Elqueeness [EN]: Chapter 471

Chapter 471

A soldier swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing. He quickly closed the oil bottle, biting his lip.

“This isn’t just your problem. The unicorns need to be sedated.”

“They’re tied up, isn’t that enough?”

“But just tying them up isn’t enough…”

“Can’t you see everyone’s exhausted? They can’t do anything in this state anyway. I was able to get out earlier because I was untied. So it’s fine.”

At that, the soldier looked at the unicorns with a troubled expression. Then, deciding it wasn’t his call, he briefly left the tent. When he returned, his complexion was noticeably better.

“I got permission. But if you try anything funny, we’ll use the drug immediately.”

“Got it.”

“Don’t even think about escaping. If you do, the guys caught with you will be the first to suffer. This isn’t an empty threat. Remember that.”

“I said I got it.”

After my nonchalant reply, the soldier finally shut his mouth. The soldiers left, but not before checking the chains several more times. The bustling space became quiet, and a heavy silence followed.

“Thank you.”

It was a slender voice that broke the silence.

Surprised by the unexpected gratitude, I opened my eyes and looked towards the sound. The only female in the group, a silver-haired unicorn, was looking at me.

“Weldi-nim, that one is a human.”

“I know. But they helped us. We should show some manners, Arel.”

The black-haired unicorn, Arel, was horrified and tried to stop her, but Weldi’s voice was strict yet elegant. She seemed to be of high status. Arel stepped back, speechless, and Weldi, the unicorn called Weldi, smiled at me again.

“I didn’t want to be forced to fall asleep again. It’s a very painful experience. You saved me.”

“…It’s nothing. I didn’t want to fall asleep either.”

“I heard you were the one who helped us escape in the first place. Thank you for that too. You’ve helped us in many ways, but we were caught again, so I’m sorry.”

“No, it doesn’t matter, but I’m curious about what happened. I thought you had escaped successfully…”

“There were troops waiting on the outskirts too. We were discovered head-on. When we tried to escape, we were already trapped in a metal net.”

So there were more troops than we saw. Since the troops here were likely connected to the Jinhon Guild, it was hard to be at ease. I don’t know why they need to gather so many troops, even if they’re running an illegal slave trade in secret. Are they planning a rebellion? I’ll have to investigate them thoroughly when I get out of here.

“Come to think of it, we haven’t even introduced ourselves. I’m Laban Lu Weldi. Just call me Weldi.”

“Ah, I’m El.”

“El, that’s a pretty name.”

Compared to the other two unicorns, who were very wary, the silver-haired unicorn, Weldi, seemed to have a good personality. Weldi gestured, and the two unicorns hesitated before speaking.

“I’m Karian. I’m Weldi-nim’s escort.”

“Arel. Same here.”

Karian’s polite introduction was followed by Arel’s blunt one. I nodded lightly, and Weldi asked with a curious expression.

“Um, I kept feeling the outside was noisy. Was that you, El? Are you a swordsman?”

“I do use a sword. Strictly speaking, I’m a spiritist.”

“A spiritist?”

At that moment, the unicorns’ eyes widened. Their faces were full of bewilderment as they asked again.

“El is a spiritist? Excuse me, but what’s your element?”

“Water.”

“Oh my, water spiritists are rare.”

Weldi’s face flushed. Karian and Arel were also looking at me with sparkling eyes. Their faces seemed less wary. They might have thought they could trust me because I was a human recognized by spirits.

“I knew it, that’s why.”

“Why what?”

“El has a very nice scent. At first, I thought it was because you were a woman, but even so, it’s rare to be this strong, so I was wondering. It must be because you’re a spiritist.”

Wait a minute. There’s something I can’t just gloss over in what you just said. Come to think of it, Sibelius also thought I was a woman at first because of the scent that only they could smell. Judging by the fact that Karian and Arel don’t seem to notice anything wrong, they must be misunderstanding too. But before I could correct them, Weldi spoke faster.

“Anyway, don’t worry too much, El. We’ll be rescued.”

“Ah, yes. But more than that, I’m…”

“My partner will come to save us soon. We’re bound by a partner’s seal, so if I’m in danger, they’ll know right away.”

Again, I couldn’t just gloss over what she said, and the words I was about to say got stuck in my throat. Weldi sent me a puzzled look, wondering if my reaction was strange.

“What’s wrong, El?”

“Um, the meaning of partner, I mean, is that…”

“Ah, humans use partner to mean a couple, right? It means the same in our tribe.”

