What most characterizes the race of beastmen is that they do not possess the slightest human feature, they are literally humanoid beasts in their entirety.

And Neledia is of the beastman race, a beastwoman of the canine clan: A gray wolf woman.

She has a well-groomed greyish coat covering her entire body, some parts lighter and others darker. Despite already having fur, you can see what could apparently be taken as a long mane running down her back to the area of her lower back, reaching almost to where her long wolf tail begins.

The body itself made it clear that she was indeed a female of the race. Compared to the werewolves who were quite muscular and broad-shouldered, the female werewolf had a more feminine body with a more attractive silhouette, but they also still had the muscles of the race, the pair of breasts and the long tail coming out behind her, the characteristic ears being adorned with a pair of piercings in each of them.

His yellowish and intimidating eyes studied the integrity of the mercenary woman who was an enemy of the city - Lady Selestia is fine - he spoke with a feminine and adult voice.

At that moment a row of powerful teeth was observable. Something that greatly distinguishes the clothing of women and men of this race is the need to cover themselves, women tend to cover themselves much more compared to men.

Neledia wore sleeveless leather armor with steel plates that were adjusted at the chest area so that they fit perfectly inside them. In the area of the upper back a pair of short combat axes which were used one in each hand, both the handle and the blade have completely black tones and are embedded in a kind of support where these weapons currently rest.

In the back area a steel plate covered it completely and was adjusted with straps which were adjusted in the front part, exactly in the abdomen.

On the forearms were wristbands that appeared to be made of metal plates with many marks of scratches, cuts and bumps. This only indicated the use he gave to these things: defense.

Going down to the hindquarters, a belt with a buckle in the shape of a wolf's head held up the black trousers which highlighted the muscles of the leg, his buttocks and were only long up to the hock area. The aforementioned trousers had a triangular hole in the back, where the tail passed almost from the root without causing any discomfort.

White bandages were placed tightly around the entire area from the tarsus to the metatarsus. Metal plates in the shape of the carpal and metacarpal pads were placed and adjusted underneath them, making them the ones that completely touched the ground.

Finally, almost at the tip of the tail, it held something that looked a lot like a long reddish wristband, at least six centimeters long. Apparently, this was used as an ornament, since it was adorned with white straps and something that looked like a button.

The demi-human, in pain and with a bruise on her stomach, was able to open her eyes, seeing a few meters in front of her her teacher who had caused her so much harm, now suffering in pain while losing blood and all due to a single blow delivered by that beast woman.

He couldn't help but feel joy as his lips curved into a shy smile.

-It was quite difficult for me to find your sweet scent, Lady Selestia. Luckily, I was able to do it in time- Neledia mentioned without taking her gaze away from her adversary for even a fleeting moment, who seemed to be recovering -but next time, I could wait for reinforcements. That way the possibility of victory will be greater and I would avoid being hurt-.

-DAMN IT!- the mercenary complained, now recovered, with a vein of pure fury adorning her neck area -THESE VERMINS ARE INTERRUPTING MY THING AGAIN!- the mercenary woman could now see the person responsible for inflicting such pain on her.

She was not happy to see that it was a werewolf whom she could sell as a combat slave because she was now dizzy and it would be very difficult for her to fight against the new adversary since it was too obvious that the aforementioned was strong.

-He-boss- called the subordinate while a slight tremor ran through his legs, he felt his spine freeze the moment Neledia embedded her yellowish eyes in his -that Beast Woman is Neledia, one of the most renowned guards in the city, a strong werewolf and a heavyweight among the combatants. Now w-we have no other option but to flee-.

-I'm flattered that my enemies know who I am, but don't be mistaken- Neledia said with a face that reflected true anger -you tried to kidnap our people and to top it off you're going after our children, I also have children here. Do you think I'll let them escape without receiving a real punishment- so she put both arms behind her back holding the battle axes and preparing to fight against the intruders.

-Neledia- Selestia called, doing everything she could to make the signs of poisoning imperceptible -we must capture them alive, right now there is a crisis in the city and these people could have useful information regarding that-.

-I understand- with that Neledia once again placed her combat axes in the support adjusted to her back, she looked at the mercenary raising her guard in an impeccable defensive posture.

She would fight only hand to hand, using martial arts. She clenched her wolf hands tightly into a fist. The mercenary slowly and step by step positioned herself in front of her, although several meters in front of her.

