Chapter 305: The Hated Medicine (14)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 305: The Hated Medicine (14)
“Have a nice walk~”
Ivrelia waved as she saw us off, a wide smile gracing her lips.
She looked like a mother sending her shut-in, unemployed daughter off to be married.
In reality, she was a queen who had not only handed over one of her own people—someone she should have treated like her own child—to a slave trader but had also personally requested her training.
History was filled with tales of humans sending armies to capture, kidnap, and train elves.
Considering that elves saw slave traders as the sworn enemies of their race, the word ‘inexplicable’ was the only way to describe this situation.
It just went to show how much resentment Ivrelia had built up toward Alfia, and that today’s sharp rebuke—disguised as self-reflection—had been the final blow.
Now that the queen herself had made the request, I had to carry it out properly.
I glanced behind me.
Alfia, bound by a leash.
To create a more fitting atmosphere, I’d had her change her clothes.
She now wore a traditional elven outfit made of leaves and plant stems.
The overflowing sense of pitiable beauty made her look much more like a slave, which was a definite improvement.
Alfia would surely be satisfied.
“You barbarian! How can you put a leash on a person and drag them around? Take this off, now!”
Of course, that’s what the Alfia of the past would have said.
We were currently crossing the center of the village to leave the Great Forest.
Alfia, being dragged along by me, was showing a textbook, perfectly standard elven reaction.
To walk an elf on a leash in an elven village… it wouldn’t have been strange if I’d been shot full of arrows and turned into a porcupine on the spot.
But instead of being wary of me, the villagers barely paid us any mind, as if they were watching a familiar scene.
“Yes, this is how it should be. It is a master’s duty to educate his slave. Take this opportunity to discipline that troublemaker properly.”
Even a notoriously rigid elven elder said as much, which said it all.
They welcomed the disciplining of Alfia, the village’s problem child, with open arms.
“Do you see? No one is saying a word. In fact, they welcome your education.”
“That can’t be…”
“Don’t defy me any longer. Unless you’d rather take this walk naked.”
“Hngh…”
Since we were taking a pet for a walk, I had to decide on a destination.
The most familiar place was Noctar. It would be more convenient, but a walk there would be meaningless. The residents of Noctar would just laugh and say it was a pretty picture.
The core objective of today’s walk was to grind Alfia’s pride to dust and fill her with shame.
To achieve that, the surrounding atmosphere and the gazes of others were just as important as Alfia’s own state.
A place far from Noctar.
A place where elves were not a common sight.
A place with lots of spectators.
‘Nothing beats the capital.’
*
Elves, a race born in the forest, raised on dew, and blossoming into beauty.
With their elegant features and thousand-year lifespans, they believed without a doubt that they were a superior race.
The only ones they might consider their equals were perhaps the dragons.
But even they were nothing more than winged lizards, beasts no different from the lowly beastkin.
In other words, elves were the most superior race of all.
This was common sense in elven society.
Every single elf was born with this way of thinking.
Alfia’s tendencies in this regard had been quite faint, but the drop in a single person’s affection had awakened her latent elven instincts.
It was a living hell.
“Wow, an elf slave.”
“So this is what they mean when they talk about elf slaves.”
“She shoots a bow with those huge tits? Are you kidding me? They’re big enough to shoot milk, not arrows!”
“They say elves live on dew, but don’t they actually eat cheese? Her breasts jiggle like cheese every time she moves. She’s got total cheese-tits!”
The main street of the capital, Calion, was bustling with people despite there being no particular festival.
At its center, Alfia was being led by Karami’s hand, crawling on all fours. The sight of her crawling along, her mozzarella-like breasts jiggling, was the very picture of someone walking a pet.
No one pitied Alfia.
The gazes fixed on her were filled with amusement, as if she were a fine spectacle. They spewed vulgar critiques, treating her not as a person but as a product.
The situation was nauseating.
How can he do this so casually?
The humiliation Alfia felt was beyond words.
I want to die.
The short phrase filled her mind.
If only she were allowed, she wanted to die.
“How is it, Alfia? Isn’t walking on all fours a new experience?”
“New? What’s so…!”
Karami began to whisper his plausible bullshit into Alfia’s ear.
“Elves feel that humans are inferior. A hideous, greedy, and foolish race. You always look down on them as if they are beneath you.”
“……”
“But… what has happened here? The tables have turned. You are crawling on the filthy streets that humans walk on, passing between their legs.”
Karami’s voice dropped lower.
“It’s all right, you don’t have to lift your head. You know, even without looking. You know just how many people are watching you. How many pairs of eyes are tracing the lines of your body.”
Karami smiled faintly. It wasn’t a sneer, but perhaps a genuine sigh of admiration.
“Can’t you feel the stares on your back? They’re raking over you, from your shoulders down your spine to your hips. You, unable to straighten your back for even a second, crawling with your hips swaying.”
He twisted his lips into a smirk and whispered in her ear.
“As if they were licking you.”
Alfia’s shoulders trembled minutely.
“Now, see for yourself.”
Alfia, who had kept her head down in shame, slowly raised it and looked around.
Her line of sight was different from usual.
All she could see were the ground and legs.
She could feel it.
