68) Time to go outside
...
{3rd Pov}
Ember decided to go out before his departure the next day.
After all, he could not simply leave carrying nothing but his clothes and sword.
He needed proper supplies, and it was far better to gather everything now rather than scramble for necessities at the last moment when it was finally time to leave.
Thus, with his hair dyed black once again, he headed into the city to purchase supplies for the journey ahead.
‘Though the real question is, what exactly should I buy?’ he wondered.
Water was an absolute necessity, but he could not carry large amounts without commissioning some specialized oversized container. Traditional skin pouches were useful, but they gradually lost water over time and were hardly ideal for a long journey.
‘Hmm... for food, dried meat jerky should work well enough,’ he thought. ‘Yeah, I will probably need an entire travel bag dedicated to supplies.’
He honestly would have preferred taking the carriage they had been using.
It was faster, more comfortable, and would make the journey significantly easier.
But there was one problem.
Athena and Merina.
Even though both women appeared genuinely remorseful about everything that had happened, Ember had absolutely no guarantee that either of them would not do something irrational again.
Athena had already proven how dangerous obsession could make her.
And Merina had proven how far her loyalty could push her.
Because of that, he felt much safer traveling on foot.
That way, if anything happened, he could immediately change direction and disappear without relying on a carriage that could be tracked or controlled by someone else.
Ironically, he found the situation somewhat amusing.
As an adventurer, he was actually capable of moving faster on foot than most ordinary carriages anyway.
Having finally organized his thoughts, Ember began searching through the local shops before eventually purchasing a general travel bag woven from durable cloth fibers.
The bag was fairly practical.
It possessed two mechanical zip fasteners along its main compartments and a large bulging pouch attached to the side, primarily intended for carrying water and other frequently used supplies during travel.
He purchased a metal reinforced water pouch along with a larger water container made from thick hide.
Afterward, he bought several travel essentials including dried meat jerky, potatoes that could easily be boiled or cooked over a campfire, some salt, and a few loaves of bread.
He also planned to buy fresh tomatoes the next day before departing, intending to eat them during the journey while they were still fresh.
Having finished most of his shopping, Ember decided to indulge himself a little and check what fruits were available in the local market.
Soon, he found himself standing in front of a fruit vendor's stall.
The merchant was already busy serving several customers, leaving Ember free to quietly examine the displayed produce while waiting.
‘Let's see... bananas, apples, and oranges,’ he thought while scanning the selection. ‘They are basically fruits that can be grown throughout most of the year. There are a few regional varieties too...’
His eyes moved across the various baskets arranged on the stall.
The selection was not particularly impressive.
There were only a handful of fruits available, along with a few local variants that differed slightly in color, size, or taste.
After a moment of consideration, he purchased some bananas and oranges.
The idea of taking extra fruit for the trip briefly crossed his mind.
However, after inspecting them more closely, he abandoned the thought.
Most of the fruits had already been sitting there for several days.
They were fully ripe, and some of them were already approaching the point of spoilage.
Bringing too many of them on a long journey would simply result in wasted food and dirtying his bag with spoiled food that can ruin rest of the food items.
In fact, having several different kinds of fruit available at a single stall was already remarkable considering the technological limitations of this world.
After living here for so many years, Ember could not help but remember the increasingly blurry memories of the food he used to eat in his previous life.
He let out a quiet sigh.
Whether it was ramen, biryani, or chocolate ice cream, he missed all of them.
In fact, enough time had passed that he could no longer accurately remember how most of them tasted.
Yet somehow, he still missed them.
The memories themselves had faded, but the longing remained.
Of course, recreating those foods would require gathering an absurd number of ingredients, spices, and materials.
The mere thought of it was exhausting.
It might have been possible back when he still lived within the Alf Forest, where he had access to far greater resources and support.
But now?
Not a chance.
