Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 955: Neither Here Nor There

When Brien entered Joselia’s office, he found her surrounded by ground leaders and ecclesiastics who were buzzed and swarmed by nobles and military leaders, whispering down their necks. Yet the queen’s eyes remained on ink and parchment, scribbling away new orders for what must be done to contain the lingering effects of the damage.

"Tell Lord Haurum that he must! And I mean must! Tally what this disaster is going to cost us." Turning away from her servant, she looked right at Brien at the door, but her gaze didn’t linger long on him. "As for you all, have you forgotten ’process’? Whatever grievances you may have, they need to be filed through lower management. Depending on its severity, it will be escalated to me or Chancellor Jeanne and Chancellor Valeria."

"How can you ignore us when a monster roams the city freely!"

"And what of the people who died?! What of the crops?! How will we survive the winters now?!"

"You’ve led us out of our lord’s embrace, and this path that you’ve set for us, Honor Joselia, is anything but inspiring confidence in the people!"

One by one, the crowd aired their grievances, but no complaints were enough to shake the decision-maker as she waved her hand towards the exit. Disgruntled groans and complaints whispered bounced off the walls of the massive, mostly empty room. Nobody wanted to leave, but the sight of Brien–the master of surveillance–stepping forward quickly changed their minds.

"Leaving the party right as I join in?" He said, holding back a smug smile.

Their secrets were held close to the spy’s chest, and thus it was no wonder that the crowd suddenly left in a hurry. Waving Joselia’s servant to wait outside as well, Brien stepped forward and pulled himself a chair across from her.

"Already back to work."

"What else can we do? Besides, procrastination corrodes the will; the longer you push something back, the less chance of it ever getting done."

"Speaking of procrastination," tapping a finger on the desk, Brien grabbed Joselia’s quill and placed it into the inkwell. "Best we talk about what happened last night right now rather than later."

"I-I..." With a sigh, she lifted her head, her expression dejected. "It...it was a one-time thing, Brien. It happened and let’s forget that it did."

"I can understand that." Shrugging his shoulders, the elf tapped his finger on the desk some more. Staring at it as the crisp sound drummed in his ears. "I’ve had to sleep with many women myself, so I get why you did it. Will be a great help with our alliance."

"W-wait, you think I did it for the alliance?" Joselia’s contour twisted at his words.

Lifting his head, Brien leaned back in his chair.

"Of course, why else are we offering my sister and the chancellors as wives to this hero?" Rocking back and forth, the elf tried to appear as if everything made sense, but even in his heart he knew that this was different. "Whatever, like you said, let’s forget about it."

As he leaned against the table once more, Joselia’s eyes narrowed. Her lips stretched sideways with a slight upsetting curl.

"I did it because things got out of hand, Brien. I didn’t do it to gain an advantage."

Holding his hand up to his chest, the elf nodded his head and backed out of the chair.

"As you say, but everyone heard you, Joselia. Now why would a woman scream out so loud and debase herself if she’s not playing up a ham?"

"What do you–" Pausing herself from quarreling over the matter, Joselia closed her eyes and dipped within her consciousness. Was it better to admit that she was faking her moans or to tell the truth that whatever happened wasn’t a part of some devious plan to flare up the hero’s ego? Making the obvious choice, she opened her eyes and whispered low. "Right, a spy would know what’s really going on."

"In either case," pressing his lips flat, Brien stared at the dark elf, holding back on his words until they burst right out of his mouth. "I think we should stop these clandestine meetings of ours. An elf and a dark elf..."

With a shrug, he turned around and began walking away. His posture slouched, and his expression cast in grimness. Joselia’s hand reached outward as if to grab him by the shoulder and stop him, but as Brien’s words echoed in her head, she knew that whatever they had was best led this way.

’An elf and a dark elf...’ She thought to herself, chuckling at how stupid she’d been thinking that they were ever truly going to be together. Putting a lid on her naivete, the dark elf closed her eyes and listened to Brien’s footsteps as he left.

’What were we thinking?’ The two thought, not yet sure if this was where they went their separate ways. Just until a few days ago, their cheeks went flush at the sight of the other. Their lips dried at the thought of pressing them together, but now, it all felt so distant–all because of their secret love and the disparity in their races.

"Hmm..." Picking up the quill, Joselia returned to writing official orders. Her mind, although, remained at war with herself; she kept working, and eventually, while Brien made arrangements for the hero’s tour of the city, the queen had put last night to rest and was looking forward to a future with the hero as an ally against their raging god.

As for the hero himself, after settling inside his room with the others–Kledia came to mind. The half-dragon servant, handed off to him by Mono, was staying in the consulate for a while. Remaining in Aurum as his eyes and ears, she was always about Raven’s offered wives–the judiciary powers of Aurum, with the exception of Ellia, who handled documentation.

It was time for them to meet at last, one brief meeting before the tour of the city. How would it go and how would it end? Not even Raven knew, except for the fact that he wanted to get a closer look at the girls, not just of body but mind and personalities as well.

’They could be spies set on us by Aurum.’ He thought, but whether it was the truth remained to be seen.