Ch.72 The Kings Slayer
Ch.72 The Kings Slayer
She continued to follow Rya's trail until she reached the red lighted district of the city. The area had many bars and establishments that offered entertainment for their clients. There were also many performers walking around doing tricks for patrons.
When she followed the trail all the way until she arrived at Bella's Place.
'Huh? She went into a female brothel? Do dark elves' bed the same team? Or does she not like men? But she looked so cute with that Quin guy?' Nieren thought to herself as she stopped in front of the door and cracked it open to see Rya standing in the reception area. 'She's here!' Nieren said as she slowly closed the door.
'Okay she's hanging in there and I will wait for her to come out. Now where is the best place to find and observe her from?' Nieren thought as she walked around the area looking for a good spot.
As the sun set, Nieren decided to sit outside the building and relax while waiting for Rya.
'If she's coming up with an evil plot and I stop it, would I become a legend? Hehe. That would be great!' Nieren thought to herself as she sat down at the bench and leaned back against the wall.
***
And then darkness fell over the city, but Nieren wasn't worried about that. She knew Rya wouldn't do anything stupid in the dark. But that's when she noticed four cloaked figures sneaking around the back of the building.
'Who are these guys? Must be more dark elves coming to join up with Rya. You're not getting away with whatever you're doing!' Nieren said to herself as she got up to go check what they were up to.
As she was going around to the back of the building, she noticed a spell of silence was cast surrounding the area.
'What is this? A magical artifact?' Nieren thought to herself as she approached the group.
That's when the four figures went through the back door.
'What the hell is going on." Nieren cast her cloaking and hind in the alley waiting to see who would be coming out. The artifact seemed to only work for 10 minutes as Nieren was still hiding in the shadows of the dark alleyway. And what seemed like another 10 minutes had passed when her ears picked up a quick battle was happening inside the brothel.
'A-Are they killing someone? What the hell are they doing?' Nieren said to herself as she waited to see who came out.
***
The door opened up as a man in a hood was looking around the alley to see if the coast was clear.
'Huh? Is that guy a human? So, he's a spy for her?' Nieren thought to herself as she saw the hooded figure going back into the brothel.
"Are we clear to move out!" He said as he grabbed the arm of a woman.
'W-Wait that's the dark elf? Why are there tears in her ey~' Nieren's thoughts stopped when she saw the slave collar around Rya's neck. 'W-WHAT!? She got collared! What do I do! Do I help her? Help her escape?' Nieren thought to herself while subconsciously rubbing her neck as stood there trying to make heads or tails of what was going on until she saw the last figure coming out of the brothel.
The hair on the back of her neck stood on end, 'T-The Kings Slayer! The Black Roses enslaved her. Oh GODS!' Nieren was scared stiff when she saw Jeremiah. She's heard of the stories of the Kings Slayer claiming the lives of nine Royals in his time with the Black Roses. She's seen him in action before during the war with the wood elves when he killed the Elven King causing the wood elves tribes to separate and run. Since then, the wood elves standing in the world have fallen on the continent.
The Wood Elven King was her uncle. She was there to witness his death that day of the collapse of her kingdom and knew that many of her people became enslaved by the human Kingdom of Marn which were the ones to hire the Black Roses. Her and her friends fled to the neighboring human kingdom of Fiafyr because they knew that slavery wasn't allowed in their territory and there was the dwarven city with a dwarven Lord that they thought they could seek refuge.
They knew it would be a hard journey but somehow Nieren and her mother were the only ones that made it to the city of Ironside 30 years ago. She may not have been living her old noble life anymore, but she was living in peace as best as she and her mother could.
Nieren didn't know why the Kings Slayer was here, but it can't be a good thing.
With the memories of her uncle's death, she didn't move nor took a breath as the four figures walked down the alleyway, away from her.
She hid in her cloaked state for a few minutes even after the Kings Slayer was out of sight. After a while the cloaking spell wore off as she was crouched there in the shadows. Releasing her clenched fists that were making her palms hurt after when her fingernails started digging into her skin for gods knows how long.
