Elias headed toward the area where the transport carts were parked, Minna still in his arms. She looked around with wide, curious eyes, asking him questions about everything she saw.
"Do you remember when I told you I'd get you out of here?" Elias asked.
Minna shook her head. "No," she said in her native tongue. She didn't remember him saying that.
"Well, I'm going to anyway," Elias said, his voice low and firm. "The people who run this place are very bad men."
His mind drifted as he walked. Vale said Minna was royalty. If that was true, how did she end up here? Was she kidnapped? It was probably best not to ask. Some answers only brought more problems.
He reached the cart station and stepped up to a driver.
"Private or shared?" the man asked.
"Private, please. But we're three. The other one will be here soon."
"Okay. Where to?"
"Oakhaven. Before the Central Tower."
"Twelve florins."
"Alright. I'll pay."
Elias didn't realize the price was absurd for such a short distance. He didn't care either. He was in a hurry. There might be a serious battle here soon, and he needed to get Minna as far from it as possible. Besides, he could barely fight anymore after nearly getting killed.
Minna sat beside Elias, humming softly to herself. Lucia leaned forward.
"Will Vale be alright on her own?"
"She won't be on her own," Elias said. "And either way, this matter isn't in our hands anymore."
Lucia was quiet for a moment. Then she asked, honestly, "What do you think about this?"
"What do you mean?"
"Kaelen. What do you feel should be done?"
Elias exhaled. "I don't know myself. But from the looks of it, he has to be stopped. Or at least prevented from getting whatever he wants."
"Do you want to kill him?"
Joshey recognized the trap immediately. She wanted him dead. If he answered yes, she'd be happy. But the truth was, Joshey didn't want to kill Kaelen. He didn't want to kill anyone. And he doubted he'd even have a chance against someone like Kaelen anyway.
So he said, "No. I consider him a brother to myself."
Lucia's face, which had been tense and depressed, brightened slightly. She let out a quiet sigh of relief.
"I'm honestly glad you feel that way."
Hehe, Elias said mockingly inside his head. She would've decapitated you if you answered wrong.
I know, Joshey thought back. I can read the room. But this time it wasn't her aura that gave it away. It was her tone. She sounded sad asking me that question. Like she didn't want to ask but had to. A situation where you risk one life to save another.
He made a quiet promise to himself. He didn't want Kaelen to be killed by anyone. That was yet another reason to become stronger.
"Are we there yet?" Minna asked, breaking the silence.
"No," Elias said softly. "We still have eight hours left. If you're hungry, let me know. There's food and water, okay?"
"Okay." She smiled and leaned back against the seat.Meanwhile, Vale.
"The others will get here soon," she muttered to herself. "But I need them here before those other bastards arrive."
An elven child being held captive was enough to get the Elven Court involved. But an Elyndor? The emperor's great granddaughter. A direct descendant. Reporting that would trigger a war that could wipe out all of Caligurn. And she might be put down herself for not saving the girl sooner.
The question was, how did Minna end up here in the first place?
Vale walked around, conducting a minor investigation of the grounds. This place was massive. Around one million florins big, she estimated.
But there was another issue. How was she supposed to address this whole secret organization situation appropriately?
Then, Sylvaine sent a direct telelink.
"Vale, what's the current status?"
"Master, Elias will arrive with Her Graceship soon. But for now, I might need two members of the Great Nine to aid me. Others for assistance as well."
"I've already contacted them. I sent three, just in case. Hoping you'll be fine."
"Thank you, Master. Much appreciated."
Vale exhaled. She needed to protect everyone else too. But if the court showed up, they could just claim this entire land as their own anyway.Aldric and Elara signaled her. Vale used a barrier technique to summon them.
In simple terms, her barrier created a stable spatial link between her location and theirs, then collapsed the distance between them. It wasn't teleportation exactly—more like she made two separate points touch for a split second. This only worked because Aldric and Elara were aware of the summon and didn't resist.
When they arrived, Elara looked around at the destruction. "Damn, you did numbers in here."
