Chapter 45: The Elf Enslavement Project
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 45: The Elf Enslavement Project
“Haaah…”
Alfia woke up and stretched.
For an elf who began her day in the early morning, waking up was not a difficult task. Especially since her pain had vanished, Alfia no longer lazed about after waking up and got right out of bed.
She was determined to reclaim, bit by bit, the time she had wasted away.
And now, she would do it not alone, but as one of two.
“Heehee.”
A smile crept onto her face, and Alfia didn't bother to stop it.
She looked around the house.
“…?”
What was this? The familiar house felt strangely unfamiliar today. Had it always been this spacious and empty?
The reason for this feeling was, ironically, discovered because of an absence. Karami, who should have been there, was gone.
‘Did he go out for a walk?’
But there were demonic beasts and dangerous plants around here.
It would be best to go find him. Just as Alfia was about to shoot up and leave, she spotted a leaf on the table, as large as a person’s face.
It was covered in dense script.
Ms. Alfia, good morning.
By the time you read this letter, I’ll be gone. You’re probably very flustered, and I understand that feeling completely. I, too, was very sad when a slave I cherished and raised escaped in the middle of the night.
But what can be done? Everyone has their own path to walk. I am no different. A fox is crying sorrowfully in a distant place, so it is only right that I go and save it.
You don’t have to be too disappointed. There must be an end for a new beginning, and a farewell for a reunion to be sweeter.
Ah, and just in case, don’t follow me. Just as I have my role, don’t you have yours, Ms. Alfia? As a hero to the elves, you must teach the young sprouts.
I will look forward to seeing you lead them when we meet again someday.
Hoping that you will not betray my faith in you.
From your former master, Karami.
P.S. I have retrieved the shackles. They must be gone if we are to carve a new pact later, no?
Crumple.
Alfia roughly crushed the leaf in her hand. KABOOM! With a deafening roar, the shabby house exploded.
Debris scattered in all directions.
Startled birds took flight.
Amidst the dust, a green Wind Servant shimmered around Alfia.
She checked her soul. Just as Karami’s letter said, the shackles were gone. Completely. Without leaving even a speck behind.
In Mirabelle’s case, a small amount of his mana had remained, but Alfia was an elf. The moment the shackles were released, her innate elven ability had judged the mana as a foreign substance and purified it.
The stain on her soul had vanished. The path to marriage, which she thought was blocked, was now open like an express lane. After all, Alfia, the winner of the Elven Dance Festival, was by far the most eligible bachelorette among the elves.
“Why…?”
Of course, Alfia was no longer the type to be happy about such things. Standing there blankly, she tried to fathom his intentions.
To save a fox.
It meant he was going to Vestia, the beastkin nation.
But why?
He would leave her behind just to save a single fox?
No matter how she thought about it, she couldn't accept it.
Nor did she want to.
“I have to follow him.”
Her mind was filled with that single thought.
Spirits were everywhere in the world, and Alfia possessed a Servant that made them tremble in fear. If she listened to the voices of the spirits and flew through the sky, finding him would be instantaneous.
The Wind Servant flickered and formed wings on Alfia’s back. But just as she was about to take flight…
“Where are you going?”
It was Leon. His clothes were disheveled and dirty, as if he had been tumbling roughly through the forest.
She didn't know why, nor did she care to ask.
“He’s gone. I have to find him.”
“If you’re talking about the slave trader, he left at dawn.”
“How do you know that…?”
“I sent him off myself. He asked me to escort him out of the forest.”
“Leon!”
A vein popped on her forehead as Alfia strode toward Leon. A fierce wind rose, uprooting soil and trees.
“If you knew, why didn’t you wake me?”
“Why would I need to wake you?”
“What?”
Their gazes clashed sharply in mid-air.
But the one in a hurry is always the one to back down. Alfia, for whom every second counted, was the first to turn her head.
“Fine. I’m leaving.”
“No, you can’t go.”
“And you think you can stop me?”
Alfia scoffed.
The Elven Dance Festival had already provided the answer. It would take dozens of elves rushing her to even have a chance of stopping her. Alfia now possessed power on a completely different level.
“You’re probably right.”
Leon admitted readily.
But his eyes remained sharp.
“But didn’t the letter say not to follow him?”
“You read someone else’s letter without permission…!”
“So what do you think will happen if you betray his trust and follow him? He’ll surely be disappointed. A slave who ignores her master’s words. If I were him, I would have cast you out.”
Alfia was no longer a slave, but she herself still considered herself one. An elf who called herself a slave. How absurd.
But thanks to that, he had found a way to sway her.
See?
She was just glaring murderously, unable to say a word.
“I hate to admit it, but he is a remarkable man. He holds an ideal so grand that ordinary people can’t even begin to fathom it. So much so that it’s hard to believe he’s from an inferior species.”
Did he say his goal was to free the pitiful from injustice?
One would think it absurd—the delusion of a childish fool who doesn't know how vast the world is. He would have thought so too, had Karami not freed Alfia and left.
