Chapter 38

Chapter 38 – The Best Product (3)

“Here, we’ll hold them off! You go ahead!”

In the face of the sudden attack by the guards, Herman’s subordinates, grounded in their high loyalty, declared they would sacrifice themselves to buy time. With the plan having gone horribly wrong, Herman, whose face had turned pale, could not refuse their words.

“Run quickly!”

Herman hurriedly took the elves with a small number of his men and left the place, finding some peace as soon as they entered the convoluted alleys of the slums.

‘I’m a bit late.’

Iriliana, watching from the rooftop of a nearby building, frowned at the guards who had arrived a step too late and stood up.

If left alone, the guards would not be able to catch Herman. Of course, he would be incapacitated for a while after losing many of his men, but that alone would not be enough.

It would be foolish not to press for the final blow after driving them this far.

“Let’s go. Pursue them.”

“—!”

Eventually, Iriliana ordered the wind spirit to chase after Herman’s group and leaped down, starting her own pursuit.

With the wind spirit accompanying her and the ground spirits being able to track the enemies’ positions in this area of dirt, she was at an advantage.

Although she struggled in the alleys, unfamiliar with the terrain compared to the enemies, aided by her navigational skills, Iriliana successfully caught up with Herman’s fleeing group.

‘It can’t be helped.’

Seeing the blonde elf being dragged along with difficulty among them, Iriliana clicked her tongue and used the earth spirit to summon a pillar from the ground in one swift motion.

With a powerful jump off the pillar that had shot up to support her small and light body, Iriliana soared through the air and landed softly right in front of them, caught by the strong wind.

“Whaaaat!?”

Suddenly, a small figure descended with a strong gust, blocking their path, causing Herman and his men, who were fleeing in confusion, to halt in panic.

“W-who are you?!”

In a state of panic, Herman drew his sword and aimed it at Iriliana. Naturally, all of his men were already out of their minds.

Although it was just a single girl blocking their way, not a single one of them dared to step forward.

‘Could that child be…?’

Gasping for breath through her gag, the girl stared at Irene with dazed eyes.

The girl, cloaked in a hooded cape and dressed like a maid, was known to anyone in that place as not being just an ordinary maid.

Simultaneously, she thought that perhaps this girl was the one who had conveyed a voice to her.

“What are you standing there for? Capture her!”

Ultimately, Herman was the first to set his men in motion. Observing carefully, the armed subordinates grabbed their weapons and charged at the girl.

It seemed unlikely that such a small child could withstand these rough men.

“Gaaah!”

“My leg!”

But as a strong vibration hit, they all rolled on the ground, tripping or falling flat on their backs during the charge.

The earth split, and stone pillars shot up, tripping or striking their legs and bodies.

Caught off guard by the unexpected assault from the ground, they were all taken out in an instant.

“I-it can’t be…”

Herman trembled as he looked at his subordinates groaning on the ground after being wiped out all at once. It had far exceeded his expectations.

Elves or not, everything about this situation felt like a nightmare.

“Damn it!”

He pulled something out of his pocket and aimed it at the girl. The girl, who had been trying to sneak away, widened her eyes upon seeing it.

Though shorter than a dagger, what protruded with a black muzzle was an ancient weapon capable of killing with just a finger’s pull.

Restored firearms were strategically managed by armies across nations, but as always, many had spread to the underworld. Especially the smaller they were, the easier they were to hide and smuggle.

‘No way!’

She looked on in horror at the girl. Mythical weapons capable of inflicting blows that disregard mana were fatal, regardless of the level of the wielder.

With his eyes glazed over, Herman finally pulled the trigger as he aimed the gun, and the fired bullet flew quickly toward the girl.

“Uh…?”

However, the girl did not collapse, bleeding from the bullet’s impact.

The bullet that struck her body immediately turned into a blue light and vanished.

Both Herman and she stared blankly at the moment.

“You cannot injure me with items forcibly resurrected from that time.”

“Hngh.”

Iriliana, smiling lightly at the trembling tip of Herman’s gun, gestured, and a clump of earth suddenly shot up from the ground to strike his chin.

With a violent jolt, Herman rolled his eyes back and dropped the gun, collapsing unconscious on the ground. Now, only two individuals remained here, fully conscious.

“What’s your name?”

Iriliana walked over, picked up the dropped gun, and plopped down beside the girl.

As Iriliana personally removed the gag, the girl regained her tongue after a long time and looked into Iriliana’s shining red eyes with trembling pupils.

Hearing the voice up close confirmed for her that this was indeed the person who had conveyed the voice.

At that moment, looking into those eyes felt as if she were entranced by something.

“M-my name is Arisa.”

She stuttered as she revealed her name. Her body remained bound, and above all, she could not resist at all.

‘What on earth?’

She was just a girl she had never seen before. It didn’t make sense for her, an elf, to feel such pressure.

“What were you doing being captured? I heard elves act quite cautiously.”

“I can’t say. I am tasked with a significant… ugh.”

However, during the continued inquiries, she was clueless for a moment until she managed to regain some senses midway. No matter how much her life was saved, she couldn’t just spill everything to someone she had never met before.

“I was assigned a significant task to save my tribe from a great crisis. I cannot just tell anyone about it.”

As the corners of the girl’s mouth faintly rose, Arisa closed her eyes tightly in a trembling voice.

She did not realize that the reason her body felt continually oppressed by the other was a problem deeply rooted in her genetics, tracing back to a long-ago ancestor.

“A tribe. Do you mean the elves? Are they in danger?”

The girl, seeming intrigued, began to remove the hood of her cloak, revealing her silver hair.

Arisa stared at it blankly. The emerald-colored eyes wide open were already stretched to their limits.

‘No way.’

Nevertheless, that disbelief eventually overwhelmed her.

When the silver-haired girl removed the headband she was wearing, long, pointed ears popped out from between her neatly tied hair.

“You can tell me if it’s about your kin.”

With a sly smile, Iriliana lowered her head and touched Arisa’s frozen ears. It was intended to imply that they weren’t so different from each other.

*

“Captain! It seems they did indeed kidnap an elven adventurer!”

“Damn it, then where is that elf right now?!”

“It seems they have already siphoned her away.”

In the aftermath of the barely subdued scene, the guards tied up the bloody convicts in one place and searched the surroundings.

But as the price of being a step behind, they had lost everything most important.

“It’s your fault, Adolf! If you hadn’t delayed!”

“I-I didn’t know! I swear!”

The mustached captain yelled at his subordinate, who shook his head in panic. The delay had been due to conflicting opinions when they received the report and mobilized forces.

“It’s obvious you’ve been consistently bribing them. At least the captain didn’t take bribes, huh.”

Patrick, watching the scene, clicked his tongue in dismay. If they had reported while the captain was off duty, they would have been stopped by that knight Adolf, who wouldn’t accept their report.

“But what should we do? That elf has vanished, and Iriliana has as well.”

“I don’t think we need to worry about her. She’s probably handling things well. Though the situation went a bit wrong, we’ve done enough for now.”

As Rina murmured her concern, Patrick analyzed the situation coolly and reassured her.

[Now that everything is done here, let’s head back to the lodging.]

In fact, that assessment was correct. Just as they were contemplating whether they should start looking for Iriliana, a breeze carrying Iriliana’s voice drifted to them from somewhere.