Vale defended herself. "I wasn't responsible for these murders. It was the doing of an Earelvel."
"You met an Earelvel?"
"Yes, precisely."
"Damn, I would love to meet one and put them in their place. Those bastards and their unsupervised ego."
Aldric spoke up. "The two of you should focus on the matter at hand. The Mana Codex briefed us a bit, but I'll want you to generously explain the situation to me clearly, Vale."
So Vale told them everything that happened. They were petrified.
"A what?"
Learning that an Elyndor was involved made matters fifty times worse.Elara thought to herself, So he knows my name, huh?
Aldric always called her "child." Hearing him say her actual name felt strange.
Vale walked over and sat down. Elara followed and sat beside her.
"So, what about the Earelvel who did this?" Elara asked. "Shouldn't we put them in custody too?"
Vale raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Well, didn't the Earelvel literally murder all these people in cold blood?" Elara said. "Not that they matter to me or anything, but they should be brought in for questioning."
"These people are the slavers," Vale replied. "Or is that even the right word? Anyway, they are responsible for what happened here, not her. Though I think a time will come when I do have to kill her."
Elara laughed. "Haha, never expected you to be so honest with yourself, Vale. Maybe Lord Sylvaine is influencing you properly."
"Yeah, you might be right."
"But holy shit," Elara continued, glancing around at the bodies. "They are, I don't know, a couple hundred people dead? That's a lot. And all done brutally. Well, it doesn't matter anyway." She turned her head. "Hey, you human. Come over here."Michael had initially thought it would be a good idea to involve people like this in the chaos. He wanted freedom so badly that he had executed this entire plan himself. Telling them the truth and having the great granddaughter of the Elven Emperor kidnapped was one of his ploys to bring major organizations into this mess. She had only been here for a few days now, and his plan had worked. However, it would be trouble if this woman, whoever she was, actually blurted out something unnecessary.
"Yes? You called?"
"Yeah, what the fuck is your name?"
"Language," Vale said.
"What? I am way older than he is. Humans aren't a long lived species. In their doctrine, the old are greater than the young, right?"
"Yes, you are absolutely right about that," Michael said. "I find no offense in your swears, and I'll answer any question you ask. For the first question, my name is Michael Leroy. I am the son of the ex regional manager of this place, Gabriel Leroy."
"You speak more than what I asked. That's awfully suspicious, isn't it?"
Shit, this girl...
"Well, like your friend over there said, I am an informant."
He glanced at Vale, hoping for a Hail Mary, but she was more concerned with thinking about what to do when the Tribunes arrived.
"I am the one asking the questions, Michael. Look me in the eye while I do so. Avoiding eye contact is a sign of a liar."
Is it?
"Yes, sorry. My apologies. I do not intend to lie to you about anything regarding matters such as this."
"Alright, Michael. You seemingly worked with those here before, right? What's your role in all this?"
"I am the one who served the former owners of this place. He fled, though I have a feeling he is dead."
"Did you also kidnap innocent civilians and put them here?"
"I play a role in it, yes. But it's more about the location of them."
"Did you have anything to do with the capture of Minna Elyndor?"
"I... I do–"
Almost instantly, Elara unsheathed her blade and pressed it against his neck.
"Liar."
"What... I didn't..."
"When someone wants to lie, they take a patterned breath and their heartbeat changes. You tried to think of a lie to bail you out. So you did have something to do with the kidnapping of Her Grace."
"I... I hoped for–"
"Gosh, you are still trying to lie. Okay, fine."
She put her blade back. "Vale, this dude is part of it. Let's bring him in as a perpetrator, not as a witness."
Vale was lost in thought. Then she kicked Elara.
"Ouch! What was that for?"
"Hello? This dude is involved in the kidnapping of Her Graceship. I am going to bring him in for questioning. Is that fine?"
"Well, alright. But don't kill him."
Elara smiled and immediately brought out cuffs she had just created using Geo mana.
"You have no right to speak. And whenever you are asked a question, you answer."
Shit fuck. This is the worst of all outcomes.(Break scene)
Elias was the only one in the cart still awake. Minna had dozed off thirty minutes into the journey, and Lucia followed forty five minutes in.
