Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 49: Riena, The Blacksmith

The golden sword, it had nothing special about it. No boost to raw strength, power, or agility, even so, the very fact that Raven received it from an angel, enraged the hero. He was fuming and frothing, but with no justification in mind, he couldn't randomly try to confront him about it.

After all, it wasn't that he'd done something wrong, if anything, Raven was the one who'd done what the hero was supposed to do, leading the group towards becoming more resilient.

'What did I do wrong? Why did she abandon her trust in me?!' He agonized over such a thought, but alas, blind to his own shortcomings, Amedith wasn't going to arrive at an answer anytime soon.

"Drop me here, I need to stock up on arrows," speaking up as the carriage arrived at an armourer, Mel looked over to Raven–the new goddess-appointed leader of their group. The moment her eyes met his, a bitter scowl crossed her brows, but shaking her head quickly, she washed that expression and spoke up.

"I'll meet you all at the Boartooth, don't want to rush into a mission without proper preparations like last time."

"Wait, I'll accompany you," getting off her feet, Aria stretched her arms and began making her way out of the carriage. "I'll need some enchanted gloves too, hopefully, they have some cheap ones in stock."

Once the duo were off, Raven looked at the other two, making sure they wanted to get off as well.

"What about you guys?" Already knowing he wanted to get off at the Enchanted wand as well as visit the Lifeclover shop, Raven ideally wanted to be alone by the time they got to any one of the two spots.

"The church, I'll bring some potions and holy water to fight against vampires," Erika suggested, Raven nodded in response.

Turning his attention to Amedith, he noticed a flicker of rage in his eyes, although, after a few seconds of staring at him, he quickly masked it with a neutral expression.

"I'll get off here too, not everyone has a sparkling sword, after all," grabbing his sword's hilt as it rested in its sheath, Amedith picked himself up and joined the elves standing right outside the carriage.

"Okay, wait I'll distribute the gold," being the treasurer of the party, Erika masked her chest with her long dangling sleeves and reached in between her breasts. Taking out a pouch of gold that had been cushioned between her massive tits, she quickly began distributing the gold while the metal was still warm from her body heat.

'Just another way to flaunt those big tits of hers!' Rolling her eyes to what she'd just seen, Aria wanted to punch the priestess in the forehead. Her jealousy over tits was no secret, especially since her own couldn't hold a single gold coin at their best perkiest days.

"Give me!" Snatching her own share, Aria turned around and headed right into the store.

Following right behind, both Mel and Amedith walked in as well. In the background, they could hear the carriage charging away, but for now, what they were focused on more was getting proper equipment. And for that, they'd come to the right person and the place.

Adorned with display pieces of all kinds, from swords, shields, bows, and wands, the shop was flooded with equipment forged in the same heat bubbling the air inside. Glancing past the counter with an anvil to the side, the group stared at the redhead human pulling a hot piece of metal out of the forge.

Too engrossed in her works, the woman didn't realize that she had guests, and instead kept hammering the metal over the anvil, all the while her sweat sizzled against the metal.

Around the same height as Mel, but with a semi-muscular body from hammering all day, the girl looked like a pixie warrior, especially with her spiky short hair. The sound of approaching steps from the group finally caught her attention, although as she looked up, she accidentally hit her own hand with the hammer.

"AGHH! SHIT!" She cursed, her voice as raspy as a sailor.

"Aeila!" Not wasting a second as he noticed what had happened, Amedith cast healing magic on the blacksmith so they wouldn't have to waste more time.

"Fucking hells! Next time knock ye buggers!" Slamming her hammer against the counter, Reina growled at the three as she dipped her hand in a pitcher of water nearby. "What do ye want?! If it's just repairs again, then forget it! I'm not doing charity!"

Being a dead sailor's daughter, her temper was nothing new. She'd inherited it just as much from him as she had from working at the decks from the moment she learned to walk. As she grew older, however, being surrounded by men deep into the blue ocean was no longer her cup of tea.

"We need new equipment, all of us," stepping forward, Aria untied her gloves and let them fall to the ground. With a thud the sleeves unburned her hands behind which were burn marks that turned her skin from deep silver to pitch dark. Looking at her fingers, she curled them into fists a few times.

Lifting her eyes back at the blacksmith slowly making her way around the counter, she took a deep breath and sighed. "I want those special gloves, the ones that course with magic with every goddamn punch."

Stopping before the elf, the human girl folded her hands and stared at her for a few seconds. Then turning her eyes to the other two, she slightly lifted her eyebrows as if asking what they had in mind.

"A better sword and shield," Amedith responded.

"Special arrows for stealth," Mel replied right after.

Glancing around at their faces for a few more seconds, a smile crept up Reina's face. It wasn't that she was glad to have customers, but she found the whole situation hilarious.

"A hero, an elf, and a dark elf walk into a smithy," holding back her laughs, she undid her hands and kept looking around their faces. "What do they want? A fucking death wish is all."

To think two ancestral rivals would work with the hero had always been amusing to her, and for the first time since they'd started visiting her shop, the two seemed to be on the same track.

"Follow me, I'll sell you your death sentence," and with that, she moved behind the counter to show them the best and worst of what she'd got.

[Join the discord server! Character pic selection polls are going on, you get to vote for which character picture is made official! Discord link in book description]