Chapter 3 - Human's Darkness

12 years had passed since the time Rene was reincarnated into this world by Yggdrasil. During her growth, she became capable of controlling her own power and to naturally command complex instructions. Furthermore, she were capable of communicating with every living things which was known to be impossible for anyone.

Today, Rene was simply walking around in the forest looking for the best place to absorb sunlight. It didn't take long for her to find the best place where the sunlight was the strongest, and as soon as she did, Rene instantly sprinted toward the spot and sitted on one of the tree roots that was sticking out of the ground.

"La...la..la..lala," Rene hummed happily as she moved her foots up and down.

"Replenishing yourself, aren't you? Quite the cheerful princess, hahaha," the tree she sat on laughed.

"Oh, I'm sorry Mr.Tree. I just want to get some sunlight right now, so please excuse me for a moment," Rene replied with an apologetic tone while pointing her finger toward her flower.

"No, not at all! In fact, it's a pleasure to able to serve as a sitting place for our little princess. Please, do take your time."

"If you say so then I'll take up on the offer, thank you!"

With the tree's permission, she continued to relax on it while absorbing sunlight. Constantly, Rene rubbed the flower on her head softly while looking at the sky. Suddenly, the tree she was sitting on begin talking again, interrupting her meal time.

"My princess, sorry to disturb your rest, but one of our kinds reported the sight of a human adventurer near our forest boundary!"

"A human? Hmm... usually Trevtas deals with them, right? Where is he?" Rene asked while pressing one of her finger to her chin.

"That elf whereabout is currently unknown, but it is best to expect he won't be coming around anytime soon," the tree answered.

"Unn... is that so? Then, I'll come and see it for myself. I haven't met one, so I'm excited!" Rene exclaimed.

"Then, please be careful, princess," said the tree, worried of her safety.

In the corner of Rene's forest boundary, a man was leaning against one of the tree. Located in front of him, were three big brown wolves that had red lines running up all over their body, pulsating a black aura. On the other hand, the man lost his left arm, bleeding and was only wielding a longsword with his right hand.

He was wearing leather armor but the size didn't fit him correctly as it was a little too big. Potentially, it may had been a stolen armor. The man also had a red hair while wearing an orange bandana, a black eye and slightly black skin.

"Damn, I'm lost in these thick forests and three demonic wolves got me cornered here, what a bad luck," cursed the man angrily.

"No matter, I need to survive and at least get something out of this forest!" he added.

Mustering every last strength he had, the man stood up and took a fighting stance with his weapon. The three wolves knowing that their prey was weakening, allowed him to stand for them to witness his desperate attempt on trying to survive.

As if toying with him, one of the wolves jumped and pushed him back on the ground. Since they are quite strong however, that simple push was enough to cause the man to cough blood as he fell down on the ground against the tree.

"Urgh, they're playing with me!" he thought.

After a while, the wolves noticed that the man was already too weak to be their plaything. They jumped at him, baring their teeth and claws with the mean of ending his life. The victim himself, realizing every effort to stay alive was futile, decides to close his eyes in the end. It was then in a split second, a child voice in the distant can be heard.

"It's corrupted wolves.... is it not possible to save them?" said the voice in a depressed manner.

As if talking to someone, the voice continued, "I see... at the very least, I'll help grant them their rightful rest."

In a short moment after the appearance of the unknown voice, the trembling ground followed by painful cries of the wolves could be felt and heard. Curious on what happened, the man opened up his eyes to only found out that there were stone spears impaled within the chest of the three wolves while being restrained by vines.

Seizing the opportunity, the man stood up once more, grabbed his longsword and decapitated the wolves' heads while they were immobilized. As his was considerably exhausted and injured, he didn't last for a second before falling back down on the ground.

Surveying his surrounding, the man shouted, "Come out, whoever you are!"

For a few minutes, there was no reply and only the silentness of the forest was his answer. He was already dying, so he had no means of leaving the place even if he wanted to.

"Are they gone?" he wondered.

When he was almost about to give up every hope of identifying the voice, a warm sensation can suddenly be felt covering his body. When he looked down, to his surprise, vines were everywhere wrapping his limbs, torso, his left arm and anything that suffered injury. At first, they appear as if to be restraining him, but it didn't take him long to notice that the vines is in fact healing him.

"Please don't move for a while, this won't hurt." the voice reappeared, this time in front of him.

"Who are you? Show yourself!" the man replied.

As requested by him, the owner of the voice slowly stepped outside from one of the tree, which was actually Rene.

To the man, she was a little girl that looked like a child around the age of 12. Rene was wearing a blue colored cloth gradually becoming white as it proceeds downward and appears to have been made out of silk. Her hair was silver, reaching until her shoulder blades and her eyes was green in color while her skin was pale white.

Looking closely, there was a bracelet on Rene's left wrist with a blue rose attached and the same on her right wrist, except it was red instead. However that wasn't all as when the focus of the adventurer turns toward what was on Rene's head. A small white flower, happily dancing on top of her head.

"..... cowlick?" puzzled, he keeps on staring at the flower.