After finishing the rest of his shopping and purchasing necessities such as a basic travel tent, spark powder for starting fires, and a utility knife, Ember finally decided it was time to return to the inn.
Then he suddenly paused.
'What's with this feeling?'
A faint sense of discomfort settled over him.
It was difficult to describe.
It was not danger nor was it fear rather, it felt as though something deeply unpleasant was happening somewhere nearby.
Something wrong that instinctively bothered him, making his body shudder from an instinctive disgust.
His brows furrowed slightly.
The feeling only grew stronger the longer he ignored it and before he even consciously made a decision, his feet had already begun moving.
Soon, Ember found himself walking toward the source of that unsettling sensation, guided by nothing more than a vague instinct that refused to leave him alone.
He eventually arrived in front of the government office.
Throughout the entire walk, he behaved exactly like an ordinary citizen going about his day, even casually eating one of the bananas he had purchased earlier.
Spotting a trash bin near the office entrance, he casually approached it to dispose of the peel.
Although several guards were stationed nearby, none of them paid him any attention.
After all, there was nothing suspicious about a person properly throwing away their trash.
Instead of tossing the peel from a distance, Ember deliberately walked as close as possible before casually dropping it into the bin.
Then his ears twitched, at last, he heard it clearly.
The screaming sound of someone being abused.
The desperate cries of a woman being violated.
The moment those sounds reached him, a wave of disgust swept through his entire body.
A shiver ran down his spine and suddenly, everything clicked into place.
He finally understood what he had been sensing all this time.
As a High Elf, he was feeling the despair and suffering of one of his own kin.
High Elves possessed an innate connection to other elves.
They could sense intense pain, anguish, and suffering directed toward their people, especially when those emotions reached extreme levels.
In ancient times, groups of elves could even unite their hatred and grief to inflict powerful curses upon their enemies.
That very phenomenon was the reason the Crozzo bloodline had once been cursed, causing them to lose their ability to forge magic swords.
Only much later, when Welf, the reincarnation of the first Crozzo, was born, did that bloodline regain its lost ability to create magic weapons once more.
Which meant there was no longer any doubt.
Somewhere beneath this very government office, an elf was suffering. And judging by what Ember could hear, whatever was happening was far worse than he wanted to imagine.
Ember quickly calmed himself down.
‘A slave trafficking ring?’ he thought grimly.
At this point, it was painfully obvious that the entire government of this city was involved.
Possibly even higher ranking nobles as well.
In fact, he had already heard the rumors circulating through the city when he came out for shopping today.
A group of slave traffickers had supposedly been arrested, and several slaves had been rescued by a mysterious savior whose identity remained unknown.
Ember had already guessed that the mysterious rescuer was Merina.
It also explained why she had been delayed that day while searching for him and Athena.
But that only raised more questions.
Had those rescued slaves been recaptured?
Or was this an entirely new group of victims?
He could not tell.
What he did know was that the disgust twisting inside him only continued to grow as he felt the suffering of that elf.
The sensation was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore and the fact that he could feel it this strongly meant something even worse.
For a High Elf to receive such a reaction, it was usually not just the victim's suffering being transmitted.
The pain, grief, despair, and resentment of multiple elves connected to that victim were likely resonating together.
All of those emotions had accumulated, merged, and ultimately flowed toward the nearest individual possessing the highest elven bloodline in the area.
Which, unfortunately, happened to be Ember.
And through that connection, he could feel enough anguish to know that whatever was happening beneath this city was far from a single isolated incident, at the very least it was connected to a group of Elves that may have been captured as slaves, whether all of them were present was a question as a single Elf can act as a conduit for their comrades.
He did not know what to do.
He could certainly storm into the building and save whoever was being held inside.
But then what?
There was no guarantee the government would not simply recapture the victims afterward and throw them back into slavery once everything settled down.
Normally, Ember would have stopped to think through every consequence before acting.
This time, however, he found it difficult to think clearly.
