Chapter 9
“L-liberate me?”
Suyeon froze at the appearance of the rogue elf, who licked her lips—or seemed to.
How old would an elf have to be to have a figure that voluptuous?
And how could an elf survive in Labyrinth City without being a slave?
Why was that elf offering to free her?
Dozens of questions came to mind all at once, but she was afraid to ask any of them.
What did she know about that elf to trust her enough to ask?
“Yeah. If you want, I can free you from your master.”
“But… if I’m freed, elves can’t live in this city, can they?”
“Did your master teach you that?”
Suyeon trembled and shrank back, yet couldn’t bring herself to reject the rogue elf’s voice.
The rogue elf’s voice was alluring, but so was what she was offering.
“Then… that’s not true?”
“You want to live in Labyrinth City? Life here is certainly fun. But you seem like someone who should never have left the elf village.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re a noble princess, aren’t you?”
“How do you know that?!”
“Even though I live out here, I still hear plenty of rumors from the elf world. And do you think you can hide your appearance? That pure-white silver hair and faintly violet eyes. They’re traits unique to the royal bloodline of the Rasia tribe.”
“Ugh…”
“Or am I wrong, Erze El Rasia?”
“Eek…”
The moment Suyeon heard the name she hated, her entire body went rigid.
The elf smiled with a dangerously seductive air, as if she knew Suyeon well.
Suyeon tried to imagine what would happen if the elves found out she was here.
Would their race invade Labyrinth City, burn everything down… and take her away?
Suyeon didn’t even know what elves were like, so she had no idea what might happen.
“Is that name… famous?”
“It is, in the elf world.”
“Do I have to go back?”
“No, that depends on what you choose, my dear. Didn’t you set out to seek adventure?”
“Oh… right. I did, for adventure.”
“But if your people find out you’re a slave, do you think they’ll just sit by?”
“Ugh…”
“Of course, I’m not the type to go around blabbing. And elves aren’t exactly common. But if you want to be freed, just say the word and I can set you free in a flash.”
With that, the elf vanished.
The elf disappeared from her spot as if she’d never been there at all.
Suyeon looked around for the elf who’d suddenly disappeared, but the only person she saw was her friend Seonghyeon.
“I brought a quest.”
“Hey… did you see an elf here?”
“Huh? What elf? There was an elf here?”
“Um… there was. Where’d she go?”
“Hmm, could she have been a rogue?”
“Maybe… She was dressed kind of like that person over there.”
When Suyeon pointed to a rogue in similar clothes at the Adventurers’ Guild, Seonghyeon nodded.
“She’s using Stealth. She might follow us.”
“Then what do we do…? She said she’d free me, and she knew my name. She even knew I was… um… a princess.”
“A princess?”
“Yeah.”
“You?”
“That’s what she said…”
“Pfft—! A princess? A princess? You’re a princess?”
“Hey, you asshole!”
“Hahaha! No, no. It’s just funny hearing you say ‘princess’ in such a desperate voice. Hah!”
Seeing Seonghyeon clutch his stomach and laugh at her, Suyeon got angry.
“Hey! Lee Seonghyeon!”
“What? Got a problem?”
“I do. A big one.”
“Oh, my~ Our princess~ Please forgive me~”
“Heyyy!”
Suyeon grabbed a chair and tried to throw it at Seonghyeon, only to realize she couldn’t lift it.
The handcuffs and chain on her wrist already weighed her down, and she wasn’t strong enough to lift the chair.
Instead, she clenched her fist and swung at Seonghyeon.
But he dodged.
“Oh, dear, Your Highness~ I’m sorry!”
“You… Don’t you dare move!”
“Catch me if you can~”
“Grr…”
Suyeon was fuming.
Seonghyeon was running around with his arms spread wide like a character in a shoujo manga, and it only made her more irritated.
Suyeon gave up, figuring that playing along would only stress her out more.
“Forget it. Let’s just hurry up and leave.”
“Yeah, I’ll quit it, too.”
When Suyeon calmly crossed her arms and pretended nothing had happened, Seonghyeon came right back over.
But Suyeon didn’t forget to jab him in the gut with a finger poke.
Caught off guard, Seonghyeon clutched his stomach with a grunt.
“Finger poke!”
“Gah… That actually hurts.”
“Whatever. Let’s just get to the dungeon already.”
Suyeon headed off first.
Seonghyeon stared blankly after her, then followed once the pain had faded.
Honestly… watching his friend recover like that, he even found her cute…
He couldn’t figure out what this swelling feeling in his chest was.
No, that wasn’t it.
“Hey! Not that way!”
Seonghyeon grabbed Suyeon, who was about to go somewhere strange instead of through the cowboy doors they’d entered by, and steered her in the right direction.
His friend had been smart enough to get into ○○ University… He’d forgotten, but she was seriously bad with directions.
**
On the way to the Labyrinth dungeon.
Seonghyeon turned Suyeon’s words over in his mind.
The rogue elf had used Stealth and told Suyeon she’d free her.
