'Well, I definitely shouldn't have killed everyone.'
I was currently in a dilemma. The rope that tied the girl was some kind of explosive. If I tried to pull it off, it might explode. After a few minutes of inspection, D gave me some good news:
- INFORMATION WAS FOUND ABOUT THOSE BONDS. ACCORDING TO THE INFORMATION FOUND ON THE CORPSES, THOSE BONDS ARE EXPLOSIVES THAT ARE ACTIVATED WHEN EXPOSED TO MANA.
'Manna?'
- YES, IT IS THE SAME ENERGY THAT WE USE TO ACTIVATE THE SKILLS.
'If it is as you say, why hasn't it exploded yet?'
'There's quite a bit of that energy in the atmosphere.'
- MANA IN NATURE IS NEUTRAL ENERGY, IT SEEMS NOT TO AFFECT THE BONDS.
'I see.'
- THIS ITEM IS CALLED 'MAGIC ROPE', IT WAS GIVEN POWER BY SOME CRAFTSMEN.
- THE ONLY WAYS TO FREE THE INDIVIDUAL ARE: CUTTING OFF HIS HANDS AND LEGS.
- DELETING THE INFORMATION RECORDED ON THE DEVICE SO THAT IT NO LONGER BE FUNCTIONAL.
- OR USING THE ORB THAT CONTAINS THE MANA SIGNATURE, IN THIS CASE IT WOULD BE THE MASTER KEY.
'Well, at least we have options.'
- YEAH.
'Which option is the fastest?'
- OPTION 1.
'That's no good to me, I'm not going to cut off the girl's hands and legs.'
- OPTION 2, THERE IS A POSSIBILITY OF FAILURE AND EXPLODING.
'Ugh, let's go with that one then. Worst case scenario, I'll just stick her in the bucket the moment the magic rope explodes.'
'Wait a minute, what if I just touch it and put it in the bucket?'
- THE MAGIC ROPE WOULD ENTER THE CUBE SINCE IT IS IN DIRECT CONTACT WITH THE INDIVIDUAL.
'Tsk, so I can't choose what I put in the bucket at will.'
- CORRECT.
'Well, let's go with option 2.'
After planning everything, touching the magic rope, D took care of the process of removing the information stored in the rope that tied the girl's hands. A few seconds after activating the 'remove' feature, the rope started to glow red. The girl looked with wide eyes at what was happening, she seemed to know what the ropes were. A few seconds after she looked at the glow coming out of the ropes, she closed her eyes tightly. Upon opening her eyes again and looking again, she noticed that the ropes were no longer on her wrists. Upon looking closer, she noticed that the ropes were now in small pieces in my hand.
"Hahaha, how easy."
After D removed the information from the rope, I almost instantly used 'cut' on them. Only small pieces remained in my hand. The little girl, who now had her hands free, was standing with her big eyes wide open. Shortly after, I did the same with the magic ropes on her feet. It only took us a few seconds to free the girl from the ropes. Upon freeing the girl completely, I could see that she was still scared, as she still remained quiet.
"Take my hand, girl."
After saying those words, I extended my hand towards the girl. The girl hesitated for several seconds until she finally took my hand and stood up from the ground. Seeing her standing, a smile appeared on my face. I had only heard of elves in myths and legends, I never expected to see one in the flesh. The girl was a little taller than me and had beautiful silver hair. Looking the girl straight in the eyes, I spoke to her:
"Can you understand me?"
I tried to communicate with the girl, but she didn't seem to understand me. She was currently speaking in the language that the guys I killed used. Talking to her was easy, the language information was engraved in my head. This method of learning was very effective, I just needed to kill someone and I could learn their language in a matter of minutes.
"Now what do I do with the girl?"
The little girl wouldn't get a word out of her mouth. Every time I asked her something, she would put on a confused expression. After a while of trying, I got bored. The little girl didn't want to talk, she just looked at me with her beautiful green eyes, watery and full of fear. She seemed to be holding back the urge to cry.
"Ugh, come on, girl."
Waving my hand, I motioned for her to follow me. Even though we didn't speak the same language, she at least understood the signs I made. As she stepped out of the carriage and saw the outside world, the girl's eyes became moist and tears began to fall in a cascade. Shortly after, I could hear the girl's tender voice, or rather, her crying, which she had been holding back since she saw me. She must have thought I was with those who had her deprived of her liberty. I waited for several minutes for her to calm down. It was then that I received a report from D:
- INTELLIGENT LIFE FORM DETECTED WITHIN THE INDIVIDUAL. IT IS POSSIBLE TO COMMUNICATE WITH SUCH LIFE FORM.
