Two weeks had passed since Chizze was acquired.

During this time, I focused on training my body more, as Raiza was right: I rely too much on my degenerative magic, and there must be a deeper reason behind this training.

My routine during this time has been the same: I have breakfast with my slave, who doesn’t act like one, as she takes a superior position with me since she’s training me.

After breakfast, it’s time to train; we have lunch, train again, and at night I return to the inn to sleep.

Raiza usually spends the whole day slowly wandering around the city, not wanting to draw attention. Her work is taking longer due to how meticulous she is, so I mostly see her at meals, where we report our progress.

At night, I sleep alone, but whenever I wake up, Chizze is in my bed, and I’m almost always hugging her. Her scent and texture relax me; sleeping with her is almost therapeutic.

I think she also feels very comfortable with me.

By Saturday of the second week, the three of us had lunch as usual, and Raiza shared the progress of her investigation.

“From what I’ve discovered, this city has serious ties with the elves. Their medicinal herbs are in pharmacies, they have fruits in stores that shouldn’t be found in human lands, and I notice the castle is extremely fortified. But the problem isn’t the soldiers, but the castle’s maids.

From what I heard, the king of this country is an evil and vile man who hates all other people. He distrusts other humans so much that he hired alchemists and runic blacksmiths to create maid dolls similar to normal people. They all have the same face, except the maid who is with the king. She is the only one with a different face; those who have seen her say she looks like the former queen and mother of the current reigning king.

The problem with these dolls is not only that they shattered the state’s general budget in their creation but that they all share the same mind. So, if one maid discovers us, the entire country will know our intentions. Therefore, entering the palace is out of the question unless we do it when there are many people in the castle. With many people, distracting the maids and searching for information about the elves and the trafficking of the forest ogres would be much easier, though still very risky.

The other option is to go to the slavers, but we don’t know which ones have connections with the palace, so going carelessly would have the same result. And the third option is to find the man Chizze saw.

From the story Chizze told us, that man with the scent of the forest ogres approached the slaves as soon as you arrived in the capital. Keeping that in mind, I investigated the slavers and learned that a shipment of slaves arrives at midnight, and there will be another auction tomorrow. So, if that man plans to act the same way as last time, he should do it tonight.”

I listened in silence to Raiza’s story while eating, just nodding my head.

Chizze said, “I could approach the slavers under the pretext of greeting the boss. Although Chizze was just a slave, she always treated me well. It wouldn’t be unusual for me to visit him.”

Raiza said, “Understood. Just take these seals. They are adhesive paper. If you come close to someone with the scent of the ogres, place this seal somewhere on their clothing in the least noticeable way. With this, we can track their hideout and determine if they are allies or enemies.”

Chizze took the seals and tucked them into her clothing. We then rested that day to have energy for the mission that night.

…

As dusk fell, Raiza and I hid on the rooftops of buildings near the slaver’s central office. Meanwhile, Chizze approached the slaver’s office with a basket of sandwiches.

The plan was for her to approach and deliver food to the slavers, and also greet their boss, in order to get close to the newly arrived slaves in the capital.

While we kept watch from a distance.

…

…

…

Here is Chizze, the most powerful warrior of the Dodornia tribe.

At this moment, I’m heading to see the slave boss with a basket of food prepared by my master.

My mission is simple. I just need to approach the slavers and mark with a seal the subjects who smell like that object that Chief Victoria had. It’s an easy job for the powerful Chizze.

I arrived at the door of the slaver’s office. The guard recognized me, greeted me, and I told him I came to say hello to the boss and to drop off a light snack as a thank you for getting me a good master, as promised.

The guard looked curiously at the bread stuffed with pork and vegetables.

“Hey, kitty, you brought a lot of food. The boss won’t eat all of that by himself. Could you give me one?”

I glared at the office guard and said, “I’m not kitty, I’m Chizze, and you’d better remember that.” The man laughed while apologizing and took one of the sandwiches from my basket.