At first, he wanted to do the same thing he did to Selestia, poison her, but when he noticed her impeccable posture he understood that it would be pointless. Right now his head was hurt and bleeding, he couldn't think clearly so he decided that for once he would follow his minion's advice and flee the place.

Turning around trying to run and escape is a totally futile action, so she needed a good distraction. She looked at her idiot minion who still continues to call her boss, a real idiot in her opinion because even though he had killed the other one, this fool was still with her.

-It works for me- she thought to herself, weaving some kind of escape plan -it's a fact that that damn animal has the advantage over me, I have no other option but to distract her using the idiot who is still following me, I prefer them to capture him than me- she made some calculations looking for the best option to escape from the place.

-Take this- the mercenary passed the modified knife to her ''partner'' with a face that reflected quite a bit of ''concern'' -I will immobilize her with magic, while you take advantage and attack her with my knife- the subject looked at his boss with his eyes open -We must escape together because separately we will have no chance, it's just the two of us- the poor man in a desperate state smiled believing every word she said, a true fool and the mercenary would take complete advantage of that -When you see that I have immobilized her, kill her-.

Neledia noticed how the injured man made a tremendous effort to stand up and slowly approached the mercenary. Neledia frowned as that only meant that both of them would follow some attack plan -with Lady Selestia in that state it will be completely up to me to capture those two-.

It seemed extremely strange to her that the slave did not try to do anything and even more so that they did not give the order to attack her, although from an objective point of view the slave would not have a chance against them because she was far superior to her.

In case she interfered in the fight, Nelidia planned to knock her out since she did not want to harm a simple slave who is forced to follow orders.

Suddenly the mercenary ran towards her smiling with too much malice impregnated in every fiber of her being, obviously she had a plan in hand and Neledia had to take care of this. The mercenary threw two punches aimed at the beast woman's face, they were too obvious and Neledia was able to intercept them by holding each of the opponent's fists with her hands.

-Don't you think you're underestimating me? There's no point in you continuing to resist- he said with a very bad face- surrender and I'll ask our governors to just imprison you and spare your life-.

-Have you never been taught not to be too confident in front of your enemies? Even more so if they pretend to be on the ropes- he winked at her very mischievously, then his gaze turned to one that exuded confidence.

-Earth Elemental Magic: Earth Dome-.

Instantly the earth dome was formed and unfortunately Neledia's wrists that were held by her opponent were trapped inside the dome.

-It can't be- Selestia exclaimed forcefully seeing the current situation before frowning in a clear sign of pain, a lot of things could happen and the worst would be that from inside the dome the mercenary would amputate Neledia's hands, there was also the possibility that from that distance she would use some magic consisting of shooting rocks as daggers.

With that and according to Selestia, Neledia would not come out unscathed from an attack of that nature.

Fortunately, that, which was the most logical thing the mercenary should do, did not happen.

-I'VE GOT YOU- The companion of the leader of the trio of mercenaries appeared on Neledia's left side -WOLF WOMAN!- he shouted, immersed in ecstasy, and only because of this had he forgotten about the wounds caused by Selestia.

With knife in hand, he just waited to see the Beast Woman's blood spill out through the mortal wound he planned to inflict with a brutal stab. And with the sadistic expression on his face, the mercenary made it clear that he really wanted to make a sieve out of his imminent victim.

To stick that knife into the integrity of the one he considered nothing more than an animal while repeating the process over and over again, leaving that abdomen covered in greyish fur like a sieve and then watching as the organs and guts spilled out of control onto the floor and as a final act hearing the agonizing screams that would be like music to his ears - DELIGHT ME WITH YOUR MELODIOUS SCREAMS! DISGUSTING BEAST WOMAN-.

-NELEIDAAAAA- Selestia shouted, dropping to one knee right on the ground -THAT KNIFE IS POISONED!-.

Neleida, with her facial features distorted into a terrible grimace that said "SHIT," used her tail. She moved it and hit the ground hard. The part that hit the ground was that button-like ornament that had a very interesting secret.

It turns out that this "ornament" is not really an ornament at all, because when it hit the ground, the button that seemed to be part of the accessory was pressed, revealing a blade the same length as the accessory emerging from the rectangular hole that faced the tip of the tail.

She quickly used this as a defensive/offensive means, she is much stronger and faster than her current adversary, so she used this to her advantage. And in the blink of an eye she moved her tail and using the "ornament/weapon" she stabbed the mercenary's ribs, the pain and shock left him immobile for a few moments and Neledia used this to her advantage as well.

