Chapter 16
The Lord of the commercial city Cal Desien, Gidrik, carefully opened his mouth while kneeling.
"Ar-aren't you, Lord Archmage, going around rescuing Elven slaves...?"
"Well, do I have any reason to answer that question? I kept you alive to hear information from you, not to ask questions."
"Th-then where should I even begin..."
Franz found Gidrik's behavior a bit strange.
'Is he hiding something?'
Gidrik was trying to subtly drag out the conversation while watching Franz's reactions, as if he had something he was counting on.
Whether this was a simple misunderstanding or a keen intuition remained to be seen.
In truth, even if he was plotting something behind the scenes, it didn't particularly matter.
No matter who came or what they tried to pull, Franz was confident he could crush them all.
At any rate, extracting information was the priority right now.
Franz spoke calmly.
"Spill everything related to the Elven slaves."
"W-well, first let me explain how I came to acquire the Elves. It was just under a year ago when someone came to the mansion. They said they wanted to trade Elves regularly."
The identity of this "someone" Gidrik mentioned was likely one of the two Franz had heard about from Hera. If not, it was probably someone in cahoots with them.
An Elf personally moving to sell their own kind - it was both fascinating and disgusting.
So much so that Franz wanted to rip open their head and peer inside.
"H-honestly, it was a tempting offer. As you know, Lord Archmage, Elven slaves are quite rare..."
Gidrik glanced at Franz, gauging his reaction.
Feeling that gaze, Franz openly frowned.
It was clearly an attempt to see if he was interested in Elven slaves.
If Franz showed interest, Gidrik would likely propose a deal - offering Elven slaves in exchange for his life.
He might have even gone further and requested protection.
'This guy is truly an idiot.'
Though understandable given his life was on the line.
At the very least, it would be difficult to view him favorably.
Franz spoke firmly.
"You keep asking questions, but if you do it one more time, forget information - you'll end up following that mousetrap over there."
Franz's finger pointed to the mousetrap embedded in the wall.
At that, Gidrik gulped audibly.
It seemed he valued his own life dearly, despite carelessly gambling with the lives of slaves.
"I-it was once a month. That person would set the time and place, and I would send people to kidnap the Elves."
So they didn't sell them directly, but borrowed human hands.
And then pinned it all on Hera.
After all, Hera was the only Elf who had left the Great Forest and made contact with humans.
What truly despicable and petty creatures they were.
"Yes, next, next, talk faster."
"The kidnapped Elven slaves were..."
The intimidation seemed quite effective, as Gidrik spilled everything he knew.
From the routes used to trade the kidnapped Elves, to mentioning he had a list of buyers, and so on.
If only he had been this cooperative from the start.
Though Franz still had no intention of sparing him.
"For now, bring me that ledger you mentioned."
"I-I'll bring it right away."
Gidrik sprang to his feet and headed for the drawer beside the bed.
As he pulled out the ledger from the drawer, he said:
"Oh, come to think of it, that Elf gave me something as a token of trust."
"A token of trust?"
"Yes, it's like a strange pendant..."
"Bring that too."
Franz became interested in the object.
If it was called a token of trust, it probably wasn't something given to just anyone.
Perhaps...
'It might help identify the owner.'
Of course, there was a possibility it was just some made-up trinket, but there was no harm in taking it.
Well, Hera could probably figure out the details.
Eventually, Gidrik gathered the items and turned to approach Franz.
"H-here they are."
As Gidrik stretched out his hand to offer the items and Franz reached to take them, it happened.
A flash-
A cold blade glinted in the moonlight.
Gidrik gripped the dagger he had hidden under the ledger and thrust it forward.
But that dagger never reached Franz.
Thud-
With a mere flick of his finger, Franz sent the dagger clattering to the floor.
Along with Gidrik's wrist.
"Aaaaargh-!"
A pain-filled scream shattered the quiet stillness, and blood gushed from where the wrist had been severed.
Franz had extracted enough information and received the necessary items.
