"A little baggy, but they will do for now." Auron stripped the guard's clothes off and finally clothed himself. He picked up the keys to the cages and looked at the befuddled elf.
"How did you get captured? You look pretty strong." He was slightly confused, the elf's aura gave him the feeling of someone who was stronger than the average group of criminals.
"How did I get captured? How did you get Captured!? You're clearly way stronger than me! Hurry up and let me out of this cage already!" Her whole face was flushed red remembering such an embarrassing situation.
"I was just taking a nap in the forest, and when I woke up I was here. I guess they just happened to pick me up."
Ceila just stood there dumbfounded, wondering why he would be taking a nap in the middle of the forest while naked. Not to mention, how did he not wake up at all while being captured?
Auron ignored her rapid mood swings he had been the cause of as he opened her cage. Afterward, he opened the cage with the phinx in it.
He inspected the bird and was surprised by what he found. Phinx were rare, as a godbeast descendant they had really low birthrates. He had never seen one before, but he had heard descriptions about them, and this bird for sure matched.
The phinx woke up shortly afterward as the tranquilizer in its system had completely been flushed out. It's wing was even completely healed. Phinx, as descendants of phoenixes, have incredible regeneration abilities.
Looking around wariley, it did not see the people who attacked it, but it did spot Auron's red hair. The phinx shot off the ground and sat on Auron's head, looking satisfied.
"I guess you like my red hair, huh? You're an interesting bird." He had an amused smirk on his face as he ruffled the swirly top feather on the phinx's head.
The phinx enjoyed Auron's actions and let out a joyful squawk.
Ceila regained her composure and approached Auron, her eyes locked with his and a fierce look was held in her gaze. She got down on both knees, and placed her head against the floor, sitting in a groveling position.
This time it was Auron's turn to be shocked, he stood there unsure of what to do.
"My name is Ceila Greenheart. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for saving me." Her tone was firm and sincere, with true gratitude within.
"Stand up, I didn't do anything to deserve this, I was just doing what anyone would." He stood in place uneasily, not having expected anything for saving her. It didn't take him any effort to just open a cage.
"No. Whatever the reason is, you saved me from a life most likely worse than death, living as some fiend's sex slave. My father always taught me to grovel when repaying a life debt, or making an important request. I am going to do both." She lifted her head and looked straight into Auron's crimson eyes. "Please, help me kill all these traffickers. I don't want these scum to get away with what they are doing here. When I think of all the people whose lives they have destroyed here, I can't help but be furious."
Auron kept his gaze locked with Ceila's. "This place is definitely run by someone powerful. Even if we kill everyone here, another group will just be sent in its place, and then we might be targeted by whoever is in charge. Even so, do you still want to kill them all?
"Even so." Ceila's eyes did not weaver one bit, no hesitation present at all.
A smirk crept up on Auron's face as he walked over to a sheathed short sword on the table and picked it up. He unsheathed the sword and turned around to look back at her. "My name is Auron Phoenix. Stand up, we have some jackasses to kill."
"Yes!" A smile that dazzled as much as a star appeared on her face.
-
The sun was beginning to set on the horizon. A boisterous laughter was pouring out of the shack containing the five traffickers.
"Cheers fer a job well done boys!" The five men were downing alcohol in celebration for their successful harvest.
During the racket, a ringing noise echoed through the shack. The source was a blinking crystal communication device affixed to the bear-like boss's waist.
"I'll be back." The smile had disappeared off his face as he stood up and rushed out of the shack.
He entered the largest one among the shoddy buildings, which was his personal shack. His room was dimly lit due to the onset of night, so he lit up a few candles to provide adequate lighting.
After making sure everything was in order, the man put the communication crystal onto a table and sent a tendril of magic power into the crystal to activate it.
"I presume everything is proceeding smoothly, yes?" The voice sounded distorted, making one incapable of identifying them by their voice.
A shiver went down the man's body. No matter how many times he hears it, that voice from the other end of the crystal deeply scares him.
