I followed the two elven women up the stairs to the first floor, out of the room with the stairwell, into the hallway, and out through another door that led to the first floor’s main hall.
Directly in front of the building’s entrance sat a massive staircase that led up to an open hall on the second floor. At the top of this staircase hung a massive portrait of a pudgy, white-haired man. A giant chandelier hung above the central hall, and expensive decorations covered nearly every surface, speaking volumes about the power of the man who lived here.
The expansive room looked like something from a movie. While I was busy taking it all in, Uhna spoke up in a quiet voice.
“Isn’t it strange, though? There aren’t any guards…”
A flame flickered in the palm of Uhna’s right hand. Apparently, she’d summoned her spirit magic to take care of any guards.
“I assume they sent people out to deal with the fires in town.” I followed Uhna into the hall as I explained what had happened.
“That’s pretty lucky then! We should be able to go straight to the marquis’s chambers and get our revenge!”
“Sounds good. Let’s take care of this and get you two back home.”
Uhna shot me a wide grin before taking off. An unnaturally strong breeze blew through the room. The cloak covering her body fluttered about as she ran up the stairs to the second floor. Ponta cried out excitedly as soon as it caught sight of her. The two of them shared an affinity for wind magic. Ariane and I followed after her, all the way up to the third floor.
There was something unsettling about the conversation the two elves had earlier that stuck with me. I could understand the desire to take revenge on the man who’d kidnapped these women, but we were talking about nobility here. Understandable or not, this wouldn’t end well. Still, there was so much I didn’t know about the relationship between this country and the elves that I wasn’t in a position to say what was right or wrong.
At the very least, I’d do whatever I could to make sure the marquis didn’t learn who I was.
Something caught my eye as we made our way up. I took it in my hand and looked it over, but Ponta began crying out to get me to hurry up.
“Kyiii kyiiiiiiiii!”
I used Dimensional Step to move to the base of the stairwell leading up to the third floor.
When I reached the top of the stairs, I heard a man and a woman screaming, followed by a hideous crashing sound. A thud reverberated down the hall, and several chambermaids appeared, running toward me. I put my back against the wall and stood still next to another suit of armor, pretending to be a decoration. These chambermaids would be witnesses to the events of this evening. I hoped to avoid them telling their friends about the imposing, armored man they’d seen with the attackers. Since this world lacked any form of radio, the information would stay local, and with all the other people wandering around town in armor, the impact would likely be minimal, but I figured it was better to be cautious.
Ponta seemed to catch on to what I was doing and stood stock still as the women ran past us. From a distance, Ponta’s fur probably looked like the crest on a Roman soldier’s helmet.
I turned to head in the direction that the women had come from.
The massive double doors, which looked as if they’d once been quite beautiful, had been blown wide open. Body parts that I could only assume belonged to the guard were scattered about. It was a pretty disturbing sight. I wondered which of the elven women had done this.
I stepped over the carnage and went into the bedroom. Everything in the room, at least to me, looked incredibly expensive. At the center stood a massive poster bed, decorated with intricate carvings.
The room was illuminated by an object that looked like a candelabra, though, instead of candles, there were glowing crystals inside it.
At the far wall of the bedroom stood a man whose face I’d just seen at the central stairwell. The plump, white-haired man looked rather pathetic with his bottom half exposed. A knife had been stabbed straight through his right hand, pinning him to the wall.
A long-haired elven woman struck the man between his legs with a powerful kick.
“Gyaaaaaaaaaugh!!!”
The man—the marquis, I assumed—let out a scream like I’d never heard before. Even though I was made up of nothing but bones, the power behind that scream made the space between my own legs ache.
Unable to drop down since his hand was pinned to the wall, the marquis shuddered as he tried to keep standing, sweat pouring off his body, drool dribbling down his chin. He struggled to control his breathing as he glared at the intruders.
“Y-you think you c-c-can get away with this, do you?! I am a marquis in this country, and if you think you can just…”
The marquis’s thighs trembled with the effort of standing. His gaze grew harsher, as if the women he was looking at were so much trash.
Ariane removed her hood, exposing her purple-tinged skin and untidy white hair, which took on a slight blue glow under the light of the crystals. Just the sight of her made the room feel cooler.
The way she spoke even made my blood run cold.
“Even if we were to kill you where you stand, this country holds no power over the elves of Canada. After all, it’s the people of Rhoden who broke their word first, is it not?”
She ripped off a corner of the bed sheets and shoved them into the marquis’s mouth. After looking him over once more, she turned her back to him.
A magical aura emanated from the two elven women standing behind Ariane—Uhna, who had led us here, and the long-haired woman who’d just kicked the marquis. I assumed this was Sena, the other enslaved elf. She was practically nude, her long hair plastered to her back with sweat, eyes ablaze with hatred for the marquis.
Ariane looked at me suspiciously. “Why are you wearing a curtain over your head, Arc?”
I’d figured it would help conceal my identity, like a veil, though it really just made me look like a person pretending to be a ghost at a student-operated haunted house.
“We can talk about that later. Don’t you think it’s unwise to kill Rhoden nobility?”
I tried dodging the subject. However, Ariane just looked at me as if I were some bizarre creature.
“They were the ones who broke their promise first. What’s wrong with me collecting a penalty?”
It seemed like this world didn’t have any sort of international conventions. Not only were rules different from group to group, but what was natural and expected even differed among species. I was just a mercenary here. Now that I’d raised my objection, all I could do was watch the situation unfold.
I shrugged my shoulders and shook my head. “Nothing.”
Ariane looked over her shoulder and locked eyes with the other two women. All three of them nodded in agreement.
As if on cue, Uhna and Sena began brutally beating the marquis, his screams echoing through the room as his blood showered the walls. It looked like a gang initiation that I’d seen on some TV program. Even with my incredible strength, I wouldn’t want to anger these women…
No longer needing to conceal my identity, I took the curtain off my head and walked away.
I looked around, trying not to think about the murder being carried out behind me. On the other side of the room, I spied a sturdy-looking door with a heavy lock on it. The lock was covered in intricate carvings, and it piqued my curiosity.
I drew my sword and cut through the door in a single diagonal slash. The two pieces of it fell away, as if I’d dragged a sharp knife through paper. The lock was now a useless decoration. I ripped what remained of the door off its hinges and stepped into the room, a small space filled with expensive pieces of artwork and other knick-knacks whose purposes I couldn’t even begin to guess.
In the back of the room were several wooden chests stuffed with gold coins.
Part of me couldn’t help but wonder why humans were so drawn to gold. The other part of me, the human part, felt like I’d just uncovered a treasure trove, causing my face to ease into a smile… Or, it would have, if I still had facial muscles.
There was no way I could take all the gold with me, but I could at least shove a fair amount of it into my sack. Ariane said the marquis had acquired his wealth through illegal means, so it wasn’t like I could be criticized for this.
I hurriedly stuffed my sack with gold coins. I let out a self-deprecating laugh as I realized that my actions weren’t that far off from what the women were doing in the other room. Still, I needed to be careful. Given the weight of gold, I risked having the bag tear open if I got too greedy.
Then I noticed a sword mounted to the wall. The gleaming silver blade was covered in symbols. A lion’s head was carved into the hilt, its eyes a pair of red jewels.
I’d seen this sword before…
Back in the game, it was known as the Sword of the King of Lions, an incredibly rare blade that boosted the user’s speed and attack power. I had no idea if that would be true in this world though.
I decided to take it with me. It’d be a shame to leave it here collecting dust.
I took the sword off the wall and slid it into the sheath hanging below before putting both of them into my bag of treasure. Just then, I heard loud noises coming from the bedroom.