He used his superior strength to dislodge his trapped arms from the earth trap, sending a pile of dust flying into the winds. Now, he adopted the best possible position to throw a very well-placed punch. The left leg was completely nailed to the ground and slightly bent, concentrating a lot of force on the joints, the right almost the same way, separated from each other, although on the right the pressure was somewhat less. The left arm was stretched forward using it as a sight and the right one preparing to retreat.

Casting a magic technique.

-Beast Style: Concentrated Strike-.

The force accumulated in the leg was the trigger to start the attack and also helped a lot with the balance when firing the powerful projectile, the right foot went backwards, but it propelled the body with enough force which turned slightly accompanying the punch that had already been launched, now all that was left was to wait for that fleeting moment before hitting the mercenary's abdomen.

-UUUUGGGGGGGGGG- the mercenary spat out an incredible amount of blood at the moment of being hit, a little of that blood even fell on Neledia.

From the demi-human's point of view everything was very fast, although this is because she is not a fighter.

But from Selestia's point of view, every step before throwing the punch was executed perfectly, every movement carried out harmoniously contributed greatly to the power of the punch. Everything contributed to achieving greater impact force: the position of the knees, the swaying of the torso and hips, the elasticity of the shoulder, the backward movement of the other half of the body and finally the powerful punch thrown.

There was a tremendous chance that the subject would go through the wall if he crashed into it, Neledia did not want to destroy anything. So at the moment of impact she deflected her elbow slightly upwards, with this, the exit angle changed and the subject crashed into the ground creating a path above him.

The slave's eyes were wide open, that mercenary, the human who had done so much harm to her, even surpassing her master, was massacred in a single blow.

*Clink*

She heard something fall next to her and her eyes widened even more when she realized it was her teacher's poisoned knife, she was lucky it didn't fall on her.

BAM.

Neledia hit the earth dome hard again, shattering it and doing just as she feared - she escaped, that woman had planned it. She got away with it and escaped using earth magic.

Selestia could see that once the earth dome was discarded, right in the middle of the ground a hole where the mercenary could pass through without problems was created - that was Earth Elemental magic, Excavation - as already indicated, excavation simply consisted of digging through the earth using this magic spell.

Although it is a very basic spell, it was truly useful both for fights and for carrying out construction works in KOSMOS.

-Lady Selestia- the werewolf called somewhat embarrassed as she approached her -I'm very sorry for letting that criminal get away. To make up for my mistake, I'll go look for her in the outskirts of the city. I highly doubt she's gone far so she must be close. But first, allow me to take her to get treated-.

-Don't worry Neledia, you've really done more than enough- he extended his hand and helped her stand up. Neledia believed that Selestia's tired state was caused by the stab wound that seemed to be very deep, but it wasn't the case. As Selestia stood up, she felt her legs fail her and go numb, threatening to fall forward and hit herself hard.

The werewolf notices this and instantly helps her regain her balance, watching as Selestia touched the area of the wound -Lady Selestia, that wound...- it was then that her head made the necessary connections to realize what was really happening to the Elf -Poison! Were you poisoned?- Neledia's eyes widened as if they were a pair of large plates.

Selestia sighed, realizing that it was stupid to lie to the guardian. "That woman stabbed me with a special dagger which injects the venom of a young feathered serpent." However, she tried to put this topic aside. "But right now that's not important."

- WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT'S NOT IMPORTANT! - exclaimed the werewolf, her body language only reflecting her state of anger at what was happening - we must go and get her treated immediately, she knows very well that the venom of a feathered serpent, even if it's from a young one, is deadly.

-I understand your concern and don't think that I'm not worried about my situation. You know, I don't want to die- Selestia mentioned -but you have to believe me, compared to the crisis, my situation is nothing more than a joke. Now we must escort those two so we can interrogate them, it seems that they work with an organization...-.

Both remained completely silent when they realized what was about to happen.

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Very close to them, precisely right in front of the semi-human subject, she stretched out her arm, tremblingly grabbing the handle of the poisoned knife with which the mercenary stabbed Selestia before Neledia arrived. Her trembling grip moved the knife as if a tremor was hitting the area.

Out of the corner of his eye he looked at the other subject who would be the target of a fury that only grew inside him, unquestionably that brutal blow had left him totally out of combat and the recent spitting of a part of his breakfast of the day combined with blood made the deduction obvious.