He had saved the outcast Alfia. Despite possessing the power to control the Great Forest, he withdrew without taking anything in return.
What if it had been him?
A chance to gather his scattered kin from across the continent and bring about a great revival. Could he really give that up?
‘…No.’
Leon shook his head.
Impossible. When one gains power, greed inevitably follows. But Karami had simply brushed it all aside and left. How could Leon not see him in a new light?
His assessment of the man changing was as natural as the laws of nature.
“Your chasing after him is an act of obstructing his goal.”
“…!”
A great shock struck Alfia’s mind. For a moment, her vision blurred.
Her heart ached.
It was a sensation she hadn’t felt in a long time.
Her confusion made her control over the spirits waver. Frustrated, Alfia pounded her chest.
“Then… then what am I supposed to do? Do I have to be alone again? Forever?”
Leon’s eyes gleamed. With Alfia’s will weakened, now was his chance.
“He will return someday. Until that day comes, you must fulfill your role.”
“My role?”
“Wasn’t it written in the letter? To teach the inexperienced elves.”
That power of Alfia’s. He didn’t know how she obtained it. He would use this opportunity to find out and raise the next generation with it.
This was Leon’s plan to revive the elves.
“…Yes, you’re right. I have to repay his faith in me.”
Leon clenched his fist, cheering inwardly. It was shameful to scheme like this, especially when compared to Karami, but what could he do? The revival of the elves was his mission.
He lightened the mood and spoke in a much softer voice.
“So come back to the village. The elders were already looking for you…”
“I’m going to see the queen for a bit.”
“See… huh?”
Without giving him a chance to ask, Alfia spread her wings and vanished in the direction of the village in an instant.
Leon stared blankly in the direction she had disappeared. He had no idea what consequences his actions, taken for the sake of revival, would bring.
*
The elven queen, Ivrelia, blinked at the elf before her.
A reject elf.
And at the same time, the strongest warrior.
Alfia, who had come to possess two incompatible titles at once, had suddenly burst into the queen’s chambers, located fifty meters above the ground.
Ivrelia had almost forgotten to maintain her dignity and shrieked like a child. The queen’s prestige had nearly been buried deep underground.
Barely composing herself, Ivrelia cleared her throat with a khm, khm and smoothed her expression. As the mother figure of the elves, she offered a gentle smile and said, “Alfia, what is this all of a sudden? If you wish for an audience, you must go through the proper procedures.”
“I’m sorry. But this is incredibly important.”
“Important enough to enter the queen’s chambers without permission?”
“Yes.”
A firm answer without a hint of hesitation. Alfia’s expression was so utterly serious that it was Ivrelia who was slightly taken aback.
Just how important could it be? The laurel wreath on Alfia’s head added weight to the atmosphere. Ivrelia swallowed hard.
“Your Majesty, aren’t you curious about how I became this strong?”
“Well… that’s a sudden question, but…”
To be honest, she was curious.
With just one or two more elves like Alfia, the nation’s power would skyrocket. She hadn’t dared to ask because it felt too shameless after having cast her out of the village.
But now, Alfia had brought it up herself.
“I am curious. Do you perhaps know the method?”
“I don’t know if they can become just like me, but I think it’s possible to some extent.”
Alfia spoke with a grimly determined expression.
“The elves in the village. Would you entrust the girls to me?”
“The children?”
“Yes.”
Alfia had interpreted Karami’s letter in her own way.
The reason he left her in the forest.
The role he had given her.
Teach the young sprouts.
Putting all the pieces together, they pointed to a single path.
‘It meant I’m supposed to raise the elves here as slaves!’
Alfia recalled what Karami had said during their first meeting.
“Elves are money pits at first, but once you have a foundation, you can use them in all sorts of areas. Sometimes you get an elf who knows how to make potions, and with just one of them, you can rake in cash in no time.”
She remembered it clearly. The way Karami’s eyes had shone as he looked at the elves.
In other words, as a senior elf slave, she was to teach the other elves. It meant she was to make them into proper slaves by the time he returned.
And on the day they were reunited, what if she presented him with well-trained elves?
‘I can live up to my master’s faith in me!’
This was a test and an assignment he had given her as his slave. If she carried out his command properly, he would reward her by carving his brand into her soul.
I understand perfectly!
*
“Halt!”
A guard blocked the path of a woman in a hooded robe.
The city of Noctar.
It had been a month since an entire merchant group was obliterated by an unidentified pillar of light. The tightened security checkpoint showed a clear intent to deny entry to anyone who seemed even slightly suspicious.
“Present something to prove your identity! If you don’t have anything, get lost!”
At the guard’s shout, the woman removed her hood. It should have been a simple gesture, yet it was imbued with an undeniable elegance.
The red hair held within the hood cascaded down like silk. Such fine hair was something only a daughter from a wealthy house could possess.
The woman smiled with her eyes.
“A pleasure to meet you. I am Narsha Bryan of the House of Count Bryan.”