Preparing to Leave the City
"Why is my clan's Queen's Mark on your forehead?"
The male elf questioned Serea, and upon hearing this, Serea turned to glance at him.
"How should I explain this..."
"Serea is the new queen of our clan."
Lola entered with Vina in tow. Even now, Vina still did not dare to look Serea in the eye, seemingly afraid of making her angry.
"What? Queen Lola, you..."
"This is the decision of the entire Darkmoon clan. Besides, this isn't the time to discuss such matters, Dolusam."
Lola called out the male elf's name. They were still trapped inside the cages.
Unlike Vina's recklessness, Lola turned to Serea and asked, "Your Majesty, what should we do now?"
Entrusting the final decision to Serea was Lola's way of showing loyalty.
Looking at the elves inside the cage, Serea pondered for a moment. Remembering that she still needed the elves to build the Blood Well, Serea made a decision.
"Given how things have turned out, what else can we do? Of course, we let them out. We'll prepare to leave the city tonight."
"Leaving the city tonight!"
Lola was a bit surprised by Serea's plan.
"But won't the city's guards stop us? Besides, the town's gates are already closed. How do we get out?"
"We can rely on him."
As she spoke, Serea looked at Cain, who was still being restrained by Celia. Close up, Cain recognized them.
"It's you!"
"Oh, only now do you recognize us?"
Thinking about how he had offended these four earlier in the afternoon, Cain immediately dropped to his knees with a thud.
What noble pride—what mattered more than life?
"Honored Elven Queen, I—"
"You're the eldest son of the Terance family, aren't you?"
When Serea suddenly asked this, Cain understood something and nodded furiously.
"Yes, yes, yes! I am the eldest son of the Terance family, Cain Terance. My lady, whatever you want, I'll give you. Please... please spare me!"
Cain spoke, having initially believed she belonged to the Assassin Star, but upon hearing mentions of "queen" and such, he realized she was actually a Darkmoon elf here to rescue her people!
Seeing how quickly Cain gave in, Serea was quite pleased.
"Good, I'll need you to help me with a little favor. Can you do that?"
"Ah?"
Cain hesitated, but Celia's sword flashed even closer, its blade pressed against his neck. He quickly insisted:
"No problem, no problem! Whatever you desire!"
Seeing this reaction, Serea nodded in satisfaction.
"Very well. After the gates were closed, they opened again. That was your order, wasn't it?"
Serea asked. Based on Dogsius's earlier mind reading, she knew this prominent noble of Jones City had the right to conduct business at night and could open the city gates at any time.
"Yes, my lady. So you want me to...?"
"In a while, help me open the city gate."
Serea stated her demand. Hearing this, Cain was glad—if they still needed him, that meant he still had a chance to live.
But to prevent being discarded after use, Cain decided to be cautious.
"Yes, my lady, I am willing to help you."
"Good, then let's... go."
After releasing the elves from their cages, Serea glanced over at the assembled elves in the dungeon, then led the way toward the secret passage.
Lola followed with Vina and the other elves. They reached the warehouse, where several prison wagons stood waiting.
"All of you, get in."
Serea ordered the assembled elves. Hearing this, they looked at each other, but no one moved.
"This is the queen's command!"
Lola emphasized. Only then did the elves fully realize Serea was their new queen and was preparing to rescue them.
One after another, they climbed into the prison carriages.
All except one: Dolusam, the male elf. Hesitating a moment, he pleaded with Serea,
"If you truly are our queen, then please save my little sister 'Dorulu'. She was taken away by a human noble. I beg you, please save her too."
Serea turned to glance at him.
"Dolusam, get back in line!"
Lola scolded.
"But..."
Dolusam bit his lip and then knelt down before Serea.
"My younger sister was taken to a noble named 'Niltos'... I—"
"In the end, it was your failure to protect her, wasn't it?"
Serea's cold words struck Dolusam, who lowered his head in shame.
"I may have saved you all, but that doesn't mean I'm obliged to save everyone. You are begging me, and I can refuse. Look at our situation—do we look like we can rescue your sister now?"
As Serea spoke, it was clear that she was so weak she needed Celia's support to walk, let alone risking another rescue.
"I..."
"Get in, or stay here. It's your choice. But if you choose to stay, I'll have no qualms about killing you to keep our escape secret."
"..."
"Let's go."
With that, Serea ignored him. When she saw he was still kneeling, an elf named 'Ephis' went over and pulled him up.
"Come on, only by surviving will you have a chance to see Dorulu again, right?"
Comforting him, Ephis dragged him into the carriage.
Thus, all the elves entered the prison wagons. Lola and the others covered the carriages with cloth.
Serea then picked up a piece of enchanted mithril from the floor and put it in her spatial ring. Such a good thing—no reason to leave it.
If the Empire discovered it, assassin Star could take the blame.
Although Serea took the enchanted mithril, as for the bodies outside—except for Pedory and Leo's corpses, which Serea put in her spatial ring—she didn't even bother to harvest any materials off the rest.
That was to leave the Empire some "evidence."
Once preparations were complete, Serea, with Celia's help, got into the lead wagon. Vina and Lola sat outside, watching over Cain, and the other two carriages were driven by elves in disguise.
"In a bit, make the guards open the gate. No tricks or you're dead."
"Yes, yes, absolutely no tricks."
As if!
Finishing her instructions, Serea weakly sat in the lead carriage and used Dogsius to send a message to Celia.
Now with the barrier completely dissipated, it was unsafe to stay.
When all was ready, Vina drove the lead carriage away from the estate, with the other two closely behind.
Clip clop, clip clop!
In the dead of night, the small convoy of three wagons raced toward the city gates, the urgent sound of hooves shattering the silence.
Serea was preparing to leave the city overnight. As for Little Black, equipped with 'Reaper's Shadow', he could slip out at any time, though only after finishing his assignment.
In the lead wagon, Serea was struggling to hold on, her strength near the limit. In a daze, she saw Celia beside her.
"Are you all right?"
Watching the dazed Serea, Celia felt something was wrong, but before she could check, Serea collapsed toward her.
(To be continued...)