“Gasp, so, you’re engaged?”

“Almost like that.”

So it’s not exactly that.

Weldi blushed shyly, but on the contrary, my heart sank quickly. I don’t know everything about Sibelius. There are more stories I haven’t heard than stories I have. But I know that with his compassionate personality, he wouldn’t have stayed in the human world if he had a partner. Even if it was a political marriage, he would have wondered how they were doing. But he never even mentioned it…

“Are you perhaps the daughter of the Elder [leader of the unicorn tribe]?”

“Oh, how did you know? To be exact, I’m not a daughter, but a granddaughter. The Elder is my grandfather.”

Ah, I knew it.

I don’t know why these hunches are so accurate. “I guessed because you seemed to be of high status,” I said awkwardly, and Weldi seemed to believe it. It was true that she looked like she was of high status.

“Sibelius-nim, or rather, my partner-nim, is the best sorcerer and Seraphin [highest rank in the unicorn clergy] in the tribe. No matter how many human soldiers there are, they’re nothing to him. When he comes, he’ll definitely free El too.”

“Well, I’d be grateful for that.”

I nodded with a smile, but I felt strange. Usually, when you describe someone, you mention their most representative trait, right? Sibelius was a Rune [a unicorn with silver hair and blue eyes]. The only lineage among the unicorn tribe to inherit the silver hair and blue eyes, the colors of the creator god Lusef. A winged celestial horse, a noble priest who could accept God into his body.

To their tribe, the Rune was an irreplaceable, special existence. They should have inadvertently revealed respect or even pride. But none of them here showed any sign of that.

‘Is it because I’m an outsider?’

Well, there’s no need to recklessly talk about the tribe to a stranger. Knowing that I was a spiritist made them a little better, but I was still just a human to be wary of. Rather, Weldi, who was talking without being asked, might have been the unusual one. You could call it the innocence of someone who grew up receiving a lot of love. She seemed to trust others easily and didn’t doubt them well. As evidence, I could see Arel’s eyelids fluttering every time Weldi opened her mouth.

“Just you wait. Sibelius-nim will definitely come…”

“Weldi-nim.”

At that moment, Karian hurriedly signaled to Weldi. Weldi, startled, quickly closed her mouth and stiffened. I had already sensed the approaching presence, so I wasn’t surprised and turned towards the entrance. The soldiers who had left earlier were coming back inside, this time with a man who seemed to be a member of the trading company. He approached the iron bars and quietly examined me. I met his gaze directly, and he clicked his tongue.

“You really do look like an angel. You look like you couldn’t kill a single bug… Who would believe that this face slaughtered fifty soldiers like tofu?”

Apparently, the number of soldiers I killed was fifty. Well, who told them to chase me? At least I never attacked anyone who was running away. I shrugged, and the man’s expression soured even more.

“But are you sure it’s okay not to sedate her? Isn’t it too dangerous? Why would Danju-nim allow that?”

“She won’t do anything reckless, thinking of her companions.”

The man looked at me with a troubled expression for a moment and then nodded briefly. Then, one of the soldiers came into the iron cage and unlocked the chain connected to my handcuffs. I blinked in confusion, and the man outside the bars threw something carelessly towards my feet. I picked it up and saw it was clothing.

“Change into that.”

“…You want me to wear this?”

An unpleasant voice flowed out involuntarily. I understood that he wanted me to change because the clothes I was wearing were stained with blood. But the clothes he threw at me were like a light robe to wear. But it was made of something like dragonfly wings, so it was translucent and you could see everything inside. I seriously doubted whether this would function as clothing.

“It looks like you can see everything?”

The man sneered, noticing that I was frowning.

“That’s why you’re wearing it. It’s basic sales practice to make the merchandise easy to examine. Or do you want the customers to take off your clothes themselves?”

“…I hate that even more.”

“If you understand, hurry up and change.”

Saying I hated it more didn’t mean I was going to accept it. I stared at the man grinning unpleasantly and looked back at the clothes (I didn’t even want to call them that). I imagined meeting Sibelius wearing this scandalous thing, and I felt a little dizzy. Not only that, but Troel and Eluen could be watching my situation at any time. …Do I need to add more to the past I want to bury here?

“I don’t want to wear it.”

After coming to that obvious conclusion, the fierce gazes of the man and the soldiers poured down on me.

“If you’re thinking about your companions’ safety, you shouldn’t resist, right?”

