Paul and the rest of the freedom fighters traveled for two days before they reached the Fortress that stood between the Hellan Kingdom and the Zelan Dynasty.
They didn’t take the time to look at the tens of thousands of Crystal Statues because they had already seen plenty of them in their own Kingdom. Paul assigned his group to loot the Fortress for food, water, and other things that they could use on their trip to reunite with Prince Alaric, who was assumed to be in the town of Lont.
Luckily, there were still many horses in the stables, which they used to travel towards the West. All of them rode their mounts with a heavy heart knowing that Arslan had either been killed or captured by their Elven pursuers.
A few days ago, when a single Elf scout found their base, hundreds of Elves gathered to capture them. If not for the fact that Paul’s special ability, Eye of the Scout, had accidentally seen the hundreds of Elves, who were stealthily headed into their direction, they would have all been captured by now.
This was why Arslan decided to make an unwritten rule that at the first sight of even a single Elf, all of them would make a hasty retreat. They didn’t know that the Elves had decided to treat their capture as a game and decided to spread out and search for them as platoons.
If they only knew of this sudden change in their pursuers’ strategy, they might have stayed behind to help Arslan deal with the Elves that had discovered their last camp.
—–
“Human scum!” the pretty Elf-Girl shouted as she kicked the chained Arslan on the ground.
Although they managed to subdue him, Aslan still managed to kill eight Elves because of his lethal Earth Bombs that exploded without warning.
They had journeyed using special means to return to the capital as fast as possible, but she was still feeling irritated because of the loss of her subordinates. This would reflect poorly on her record as a commanding officer and she might even get a demotion.
Arslan was chained using a special metal that prevented him from using his abilities.
The Prodigy of the Zelan Kingdom had wounds all over his body, but they were not serious enough to be fatal. The Elves didn’t even bother to treat his wounds to prevent him from recovering and finding a way to escape the chains that bound him.
Two more hours passed and they finally arrived at the palace where Elandorr was expecting their arrival. The Commander of the Elven forces sat on the throne where the King of the Zelan Dynasty used to sit.
Elandorr looked at the injured Human teenager with interest, while the other Elves looked at Arslan with hatred.
“All alone, but still managed to kill eight Elven hunters, not bad,” Elandorr said with praise. “Too bad you were born a Human. If you were an Elf, you would definitely be among the top elites that serve under me.”
Arslan didn’t say anything as he was forced to kneel on the ground. He didn’t react to the jeers and taunts of the Elves who were also present in the throne room.
Elandorr nodded his head in appreciation and made a gesture to one of his attendants.
The attendant respectfully bowed to Elandorr and presented him with a wooden box. Elandor gave the attendant a brief nod before walking towards Arslan with box in hand. The Elven Guards who had been forcing Arlsan to kneel held his arms firmly as Elandorr took out the contents of the box and showed it to the Prodigy of the Zelan Kingdom.
“Are you familiar with this?” Elandorr asked in a teasing tone. He waved the black collar that was inscribed with Elven runes.
The moment Arslan saw the slave collar in Elandorr’s hand, he knew what was coming next. Because of it, he gathered all of his strength and tried to smash his head on the floor to commit suicide.
Unfortunately, Elandorr had already seen this coming and gave the Human a quick kick on his jaw which made Arslan world spin around him. Two more guards came to secure him in place as Elandorr placed the slave collar on the teenager’s neck.
“Stop,” Elandorr ordered. “From now on, you are not allowed to commit suicide. You are not allowed to escape, and you are also not allowed to hurt any Elves in any manner. Do I make myself clear?”
Arslan bit his lip as he tried to prevent himself from answering Elandorr’s inquiry. However, the runes on the collar on his neck glowed brightly sending immense pain through his body.
Even so, Arslan refused to yield, which made Elandorr, as well as the other Elves, admire his strength of will.
“Not bad,” Elandorr nodded in appreciation. “I’ve always wanted to meet the so-called True Prodigy of this Kingdom. I thought that all of the praise they had for you was mere exaggeration. I guess, there is some truth in their words as well.”
Blood dripped down Arslan’s lips as he kept his mouth shut. He was enduring the excruciating pain that made him feel like dying, but he would rather die than submit to the Elves who had treated the Zelanians like grass that they could weed out whenever they felt bored.
