Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 980: Doom And Boon

Accompanied by their families, Kurei, Mako, and Maedo had more support than the other pregnant women. But their husbands and sons and daughters had their own emotional storms brewing. The pregnancies of these women were no longer a secret to anyone; the husbands and sons felt embarrassed and conflicted while Maedo’s daughter felt aroused and jealous at the thought of her mother being amongst the hero’s lovers.

Glancing at Raven from their corner of the nursing room, everyone had their own thoughts which they kept to themselves–yet the grimaces and the flush across their faces gave away their true intentions. Having just talked to the women for a long time with gentle kisses on the back of their hands and comforting hugs that lasted a bit longer than their husbands liked, Raven ignored their families for now as there were numerous others still waiting for him to talk to them.

But the ones who spared not a second in mingling with the lovers and the babes were the fae mothers fluttering about with wide smiles and grins on their faces, all of them except Umbra. Making her rounds from one child to the other, Natura phased in through the flesh of the mothers to see the children budding within them for herself. Holding her hand, she would wave at them; some even pressed their tiny yet larger-than-a-fairy hands against hers. Blessing them with health, she gave way for the rest to admire the children.

Oceana, Aurellia, and Blizzteria also blessed the children with immunity to the whims of harsh elements. Fiera and Beasteria, on the other hand, gave them both a fiery temper and the ability to talk to beasts and animals. A few eyes were lifted when Fiera granted her blessing, but none of the fairies spoke out loud as mischief was their second nature. Lastly, when everyone was done granting their blessing, it was Umbra’s turn. But instead of blessing them, she took something.

The evil, the dark, and their affinity for dark magic. Stripping them of what makes a dark fae, she joined the fairies in their rounds around everyone’s head. Unaware of it all, however, Helga was still concerned about the children inheriting the monstrous part of Raven. The hero himself, however, much like with Aurora, refused to brand children with the seal of good or evil, just yet.

"We will handle it if it comes to it, Helga," He said, and for now Helga could do nothing but hope that he was right, and she wasn’t.

Moving closer to Rose, Raven grabbed her hand and sat on a chair that was between her and Brenna’s beds. Holding her hand, his gaze shifted to the mother’s belly–now outstretched more than he remembered from when she’d lost the child to Nerva’s ploy. With a smile, he gave off a dry laugh and looked at her face again.

"I love you, and I will do everything in my power to keep every single one of you safe."

"I know." Reaching for his face, she caressed his cheek. "Why do you think I was never worried? It’s because I knew you’d do everything a father’s meant to for his wife and children."

"Speaking of wives." Interjecting their conversation, Brenna tapped on Raven’s back. "When’s our marriage? You put a ring on Tiara’s finger, made her your fiancée, but nothing for us older gals, huh? You might wanna hurry; who knows when Rose and I drop dead."

"MOM! You’re not dying anytime soon!" Aerin complained from just beside Brenna, her eyes glaring daggers at her mother’s back. Laughing it off as a joke, the herbalist reached for Raven as well as her daughter’s hands and gripped them tight.

"I know, I know. But there’s a limit to when you can get married if you ask me. I don’t wanna wait until I’m too old to get married; what’s the point of getting married if you can’t even enjoy your honeymoon without your hips slipping a dick or something?" Both Brenna and Rose broke into yet another fit of laughter, though their laughter was quickly cut short as a shooting pain in their upper back served as a reminder of their ages. "Big breasts don’t help with back pain either."

"Tell me about it," Rose smiled, visibly uncomfortable from upper back pain.

Hearing them talking so light, Raven was glad that things were going back to normal. But there was something else that ate at him from the back of his mind, an ability which he’d seen in the new list of spells under Natura’s section. Closing his eyes, he decided to make use of it now rather than test the spells under a more distressing situation.

Grabbing both Rose and Brenna by their shoulders, he drew a deep breath and felt himself connecting like a root connecting everything inside a plant. Finding areas of stress and compression in both their spines and the back of their ribcages, he forced in through his fingers a dose of Natura’s powers that now flowed through him.

"Gua–ahhh~!" The women groaned, a red flush taking over their faces. Untangling years’ worth of stress and compression in but a matter of seconds was, needless to say, a bit pleasurable. "That feels great."

Speaking in unison as their minds and bodies were connected to each other through Raven, the two looked at each other, baffled. When Raven finally pulled his hands away, they felt a decade younger, though their bodies remained the same age.

"What was that?" Brenna asked.

"Some magic?" Rose murmured the question.

Opening his eyes, Raven stared at his own hand for a moment. It was glowing green, and the light was only now slowly retreating. Then, as it was gone, he looked within himself, connecting himself to himself the same way he had to the women, and realized finally what it meant to assimilate with the fae mothers as well as being able to read what those decoded spells meant.

’Atlaris’s magic, it...’

"The magic of Atlaris flows through you, Raven." Resting on his shoulder, Umbra caressed Raven’s face with the back of her hand. "You can strip mages of their spells, you can draw mana through the air as naturally as breathing, but most important of all, you can cast any and all spells–everything, except those that tamper with death."

"Necromancy?" He asked, turning his head towards Umbra.

She nodded and explained.

"That domain belongs to the divine and the very few cursed or blessed by the same divine being. For now, that would be Athenia and nobody else."

"We really lucked out then," he responded, scoffing with a faint smile.

But the hero’s troubles and questions for the day were far from over. After all, Athenia had sent him a message and so had the many other kingdoms and islands through a single person–although that message would reach him, in the meantime it was Joselia who was facing a bigger problem.