“Why is this resistance? You’re going to sell it after you’ve processed it anyway. Then you can dress me up after that. I’m not even being sold yet, so why should I wear something like this?”

The man’s mouth closed as if he had nothing to say even when he thought about it. Judging by his appearance, he didn’t really want me to wear it because he needed it, but he wanted to see me feel humiliated while changing clothes. It was a childish trick that made me want to scoff.

“Wear it when I tell you nicely.”

“I don’t want to when you tell me nicely?”

At that moment, I felt the outside of the door becoming noisy. The man who was glaring at me looked up in bewilderment.

“What, what is it? What’s going on again?”

“I’ll go check it out.”

The soldier, who also had a stiff face, hurriedly reconnected the chain to my handcuffs and went outside. Could it be Sibelius? With anticipation, I unknowingly stretched my neck and looked towards the entrance. The unicorns seemed to have the same thought, and their eyes were shining. But the next moment, someone completely different entered, lifting the curtain. No, to be exact, it was closer to a group. They were wearing ornate uniforms at a glance. These people, who entered with resolute movements, split to both sides, and men wearing even more ornate clothes walked out from between them. The head of the trading company was hurriedly chasing after them.

“They haven’t been sedated yet. It could be dangerous.”

“Don’t you trust the skills of my knights?”

“N-no, it’s not that, it’s just that she’s a very unusual person.”

“You make me want to see her even more. So who is it? The amazing boy who fought fifty soldiers single-handedly. Is it the one alone in that iron cage?”

‘It wasn’t Sibelius.’

It seemed like an impatient customer had come to see the show. I was disappointed for a moment, but soon I paused completely when I saw the group that had fully revealed themselves. For some reason, they all had familiar faces that I seemed to have seen somewhere. In particular, it was difficult not to recognize the man with the silver-gray hair at the very front. It was someone who shouldn’t be here, so I couldn’t believe it even after seeing him.

“But Luciel-nim…”

However, after hearing the head of the trading company calling him, I had no choice but to solidify my suspicion into conviction. Luciel. The name I knew was right. It was that man. The Crown Prince of the Epen Kingdom, who had taken over the train in the middle of the journey.

‘…Why is he here again?’

Following Davian, it’s the Crown Prince. Is today the day to reunite with the people I met on the train? While I was staring blankly in bewilderment, the man with the silver-gray hair, the Crown Prince, also checked my appearance and paused. His golden eyes, which seemed to be momentarily embarrassed, soon took on a different light and sparkled. It was clear that he recognized me.

“You…”

The brown-haired man next to him also had a flustered expression. I immediately recognized who he was as well. He was the captain of the guard who was with the Crown Prince at the time. The Crown Prince raised a hand to stop him from opening his mouth with a stiff face. His gaze was fixed on me and did not fall.

“Your Highness.”

Even though the captain of the guard sent him a worried look, the Crown Prince only smiled. The next moment, he bent his body slightly and leaned closer to the iron bars. I unknowingly moved my body back from the intense gaze that was so burdensome. But it was already a wall, so it was useless.

“What a coincidence to meet you in a place like this. Or is it fate?”

What nonsense.

I don’t know anything about fate with that man. The impression that he’s someone I don’t want to run into again is clear, though. The Crown Prince’s smile deepened as I frowned.

“Did you say this child is a spiritist?”

“Yes? Yes, yes. A high-level water spiritist.”

The head of the trading company, who had been staring with wide eyes, quickly replied. Judging by the fact that his face was pale as he glanced at me, he seemed anxious because he didn’t know how he knew the Crown Prince. It was a useless worry. Because anyone could see that the Crown Prince had no intention of helping at all.

“A high-level water spiritist. Indeed, she didn’t seem ordinary back then either.”

He just had a face that he was very amused by this situation. Well, it would be interesting to see someone he had encountered before captured as a slave. But I wasn’t having any fun at all. I just wanted to stop seeing that smiling face, at least. So I unknowingly opened my mouth.

“Is it okay for the Crown Prince to trade slaves?”

“This is Imperial territory. Besides, I’ve never heard that slave trading is illegal.”

“I was kidnapped.”

“So?”

“Isn’t kidnapping and selling a different situation? It’s not something to be proud of.”

A Crown Prince of a country involved in illegal slave trading. It would never be news that would help his prestige. Moreover, since it was an illegal act committed after crossing over to another country, there was a high possibility that it would lead to international disgrace and diplomatic problems. As expected, the captain of the guard’s face hardened even more. But the Crown Prince only smirked.