Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

"A specimen, aren't you?" Despite the initial shock of learning about Amedith's true gender, Mono set him in a chair and began experimenting with some makeup on his face. Although embarrassed and often growling behind those clenched teeth in anger, the holy warrior kept his calm so as to not stress their relationship with Mono more than he'd already had just moments ago.

"I'm not wearing any of those dresses for you so do what you want for makeup but that's it," complaining even still, he glared at the smiling face of the Iron Queen.

"Yeah~ Yeah~ Such a shame though, a girly male human who doesn't like to accessorize. If I couldn't see you already planning to choke me, I would've just assumed you were a pushover, but I suppose there's a reason the gods fear us," her loaded response barely made much sense, especially in the atypical situation that they were in.

Gathered in Mono's room, most of the party members were sitting across the edge of her bed, even the monster girls had decided to come out and join with the obvious exception of Arche. Waiting on the elemental witch, the party simply watched Mono put the compound on Amedith's face. Standing right beside her was Liliyana with her fingers curiously pinched at her chin.

"NO! NO PURPULE!" Yelling out in dissent the moment Mono picked up a lipstick, Liliyana stared at her with squinted brows.

Shocked by the scream, the iron queen was frozen in place, looking at the upset fae-devil standing in front. Slowly putting the lipstick down, Mono decided to awkwardly pick up the lighter pink instead.

'What crawled up her ass?' Glancing between the duo, it suddenly clicked to her as to why Liliyana was so invested in the whole deal, however, before she could bring the topic up a shimmer of light beamed in the middle of the room like a grand pillar.

Turning to look at it, she noticed a tall hatted witch dawned in a dress of veils glittered with star dust. Hanging from her hems were carved moonstones in a crescent. The entirety of her dress was a deep violet that mimicked the skies at dawn, and with her slender legs and those wide hips slipping ever so slightly from the slitted edges, she appeared either like a seductress or rowdy royalty.

Enchanted by her clothes, the curves of her body, and the silver shimmer bubbling out of her skin, Mono stared at the witch analyzing every small detail about her beauty.

"The Iron Queen," faking a smile, Linkle bowed to Mono. "A pleasure meeting you, finally."

Still a bit perplexed by her sudden appearance, Mono turned her gaze to Raven's group. Catching her eyes on him, the mage got off the bed and moved up beside Linkle. Straightening herself up as well in the meantime, the witch turned her head to her side with the same pretentious smile.

Seeing right through it, however, Raven placed his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it tight to make her drop the act.

"This is Linkle, an acquaintance and in some sense my partner in this journey," and while Linkle kept the pretense up, Raven decided to make things a tad bit clearer for Mono.

Throughout his explanation, however, Linkle refused to show her true face. To the surprise of Mono, she couldn't probe into her mind, even though she really wanted to.

'Something's blocking my abilities, something…Infernal maybe?' Having read of devils being more versatile in bending the rules of nature than even gods, the explanation only took Mono a few seconds to discover.

"So you want my help in excavating the cave for its resources, mostly the crystals and that mystery liquid you mentioned I'm assuming, is that correct?" Nodding back at Mono, Linkle took a step forward.

"But of course, I realize that this is a transaction and will provide adequate compensation in whatever means you deem necessary–except…" Her smile grew even wider as she set her food down about her only condition. "All resources from that cave go to me."

"And what can you offer? Because right now this doesn't sound like a fair trade," Mono responded, her hands folded and her many minds ready to process the witch's potential to help with the growth of her kingdom.

With a snap of her fingers, Linkle conjured a floating bag in front of the iron queen. Smiling creepily still, she gestured for her to take a look, and Mono, although reluctant, decided to open the bag to see what it was holding. Inside it was a pack of teleportation crystals on top and beneath them a charter of plans by Linkle to help the growth of Elenaris through magic.

Scanning through the documents for a few minutes, Mono's eyes darted back and forth between the witch and her grand plans. She wasn't sure if she could trust those promises inscribed on those pages as they sounded too good to be true, especially to someone so effectively pragmatic like her.

"Better climate conditions, better harvest, not to mention improved health of both civilians and soldiers, as well as plans to streamline magical prowess amongst children," placing the document down on the vanity table, Mono stood before Linkle with her expression just as doubtful as before. "And you intend to help integrate magic into this city's functioning.

How the hell do you expect me to trust you can pull off even a tenth of what you've promised."

"I knew you'd say that," snapping her fingers once more, Linkle conjured an uneven red stone–made from materials such as the mana-fused orb after Raven and party defeated the keeper and the dark scales of Maine that could suck up light in an instant. "Catch!"

Chucking the stone at Mono, a smirk crept up Linkle's lips. And the moment the iron queen caught in her hand, it only grew wider.

"OUCH! OUCH! OUCH!" Feeling her skin burning from the stone's touch, Mono threw it back into Linkle's hands. Blowing air at her burning palm for a bit, all the while the others watched the whole scene in pure shock, the Iron Queen was growing a bit pissed off. "What is that?!"

"Just a prop that reverses your ability to suck mana from the air, an easy enough apparatus to make your body corrode in an instant," knowing every ins and outs of magic, ores, and natural resources, Linkle wanted to display that a witch can easily outsmart a well-researched sorceress.

"You may be well versed in what you call it… your science, but you've obviously underestimated the prevalence of magic."

Offering an upwards-facing hand to Mono, Linkle spoke and laid down what she intended to offer back for getting Mono's help.

"Once that cave sits empty, trust me, it'll be a matter of seconds before everything that I listed is realized for your kingdom," although still, dubious of the witch, Mono couldn't brush away the fact that she'd managed to find a gap in her defenses, making her a better ally than a potential enemy.

"I'll hold you to those words, witch…" Resting her hand on top of hers, she felt the pain going away, and as she drew it back to take a look, Mono was left shocked that the corroded metal had reverted to its former glory. "How did you–"

"I can't give you all my secrets now, can I?" A moment of silence loomed between the two before their lips split open for a chuckle. The tension itself and the seriousness of the matter had pushed them both to realize how stupid was the whole ordeal.

'Well…At least we don't have to worry about hauling ores ourselves.' Thought Raven, watching the duo grabbing on each other's shoulders while laughing.

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