Chapter 8 : Exaltedness

The last petal fell to the ground, and silence flowed for a moment.

Naia was blankly staring at the fallen petals and the stem with only the stalk left.

“Hmm.”

An unpleasant sound came out of my mouth, and Naia snapped to attention at the sound.

When I got up from the bed, she was terrified and pulled her body back.

“Too bad.”

If an even number had come out, I was going to let her live without even touching her.

I clenched the key to the shackles in my hand.

The key made of steel shattered like an ice cream bar as I gripped it tightly in my hand.

-Crackle!

The broken metal pieces turned into powder and poured onto the floor.

Naia gasped roughly and took her body to the corner.

She trembled and shouted.

“P, protect me!”

It didn’t seem like she was chanting anything in particular.

Her magic was also limited, so what was she doing? That’s what I thought.

-Swish.

-Whirr.

“…Meteor Worms?”

A tattoo on her waist shone, and something poured onto the floor.

Meteor Worms were a group of insect-type monsters that existed in this world.

‘So she’s not an ordinary dark elf?’

The dark elf herself was not an ordinary being in the first place.

The black insects rushed at me as if trying to protect their owner.

‘Tattoo magic? Or is it a divine mystery?’

It seemed she had hidden a trump card.

I was slightly intrigued.

“K, kill him! No, get, get me out of here first!”

“Unfortunately.”

It was interesting, but in the end, it was just a trick.

I concentrated my magic without taking any particular action.

-Thwack! Thwack!

As I increased the density of mana in the room, the worms lost control of their bodies and exploded with a thud.

Naia’s expression changed every moment as they exploded one by one.

She seemed to be in the final stage of the five stages of denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance that humans show when they

fall into a desperate situation.

I approached Naia, who was no longer trembling, and squatted down.

She was silently dropping tears one by one.

“Any last words?”

I thought she would ask me to spare her, but she kept silent and closed her eyes.

I focused my magic on my fingers.

Magic began to gather at my fingertips.

Among the meteor worms that I had crushed, one with only half of its body left dragged its body towards Naia.

Perhaps because of the order to protect its owner, the little worm that had become a half-corpse was desperately crawling.

Magic was gathering more and more.

The more I concentrated my magic on myself, the more I could see and feel.

I could feel the trembling.

I could hear the pounding heartbeat.

I felt the warmth of her cold skin.

Magic was continuing to gather.

Enough to kill a person, but I didn’t stop and constantly gathered magic.

The magic was mixing with each other and the purity was increasing.

“I’m really sorry.”

Thud, the magic stopped gathering.

The mana that I had gathered rippled and drew a white line.

The line did not break and was divided into several thin threads.

Magic thread.

This magic that I had practiced thousands and thousands of times was the magic that I was most confident in.

The thread-like mana moved as I wanted.

Instead of stabbing it down to Naia, I led it to the shackles that were binding her.

The magic thread went into the keyhole and began to unlock the lock.

Not long after, there was a click, and the chains that had been tied to her hands and feet were released.

“Annoying, stupid, and pathetic. I don’t even know why I’m doing this.”

Naia, who had closed her eyes tightly and accepted death, slightly opened her eyes.

She looked at me with an incomprehensible expression as she saw the released chains.

“Hey, just go.”

Noisy sounds had been coming from outside for a while now.

It seemed that the event in the novel had begun.

“Paladins have probably stormed in outside. If you pretend to be an escaped s*ave, you’ll be able to get out easily.”

It was the episode ‘Am Market Raid Operation’.

Paladins stormed the am market, and crime organizations opposed them.

Unlike the flamboyant initial auction, the auction house just now was a perfect crime itself.

Teperi, who received the help of the saintess here in the original story, met Trea here for the first time.

“Why…me?”

The dark elf asked.

“Why, should I just kill you?”

The villainous young lady replied.

Naia shook her head.

Her eyes were mixed with fear and curiosity.

“Just, that’s…”

What to say, I couldn’t think of a proper answer.

I’m not particularly lenient when it comes to taking lives.

I myself think that I’m cold-hearted.

“That’s because it’s not noble.”

I couldn’t think of a proper answer, so I replied casually.

We won’t be seeing each other again anyway.

“Noble…”

Naia murmured.

