Dark Fantasy Normalized

69 – A Vile Race (2)

The back alleys north of Bondales are one massive slave market.

Every element of the back alleys can be seen as a part of that singular, vast slave market.

Within those alleys, singling out a particular slave and rescuing them without trouble was a near impossible task.

The market would thoroughly conceal the existence of slaves to safeguard the buyer’s rights, and in that process, the slave would be swept up in the huge current, thoroughly tainted.

Katria, too, worried most about this, and prayed fervently.

Her younger brother, Drian, who had been enslaved and sold into the black market.

She prayed that nothing would happen to him until she could rescue him.

Of course, simply wishing and praying wouldn’t make it so.

She had to be as swift and precise as possible, and secretive at the same time.

That’s what it meant for a dark elf to stealthily infiltrate and operate in an uninvited human city.

Therefore, Katria’s anxieties were profound.

Even if she immediately used her family’s power to actively turn over the entire back alley, her brother’s safety couldn’t be guaranteed.

In such a situation, she had to pretend to be a slave and rely on a slave trader.

And sure enough.

Katria’s worries became reality.

The place she reached, following her first lead.

Drian wasn’t there.

What the slave trader held in his hand wasn’t a slave ownership certificate, but the payment from selling him.

***

“…”

A dramatic reunion achieved through immense difficulty.

There was not a shred of joy to be found.

It was sometime after Katria had been in Bondales for over a month.

She had finally found her lost brother.

“Drian…”

His pupils had lost their light, and even as she called his name desperately, the only response was a groan, devoid of self.

The dark elf’s body was covered in the marks of abuse and degradation.

Added to that, the skin of his entire body was grotesquely ruined beyond recognition.

It was the side effect of the drug that temporarily bleached the dark elf’s skin to make him look like a common elf.

Once they had ruined the dark elf to the point where he could no longer “impersonate” an elf, they disposed of him without any regret.

Wouldn’t this be the end for a consumable with limited uses?

Katria could easily imagine the treatment Drian had received from humans.

Drian had never, not for a single moment, been treated as a proper individual.

That was what she had learned so painfully since coming to the human world.

“…”

Katria carefully lowered her brother’s body to the ground.

Then she looked at Reisha, the slave trader and her own slave.

“Ah… Ahh…”

Despair filled Reisha’s face as their eyes met.

In a way, it was an inevitable result.

The discrimination and injustice surrounding them were beyond the control of any single individual.

──────────

Lishir’s worries ran deep.

From what he’d heard, the back alleys north of Bondales were a giant slave market in and of itself.

Was it even possible to find one specific slave in such a place?

And before any other problems cropped up?

“Lord Lishir! I think we found the dark elf slave you mentioned!”

Guess it’s possible.

“Already? Mr. Carl, how are you so good at this?”

“Oh, no! It’s all thanks to Lord Lishir lending me your name!”

“My name has that kind of function?”

“These are Alstein and Keira, who helped with this! They said they wanted to meet Lord Lishir, so I brought them along!”

“Lord Lishir! It’s an honor to actually meet you like this!”

“Me too! I’m Keira, and I’m so happy we could help Lord Lishir with this!”

“Ah. Sweet back alleys, sweet back alleys. Overflowing with such good people.”

Back alley friends, multiplying just by breathing.

Thanks to them, Lishir had no trouble finding the dark elf slave, ‘Drian’.

His condition was very pristine.

To put it in terms of his own position as a slave, ‘like new’.

This was only possible because the slave market in the back alleys had been paralyzed for ‘some reason’.

***

[Subject is under the control of the incantation.]

[Subject is under the control of the incantation.]

[Subject is under the control of the incantation.]

***

“…Ms. Tia. Ms. Tia?”

“Huh? Ah.”

Tia-

No, Katria barely managed to come to her senses.

A series of unexpected events had left her head more muddled than ever.

‘Drian? How does that human know Drian?’

‘What’s with that question? If I had the chance to flee with my kind, what would I do?’

Katria ran through every possibility but found no real answer.

Right now, even grasping his intentions was overwhelming.

Because he was human, after all.

That loathsome race that didn’t see dark elves as the same kind of being.

‘Can’t let my guard down…’

That premise, forged through countless experiences, was thoroughly disrupting Katria’s thoughts.

Keeping a wary eye on Lisir, Katria replied.