-Ack, uuggg, kkggg- the mercenary moaned very quietly, making a tremendous effort to send some oxygen to his lungs. He clenched his teeth tightly, it was more than clear that beneath his upper garments a tremendous black hematoma had already formed.

He thought about his boss who had tricked him using simple words, falling into the woman's trap in such an idiotic way -f-fucking bitch, a-after so-so much you pay us like this- the mercenary woman had murdered one of his partners in crime and now she was using him as a distraction so she could escape, it was as if what they had been through together had truly meant absolutely nothing to her.

Suddenly he heard labored breathing coming from just above him.

-You- he called to the demi-human who looked at him tremblingly, glassy eyes and knife in hand -useless inu-slave, a-attack those two w-while I escape-.

Selestia and Neledia had the same line of thought. Did she really think she had a chance of escaping? And that the poor slave would have enough strength to face either of them? She couldn't even take on Selestia who was currently badly wounded and poisoned.

- HAVE YOU NOT HEARD ME? - he shouted, quite annoyed, leaving aside the stuttering, a certain air of fear fused into the order given to the slave who did not flinch in the slightest and only dedicated herself to looking at him with her glassy eyes which transmitted a certain sensation of fear and rage at the same time.

-ATTACK THEM NOW! OTHERWISE I WILL MAKE YOU SUFFER WITH THIS...- he looked at his fingers and remembered that at no time had he put the ring on. He turned his attention to the side seeing the ring casually lying near him. He tried to grab it as quickly as possible, but it was impossible for him to reach it because the demi-human with a quick movement of her hand pushed it away from him.

-FUCKING SLAVE! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?-.

GUISH

-WQ-What are you doing... uggggggg- he complained in pain just as the demi-human stabbed him in the left shoulder area -WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING... AAAHHHH- he tremblingly raised the knife again and once again buried it using all his strength in the body of the unfortunate mercenary.

This time in the lower abdominal area, the subject felt an indescribable pain like never before in his life.

As if hypnotized by some entity, the semi-human slave continued with her action, impregnating each attack with the knife with more force and fury.

She buried the knife in all parts of her body: abdomen, pectorals, arms, even her shoulders, and she did it again and again without even stopping for a single moment to rest. At first she did it with her face reflecting total anger, but now crying and tears accompanied that state, finally her face broke down between bitterness and an unfathomable anger.

-DAMN YOU!- she screamed and she did it with so much rage and desire to kill him like never before, this is probably the only chance in her life to make it come true, to fulfill her wish and carry out her revenge.

-YOU TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME! YOU MADE MY LIFE MISERABLE-.

With each stab, the man resisted less and less as his strength abandoned him. He felt the cold hands of death stretching out his arms, trying to take him to the other side. The half-human, sunk in anger, grief and tears, continued to stab him.

-THEY HUMILIATED ME, THEY BEAT ME, THEY TORTURED ME, THEY HURT ME, THEY RAPED ME, THEY USED ME FOR ENTERTAINMENT, THEY USED ME AS A PRACTICE BAG, THEY OFFERED ME TO OTHERS FOR COINS, THEY STARVED ME, THEY THIRST ME, THEY SLEEPED ME- little by little the blood from the stab wounds dyed his integrity red.

She clenched her teeth tightly and here it was easily observable what Selestia could not see at first glance at the slave, the lack of her four fangs characteristic of the race and clan that surely had been torn out at some point in the past. She continued filling the mercenary with holes with so much rage, so much anger and so much sadness. She had too much hatred accumulated towards this subject who had surely caused her so much harm - they took everything from me... - she said again just at the moment when she seemed to stop her attacks, it was not the case.

-BUT YOU...- she said with tears falling with unfathomable force, crashing mercilessly against the subject's cheeks -YOU WERE THE ONE WHO TREATED ME WORST! THE ONE WHO RAPE ME THE MOST TIMES, THE ONE WHO MADE ME FAIL THE MOST TIMES, THE ONE WHO HIT ME THE MOST TIMES UNTIL MY HEAD WAS WHITE, THE ONE WHO HUMILIATED ME THE MOST TIMES, THE ONE WHO TORTURED ME THE MOST TIMES, THE ONE WHO ABUSED ME THE MOST TIMES, THE ONE WHO MADE ME SUFFER THE MOST TIMES, THE ONE WHO USED ME THE MOST TIMES AS A PRACTICE BAG, THE ONE WHO STARVED ME THE MOST TIMES, THE ONE WHO TRIED TO SUFFOCATE ME THE MOST TIMES, THE ONE WHO TRIED TO DROWN ME THE MOST TIMES-.