The countless eyes boring down on her from unseen heights.
The sticky gazes clinging to her body.
“If I were to give the order, you would be parading through the streets naked. You would receive far more attention than you are now.”
“……”
“How about it? Isn’t it thrilling just to imagine?”
“Heut…!”
Alfia’s head dropped.
Her body trembled violently.
“Hah, haah…”
She let out a series of ragged breaths.
Her whole body was hot.
Her cheeks were flushed red.
My body… why is it like this?
Alfia was utterly bewildered by this physical reaction she’d never experienced in her life.
Her body felt as if it were aroused.
Aroused?
From what? Why in the world would she feel aroused?
From being walked on all fours like a pet?
From the stares of the people watching her?
That would mean she was some kind of perverted exhibitionist.
She was no perverted masochist.
She was a proud, noble elf.
Not some vulgar female who fawned over humans like someone else!
“Alfia.”
“Heh?”
“I believe you understand your place now. There’s no need for any more training, is there? You’re a smart elf, after all.”
He was saying the walk was over.
It was surely what Alfia had been desperately wishing for, but…
“H-Hmph? What are you talking about? My place? My place is obviously on top of you inferior beings’ heads. To think I’d submit after just this much. Humans really are stupid, aren’t they?”
Alfia retorted, a smirk twisting her lips.
What lay in her eyes looked like contempt, but a different emotion flickered in their depths.
It was anticipation.
Karami smiled brightly.
“Oh, dear. It seems your education is not yet complete. I have no choice. We’ll have to continue the walk.”
Alfia shot back with a smile of her own, not to be outdone.
“G-Go ahead, try for a hundred days. Even if you do something worse than this, I won’t break.”
*
The walk that had begun in the afternoon continued into the night.
The rumor of a crawling elf slave had drawn an even larger crowd, but now, they had all returned home.
The once-bustling main street was now quiet.
A walk also depended on the master’s stamina, so Karami, who had been walking all day, was resting on a bench.
Alfia sat at his feet.
She was crouched on the ground.
Crawling on the ground for the first time in her life had been exhausting, and her knees were scraped, but she didn’t care one bit.
She couldn’t believe it herself, but at some point, Alfia had started to ‘enjoy’ this walk.
“It’s getting late, so I’m afraid we’ll have to end the walk here and head back.”
“Ah…”
At the news that it was already over, Alfia let out a small sigh. For an elf who lived for a thousand years, a single night’s amusement was over in the blink of an eye.
The night’s heat did little to cool her flushed body. The one thing she couldn’t stand was being left in this ambiguous, unresolved state.
But she couldn’t bring herself to say it directly.
Like a puppy, she gazed up at her master, sending a silent signal.
Thankfully, Karami was quick on the uptake.
But he had no energy left to walk, and with the audience gone, continuing the walk was pointless.
He was trying to think of something good when Alfia called out to him.
“Hey.”
“Yes.”
“Well, you see…”
She had an anxious look on her face.
Her voice was pleading.
Her thighs rubbed together restlessly.
“What is it?”
“I need to… take care of some business.”
Alfia hadn’t been able to leave Karami’s side for a single moment all day.
On top of that, she had been steadily drinking water during the walk due to the hot summer weather.
She hadn’t had a chance to go to the bathroom.
So, if you thought this was a request to be let go to the restroom, you’d be an amateur. Someone who didn’t know Alfia well.
The walk was about to end anyway, so she could just go after Karami released her. It wouldn’t be too late.
There was a reason she had chosen this specific moment to reveal her own weakness.
Alfia. You really are hopeless, even at a time like this.
Karami nodded as if he understood.
Gripping the leash, he stood up and led Alfia into a dark thicket. He stopped in front of a tree.
“Take care of it here.”
“…What?”
“Have you ever seen a beast use a toilet?”
“A-At least you could turn around…”
“Don’t try such a pathetic trick. It’s obvious you’re planning to run away the moment I’m not looking. Did you think I wouldn’t know?”
The corner of Alfia’s mouth twitched.
“You… you really are heartless, aren’t you? How could you inflict such a humiliation on a woman?”
“You seem to be gravely mistaken. Alfia, you are not a woman. You are merely a female animal. If you’re going to do your business, do it quickly. Someone might come.”
Karami tilted his head.
“You’re the absolute worst. So disgusting. The mortal enemy of all women. I hope you fall out of a tree and die.”
After spewing all sorts of curses, Alfia crawled toward the tree.
She snuck a glance at Karami.
His expression was impassive.
His eyes said he would watch until she was finished.
Alfia lifted one leg.
It was an awkward position she had never been in before.
She felt like she could die of shame, but…
“Ah…”
An unconscious, heated sigh escaped her lips.
There was a part of her that was rejoicing in this situation, more so than feeling ashamed.
And a moment later.
Trickle…
The sound of water echoed in the quiet night.
A thin stream.
Long.
As if she wanted to savor this moment for as long as possible.
As her body emptied itself, Alfia felt as if something precious was disappearing along with it.
Her elven pride.
Her human dignity.
Her feminine honor.
Far from feeling resentful, she felt a sense of pleasure, and before she knew it, her lips were graced with a radiant smile.