Chapter 39: The Dance of the Elves (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 39: The Dance of the Elves (1)
“Damn this elf, what’s with all her demands?” the mustachioed employee grumbled to himself, carrying a meal toward the cell that was more of a suite than a prison.
She picked the menu, chose how it was cooked, and demanded alcohol. Was that a captured elf? More like a restaurant guest.
And Roperman was part of the problem, giving her everything she wanted. Just because she was a precious, hard-won elf, he catered to her every whim. He was spoiling her rotten. For all he knew, the man might let her roam free soon.
Clank.
The employee began to undo the three locks on the door.
He could have just shoved the food through the slot at the bottom, but the man chose to open the door. It felt good to admire the helpless elf up close, and she always had such a pleasant scent.
The devilish temptation to ‘kidnap her and run’ occasionally whispered in his ear. Not that he’d make it out of Noctar before getting caught, but still.
Click.
He undid the last lock and removed the chain. As he opened the door, the refreshing scent of the forest burst out.
Mmm, that scent.
It was a fragrance that washed away the day’s fatigue. He wished he could keep one in his room.
“Hey, your food… is here?”
The man’s voice trailed off foolishly.
Something was strange. The room looked luxurious. What he meant was, when the elf was there, he never even noticed the room’s appearance. He was too busy staring at her.
But not now. All he could see was the room. The elf who was supposed to be there was gone. The shackles that had connected her to the pillar lay on the floor, unlocked.
It was then that he realized something was terribly wrong.
“W-What the?!”
The employee stumbled into the room as if sucked inside. The meal he’d been carrying fell and splattered across the floor.
He checked the shackles. They weren’t broken. They were cleanly unlocked, as if with a key.
‘No way…!’
Someone had beaten him to it and snatched the elf!
Was it that bastard Marco?
Or Tram?
How dare those bastards make a move before me! If I can’t have her, neither can you!
The man spun around to report the situation and…
“Huh?”
…his eyes met Karami’s, who was tiptoeing out of the room and trying to close the door.
“Y-You…?”
As the man pointed a flustered finger, Karami offered him a gentle smile.
“Please, get some rest. The air is nice, the facilities are great. As for the food… it’s been on the floor for more than three seconds, but it won’t kill you.”
As if he preferred work over rest, the man shot to his feet and scrambled for the door, but the world wouldn't wait for him. Cruelly, the door slammed shut.
The man threw his weight against it, but it only rattled. While Karami hung onto the door to hold it shut, Alfia slid the locks into place.
Shouts and curses echoed from inside, but no one paid them any mind. They were too busy trying to escape.
“Let’s bolt.”
Whoosh.
Just as they were about to hurry out of the building before being discovered, a black mist swirled out of nowhere, blocking the corridor.
“What are you doing here?”
A dark elf slowly emerged from the mist. It was Renard, the one Roperman had hired to capture Alfia.
Renard’s icy blue eyes, cold enough to freeze the air, fixed on Karami.
“I’m sure Roperman himself saw you off.”
“I came back. I just couldn’t bear to leave my slave behind.”
“But I didn’t sense anyone.”
“That’s because you’re a hack.”
Renard’s eyebrow twitched. Karami’s ‘plausible bullshit skill’ wasn’t just for negotiations. His taunts could get under the skin of even a trained assassin.
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll just throw you back in.”
Renard’s hands moved, drawing the two daggers crossed at her waist in a reverse grip.
“The elf has escaped!”
As if on cue, Roperman’s minions, having heard the commotion, came rushing up the stairs.
Alfia’s eyes darted around while keeping Renard in her sights. They were in a straight corridor. If they stayed, they’d be surrounded from both front and back.
Then, her gaze fell on the corridor window.
“Hey. No… M-Master?”
“Yes?”
“We’re getting out of here. Cover your face with your clothes so you don’t get hurt, and hold on tight to your big sis.”
“What do you mean—?!”
Alfia acted before he could finish his question. Swinging her bow, she shattered the window, grabbed Karami, and threw herself outside.