When he tried the food, he had a look of happiness. The man must have been hungry.

“Thanks, little Chizze. By the way, the boss wanted to talk to you. Go in. The man is in his office. We have a lot of paperwork today, as we have another auction tomorrow.”

I entered the building. I still didn’t catch the scent I was looking for, so I headed to the boss’s office while distributing food among the slavers, trying to see if any of them had that peculiar aroma I was searching for, but none of them had even a trace of it.

Once I arrived at the office, the boss was at his desk surrounded by a pile of papers. He seemed to be a workaholic. Since he didn’t notice my presence, I started coughing to get his attention.

“Oh, Chizze, it’s you. What happened? Did your master regret buying you?” he said with a smile on his face.

“Not at all. I just came to pity a pathetic man who forgot to eat today…”

At that moment, the boss realized he had so much work that he missed lunch and it was already midnight. His stomach began to growl, almost as if he had just realized he was hungry.

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“What’s that smell? It’s roast pork and salad inside a soft bread.” He was salivating, and I threw him one of the sandwiches I brought. He caught it like a trained dog.

“By the way, Chizze, I forgot to give you your commission. Since you became a slave voluntarily, you’re entitled to a percentage of your value.”

Yes, I remember the boss explaining something like that before. People who usually became slaves voluntarily did so to get money for their families or to pay off overdue debts. So it was normal for Chizze to be entitled to part of the money from her purchase.

The boss gave me 2 gold coins in silver coins, which were equivalent to 200 silver coins. Chizze gratefully took the money and put it in her pocket.

Then, a man entered the office, interrupting our conversation. Without speaking to me, he took a sandwich from Chizze’s basket and told the boss:

“Sir, the slave shipment has arrived. Go check the inventory of the new stock.”

The boss finished eating his sandwich very quickly and said, “Sorry, Chizze, but duty calls.”

The boss followed his subordinate while I walked behind him. The boss didn’t seem bothered by me following him, so I kept close.

When we left the slaver offices, I saw the carriages filled with slaves. There were three carriages with different types of people from various species. There were beast-people like me, but no one Chizze recognized.

Then I smelled it… that aroma I had been searching for. Using the excuse of distributing the rest of the food, I moved among the guards and slavers until a hooded man passed by me.

This man smelled the same as the item from Miss Victoria. I pretended to trip and fell to the ground with some sandwiches. The man was very tall and seemed somewhat scared; he quickly offered me his hand and helped me up.

“Sorry, I think I was walking too distracted. You were selling food… tell me how much I owe you for everything that fell to the ground.”

I took the opportunity to mark him quickly while saying, “Don’t worry, I’m just a slave distributing food as a thank you for getting me a good master. You don’t have to pay me.”

The man gave a sad look and threw a copper coin at me. “It doesn’t matter that you’re a slave, take this coin so I don’t feel so bad.”

After that, the man discreetly moved away from the area. He didn’t seem like a bad man; I hope Miss Victoria doesn’t harm him too much.

...

...

...

While all this was happening, from a distance, I noticed that Chizze had finished the job.

“Raiza, be alert, Chizze just marked a subject,” I whispered.

“Good job, Chizze. Ester, you stay on watch to make sure Chizze doesn’t mark anyone else. I’ll follow that man from a distance; he’s our only lead to find the ogres in the forest.”

I stayed still to watch over Chizze from afar, following Raiza’s orders, while she stealthily followed the man.

…

Raiza initially followed him from a distance, hoping to find a clue that would help us in our mission. But at some point along the way, the man she was pursuing erased his presence.

Not even the legendary hero could find him… unless he wasn’t carrying a seal that constantly revealed his presence. With the help of that seal, Raiza followed his trail very easily.

The trail led to the sewers, an interesting place to hide, as some dangerous monsters usually hide there. It is common for the adventurers' guild to assign missions to clean the sewers of both monsters and filth.

