It only takes me a few minutes to scan the entire city with the same result. There are only four elves in the city, one in one building and three in another. The three are in a large mansion, probably a noble's estate, the one that is alone is underground.

I decide to head for the lone elf first and then head to the estate for the other three. The lone elf is underneath a building in the center of town, probably in the basement. The building looks like a shop with a living space above it, which is an odd place for a slave.

Scanning the building shows one human in the top story and the elf in the basement. Unfortunately, there is no external entrance to the basement so I need to go in through the ground floor. There is a back door to an alley between two lines of stores, which is where I land.

The door is locked and has a small ward on the lock, but it is not linked to an alarm. One small burst of mana is enough to destroy both the lock and the ward. Then, in order to fit through the door, I shapeshift into my elven form and enter.

Before heading downstairs I glance into the front of the shop to see what they sell. There are a bunch of glass cases with wards on them, each case has a rare material in it. There are only ten cases, but the materials in them are rare enough to tempt me.

A quick scan shows a safe on the ground floor that has even more materials in it. There is also a safe upstairs that is full of gold, but I don't plan to rob the place until I find the elf. If the elf has been treated well, then I won't rob the place, but if the elf has been treated poorly, it is fair game.

If the elf has been treated badly enough then I will more than just rob the place. When I head downstairs into the basement I am surprised to find that the elf is a male. However, I am also enraged because the elf is being kept in a dog kennel.

He is covered in whip marks, bruises, scars, and open wounds, it is surprising that he is alive. The look of hope in his eyes when he sees me keeps me from running off to kill the human. Instead, I rip the kennel apart, remove his restraints, and begin healing him.

Strongrock says "Thank you! Is she dead??"

"She? No, I haven't killed anyone."

Strongrock says "Good! I will kill her with my own hands! I am no one's dog!"

As soon as I finish healing his wounds, Strongrock goes running upstairs naked. Instead of chasing after him, I look around the basement and start opening crates. They are filled with less valuable, but still useful materials, so I empty them into my ring.

Once I have emptied all of the crates I return to the ground floor to look at the cases. They look like they have fancy wards on them, but I quickly realize that they are illusions. Or at least there are illusions covering cheap wards like the one on the back door.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

They are easy to blast open and once the wards are gone the cases are just glass. After emptying the cases I head over to the safe in the wall of the back room. There are no wards on the safe, just a lock and the fact that it is hidden in the wall.

Unfortunately, while the lock is strong, the hinges are not able to hold against my strength. I quickly empty the safe into my ring and then head upstairs to see what happened. The elf is crying in the corner, but the fat human woman is already dead.

Pretending I don't see the crying elf, I walk over and rip open the wall to reveal the second safe. This safe looks a lot like the first one, only it is about twice the size, but not any stronger. When I rip the door off, the entire space within is filled with stacks of gold coins.

Strongrock says "You aren't really an elf, are you?"

"What makes you say that?"

Strongrock says "No elf is that strong! Not to mention, I have never met an elf that can cast healing spells."

"You are right, I am not an elf. However, I am here to rescue you and will take you to your people."

Strongrock says "You enabled me to kill that monster. At this point I don't care what you are or what you want to do with me."

"Good. Then find some clothes and follow me. By the way, I'm Ash, what's your name?"

Strongrock says "My name is Strongrock."

"Alright, Strongrock, nice to meet you. There are three other elves in the city that we need to rescue first. Then we will go to your people."

Strongrock just nods and goes looking for some clothes, while he does that I empty the safe. Then, once he is dressed, I lead him downstairs and out the back door into the alley. After making sure no one is around I drop shapeshift and give Strongrock a minute to get over his shock.

Strongrock says "I knew you weren't an elf, but I wasn't expecting this!"

"Stillwater can explain everything to you later. For now we need to fly, so climb on my back."

Strongrock looks nervous and unwilling, but after a minute he takes a deep breath and climbs on. Once he is seated I get a running start and then launch myself into the air. It takes me less than a minute to fly over the city to where the noble's mansion is.

Strongback says "Are we heading for the mayor's mansion?"

"Is that what this place is? This is where the other three elves are being held."

Strongrock says "Yes, this is the mayor's mansion. Although, I overheard that he was killed earlier today."

"Oh, is that who he was? He did say something about having slaves before I killed him. That would explain why the city is still so active."

As I scan over the estate I find that it is fairly chaotic, but all I care about is the elves. I find the three of them together in an out building, but they are not alone. There are a bunch of humans in the building with them, but I don't need to be quiet.

I land quickly and barely give Strongrock enough time to get off before I shapeshift. As soon as I am in elven form I rush into the building and summon the dagger into my hand. Other than the three elven women, there are four human women and almost twenty men.

Seeing what is happening to the women I don't hesitate to start slaughtering the men. The reason I am using the dagger is because it is a lot easier to use in a cramped space. That and it is easier to be precise so that I only kill those that I want to kill.

16 Level 2 Humans defeated! 3,200 Exp gained!

2 Level 3 Humans defeated! 600 Exp gained!

Once all the men are dead I pull the three elven women aside and get them to put clothes on. Strongrock followed me into the room, but he wasn't fast enough to join the fight. As soon as I have all four elves together I open a gate back to the ship and push them through.