I once again remove the knife from the subject's chest, preparing another powerful stab. For a moment it seemed that his resolve had wavered as he remembered certain people, he almost dropped the knife to the side.

-You were... the one who proposed killing and selling my family- he had the handle of the knife in his hands which were shaking and there was nothing he could do to stop the shaking. His eyes closed, his lips curling into a grimace of pure pain -you were... the one who proposed the order not to be able to commit suicide so I could escape from this miserable life-.

-I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU- screaming completely out of control and heartbroken, she drastically increased the pace of her thrusts. But in the same way the river of tears that formed in her eyes intensified to no end, she had finally been able to take revenge on at least one of the three people who had hurt her so much.

With her own hands she was taking the life of the one who treated her the worst, at least the other one was already dead, decapitated by his own boss.

The subject's eyes were completely bulging; he had died in an extremely horrible and bloody manner.

It was Karma that was punishing him for all the evil he had done, not only to the demi-human but to all his victims, and Karma made sure that he received the punishment from the one who was always the victim, now turned into the victimizer.

The subject's torso seemed to be a bloody pulp full of holes resembling some kind of strange strainer, with some flesh sticking out above the skin. The smell of blood flooded the place while a nauseating pool of blood formed beneath those two.

And that was precisely what both Selestia and Neledia thought, as they looked at the scene with their faces almost in a state of shock, as it was not at all pleasant to look at.

-Should I stop her?- Neledia asked, although the truth is that she had no desire to interfere in the vengeance of that half-human. The Gods will know to what extent she was tortured to rid her with so much hatred one of the causers of her pain.

-No- answered Selestia, causing some joy in the werewolf, but not out of malice but because these people, the mercenaries have really done so much, so much harm to many innocent people. -That slave has had a miserable life because of those guys, we are no one to interfere with this-.

Selestia is an extremely kind woman, but she put herself in the slave's place. -If someone murdered my parents and my brother and I had the chance to get revenge on the murderer, I'm pretty sure I would do something thousands of times worse than just stabbing him to death. I would hate for someone to get in my way- obviously the case of her biological parents is something totally different. Neledia looked at Selestia for a brief moment, understanding every point of her -somehow I understand the feelings of that demi-human-.

-I think the same- added Neledia- if someone were to kill my children and my beloved, I am sure that if I caught the murderer I would massacre him without the slightest hint of compassion- Why would I deny it? Neledia was sincere, and not only them. This applies to any person, regardless of race.

The demi-human gave one last stab right in the middle of the mercenary's forehead and with that her revenge ended. She laughed almost psychotically, but soon the laughter faded away, turning into sobs. She covered her face and held her head tightly.

He murdered one of his torturers and despite that he didn't feel well at all, he stained his hands with blood.

-UWAAAAHHHHHHH- she screamed to the sky, clenching her fists tightly and with her eyes closed -I avenged them... they can rest in peace now...- she had ended the life of the one she hated so much.

Selestia and Neledia noticed that everything was over, ignoring the numbness in their legs Selestia approached the demi-human while being escorted by the werewolf. The girls were not alert, they were not even willing to fight because they understood that the demi-human did not have the slightest desire to fight.

-Tell me- The beautiful Elf called her, positioning herself very close to her -Do you need help?- The demi-human deigned to look at her, and this was the first time she saw a woman as beautiful as Selestia was. Good body, good presence, pretty eyes and pretty hair. She literally had it all. While her? She thought she wasn't worth comparing herself to.

-I'm so sorry- the girl said between sorrows and sobs, making a titanic effort not to break down right there -I never wanted to hurt the people of your city, but if I didn't, they would abuse me and I am no longer able to bear this life of endless suffering and so much torture... so much abuse, all for being born as a demi-human within this damned empire. Damn humans- she clenched her teeth tightly -I hate them all...-.

-We need to ask you some questions regarding the people you work with, so could you join us?- as a reflex action, Selestia looked at the deceased at her feet, narrowing her eyes, something that was noticed by the demi-human who also looked away, looking at the one she had recently murdered.

