Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!
Chapter 696: A Title’s A Curse

Chapter 696: A Title’s A Curse

Standing by a casket in the royal cemetery, Mono stared at the dead automaton girl and kept trying to remember when it was that she’d made her body. Her memories were faint, but a vision came through. Her human hands were working on a table with the automaton vessel laid open in front.

"There was no heart to place inside her," glancing over at Grace standing beside her, Mono squinted her eyes and asked inquiringly. "Then, who and whose heart did Shamisha put in this body?"

Although she was aware of the fact that Shamisha sold what inactive vessels had been left behind by Mono before she decided to enter deep sleep, Grace held her tongue and said nothing revealing.

"Possibly another one of the criminals, there were plenty of bodies to go through while you were asleep." Holding her master’s glare, Grace could see in Mono’s squinted eyes that she wasn’t fooled.

"Hmm? Well, whatever," turning her head back to the dead girl, the queen got to her knees and placed her hands on the casket. "Speaking of bodies, during this mess, I think I managed to figure out a way to finally repair your heart."

Tilting her head, Grace furrowed her eyebrows.

"How?"

Running her fingers on the casket still, Mono explained.

"I’m gonna have your consciousness transferred to another body the same way mine was transported to this girl. Then, I’ll collect your heart and transfer it into a better vessel, and even if your core crumbles, as long as I can somehow keep your heart beating, everything should be alright and you’ll have a new body in a matter of a few minutes."

Now that Mono had already explained the premise, it sounded all too simple to Grace. But what she forgot to realize was that not even someone like her master could’ve predicted that her soul and consciousness could be separated by the mental link connecting one person to the other.

"Before we had problems with your core crumbling and damaging your heart. We might still need to be careful, but even if your heart gets damaged, as long as your consciousness is in a vessel like Avarice’s that doesn’t necessarily require a heart to function, we’ll probably be alright. And if all else fails, we’ll just have to hope that your consciousness doesn’t fade if the heart dies out and instead remains within the temporary vessel."

"Sounds like a whole lot of hypotheses," Grace countered.

"Yeah..." Looking back at her from down on her knees, Mono gave her a weak smile. "That crumbling core is a ticking time bomb, we’re gonna have to try it either way, and I would rather do it soon when it’s still a bit stable than when it can no longer hold its shape."

As soon as she was done with her explanation, the sound of approaching steps raised her off her knees. Turning around, Mono saw Raltz, Lutz, and Riva–the demi-human rat family being led towards her by an automaton maid. Upon reaching close, the maid bowed and dismissed herself, and although the family tried to bow as well, using her newly implemented gravity arms in the model–Us, Mono kept their shoulders up.

"No need for formalities."

"B-but..." As the father looked at the queen dressed in the appropriate attire now, he couldn’t help but feel distant from the same woman whom he’d seen as his daughter. "You’re the queen."

The other two seemed just as uncomfortable about the situation, the youngster especially, as he lacked any knowledge of courtesy towards a royal.

"Always a curse, these titles." With a sigh, Mono took a step forward and placed her hand on the Raltz’s shoulders. Propping him upright, she looked him in the eye and whispered. "I’ll leave you to be with your daughter now. Once you’re done, talk to Grace; she’ll handle your accommodation in the castle and assign you your duties."

"We’re staying here?!" Just learning that they were gonna live in the castle, Raltz awkwardly stumbled back, unsure what the hell he was supposed to feel.

Nodding back at him, Mono began making her way to the castle’s back door.

"Send your son to my lab tomorrow, I have plenty of other demi-humans to get out of the sweavers, otherwise, I would’ve loved to start his apprenticeship today itself."

By the time her words registered in everyone’s head, Mono was already gone–yet the celebration had to wait, for it was time for a burial. Watching the family setting the casket in the grave, Grace wondered if the girl whose heart she had was also buried the same way. Whether...she would be buried the same way in case she dies while her body is being changed.

Clenching her fist by her beating heart, she allowed her mind to wander some more. Somehow, that heart devoid of soul was what was keeping her alive and holding her consciousness; without it, she would be lost forever with no heaven nor hell waiting for her on the other side.

’Master said that the girl still had part of her soul in her heart when she was pulled into that body.’ Staring at the casket as it finally lay in the grave, Grace wondered. ’Does that mean that girl had a soul and probably went to a better place?’

Almost jealous of that fact, she closed her eyes and distanced herself from her chain of thoughts. Such emotions had no use for her as it was something much similar that led Avarice and even Mono to the verge of insanity.

Standing in silence in a corner, the head maid awaited the burial to end. With closed eyes, she prayed for the deceased as she felt that it was the right thing to do, even though her faith was thinner than the breadth of a hair.

"We...we’re done." Hearing Raltz’s voice, she finally opened her eyes and gestured for the family to follow her.

There was much that needed doing, and it was her duty as the head maid to keep everything in order. But with the possibility of getting a new body and losing herself in case the experiment fails, the thought that every day could be her last kept swimming around in her head. Alas, driving thoughts away with labor, she busied herself with the tour until eventually those fears completely fled her head.