The Dark Elf in the Cage
“Where are you, Einy!”
[Hey! Kid!]
“Einy!”
This prison was far larger than the one I’d discovered first.
It was packed with young women around my age, which soured my mood considerably, and it even held members of other races.
From a slave trader’s perspective, this place was filled with higher-value merchandise, the kind that could be sold for a premium.
Those bastards. Maybe I shouldn’t just kill them cleanly. Maybe I should carve them up instead.
With a deep scowl etched on my face, I moved through the prison, opening each cell door one by one. No matter how hard I looked, Einy was nowhere to be found. Strange. If she wasn’t here, then where could she possibly be?
I was certain there were only two prisons.
“Wh-who are you?”
When I irritably flung open the door to the final cell, realizing Einy wasn’t inside, what I felt was an endlessly familiar presence.
From the figure cowering fearfully in the corner came the scent of wind, one that reminded me of Instructor Iel. It meant this person could command wind spirits.
Why was a spirit master locked up in a place like this?
“You… you’re a spirit master, aren’t you?”
“Huh? How did you…?”
“I can smell it on you. You’re a spirit master, so why didn’t you run? Why let yourself get caught?”
Feeling puzzled, I took a step into the cell. No matter how close I got, I realized the woman’s skin looked unusually dark.
I soon figured it out. The one imprisoned in the innermost cell was an elf with black skin.
A dark elf—one of the extremely rare races.
Good grief! It seemed the slave traders didn’t give a damn about the Crancia Peace Treaty between humans and other races. Kidnapping a dark elf? They really had some nerve.
“Because of this… I couldn’t use my power.”
The elf, perhaps sensing that I was also a spirit master, hesitantly extended her wrist even while looking afraid.
A slave collar that interfered with mana usage was fastened around it.
These were usually reserved for imprisoning high-risk criminals—mages who had committed serious offenses or powerful swordsmen capable of breaking out on their own. They weren’t items you could easily get your hands on.
I’d heard stories about them, but this was my first time seeing one in person. I was inwardly stunned that slave traders even had access to something like this.
“Rai. Can you undo this?”
[I can, but it will take some time.]
“What if you just eat it?”
[I can’t eat it right now. There’s magic embedded in it. If it were something pure like a Dragon Heart, maybe, but human magic is nothing but filthy impurities to a spirit like me.]
“Then what do we do?”
[If you hold my hand, I can dissolve it in a few minutes! I’ll carefully eat everything except the part with the magic engraved on it. Without anything to anchor itself to, the spell will break down naturally.]
I see.
I reached out to the dark-skinned elf woman. She hesitated for a moment but eventually took my hand and rose from the corner.
As our faces drew closer, I could see the long ears poking through her hair. Her pupils were also slit-like, reminiscent of a cat’s—different from humans.
“Thank you for saving me. You came to rescue us, right?”
“Hmm, I wouldn’t say that was exactly my intention.”
“That snake is actually a spirit, isn’t it? I can feel it. Something incredibly powerful.”
“……You’re the first person—no, the first elf—who’s noticed that.”
As expected, elves really were different from humans.
Maybe it was because they were a race blessed with innate talent for spirit magic. She seemed to have sensed Rai’s presence instantly.
“Allow me to introduce myself properly. I am Daria, the twenty-first daughter of the Grove of Tranquility, where the Watcher, Lord Claude of the Thousand-Mile Eyes, slumbers.”
I wasn’t sure how to respond to such an unfamiliar greeting style. Was this how dark elves traditionally introduced themselves?
I’d heard that dark elves lived in the deepest forests where no light reached. While their appearance and abilities were similar to regular elves, they were said to possess distinctly different philosophies and personalities.
Unlike elves, dark elves were supposedly aggressive and cruel, but the woman before me didn’t seem that way at all.
“Dark elves are said to be far fewer in number and much stronger than regular elves. So why are you in a place like this?”
She had spoken to me with polite respect first, and since elves appeared to be around my age but were actually at least five times older, I unconsciously responded in kind.
“Because I was kidnapped, of course.”
“……I know that, but aren’t all dark elves exceptional spirit masters and swordsmen? Your kind isn’t supposed to be weak enough to be captured by humans.”
“That is usually the case. However, I lack sufficient training… and due to our religious beliefs, we cannot take any life. Running away was my only option, but I was caught again, which is why they put this on me.”
The slave collar had an unpleasant, unnatural color.
Just looking at it made me feel sick, because it was infused with repulsive magic that went against the natural order.
As a spirit master, a being attuned to nature, seeing something like this inevitably turned my stomach.
“Still, I managed to send a request for help to my older brother, the Chastiser. I was waiting for him to arrive.”
“Chastiser?”
“They are the few dark elves permitted to take lives for the sake of our people. The reason other races see us as hostile is mostly because they’ve only ever encountered the Chastisers.”
Dark elves were such a rare race, and their closed-off nature meant they rarely interacted with outsiders. As a result, almost nothing was known about them.
It seemed even the limited information circulating in the world was inaccurate.
I was starting to think that every time I ended up in a prison, I ran into people most would only meet once in a lifetime—if ever.
Last time it was an imperial prince. This time, a dark elf.
What would I encounter next?
“I have a lot of questions, but let’s escape first.”
“Will we be able to? I was caught again shortly after breaking out last time.”
“I don’t have any religious restrictions, so I can just kill them all. Don’t worry.”