Seonghyeon had a hunch. It might be one of the groups called guilds in this other world.
If there were guilds that included rogues, they were probably pretty dangerous.
Besides… if an actual rogue was following them under cover of Stealth, Seonghyeon was in danger.
There was nothing more dangerous than being attacked from behind while hunting.
Fortunately, Seonghyeon’s Cleric class had a level-three spell called Eyes of Light.
It could detect hidden creatures, but it cost an entire level-three spell slot, so it was expensive.
On top of that, if you used it in a town, there were so many things lurking out of sight that your eyes hurt as if they were being torn apart. In practice, it was a spell you could only use in a dungeon.
Since they were planning to hunt on about the second floor, Seonghyeon decided he’d use it as soon as they entered the dungeon.
They weren’t likely to run into an enemy powerful enough to warrant a level-three spell before they took a long rest.
“Seonghyeon.”
“What?”
“Even if an elf isn’t a slave… can they live in Labyrinth City?”
“Hmm… I suppose they can.”
“Then can you take these off…?”
“Just because they can doesn’t mean they should.”
“Why?”
“Elves who aren’t slaves are… dangerous.”
“Huh?”
“Elves who work in the underworld, and adventurer elves who belong to guilds like that.”
“Oh…”
“Don’t tell me you want to become one of them.”
Suyeon wondered if Seonghyeon might be lying.
But… the only elf she’d seen in this world was that voluptuous rogue elf from a moment ago.
Rogues were dangerous. And the clothes that elf had worn… were incredibly sexy.
In Suyeon’s mind, which had been occupied with studying until now, a rogue elf seemed like a woman in the sex trade.
Suyeon thought Seonghyeon had a point when he said that elves who weren’t slaves were dangerous.
The rogue elf’s offer had certainly sounded sweet, but maybe that sweetness was really poison.
It was better to trust someone from back home here.
Especially if that person was a childhood friend she’d known for a long time.
Seonghyeon was the kind of friend who’d eventually spill his secrets if you prodded him a little.
“No.”
“You sure are taking a long time to think.”
“No, really. Do you seriously think I don’t trust you?”
“Well… It’d be good to find out what group that rogue belongs to. We might be in danger soon.”
With that, the two of them arrived at the entrance.
The dungeon attendant at the entrance greeted them with a bright smile.
“Welcome, adventurer!”
“One adventurer and one slave are going in.”
“Oh, all right! Just check in here and you can head inside.”
“You signed your slave up for slave injury insurance yesterday, right? For one month. Then I hope you have another good haul! Good luck!”
With the attendant’s blessing, the two of them entered the dungeon.
As soon as they passed through the entrance, the damp air and smell of torch smoke greeted them.
After making their way past a mountain of bones, Seonghyeon cautiously began chanting a spell.
“Eyes of Light.”
A new eye-shaped mark was drawn in light between Seonghyeon’s brows.
The darkness appeared as bright as day to Seonghyeon, and he could sense the presence of anything hiding nearby.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t see the rogue elf.
He didn’t know where she was, but perhaps she’d slipped away along the way.
Not that she could know, since the two of them had been speaking Korean this whole time…
“Pfft!”
“What? Why are you laughing?”
“Your… eye… Pfft… Puhahaha…”
“Why?”
“You know, that thing. Say it. ‘Show me what you showed them!’”
“What?”
“Say it.”
“Show me what you showed them…”
Once Seonghyeon got that far, he realized what Suyeon was thinking.
A year had passed, and he’d forgotten—but how could he forget that famous meme?
Then, with a bonk, a bump sprang up on Suyeon’s head.
“Ah…”
“Having fun?”
“You’re trying to kill someone just because you’re stronger.”
“Sigh, forget it. I used a spell to detect anyone following us under Stealth because I was worried someone might come to kill one of us.”
“Oh… I see. Sorry.”
After their brief quarrel, the two of them headed farther into the dungeon.
As they walked along a stone-paved corridor, much like the one from the day before, Suyeon felt herself getting out of breath.
But unlike the day before, Suyeon called out to Seonghyeon without hesitation.
“Hey, Seonghyeon.”
“What?”
“I’m tired.”
“Want to rest?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, let’s rest.”
They hadn’t gone very far, but Seonghyeon took a mat out of his bag and spread it out for her.
Suyeon sat down on the mat and looked at Seonghyeon.
“By the way…”
“What?”
“Is the Rasia tribe famous?”
“Hmm… Huh? What’s that?”
“So you don’t know.”
Suyeon decided that the Rasia tribe attached to her name probably wasn’t some important elf kingdom.
“Do you know about elf kingdoms? The elf race?”
“I’m not sure… I’ve heard there are villages of various tribes, and each one has its own kingdom.”
“Then I’m probably not a big deal either. That rogue elf knew my name just because I’m an elf.”
“Probably.”
Seonghyeon knew that elves were dangerous, but he didn’t think much of their kingdoms.
Suyeon also figured she was probably the daughter of some unimportant village chief and let it go.