Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!-Chapter 587: A Strange Request - Part 1

"It's a strange request, isn't it?" Still sitting at the gazebo after sending Raven to the castle, Helga shared a cup of coffee with the dark knight who'd just arrived after dealing with a public hassel.

Setting his helmet to the side, he picked up a cup and brought it to his burning lips. The taste barely tasted like anything and the sensation of it being hot or cold was lost on his ethereal body as well. Placing the cup back down, he leaned back into the chair and looked back at Helga.

"Third riot this week. I've been able to contain them to confined sections of the city, but if it keeps going like this, we might have more problems at hand."

"And a kid will change that, how?" Helga asked, her cup held right by her lips.

"An heir would be cause for celebration–and with celebration comes joy and an overall sense of community and compassion. Not to mention, the king will bless the citizens with relief from the taxes they pay for a few good months."

"What about the nobles? I doubt they will stop even after the celebration's done." Helga pressed him further before finally taking a loud slurp of her coffee. Watching Markus closely while doing so, the valkyrie was testing the spirit warrior's patience in her own playful way.

"Can you stop that!" He screamed, and out came the drink in a shower of hilarity.

Chuckling to herself for a bit, Helga took a deep breath and sighed. Turning her attention back to her friend, she asked again.

"So yeah, ahaha~ what about the nobles?"

Although somewhat frustrated by her unusual behavior, Markus brushed it off and began to explain.

"The queen plans to work with the Mistress–form a deal so that the dukes and duchess who rely on so much can be put back on a leash." Folding his hands, the knight leaned back into his chair again. "A relationship of mutual benefit seems like the best course of action since the Mistress does have a contract with the dead goddess. Remove her from the equation and who knows what would happen to all of Athenia's bounty…"

While the goddess Athenia was the one providing the land with her blessings, it was the Mistress who had allowed those blessings to occur for the contract between her and the dead goddess Aphordite had given her supreme authority over the land and its people. But of course, ruling with tyranny was no way to rule for a succubus, and thus she'd established the maze–a place from where she could keep darkening the hearts of the citizens.

"That woman, I wonder how many souls she's forced into oblivion with her hedonistic ways…" Helga mumbled to herself, wondering just how many souls the Mistress had gathered from this centuries-long endeavour.

"Well, you and her have history, so I suppose your guess should be better than mine."

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Ugh, don't remind me of that, Markus! I was an idiot–too horny for my own good after the end of the wars…" Scoffing at the reminder, Helga angrily stared at the knight for a while. But then, reminded of yet another important detail, she decided to move forward with that. "Speaking of war…"

Leaning forward on the desk, she beckoned him in. And as leaned closer to her as well, Helga said to him in a hushed tone.

"Have your powers drained too? While I was fighting that Lamia in hell, I felt like my strength was not even half of what it was supposed to be." It was a curious observation, but unlike Helga, Markus already knew the answer.

"We haven't fought anyone of equal or greater strength in more than a few hundred years–our powers haven't drained Helga, we're just somewhat out of practice." Thinking about Markus's deduction for a moment, Helga realized that it was, in fact, as simple as that.

"Tck…I need to train my daughters too. I didn't want them to have to fight, but I don't think I can avoid that anymore." As if the world was conspiring against her, Helga felt the weight of problems on her shoulders growing even heavier.

"What changed? Why do you wanna train them all of a sudden?" Markus asked, curious as to what changed Helga's mind.

But instead of an answer, the valkyrie offered him a proposal.

"Want to head to the dark sand beach and warm up our bodies again? Fight like the world's ending and the gods have their hopes riding on our shoulders?" Leaning back in her chair, Helga placed one foot against the table's edge and began rocking herself back and forth. "Since we're a bit rustic, why not scrape that rust away? Get back to our full potential or at least half of what it's supposed to be?"

"Are you offering to finally kill me?" Markus asked, squinting his eyes.

"Not yet, never actually…But if the demon lord is to be revived and the generals are still roaming about, I doubt we should be anything but at the height of our abilities if danger does arrive in the city of Athenia." Helga's logic was sound, but it was somewhat disappointing for Markus. He still wished to be unburdened, but it seems that his immortality still had some good years before parting.

"So be it. I did not wanna be in the castle while the talks of the heir being conceived are happening." Not too sure about the surrogate father idea, Markus decided to distance himself from the castle for a while–at least until the whole ordeal had concluded.

Unbeknownst to him, the process of conceiving a child by Viola was going to be a long process. After all, her being a spirit was bound to be troublesome still, and since Raven was part fae, getting pregnant by him wasn't an easy process either. To circumvent it all, however, Brenna had been called to the castle with the best medicinal herbs to help both the father and the mother.

However, before anything could happen, a conversation was necessary, and while Markus and Helga made for the dark sand beach with twin dragon daughters, Milo, Viola, and Raven sat in a quiet room with a strange tension lingering above their heads. Tia and Robin had greeted the mage not too long ago, and so had Brenna and Aerin, but this talk was far too embarrassing for the king and queen duo to involve anyone else just yet.

"So what is it?" Asked the hero, and although she was reluctant, Viola finally spoke up.

"W-we want you to help me conceive an heir to the throne!" After blurting that out, Viola let her words hang in the air. Nobody could believe what she'd just said, not even her.

'I…I can't believe those words just left my mouth!' Beyond embarrassed, she covered her face, but with her thoughts made known already, it was time to take the conversation further.