Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Lantherm–a guiding light for his people yet a lost god himself. A fair jokester and the first to shun the cowardly. He was a rare breed of god, one that loved his people and used humor as his medicine. To this day his lighthouse stands, held by his cold dead hands as his body rots away under the island named after him.

Of course, it wasn't the passage of time that had gotten his mortal soul, but the jealous gods who couldn't stand his simplicity. Threatened by their own security while looking at him smiling away and playing tricks like a whimsical child, they plotted and schemed and eventually managed to ostracize another child of Aphrodite.

Conformity was their gospel, and any who deviated from the hive mind was to be abandoned, ostracized, or killed. Athenia in the matter was beyond lucky as the prison inside Nerva's head has helped her escape certain death. But the heavenly council didn't show the same mercy to Lantherm, and thus they cursed his people with depravity and gave him but one choice.

Conform, die and your people shall drink from the fountain of purity. Reluctant he bowed for he was but one lesser god and they were many. Taking his own life to appease the council, he expected to live in another form like the many other dead gods before him.

However, what he, nor the council realized was that a god who kills himself–a god that abandons his duty, shall return to the oblivion of eternal unbeing.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The council, too self-absorbed to notice such a crucial fact, remained ignorant of Lantherm's death. Even so, they never cured his land and left it to succumb to perversion and decay. With time it turned into a hub for criminals, yet the loyalists persisted despite the perversion.

However, they failed to carry the whimsical nature of their god and instead acted almost like a cult obsessed with every imagery of their gods.

So how come a dead god has chosen warriors? The answer was simple, the cult believed their lies simply because they were obsessed with the idea of Lantherm and not his gospels and principles. They praised the heroes like champions despite having never done a single act of good. The false heroes themselves were ignorant of such facts, but it didn't stop them from exploiting the situation.

"They believe whatever we tell them and so we said what we thought everyone wanted to hear!" Admitting to their lies, Amber was the first to break. She was fearful and quivering as a true chosen of a good stood before them. "L-let us go, please! We'll never bother you, hell we'll leave the island and never show our faces there!" Discover hidden stories at empire

While Amber continued to beg, Baylee watched her feeling shell-shocked that she was spilling every single one of their secrets. However, hearing Gunther groaning in pain again, she quickly turned her attention back to him and tried to slap his face until he would wake up.

"What are we gonna do with these idiots?" Standing beside Raven and ready to snatch away Gunther, Reina waited for his orders so she could throw every single one of them off the boat.

One hand on hips, the blacksmith glared at their faces–the girls she faintly recognized but the man she had never met before. And while Raven was left to decide their fate, her eyes turned back to the lighthouse and the shadows were still changing shapes.

"By the way…" Turning her attention back to the girls, Reina leaned forward and grabbed Amber by the collar. "What's going on in that lighthouse? Isn't the top floor only available to a technician?"

As Amber gulped and her eyes darted all over Reina's face, her shirt's button began to pop and she quickly found herself on the deck again. Throwing her top, Reina leered at the topless woman. Covering her chest even though she was still wearing a faint white bra, Amber stared at the ground too afraid to admit what was going on at the lighthouse.

"Let us go and I'll tell you!" Noticing an opportunity, however small it may have been, Baylee tried to grasp it. "You're here to help people, right? Just let us and I'll tell you everything and maybe you can help some more folks! I swear just let us go please!"

Devoid of true emotions, Baylee attempted to appear desperate, but the lack of coordination between her words and expression made her appear like a creepy doll that only repeated words that had already been spoken to it. Hearing her speak, even the monster girls felt an eerie sensation crawling under their skins.

From her pleading once, it was clear that Baylee could fake a cry to perfection but if you were to see her face it wasn't that hard to uncover.

"Tell us and I'll think about it," conjuring the remaining corruption into his hand in the form of a flaming ball, Raven was ready to unleash it onto the girls–if they dare do something as stupid as their brother.

Baylee's eyes kept wandering between Raven and the red-head standing beside him, she hoped to draw mercy, but noticing the utter lack of it, she quickly dropped the act and with a shake of her head, began spilling the beans as well.

"Amber drugged the priest's wife and daughter, a handful of other outlaws are taking turns on their bodies as we speak. Hence the shadows and the movement, but nobody closeby can notice so these two idiots have continued to do it." Even subtly distancing herself from the rapes, Baylee let go of her brother and got up on her feet.

Being outed as an accomplice for countless rapes, Amber stared at Baylee, her eyes jittering all over. Her mouth agape, she couldn't believe her own sister wouldn't so much as attempt to leave her name out of the crime as well.

"Let me live and I'll help you in any way I can…" Given her sexist nature, Baylee begged not Raven but Reina, even though she knew the decision rested with the party's leader.

"I doubt you're of any use," Visibly pissed about the rapes, Raven grabbed Baylee by the face and force her to look him in the eye. "You'd be better served as bait for monsters or your heart can be used for automatons by our friend in Elenaris."

Sensing just a trace of fear in her eyes, Raven used his charm to draw out her true emotions, but to his surprise, the woman was hollow except for her dire urge for relaxation.

"What the hell's wrong with you?" He muttered, unsure if this woman was even a human.

Letting her go, Raven was ready to kill them all, but then out of nowhere, Baylee came up with something that saved their lives for a few more days.

"At least let us fix this ship! You'd be hard-pressed to find someone to fix it on the island without the proper connection, we can take care of everything, just let us…or even just me live!" Her words horrified Amber, especially the last part, but they also horrified the rest just as much as the desperation in her voice failed to match her expression.

Once she was over the creepy feeling, however, Reina folded her hands and turned to look at Raven.

"You know what? I've already built this ship two days ago, I'm not repairing it so soon." The others were in agreement, none of them wanted to work it again, and thus with everyone's approval, Raven decided to keep the trio alive even if for just a few days longer.