After stepping out of her hiding spot, which was behind the trees, Rene kept herself silent because she was busy focusing on healing the man's injury, where it could had proved to be fatal if untreated after a certain period of time. The patient himself understanding the situation, also didn't talk to allow Rene pour her attention into the healing process.

The result however, was not how he expected. It went way beyond his estimations, to be precise. Every single cut and wound from the recent battles, no matter how deep they were simply vanished in seconds as if they weren't there in the first place.

Even more shocking to him, his left arm which was thought to have leave his side permanently, came back as if nothing had happened to it in the first place. Not believing his eyes at first, he bit his arm, pinched, punched it and also tried to sever it once more but decided it was not a good idea since he wouldn't want to feel the same experience again.

There was also another thought that got him concerned. Often, when someone heals another, lingering phantom limb pain effect can be felt if it had involved a lost limb. But in this situation, he didn't feel even a slight hint of it. 

"Capable of healing and even restoring the former condition of a body, including the mental state of the target... a grade S healer? At the age of 12?!"  he thought, almost not believing it.

When he looked back at Rene, she noticed it and replied with a smile while still keeping her silent attitude in check because she wasn't done on healing him just yet. The man, on the other hand, kept staring at her, ask if trying to ask for answers.

Unable to contain his curiosity anymore, he started talking to Rene, "Little girl.... just who are you?"

Done with her job, she pointed her finger at herself and said, "Me? My name is Rene, and I'm an adventurer!"

Before Rene interfered and helped him, she was warned by the plants as to not reveal her identity as the Princess of Nature because it may attract unnecessary threat to herself. As such, she is under the disguise as an adventurer, at least when she meets a human.

"An adventurer? What are you doing in a place like this?" the man questioned.

"Rude.. how about you introduce yourself as well first?" she replied, unhappily.

"Oh, I'm sorry for forgetting my courtesy. My name is Croiz Lucifer, the leader of the 4th Reconnaisance Troop under the Valtzan Empire."

As he claims it, Croiz placed his hand in his bloody pouch painted in red with the wolves blood, and started to rummage through it. Seconds later, he made the face of a someone who found what they were searching for, and pulled his hand out of the pouch attached to his front.

Holding it in his hand, was a metal which looks like silver that had the picture of two snake biting a hand engraved on it. Although, Rene simply stared at it with an uninterested face even if Croiz seemed proud to reveal his own identity.

At the first glance it seems like a normal metal but when Rene focused on it, some strange mana dwells within it. Curious, she tried to touch it but the moment when her little finger made contact with the metal, Rene felt her body suddenly invaded with foreign mana. When she looked back at Croiz, an evil grin was on his face.

"Hehehehe, it was all a lie..... got you." he said while snickering a little.

"What did you do- irk!" Rene tried to ask but then he suddenly picked her up and started sprinting away.

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Surprised of Croiz sudden act and change in attitude, Rene repeatedly hitted his back with her fist in refusal. She tried to call the branches and vines to grab her, but Croiz ran faster than they can reach her. It was then, a sudden change of the magic flow within her surrounding alerted her.

"This... this is... teleportation magic?!" Rene thought.

"NOOOO, guys! Help me!" screaming in fear, she desperately tried to seek help before she was teleported away.

"Your highness! We can't reach you, you are moving way too fast for us to grab hold of!" the trees and vines replied through telekinetic communication.

As Croiz kept running, the view within Rene's surroundings started to become blurry and shift into another completely different one. Gradually, the voice of Rene's companions within the forest became harder to hear, and soon enough, could no longer be heard.

Rene felt that the magic flow had stabilized after some time and realized, that the teleportation magic was successfully executed. That also means that she was taken away from her home forcefully, and may no longer see them any longer in her life.

For a short moment, tears ran down her cheek as she thought of it.

Then, Croiz threw her into a room or more like, a cage. Closing the bar in front of her, he stared at her and grinned.

"You are sure to fetch a good price in the auction market," Croiz said while slowly turning the key to lock her.

"Never trust a stranger, kid. Not like that will change anything now, HAHAHAHAHAHA!" while laughing, Croiz walked away with the keys.

"....."

Rene was incapable of talking, caused by the sudden mana invasion into her body. The princess, never before seen the darkness of humanity had witnessed it right then. Not knowing how to respond, she regressed her mental activity in order to protect herself.

In a corner of her mind, roams the memory of her playing with her companions out in the open field...

.

..

...

[The next day]

"Wake up, wake up! I'm going to the Auction Hall today!" knocking on the iron bars with his key, he tried to wake up Rene.

"Naturally, to auction you off, of course, hehehe," he continued while unlocking the cage.

As Croiz stepped inside the cage, Rene attempted to sprint toward the exit as she woke up but was grabbed by him and then forced her to lay down on the ground. In a swift moment, he equipped a device on Rene's neck that perfectly fits on it. As Croiz was done, he released his grip off her.

Confused, Rene just stood back up and tried to run away again, but this time, a sudden electric shock could be felt by her when she tried to. Falling on her knees, she looked back to Croiz only to see yet another evil smile on his face.

"Heh, don't think of doing anything on your own, little lady," he said while grinning.

"That device, on your neck strips you of your own will, permanently! It's a device, suitable for a slave like you," he continued.

