Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Following the explosion, the priestess' tent was turned to cinder. What's left were the cheap decorations, now burning on the side and melting like rubber. Surprisingly enough, however, everyone except Helga was mostly unscratched, though their clothes had also caught light fires. Left coughing out smoke clouds, they all rushed out of the flames, except for the barbarian and her attacker.

"AGHHH! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it Damn it!" More worried about her burnt tent than her own burning clothes, Kara dropped to her knees with tears welling up in her eyes. "My stuff! I-it all gone!"

Putting themselves out, the others simply watched Kara howling out her misery. But then came a scream that turned their attention back to the towering flames.

"FUCK YOU BITC–AHH!" The scream, however, was cut short by a sudden thumping sound, and what the party saw next was Helga walking out of the flames with Aria's body in her hand. Carrying the dark elf like a purse, she wore a grim look.

"Take her back," throwing Aria's unconscious body towards Erika, the barbarian woman stared at the priestess for a bit, but then an unexpected smirk took over her lips. "Heal that fucking dumbass."

Visibly amused by Aria's idiotic attempt, which only ended up giving her light burns–Helga's mood had changed completely. Her frown had dimmed down, and the look of anger from just a few seconds ago was slowly melting away like a candle.

Taking advantage of the change, Erika quickly rushed to Aria before she changed her mind or something. But as she got to her knees to heal Aria, she realized something that left her wide-eyed.

"Her wound…"

"They've healed, haven't they?" With a cackle, Helga covered her mouth and laughed. "That rat caused enough damage to heal her body on its own! Ahahaha! Oh, fuck me! AHHAHAH!"

Folding her arms around her belly, Helga leaned over laughing. Unable to stop, she was forced onto her knees with one hand on the ground as she kept cackling like a pack of hyenas.

Unsure what to do, the other remained frozen in place with their eyes awkwardly glancing at each other. It wasn't until she was finally done laughing that even Kara who was extremely pissed decided to speak up.

"Enough with amusements! Who's gonna pay for my stuff? My tent! I spent so long earning just enough to get everything I wanted!" Screaming in Helga's face, she glared at her. But being turned around to face Aria and the rest of the party, Kara quickly shifted her query. "YOU!

YOU'RE ALL GONNA PAY!"

'Fuck…' Having gone through a lot already today, Raven had no clue what to say to Kara. After all, they already owed her gold for healing them, and now there's this mess to deal with as well.

"We uhm…" Getting off the ground from the side, Erika covered her chest and reached for the party's gold pouch. Taking it out in her hand, she began walking towards Kara while weighing it with her hand. "We only have this much for now, maybe we can do something for you? Or if you just give us some time we can manage something, I swear!"

"No need for that," speaking up again, Helga got everyone's attention back on her. With a snap of her fingers, she conjured a massive bag just like she summoned her weapons. Wrapping her hands around it, she walked up to Kara and laid it by her feet. "Go ahead take it, it's part of my fee for hunting down the horror."

A bit suspicious of the whole thing, Kara kept her eyes focused on Helga while slowly getting down to check inside the bag. Opening it without looking she glared at her for a while longer before finally glancing down to the bag.

"Oh…my~" Filled with gold, the bag was shimmering in her face. The dazzle of the metal was making her entire face turn yellow. "This, umm…Should be enough, ehehe!"

Despite knowing it was more than thrice the amount in value, she closed it quickly and picked it up in her arms. Struggling to keep it held high from the weight, she stumbled towards the side so she could check the gold until the bottom of the barrel.

In the meantime, left just as dazzled if not more by the amount of gold Helga just handed out, the entirety of Raven's party was just staring at Helga in disbelief.

"Do we have to pay you later?" Mel asked as she couldn't fathom where they could get enough gold to pay back.

"No, but since your friend here pulled that stunt," thinking back to her time at the castle recently, Helga glanced across their faces, judging how they would fare against the soldiers. "Consider this payment for the amusement and the help in getting me to that horror quicker."

With those words, Helga was about to turn around to march back into the forest, but before she could Amedith stepped up and grabbed her left arm.

"Wait!" He urged, and a bit confused, Helga turned around to listen.

"Amedith, w-what are you doing?" Unaware of what was going on inside his head, Erika didn't feel comfortable with what he was doing.

Instead of the hero himself, Raven placed his hand on her shoulder before pulling her out of the situation.

'Let's just see what he has to say.' Conveying the message with his eyes to the priestess, Raven squeezed her shoulder to comfort her. Though still unsure about the whole thing, Erika decided to step back and let Amedith continue with what he was doing.

"So, what do you want now?" Helga asked, looking down at the hero.

Calming his heart with a sigh, he lifted his head and announced.

"I want you to train us to fight horrors!" A moment of silence followed his words, and it was only broken when Helga rolled her eyes before speaking up.

"I told you already, none of you are ready to face such monsters," about to turn away again, Amedith pulled her attention back with his response.

"You wanted me to marry your daughter, right? Have you told them that you've changed your mind?" Freezing up in place, Helga slowly turned her attention back to Amedith. She wanted to be angry that he would even bring this up now, but what he said next made her reconsider. "You want someone strong to marry them, then train one!"

'Wait, this is going too fast!' Shocked by her lover offering himself in marriage in return for training, Mel wanted to speak up, but the abrupt nature of the event wouldn't let her open her mouth.

While she struggled with her thoughts, Helga's mind raced over the possibility. Amongst the soldiers, there were none competent enough for her daughters, and when it came to it, the hero's party was far ahead in terms of dealing with monsters. Thus, unable to find a flaw, she blinked her eyes and brought herself back into the moment.

"Fine, if you can handle being trained by me I'll think about letting you marry one of my daughters…" Turning her head to Raven, she added. "The same goes for you too, so don't disappoint me, and more importantly don't fucking die halfway through and waste my efforts."

Sated with the promise to let Amedith and Raven marry one of her daughters each, Helga though still reluctantly, decided to train men who can be worthy of her daughters.

Note: If you've made it this far into the book, all I have to say is I love you! (And that, I'll be praying for you to get a partner to bang while reading the smut parts! Kekeke!)