Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Ever since she'd touched the clone, Avarice had been following Grace everywhere. What's worse, the faulty automaton watched the machina split into two identical clones, and one rushed to god knows where while the other continued to follow her.

'She knows that I know their secret.' Grace thought, and she was right. The clone of Avarice was made with excellent discerning capabilities, mostly for defence, but more importantly, to weed out traitors, and that's exactly what she considered Grace at the moment. 'This little rascal.'

Busy in the kitchen amongst the countless automatons that she managed every day, Grace couldn't find a moment to breathe, much less leave the place to tell Raven everything that she'd seen upon touching the false Mono's hands. Every time she so much as moved her neck, the automaton followed her like a hawk.

If she were to leave and be seen approaching the party, there was no doubt in her mind that either her or Mono's core would be under jeopardy. Her body was one thing, but losing the greatest mind in Elenaris, that too the queen, due to her hastiness, wasn't exactly something that she was ready to put on her conscience.

'I'll have to find another way.' Skillfully dismissing a handful of girls without saying a word, Grace continued to work as the kitchen grew slightly less crowded. Taking up some work, she urged the others to hasten up with the preparations for tonight's meal.

"I'll whip you with my hair if you girls don't get your act together!" Intentionally shouting louder than usual, she worked the girls like horses, and even when they were keeping up with her demands, she kept on complaining. "For the love of–Master Mono loves lavender tea–not regular tea."

Lifting a jar from the cabinets that was clearly labelled as Lavender tea yet filled with regular tea leaves, Grace slammed it on the ground next to her. The girls jumped at her outburst, they'd seen her angry, furious, even, but never like this. However, even the look of concern in their eyes was met with verbal reprimand.

"I don't smell the broth either, so better start working on that, NOW!" Fearing her wrath, the automatons quickly turned away and began rushing all over to get the work done as soon as possible. In the meantime, Grace finally saw a window of opportunity to urge the Avarice clone to come closer. "If you're gonna stand there, at least help! Get in here and chop vegetables!"

Blinking in confusion, the simple-minded clone didn't know what she was supposed to do. On one hand, she realized that the kitchen was short-staffed since a handful were sent away, most likely to attend to something else entirely. On the other hand, however, she wasn't designed to listen to anyone but her master. In spite of that, as an intelligent creature, she didn't wanna be yelled at and thus decided to do as asked.

Walking into the room from the doorway, she looked for a knife and picked it up. But her flimsy grip made her drop it, and once she got it up, she looked around blankly as if she had no idea what to do. Unable to voice her doubts, she simply stared at Grace and awaited her response.

"What? Just pick up the carrots and onions, I need them chopped for the broth!" Grace tried to keep up the act, but with the automaton still confused, her expression lightened quite a bit. "Do you not know what a vegetable is? Or how to chop them?"

For once, the automaton responded with a subtle nod.

'What? But…How? How can someone not know what a vegetable is?' As confused as the Avarice clone, Grace moved closer to the machina and took the knife out of her hand. What was meant to be a distraction for the girl turned into a demonstration. Chopping both onions and carrots at a master's speed, Grace made sure that Avarice was watching and then finally handed the knife back to her.

"Now do just that and wash them once you're done–if you're still confused, ask one of the other girls to show you how. I need to add fuel to my body for now." Nodding at Grace again, Avarice, the automaton clone, turned to the chopping board. Clumsily and unevenly chopping up the vegetables, she worked at a snail's pace, but that worked in Grace's favor.

Before leaving the kitchen, however, she eyed the automaton's skirt pocket. It was heavy with Mono's core. She wanted to reach out and get it, but if Avarice were to notice, this distraction would fall apart, and she would neither get to warn the hero nor get Mono's heart.

'I'll be back for it as soon as possible.' Steeling her heart, Grace reluctantly left the kitchen. And as she moved down the halls, she noticed the girls that she'd sent away cleaning the corridors.

"Leave the sweeping for later! I need you to find the hero and his companions!" Already spooked by her behavior, the girls simply nodded and left the brooms right then and there to go look for the hero.

Walking around herself, Grace checked the guestrooms first as the party had stayed there before. But when nobody seemed to be there, she moved to the lower floors while the maids checked the upper section of the castle.

There she aimed for the dining and the garden, but nowhere she could find them. It wasn't until she heard a rustle from beneath the floor that she finally figured out where the hero was.

"The dungeons, of course, they had to be there." Shaking her head, she rushed for the dungeon that lurked right underneath the castle. There she was bound for the heroes, instead, however, she met another clone of the clone.

Standing frozen at the sight of the clone of Avarice–possibly one that the kitchen one had sent after her, Grace cursed her luck as she knew that she'd been outsmarted by what seemed to be an ignorant machine.

'I'll just wait for them to come out and then we'll take the heart from you.' She thought to herself, but as her eyes fell on the clone's pockets, that hope was snuffed quickly. 'Blast it all!'

There was no heart, and with the clone pointing upstairs, the headmaid had to follow. Beyond frustrated with the situation, her mind racked for ways to send the hero a message. But for now, with the clone's eyes digging into her, she couldn't write a letter, much less deliver it to the heroes.

'There has to be a way.' There may have been, but could her limited mind find it? That remained to be seen, but she only had one day before the heroes left the city.