The feeling continued to gnaw at him relentlessly.
His fists slowly clenched.
‘Who the fuck cares about the consequences anyway?’
The cold thought surfaced within his mind without hesitation.
Why was he even worrying about whether the government would recapture them?
Why should he be afraid of the government in the first place?
If the victims were only humans or demi humans, perhaps he would have hesitated longer while weighing the risks and outcomes.
But an elf was being enslaved here.
That changed everything, the moment news of something like this reached the Alf Royal Forest or the other elven nations scattered across Genkai, the Empire would find itself in a situation far beyond its control.
Unless they wished to provoke the wrath of every elven nation on the continent, there would be very little they could do to suppress the fallout.
And that retaliation would not be limited to governments alone.
Countless elven adventurers, including High Level adventurers residing in Orario, would inevitably become involved as well.
The more Ember thought about it, the colder his expression became.
He did not need to fear them.
They were the ones who should fear him.
With that thought in mind, Ember immediately turned away and headed toward a nearby alley without any further hesitation.
After making sure no one was paying attention, he jumped onto the roof of a three story house with ease.
There, he placed the bag containing all his newly purchased supplies in a concealed spot.
He had no intention of carrying unnecessary weight into what was about to happen.
Next, he pulled out a handkerchief and wrapped it around the lower half of his face.
Then he undid the bindings holding his hair in its usual three ponytails, allowing it to fall freely behind him.
Finally, his hand settled upon the hilt of his sword.
Only then did he leap back down into the alley below.
Without wasting another second, he calmly walked back toward the government building.
He intended to enter through the front entrance.
Yes, sneaking inside, searching for prisoners, and then attempting a rescue would take far too much time.
If people were suffering inside right now, then every moment spent creeping through shadows was another moment wasted.
So he would simply walk through the front door.
As Ember approached the entrance while concealing most of his face, the guards exchanged glances.
For a brief moment, they wondered whether he might be one of "those people."
However, the moment their eyes landed on his ears, both men paused.
They immediately realized the person standing before them was an elf and because of that, the chances of him belonging to the group they were concerned about seemed incredibly low.
At least, that was what they believed.
“Stop! Who are you?! And why are you hiding your face?” one of the guards demanded as both men instinctively reached for the hilts of their swords.
“I am here to rescue the elf who has been captured and enslaved,” Ember replied without hesitation. “And if anyone tries to stop me, then this will become a war against the elves.”
His voice was calm, but there was not a trace of hesitation in it.
As long as people did not stand in his way, Ember had no intention of hurting anyone.
Even if they were aware of the slavery taking place here, he was willing to ignore them so long as they stepped aside.
The guards, however, did not see it that way.
Shock briefly appeared on their faces before their expressions hardened.
In a swift motion, both of them unsheathed their swords.
“What nonsense are you spouting?!” one of them shouted angrily.
“Surrender yourself immediately!” the other barked.
By now, the confrontation at the entrance had already begun attracting attention.
Several pedestrians passing by slowed to a stop.
Others turned their heads toward the government building after hearing the raised voices.
Within moments, a small crowd had begun gathering nearby, curious to see what was happening and right in the center of it all stood Ember, facing the armed guards without taking a single step backward.
Ember did not stop to argue any further.
He simply continued walking forward.
Then his figure blurred and before either guard could properly react, he had already passed between them despite both having taken fighting stances.
A moment later, cracks spread across their armor.
Then their bodies separated.
Their upper halves slid from their lower halves as their chests and abdomens were cleanly severed apart. Blood and gore burst across the entrance, splashing over the stone floor in a gruesome display.
Screams immediately erupted outside as the gathered crowd broke into panic and fled in every direction.
Meanwhile, Ember calmly stepped into the government office.
His sword glinted under the light, stained with fresh blood and fragments of human flesh.
The people inside instantly noticed him.
One of the female officials looked at the bloodied weapon before shifting her fearful gaze toward the masked elf holding it.
