Chapter 37: Scroll of Spirit Usurpation (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 37: Scroll of Spirit Usurpation (1)
Creeeak, clank.
“I’ll make sure you get your meals, so just stay put. Not that you can do anything in this room, anyway.”
The man locked the door and left. Alfia could do nothing but watch him go.
Her bow had been taken, and the shackle on her ankle was chained to a pillar in the center of the room. She could walk around, but that was the extent of her freedom. It seemed impossible to leave unless she could get it off.
“Hah.”
Giving up on escape for the time being, Alfia plopped down on the bed.
The place she was confined to was less a prison cell and more a VIP suite. It was furnished with luxurious items like a bed, a wardrobe, and a mirror.
This was the space Roperman used as a makeshift prison whenever he captured an elf. The story had diverged from the original, but Alfia had ended up here all the same.
“This is all his fault.”
Alfia stewed over Karami’s smug grin. He was the reason she’d been captured so helplessly, all because he’d recklessly gotten himself taken hostage.
After all that practice, she hadn’t even managed to fire a single arrow. What a ridiculous outcome.
Next time they practiced, she’d make him put a pea on his head. Assuming she ever got out of here.
“But where did he go?”
Alfia was the only one locked in the room; she had no idea where Karami was being held. A sudden, ominous thought crossed her mind.
What if he’s in some underground prison? Couldn’t he be getting beaten up for running his mouth without reading the room?
That sounded exactly like something Karami would do. He was the type to look at her and spout nonsense like, “Mmm, a living, breathing air purifier.”
She had to escape quickly and make sure he was safe.
“Ugh.”
A wave of pain washed over her, and Alfia grimaced. She’d had a drink before coming here, but the spirits were already beginning to stir. Her resistance must have increased, because they’d been waking up faster lately.
It had reached a point where alcohol could no longer keep them dormant. Not unless she lived her life soaked in it or took some powerful drug.
And if even that didn’t work, what would she do then?
Just when life was starting to get interesting, too.
No.
Alfia shook her head vigorously, trying to clear the stray thoughts. She would think about that after she got out of here.
*
How much time had passed?
The windowless room blurred the passage of time. Fortunately, her meals were delivered regularly, which allowed her to make a rough guess.
She had no appetite for the food. The dishes, slathered in spices, showed not an ounce of consideration for an elf.
I’m an elf.
A precious being, they called her. Then treat me properly!
Unable to drink, the pain intensified, and Alfia had to swallow her pained groans.
Clink.
A metallic sound came from outside. The heavy door opened, and in walked the dark elf Renard, her mask pulled up to just below her eyes.
In TOS, dark elves differed from other elves only in their settlements and the resulting physical traits; they weren’t mortal enemies or a cursed race.
Like Black and white people in the modern world. That was the only difference.
Alfia, who had been lying face down on the bed, turned her head with great effort.
“You…”
“Hmm, so I wasn’t mistaken. Not only are there spirits in your body, but they’re all tangled together at a single point. I’ve never seen a case like this… Fascinating.”
Calling someone who felt like they were dying of pain ‘fascinating.’ Dark elves really lacked empathy. Alfia wanted to fire back a sharp retort, but she didn’t even have the energy for that.
“Why is a dark elf here?”
“A request came in to capture an elf. No one in my organization is better at catching elves than I am, and I was curious what kind of person it was.”
“A proud dark elf, taking on paid jobs?”
Renard scoffed at Alfia’s sarcasm.
“That’s rich, coming from someone who hunts slaves for a human.”
“……”
“You could search the whole world and not find a bigger disgrace to the elves than you.”
So now even a dark elf I’ve never met is calling me a disgrace. Honestly, what is it with these elves and their damn pride?
“Did you come here just to mock me? If you’re not going to help, then get out. My head hurts.”
“I will. Right after I tell you about your pathetic situation, abandoned after serving as a hunting dog.”
“I wasn’t abandoned! For your information, I’m quite trusted!”
“You’re living in a fantasy.”
Renard sighed and shook her head. Then her gaze turned cold as she looked down at Alfia.
“You’ve been sold. By that man, the Slave Reaper.”
*
Alfia lay listlessly on the bed.
Perhaps out of some sense of kinship, Renard had tipped off the staff. The food was less spicy now, and it came with alcohol. But Alfia couldn’t bring herself to touch any of it.
The truth Renard had revealed had stripped her of all desire.
—That man made a deal to hand you over to Roperman in exchange for an item. Even the part where he held a knife to your throat—it was all a charade orchestrated by him.
