Chapter 19
Chapter 19
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: Prophecy (2)
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After getting an earful from Karga at the clinic.
"What? There are no matches this week?"
"That's right."
It was unexpected news.
The gladiator match scheduled for this week had been canceled.
"Your condition wasn't good after returning, so it was only natural. You were unconscious right up until today, the day of the match."
"Ah, so today is..."
"Sunday."
As far as I remembered, I had returned to Parion on the third day after departing for the labyrinth.
That meant I'd been out cold for all of Saturday.
Since I was still unconscious by Sunday when the matches were held, they must have canceled it.
'An unexpected windfall.'
Either way, getting through a whole week without fighting was a huge gain.
Even Rahart, whom I'd just barely recruited, hadn't shown up yet.
And then.
Karga, with her sullen expression, quietly added one more thing.
"If I'd known you were this healthy, there would've been no need to throw a fit with the master to cancel the match."
"Pardon?"
"Hmph, nothing. Just talking to myself."
Our Karga had always been kind to me despite her sharp features.
But for some reason, ever since I woke up, she'd been awfully cold.
Of course, being cold to a mongrel slave was her default, so it didn't hurt much.
"Anyway, Number 17."
"Yes."
"You seem to be in decent shape, so let's move."
"Where to?"
"The master and the VIPs are waiting."
"Huh? Why would they..."
"Obviously, it's about your dispatch mission."
Only then did I remember, upon hearing Karga's reply.
'Well, yeah. Seven of us left, and I came back alone. That must raise a lot of questions.'
No one here could have predicted it.
Not when a scouting party of four quarters and two halves—mixed bloods though they were—got wiped out, and only the mongrel slave returned.
"Let's go. They all have a lot they want to ask you."
And so, I followed Karga to the VIP room.
'VIPs, huh...'
I tried to recall my hazy memories from the labyrinth.
And among those memories, the one thing that stood out crystal clear.
It was the information I'd tortured out of that elf.
'E-Elena...! Elena Silbaren...!!'
The one who ordered my death.
Of course, I'd tortured the dwarf too and gotten info on their client.
'Elena and Nikia...'
The dwarves wanted my axe.
The weapon blessed by Morduin.
But the elves' goal was still unclear.
They definitely wanted me dead. But I had no idea why.
'Am I about to meet those clients now?'
Wanting me dead made them my enemies, no matter what.
And this hearing would let me get a good look at their faces.
You can't make plans without knowing your enemies.
I followed Karga with the mindset of heading into battle.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Those idiots... can't even handle one simple job..."
Elena gnawed at her nails, her face twisted in fury upon hearing that the Number 17 slave had returned.
The six elves and dwarves she'd sent with Number 17 to kill him quietly and without a trace.
Yet only Number 17 came back alive, and the rest had vanished.
"Hmm~, isn't that mongrel stronger than we thought? I heard he even uses your grand master's magic."
Nakia responded to Elena's frustrated mutter with casual nonchalance.
Elena shot her a subtle glare.
"Aren't you upset that the job failed?"
"Ahaha~! Well, our goal is that guy's axe. It's not like he's using magic your people lost. No rush for us."
"Tch..."
She was right.
The dwarves just needed to recover the weapon blessed by Morduin.
Sure, it was humiliating for a mongrel to wield such a symbolic weapon.
But it wasn't as shameful as a mongrel using the elves' lost magic.
"Still, no need to fidget like that."
"Hmph, don't you get it? We can't just kill him quietly anymore."
"Why not? He came back alone, so pin the blame on him and execute the guy."
Just like Nikia said.
The mongrel slave they'd dispatched for the mission came back alone, alive.
He might have abandoned the scouting party and fled a dangerous situation.
That was more than enough justification for execution.
But.
"...Do you think I hadn't considered that?"
"Aha~, it got shot down, huh? Man..., what does Taira see in that mongrel to protect him like that?"
Elena had indeed brought up that very justification to Taira Pendrack and requested execution.
But she'd been refused.
'No, we still don't know what happened, kid. He came back in bad shape, not normal at all. Maybe he didn't run and just survived by luck after fighting together.'
Taira had rejected Elena's request, saying there was no proof for the execution justification.
That's why they'd decided to summon Number 17 now that he was awake and hear the truth directly.
And right then.
Creeeak.
"I been waitin', right? He'll be here soon, they say."