"Sir! What are you doing with an unsheathed weapon?! Who are you?!" she shouted in alarm as the officials inside panicked and several guards immediately moved to respond.
This time, Ember did not waste a single word.
Whether they knew what was happening or not no longer mattered to him.
The disgust twisting inside his chest continued to grow as he could still hear the screams of that woman somewhere beneath the building.
Without hesitation, he charged forward as the guards rushed to intercept him, all of them clad in full metal armor that would render ordinary humans completely helpless against them.
But Ember was a Level 2 with the physical prowess of a Level 3, and his sword had been forged for High Level adventurers.
The result was obvious.
Within moments, every guard that tried to stop him was either dead or left dying on the floor, bleeding heavily from wounds they could not survive without immediate treatment.
The officials and workers inside screamed in terror as Ember continued moving forward, following the source of the cries.
Then he suddenly stopped.
A wall stood directly in front of him.
Yet he could clearly tell the sobbing was coming from below.
Without hesitation, he gripped his sword with both hands and drove it into the stone floor.
The blade sank deep into the rock, using all his strength, he dragged the weapon through the floor, creating a large crack across the stone surface.
Then he raised his leg and kicked with everything he had.
The already weakened floor shattered under the impact.
Cracks spread outward before the entire section collapsed with a thunderous crash.
Dust filled the air as chunks of stone rained downward.
Looking through the opening, Ember discovered an empty room beneath the building, most likely the first basement level.
However, the sounds were still coming from farther below.
That confirmed his earlier suspicion.
The building possessed a second basement level beneath the first one.
He immediately jumped down.
The lower floor was also constructed from solid stone, but unlike before, it did not take him long to locate the staircase leading deeper underground.
The moment he descended toward the lowest level, the voices finally became clear enough for him to hear every word.
"FUCKING BITCH! Not so haughty now, are you?!" the man shouted.
His naked body moved over the chained woman as he continued violating her, completely unaware of what was about to happen.
Several tools lay scattered nearby.
Among them was a bloodstained pair of pliers.
Dangling from it was a long-pointed ear.
The sight of it was enough to prove that he had severed part of the half elf woman's ear.
The man grinned viciously as he continued his assault.
Then something suddenly pierced straight through his throat.
Blood sprayed outward, splashing across the chained elf and causing her eyes to widen in shock.
The man froze.
A sword had punched completely through his neck.
Before he could even comprehend what had happened, his body was lifted effortlessly into the air.
To Ember, he weighed no more than a piece of garbage.
The man clawed desperately at the blade protruding from his throat as choking sounds escaped his mouth.
Then Ember casually threw him aside.
His body crashed against the floor and began thrashing violently, squirming like a dying cockroach while desperately trying to draw breath through a ruined throat.
Ignoring him completely, Ember immediately approached the woman.
Carefully, he scooped her into his arms.
At the same time, he stopped suppressing the regal aura of a High Elf.
The woman, who had been trembling moments earlier, gradually began calming down under that familiar presence from a superior being of her bloodline.
Ember silently examined her condition.
Her body was covered in bruises, cuts, dried blood, and countless signs of abuse.
Despite her youthful appearance, she was likely already in her sixties or perhaps even her eighties by elven standards.
She was probably a mother as well otherwise, people involved in the slave trade would never have treated merchandise considered that valuable in such a reckless and destructive manner.
She grabbed the hem of his clothes and began sobbing uncontrollably.
Ember quickly started chanting the healing magic he had copied from Jasmine, and within moments a gentle glow enveloped her body. The bruises, cuts, and injuries covering her slowly began to heal.
“Relax... You are safe now,” he said calmly.
As the wounds closed and the pain caused by the abuse gradually faded, her trembling lessened.
Only then did Ember raise his gaze and look around the underground chamber.
Cages lined the walls in every direction.