Even though the Elven Princess had said that such an act was not worthy of a Superior Race like the Elves, many of the Elven Elites still tortured and beat up the survivors of the Kingdom behind closed doors.
This was their way of making the Humans understand that they were simply rags that the Elves could keep or dispose of at their leisure. This excessive amont of torture and beatings had made the survivors lose all hope. In the end, the majority of the survivors had chosen to act servile to the Elves instead of choosing to be beaten to death.
What happened to those who refused to acknowledge the Elven Rule? Those who had refused had either been killed in public executions, or sent to prison to receive humilation and torture.
Naturally, these public executions were held when the Elven Princess was away from the capital to inspect the other Human cities that had fallen under their rule. These public executions were witnessed by all the survivors in the capital because those who refused to participate would suffer the same fate.
After seeing several executions, the desire to rebel against their invaders had long disappeared in the teenagers who had chosen to become slaves of their own free will. The Elves didn’t have an infinite supply of slave collars. Elandorr chose to only use them on special people, like Arslan who had fallen into his hands.
He didn’t need to waste his limited number of slave collars on the children and teenagers who had chosen to submit to their rule out of hopelessness and desperation.
This was the tactic that the Elves had used in order to make the Human children submit to them.
Elandorr glanced down at Arslan who was still refusing to submit to him even with the power of the slave collar. He was about to give the Human Prodigy an order when the door of the throne room opened.
The Elven Princess, Eowyn, entered and looked at the injured, and kneeling, Prodigy on the floor. Eowyn knew that she was only a supervisor and had no right to get in Elandorr’s way. This was why she just looked at Arslan with a sad expression and didn’t say anything else.
“Welcome back, Your Highness,” Elandorr greeted Eowyn with a smile. “You should have told me that you were returning. I would have escorted you back to the palace personally.”
“Thank you, Commander Elandorr.” Eowyn nodded. “I apologize for coming at the wrong time.”
Elandorr smiled brightly as he walked towards Eowyn. “Princess, you can come and see me anytime. I was just enslaving this Human because he committed a crime punishable by death. However, since you didn’t want senseless killings, I decided to just enslave him.”
Eowyn stared at Arslan whose body was trembling every now and then due to the pain he was experiencing.
“What did he do?” Eowyn inquired.
Elandorr gave the Human a side-long glance before shifting his attention back to the beautiful princess. “He was the leader of the rebellion and has killed many Elves. Just today, he killed eight elves before he was captured on the outskirts of the kingdom. He is truly a very troublesome individual.”
Eowyn frowned. Although she was a pacifist, hearing that Elves died at the hands of the young man made her impression of Arslan change.
No matter how good her heart was, she was still an Elf and they were her people.
“What do you plan to do with him, Commander?” Eowyn asked.
“Whether he lives or dies will depend on Her Highness’ wishes,” Elandorr said with a carefree smile.
At first Eowyn wanted to order Elandorr to execute Arslan. However, her teacher, Lady Arwen, had told her that violence was not always the answer to resolve disputes. After a brief inner struggle, Eowyn sighed and gave her verdict.
Elandorr seemed half amused by the Princess’ choice, but since he had plans on wooing her, he decided to agree. This way, the Princess would feel indebted to him, which he could use to form a closer connection with her in the future.
“Congratulations,” Elandorr said as he used his foot to raise Arslan’s head. “Our Princess has chosen you to become her manservant. Make sure to serve her well. I mentioned this earlier, but I will repeat it again. You are not allowed to harm her in any way. Also, you will risk your life to protect her when she is in danger. This is an absolute order.”
The collar on Arslan’s neck glowed brighter. Soon, Arslan fell to the ground, unconscious. He had reached his limits in resisting the power of the slave collar. Elandorr made a gesture for one of the Elven healers to take care of the teenager’s injury before he invited the Princess to have lunch with him.
Eowyn accepted Elandorr’s proposal. She knew that the Commander had spared the Human slave because of her, and because of this, she felt obligated to return the favor. Elandorr smiled brightly as he held the Elven Princess’ hand.
If giving her a human slave would make her happy then he didn’t mind sending more slaves in order to gain her good graces. After all, he was not content with just being the Commander of the Elven Race.
No. Elandorr’s ambition was greater.
What he wanted was to become the future King of the Elves. That way, not only would he rule the Silvermoon Continent, but all the lands that they had conquered as well.