At a glance, it looked like a suicide jump. At least, to anyone who didn’t know she was an elf.
Elves spend their entire lives leaping through the treetops. They are called forest fairies, or wingless angels of the woods. Elves do not know how to fall.
Alfia was still an elf, through and through. She bounded off the trees next to the building a few times before landing as lightly as a leaf riding the wind.
Karami was frozen, his eyes wide with shock from the sudden action. Alfia asked with a little laugh.
“You weren’t scared, were you?”
“O-Of course not. I was just surprised at how well you climb trees…”
“I’m an elf, you know~”
Alfia tossed her hair and gave a cool nod. Unfortunately, there was no time to leisurely show off her talents. There was another elf to deal with.
While the minions stared down from the window like dogs who’d lost the chicken they were chasing, Renard made her move.
The black mist that had spread outside the window flowed up to the building’s roof. Riding the mist once more, Renard looked down at the two of them, silhouetted against the moonlit night.
Alfia scowled.
“What is that? A spirit?”
“Correct. They’re called Dark Cloud spirits. They’re particularly fond of dark elves, and their weakness is the light attribute.”
“You bastard, how do you know that…”
“It’s in the spirit guide. You even get an achievement for completing it, you know? You have no idea how many times I rerolled elves trying to get a full collection.”
Renard’s gaze, as if looking at a piece of trash, shifted to Alfia. Alfia flinched, unable to meet her eyes.
“Is that truly the master you trust?”
“…I’ve decided not to think about it too deeply. Who cares? As long as he’s good to me, that’s all that matters.”
“What are you talking about? I’m good to all my slaves.”
“Master? Please, just shut up and run toward the tavern. Your big sis will take care of things here.”
“Haha, I suppose I’d just be in the way. I’ll leave the rest to you, then.”
Not wanting to get in the way with some pointless bravado, Karami started to leave, but called out to Alfia before he went.
“Miss Alfia.”
“What.”
“Your Master always believes in you, you know?”
Watching him give her a wink, Alfia let out a small laugh.
“I know, even if you don’t say it.”
Karami ran down the road, and Alfia, wary of any tricks, kept a close eye on Renard.
“Your job was to catch an elf, right? So if I offer myself up, wouldn’t that be perfect? You complete your mission, and that guy gets what he wants.”
“The client wants one of you high elves.”
“Such a discriminatory person. My master doesn’t care about things like that. How about it, want to be a slave too? As your senior elf, I’ll treat you well. Ah, of course, I’ll have to punish you a little for pulling a knife on my master.”
“It seems you’re trying to buy time, but there’s no need. I have no intention of chasing him.”
Renard glanced at Karami’s retreating figure. She knew exactly where he was going. The Peacock’s Night Gathering, no doubt.
She already had a few of her people waiting there, so catching him would be no trouble at all. All she had to do was focus on dealing with the elf in front of her.
“I’ll warn you now. Drop the bow and quietly accept your fate. You, who can’t even handle spirits, can never defeat me.”
She might be right.
Alfia had only been using a bow for a few months, and her training was all she had. Trying to defeat Renard, a seasoned assassin, might be nothing more than arrogant foolishness.
‘So what?’
Karami said he believed in her.
Did she need any other explanation?
No.
Alfia nocked an arrow, aiming for the space between Renard’s eyes. It was time to show the results of her training.
Alfia released the bowstring.
The elf’s arrow shot through the night.
*
“Isn’t that cheating?!”
It was hopeless.
The arrow she had fired with such confidence flew uselessly past Renard, who had dodged it with a simple tilt of her head. She looked back with no particular emotion, a look that seemed to say, ‘Too slow.’
Shooting up from below was a disadvantage. Realizing this, Alfia scaled a wall and leaped onto the roof.
She hid between the roof tiles, holding her bow at an angle to shoot.
Fwip.
The arrow flew off in a completely wrong direction, parallel to Renard.
But the moment the arrow left Renard’s field of vision, the wind blew. The arrow curved at an extreme angle, returning like a boomerang.