'What exactly is it?'
'Is that anything like what you are, D?'
- NO, IT'S A WAY OF LIFE.
- IT'S WRONG TO COMPARE ME TO THAT.
'How different are they?'
- THERE ARE SMALL SIMILARITIES, THAT'S ALL.
'Well, I don't give a shit. Let me talk to the thing.'
- MADE.
After a moment, I spoke in my mind while looking straight into the elf girl's eyes:
'Hey you, the thing inside the girl.'
After a few seconds, the thing spoke directly to me in my head:
- How did you find out about me?
'That doesn't matter to you.'
- That?
'Explain to me how that girl ended up in the hands of those worms.'
- Do you call your own kind worms?
'What should I call them then?'
- Forget my comment.
- So you're not with those humans?
'No, I just ran into them.'
- Where are they now?
'Dead, maybe?'
- What do you mean by that?
'They're not coming back.'
As she said those words, something transparent soon came out of the girl's body. It was like a transparent mass. As she came out, the girl was very surprised. The girl did not seem to understand why her guardian had come out. She was even more surprised when she realized that my eyes were fixed on her guardian, as if I could see him.
- Are you sure the 6 humans left?
'Wait a second, 6?'
- Yes, there were 6 humans.
Listening to the transparent thing, I fell into deep thought. If there were 6 guys in total, that meant one thing: I had to catch the bastard, he was going to be my guide.
- Human, the fact that you can see me means you have an affinity with elementals. Is one of your parents an elf?
The transparent thing's voice sounded annoyed. Something in its statement bothered it.
- CREATOR, TELL HIM THAT YOU DON'T KNOW WHO HIS PARENTS ARE. ALSO TELL HIM THAT A SPIRIT IS WATCHING OVER HIM.
I didn't understand what D was getting at, but I played along.
'I'm not sure, I never knew my parents. I just know that since my birth something like you has been looking after me.'
- What, something like me?
'Yeah.'
- Is it inside you?
'Yeah.'
- Tell him to come out.
'He doesn't want to.'
- Because?
'He says you're just a nobody and to learn your place.'
- What the hell? I'm a big wind elemental, who does that bastard think he is?
Of course, all of that was a lie, D wasn't insulting him, the words were mine.
- Okay, if he doesn't want to go out, then he shouldn't, but at least he must fulfill his mission of helping the elven royalty.
'He says explain yourself.'
- Oh, so he finally shows some interest, that arrogant bastard. Listen carefully: 6 humans managed to invade the kingdom. They somehow managed to break through the barrier protecting the kingdom and not only did they sneak inside the kingdom, but they even kidnapped one of the elven king's sons, Maedhros Silverlight.
'He says not to worry, as 5 of the 6 individuals have passed away.'
- Wait a minute, did you take care of those guys?
'He says only 5, the remaining one was not close.'
- Did you see the black-haired human who uses a staff as a weapon?
'No.'
- I see, then you were very lucky.
He was surprised at how easy it was to extract information from the transparent thing. If he played along, he could take advantage of the situation.
- Help me bring the young lady safely back to the king.
'He says he will gladly help the king's daughter, but he has one condition.'
- Say it.
'He says that if any elf puts my integrity in danger, he will go out and kill every single one of them.'
'He says that a single scratch on my body and death will fall on all involved.'
- What's wrong with you?
- What kind of elemental are you?
- Are you willing to go against the will of our creator in order to protect that human?
- You are the first elemental who dares to utter such a blasphemy.
- What do you think you are?
'He says that since you don't agree, there is no deal.'
- Aaaaa, seriously what's wrong with this bastard?
- Okay, okay, no one will touch the human, I promise.
The reason I put that condition was simple. D was currently scanning and extracting the memories of the 5 guys from before and from what he could find out, elves hate humans to death. The reason for this hatred is due to several factors, but the main one is that elves and humans have been fighting each other for over 500 years. In that span of time, countless atrocities have occurred. And well, here I was, entering a super dangerous place just on a whim. Seeing a child being kidnapped and abused drove me crazy. My intention to help was real, but I wasn't about to let them hurt me just because. The condition wasn't a joke. If I got hurt, I would take it upon myself to annihilate each and every one of them.
'He says, perfect, he will protect the king's daughter.'
- Perfect.
'Is the girl listening to our conversation?'
- No, he can't hear us.
'Well, I want you to let him hear my voice from now on.'
- The princess can't talk to you.
'The reason?'
- The blood of humans runs through your veins.
'Hahaha, you're so hard on me.'
- Of course I am with humans.
'Oh, he says he will only protect her until the entrance to the kingdom. There our paths part.'
- Good.