"What is it?" Her eyes stared into mine. She seemed to be tired. It was clear something was wrong.
I'd always wondered where she was really from. Her accent felt ancient and the way she carried herself with absolute grace always puzzled me. She acted like some sort of noble.
I snapped out of my thoughts and looked at the mission at hand.
I need to ask her about Elirac. Her origins could wait.
"Elirac. I need to get there." Her eyes widened and her mouth opened in shock. She got up and shook her head.
"No, stop spouting nonsense. You can't possibly think of going to the Monster realm."
"I need to go there. That's where I could find him."
"Sang-ah, you can't! You're gonna die!" She shook her head even harder, "Do you know how much stronger the monsters in there are than the ones Alec Ambrose drove away? Grade 1 and 2 monsters were the only things he could handle! The real threat stayed inside Elirac, because they didn't see us as a good enough killing spree! That's how weak we are!
"Him? Who are you even talking about? Whoever they are, they're not worth getting killed over."
"I'm a level 10." I said sounding confident, but all I cared about was her reaction to my claim. She knew my level, and yet she was still trying desperately to stop me from going. Either she didn't believe me when I told her my level, or she somehow knew how strong those monsters were.
Grade 1 and 2 monsters don't have the ability too communicate with each other, let alone converse with us. How could she know about grade 3 monsters, something we still have almost no understanding of. She knew too much for a high school junior.
"I truly wonder, what is the source of your never-ending knowledge?" I got up and took a step towards her. She faltered and took a step back.
"You always answer every question about history and even correct the teachers with historical dates or forms to exert the most power with the least amount of energy."
She turned pale. "I read a lot"
"More than the people that got hired as our teachers for their amazing historical knowledge? More than them, who are older that a double of your age?"
She turned away and avoided my gaze.
I took a step closer until I was only a couple inches away. She stared at me with a weird expression. I reached for her hair and brushed it back gently. She flinched, but didn't take her eyes off mine.
"You really are bad at hiding things." I whispered in her hear before pointing to a mark on her neck. It looked like a burn mark, but it had a spade design.
Before I could react, she slapped my hand away and took several steps fast back. Her hand was on the mark, her eyes stared at me wild. "ὦ νόθος," she muttered.
"What?" I took another step forward. She held out her hand and started chanting something. Her eyes glowed and she floated into the air.
"..Θάνατος με πάγον, μορφώθητι με τάς ἐπιθυμίας τοῦ δεσπότου σου.."
"Hyeon!" I put my hands in front of me in an attempt to cover myself from the wind gathering around us. I looked around to see if anyone was near the scene. No one was there.
Good.
I put my hand out and fire appeared in my palm. "Ignite," I said. Streaks of fire held her down, her spell going haywire. The fire controlled her spell and forced her knees. Her head was down, her breathing rapid.
I walked closer towards her and grabbed her face, forcing her to look at me.
"You're a dog on a leash, aren't you?" She stared at me with empty eyes. "A slave."
I don't know anything about her, but it was obvious she was not from this world. Her accent, her elegance, her noble air, she was definitely a noble. But that begs the question, why would a noble of another world be a slave?
The slave mark is a seal that binds someone's life to their owner. Last I checked, slavery didn't exist in our world anymore; Alec Ambrose and his descendants had completely gotten rid of it over the years. The last slave trader was caught in year 1675, Fyodor Novikov, and was finally executed.
"I didn't want you to know," she whispered in sorrow. Tears welled in her eyes. "I didn't want to get abandoned again."
"You think we're close enough for me to abandon you?"
"We're close enough for nick names, right?" she smiled her first genuine smile, a smile that didn't seem dead.
I felt a pang of pity.
Just what is her story?