—Where is he now? He already took what he wanted and left. He left you here.
“……”
It was all a setup orchestrated by Karami?
He handed me over to Roperman for an item?
He left me locked up here and just took off by himself?
Alfia didn’t believe Renard’s words outright. In the time they’d spent together, she and Karami had built up a certain level of trust. Their relationship wasn’t one she could sever as cleanly as a knife’s cut just because of a dark elf’s words, thinking, ‘I knew it, that bastard.’
But at the same time, a seed of anxiety began to sprout. Because if this was all Karami’s plan, everything fit perfectly.
It was the final piece that would complete the complex puzzle.
“Hk…”
Ah, I can’t. My head’s not working anymore. I’ll just drink and go to sleep.
With a trembling hand, Alfia grabbed the bottle of alcohol and chugged it down. Tossing the empty bottle aside, she buried herself in the bed.
Her eyes grew heavy.
Her consciousness sank into a deep abyss.
She couldn’t tell if she was falling asleep or losing consciousness. Not that it mattered.
Maybe it would be better if she never opened her eyes again. Then she wouldn’t have to be in so much pain.
Ah, the pain was already setting in.
But that was fine.
She was used to the pain.
*
The touch was familiar.
Rough, yet gentle.
A feeling of fingers running through her hair.
The incredibly careful sensation was like a soft breeze blowing across a meadow… it soothed her heart, and if she surrendered to it, the pain would subside.
If it were always like this, maybe she could live like everyone else. Mingle with her kin, compete with them in archery. Be acknowledged, be praised.
A perfectly ordinary life, nothing special.
For hundreds of years like that.
Until the vibrant tree returned to nature.
Would such a day ever come? Probably not. For it was a sensation that would crumble to dust the moment she opened her eyes, like a midsummer night’s dream.
So she wouldn’t open them.
She would pray for this moment to last forever.
…
But still, there was something she couldn’t tolerate. As an elf, this was the one thing she could not abide.
“I told you, my ears are sensitive!”
Alfia shot up, shouting in frustration. The sensation on her head vanished like a mirage.
Just as she was about to feel a pang of disappointment, her eyes widened. Like someone who’d seen something they shouldn’t have.
“…You?”
“Ah, you’re awake? You hadn’t woken up midway through before, so I was getting complacent.”
Before her was her master, Karami.
And, at the same time, the life partner she was forcibly bound to.
He was lying beside her on the bed, propping his face up with his arm. He met her gaze, a profound smile on his face.
“Wh-what are you doing here…?”
Karami sat up.
“What a strange question. It’s common sense for a master to be by his slave’s side.”
“The dark elf said you sold me! That you abandoned me!”
“Miss Alfia, between me and a dark elf you’ve never met, who do you trust more?”
“W-well, that’s obviously…”
Alfia barely managed to swallow the word ‘you’ that had risen to the tip of her tongue. She’d almost gotten swept up in Karami’s pace again.
Even so, she couldn’t stop a smile from creeping onto her lips.
He didn’t leave me behind.
Of course. What kind of relationship did they have, after all?
That dark elf must have been scheming to drive a wedge between them. Seriously, dark elves were so gloomy and sinister. Who was really disgracing the pride of the elves now?
Just you wait.
I’ll laugh in your face when I see you again.
“But how did you get in here? The room is completely sealed. There’s no way in except the door.”
“I came in through the door.”
“But it’s locked.”
“I slipped in when the servant brought your meal. Turns out the master had a tool that grants invisibility.”
Alfia nodded without suspicion. It wasn’t strange, since Victor the assassin had magic tools optimized for infiltration.
“More importantly, you were groaning in your sleep. Is something wrong?”
“Huh? Oh, that… Huh? It doesn’t really hurt now.”
She was sure it had hurt just a moment ago. Maybe the alcohol she drank earlier was finally kicking in. The spirits were so fickle, there was no telling.
In any case, it was a relief not to be in pain. As the agony subsided, her train of thought returned to normal.
“What’s the plan? We’re escaping, right?”
“We have to. But before that.”
Karami rummaged in his inner pocket and took out a scroll.
“What’s that?”
“It’s a magic scroll, inscribed with a specific spell. I took it from Roperman’s warehouse.”
“Aha, so you’re going to use that to escape?”
“No, this scroll is for you, Miss Alfia.”
Alfia tilted her head.
“For me?”
Karami smiled and unfurled the scroll.
“The pain you’ve endured, Miss Alfia, I will erase it all.”