The door opened, and Taira appeared.
"...He's awake?"
"Yeah, just woke up, apparently."
"How's his condition?"
"Hmm~, what about it? Our elf lass..., you seem pretty worried about Number 17, huh? His face kinda your type?"
Taira grinned mischievously at Elena's words.
But Elena hid her displeasure behind a faint smile and replied coolly.
"Heh, funny. As if a pureblood like me would feel that way about a mongrel slave."
"Kyahaha, that's why you asked for execution, yeah? To make a specimen outta him or somethin'."
"......"
Taira's words subtly probed the reason for the execution request.
Elena fell silent for a moment.
If she slipped, Taira might learn about the Quartet of the Wind.
After calming her mind, Elena replied leisurely.
"I only suggested execution because I thought it was right. We elves value rules, after all."
"Hmm, is that so?"
"Of course. Heh, but his face being my type... Lady Taira's jokes are quite amusing."
No matter how handsome he looked, a mongrel was a mongrel.
The idea of a noble pureblood like her harboring romantic feelings for a mongrel male.
If it hadn't come from Taira, the owner of this city, it would have been an insult worth starting a fight over.
But since it was Taira.
Elena brushed it off as a joke with a laugh.
"A joke..."
"Pardon?"
But contrary to Elena's thoughts.
Taira hadn't said it as a joke or to insult.
"Well, you ain't met him yet, so yeah."
"What do you..."
"Heh, makes me even more excited for Number 17 to show up. Kihehe."
Elena and Nikia tilted their heads at Taira's laugh.
A pureblood like herself feeling attracted to a mongrel's looks?
They couldn't fathom any interpretation beyond it being a joke.
And right on cue.
Knock knock knock.
"Lady Taira, it's Karga. I've brought Number 17 as requested." "Oho, he's here. Come on in."
Karga's voice came from beyond the VIP room door, announcing Number 17's arrival.
'Finally...!'
Elena smiled faintly.
The moment she'd been waiting for had arrived.
Her request to execute Number 17 had been denied by Taira.
The reason: the truth wasn't clear yet.
So now they'd hear the truth from the labyrinth straight from Number 17.
'No matter what happened..., I can twist it into grounds for execution.'
The reason a single mongrel slave survived alone was obvious.
Taira said the reason wasn't known yet.
But clearly, the scouting party had been attacked by a monster horde in the labyrinth, and Number 17 used them as bait to escape.
'That labyrinth had an unnaturally high number of monsters, so it has to be.'
Elena had prepared that labyrinth from the start.
To disguise the mongrel slave's death as an accident, as much as possible.
Even a mongrel slave was still property of Parion's owner, Taira.
Killing him arbitrarily could cause big trouble.
It was a trap prepared so she could make excuses even if the scouting party fell under a truth spell.
'Those idiot half-elfs..., they must've fallen into the trap I set up.'
And that reason alone was ample grounds for execution.
A slave abandoning his clients and fleeing.
Unacceptable.
Even Taira couldn't shield a mongrel slave for Parion's honor.
And then.
——Creeeak.
Elena's plan to execute Number 17.
"Pardon the intrusion."
"......"
Went blank white the moment Number 17 entered the room.
——Whoosh!
"Ugh...!!"
"Uh, ugh...?!"
The moment the door opened, a peculiar air suddenly enveloped Elena and Nikia from the doorway.
The moment the two inhaled that thick scent, their bodies began to tremble and react.
"Kyahaha! Yeah yeah, knew it'd be like this."
Only Taira watched the two with leisure, laughing.
Having already experienced his scent before.
Of course, even Taira felt her heart pounding noisily the instant the door opened.
'W-What is this...!!'
'Thick..., yet sweet fragrance...'
Elena covered her mouth and nose, her face flushing red.
Nakia, looking utterly intoxicated, began savoring Number 17's scent filling the room with a dazed expression.
"I heard you had some questions."
"Yeah. These guests wanna hear about what happened in the labyrinth. You can speak freely, right?"
Ignoring the two entranced by Number 17's scent, Taira began the conversation with him.
Number 17 nodded indifferently to Taira's request.
"Yes, I'll answer honestly."
Not a hint of tension even with three purebloods before him.
Elena, face still flushed, cautiously eyed Number 17.
'Ah..., he's kinda handsome...'
