Chapter 60 – Impromptu Party.

“So, they even branded you?”

The sound of a crackling fireplace could be heard while some people talked. A slight clank of metal against metal was also discernible.

“Regretfully so…”

A woman in a black coat was holding her hands out toward the fire. Her skin was dark caramel and she had quite the long ears. Her name was Aredhel and she was part of the moon elven nobility.

“Those damn bastards, if I ever get my hands on them.”

Another moon elf was here, this one was a bit angrier looking as he started spitting out profanities.

“Hey, stop moving. If I make any mistakes your head could blow up…”

Next to him was a dark-haired youth. Roland was his name and he was holding onto his blacksmith hammer. He was in the process of gently hammering the slave collar with it.

“I can remove these, but can’t really do much about those branding marks. You’ll have to hide them while returning to your own country.”

Roland had examined Aredhel slave collar first. It was something made by a runesmith so he could easily inspect the components in it. With the help of his debugging and runecrafting skills, he was able to find the prime rune. With its destruction, the shackles became nothing more than neck accessories.

Prying them off was another thing entirely. Even though the runecrafting job was done sloppily this item was still made from deep steel. It was much harder to break than regular steel and also resistant to magic to some degree. After deactivating the prime rune the locking mechanism was also rendered ineffective, so he needed to use some tools to fiddle it open.

Roland wasn’t sure at first if he should do this. The people were branded as criminal slaves, though that was a lie. He heard them talking before he saved them and it was clear that they were just captured to be sold.

He wasn’t sure if it was another squabble between noble parties but at this point in his life, he wouldn’t be surprised. The woman might have been an eyesore for someone in her own house.

This wasn’t the main reason that he decided to help them. That was the monster problem outside. The mountain was swarming with goblins, hobgoblins, and other monstrosities. He wasn’t even a tier 2 class holder, the chances of getting out of here in one piece were slim, he needed some backup.
Roland didn’t want to rely on these strangers but he didn’t see himself getting out of here without some help. In the event of a betrayal, he did prepare some countermeasures plus he could always run.

The woman was a priest not of Solaria but of Lunaris instead. This was also the biggest reason the moon elves and sun elves were at each other throats. They both had different deities that allowed them to have priest classes. The healing magic of the moon elves was a bit different but it worked in a similar fashion.

When it came down to gaming terms. The moon priests were better at buffing their party while sun priests were ahead in terms of pure healing. There were also variations of the classes and some special ones that were great at both.

“Think… that should… do it?”

‘Clink’

He gently tapped the collar that was around Logon’s neck and it popped right off this time around. Roland grabbed the piece of deep steel and placed it inside his storage bag. He could melt these down later and maybe create a fitting weapon for himself.

“Golgrim turn now!”

There was a third member of these slaves, the large Half-Orc. Roland was a bit on the fence about setting this one free but the moon elf woman assured him that he could be trusted.

“Yes, yes. Just sit down and try not to move…”

He got back to work while the conversation continued.

“I’d advise you to just cover up and head for the nearest settlement. You’re not going through the border with those clothes or that slave status…”

From Roland’s perspective, it would be hard for those three to flee back to their own country. The slave collars were gone but they still had the slave status on them.

There was a certain process through which a person became a criminal slave. It involved some paperwork and a person with a Judge class. This was something akin to a curse but it could only be removed by someone with a similar Judge class. This ‘slave’ status mostly came with a timer but regretfully theirs was close to a hundred years.

“I’m thankful for all you did Carmine but we can take care of ourselves. I will bring the lady back safely!”

“Golgrim strong, no problem!”

Both Logon and the Half-Orc were apparently not worried about getting over the border. He wasn’t sure what they were planning but not like he would be going there with them. He also decided to give them a fake name, Carmine came to be after he thought back to his red comet signature on the scrolls that he used for his wares.

“Yes, Mr. Carmine you already did so much for us. You even gave us some clothes and food.”

Aredhel replied while munching on some beef jerky. The two were clearly malnourished so he decided to aid them a bit. He wasn’t doing it for free though, he would be getting most if not all of the mana stones from the monsters they slew.

He started with the two hobgoblins and now he had two more common grade stones to add to his new creations. He also gave the swordsman elf a spare sword while taking the enchanted one he had for himself.

The costs would probably equal themselves after he attained more mana stones. Moving safely in a group with two-tier 2 warriors would also be worthwhile. The elven maiden was just a tier 1 class, not even a full priest. Her class was called acolyte and it was similar to the Sun churches cleric class.

That’s why he decided to invest in his new party. He lent one of his old robes to the woman, though he wasn’t willing to give up his good leather armor. He was still a bit stingy in that regard. Helping them warm up and eat would be enough, they now had weapons and with the acolyte in their party, they wouldn’t need to waste potions.

‘Clang’

The largest slave collar was finally gone and it was thrown into his spatial bag. He was really glad that he spent the money on them during his time in Edelgard.

The Half-Orc that was now free of the slave collar performed a strange jiggle, it looks like a sort of dance. He evaded the large hug that the mountain of muscles tried giving him and went over to the fireplace.

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“What are you going to do if you run into those slavers?”

Roland asked while sitting down. This was also a possibility, if they survived the slavers could still be there. The bandits suffered some casualties and might have abandoned the chase as well. Maybe the people that were left from the caravan were looking for them now.

“Kill them all”

The silver-haired moon elf male replied while looking at the new sword in his hand. It was clear that he wouldn’t hesitate.

“We wouldn’t want to cause trouble for you Mr. Carmine but I don’t think they would just let us be. Don’t worry, we don’t expect you to involve yourself with us for much longer.”

Aredhel knew what Roland was getting at. He already could be branded as a criminal by setting them free. They were considered criminal slaves and even though that was a lie it would have to be proven first. If he went and aided them in a battle against the slave traders he would be labeled as another bandit.

That was something that he wanted to avoid at all costs. Having a wanted poster going around the kingdom would throw a wrench into his future plans. First, he needed to get out of this predicament alive.

“Well, I can always say that you forced me to remove those collars. There is a village If we follow the river, We should go there.”

Roland did bring a map of the area and had some prior knowledge of where he was traveling. He knew that it was always important to know your location and the geography of it.

He decided to go towards the closest settlement. He could try returning to where the caravan was attacked. The possibility of running into the bandits was high, they could have a hidden camp somewhere in the mountains as well.