Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 754: Missing In Action

It was a night like any other for Morgan Mansion. He was a lost man of god turned into a bandit. Days, weeks, and even months he stayed away from his family. Stealing from trains and the rich. With a gang, he ran to improve his chances of succeeding in his wrongdoings. But that night, after learning about his wife and daughter, they decided to keep him busy.

A day turned to two, and two into a whole week. In between his busy work, he often wondered how much more he needed before he could retire from such dangerous work. But the thought of his daughter and his pregnant wife dragged his mind right back to the dark place from where it had started. He couldn’t quit, for he had no other talent than slinging with a gun. Not to mention his father, an infamous outlaw who had now kissed the dirt, hadn’t left much for him to work with since his name and face were known all over.

From a young age, he was his trophy to flash around, and that same pride in himself and his son was what got him in the end. Shot dead by a bunch of policemen after a scuffle at a saloon over a game of cards. Trapped in that coffin of a house when the police came, he died next to his son, and being a young man, of course, Morgan was spared the worst, but still put in jail for a good few years.

But none of it mattered, for on that day it happened. He went back to his home and found the tragedy. Without a second thought, he shot the men dead and forced his broken daughter to join his already dead wife in death. And to that nightmare, he wakes to this day, and today was no different, except this time, he was surrounded by strangers instead of piles of the dead.

Looking around, his eyes focused for a moment on a strange woman holding his revolver. Inspecting the weapon closely, the woman seemed quite invested in its mechanism. But cutting her curiosity short, Morgan stretched his hand forward, and the weapon flew right back into his hand.

Aria and Mel quickly tried to disarm him again, but surprisingly enough, it was Mono–the curious woman who managed to strike the gun out of the man’s hand first. Not with her bare fist or legs, instead, it was a projectile fired from a rough replica of the revolver that was made in just a split second. Aperion had been working inside her body to replicate the revolver, and when it was done inspecting everything, Morgan gave her a chance to test out the replica.

"Close enough for now, minus the strange magic that accompanies the real one’s shot," Mono mumbled to herself as the man blankly stared at his right hand that had been shot off his body.

Devoid of all expression and dulled by the influence of his own mind, the very next thought that crossed him, despite having just been countered–was to bring the gun to his other hand. Catching it mid-air, however, Aria didn’t let it fall back into his hand.

"Just sit there, you idiot!" The dark elf screeched in his face.

"It’s almost like he’s tempting us to kill him..." Melicia complained further.

"Why don’t you then?" Mono asked, walking closer to the bloody mess that she’d created.

As the elves looked back to answer, something felt amiss in an instant. The weight in Aria’s hand was gone, along with the presence of the man who’d been sitting in front of them just then. But as they looked back around, they found that he was gone. Not a trace left of him or his broken hand, just the blood on the ground had remained.

"Where in the–"

"I thought you restricted his magic!" While Aria stared at the empty spot, Mel turned her head again and looked at Mono. "How the hell did he disappear without mana?!"

"How would I know?" Being a hundred percent certain that she’d disarmed his magic, Mono had no clue how Morgan still managed to use his disappearing ability. But as he was now gone, they had no time to sit around each other and unravel that mystery. Thus, quickly rearranging their thoughts, the elves went for Raven, while Mono ventured out all on her own.

The elves quickly ran into Raven, who was just heading in their direction to question the killer himself. Mono, on the other hand, turned her gaze to the forest, and since she didn’t have to worry about the safety of others, she made her way into the only place the man could’ve gone. Though initially, she thought that she was alone, having been noticed by Erika, she was quickly being followed by the shepherds.

Aradin and the rest had noticed her coming out of the tent as well, but before they could make their move, they were met with Mercedes and the Twin just waiting outside their wagon.

"You have a pregnant woman with you, just stay in!" Complained the merchant, her eyes glaring at Aradin.

She envied him quite a bit for having a relatively normal life, and having to stay by the wagon to keep a watch on his crew was slowly killing her from the inside. But the worst hand wasn’t even dealt to her, and although she knew that fact, every time her eyes turned to the tent that was once shared by Hilma and her nephew, Mercedes still couldn’t help but interject herself in the matter.

’You’re still alive, woman, and that boy of yours was nothing but trouble. Good riddance, really.’ As coarse as ever. She may have been punished quite a bit, but the stone heart of a greedy merchant wouldn’t leave her side. ’Whatever, it seems like we have more trouble. Let’s see what this is about.’

A missing prisoner, a queen who’d gone after him, as well as the uncertainty about him still lurking about. It seems the more time was given to the enemy to prepare for the coming war, the worse the situation at hand. Thus, tired of waiting and degrading the strength of his army, Raven finally gave the command to trample the forest with a stern, and for some, the final march of their lives.