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Author: The Sole Survivor	Original Source: SFACG
Translator: CatatoPatch	English Source: Re:Library

Sponsored by: Quentin Carey, tyler scheuering, LoliMaster 69, Chocobeanz, Kordell Mckee, Wesley Brown, The Black Fiend, Primula Hope, nord_nikon, Wyverius Blackfire, Silva, Yanga, HatefullMango, Andrea Boudas, Alex Rodrigues, Mazamaicus, Emblyon, Alexander Semino, maou99sama, Sager

Amidst my wild delusions, Aishael came up and kissed me on the hand. To be exact, she was lapping up the bits of the bread still left on my right hand. Because of their proximity to my fingers, she ended up kissing my finger inadvertently… it was kinda cold and nice… but it wasn’t because I liked little girls! The girls I like just happen to be little!

So she wasn’t trying to seduce me…

Now that the breadcrumbs were gone, she released my hand and went back to her position.

Just like that, the scene descended into awkward silence once more. In just the span of ten minutes, this awkwardness had happened multiple times. Just based on that fact alone, I had to hand it to this little ice princess, her ability to end conversations was something else.

“You mustn’t waste food.” She looked me right in the eyes with utmost seriousness, to the point where I couldn’t help but feel a little ashamed… I actually got lectured by an elementary school kid. I mean, she’s not wrong. It’s still food, even if it’s hard as a rock. But I still stand by what I said before, that bread isn’t meant for eating!

In a lot of ways, you could judge a person by the way he or she treated food. At least… that was what everyone else said -I can’t attest to its accuracy. Either way, the way she treated food so dearly was very telling.

First off, such an obsession with not wasting food had to be learned, or had to be caused by severe shortage. Based on how naturally she lapped up a rock masquerading as a bread, she must have had this stuff for a long time now. Given how little resources were actually allocated to these Half-Elves, it would be safe to say that she wouldn’t have had too many of these to eat as well. In light of that, it was only natural for her to value such a piece of edible weaponry so highly.

Unlike the worryless world I had left behind on Earth, food wasn’t something you could just pick up from a supermarket. Even more so for these Half-Elves. The Dark Elves despised them with a passion and even confined them to the same area they kept slaves. Their rations were not only little but of a low quality. In such conditions, feeling full was basically impossible. Was it any wonder that she would lick up those breadcrumbs? Of course, it could all just be an act… either way, she was trying to use her actions to tell me that the Half-Elves had it really bad.

Now if it was the old me back on Earth, I wouldn’t have understood the logic behind this mistreatment at all. Yes, a Half-Elf was definitely a dilution of their bloodlines… but who cares? As long as they are pretty, it’s all fine in my books, am I right? Yet having experienced a life in this fantasy world myself, I was beginning to understand why they would show such aversion to their bloodlines thinning.

A normal Dark Elf had the normal lifespan of at least five hundred years. A human, on the other hand, was merely a hundred or so if he wasn’t powerful. Objectively speaking, their genes were inferior to Dark Elves.

The four hundred year gap also meant that any form of romance was an uphill battle. If one could not even accompany you to the end of your days, what right did that person have to claim your heart at all? Barring some special circumstances, the idea of marrying such a race was just absurd, like marrying a dog! Their offspring would be objectively inferior and so would their future offspring. All inferior products of a failed coupling.

This was why the Half-Elf population was strictly monitored and even kept with the slaves. The more extreme Dark Elves would even come to Slave Chasm to find Half-Elves to kill. They would first apply for a duel with the Half-Elf of their choice then duke it out in the colosseum.

During such matches, ties were forbidden. You either killed your opponent or you died. A tie meant death for both sides. And yes… there were those who saw killing Half-Elves as a sport.

Under such circumstances, their living conditions could be said to be worse than slaves.

“Elder Lanbael.”

“Yes, your holiness.” She replied with utmost deference. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if she suddenly dropped to her knees right now and started licking my boots.

“You’re the one in charge of this place, correct?”

She sneaked a glance at my suspiciously calm face and hesitated for a second before answering, “yes, this place is managed by me.”