It fell, aimed at Renard’s temple.
Renard didn’t even twitch an eyebrow. Without looking, she swung a dagger, and the arrow was sliced in half. Alfia’s master stroke was cut in two.
Renard, a dark elf, was also a master at reading air currents. Ordinary archery couldn’t touch her.
Renard lowered her gaze. Alfia flinched.
The black mist (`흑무(黑霧)`) stirred, obscuring the dark elf’s form. The mist surrounding its master swept through the air, heading straight for Alfia.
“Tch!”
Alfia dashed across the rooftops, looking like a phantom thief out to steal jewels. She nocked an arrow even as she ran, then jumped, spun around in mid-air, and fired.
Whoosh.
The arrow passed right through the mist. Firing in succession or in volleys yielded the same result. She couldn’t do any damage. Renard moved freely within the mist, evading every attack.
‘How can I win?’
Alfia bit her lower lip in frustration.
“Is it really all right for us to just sit here and watch?”
At that same moment, at The Peacock’s Night Gathering.
At an outdoor table, two men tilted their glasses, drinking under the moonlight. Around them lay the bodies of those who had been consumed by shadows.
Victor, the one who had created that carnage, observed the black and white elves leaping freely across the rooftops. Alfia was showing off the superb archery skills he’d expected, but her opponent was no pushover.
As an assassin himself, Victor could gauge Renard’s level more accurately than anyone. A woman of her skill would be counted among the best even in the Assassin’s Guild.
Especially Renard’s black mist.
If you couldn’t wield mystic power, you couldn’t break through it. It was utterly, absurdly unfair.
If he had his way, he would intervene. Victor had grown fond of Alfia, after all. And Emily liked her, too. But Karami had been firm in his opposition.
“This is her role to play. Do not interfere.”
“What if something goes wrong?”
“That’s for her to handle.”
You couldn’t spoon-feed her everything. That would only hinder Alfia’s growth and distance her from complete liberation.
He had done what he could. All that was left was to trust her and wait.
“You’re a tougher master than you look.”
“It’s the principle of tough love. You have to be stricter with the ones you cherish.”
“Is that so?” Victor murmured, turning his head as the tide of the battle shifted.
The distance between the two elves had finally closed. Running wasn’t enough to escape Renard, who could travel through her mist.
Renard’s upper body shot out from the mist as she slashed upward with a dagger. Alfia bent backward, narrowly dodging the attack.
But with her center of gravity thrown forward, she lost her balance and fell to the ground.
Renard didn’t aim for an opening. Like a viper opening its jaws wide to swallow a rabbit whole, she plunged her pair of daggers, reminiscent of giant fangs, downward.
“Kugh!”
Alfia reflexively threw up her bow to block. Thwack! The bow’s limb collided with Renard’s wrist. The blades stopped just inches from her face. Alfia twisted her head, struggling with all her might to push her back.
But the daggers merely trembled; they wouldn’t budge.
“I have no hobby of killing my own kind. Give up. That is my final mercy.”
“Selling out your own kind is mercy?”
“It’s better than dying.”
“Elves bond with only one person for their entire lives! I’d rather die…!”
Objectively, Alfia’s archery skills were respectable. A formidable ability assisted her, so she had no problem in actual combat.
But her opponent was a bad match-up. An elf without spirits fighting another elf was like a mage trying to fight without magic.
‘If only I could do something about that mist…!’
Karami had said it was weak to light.
There were several spirits inside her. Could one of them be a light spirit?
Alfia focused her consciousness on the expanded path within her. She tried to forcibly drag out a spirit hiding deep inside.
The spirit struggled, refusing.
As it thrashed, a sharp pain shot through her.
But she didn’t stop. She wouldn’t endure it any longer. How long had she suffered?
“If you’re going to live in my body without permission, then pay your damn rent!!!”
With her shout, a spirit was sucked out along the path. A faint white light flowed along the lines of her brand.
When that light had completely dyed the brand white…
FWOOSH—!
A light brighter than any flash illuminated the Noctar night.