Raiza advanced stealthily, keeping a prudent distance from her target, but as she was navigating the underground tunnels, she sensed danger.

A sword nearly pierced her neck, and two arrows were aimed in her direction, but thanks to her superhuman reflexes, she managed to dodge them in time. It seemed the man had realized Raiza was following him.

“You’re one of those disgusting elves,” the man shouted arrogantly, which angered Raiza a bit, who responded:

“So what if I am?”

No more words were exchanged, and they began to fight. She was unarmed while the man had a sword and quickly shot arrows with a bow integrated into a bracelet on his left arm. The man was a trained soldier; he was not weak, but he was not at the level of a hero.

Raiza punched him in the stomach, making him vomit on the floor.

At that moment, Raiza took the opportunity to pull off his hood and see his face. The man was a young elf who appeared to be a 16-year-old human, but with elves, this can be very deceiving.

“So you were the disgusting elf. I’d like to kill you, but I think you have information to find the forest ogres you kidnapped. But now I’m in a bad mood... I think I’ll beat you up to calm down. Don’t worry, I won’t kill you. I have an acquaintance who can keep you in one piece no matter how much I break your flesh and bones, so I can torture you for a long time.”

Raiza had a smile on her face, while the elf had tears in his eyes. When she was about to punch the elf in the face, a sweet child’s voice was heard:

“Please stop. Don’t hurt our brother.”

The elf shouted, “Clara, run! This woman is one of the elves who want to kidnap us. Leave me, I’ll handle her. Just go.”

Raiza saw the girl, who had red skin, white hair, pointed ears, and an aura very similar to Gasthor’s. Raiza looked incredulously at the elf on the floor and said:

“Wait a second. Aren’t you a kidnapper of the forest ogres?”

The elf put on an angry face and replied, “I am not. Yes, I’m an elf, but not all elves agree with kidnapping the forest ogres.”

Raiza was angry with this situation. Unintentionally, she had become the villain of this story. She inhaled and exhaled in frustration.

“I was sent by Gasthor, the leader of the forest ogres. I’m here to take you back to your people.”

The elf looked at Raiza full of doubts. “Who are you? Your helmet doesn’t fool me; you’re an elf and smell just like the king of the elves.”

Those simple words made Raiza’s blood boil, and in a fit of rage, she punched the wall behind the elf. Her fist was very close to his face, clearly intending to silence him.

She took off her helmet and said, “I am the exiled hero of the elves, Raiza Corddian, though your kind know me as Raiza Leiva.”

The elf’s eyes widened in surprise, and without saying a word, he kneeled before Raiza without uttering another word.

…

After such a pitiful display, Raiza was taken to a hidden room in the underground tunnels of the capital. Inside the hidden room, several forest ogres were healing the elf from the beating he had received. Some ogres looked at Raiza with fear, but she ignored them.

Raiza looked at Legoz, who was still being treated, and exclaimed loudly:

“Now explain to me how you all got here, why you haven’t left the capital of Rusthia yet, and why an elf like you is protecting these people.”

…

…

…

Let me introduce myself: my name is Legoz.

I am an elven soldier and 73 years old. When I was just a child, I lived comfortably in the elven forest.

Elves, from a young age, are trained to defend the forests from external attacks. Although our forest is hidden by a labyrinth of mist, sometimes people might slip through, and the duty of the elven soldiers is to eliminate these threats.

Our law is that no one who enters our forest without permission leaves alive.

I always admired the elves who did this job, but when it was my turn to serve as a warrior, our forest suffered an unexpected attack. The climate began to become more hostile. One day it could be hot, and suddenly it could be cold, and the ground began to dry up, causing some trees to start dying.

In some parts of the forest, landslides occurred; it was almost as if the forest itself was attacking us.

A council was convened to address the problem of the forest. Many elves blamed the demon king, as it is known that his army can change the climate to a colder one, and the extent of his power is still unknown.

It was not determined if the demons were responsible; the problem was thoroughly investigated, but there were no traces of them in the forest.

