Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

From Linkle's disappointment to Maria snatching up countless souls from a devil's den, there was much for the party to go through. And with even Helga still sleeping for some reason, along with Asmodia–the only person who could make any sense of this strange illness from hell- not being present, everything was moving at a snail's pace. But now, that felt perfect.

Unaware of the troubles in the castle and the devil's conquering of the third layer of hell, Raven sat quietly in his new study. Lined with bookshelves, some picked by Ophelia while the others gifted by other nobles and the king, they held with them great value as journals of late kings and lords and their journey to becoming a great leader or a conqueror.

Only a few days had passed, and in his desperation to be better, Raven had read through them all. Committing every page and every sentence to memory, the mage sat on his study desk, charting a general map of their explored world. Before acting as a general, he required knowledge of the different terrains, manpower and how thin he could spread his crowd.

"Isolate from the rest of the world on this massive plateau, Athenia should be best for child rearing and training young soldiers…" Scribbling in great detail different sections of Athenia, from the main city to the swamp and even the clips that ran all the way around, Raven focused on the ideal ways to use the Athenian land. "Everywhere else, it's either disease or some other weakness. Maybe transfering promising individuals to train here would be the best possible outcome?"

Making a note in his journal to push the matter with Milo, Raven moved down from Athenia to the city shadowed by his homeland. Overshadowed at all hours by the Atenian plateau, Elenaris was far from the perfect city and yet its advancement in technology was brutally unmatched. Even the underground railways had been finished and were working at this point, not to mention the factories that turned automatons were irreplaceable assets.

'Lana and Daine…I wonder if their version of the maze is done yet? If so, maybe we can use it as an example to infiltrate other cities and draw from their economy. Having those automatons be with the regular citizens would also make gathering information quite a breeze.' Before he could implement such a thing, however, Raven knew that he would have to bring in an expert who could help him keep the whole operation a secret.

"Tck…I don't wanna rely on the Mistress, but if it comes down to it, I might have to," he said to himself, vowing to find another way before turning to her for answers.

'Mono is an issue as well. Hopefully, she hasn't lost her mind more than she already did…' The last time Raven had met her, it had been a bizarre experience, and to go through that again wasn't exactly something he was looking forward to even a bit. 'At least she helped us with Aran. Without her flexibility, we wouldn't have been able to corner him in the end.'

Moving further down, he marked the black sand beach and then a separation of the ocean between the islands. Lantherem, Aranuvia, and Elanavia are the three major islands, and Elanavia is now underwater. Mostly, he wished to turn Lantherem into a similar city to Aranuvia, but given the sparse population with mostly farmers, he didn't have much hope for them to be soldiers.

'We drowned all capable soldiers from Aranuvia; otherwise, we could've definitely used them well.' The soldiers that were there on that island, Raven and his party with the help of the djinns, had annihilated them completely. Leaving but one person of importance from the island trio alive still.

Looking at the ring on his finger, the very same he'd found on Elana's throne, he once again wondered whether the djinn woman was still alive and if she could help him with that wish when it was absolutely necessary.

"If only the use wasn't limited to one wish, I would've loved to check if you're still alive but…" Placing his hand back on the desk, he charted Lululaia and finally the nameless city that had been under a keeper's influence for far too long.

'Hilma, Felix, Astra, and I haven't seen Jenna yet, but her too.' Thinking of the chosen heroes of another god, Raven knew he had to make them useful as they were worth far more to him than those who weren't trained at all. 'Paired with Choux, maybe even a few others, we can have them train the rookie soldiers. They seem to be a perfect fit for the use case.'

But now, where to establish the barracks for the adult soldiers? The children and the teens would be kept at Athenia, but the adults had to be trained somewhere else. Somewhere that was close such that in case of an emergency the soldiers could be brought easily about. Your adventure continues at My Virtual Library Empire

'Or if Linkle can help, we can build teleportation halls in every island and the cities…' The idea sparked a flood of ingenious thoughts in Raven's head. Efficiency to move his soldiers around was the crux of this thought process, but then came the question of moving food and resources from one place to the other. 'Hmm, what if we create hubs everywhere from where supplies can be teleported?'

"Athenia would be best for food production, Elenaris for weapons and other military resources. As for the islands, Lantherem is full of farmers, so maybe food again? Aranuvia for miscellaneous items, but I might have to look into that some more before making a decision, same for Lululalia."

The more he thought about the matter, the deeper the hole. One thought led to another, and it quickly became obvious to him that after finishing his notes, he must have a conversation with the leaders of each station soon. Understanding their perspective and what they could provide would help him amplify what they were already good at instead of forcing something that would make the cities and the island twaddle like toddlers.

'For now, though, I still need some rest.' Closing his notes, Raven leaned back into his chair and stared at the ceiling. 'The others aren't yet allowed to visit the mansion, but maybe I should go out and say hi to Tanya, Moxy and the others?'

Musing over the thought for a while, he decided to do just that–not knowing that his very first visit would be as eventful as it was about to be.