Luckily, thanks to my mana scan I know exactly where the entrance to the hidden room is. If not I would have had to waste a lot of time looking for the entrance, which is hidden under some hay. To my surprise the hidden room is not another dungeon, in fact it is even pleasant.

It is set up like a comfortable bedroom with two small beds and the elves inside are even dressed. This is different enough from what I have seen previously that I stop and take a closer look. However, I don't find any wards or hidden traps, I also don't find any signs of the elves being controlled.

"Um, hello. I am here to rescue you, but this isn't what I was expecting. What is going on here?"

Riell says "Oh! Who are you? I don't recognize you! We are not free, but we are safe here."

"My name is Ash. Stillwater sent me. What do you mean you are safe here?"

Greenleaf says "Stillwater is still alive? That's great! But how did you even get here?"

Riell says "The human who bought us hasn't harmed us. He has been hiding us here to protect us until he can find a way to get us home."

"There are other people who will answer your questions. Right now I am going to send you back to your people."

Riell says "What? How? What about our owner?"

Instead of answering I use a small thread of mana to remove their collars. Then I use enhanced mana to open a gate back to the ship and then push them through. Even as I push the two of them through they are still trying to ask more questions.

As soon as the gate closes I breathe a sigh of relief, they were giving me a headache. I kind of feel sorry for whoever is going to be dealing with them on the ship. However, that is not my problem, my part of the job is already done, they are rescued.

Dealing with their mental health is someone else's job, which is good because I would suck at it. In my old life I went to therapy a few times and I could definitely use some now. I wonder if there is someone among the elves who is similar to a therapist.

It is not like I have had time to get to know all of the elves, so there could be. If there isn't someone already, there probably will be by the time they are done helping all the rescued elves. Maybe at some point, if someone like that appears, I will try talking with them.

Other than that my only real option would be to talk about things with the goddesses. The problem is that I am not sure I want them to know how twisted some of my thoughts are getting. They worry about me enough as is, there is no point to make it worse.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

As I am standing there staring at where the gate was and thinking these thoughts, I hear a noise. It is the entrance to the secret room being opened from the outside. When I turn around I see a human entering the room, this must be the merchant.

He is not what I was expecting, he looks too young, maybe in his early twenties. He is also slender and fit, not overweight like most of the merchants I have met. However, there is more to it, the feeling I get from him isn't someone who would save others.

Merchant says "A male elf? Where are the two women who were here?"

"They are already safe, they are back with their people."

Merchant says "Oh, and where might that be?"

"An island, a long way from here. Why?"

Merchant says "Because those two were a lot more valuable than you! I need to know where to go to reclaim my property!"

"I knew a human merchant wanting to protect and free them was too good to be true!"

Merchant says "Well, that makes you less naive then the girls, but you really should have left with them!"

"If I had left I wouldn't have been able to check their story. If you had been what they thought I would have rewarded you. However, since you are scum I just need to get rid of you."

The merchant gets an angry look on his face, but I don't give him a chance to say anything. Just as he is opening his mouth I summon and throw the dagger at him. The dagger flies across the room in less than a second and pierces the merchant's head.

He is killed instantly, which is me showing mercy because he didn't harm the girls. He definitely had nefarious plans for them, but he hadn't done anything yet. Despite that he still deserved to die, but I don't know if he deserved a painless death.

However, I am not about to waste time finding out more about him, it is almost dawn. So, I spend what is left of my mana to open a gate back to my room at the inn. If it wasn't so close I probably wouldn't have been able to even open a gate.

As it is I am only able to open the gate for a few seconds, but that is enough for me. Once I am back in my room I shift back to human form and then meditate for a few hours. When I head down to get some breakfast I can hear everyone talking about last night.

It is fairly entertaining to listen to the rumors about what happened and why. No one seems to have connected it to the missing elves, at least not yet. Right now all the rumors are saying that it was another noble family that is trying to climb the ladder.

That is fine by me, if they don't know it was about the elves then the story can't spread and cause me problems. In fact, the reason I am still in the city is to keep from looking suspicious. That and I thought of a couple of more things that I want to do before I leave the city.

The first thing I do after breakfast is head to my favorite merchant group and buy some high quality cloth. If I am going to keep doing this then I am going to make myself a cloak. The other thing I do is ask around for information about undead and where I can find them.

I still need to find some normal undead and study them to figure out what I need to do for Bones. Since I am heading deeper into the mainland this should be a good chance to find some. It would be easier if this city had an adventurer's guild, but merchants have almost as much information.

After asking a few different merchants I find several locations where undead are found. One of them is pretty close to my planned route so that is the one I will check out. After getting the information I needed I head back to the inn to check out.