Yes, it’s a word that suits her much better, looking like a princess in a dress more than me.

“Go quickly, I’m going to go out too.”

This was a VIP room, and I could get caught up in troublesome things if I stayed here.

I wanted to get out before something troublesome happened.

“Name.”

“Huh?”

“I didn’t hear your name.”

The dark elf, who had regained her magic, asked me.

She was quite skilled, although her magic was limited.

The energy coming from her body was the unique energy of a dark elf.

“Trea Ludbeck.”

“…Trea. I am Naia von Proudmoore.”

Why is she introducing herself when we won’t be seeing each other again?

When I nodded, Naia disappeared in an instant over the open window.

How did they catch her as a s*ave?

“Shall I go out now?”

I said noble, but I think I’m more suited to be a human butcher.

I was about to put on my mask again and go out when I suddenly saw a large full-length mirror in the room.

The white wolf mask suited me very well.

“Block them! Block them no matter what!”

“F*ck, where are they coming from!”

The inside of the am market was chaos itself.

Unlike general am markets that were tacitly allowed by the country, the hidden places were completely crime and evil itself.

Therefore, it gave room for religious groups to intervene.

Until now, they had been walking a tightrope, saying ‘It’s okay if you don’t get caught’.

High risk high return, the margins that the am market made from drugs and s*ave trading were worth the risk.

‘Today was that day.’

The cult side, which had been grinding its teeth and waiting for an opportunity, caught a case.

And they sent paladins out for generations.

It was the day that those who lived by eating night dew and paladins faced off.

‘Teperi also comes here.’

She, who had received the saintess’s request, also participated in this battle.

Of course, this place was an opportunity for her to level up.

As soon as I took a step out of the room, it was a crucible of chaos.

People startled and putting on clothes, people running to shelters with slaves.

People wearing masks and fighting paladins.

“Haaaaap!”

It’s that person who wore the tiger mask earlier!

He was so big that I could recognize him regardless of the mask.

He was the paladin leader Lloyd of the Octocolor Cross Order.

He was a character who connected with Teperi here and helped her later.

“Extinguish evil!”

He was also reciting embarrassing lines, wielding a shield in one hand and a sword in the other.

The person who was clashing swords with him was the man who was hosting the society earlier.

As expected, he was a person who lived by eating knives, and he was fighting with a black dagger in both hands.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

“You! How can you have such skills and rot yourself in a place like this!”

Of course, the host didn’t answer and swung his sword.

Lloyd’s sword didn’t graze that host, but the dagger kept making big and small wounds on Lloyd’s body.

‘Is that side at a disadvantage?’

Unlike the dagger, which continuously inflicted wounds but didn’t have great destructive power, Lloyd’s great sword was a serious injury if

hit.

Therefore, the host seemed busy avoiding it rather than cutting, and his stamina consumption seemed high.

At that time, the host found me and shouted.

“Customer, will you help us? We will definitely reward you if this is settled.”

He saw me during the fierce battle and shouted urgently.

Lloyd also found me and gave me a hostile look.

A satisfactory reward that the am market provides.

I was a little tempted.

“A reward…what kind?”

“Everything you want! Just say it.”

The swords collided even faster.

Thwack, the host’s dagger stabbed Lloyd’s arm.

“Keuk!”

Lloyd groaned as he was stabbed in the arm.

His movements, which had been moving fiercely until now, slowed down.

Reward, reward.

Maybe I can get the dark elf’s heart that I lost today again.

Not only that? They would listen even if I demanded a value that was dozens of times greater.

I snapped my fingers and created a magic thread.

That magic thread didn’t go to Lloyd.

The magic thread that I had spread began to shackle the host’s body like the stem of a plant.

A villainous young lady is a person who acts arbitrarily according to her mood like this.

A person who doesn’t last a day with that decision and regrets what happened today tomorrow.

“…Customer?”

“I’m sorry, but only for today.”

The magic thread strangled the host’s neck and knocked him out.

He immediately considered me an enemy and threw a dagger at me before losing consciousness.

A curse was engraved on the blade, but of course, it didn’t reach me.

“…Because I decided to live nobly.”

The dark elf’s heart? The am market’s reward?

The very act of relying on such things is proof of weakness.

I am not a weak person.

The figure of Teperi, who was looking at this place from afar, was seen in the distance.