The Nectar of Retribution
Suddenly, as if a thought had struck her, Brenar raised her voice. She even stuttered as she spoke.
“A-are you saying you’re going to sell us as slaves!? On the empire’s own soil!?”
To Han Yujin, who knew her well, the performance was painfully unconvincing. Yet the elves, completely in the dark, seemed to let their guard down at her reaction.
Among the black-robed figures, four of them exchanged glances before sliding into motion without changing posture, smoothly blocking the exit. The malice in their auras was now unmistakable.
All eight of them are at the Dharma Soul stage.
And not just any practitioners—they were respectable mid-to-late stage experts. In military terms, they were all non-commissioned officer equivalents.
With that level of strength, they could afford to act this boldly even without accurately gauging their opponents’ power. Objectively speaking, they were a force that would rarely meet defeat unless they were extraordinarily unlucky.
Unfortunately for them, today appeared to be exactly that kind of day.
The first to move was the one who had originally suggested capturing them. It was admirably proactive of him to lead by example after voicing the idea, but at that moment Brenar shouted again.
“Wait!”
The timing was so perfect that the black-robed elf froze despite himself.
“...What is it?”
“If a commotion breaks out here, it won’t be good for you either, will it!?”
“How foolish. No matter what happens here, no one will know. So don’t worry.”
A subtle smile flickered across Brenar’s face. Of course, only Han Yujin noticed it.
“Don’t worry, you say…?”
“That’s right. So…”
“Understood. I won’t worry.”
Before the elf could react to the strangely off response—
Oooong…!
A heavy resonant sound erupted alongside a flashing black-and-white light.
The radiance bursting from Brenar captured all eight black-robed figures in an instant, trapping them like insects in amber, then yanked their hoods off. As expected, what emerged were elves with elongated ears and slightly alien features, yet all strikingly beautiful.
“Hm.”
Satisfied with the sight, Brenar made a small gesture with her fingers in the air.
The black-and-white light swirled subtly around each of them before stripping away every possession and hurling the items onto the ground ahead. It even tore off the precious metal ornaments attached to the clothes beneath their robes.
“This is trash… this is trash too…”
Krrrk…!
Crunch!
The objects she had classified as trash—metal staves and daggers—were mercilessly crumpled and compressed as if they were cheap paper fakes. The sheer compressive force even generated terrifying heat, causing them to glow red-hot.
The sight of her casually reducing clearly enchanted weapons to scrap was quite impressive. Naturally, the black-robed elves finally grasped the situation and their faces turned deathly pale.
Then—
“Oh?”
She found a small glass bottle among one elf’s belongings and drew it to her hand.
After examining it carefully for several seconds, she asked its owner in a chilling tone.
“Where did you get this?”
A distinctly serious atmosphere settled over the scene.
Even though the black-and-white energy binding his body had loosened somewhat, the elf stuttered and couldn’t answer easily.
“H-here…”
“Why?”
“...Pardon?”
“Your kind is supposed to have quite the talent for brewing, aren’t you? So why…”
She opened the glass bottle she was holding, took a light sniff, and shook her head.
“I’m asking why you bought this cheap swill of a nectar.”
“...This is an authentic product from the esteemed Glace family, famous here in the empire.”
Han Yujin had heard of the family. They were evaluated as being on par with the Ebenrak family in nectar production.
Yet Brenar scoffed. Her attitude perfectly proved the rumors of the deep animosity between the two houses.
“When did you buy it, and for how much?”
“Four… no, three days ago, at a magic stone st—”
“You were scammed!”
Before he could even finish, she hurled the glass bottle aside. The instant it left her hand, it was enveloped in black-and-white energy and vanished without a trace. The sight was genuinely chilling.
“How dare they swindle my friend!”
Han Yujin had no idea when they had become friends, but as she spoke, she released most of the restraints on the elves. Only the rings of light around their necks remained.
Though they had regained freedom of movement, none dared act rashly. They had painfully realized that the human woman before them was an existence far beyond their ability to handle.
“Guide me there immediately. I’ll claim the compensation on your behalf.”
“...Huh?”
“Before that, take off your robes. Yours too, the one next to him.”
Her actions were impossible to predict, which only seemed to heighten their fear. The two designated elves frantically stripped off their robes and handed them over.
Brenar passed one to Han Yujin and put on the other. Having roughly grasped the flow of events, Han Yujin let out a silent chuckle and donned the robe, pulling the hood deep over his head.
“Right, let’s go!”
Brenar declared boldly, but the elves naturally hesitated to move.
Her expression twisted instantly, and a terrifying killing intent poured out.
“Or would you rather just die here?”
“W-we’ll go!”
The elf who had purchased the nectar hurriedly took the lead. The others followed, with Brenar and Han Yujin bringing up the rear.
A short while later.
They arrived at what seemed to be a fairly bustling commercial district where many people came and went.
When elves appeared there without even wearing hoods, gazes converged on them intensely—especially since they were wearing strange rings of light around their necks.
“Is this the place?”
Brenar asked as they stopped before a rather well-appointed shop. The elf who had bought the nectar nodded frantically, and she jerked her chin, ordering,
“You lot go in first.”
The elves shuffled into the shop. Brenar and Han Yujin followed from the very back.