“Why are you asking me… things like that…?”

At Katria’s reaction, Lisir offered his usual guileless smile.

“I figured, with a topic as stimulating as this, you might actually be interested in talking to me.”

“What in the…”

“Don’t you remember? When I said yesterday that I wanted to know about you, you practically recoiled.”

“…”

‘That was his way of saying he wanted to talk?’

Putting it in context, it made perfect sense.

But the one saying it.

He was human.

A human with genuine curiosity towards a dark elf?

It was unimaginable for Katria.

“What are you curious about?”

Even so, Katria was swayed by his offer.

As he said, what he had just brought up was too stimulating to ignore.

There were no more submissive slaves.

Katria showed as much wariness as she could towards the human in front of her.

“A lot. I’m curious about a lot. But I’ll only talk about what’s necessary. Because I think that’s what you want. Ms. Tia. I’ll help you become a free person.”

“Why?”

“Huh?”

“What do you gain by doing that?”

Every kindness she’d ever experienced from humans was, in fact, malice wrapped up in the guise of kindness.

Katria thought he wouldn’t be much different.

“What do I gain… hmm. Self-satisfaction, I guess?”

After a moment of thought, Rishir gave a sheepish smile and began to speak.

“You remind me of my teacher. My teacher is also a dark elf, just like you.”

A human who served a dark elf as his teacher.

It was a preposterous story.

Even the humans who’d tried to deceive her with malice hadn’t spouted such ridiculous tales.

“You expect me to believe that?”

“I know. It sounds strange. A teacher who’s a dark elf, showing unconditional kindness to another dark elf. But… ha, well, how should I say this. I just can’t leave you alone because you remind me of him.”

“…”

“My teacher is the benefactor who changed my life. I’m living a life now that the me from the past couldn’t even imagine. It’s all thanks to him. Thanks to him reaching out to someone who was nothing, and giving someone like that an opportunity they didn’t deserve. If I were to ask if this doesn’t seem similar to our current situation, would that be too much of a stretch?”

“Of course…”

It was a stretch.

She’d been through too much to easily believe such a far-fetched story.

But why was it?

Katria couldn’t doubt his words.

The way he was thinking of some unknown dark elf created a very bright smile.

“…”

Her mind was a mess, she couldn’t get a handle on it at all.

“Drian…”

Even amidst all this, her feelings for her kin were crystal clear.

“Why did you bring up the matter of someone named Drian?”

“He’s a dark elf slave that Leisha requested my help in retrieving. Same owner. Same dark elf. I thought perhaps, you might know him.”

“…By any chance, did you find that child?”

That day.

Leisha’s standing was low among the merchants who had an audience with Rischel.

For instance, Rischel had no reason to prioritize ‘finding a dark elf slave’ over other requests from humans.

But how did this happen?

Rischel nodded his head.

He prioritized finding the dark elf slave over all else.

As if he was feeling impatient.

As if he was worried about the dark elf.

Huff.

Huff.

Katria was already breathing heavily.

She tried not to look at the object in Rischel’s hand.

As if denying what had already happened.

“That child… where is that child now?”

Katria squeezed out the trembling words.

Rischel wordlessly led her forward.

***

A bedroom in another lodging located within the tower grounds.

A young man was lying on a bed, resting.

“Drian!”

Katria rushed to Drian and embraced him.

Then immediately pulled back to check his condition.

“He only lost consciousness for a moment, they say there’s no need to worry.”

Rischel explained the circumstances of the incident to Katria.

That’s how Katria came to know.

That Rishir, immediately after yesterday’s audience ended, had begun the search for dark elf slaves.

That when Drian was found, he was under a mind control spell, his self lost.

That Rishir had healed him from that mind control spell.

That Drian had been diagnosed by a priest residing in the magic tower, and that arrangements had been made for him to rest in the tower’s quarters.

“…”

As the story progressed to that point, Katria could no longer focus on his voice.

Thump!

Thump!

Thump!

Thump!

A violent heartbeat.

It submerged Katria’s consciousness into a deep place.

A feeling like floating in oil.

“…ssi?”

A human voice carried through the muffled silence.

Her heart pounded.

“Tia ssi?”

Thump!

Her heart pounded even harder.

Even in this situation, the human was desperately calling out a meaningless, fake name.