She must have been really tired, Joshey thought.
She had fought her way through the whole place and brought destruction to everyone. Of course she was exhausted. This was good, though. It gave Joshey his chance.
So, Elias. You owe me an explanation for your lack of activity recently and that mysterious power you talked about.
Okay, so here's the thing. When I multitask, it takes a huge toll on me. I just recently found out about it.
What do you mean?
During the crisis with those guys in the woods, I had to counter their barrier technique by creating another barrier technique. On top of that, I extended the Seventh Sense to Lucia for a bit. The multitasking cost me. I had a mental burnout.
That can happen?
I just found out myself.
However, my mental capacity increases each time I recover from burnout. That's why I could multitask during the battle at the slave farm. I also learned how to use Aqua mana to a certain level by using only your own body fluid.
Okay... weird and cool. What about your power? You said something called Anima. What's that?
Elias explained: Anima is the manifestation of a person's soul truth. The one thing they understand about themselves so completely that it becomes a rule they impose on reality. It's not something learned or trained. It awakens when that truth becomes absolute. Once it appears, it defines how that person interacts with the world. Not by using energy like mana, but by enforcing their own logic onto reality itself.
Joshey was now more confused than before. Okay... so what's your Anima?
It's simple, Elias said. I don't forget anything I actually understand. If I've really seen something and broken it down, I can make it again. Not a copy, not a guess. The real thing. If I don't understand it properly, then what I make is flawed. Everything I figure out stays with me. I just bring it back out when I need it. It still takes something out of me, though, so I can't just keep doing it forever.
Okay. Sounds good.
With the help of the Seventh Sense, this becomes way easier for me."Well, I'll be honest. You are a criminal, and I don't side with criminals. Especially ones where it involves the whole planet. But... I still don't like the idea of killing people without hearing their side of the story. And I've agreed to help Lucia out, so I am going to cover for you and also help protect you from them."
Kaelen was relieved. He liked Elias too. The kid looked like a good person, but he had become even more interesting now that Elias fully understood the situation and was still choosing to help.
"I don't know what to say," Kaelen said. "I appreciate it."
"Well, we don't have much time anyway. You should fuck off while you can. I'm sure they can track our ride to this place."
"True. Okay, I'll leave now." He turned to Lucia. "Hey, little storm? Take care of yourself, okay?"
"Please be fine, Ani," Lucia said quietly.
Kaelen pulled up his hood and zoomed off quickly. Lucia turned to Elias.
"Why are you trying to help us?"
"Well, if I'm going to be honest, it's because I plan to have comrades in the future. I decided from the start that I'll need you. So why don't I just act in your interest and help you out as well?"
Elias's main charm was his honesty. Lucia wasn't pissed off about it. At least she knew that the probability of betrayal was low.
She left the office and said goodbye to Minna.
"Wait," Elias said. "You aren't following us to Caligurn?"
"No. I have my own things to worry about. But if you ever need my help, you can always reach out to me."
"Oh. Alright."
Minna waved bye bye to her. "Bye, pretty lady!"
"So where are we going now?" Minna asked.
"Home. Or should I say Oakhaven?" Elias said.
Since, well... that wasn't Minna's home.
Elias then thought to himself, Seems we are forgetting the elephant in the room, aren't we?
Whatever do you mean, Elias? Joshey replied internally.
I'm talking about your hostage.
FUCK.
Joshey grabbed Minna and sprinted. The inn wasn't too far away, so he ran very fast. He reached the inn and quickly asked for his room key. It was handed to him. He considered taking Minna upstairs or not. He didn't know what he might be opening that door to.
"Hello, please can she wait inside here with you?" he asked the innkeeper. "I need to check something out really quickly."
"Oh, okay."
Take care of her with your life, Vale's voice echoed in his memory.
"Shit. Don't worry about it. I'll carry her."
He picked Minna up and ran upstairs. Before he could open the door, he sensed something was indeed off with the place. He stopped and told Minna to wait in front of the door.