Chapter 63

"Listen carefully, Eradia. Devote yourself to your brothers and sisters. It is our duty to do so."

Those were the last words her father left for the young Eradia. Her father, who gently stroked her tear-streaked head, led the few surviving warriors and ran towards the forest burning red, despite the many soldiers of the self-proclaimed empire waiting there.

And Eradia never saw her father again after that. This was a story from the time when the empire was still waging endless battles for dominance in the central continent.

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Elven women are living treasures.

This is not a metaphor.

In reality, elven women are treated as treasures. They are presented as tributes to the powerful, as rewards to meritorious generals, and as gifts to trading partners, often replacing actual treasures. This treatment is largely due to the characteristics of the elven race.

Among the seven races inhabiting the Seldias continent, elves are considered the closest to humans. According to mythology, when the human god created humans, he used the elves as a reference for their appearance. The truth of this myth is uncertain, but in reality, elves and humans look very similar. Without the elven characteristic of long, pointed ears, it would be difficult to distinguish between elves and humans by appearance alone.

Moreover, the similarity is not just in appearance.

Interracial breeding is generally considered impossible. However, it is said that only the combination of humans and elves, and humans and merfolk, can produce mixed offspring. While the possibility of human-merfolk hybrids remains a rumor, the fact that half-elves, a single generation of mixed offspring capable of producing children, are born from human-elf unions is undeniable.

This fact, that they can produce offspring, makes it easier to overcome the mental barrier of interracial relations being taboo.

Another racial characteristic of elves led to their greatest tragedy.

Elves, as a race, are generally considered to have very beautiful appearances by human standards.

While beauty is subjective, if asked whether elves are beautiful, almost all humans would say they are. The beauty of elves is so outstanding that it can only be described as a difference in species.

Due to their beauty, elves became prey to the animalistic desires of human men.

Furthermore, a superstition among human rulers exacerbated this situation.

Because elves show almost no signs of aging, they were believed to be immortal by humans.

However, elves do have a lifespan, which is about three hundred years. While this is far from immortality, it is understandable that humans, with their short lifespans, would mistake elves for being immortal.

From this misunderstanding, a superstition arose that youth could be maintained by intercourse with a young elven maiden.

Throughout history, those who held power or amassed great wealth sought eternal life. They used their power and wealth to seek elven women. In many countries, including the empire, frequent elf hunts were conducted, and countless elven women were stripped of their purity and reduced to sex slaves, especially those who were virgins.

And in the city of Bornis, there were such victims.

When the blue horse, who had conquered Bornis, declared the liberation of slaves in the "Iron Declaration," the elven women did not rejoice.

In fact, when the blue horse made the "Iron Declaration," they were still being held as sex slaves.

The reason their liberation was delayed was due to the dwarves.

Elves and dwarves have been enemies since the mythological era. When the dwarves rebelled, they did not harm the elven women, their enemies, but they also did not actively free them.

It was only after the "Iron Declaration" that the blue horse, preparing to face the approaching extermination army, learned of their existence while investigating the state of Bornis.

Upon learning that the elven women were being held as sex slaves, the blue horse immediately freed them. He then had them housed in a secluded room in the lord's mansion and entrusted their care to the female warriors of Zoan.

This was, of course, out of consideration for their previous circumstances.

However, the elven women did not see it that way.

They thought that their new human master, who had subjugated their enemy, the dwarves, had gathered them as plunder.

However, the new master never came to them. Not only that, there was no sign of any of them being summoned to the bedchamber as a sister. The female warriors of Zoan, whom they initially thought were monitoring them, seemed to be quite considerate.

As time passed, a week, then two weeks, the elven women began to feel uneasy.

Something was wrong.

While this should have been a cause for joy, their pessimistic nature made them feel as if they were in a terrifying situation they could not imagine.

This misunderstanding was partly due to the blue horse's negligence.

He should have explained the "Iron Declaration" when he freed them. Even if he couldn't do that, he had received reports from the female warriors of Zoan that the elven women were acting strangely and staying in their rooms. He had plenty of time to take action.

However, the blue horse did nothing.

This was not without reason.

After all, the blue horse had never once dated a woman. In school, he only talked to male friends, and the only woman he had a proper conversation with was his mother.

It was natural for the inexperienced blue horse to be intimidated by the elven women, who had been prey to the animalistic desires of human men and had endured great suffering.

While the blue horse thought it was a bad idea, he kept delaying his response to the elven women, using the approaching extermination army as an excuse.

As this limbo continued, the elven women's unease grew, and one of them finally took action.

Her name was Eradia.

A high-class elven courtesan sold from the distant empire.

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A bit to the southeast of the imperial capital, where the emperor resides in the central part of the continent, there was a deep ancient forest that repelled humans.

However, that was in the past. Now, there stands a large factory that the empire established during its early turbulent period to manufacture military equipment. The ground, once covered with lichens like a carpet, has been dug up for mineral extraction, exposing red earth. The trees that once stretched their branches and leaves to the sky have been cut down for fuel, leaving a desolate landscape. The ancient forest has lost all traces of its former beauty.