-That woman you fought was my master- she touched the collar that marked her as a slave and took a sigh- and these two were her followers, my master is a not very well known but quite strong mercenary who loves and is ecstatic with gold. She will do any kind of work in order to earn some gold, be it kidnappings, murders, torture and much more. My family is not fighters and with the kidnappings of our race on the agenda we had no other option but to travel to the Beast Land empire even without any gold for us. Unfortunately we came across these three-.

-They killed my father for trying to protect us, they sold my mother to a brothel for having a pretty figure- she did her best not to burst into tears- they threw my younger brother completely tied up into a swamp full of hungry beasts which devoured him horribly and they did it just to kill boredom- she remembered that bloody moment feeling her heart break while her brother screamed called her and begged for her help- they delighted in the sight of my brother being eaten even though he was alive and they forced me to watch him die, mocking me for not being able to help them-.

-Finally my beloved was thrown as bait to a gigantic Titanoboa that was chasing us, they used him to gain some time so we could escape...- it was impossible for her to contain her tears which fell on the man's inert body without mercy -and they put this cursed slavery collar on me, subjecting me to a terrible life of slavery, taking away everything I had left... they even took away my opportunity to escape this life through suicide-.

Selestia felt her heart break as she heard those words. "How sad," both she and Neledia thought as if their minds were intertwined.

The demi-human lowered her gaze. "So will they kill me?" she asked with a dead voice and without the slightest hint of hope in her words. "Or will they torture me?"

On the other hand, Selestia and Neledia had faces that reflected nothing but sadness. How hard must this slave's life have been for only those thoughts to come to her mind?

-We just want to interrogate you and get information from you- Selestia.

-So after the interrogation... could you please kill me?- she began to sob even louder -I-I don't want to be a slave anymore... I'm tired of being beaten for anything I do, for sleeping more than two hours in a row or for the sound my stomach makes from starving to death- she looked up with her eyes so swollen.

Selestia could feel a terrible sorrow being transmitted through those eyes - I implore you, after the interrogation just kill me. Don't give me back my master, I can't stand being tortured by that monster anymore. I will tell you everything I know, I only ask that you kill me later. I beg you... end my suffering once and for all, allow me to reunite with my family. Please, I don't want to live anymore-.

Selestia looked at her almost in shock, she didn't know what the hell to say. What the hell should she do? For obvious reasons, the most important thing was to interrogate this demi-human. Then what? Would she really kill her? Did this girl really want to throw her life away as if nothing happened?

Although thinking about it a little bit, she has lost all her loved ones and has had a miserable life for a long time. Most likely, she doesn't even have the desire to continue living. Even so, Selestia wouldn't be able to comply with the request to kill her.

-I'm sorry, but I...- she was interrupted once again by the werewolf who decisively held out her hand. -If you cooperate with us, I promise to end your life in the most painless way possible...-.

-Thank you very much- added the slave, extending her hand to help her up. Selestia's eyes conveyed a certain feeling of anger, Neledia looked at her and smiled somewhat shyly, she understood everything -don't worry- for some reason her smile conveyed these words to her.

Finally the reinforcements arrived, it had been really hard for them to find them because unlike Neledia they did not have a good sense of smell to be able to track them. They saw the scene, the two dead on the ground.

-It seems you've done your job, Neledia- said one of the ten guards, a human at least 1.75 meters tall -they seem to be mercenaries, you've really gone too far with this one- pointing to the ground, right at the one the half-human slave had killed.

-Even if you don't believe it, it wasn't me who killed him- Neledia.

The guards decided that there was no point in discussing these matters; the dead were already dead and now they had to clean up the place, confiscate the belongings of the dead and bury them.

-That slave is...-.

-Don't worry- said Selestia- I'll take care of her. One thing I would like you to do is a complete search of the area-.

-I fought against the boss of these guys- pointing once more towards the dead -that unfortunate woman used her partner as a distraction while she escaped underground with a spell, we are still far from the city limits so most likely she is still around these alleys-.

"Understood," said the guard, who seemed to be the leader of this group of ten.

He was no idiot, so Neledia did not fail to conclude the entire explanation he intended to provide. What she intended to say was that they should carry out the search for her, before leaving they were given a review of the situation and the corresponding description of the woman's appearance because they cannot go in blindly.

