Chapter 9: Half-Elves' resentment toward the warden?
Ivy, seeing the docile look on her face, felt satisfied by the might of her Terror of the Heroic Wind. She decided to clear the misunderstanding as she didn't want to be lumped together with a weak human who probably wouldn't even reach her shadow and would die of old age, unable to increase his cultivation.
But on second thought, remembering the feeling of touching his chest and looking at his handsome face and those long silver hairs cascading down to his shoulders, her mind began to have some hesitation.
'Should I take him as a concubine?'
After a few seconds, however, she once again remembered those words, and all thoughts of being in a relationship with any man completely vanished from her mind, leaving only a determined expression on her face.
She coldly stated to the black-haired half-elves in front of her,
"I forgive you this time, but you guys won't be lucky next time if you try something like that ever again."
There was an ashen expression on their faces as they realized the reality of not being able to be with Arthur ever again, but before they could think of any depressing thoughts, they heard her cold voice once again.
"And I have no interest in this handsome human of yours. I only touched him because it would be better for him if I had close contact with his heart when casting the spell."
Only because his hair matched the color of hers did she decide to help him willingly; otherwise, she would have waited for them to beg and only then helped, as she had her own dignity.
Both half-elves felt stupid after hearing that they had risked their lives because of such a misunderstanding, but they still didn't regret what they had done earlier.
Still, a clear sign of relief and happiness could be seen on their faces after finding out that the warden had no interest in him.
Ivy, seeing their reaction, found it funny how many times their reaction had changed today as she still remembered the look of horror on their faces, which was equally amusing.
So she spoke once again with a strict face; however, some weird twitching on her face could be seen on her face as she tried hard to control her laughter.
"However!! After seeing how handsome the human is, now I think I should just take him as my concubine."
Hearing the words of their warden, their happiness faded completely as one of them even started to cry like a baby, throwing her hands and feet on the ground.
"Uwah!! Wh–why Hic is y–you taking our A–Arthur away Uwah!" Tears flowed from her black eyes as her nose also started running while she cried, blaming the warden without caring about respecting her as before.
Her friend, who had stopped herself from crying by biting her tongue a little, was also about to cry, seeing her friend.
But before she could start crying, they heard the warden's voice with laughter mixed in.
"Haha! Oops, sorry, aha, about that, I was haha just joking earlier, you guys haha don't have to take me haha seriously."
After finishing her words, she couldn't stop her laughter as only the sound of her laugh echoed in the cave, while one half-elf glared daggers at her and the other was relieved as her tears of sadness turned into tears of happiness, though she didn't stop crying.
Ivy enjoyed their reactions very much as this was the first time she'd had so much fun after these years of being the warden of this mana well where human slaves mined the stone from inside.
Now she had decided it was enough as she planned to go back and practice some spells or cultivate more, but before leaving, she decided to give them a hint about their boyfriend's awakening, as she had bullied these poor half-elves too much. This time, she wore a sincere expression on her face.
"Alright! Alright! Now if you don't stop crying, I'll cast some weak spell, and this time I'm not going to stop it, understood?"
Liora, who was crying like a baby on the ground, suddenly became silent as soon as she heard the warden's words, as she still felt horror from her last spell, which could have taken their lives a hundred times. Respectfully, she sat on the ground as a Samurai would.
Her friend, Zara, also became very serious; now, the thought of crying left her mind completely. Seeing how her friend sat, she followed, not knowing why she sat like that.
Ivy, seeing that it had become quiet now, decided to give them the good news, and if by some luck the handsome human had good resonance with mana, he could hopefully live close to their natural lifespan or even longer.
'But I don't think he would even have resonance close to 50. argh! I think I'm thinking too much—he probably doesn't even have 40, as the humans on this planet have the lowest bloodline of humans and are so-called Lower Humans.'
'However, we have still found a genius girl from here who can match with an average genius member of a low-level clan of elves, which is still a surprising feat for a Lower Human-like her.'
'But I don't think a frail man like him would be able to match the genius human girl.'
'Still, they are too weak to even bother myself with.'
So she got to the point without thinking about it any longer.
"You should take good care of him, as you guys are lucky—he'll be waking up in an hour or so."
Liora and Zara thought she was referring to his handsomeness when she said they were lucky, and even they felt a little shy now, but after hearing her next words, they finally understood why she said they were lucky.
"More importantly, both of you don't forget to check if your slave human is a slave anymore or not."
Right after her words echoed in the cave, her figure became a blur as she vanished from her spot.
Her words shocked them so much that they froze for a few seconds, realizing what she had said. Upon collecting themselves, both locked eyes with each other, and happiness was evident in their expressions.
Understanding each other's intentions, they crawled over to Arthur, who was a few meters away from them, in excitement. They held his thin arm, which made them a little shy, as they'd never had any close contact with a man before.
But, controlling their emotions, they lifted his sleeve, and seeing his white arm, which still had a tattoo engraved on it, they shouted loudly without any fear, fuming with anger at the same time.
"WARDEN!!!!!"
They couldn't believe the warden would play such a sick joke with them and play with their emotions to this degree, as one of the problems in his relationship is Arthur's age, as he would pass before them even when they gave him elixirs to increase his lifespan, spending all their money.
Since a half-elf like them could easily live 500 years even without any magical cultivation, Arthur's age was the biggest worry for each of them.
Getting played around with their weakness, they developed a natural resentment toward the warden, even knowing they couldn't do anything against her.
'I would still hate her even when I know I can't do anything against her.' Both of them had similar thoughts.