“Oh my! That’s a relief.”
I wasn’t entirely sure, but it seemed that as long as Daria herself didn’t do the killing, her religion didn’t mind.
She nodded with genuine delight.
Leading the way up the stairs, I sent Undine ahead first to check if the coast was clear.
Escorting roughly thirty terrified slaves while also holding the hand of a dark elf who refused to let go made the climb feel strangely long.
When I looked up, I could see the world beyond the door at the top of the stairs, hazy but glowing with sunlight.
It seemed the rain had completely stopped at some point. The clearing of the dark clouds was, at this moment, not particularly welcome.
If it didn’t rain, my location would be easily exposed, and everything I’d done would be discovered in no time.
I’d already taken down about ten slave traders, smashed through walls, and was now freeing the slaves. If I ran into Grack with this many people in tow, things would get incredibly troublesome.
I rarely felt inconvenienced by being alone, but right now I desperately needed someone to help me.
It would be nice to have reliable companions at a time like this.
[Master, that person is outside.]
“Who? Grack?”
[No. The one you like.]
Undine fluttered over and gestured.
Who could she mean?
Spirits sometimes behaved like pets. They were highly sensitive to emotional directions and could perfectly distinguish between people their master disliked and those they were fond of.
Of course, that was an essential detection ability. In battle, it allowed them to differentiate between enemies and allies based on my hostility or goodwill.
If one had formed a proper bond with a spirit, having one’s heart read was perfectly natural.
I tilted my head and stepped outside, following the direction Undine pointed. Just then, I sensed a commotion.
“I told you to get away from the gate!”
“I know you bastards brought that child here!”
“What are you talking about? Got any proof?”
Beyond the massive, hideous main gate, I spotted a familiar face.
“That kid isn’t a slave. Let her go right now!”
“Hah, if you’ve got more than one life, why don’t you just scram?”
“I said get lost!”
The one shaking the iron gate and arguing with several slave traders was Ash.
It looked like he was trying to force his way in. I couldn’t have been happier to see him.
“Perfect timing. I needed someone to… well, not exactly exploit, but someone to help me out.”
“Do you know him?”
“Yeah! He’s a friend!”
Still holding Daria’s hand, I headed straight for the main gate.
But as the saying goes, a long tail is easily stepped on. With so many people moving together, it was impossible not to get caught by the guards immediately.
“Who the hell are you!”
“Intruders!”
“Ugh, thanks for the hard work.”
As soon as the weather cleared, I got spotted right away. I raised my right hand and gave a short, sharp swipe through the air, as if slapping someone’s cheek.
The two men blocking my path were instantly struck by massive palms made of muddy water that erupted from the ground, sending them flying into the distance.
Undine was only a lower spirit, but she understood my thoughts better than Undain and could manipulate water exactly as I wanted.
While Undain, the intermediate spirit, was stronger in raw power, the one I could wield as naturally as my own limbs was Undine.
“Stop right there… uwaaahk!”
The distance from the prison to the main gate wasn’t that far, yet there were so many obstacles.
More men blocked our path, and groups tried to attack the slaves following behind us, but a wide sweep of my hand sent them all flying far away.
“Guaaaah!”
The hands made of water were surprisingly powerful. Softer than stone, but harder than a pile of mud.
I kept swinging my hands to fling the endlessly charging slave traders in every direction while shouting cheerfully.
“Ash! You’re late! But you came at just the right time.”
Ash finally seemed to notice me. Maybe because of the screams of the men being thrown through the air.
“……Jeanie?”
“Huk! Intruders!”
“Ugh, these guys are seriously getting in the way.”
I had two hands, and naturally, I could create two water hands as well.
I took down the men confronting Ash outside the gate by slamming my fists down like a game of whack-a-mole.
Since they had drawn weapons and tried to attack me, this was purely self-defense.
The sight of their limbs bent at grotesque angles and their bodies crumpled on the ground was unpleasant, so I grabbed them with the water hands and flung them into the bushes.
“Good to see you. I need some hel— huh? Why do you look so surprised?”
“Why—why are you coming out from there? When did you even get inside?!”
“A while ago.”
“Do you know that Einy was taken?!”
“Of course I do. That’s why I’m in here.”
His expression showed he couldn’t understand how I had arrived before him.
I can fly through the sky, you know.
Lox and Chad had seen it, but Ash hadn’t.
“Behind you!”
At Ash’s short warning, I turned around to see about a dozen armed men charging toward us threateningly.
They were starting to gather.
The slaves standing behind me screamed in fear of being recaptured and huddled desperately against the main gate.
“Come out! Jeanie, hurry! It’s dangerous in there!”
Huh, he suddenly dropped the honorifics. Must be because he’s panicking.
I walked right up to Ash, who was reaching out to me from the other side of the iron bars.
Come to think of it, Lox wasn’t with him right now.
“Ash.”
Facing him across the bars, I remained silent for a moment.
Then, as I felt the group of slave traders drawing closer behind me, I finally spoke.
“I hate slave traders. I’m sure you know why.”
“……”
“You know, right?”
His pupils tightened with tension as Ash gave a tiny nod. I smiled brightly, as if his understanding made me happy.
I suddenly realized I was actually a very simple person.
“No matter what anyone else says, you shouldn’t try to stop me.”
With those words, I turned around cheerfully and faced the group of slave traders who had closed in just a few steps away.