Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

As the hero's party gathered around their leader and the true monster, the old lady was left confused but that didn't stop her from trying to help. Alone in the kitchen–at least without anyone living, she stirred a pot with a collection of herbs brewing with strong salts pungent enough to wake the dead. Continue reading at empire

Standing on a tall stool as she worked on the counter, Baba glanced sideways at the curious spirit watching her stir the pot continuously. Surprising the girl with a smile, she turned her gaze back to the herbs. However, stunned at the fact that she could see her astral body, the nameless spirit kept staring back at the old woman.

"It'll join you soon sweetheart, no need to be surprised that I can see you," said Baba, a smile still resting on her pale lips.

Standing at death's door, it wasn't her first time seeing the dead much less conversing with them. But not knowing the least of it, the spirit was still confused about what to think of the situation.

"Now are you just gonna stand there or help me?" She asked, turning to look at the spirit again.

"H-how?" The spirit asked in turn, and the old lady glanced over to an open cabinet with a dozen ceramic cups.

Following her gaze, the spirit realized what the woman meant, and thus grabbing the cups off the cabinets she began resting them on the counter until the woman slapped her hand lightly.

"That's enough," she said before grabbing hold of the pot's handle and pouring the liquid into the many cups.

Beyond surprised by the fact that she could be touched, even slapped, the spirit stood there rubbing her hand sizzling with a tinge of hurt.

"Help me take these to your friends, alright?" Jumping off the stool she was standing on, the old woman looked up at the tray for the spirit to carry. "It's been a while since I talked to a ghost, but you can still possess things, can't you?"

"S-sure…" Still, a bit shaken by the casual talk from Baba, the spirit turned to face the tray and reluctantly reached for the handles on the side. Possessing things wasn't something she had tried too much before, hence she preferred to simply carry the tray while the old lady led the way to the room everyone's been gathered in.

Through the lens of the old woman, the sight of everyone gathered around the bed watching someone sick–filled her with melancholy for a time long past, a time that would never come again.

"W-why is the tray floating?" Not entirely in the loop as of now, Mel was left a bit surprised, but upon quick reassurance by Erika, the party shifted their attention from the tray to those cups filled with a pungent liquid.

Covering their noses, they subsided quickly–giving the old lady and the spirit a turn to check on Raven and the Arachne queen. Reaching for the tray while standing next to the bed, Baba moved the cups closer to Raven's nose and like a sudden burn on the tongue, the mage's eyes opened up and he moved away from the liquid and nearly coughed a lung.

"Wh-what the fuck was that?!" He screamed, but the old lady had already moved to Arche and thankfully for Raven, Erika grabbed him by the shoulder and began to heal whatever damage the liquid might've caused him.

And while Raven was fine and slowly recovering from the horrid smell of the liquid, the moment Baba brought it next to Arche's nose, her eyes popped open but instead of being repulsed, she grabbed the old lady by the throat. Not entirely out of her dream, she slowly began to tighten her grip around those old bones, but the sudden squeak from Baba was enough to garner Raven's attention and the moment he saw what was happening, the mage touched Arche's hand and sent her into the monster holding jewel.

Falling on the bed, the old woman took a moment to catch her breath before slowly getting up with the help of the spirit. Upon getting up, however, surprising everyone with a smile, she began to laugh with her eyes glued to the floor.

"What was I even thinking, doing that so close to that girl?" Shaking her head, she grabbed hold of her walking stick and began walking out of the room without speaking another word.

Helping her on her way out was yet again the spirit girl, unaware of the fact that the old woman was no longer present in the moment but rather reminiscing over the past. Within these walls there once lived a happy family, it wasn't an inn or a shop but a simple home for a handful of her kids.

The feeling of being choked reminded the woman of her husband, but even more so it flooded her mind with the memories of her kids running around, restless.

'If only I could go back in time and relive those days over and over…' She thought to herself while being escorted to the living room that was right by the entrance.

"Are you okay?" Listening to the spirit's voice, she smiled yet again.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"Am I okay?" Turning her head sideways, she looked up at the spirit girl. "Better than I've been in a long time, sweetheart, almost feel like I have a family again, as broken as it may be."

"A family, who?" Asked the spirit, her own concept of family twisted beyond understanding at this point.

However, refusing to elaborate Baba simply chuckled behind closed lips and slipped out of the spirit's hands. Moving herself into a rather antique couch, she watched the fireplace resting without a flame, and yet she could see both the fire and hear the cackling of children echoing inside her head.

Standing in a corner and watching the old woman drifting, the spirit was left confused and her confusion only grew further as Baba said a few words before allowing herself to fall asleep.

"Watch out for that viper…she's gonna poison the rivers, I swear." Her warning made little sense to the girl, but even so, she decided to relay it to Erika as soon as the uproar settled upstairs. In the meantime, all she could do was wonder…

'Who will poison the rivers? And with what?' The answer lay in plain sight and yet she couldn't see it, at all.