“Ha!”

How foolish he looked. Katria burst out laughing without realizing it.

Her laughter didn’t stop there.

She covered her face with both hands.

“Hahahahahahahaha!!!”

Her crazed laughter spilled out through the gaps between her fingers.

“Tia ssi?”

A foolish human.

He didn’t even know what situation he was in, his voice filled with worry as he called out the fake name.

Katria lowered her hands, confirming his ridiculous appearance.

“…Are you perhaps crying?”

Her expression, warped in a mocking laugh, looked that way at first glance.

“Me? Why? Is there a reason? In such… such a joyous situation? Sir Rishir, I’m truly grateful. Actually, that child is, well, my younger sibling. Sir Rishir is the benefactor who saved my sibling.”

Benefactor.

Katria savored the word, then let out another burst of laughter.

“Sir Rishir? What should I do now?”

“…Perhaps, the other man who was with Reisha – is he also someone you know?”

“You mean Kaylen? Of course, we know each other! He’s my escort knight, you see? Isn’t that funny? An escort knight for a slave.”

“So, you and your sibling, and Kaylen too. Are the three of you a group?”

“Yes. That’s right. The three of us are together.”

“I understand. Then, I will try my best to take steps so that all three of you can be free. Until then, will you trust me and wait?”

“…”

Katria’s boisterous mood subsided.

Her eyes, unfocused, asked in a low voice.

“How long? How long do I have to wait?”

“As quickly as possible. I will try to settle things within a week.”

“A week… a week… a week…”

Soon, Katria looked at Rishir and smiled brightly.

“Yes. I’ll wait. Gladly.”

***

Deep in the night, when everyone was asleep.

Katria got up from her bed and went somewhere.

To the place where the foolish human slept.

Rishir.

Asleep in his bed, he looked nothing but peaceful.

But Katria knew.

Only she knew.

That ‘a murky truth’ flowed through his body now.

By tomorrow, he would lose his self and be reborn as a shell that only responded to commands.

Katria desperately denied it.

But—

“…”

She pulled the vial from her cloak, holding it up to the moonlight.

Exactly half.

The pale violet liquid that had filled it was undeniably diminished.

Precisely measured.

Therefore, whatever happened, the murky truth coursing through his veins would never be undone.

He was, then, facing ruin at the hands of the dark elf he’d treated with respect and favor.

A human who sought to return the favor he received from one dark elf to another.

A dark elf who sought to return the hatred he received from a human to another.

Thanks to them, she could see.

How flawed her own way had been.

How immature her way of confronting their hatred.

Now she knew, with chilling clarity.

But, it was already too late.

Thud.

Katria’s body collapsed, futilely.

I’m sorry.

I’m sorry.

I’m sorry.

Slumped on the floor, her head bowed, she produced an erratic sound like a broken music box.

Then, she rose, looking down at Lishir.

The moonlight streamed through the window, illuminating the room.

The dark elf’s pale pink eyes were brimming with it.

Even so, they remained darkly vacant.

The dark elf’s fingers drifted, lingering around the man’s face.

“Don’t worry…”

A hollow voice, without inflection.

“I’ll take responsibility for you.”

The dark elf smiled brightly.

A smile, as bright as it was precarious and foreign.

***

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[Title: Yo, what’s with this dark psycho?!;]

Content:

[Image]

Talking and smiling with a taxidermied corpse?

Is this that necromancy shit or what?

– : It’s Kathria

– : Heard it’s not necromancy, just pure insanity~

– [OP]: What

– : Her brother went to shit and she’s got a broken mentality, yeah

– : If you talk to her, a fight starts

– [OP]: What did *I* even do;;;

– : You’re just a damn human, yeah

──────────

***

─────

[Resisted]

─────

***

The dark elf was putting away the vial she had taken out to leave the room.

It was then.

Moonlight illuminated the liquid held inside.

“…”

It had become a harmless liquid, stripped of its unique properties and energy.

“How…”

Something unknown had purified the poison of its potency.

*Crush*

Her hand gripped the vial tightly.

“Maybe…”

Maybe, it’s still too early to give up.

Something in the human world that can purify dark elf poison.

Something that exists in the Magic Tower.

I’ll find it, no matter what.

“I have to…”

Tears streamed down endlessly.

The dark elf’s dead eyes regained their light.