Inside them were slaves of all kinds, men and women alike, humans and demi humans, all staring at him with exhausted and hollow eyes.
After finishing the healing spell, he turned his attention back to the elf woman in his arms.
“What is your name?” he asked.
“R... Ruri, Your Majesty,” she replied in a hoarse voice.
Ember was not surprised that she had recognized him despite the cloth covering part of his face and his hair being dyed black.
After all, he had released the regal aura of a High Elf in order to calm her as quickly as possible.
For an elf, such a presence was not difficult to recognize.
Even after suffering so much, she still followed traditional elven etiquette.
Ember could only sigh softly.
Once he was certain her condition had stabilized, he carefully helped her stand before moving toward the cages.
With a few swings of his sword, the locks and bars were broken apart.
One after another, the cages opened.
At first, the other slaves barely reacted.
Even after witnessing Ember save Ruri, most of them still looked numb and hopeless, as though they could not believe that anyone had truly come to help them.
However, when Ember continued moving from cage to cage, freeing every prisoner without discrimination, realization finally dawned on them.
He was not here to save only Ruri, he was here to save all of them!
The moment the slaves realized they were truly being freed, many of them broke down.
Some began crying, while others desperately begged Ember not to leave them behind.
Ember did not waste time speaking.
He moved from cage to cage, breaking the locks one by one before healing those whose conditions were severe enough to require immediate treatment.
The underground chamber gradually filled with sobs of relief rather than despair.
Finally, after making sure everyone had been freed and treated to the best of his ability, Ember finished his work.
Ruri was still in poor condition despite the healing magic, her body and mind exhausted from everything she had endured.
Because of that, Ember carefully handed her over to a demi human woman who appeared healthy enough to support her.
“Take care of her,” he said simply.
The woman nodded repeatedly, tears welling in her eyes as she helped the weakened elf remain upright.
With that done, Ember gathered the former slaves together and began guiding them toward the exit.
By this point, the government building had long since been evacuated.
The officials, and remaining soldiers had fled.
And outside, the city had already responded.
Soldiers and knights had surrounded the entire area, forming a blockade around the government office after hearing reports of a masked swordsman slaughtering guards and storming the building.
There was no avoiding a confrontation anymore.
As Ember led the rescued slaves up from the underground chambers, his expression remained calm.
It was time to go outside.
To be continued...
(A/N: It is quite weird with how casual the slavery is in danmachi. Ishtar familia had huge number of slaves, and even in Freya's side chapter we saw a large number of slaves, which were people captured from a defeated country and were being sold like nothing. Though I have never seen an Elf slave in entire series(Maybe they were present, but I doubt if there are Elf slaves in Orario, Riveria or other elves won't do anything). So I guess Elves are the only one off-shelf. But humans, palums and demi-human slaves are obviously in the list.
Given that our Renard Waifu, Haruhime was a slave as well, and it is quite clear sex slaves exist as she is one of them. However due to plot and ofcourse Aisha, her bestie she never lost her purity. Ishtar didn't seem to care much either, considering the main thing was that Haruhime was an sacrifice in the end.
I have seen Elf prostitution though, in Red District episodes of Danmachi, but I saw no obvious signs of Elves being enslaved, and considering how Elves are, that will be a very revolting thing for most of Elf population, and can cause big issues.
Maybe Elf slavery is present in Empire, that seems the only obvious place but that's it, and well we are in Empire.
So I based the premise on the best of my knowledge, if you find any Elf slaves that I missed(I watched series years ago, and given I usually forget in a few weeks to months, it is best I re-read only when I need for chaps, just like how I see fandom and info everytime I write a new chap.)
Also, there are so many side-stories I haven't read, and tbh I am not interested in seeing them either. They are either games or novels which I don't find interesting to force myself, though I went through the summary and plot. I will adjust settings now to my best of knowledge, and when it is needed I will see how those characters talk or what is their history. I won't go through those series, that will make a fun activity forced job)