Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

While Raven and Monty were busy mingling back at the mansion, the others left at the nameless inn had their own struggles to get through. Being informed of their parentage must've finally settled their heart and yet the only thing it had managed to do was rouse a fire that had nearly extinguished.

However, the worst of it was not felt by the people suffering through those tides of emotions, instead, it was those on whom rested the grim silence. Moxy, she knew how things were and the direness of the situation. Everyone had their woes and being surrounded by it, she too could feel a strange pressure bogging her emotions.

Laying in bed and flopping around, she couldn't fall asleep no matter how much she tried, it was almost as if a phantom was closing in on her yet the hands of which she could only sense and not see at all. Growing uneasy from feeling such a way, she sat upright on the bed and looked to the other side of the room where Choux was sleeping soundly.

'I guess she's used to loss, poor thing…' The mere fact that the heaviness didn't affect her at all was quite concerning, but to think she was but a child in one way or the other, made her suffering seem eternally worse. 'I feel so out of place here.' Explore more stories at empire

Suffering in her own way, Moxy decided to take a walk through the corridor and perhaps clean up her head on the balcony later. Slipping out of bed without making a sound, she walked up to the door and quickly moved out. However, right as she was locking the door from the outside the merchant who'd just returned from her meeting with the revolutionaries bumped into her side.

Quickly taking a step away while Moxy straightened herself, Mercedes squinted her eyes to properly look at the fox girl in the dark. Her fae vision not as vibrant as those with fae blood, she didn't see the young girl in the corridor as she walked into her.

"Going somewhere this late?" She asked, brushing right past her abruptly bumping into her.

Her vision sharp and focused on the merchant, Moxy couldn't help but wonder where she was coming from this late of an hour? Yet having no intentions to push her for the matter, she simply rolled her eyes and decided to answer.

"I just wanted to get some fresh air, it's stuffy in that room," the moment those words left her lips, the clatter of something downstairs alerted the demi-human ears.

Mercedes turned to the sound as well, but before the two had a chance to even question the matter, the groaning sound from the old owner settled their sudden burst of restlessness.

'F-fuck…that freaked me out for a moment, it's just the owner nobody else, right?' Although still doubtful, Moxy accepted that explanation for the time being–at least until Mercedes turned back to face her and started walking towards her room without another word.

Letting the woman go, the fox-girl still anxious from the noise cautiously made her way downstairs. Upon descending the first few steps alone, she noticed from under the floor, Baba looking up at her from the foot of the staircase.

"I-is something wrong?" She asked, but the old woman instead of saying anything simply gestured to the fox-girl to follow her.

Leading the young girl away from the hallway and into the kitchen, the old woman stood waiting until Moxy was behind her. The moment her footsteps stopped, Baba turned around and looked at her up and down before finally speaking.

"You guys are adventurers, correct?" She asked, caressing her chin with her right hand.

A visible frown took over Moxy, she wasn't sure where the questions were leading, but even so seeing no real problem with revealing the nature of the party she told Baba everything that the party stood for. From culling the corrupted to their ultimate goal of defeating the demon king, learning of it all, the woman remained stoned face all the way until there was nothing for Moxy to say and an awkward silence loomed between the two.

"I doubt I'll be alive to see you succeed but will you still accept this old woman's plea for help?" Suddenly the fox-girl's shoulders grew heavy, it was almost as if a weight twice her own had been placed on her shoulders.

"W-what is it?" She asked, her eyes wincing and her heart pounding in anticipation.

The woman smiled in response and held her words for a bit, a chuckle could be heard from behind those sealed lips, and the moment the silence was broken a storm took over Moxy's head.

"I want you to kill that merchant, I'll give you everything in return, this place, its deeds and all the gold I've saved throughout my life. I'll give it to you right now if you promise to get rid of that girl before she succeeds in whatever dark intentions that she has for our city."

Stunned beyond comprehension, Moxy's mind froze in place. Her lips quivered and jumbled out nonsense as her body awkwardly twitched here and there. To kill a person, a bounty–she'd never been asked of such a thing, after all, she was neither an adventurer nor a soldier, and to kill another humanoid, well that–was miles apart from gutting a fish in the kitchen.

"I–uhm…I'm not an adventurer, I'm just their chef, I guess?"

"Then have them do it, I'll pay," the old woman reassured, leaving her speechless.

'Why does she want her dead?!' Freaking out internally not knowing what Baba knew, Moxy couldn't open her mouth much less give the old woman an answer.

Moments after their conversation, she was back in her room contemplating what to do, all the while the rest of the party members were finally sound asleep in their beds. Dreaming about a life with their parents that they themselves never got to see, every one of them was much happier at the end of the night than the anxious fox-girl rolling in her bed.

War, conflict and battles, that night one fact became very clear to Moxy–she wasn't meant for battle, much less travel with a group that was often faced with such mortal perils.

'I…I guess I'll talk to Raven about it when he returns?' With that thought, she continued to struggle to fall asleep, and even as morning approached she hadn't had a lick of sleep.

Too bad for her, even when she wakes up–Raven would be busy handling the girls at Athenia and getting the princess and Robin to join in their mission to infiltrate the castle of royals up above the mountains.