Volume 8 - Chapter 12 – Elsa’s Crisis (1/2)

08-12 Elsa’s Crisis

The men who kidnapped Elsa kept moving upstream, and eventually the boat arrived at the left bank of the river.

“We’ll be having you blindfolded from here on out.”

“…”

Elsa was blindfolded and carried by the men. Elsa who no longer had any energy to resist was at the mercy of the men.

After about thirty minutes it appeared they had reached some place, as she noticed that the atmosphere had changed. The air was a little smelly and moist. It was like entering a closed room.

Her blindfold was taken off. Elsa also noticed that her leg and arm restraints had disappeared.

“Well, it’s better that you rest for a bit.”

Turning around to that voice, Elsa saw a black-masked man outside sturdy-looking iron bars. Judging from his voice it was the same man from earlier who had attached the choker to prevent Elsa from chanting.

“The day will dawn soon. At that time, I’m sure the branch head himself will talk to you personally.”

Behind him was a man who appeared to be one of his subordinates, and he handed over a wooden cup of water and bread on a plate through the space between the bars.

“Now, it’s not much but it’s for you to eat.”

He said and the men left. Left alone, Elsa tried to once more look around the room.

Walls in three directions, the floor, and the ceiling all made out of sturdy-looking stone. The remaining direction had iron bars. It appeared awfully inescapable.

Putting a hand on her neck, she felt that the metal choker bit into it. Even though she tried to remove it, it seemed very unlikely for it to come off.

Elsa gave up on removing the choker, and simply drank the water.

Then she lay down on the hard floor.

She was feeling too much wretched, and tears came flowing.

“Rai, nii…Jin, kun…”

Her older cousin who always supported her and came to her rescue, and her friend who made one thing after another that nobody was capable of copying.

Just why didn’t she talk to them before running away? That was her only regret.

The tired Elsa fell into a shallow sleep there and then.

She must’ve dozed for a few hours. Elsa woke up to a voice calling for her. Her whole body ached from sleeping on the hard floor.

“The branch head has summoned you. Come.”

Once again Elsa’s both arms and legs were restrained. The restraints this time were two chains 30 centimeters or so long that tied her left and right together.

So if she moved her right arm her left arm would move, and if she raised her left leg her right leg would be pulled.

In other words, her current status didn’t allow for any but small movements.

Taken out from the prison in that condition, as she wasn’t used to it Elsa kept almost falling over but didn’t while she kept walking. Black-masked men were in all directions.

She climbed up a long staircase, and walked across a long hallway to the end. The man walking in front of her opened a heavy-looking door.

“Go in.”

“Ow.”

Pushed by the man behind her, Elsa fell over. She trust her hands forward to defend her face from impact, but the knees she hit on the floor hurt.

“Oh my, you shouldn’t treat a lady like that.”

Someone said with a slimy voice, and Elsa looked up. In the room was a gaudy chair, and on that a man was sitting looking down at her.

That man was the only one without a black mask or black clothes. On the contrary, his garments were conspicuously white: he had put on a white robe and a long cloak.

“Can you stand? Sorry, eh, my subordinates aren’t aware of how to treat a lady, eh. I’ll warn them later so please forgive me.”

His words were courteous, but his tone had an indescribably unpleasant feeling to it. Elsa slowly stood up.

“Oh my, your knees are bleeding, eh. [Cure].”

He cast healing magic and the wounds on Elsa’s knees recovered.

“This should be fine. Now then, from the top, welcome, Miss Randol. It’s a pleasure.”

The man said and Elsa took another close look at him.

She couldn’t quite tell whether he was in his 20s or in his 30s. He had a smooth white face and grey hair. His grey eyes were narrow, and within them madness seemed to be showing through.

His body was long and thin. He was even slimmer than Reinhardt. He was tall enough that you could recognize while he was still sitting.

“I’m, no, longer, Randol. I, abandoned, that, name.”

Still the choker pressured her throat, making her voice not come out well.

“Oh, I see. According to my subordinates’ report, it appears that you ran away to Celuroa Kingdom together with your nanny, eh?”

The man said with a wide, serpentlike grin.

“Excuse me for my manners, I am the branch head of the eighth subdivision of the Unifilers, my name is Purcell Marces D’Canagerion.”

So this was a base of the Unifilers, Elsa thought, feeling dread once more. However, she hid it, and pondered about the name she had just heard.

“Are you, a noble, of, Celuroa, Kingdom?”

Celuroa Kingdom’s nobles accepted convention for introductions was given name – surname (house name) – d’ – posthumous name (territory name).

“Oh my, so you know. M’lady is rather wise.”

His flattery combined with his expression only gave Elsa feelings of disgust.