Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Once Helga's daughters were gone to dress themselves, she took Aria to her room to give her a pair of her old clothing to change into. The elf was still wearing the washed-up clothes that the salamander had licked last night, and its reeking smell was already bothering Helga throughout the meal.

Locking the door as soon as the two got in, she had Aria a bit concerned, but noticing the dubious gaze, she quickly decided to explain while walking up to her closet.

"I have scars all over my body, I don't want them to accidentally see them…" Opening the closet, she quickly began rummaging through her clothing. "Now tell me, what kind of clothes do you wear? I think I have quite a few at the very back."

'How old is that closet?' Aria wondered as Helga shouldn't have aged in centuries so her clothes getting smaller couldn't have happened recently. But deciding not to try and make sense of everything she says–especially after what she revealed at the dining table, Aria quickly answered the Valkyrie.

"Anything is okay–"

"Good!" Grabbing a stack of old clothes from the back of her closet, Helga slammed it right in front of Aria's face. Placing her hands on her hips as she glanced up at the elf's surprised face, she took a breath and explained. "Cause I only have sundress and armor, so you'd better be comfortable with one of these sundresses."

'What's with the sundress obsession?' Aria thought, reminded how every casual dress she'd seen Helga wear had only ever been a sundress. That question only lingered for a while in Aria's head, as after getting herself a plain violet dress, her eyes darted all over the room while taking off her clothes to get changed.

Everywhere she looked there were paintings of Helga and her husband. In some, they held their young daughter and in the other, they were seen smiling or Helga was clinging on him like a monkey on his shoulder. In one such painting, she was kissing him on the cheeks while he was quite literally struggling to get her off.

'She's wearing a sundress in all of them…all but one.' Reminded of the painting from the bathroom with the mistress lying on Helga's lap, Aria knew something was off, and somehow she felt like her obsession had something to do with her husband.

Finally curious enough to ask, she turned around to face the Valkyrie–but to her surprise, Helga was facing away from her with no amount of clothing on her body.

Scars decorated every inch of her back, cuts and bruises, seared seals into her skin, not only that, but names of countless men, women, of all races who'd once tried to own her, were crossed over each other as if putting their names down on her skin turned her into their property.

In a sense, it reminded her of Raven, but in no way was there an ounce of love or longing behind those flesh seared seals.

"Don't stare, you idiot…" The Valkyrie warned, glancing back at Aria from over her shoulder.

"S-sorry…I didn't mean to!" With a nervous gulp, Aria turned back around, the image of Helga's toned and marked back now burned into her eyes.

She tried to glance back and get another look, but to her surprise, even though her back was revealed, the marks were gone–replaced by smooth skin that appeared like it had never been touched.

'Where did it go?' She wondered, but Helga quickly downed her hair and it hid everything on her back till her rounded buttocks. Following the flow of hair, Aria's eyes did land on the more womanly features of the Valkyrie, and though it made her blush, she decided to finally follow Helga's advice and not stare at it so much.

Once dressed, the two headed out of the room to meet up with the daughters who were ready with their handbags full of books. And even as Helga and her began taking them to school, Aria still couldn't understand why it was more important for the Valkyrie that her daughters were kept away from physical training but rather taught the little Athenian schools could teach.

"It's all religious teaching anyways," she said, right as the girls were waving bye at them from a distance. Standing at the edge of the school's joint park, Aria and Helga watched as the two disappeared into the building.

"Their father was a mage, that's why…" Helga replied, her face twitching with a flicker of annoyance.

"Your husband?" Aria asked, subconsciously.

"Keep it a secret that he was a dragon, and I might spare you the spanking," Helga warned, making Aria twitch in response.

"Uh–y-yeah…okay, I'll keep it a secret," with a gulp, she quietly followed the Valkyrie, all the while in her mind, she wondered, how exactly did a dragon end up in Athenian infantry? But seeing how Helga was obviously tired of those questions, she decided not to push her luck, even though she felt like getting his name at least wouldn't have gotten her in much trouble.

'Maybe another time.' It was time to train, finally. Nothing else was left for them to do for a few hours until they had to go pick up Helga's daughters from school. But before that came practice to get stronger, not through some gimmick like unreliable necromancy or the blood potion gauntlets, but through barbaric vigor, rage, and most importantly pure unrelenting strength.

"I might have told you this already but…" Breaking the silence between the two as they began approaching her house again, Helga reminded Aria of something she'd said a while back. "Angels would sing when we fought with gods against other gods, it was a chaotic symphony, and even to this day no matter how much I try, I can't fight like I did when the sky itself was thundering with the choir."

Continue your journey with m|v-l'-NovelFire

Looking at Aria from over her shoulder, Helga wore a weak smile.

"Maybe one day you'll fight similar foes, and when that time comes–no amount of training would matter, not to a barbarian so learn to dance to the screams of your enemy, and you'll fight like you're ready to slay a god."

With a hearty laugh from Helga and a confused look in Aria's eyes, the conversation ended, and soon began the training, leaving the elf unaware of what her party members were going through for the whole day.