Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 898: A Clash Of Minds - Part 1

Upon her return to Elenaris, Mono and Ditsy appeared before the waiting guests. However, only one of them remained visible after the light of the teleporting spell had dissipated. Using one of her many copied skills, the queen had turned her body invisible–a trait of the chameleon folks of Elenaris living close to the ocean’s bay.

A bit confused after only seeing Ditsy appearing before them, Raven narrowed his eyes and used his mana-fused eye to see right through Mono’s little play. Moving around the hologram of Moeria’s body, she was scanning the otherworlder. All the while, only Helga and Raven were aware of her actions, and the rest–Ditsy and Grace were looking around with utter confusion.

"Mono..." Turning around, Helga crossed her arms and simply glared at the invisible queen. "Will you stop with these games? We’ve come here for something important."

Coming out of her invisibility, the queen tried grabbing Moeria’s hand from behind, but as her fingers slipped through the hologram, she facepalmed and whispered.

"It’s a hologram, you idiot." Hearing her voice, Moeria took a step forward and turned around. Waving at the otherworlder, the queen greeted her with only half a smile. "From Gaia, I presume? Here’s I, Mono Aurarelia, ready to hear what news you’ve brought of my parents’ words."

"Never thought Clementine and Luis would ever make a kid, but here we are, I suppose..." Giving Mono a scrutinizing glance from head to toe, it didn’t take long for Moeria to figure out that Mono’s biological body had most likely perished. As her gaze lifted back to the queen’s face, she caught a hint of confusion reflected in her face. "What?"

"How do you know their names?" All expressions dropped from the queen’s face, and suddenly her right arm opened into tubes of tentacle-like appendages. Squirming in the air with electricity crackling from them, Mono had them pointed at Moeria’s face. "Tsk... Can’t hurt you in that form. Just tell me what you know about them and finally, why the hell did they abandon me into that monster’s arms!"

Though her heart still held love for her parents, her abandonment in the arms of Auraro–her backstabbing mentor–rivaled that love, just barely enough to draw hate.

"Alright, let’s try not to murder one another?" Stepping in front of the queen, Raven grabbed the end of his mantle and lifted it to hide Moeria behind him. Looking straight ahead at Mono at the same time, he squinted and asked. "Mono, we’ve had our differences, but I think at this point you’ve learned enough not to repeat your past mistakes with hasty decisions. Put your weapon down, and Helga will explain everything. Then, you can ask her anything you want about your parents."

Her eyes lingered on the hero for a bit, but as memory held, she had never truly had the upper hand when Raven was her verbal opponent. Others would back down and let her do whatever; perhaps his not giving her an inch to force her way through was the only reason she hadn’t become the human-first tyrant or had succumbed to a miserable fate in the fight against herself from another world.

Thus, with a click of the tongue, she merged the appendages into a metallic arm again. Shifting her gaze to Helga, the queen drew a deep breath.

"Fine, Grace, lead the guests to our courtyard and bring some tea. I feel like this conversation will take a while."

With a nod, her creation took the step in leading the group outside the castle. Following her, everyone, with the exception of Mono, made their way to a gazebo made entirely for such long conversations. In the meantime, Mono–knowing that she may lash out again–decided to do a quick change of bodies before showing up at the meeting.

In her room, she transferred her consciousness to a model reflecting her original body as a human. Long and curly blue hair flowed down her back, and a few loose strands tickled her rosy cheeks. Looking into the mirror, she allowed Aperion to escape through the back of her neck and bring her the clothes that she used to wear long ago.

’I can’t fight in this...if something goes wrong–’ Shaking her head, she placed her trust in Raven. As the ever-upgrading automaton brought her a baggy wool sweater and a pink beanie with a few bunny stickers that her parents had left with her before her abandonment, Mono wore them with much haste. Although her gaze lingered on the now-loose stickers barely held in place. ’Just don’t tell me they are alive. I can’t handle that now.’

As much as she hoped to see them again, seeing them alive now would only remind her of how they will die one day. If Moeria were to share such news, the queen felt that it would have been better for her not to have shown up at all. With that in mind, she made for the courtyard–all the while, praying to herself and, although she would never admit it, to Elenaria.

Approaching the group under the gazebo, she heaved a heavy sigh. All of them were barely sipping from their cups when she’d shown up, and now that she was here, the cups clicked right back on top of their ceramic coasters.

"That’s a new look," Helga whispered, eyeing the queen up and down.

"An old look, madam Valkyrie–" Grace corrected.

Pulling a chair for her master, Grace struggled to prevent herself from smiling. Something about seeing her make in that old attire full of the warmth that she’d now lost stirred something warm deep within her pistons and circuitry. Pushing the chair inward as Mono took her place, Grace watched her sit down and decided to take her leave with a message.

"I will go and get your favorite strawberry cake for you, Master Mono." Walking away, the automaton had again drawn Mono’s curiosity. It had been a long time since she’d had strawberry flavored anything, and the very last time she did was moments before her surgery that would remove her heart from her human chest.

"Ignore her for now," turning her attention back to the crowd, the queen leaned forward and gestured for everything to continue on with their cup. "Tell me what’s going on."

Casting a stern look at Moeria, she added.

"This better be important, and I will have my answers." Thus began Helga’s explanation of the current situation and why her group was even there. As her explanation would continue, Mono’s alarm would lower quite a bit, and yet even after having a few bites of that cake, she had her questions before even listening to the deal that Moeria had brought with her.

Whether the girl gets a human body or not would depend on her answers.