This lost ancient forest was Eradia's homeland until she became a young woman.

On that day, her life was drastically changed when the imperial army, seeking the extermination of subhumans and territorial expansion, invaded the forest.

Her hometown was burned, her father was lost, and she herself was captured by the imperial army. Along with other women in similar circumstances, she was placed in an iron cage and taken to the stone city called the capital.

There, Eradia was put up for auction.

The one who bought her was an old man, emaciated like a withered tree. He was a dying old man, but his eyes gleamed with greasy desire.

On the night she was bought, Eradia's purity was taken by the old man.

From then on, she was violated every night. Any resistance or defiance was met with merciless beatings from his cane. It was like living in a never-ending nightmare.

In this hell, Eradia gradually realized that she had split into two.

One was her body, still being violated by the old man on the bed.

The other was another self, calmly observing the scene from above.

It was a strange sensation, as if watching a poorly made tragedy with a protagonist who looked exactly like herself, detached from reality.

This was Eradia's self-defense mechanism, pushing the miserable and painful experiences onto her body and pushing her consciousness outward to protect her mind.

Whether this was fortunate or unfortunate is uncertain, but at least Eradia stopped crying.

A short while later, the old man died. Ironically, his obsession with life and his indulgence in Eradia's body shortened his lifespan.

When Eradia was put up for auction again, she was bought by another man and violated once more. Through this repeated cycle, Eradia learned how to sell herself and please men in bed.

All for the sake of fulfilling her father's last words.

She couldn't save all the elves, but at least she could save the sisters she could see. To do that, she had to be liked enough to influence the ugly human men who devoured her.

Fortunately, Eradia had grown into an exceptionally beautiful elf.

Her long golden hair, reminiscent of a swaying field of wheat, reached down to her waist, slightly wavy. Her skin, as white as freshly squeezed milk, was as soft as spider silk to the touch. Her fine eyebrows and straight nose bridge, her slightly thick lips that were sensual, and her deep green eyes, all combined to captivate men's hearts.

A once-famous poet in the empire described her beauty in such terms.

Using her beauty as a weapon, Eradia had captivated countless men.

While being kept by the king of a large country under the empire's control, she used her beauty and refined skills to quickly win the king's favor and tried to improve the lives of her sisters.

However, an unexpected obstacle appeared.

It was the queen, driven mad by jealousy.

Kings who kept subhuman courtesans were often in cold marriages. Moreover, the queen herself often had male lovers.

In fact, the queen had more lovers and male courtesans than she could count on her fingers, but she couldn't stand her husband being infatuated with other women.

The queen, seeing an opportunity when the king was away on official business, immediately called for a slave trader and sold Eradia. The queen didn't sell Eradia to be merciful.

In the empire's view, the western region of the continent where the Holmea kingdom was located was a barbaric land without civilization. The queen, not satisfied with just killing Eradia, wanted to make her a plaything for the barbarians.

"Let the ugly barbarians take good care of your lewd body."

When the queen cursed Eradia with all her contempt as she handed her over to the slave trader, Eradia felt no humiliation. In fact, she was impressed by how ugly humans could become, seeing the queen's beauty, praised as a rose, twisted by hatred.

To Eradia, who had long separated her consciousness from her body, this was just another part of the poorly made tragedy she was watching.

The sea voyage from the empire to the western region was not bad. The treatment of the high-value elves was worlds apart from that of other slaves. Eradia, a high-class courtesan who had even served royalty, was treated exceptionally well.

After a few months of sea travel, Eradia arrived in the country of Jebua and was introduced as a "beautiful elven princess from the empire," causing a great stir.

However, the price set for her was astronomical, even for a beautiful elven high-class courtesan. While it was a reasonable price considering her beauty and background, even wealthy merchants and nobles hesitated, and the slave trader himself thought it would take a while to sell her.

However, a buyer soon came forward.

It was a slave trader who supplied the Holmea royal family.

He was looking for a star slave for the birthday celebration of King Valius Sadoma Holmeani, which was to be held in about a month. Eradia was the perfect slave for the occasion. Satisfied with this unexpected find, the slave trader decided to leave Jebua as soon as possible to deliver Eradia to the king.

And the first city they visited in the Holmea kingdom was Bornis.

There, Eradia met the blue horse.

Finally, the elf appears. Unfortunately, he's not a hunk.

In the next part, I'll write about Eradia and the blue horse's meeting, and then the story will return to the battlefield.

Also, the reason Darius didn't notice the elves was due to a series of coincidences.

Blue Horse: "Iron Declaration!"

Zoan, Dwarves, Dinosaurians: "Give us iron!"

Tutu's spy: "The three hunky races have rebelled!"

Elves: "(´・ω・`) Sigh... in the slave room"

Darius: "Advance to Bornis!"

Fleeing residents: "There were about a thousand of the three hunky races!"

Elves: "(´・ω・`) Sigh... in the lord's mansion"

Elves: "We'll fight for Lord Soma! (`・ω・´) Determined... in the battlefield"

Darius: "W-Where did all these elves come from?!"

June 15, 2014 - Typo corrections