Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

\'I don\'t belong here…\' She thought, and she spared no time to let her lover know.

Grabbing Raven\'s hand just as a waitress was about to show them to a table, Aria urged him to follow her outside. Although perplexed, Raven did as she demanded and followed her out. But even as they sat back inside the carriage, Aria refused to speak for a while.

She\'d been struggling to adjust to their new lavish lifestyle–one of the many reasons why she\'d spent nearly all of her time at Helga\'s house ever since moving into the mansion as well.

"What happened?" Finally as Raven asked, she leaned back into the padded seat and while looking up heaved a heavy sigh and answered.

"I don\'t like this…not one bit," turning her head towards Raven, she wore a bittersweet smile. "I\'m sorry, it\'s just not what I expected. I thought a date would feel much better, yet somehow visiting these places, especially that restaurant, makes my skin crawl as if a million rats are running under it."

Even though he\'d already sensed her hesitance, Raven assumed that Aria was willing to try something new. But with that proven false, he rested a hand on her shoulder and decided to comfort for a moment.

"Alright, what do you wanna do? Something that would help you calm that anxious heart of yours," he asked, feeling her heart pounding just from placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Hmm? What do I wanna do huh…" Unsure herself, she turned her head around with a chuckle. On the other side of her seat, however, her eyes laid on the gauntlets that had yet to be tested. For a while, she simply stared at them, but slowly reaching for the cloth and unveiling them both, she picked them up with a light smirk on her face. "How about a spar?"

"What?" A bit perplexed, Raven drew his hand back.

Turning around with the gloves in her hand, Aria stared at him with a smile brighter than any she\'d had all day.

"Spar me, I wanna have a dance with these puppies," being a barbarian and a dark elf, Raven couldn\'t even fault her for wanting to spar on their date.

"Fine, ahaha…" He laughed, still unsure if she was kidding.

But his doubts were washed away as she instructed the coachman to take them to Helga\'s house. The Valkyrie had a wide enough backyard for a fight and Aria was much familiar with it at this point. Days in and out she\'d been training with the Valkyrie, and although she hadn\'t taught her anything too grand, it had definitely helped her keep up without using the demonic gloves or her dubious necromancy.

It didn\'t take long for them to arrive at Helga\'s house, and when they did, surprisingly enough the Valkyrie was standing outside waiting for the elf.

"The hell took you so long? And what\'s with the dress, we can\'t have you practicing with me in that thing!" She complained, still visibly upset about their conversation from before.

Getting off the carriage, the duo moved up closer to the Valkyrie before Aria decided to explain why they were there.

"A spar with a mage?" She was beyond confused as to what Aria wanted to get out of their battle, mostly since barbarians excelled at short-range and mages at large. "If it was someone else, someone less experienced, it would make sense but I doubt you can fight with him and win as of yet."

"It\'s just a friendly spar, we\'re not fighting to win or anything. Besides, I wanna test these gloves too," showing off the dragon-scaled gloves to Helga, Aria had her even more curious. "And thanks for the scales by the way, Reina told us that you brought them to her."

Facepalming herself, Helga ran her hand down her face before looking back at the elf.

"I told that idiot to make up an excuse as to where she got them, but…" With a sigh she straightened her back, let down her hands, and finally opened her front door for them to get in. "My daughter\'s aren\'t home from school, so you better get it done quickly, I don\'t want them to recognize their scales on that gauntlet."

"They belong to them?" Raven asked, only just realizing that both the girls were half dragons.

"Just get in, I already have a guest!" She announced, motioning them to get in quickly.

Walking right in, the two wanted to ask more about this guest, but with Markus clearly visible inside the living room, they didn\'t have to ask. Sitting on the couch with his helmet set on the coffee table, the man turned spirit was holding a mug full of steaming coffee.

"Didn\'t expect more company," he said, staring at the duo with his necrotic green eyes.

"I didn\'t either, until I sensed her nearby…" Quickly shutting the door behind them, Helga moved up from behind the duo and took a seat on the opposite section of the couch from Markus. "Anyways, you two can have the yard for a while, go ahead and play while us adults talk."

Curiosity bubbled between the two, yet they remained quiet for now. Walking through the house to reach the backyard, however, Aria couldn\'t help but ask.

"What is he doing here?" She said in a whisper.

"Maybe we can find out later?" Raven replied before grabbing her hand and taking her for a strange date that included sparring with each other.

In the meantime, Helga and Markus sat facing each other. Both had many things going inside their heads, after all, the dark knight was there to discuss something Helga would\'ve never expected in a million years.

"You wanna retire as a king\'s guard?" She asked again, but his answer remained unchanged.

"I wanna retire as a knight altogether…" Both knew that was a lie, yet their conversation continued.