Even he does not know who is employing him, but the man must be very powerful. To be able to so easily run a slave network in a kingdom which bans the slave trade, they must be someone of high nobility. If he does anything that might displease this mysterious person, he could easily wind up dead in a ditch somewhere one day.
"Yes sir, we have not run into any issues recently. We have even managed to capture three new 'stock' which would sell nicely."
"Due tell, give me a report of your latest 'findings'."
"Yes sir! Firstly we managed to ambush and capture a beautiful elf woman who was crossing the border from Yggdrasil to Reikon. She has the power of at least a rank B and seemed to be a magic swordsman. We wouldn't have been able to capture her so easily if it weren't for how naive she was."
"Brilliant, it is rare to capture such a fine specimen."
"The other two were a bit strange, we found a naked man with long red hair sleeping in the middle of the forest near our base. Other than being handsome, the man did not look that special. However, there was a genuine phinx sleeping in his hair. It is very young, looking to be just a couple months old. We were able to cleanly capture it due to its age."
"Interesting, the phinx was likely attracted to the man's red hair. All phoenix descendents adore the color red after all. I am impressed with your contributions. If you continue to impress me in the future, you might have a chance at a promotion."
.
The crystal dimmed and the connection was cut off.
His body relaxed as he released a sigh of relief. Talking with the mysterious person put him under a huge amount of stress.
A promotion might not even be much of a good thing, it would just mean he would have to undergo more work. Not to mention the more he gets tangled with the person's affairs, the more risk he would have to be silenced at some point.
He really needed some alcohol after the interaction so he left his shack and started walking back to where his subordinates were drinking.
A sudden sense of danger enveloped his whole body, causing him to leap backwards. He narrowly unstrapped the axe off of his back and blocked a slash aimed at his neck.
What he saw shocked him, the red haired man had somehow escaped, and was now giving him seriously dangerous vibes. He didn't feel he had any chance of winning, he could feel death looming over his head.
'How did this happen?'
Recoiling from the blow, the bear-like man's stance was completely broken.
The short sword that Auron was using quickly recovered from the block and stabbed straight at the now exposed heart of his enemy.
Blood sprayed out as the man collapsed to the ground, ceasing his pointless confusion.
Auron shook the blood off of his sword and headed over to the shack containing the drunk traffickers who were ignorant of the fate about to befall them.
He spotted Ceila standing in front of the door, waiting for him.
"Done with all the sentinels on your side?"
"Yes. Don't forget, the one who tricked me is mine. " She had a scowl on her face as she remembered her humiliation.
"Don't worry, he is all yours."
They had found Ceila's possessions including her sword in a chest located near the exit to the room they were trapped in.
The sword was a beautiful wooden sword with a pink daisy carved onto its hilt. It was made with a special kind of wood which originates from the Yggdrasil forest which has the properties of steel and channels nature magic with greater effectiveness. It is a staple sword of the elves.
Readying their weapons, the two opened the door.
Inside, the four drunks were too inebriated to pay attention to the door, more focused on their drinks. They heard the door opening and just assumed their boss had returned.
"Weeeelcom back boss, come drink before iss all gon-" The drunk man did not get a chance to finish his sentence before his head was detached from his body.
Before any of the men could react, Auron had cut off the heads of three of them in quick succession. Between his own strength and their own alcohol dulled senses, it was easy work.
The last man alive, the rogue who had faked his injury to capture Ceila, sat there horrified, unable to understand what just occurred.
Ceila walked up to the last man and pressed her sword against the man's neck.
"Do you have anything to say for what you have done?" She asked the trembling man.
"I-I-m sorry, please don' kill me! Please!" The man slurred his words and pleaded for his life.
"The people whose lives you have ruined did not get a choice, and neither do you. I hope you do better things in your next life."
Nature magic surged into the tip of her sword and a thorn shot into the man's throat.
The light faded out of the man's eyes as he collapsed to the floor and died.