Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 835: A Man Who Knew But No More

It was another day for the dragoness of watching her horde, nothing unusual until a dozen familiar faces decided to show up in her place. Standing before her with a commanding posture, Mel and Aria were the first to step up and start asking her questions about Nerva.

"Nexa Nuvia Nerva, have you heard that name before?" Mel asked, but the dragoness shook her head at once.

Stretching her arm forward, Aria tried to make her think for a while longer.

"Take your time and think. As far as we’re concerned, your previous master had some knowledge about dead gods and the sort, so maybe he mentioned it in passing or something like that?"

Rolling her eyes upwards, Gallaria crossed her legs and really tried to think. In her many years of servitude, she’d heard plenty, but whether or not any of it was related to a dead god called Nerva, she couldn’t exactly be sure. Her master Aran, secretive after all, and even though she was well aware of most of his skeletons, what he knew about gods, he kept to himself.

"Maybe he did mention something," turning in her chair, she extended her hand towards the safe of a thousand cursed arms. "But if that knowledge is somewhere hidden in this place, then it must be inside that thing–you’re free to step in, but only if you have my new master’s permission."

"Raven sent us so that’s covered, but..." Eyeing the other elf, Mel wasn’t so sure about stepping inside the cursed door. It had a pull of its own, trying to undo the person and incorporating them amongst its many curses. To be lost within that safe was to be lost forever in a limbo with no sense of self or memories, and that was a threat not to be taken on a whim with no possible way of knowing whether what they wanted was even in there.

"I’m not going in," Aria stepped back before her sister could even suggest it.

Turning around, Mel glanced across the others. Mercedes was already hiding behind everyone else; the twin of Mono had no idea what the whole deal was about, and yet the many hands were deterrent enough. The only person up front was Regalia, who already seemed to be deep in thought and thinking about her next step.

"Fine, I’ll do it." Taking a step forward, she closed her eyes and dug her nails into her palm to draw her blood. "Pull me out if I’m in there for too long."

Turning her blood into a rope that was connected to her wrist, she handed the other end to Melicia and kept walking towards the cursed door. The hands reached out to her, beckoning her in–as hungry as the devil of gluttony itself. Walking in through them, Regalia held close her connection to her patrons, and with their powers shielding her from the curse to a degree, she walked through the darkness that no nightvision could peer through.

For once in her life, her demi-human eyes were failing her. Not even her dreams were so dark, but then, as one of her patrons cleared a window in the dark, she saw the many wonders kept within the safe, and so did her patrons. They weren’t helping her, no reason after all, they too were curious about the treasure sealed within.

Small platforms of white marble lined nearly every other inch of the place, and yet not one could the demi-wolf touch for their time to leave this place hadn’t come yet. And so, moving through the dark with her vision slowly fading the deeper she went, Regalia noticed something glowing at the very end of the safe, and the siren song of its allure, she followed its call.

Getting weaker with every step, getting more drained of mental strength, she reached outward with a gasp and finally held the piece of paper in her hand. Taking it off the platform, she tried to run back to the entrance, but the moment she took a step away from the pedestal, the paper went right back in its place.

’Damn it all!’ Picking the paper up, she brought it closer to her eyes and inspected it. A few names were written on the sheet, with Murdok and Aphrodite being the main focus. The parents of the goddess of calamities, the sheet mentioned the tragic tale of Nerva’s stillbirth, but then it followed with the words. ’From nothing she came, and from her came nothing. In everything she is and everything is she. And whence comes the dawn on the marble that is Atlaris, to her we return, and that is everything and nothing.’

Glancing further down, Regalia noticed a few more words written separately from the rest.

’She wished to walk amongst her creations, but now that she is dead, she aches to be reunited, even if that means the death of her creations.’ The note from Aran shed more light on the mystery behind the motives of Nerva. A goddess who wished to walk amongst her mortal creation, once betrayed, now wants to be reunited, even if that reunion happens beyond the grave.

’How did this man figure it out?’ Regalia was puzzled by Aran’s knowledge of the topic, but upon looking around, she was reminded that this very man had somehow managed to become a demi-god. ’He must’ve studied these relics and found out about Nerva somehow.’

In the last few seconds that she remained in the safe, she couldn’t help but think about the mantle of heroes and the many such relics that could’ve easily helped him unravel the truth about their world. But then why did such a man limit himself by keeping relics here instead of using them to the best of their abilities? Alas, the answer was as simple as it was complex.

’He didn’t want their power, or maybe he was trying to hide the truth from his people.’ Before she could stumble on an answer, Regalia felt a tug around her arm and in a matter of a few seconds, she was yanked out of the safe...rather violently. Something, which she, of course, did not appreciate one bit.