The interior was far more luxurious than the exterior suggested. It seemed to specialize in nectar and top-grade liquor, with a few elixirs on sale as well. The Glace family crest hanging on one wall was particularly noticeable.
When elves suddenly burst into such a place, the owner and the few customers present all looked bewildered.
At that exact moment, Brenar shouted without removing her hood.
“How dare you swindle our elf race, you inferior human scum!”
“...W-what? What are you—”
“I’ll repay this grudge!”
With her cry, she swung her hand. The black-and-white energy that erupted and swirled outward flung the few customers out of the building and bound the owner, hurling him into a corner.
What followed was unrestrained plunder.
She swept up every bottle of nectar and elixir that clearly held value. She tore open the safe beneath the counter and took the ether stones, then ignored the perfectly good door and smashed through the wall, indiscriminately dragging out everything stored in the inner warehouse.
“What is this trash!”
Whenever something of little value came along by mistake, she would immediately throw and shatter it in a fit of violence.
In less than a minute, the entire shop had been completely cleaned out.
Deciding she had taken everything worth taking, she yanked on the rings of light around the elves’ necks like leashes and dashed out ahead.
“Run!”
The shout was just for good measure.
The elves had no choice but to sprint with all their might because of the light rings pulling them forward. Using wind elemental spirit arts to move as if flying, their speed was quite fast even among Dharma Soul stage practitioners.
Thanks to that, the group managed to return safely to the original secluded area without encountering any security forces.
“......”
“......”
A brief silence fell over the stopped group.
Honestly, whether this situation could truly be called “safe” was somewhat questionable.
“As promised, I’ve claimed the compensation for you.”
Brenar broke the silence by lightly tossing aside the robe she had been wearing. Han Yujin watched for a moment before removing his own and casually discarding it on the ground nearby.
“Aren’t you grateful?”
“...Yes! Thank you!”
The elf seemed even more terrified than before. Despite having gained nothing and even being framed, he kept nodding frantically in response.
“Then guide me to your leader now. I ought to receive proper thanks.”
The elves hesitated briefly, but the moment Brenar’s expression twisted again and killing intent radiated from her, they immediately began moving.
In that short instant, however, they exchanged glances with one another. It seemed they harbored the vain hope that reaching their leader’s location might allow them to resolve this crisis.
I wonder if the captain of the elves’ airship is also at the Nascent Soul stage?
Considering the small airship’s appearance tucked away in a corner of the illegal dock and the rarity of Nascent Soul stage beings, Han Yujin inwardly shook his head.
The possibility seemed extremely low. Even if they were that lucky, the opponent probably wouldn’t be stronger than Brenar. If their strengths were similar, the matter would likely be resolved through amicable negotiation.
Thus, the group of ten—with the elves in the lead—continued deeper inside without encountering any interference.
The elf who served as captain of the airship was a late-stage Core Formation expert. He also possessed quite a powerful artifact that could momentarily threaten an early-stage Nascent Soul opponent.
Unfortunately, his adversary was Brenar—an 11th-level spiritualist equivalent to the mid-stage of Nascent Soul.
She didn’t kill anyone, but paradoxically, that very fact allowed her to continue her smooth intimidation and strip them of all sorts of goods.
If she had killed one or two of them, things might not have gone so smoothly.
The elves’ sense of kinship was quite famous. Had that been the case, they might have been blinded by vengeance and attacked even knowing they would all die.
In any case, the “transaction” concluded most satisfactorily, and Brenar and Han Yujin were able to leave the elves’ den safely.
How the matter of openly robbing the shop would be resolved was none of their concern. If the elves had any sense, instead of reporting Brenar they would simply swallow their resentment and somehow compensate the losses themselves.
It would be disastrous if they tried to recover their losses and she came visiting again, wouldn’t it?
In other words.
This was precisely the tyranny of a Nascent Soul stage existence.
…No, I need to think with a Nascent Soul perspective.
Since they were the ones who first spoke of slavery, this was clearly legitimate self-defense. They should be shouting “lucky” and offering thanks simply for having their lives spared.
Whether it was truly self-defense or not, Han Yujin simply found Brenar’s behavior quite unexpected—and rather amusing.
When she had been a Space Force colonel, he had thought her words over drinks were just jokes. He never imagined she would act exactly as she had described from the very first mission after becoming a civilian.
It was almost questionable how someone like her had ever risen to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Space Force.
Afterward, more than half the exploration team spent several days wandering the black market, checking whether any useful items or materials were available.
Unfortunately, the harvest was meager. It was clear that all the truly special and important goods had gone to the auction house.
Thus, they found themselves with some free time while waiting for the auction date.
“Here.”
At that moment.
Brenar, who had come to Han Yujin’s hotel room, handed him an entire spacer ring.
“Your share of the spoils. We moved together that time, after all.”
She spoke casually while taking a swig from her portable liquor flask.
So, in other words, loot.
When he checked the contents, he was quite surprised. There was enough nectar and elixirs to support his training without worry for several years at minimum.
“It seems like quite a lot.”
“Just take it. And don’t quit working easily.”
After thinking for a moment, Han Yujin accepted it without protest. Brenar nodded in satisfaction, then glanced toward the inner part of his lodging and asked,
“Where’s the White Spirit?”
“...Inside. Please come in for a moment.”
She smiled brightly as if she had been waiting for exactly that and stepped into the room.
There were two days left until the scheduled auction date.