There was also a rumor that it was divine punishment for banishing the elf hero. The rumor said that among the high elves, a hero was born and that he was banished from the forest out of fear of his power, and that this was divine punishment for our sins. Personally, I doubted these rumors, but all these complaints fell on the elf king, Kykoo Leiva.

The king had a lot of pressure on his shoulders. The elder elves said that the king once seemed like a good man with an aura full of tranquility, but that image of the king had died long ago, as he was now a bitter man full of pain.

The critical point was when, to save our forest, the king tried to negotiate with the leader of the forest ogres, but he refused to help us, saying that the land of our forest no longer had enough nutrients to sustain the trees and that it would be best to establish a new forest to live in. That response did not please our king at all and he did something unforgivable in the eyes of many elves: he made a deal with humans to capture and pursue the forest ogres in exchange for various elven treasures.

The only country that accepted the terms was the Kingdom of Rusthia, which captured some forest ogres and brought them to the elven forest as slaves to keep the forest alive. My job was to bring those slaves from Rusthia to the elven forest. It was one of my first jobs as an elven soldier, but witnessing the treatment given to the ogres was simply unbearable.

Instead of bringing the forest ogres, I decided to help them escape, but it was very difficult.

The capital of Rusthia is heavily guarded and I could only hide with them in this hideout.

...

Raiza listened attentively to Legoz’s story, and when he finished, she shared the information we had gathered and everything about the plan to rescue the ogres.

She carried the teleportation orb that Gasthor had given us.

“Forest ogres, hold hands and stay together in a corner,” Raiza ordered loudly. However, no one moved; it was obvious they still didn’t trust her.

Legoz stood up and said, “Please, listen to Miss Raiza. If she wanted to harm us, she would have already done so.”

Legoz said those words while bowing his head. Trusting his words, the forest ogres held hands and gathered together.

Then, Raiza imbued her mana into the orb, activating it. The 23 forest ogres disappeared, leaving Gasthor in their place, surrounded by 22 white rats.

“Hello, Raiza, long time no see. And is that boy a friend of yours?” Legoz showed a surprised expression upon recognizing the chief of the forest ogres, who appeared posing as if modeling for a sculpture.

“What is Mr. Gasthor doing here?” Raiza responded to Legoz like a parent talking to a restless child.

“The teleportation orb swaps things. To send the 23 ogres back home, I have to bring 23 things from their home; basically, they exchange places.”

“Raiza, are you calling me and my pets things? Didn’t your parents teach you good manners?”

“Don’t you dare insult the way my parents raised me or I’ll kill you.”

“Sorry, it was my fault, I won’t speak so foolishly again.”

Gasthor truly looked frightened of the elf. “It doesn’t matter anymore. Tell me, why did you come here with those mice?”

“You’ll see soon enough, young Raiza. My children, advance.”

The mice ran through the underground tunnels.

“What did you just do, Gasthor?”

“I won’t sit idly while you do all the work. I couldn’t do this before because entering Rusthia’s capital alone was too dangerous. I thought I could infiltrate when you transported some forest ogres. I trusted you would succeed, but you found 23 of my people. I admit you exceeded my expectations.”

The elf put on an angry expression and pointed at Legoz. “I wasn’t the one who found them; it was this elf deserter who hid them. I only found him.”

Gasthor looked at Legoz and bowed his head while saying, “Thank you very much for taking care of my people.”

Legoz was surprised that the chief of the ogres would bow his head to him, a simple soldier.

“It was nothing. I just wanted to atone for my sins. I couldn’t help the slaves already in the elven forest, and at least I didn’t want more people to suffer...”

Gasthor smiled. Raiza interrupted him, saying:

“If you want to kiss, do it when you’re alone. Now let’s catch up and plan how we’ll rescue the other forest ogres.”

That was the beginning of the end for the elven forest.

image [https://cdnb.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/078/582/761/large/duval-saul-4323444.jpg?1722505975]