The thought flashed through her mind the instant she met his eyes.
A woman's instinctive reaction.
—Thwack!
"Hmm? What's up? Somethin' wrong?"
"N-No..., nothing... It's nothing..."
Elena trembled, head bowed.
Her thigh stung from the punch she'd thrown.
'Am I crazy...! H-How could I feel that way about a mongrel...!!'
She, a noble pureblood elf.
Feeling her heart race for a mongrel, a battle slave no less.
Her lower belly tingling.
Could there be greater shame?
'R-Right..., I have to kill him.... For the honor of the elf race, I must...!'
Elena pulled herself together and steadied her mind.
She crossed her arms, forcing a calm facade as she stared straight at Number 17.
"Well then, tell us. What happened in the labyrinth that let you return alone?"
Honestly, just meeting his eyes made her heart race on its own.
But Elena maintained her composure.
For now, she needed to find reason to execute Number 17.
That was her sole focus.
But.
Number 17's testimony that followed shattered Elena's thoughts.
"Right after arriving at the labyrinth, the scouting party attacked me."
"......Huh?"
"So I killed them all and barely made it back alive."
"W-What..., did you say...?"
It was an answer Elena hadn't anticipated at all.
No, no one in the room had.
"The scouting party attacked you...?"
"Yes. I don't know why, but that's what happened."
"......"
"......"
"......"
Everyone stared blankly at Number 17.
After a moment of silence, Elena urgently shouted at him.
"D-Don't lie! All six scouting party members attacked you, and you beat them all and survived?!"
Of course, she didn't doubt that the scouting party attacked him.
Since she and Nikia were the ones who'd ordered it.
But what they couldn't believe.
Was that those six had all been taken down by a single mongrel slave.
It had to be a lie, no matter how you sliced it.
It defied common sense.
Mongrels were the trash with the faintest hero blood.
No one would believe such trash beat six elves and dwarves—even mixed bloods.
But.
"It's true. Please believe me."
Even under Elena's interrogation, Number 17 didn't back down.
He even stepped forward, knelt on one knee, and looked her straight in the eye.
"Ugh...!"
"If you think it's a lie, feel free to use magic."
"W-Wait..., stay back a bit..."
"I merely did my best to survive. My life belongs to my master."
As he drew closer, Number 17's scent grew even thicker.
And he stared at Elena with intense eyes.
Drip...
Elena clamped her thighs together and yelled desperately.
"A-Alright, just back off—!!"
"...My apologies."
Number 17 retreated at Elena's shout, and Taira grinned as she spoke.
"Then I'll have my boy check if Number 17's lyin' or not with a truth spell. That settle it?"
"......Yes."
"Alright then, Karga, Number 17. You two go wait."
"Understood, my lady."
Taira's clean wrap-up ended the questioning of Number 17 lightly.
And after Karga and Number 17 left.
Taira asked Elena, who sat with her head bowed, and Nikia, still dazed by the scent.
"So, if Number 17's tellin' the truth..., that means your underlings tried to kill my slave?"
"......"
"......"
"Know somethin' about it?"
At Taira's question, Elena lightly shook her head and replied quietly.
"No..., I don't know why they would..."
"Right? Well, go rest then."
Of course, Taira had a rough idea.
She didn't know why, but they'd tried to kill Number 17.
But even as Parion's master, those two were pureblood ladies of their races.
She couldn't force a truth spell on them just because they denied it.
Taira nodded lightly and left the room.
Creeeak...
Thud.
Everyone who came had now gone.
Only Nikia and Elena remained in the VIP room.
"Haa..., what is this..., incredible..."
Nakia was still lost in Number 17's lingering scent.
Meanwhile.
"......"
Elena, who had kept her head down and thighs clamped since earlier.
Drip drip.
Tears fell to the floor.
"U-Ugh..."
The peculiar scent that had filled the air was gone.
As her heated heart cooled, shame exploded forth belatedly.
'Noble..., pureblood..., m-me...'
Her heart swayed for a mere mongrel.
Intensely so.
Even her body's instinctive physiological reaction for receiving seed had triggered.
Elena clamped her legs tight, trembling with a humiliated face, head bowed.
"I will... kill you..."
This went beyond the elves' honor.
It was a vow for her own.
"Definitely..."
Elena resolved to kill Number 17, who had inflicted such shame on a noble pureblood like her.