Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

It had been an hour since Raven woke up from his weeklong slumber. Laying in bed, doing nothing and just staring at the ceiling was all he'd done, but now it was time to get up. Slowly pulling himself up, he could feel the tension of his muscles weighing heavily on his body. As if having forgotten to walk, he wobbled on his feet for a while before gaining back his balance.

'How long was I asleep?' Staring at his feet through blurred vision, he wondered just why his body was acting so strangely. Something was off and why wouldn't it be? His body hadn't moved in a week and now that it was, his muscles had grown weaker and so had his bones from the sheer lack of movement.

Powering through the muffled sensations, however, he kept on walking and the first thing he decided to do was get himself something to eat. His belly was rumbling like an angry boar, and although the maid upon noticing him offered to help and cook him a meal, Raven brushed them off and only asked for them to get him a thick cut of beef to cook himself.

Placing a hand on the rune-powered stove, he watched the servants prepping the meat with a rub of salt and pepper even though he'd asked that he would do it himself. Grabbing a pan in the meantime, he placed it on top of the stove and before he could reach further, a maid dumped a load of butter in the pan and another distracted him with a cold iced drink.

Setting him in a chair, the girls cooked the steak for their master while he sipped on the fruity iced drink. Finally having something in his belly should've felt good, but since the juice was liquid and not a solid, his stomach only grumbled harder. While the maids rushed the preparations, some tried to offer him other meals, but with his mind set on meat, Raven didn't touch anything else.

Something primal in a man that drew him to consume flesh, there's nothing quite like sating hunger with the cooked flesh of another creature. Instinctively drawn to that taste Raven waited a while longer and in the meantime, the other servants informed everyone else that their master had awakened.

The first to arrive and check on him were Tan and his girlfriend Blossom. To Raven's surprise, the adventuring barbarian was wearing the clothes of a maid–indicating that she'd joined the ranks of a servant to be closer to the racoon boy.

"Here! It's finally done!" Being done with the meat, the maid cooking it quickly plated it with a side of roasted veggies prepared on the other stove. Topping it with further salt and a layer of savoury gravy, she handed it to Raven who was sitting on a small kitchen stool. They'd tried to make him move to the dining, but the mage just wouldn't listen.

While eating he showed no care for etiquette. Wolfing down the food, he let the plate flip to the ground. Rising yet again with Tan blabbering about something in the background, Raven made for the garden where he expected the centaurians to be hanging out. And sure enough, as he got there, the duo were on his way to meet him in the kitchen. But with him standing in the doorway, both Amelia and Ophelia were led back to the gazebo where they spent most of their time.

Sitting down, Raven said not a word for a good minute. Just admiring the quiet, he looked around. One of the maids rushed to their table to quickly clean it off, and another brought with her tea to help down the meal that Raven had just downed.

"Are you feeling okay?" Asked Amelia as timid as ever.

"You don't seem too bad at least," Ophelia added while squeezing her fingers around Raven's arm.@@novelbin@@

Gently brushing her hand off, he took a deep breath and finally broke the silence.

"I…I don't know how I'm feeling, it's almost like I've been reborn with my past experiences all scrubbed." Heaving a sigh, he grabbed a tea cup and brought it to his lips. "That's why I wanted to cook for myself, see if I remembered how."

Although he didn't get to cook the meat, the moment he tasted the tea and a distant memory flashed before his eyes, Raven knew that his mind was okay, it was just that something was off balance inside of him–perhaps, the change in environment from the hells and here.

"Doesn't matter," placing the cup on the table, he lifted his gaze back to the girl. "How many others have woken up?"

"You're the first," Ophelia answered, a flash of worry twitching at her eyebrow.

Grabbing a cup herself, Amelia soothed her nerves with a sipp and added further.

"We hired a local healer since even Erika and Liliyana are asleep," letting the aromatic flavor melt into her mouth, the had been princess of Elenaria, heaved a sigh and continued. "I doubt they're waking up anytime soon, all of you should get some rest in Athenia anyways."

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Looking at the centaurian woman, Raven pondered over her suggestion for a while. To rest in the city, would take some time away from their journey, but with his own legs wobbly, could he really venture out with confidence that nobody would die under his watch? Raven knew he couldn't and thus he decided.

"You're right," shaking his head, he brushed off all doubt. "We're gonna stay here for a month or two, and then we're going back to finishing this thing once and for all."

"Finishing?!" Ophelia gasped, nearly spilling out the sip of tea in her mouth.

Taking a deep breath yet again, Raven looked at her and replied.

"I'll spend the latter half of that time training the army we'd left under the djinn sisters. Having an army venture out and scout different places, taking on smaller hordes of horrors would help speed up the entire process."

"But do we have enough people?" Asked Amelia, her heart pounding at the mere mention of the tactic.

"Athenia, Elenaria, Lantherem, Aranuvia, Lulularia, and the nameless city, we're gonna need volunteers from these cities for sure, but if can pull it off, then there's no way we can't end this fight as soon as possible." Upon hearing him further, the centaurians grew concerned. However, with his plan being sound of reason, they could do little but give him a reassuring smile.

"I'll place my trust in you," Ophelia whispered, squeezing Raven's hand.

"Just don't push yourself too much," Amelia reached across the table to grab his hand and reflect her worry as well. "I have already lost my sisters, I don't wanna lose you too."

Glancing between the two, Raven huffed a chuckle. Even in the most dire of times, he had people he could trust and even remember him in case he died.

'What better life could a man ask for?' He mused while nodding to the girls.

Spending the rest of the afternoon in the garden, he admired the greenery a while longer. But as night arrived, the girls, having been neglected for long, ached for his touch and that's exactly what he gave them…