as before, the seer wondered why they couldn’t deal with any potential problems that Kleismeth might present after the alliance at a later time. The situation at hand took precedence after all.

”I can predict any desertion from her if my mind’s connected to her, you know?” Still trying to present her case, Moeria kept talking to Helga for a while. Explaining how she could deter any later issues and why getting Kleismeth on their side was for the greater good.

Alas, the valkyrie wasn’t too fond of gods, and thus allying with another already dubious one was out of the question for her.

”Just focus on settling into this new body for now. We have a nest to raid after we’d handle the situation in this kingdom, or have you forgotten why we got you this body in the first place?” Reminding the seer of their mission to invade Nerva’s nest, Helga eventually dragged her back from her dreams of grandeur.

Moeria–the seer, a girl who loved idols and could see into the future. She was many things, but patient wasn’t one of them–thus, she was assigned not to some laymen but the Valkryie, who was known for dragging her missions into torturous wars just so she could torture her victims a little longer.

”We’re landing on Alliance in ten minutes!” The echoes of Regalia’s voice drifting through the wind drafts snapped both the valkyrie and the seer out of their minds. There was no time to waste mulling over the past or the future, but instead to... ”Prepare for the fight of your lives, you bumbling morons! We’re killing a god today or tonight!”

Thus began the war on Alliance with soldiers raining down on land alongside winged angels, both corrupted and otherwise.