After calming herself down she realized that Rya was captured, and the Kings Slayer wasn't there anymore. 'What should I do?'
Nieren couldn't just leave her to the same fate as her people. She needed to find a way to free her. “She may be a dark elf, but she’s an elf nonetheless.” She said to herself out loud as she finally came out of the shadows.
'I-I can't just leave her to the Black Roses. But I can't take on the Kings Slayer by myself. I must find her friends!' Nieren thought to herself as she came up with a plan.
"The wolf-kin! If I find her, she'll get that Quin guy. Then I can break her out." She said to herself as she ran to the street.
Nieren was going around the city trying to find the wolf-kin because there's no other breast-kin in the city so she thought it would be easier for her to find.
'That Wolf-kin took that guy to the restaurant district. Please be there!' She thought to herself as she jogged down the crowded streets where taverns were.
'Gods, why is it so busy!' she thought to herself as she slowed down.
As she looked around all over the place. 'If I won a lot of gold where would I go? I'd probably head to Bao'Hai to spend it?' Nieren thought to herself while weaving through the crowds of people with ease.
She saw a sign for The Bao'Hai, the best restaurant in the city.
"This is her place!" She thought to herself as she rushed towards the door.
She pushed the heavy wooden doors open and walked in.
"Hello?" She called out hoping to see the wolf-kin.
"Great! Now an elf wants to dine here. Bao'Hai must be falling on hard times," a voice said behind her.
"What did you say?" Nieren asked, turning quickly to face a human male dressed in fancy attire.
"Tsk! We have serviced your kind before. Just like that mutt that's came in here making a mess of the VIP room. If she wasn't with that young rich guy, she would have been kicked out. But you're not allowed. Get out." He said with a sneer.
'She's here and that guy too. I think his name is Percy? Does he think that Percy is rich?'
"I said get out!" The man yelled again, getting in Nieren's face.
"I'm with that rich guy. You know, he looks like a ranger?" Nieren said with a smirk.
"You stupid elf! If you want to eat here th-" the man was interrupted by a dwarf in fancy attire from behind him.
"Jacob! What are you doing berating a customer!" he yelled at his co-worker.
"But she's an elf! She shouldn't even be allowed in here! This is a human and dwarf establishment!" Jacob argued back.
"Enough! We are a GOLD establishment. And if she's with Mr. Percival than she is welcome. Hell, Mr. Percival can bring in an Ogre if he has the gold. SO SHUT IT! AND GET USED TO THE NEW BUSINESSES HERE!" the manager yelled at Jocab.
Jocab straightens up after getting yelled at.
'Wow! It's like he was never rude to me.' Nieren thought to herself.
"Madam can you show us some proof that you're with the young gentleman? Or else we'll have to ask you to leave." The manager stated as he looked at her.
Nieren panicked for a moment before realizing that she had the bag of gold she won earlier today.
"Here you go. This is Mr. Percival's gold," Nieren said as she placed the bag on the counter.
The manager took the bag and counted it. "Huh... One thousand gold!"
Jacob began to sweat a little when he heard this number.
"One thousand gold?!" He yelled.
"Yes! And there are still two more bags of gold!" Nieren said with a smile.
Jacob and the manager both look at each other.
"Uh um. My name's Padera. I'm the owner and manager here. Please allow me to show you to Mr. Percival's room," Padera said nervously.
'He seems nervous. Well servers them right for yelling at me,' Nieren thought to herself while grabbing her bag of gold.
***
Padera lead Nieren through the main area of the restaurant where everyone was staring at Nieren.
They arrived at the end of the hall where they turned the corner to see a large door.
"This is the VIP room. For now enjoy a free meal and then we'll talk about payment later madam," Padera said nervously.
"Thank you very much! But I came here for business. SO, I'll take some duck to go please." Nieren said as she began walking down to the door.
As she walked away Padera looked at the bags of gold. He has never seen such a high amount of gold! 'Jacob needs to stop yelling at customers with sacks of gold dammit,' Padera thought to himself.