Moreover, he might have obtained an important key to solving this problem, so honestly, he no longer cared whether this guy lived or died.
"I-I'm sorry, please, p-please spare my life just this once...! Huh, huh."
Gidrik crawled on his knees towards Franz.
Franz stared blankly at the pitiful sight, contemplating.
'Should I let him live?'
This issue was ultimately Hera's problem.
So the decision to kill or spare him should be Hera's to make.
Perhaps Hera might need him for something.
Having sorted out his thoughts, Franz lightly flicked his finger.
A brief flame erupted from Gidrik's wrist.
"Aaaaargh-!!"
Gidrik rolled around on the floor violently, feeling the pain of his flesh burning.
It must have hurt quite a bit, but this would stop the bleeding, so there was no need to worry about excessive blood loss.
'As for outside...'
Franz used mana detection to survey the situation outside.
The numerous knights from earlier had all become cold corpses, and the Elf who had been in the basement was now above ground.
It seemed Hera had succeeded in rescuing the Elves.
'Well then, shall we get moving?'
Franz slightly moved his fingers to levitate Gidrik into the air.
Then he leapt out the window with him.
Gidrik's room was on the top floor of the mansion.
From there, as Franz fell freely, the night view of the commercial city spread out before his eyes.
It was beautiful, but not particularly pleasing.
It reminded him of working overtime in his past life.
Besides, the view from the top of the magic tower was far more impressive.
Eventually, as Franz fell rapidly towards the ground, a blue magic circle appeared beneath him.
His speed gradually decreased until he was almost stationary at the moment of landing.
After landing perfectly, Franz immediately approached Hera.
Of course, the bald pig came along too.
"Franz, is everything settled?"
"Yeah, it's all done."
Franz's gaze turned to the Elves hiding behind Hera.
The Elves huddled together, watching Franz nervously with frightened expressions.
Like small animals shivering in the cold.
Seeing their long ears twitching up and down was somehow fascinating.
At that moment, Hera suddenly looked at Gidrik and asked:
"Franz, what about him?"
"Oh, this? I kept him alive in case you needed him."
As Franz said this, he unceremoniously dropped Gidrik, who had been floating in the air, onto the ground.
Seeing this, the Elves collectively flinched in surprise, their ears drooping downwards.
'Ah, so that's how it is?'
It seemed Elven ears weren't for telepathy, but for expressing emotions.
This was a moment of profound realization in Franz's life.
His gaze soon returned to Hera.
"This guy's the owner of the mansion, and he seemed to know a lot."
"What did he know a lot about?"
"Well, about how Elven slaves are traded and he even had a ledger of people who've bought them so far. From what I heard, it seems this guy was supplying? Is that the right word? Anyway, he was that kind of guy on the human side."
At Franz's words, Hera frowned.
She glared at Gidrik, who was trembling on the ground, with lifeless eyes.
Seeing Hera like this, Franz involuntarily flinched.
It seemed to bring back fresh memories of recent events.
No, surely not.
Surely she wouldn't start talking about the world's destruction or anything like that now?
As Franz was trying to rationalize to himself, Hera's voice suddenly rang out.
It was an utterly cold voice.
"Franz."
"Yes...?"
"Did you hear all the information from him?"
"I think so."
He probably spilled everything.
After being threatened with his life, there's no way he would have hidden anything.
'Come to think of it...'
Suddenly remembering something he had forgotten, Franz hurriedly searched his pocket and pulled out a necklace.
He showed it to Hera and said:
"Hera, do you know what this is?"
Faced with the necklace, Hera froze, blinking her eyes.
Eventually, she carefully opened her mouth.
"Where did you get this...?"
"That bald pig said he received it as a token of trust from someone?"
"I see, so that's how it was.... In the end, it was my brother who directly contacted this guy...."
Hera muttered to herself.
Then she turned to the Elves behind her and said:
"All of you, kill him. In the most horrific and cruel way possible."
It was time for revenge for the Elves who had been enslaved.