Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

It had been a while since Regalia had met with Raven; she'd been far too busy directing ships from one island to the other with Mercedes. Ideally, the cargo was transported through the portals, but since Linkle couldn't be bothered out of her potion making often, most of the transport was still done traditionally–that is, unless an emergency arose.

"Oi, the fireworks are back on," leaning onto the ship's edge, her eyes darted in the direction of the dark sand beach. "Seems like Helga's still training her daughters there."

Tired from the constant travelling, Mercedes emerged from the cabin and slowly moved beside Regalia. Her eyes followed her, and up high in the air, she saw a pair of winged beauties clashing against each other. One a bright silver and the other as dark as night, their clash created a spark that lit up the entire forest behind.

"Jeez, do they never tire? Last time we were here, she was still training them here," Mercedes said to herself, her eyes barely keeping open.

Glancing sideways at the merchant, Regalia's gaze focused on her golden eyes. She could've sworn that they were a different color not long ago, but a contract with a new patron from the warlock has changed quite a lot about Mercedes.

"At least they're not wasting half a year in bed." Responding with a jab at her laziness, the wolf girl turned her head back to the front. "Rotting in bed for so long and now you have the gall to complain about working…"

Frustrated by the constant reminder of her incapacitated state from six months ago, Mercedes turned towards Regalia with visible rage in her eyes.

"The next time they need someone to go inside that vault and get a necroflower–maybe then you should go volunteer!" Grunting out loud, she leaned forward against the railing and kept mumbling to herself. "Fucking hell, I was cursed by that stupid vault. As if I had a choice to do anything else but sleep."

"Would've been a faster recovery if you hadn't made a pact with a patron that abandoned you so easily–"

"Says the one taking on pacts like they are candy!" Screaming at Regalia again, Mercedes let out a scoff and turned to the demi-human. "Three patrons, I don't know why in the hells they agreed to sign a pact with you–but know that it's gonna come to bite you in the arse as it always does with us warlocks!"

Although her eyes remained focused on the dragon twins fighting at the beach, Regalia bared her fangs and growled loudly. Taking it as an indication to back off, Mercedes quickly looked away as she knew that this was a fight she couldn't hope to win even in a thousand years.

"I won't be lectured by a twenty or so year old human girl, much less someone who makes a pact with a devil of greed."

"Still better than otherworldly entities taking refuge in our world," Mercedes whispered to herself, but their proximity gave everything away to Regalia. And sure enough, she'd made a pact with two more otherworldly creatures.

Like the cosmic wizards, the entities were cast from another world–even shunned, perhaps. But why exactly? She had no idea, thus rendering her criticism of Mercedes absolutely null. Even so, knowing that a devil–one unlike Asmodia, one driven by greed and his own self-serving nature was pact-bound to one of her companions was a fact that couldn't easily be swallowed.

"Whatever, get back in the cabin and get us there," brushing her off, Regalia decided to move away from Mercedes while also ordering her around.

The merchant, although reluctant, returned to the cabin and began steering towards an empty spot by the beach. Making sure not to get too close to the fighting ground, she kept the vessel safe and the cargo along with it. For the most part, the crew was carrying fresh produce and a few tons of minerals mined on the islands and even the oceanside mountains of Lululalia.

As a centre of commerce and manufacturing, Elenaris was the perfect place to process everything before moving the raw material to other places. Along with it, a handful of equipment would be shipped to Athenia for the young kids to use during their training.

"By the hells, if I don't wish I had one of those rings as well…" Having steered the wheel all day and night from Lantherem, Mercedes was beyond tired. So much so that halfway through her steering, she almost fell asleep, and had it not been for the sound of the soldiers getting up on the deck, she would've crashed them all and possibly lost the cargo in the hell's sea.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the ship, Regalia heard a sudden crackling from her ring and turned her attention to the voice coming through it.

"Regalia, you there?" It was Melicia, sounding just a little worried.

"Yeah, what's happening? You sound nervous." Holding the ring closer to her ear, the demi-wolf listened closely.

"Nothing, it's just Raven left for Elenaris in a rush, and I knew that you were heading there, so can you check up on him?" Hearing Raven's name, her eyes lit up. It was the only thing that had managed to excite her in a long time at sea.

"Sure, where is he headed?" She asked, smiling faintly.

"The dark castle! He's gone there to check on Mono, look after him, will you?"

"You don't have to say, I'll leave the drop off to Mercedes and head there in a bit."

"Thanks and take care, not sure how your old boss might react to you changing ships…literally." With her laughter echoing in the background, Mel severed the connection, leaving Regalia to do what she was told.

However, upon hearing her last sentence, the demi-wolf didn't notice the laugh, for the memories of once being a royal guard popped up in her head.

"A lot changed, huh?" Chuckling behind closed lips, she turned her attention back to the beach, all the while wondering.

'I wonder how much everything will change from now on.' An uncertain future, as terrifying as it was, didn't affect her; for now, the only thing she was worried about was meeting up with Raven and even having some fun, perhaps.