Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 744: A Helping Hand - Part 1

Another day had passed, and the army was struggling. The poison had settled for the most part, and the sickness lingered quite a bit. Even so, with no choice but to move forward, Regalia readied the men and the women with harsh words that felt like a lash to get them on their feet. The holy order and the elves, on the other hand, did much better. For one, the elves were unaffected by the poison, and the holy order had been wandering the town trying to win the hearts of the people when the poisoning happened.

Only a handful in the order were affected, and given their affinity for divine powers as well as the blessings on their armor, they had recovered quickly. Unfortunately for the rest, this war would be tougher than expected. And right before Raven was about to give the order to march outward, Melenai sent a servant to get the hero and his companions to Mei’s main workshop.

Not wanting to waste any time, they made their way over there swiftly and as soon as they arrived, the legless woman moved in front of a table on which she’d laid down the forged equipment. Smiling, she beckoned Amedith first, and as he stepped forward, she turned around on her floating gloves and picked up a sword with numerous small insignias.

"Your blood and your character determines the enchantment of these equipments, and so..." Holding the blade towards Amedith, the Caladrius smiled. "I was quite surprised when this weapon gained such a peculiar ability."

"What is it?" He asked, taking the sword from Meimei’s hands.

Before she could answer, however, the silver blade itself made a ringing noise. Looking down on it, Amedith watched as the insignia burned with a bright white light, and that’s when he felt a new ability making its way into his list of numerous skills. A bit confused, he closed his eyes and quickly checked what had happened through his internal stat screen.

’The Judge And The Executioner.’ A new skill had made its way into his stats, and to his further surprise, it didn’t just affect his enemy but also him. ’Hmm...’

Opening his eyes, he turned around to meet the curious gaze of his party members. Taking just a moment to digest everything himself first, the magus took a deep breath and explained.

"Seems like I can question people, and if they lie to me, this blade will easily kill them, but there’s a problem." Biting the insides of his cheeks, his eyes lowered to the weapon yet again. "I can’t lie to the enemy either when I use this skill, and if I try to kill someone innocent, even if they’re lying to me, the blade will kill me as well."

"Too risky," Raven concluded, and with a nod, Amedith affirmed the assessment.

Not only could the blade kill him, but if an enemy was asked a question, they were also given a chance to ask something to Amedith. And since he couldn’t lie, since it would kill him as well, too much critical information could fall into the hands of the enemy.

"I told you it’s a peculiar skill," speaking up again. Meimei turned around to the table once more, "I call it the sword of judgment, but you’re free to call it whatever you’d like. Anyways, time for another person to get their shiny new toy, ehehe~"

Excited to show off her creations, Mei lifted a floral earring with a tulip tip with her astral hands. Turning around, she eyed the only fair elf of the party and beckoned her closer. A bit unsure for some reason, Mel looked around–even stared at Melenai and Flitza for a bit.

’Is there any point in taking these equipment when they seem to have drawbacks?’ Prematurely assuming the worst, she shook her head, not expecting much while approaching Mei. For a brief moment, her eyes landed on Reina, who had been standing by the forge working on something. The ding of her hammer was giving her a headache, and if her equipment had a drawback as well, then dealing with all the annoyance would’ve been for nothing.

"Alright, let’s see," taking the earring in her hand, Mel quickly took off the dark scale earrings that she’d used against Aran’s army long ago, "Well, they’re not that heavy at least."

Putting the equipment on, she quickly closed her eyes and skimmed through her list of skills. At the very end, she found a new ability–temporary, of course, and only there thanks to her currently wearing the earrings.

"Natura’s Blessing..." Opening her eyes, she squinted at the blacksmith. "That’s it? A blessing by someone I don’t even know."

"Natura?" Popping out of Liliyana’s hair, Will-O almost spilt the beans by speaking up without realizing it. "I didn’t know mother still gave blessings."

"Mother?" Mel asked, swiftly turning to face the fairy.

"Oh..." Looking around wide-eyed, the fairy covered her mouth and floated still. "N-nothing!"

"You know something, don’t you?" With a frown on her face, Mel stepped forward and tried to draw out more information from the fairy. But quickly retreating back into Liliyana’s hair, Will-O hid from the curious elf.

And while Raven had a very good idea as to who that could be, he decided to keep his mouth shut. Umbra didn’t want her presence to be known to the goddess or anyone else, for that matter; thus, the fairy mother of nature, as well as fair elves, would probably prefer to keep her identity a secret as well.

"Next!" Mei called, and with that, the matter came to a halt.

However, Mel was no stranger to the tales from her ancestors. Born from a shared connection with the fae, she, too, had an idea that whoever Natura was, must’ve been a fairy or at least a deity of some kind whose descendants became the fair elves. Even so, much like the mystery of the poisoner, all she had was speculation and no concrete answers.

Thus, the next person stepped up to accept their equipment, and that would be Aria.