-Alright, everyone listen up- the nine guards listened to number ten, who as already said is the leader of this group -we will divide into five groups made up of two of us in each one, we will be looking for the woman who is the boss of these mercenaries, I hope you have memorized the description that was given to us. Remember to be careful in these hallways because the possibility that another group of mercenaries or kidnappers are stationed waiting for the unwary is very high, if you find a suspicious group and must enter into combat, send a signal to the skies using some long-range magic spell that is striking enough for all of us to see-.

-YES SIR- they all responded.

-Begin the operation- with that the groups had instantly been formed, they didn't need to choose who would go with whom at all. They were so experienced and trained that they already knew who to go with, who their skills for this situation would be most useful with. It only took a very short moment for everyone to go and split up in the alleys.

-Now Lady Selestia, it's our turn to do our thing- the Wolf woman called -I'm really sorry about this, but could you turn around- the somewhat sad demi-human nodded, turned around and felt her hands being tied.

Selestia had no objection, despite everything she had been through, she tried to kidnap children from her city and that was something that unfortunately should not be ignored -I'm sorry about this- said the beautiful Elf -but I hope you understand your situation, even so don't worry, it is protocol to follow-.

The demi-human nodded with dull eyes -no problem, anyway, I can die later, so this doesn't matter anymore- before leaving Selestia picked up the ring that was right next to them. She thought for a moment and her eyes lit up with a slight glow -that could help-.

-By the way, Lady Selestia- Neledia called again- regarding the poison and your wound...-.

-Ah, yes- he replied -once we leave him at the base of the guard division I will go to get treatment-.

In this way the trio undertook a short trip to the base where the slave would be interrogated.

When they managed to get out of the alleys and return to the same place where she had tried to take the children, Selestia, with a tremendous effort to appear to be in total control of herself even though she felt her legs go numb, only walked to where she left her pretty shoes. She put them on and returned with Neledia ready to go to the base. Her wound hurt, but at least it had stopped bleeding.

Suddenly they saw something truly strange. "Neledia, look at that," Selestia called, pointing a few meters to their sides.

"Adventurers?" said Neledia, who apparently hadn't noticed anything strange about that.

But for Selestia it was quite strange, why? Well, there were many adventurers, really many. There were at least thirty of them walking seriously, discussing with their respective groups or alone. Another seemed to be next to her partner, both studying a map that was apparently the one provided by the city.

It must have been a map of the surrounding forest. And that was the strange thing - yes... but they are all girls. There is not a single man among them.

Here Neledia raised an eyebrow realizing that the young Lady was absolutely right. It is not at all strange to see groups made up of only women, but the strange thing was that in that crowd there had to be more than one group of girls and also several of them must be going alone.

Curiosity got the better of Neledia. "Hey," she called out to a human adventurer who approached them without any problem. The semi-human slave, noticing that a human was approaching them, couldn't help but hyperventilate. She quickly backed away and hid behind Neledia, trembling with fear.

-Their traumas are very strong-was Selestia's thought. The adventurer looked at her strangely wondering what had happened because as far as she knew she hadn't done anything at all to the girl.

Neledia completely turned her attention away - Tell me, what's going on? Are you all heading somewhere? -

-Yes- the girl answered friendly -it is a special mission only for female adventurers given by the governors to the guild- Neledia nodded, obviously the woman was hiding something.

-My parents gave the mission? And only for girls?- said Selestia truly surprised since something like this has never happened before -What is it about?-.

-I'm truly so sorry Lady Selestia- the girl responded in the best way possible and bowing slightly- but according to your orders, the information regarding the mission must not be spread by any of us or it will result in serious fines for all the participants of this mission, the governors themselves approved it-.

-I understand- said Selestia, would she give up? Of course not, she would go to her parents from whom she would take every ounce of information regarding the mission.

-Then I'm leaving- said the adventurer -I have to make some plans with my teammates. I hope you have a good day and that your friend- referring to the slave -is able to overcome her fear of humans- incredibly the adventurer knew immediately that the girl's reaction was out of fear towards her for being a human, by the clothes the slave was wearing she knew that she was a slave and that helped make it easier to deduce the situation.

This type of reaction from newly arrived slaves was nothing new, as many of them arrived in the city with a lot of traumas that only the passage of time could heal.

-It is better that we continue- said Neledia -by superior orders they will not give us any information about the blessed mission, so we better go quickly to the base and interrogate this girl and you go be treated-.

-And then kill me...- he couldn't miss the opportunity to remind them.

Selestia sighed with some weariness, nodding, -let's go-.