That device was something looked like an iron collar except it had a red pearl at the front center and engraving of runes around it that Rene herself could not understand. She gave him a look of hatred as Croiz simply shrugged and walked outside of the cage. Then, he turned back and looked at Rene.

"Now then, come with me to the auction hall."

Rene, refusing to obey his command just sat back down in the cage, but then yet another electric current flowed through that small body of hers. Breaking in tears a little, Rene had no choice but to stand up and follow him or else, she would die.

Stepping outside of Croiz's small house, Croiz stopped a horse carriage and entered it with Rene. He told the coachman that his destination was the Auction Hall, giving him 10 copper coins while in the process. It appears that the place wasn't so far away from his house, as the coachman estimated they would arrive in 10 minutes.

On the way, naturally, there were plants and animals around. All of them were utterly shocked to see their princess outside her forest boundary, even going as far as attempting to save her but was halted with another command by Rene instead.

"Find an elf..... Trevtas...and inform him... of my... location...please," in a weak manner, she communicated to the pigeons.

"Understood princess! We will bring help, so please, survive until then!" one of them replied.

The pigeons understanding her instruction, flew away and scattered toward various directions in the sky. With that, Rene will have a slight hope of being able to get back if words that Rene was abducted would reach Trevtas's ears.

After getting caught yesterday, she was imprisoned in that dark place and without water as well, so she became slightly weak due to being unable to eat. At the very least momentarily, she could absorb sunlight while on the way to the Auction Hall, despite the absence of water that still made it insufficient for her.

There was also another problem for her. The mana that invaded her body had limited her capability, or interrupt to be exact when she tried to control the nature in her surroundings. As such, she was incapable breaking free on her own in her current state.

Croiz thought that she was an earth type magician and a grade S healer, but in actuality, she was the nature itself. In order to ensure he does not find out about that fact, Rene constantly communicated with the plants in her surrounding so that they would not act regardless of any situations as that would cause Croiz to suspect something was off.

"We're here sir," the coachman notified Croiz.

"Good, thank you," he replied.

Looking at Rene, he said, "Now, come with me."

With a stare full of despise in seconds at first, Rene then followed him exiting the carriage. When she stepped out of the carriage, a big red building was in front of her with handshake symbol on it and just below it was two letters 'A - H' which meant Auction Hall.

"Watch closely, this is the building where slaves get sold and bought, or yourself in this case, hahahaha!" Croiz said, laughing.

As Croiz walked to the building's entrance followed by Rene behind him, he was greeted by a lady wearing a red dress. She appears to be in her 20's and had two hairbuns on her violet colored hair. Her hair also covered her left face so she only saw things through her right eye.

"Welcome, sir! Are you here to purchase, or to auction?" the lady greeted Croiz, then asked.

"To auction my merchandise, her," Croiz answered while pointing toward Rene.

When she focused her attention on Rene, she seemed dazzled at first because Rene was wearing things that a merchandise, or a slave shouldn't be able to afford. Abducted, that was what she first thought, and it was true. As she continued to look at the girl, a slight hint of sadness can be seen appearing on her face.

"So young.... and pretty at that, too..." the lady thought.

Putting her thought aside, she needed to prioritize her job, so she welcomed them, "Very well, please enter and follow the yellow pathway then enter the room at the end of it."

"After that, place the details of your merchandise on the designated documents and the starting bidding price. You can leave the merchandise in our care once you have done that, and then proceed to the main hall by exiting the room and taking the red pathway," she continued.

After hearing the instructions, Croiz went inside Auction Hall and headed to the room placed in front of the yellow pathway. When he was inside, he instructed Rene to stand beside the sofa that was inside the room.

Within the room was a sofa just beside the entrance and a desk located in front of it. On the desk, several papers were placed for the purpose of filling details regarding the merchandise to be auctioned. There was also some lockers of which their purpose were unknown to outsiders.

As he filled the document, Croiz muttered, "Hmm... gender, female.... specialty, grade S healer..... species," reaching the species part, he looked at Rene.

"Just what the hell are you? Well, not like you can talk, anyway," he said.

In the end, he stated her species unknown, and placed the starting price at 50 gold coins which was equivalent to 50000 silver coins or 50000000 copper coins. 1 gold coin in this world were capable of sustaining a normal family's daily necessities for one whole year without having to worry for anything, so 50 gold coin was already a lot to someone like Croiz.

Finished putting the details down, he looked at Rene and an evil grin appeared on his face. Waving to her, he opened the door and went outside to enter the main hall to watch the auctioning process.

While Rene was alone inside the room, tears started to run down her cheek once more. In sadness, she thought,

"............... Is this my fate?"

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Author's Side : Please don't kill me for writing this chapter...

Yeah chapter 3! Also, I recently asked unice about 3rd person narration when it comes to using past and present tense, and turns out you need to use past tense all the time when it comes to 3rd person narration :0, I'm sorry for my past mistakes and i'll try to do my utmost best to make up for it!

Regardless, thanks for reading this chapter and hope you enjoyed it!

Note : Still looking for PR and great thanks to ResonantIce for making me realize my fault and to unice for the advice :).