“Well. These… things are inedible. I want them changed for something fresher.” I tossed the rock-like bread towards Lanbael who was at a loss as she caught it. Then, under her confused eyes, I smiled thinly and said, “since we shouldn’t waste food at all, how about you finish it.”

“I…” She gripped down hard on the black bread to no avail. Her face, on the other hand, was decidedly twisted.

“I guess all that talk of holiness was just an act then.” As I said that, I turned towards Paliseth and gave her a deprecating smile.

“Elder Lanbael!”

The moment Lanbale saw that stern glare from Paliseth, she knew there was no escaping now. She either ate the bread… or she died. Should she go out with a bang or accept the bread?

Naturally, that wasn’t even a choice at all. She stuffed that bread into her mouth along with her shame and began chewing… and failed.

The art of eating such a… delicacy was clearly lost on her, seeing as this was the first time she had even touched the darn thing. For someone in such a lofty position as hers, eating the same food as a slave was just unthinkable. The mere act of doing so brought a tear to her eyes. Just from that alone, one could tell how much of a mental collapse she was going through now.

However, that only made me want to rub more salt in her wounds. “Don’t you like it?”

“I do…”

That’s right… absolutely delicious…

Now that the bread had found its proper home, I turned to look at Aishael. “Are you happy now?”

“Why did you help me?” Aishael asked with that same icy look on her face.

“I had a feeling that there was some enmity between the two of you. And I feel somewhat responsible for what happened to Aisha.”

“Mother… her fate was inevitable.” Just like before, her face was the picture of coolness, like her mother’s death was just another page in the book of her life. However, I knew her heart was wrenching from the pain right now.

To be perfectly honest, Aisha did not have to die at all. If I was only a little more decisive, I could have stopped the fight before that fateful stab to the throat happened. Yet who would have expected Aisha to choose death like that… all just to avoid being humiliated.

Just based on this short interaction with the Half-Elves, I was able to glean a fair amount of information. First, the Half-Elves were no better than slaves in the eyes of the Dark Elves. Aishael held a lofty position amongst these Elves. Next, Lanbael’s relationship with these Half-Elves couldn’t be any worse. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if this animosity boiled over soon.

If I had to hazard a guess as to why these Half-Elves treated Aishael so specially, it would be because she was the granddaughter of the Matriarch. Even if Paliseth herself did not know of this granddaughter, the same couldn’t be said of the others in the clan. She could be the key to changing their treatment as long as they played their cards right.

Because of her position as their de-facto leader, Aishael would naturally look out for the interests of the Half-Elves. That immediately put her at odds with Lanbael who placed a heavy emphasis on blood purity. Normally, Lanbael could have just done away with such opposition, but given that this was the Matriarch’s granddaughter she was dealing with, even she had to think twice before acting.

The fact of the matter was that the blood of Paliseth flowed in Aishael. While Paliseth herself might have killed her own children on a whim, that didn’t mean Lanbael enjoyed that privilege as well. And even if Paliseth did not know of Aishael before, who was to say Paliseth wouldn’t just suddenly remember that she had a granddaughter? Like what was happening today…

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Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

If you liked my work translating Devil’s Evolution Catalog, feel free to check out Song of Adolescence. Also, every comment is appreciated even though I might not reply. I do read them.

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Author: The Sole Survivor	Original Source: SFACG
Translator: CatatoPatch	English Source: Re:Library

Sponsored by: Quentin Carey, tyler scheuering, LoliMaster 69, Chocobeanz, Kordell Mckee, Wesley Brown, The Black Fiend, Primula Hope, nord_nikon, Wyverius Blackfire, Silva, Yanga, HatefullMango, Andrea Boudas, Alex Rodrigues, Mazamaicus, Emblyon, Alexander Semino, maou99sama, Sager

Given how Aishael was able to lower the temperature of her surroundings in an instant, she had to at least be a Five-star Magister.

Since she found out that her foe was dead, she was back to being the same frigid little girl she was. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought that she did not care about her mother’s death. However, I knew that it wasn’t that she didn’t care, rather it was that she was already prepared for her mother’s death from the beginning.

A slave gladiator either won, died or was humiliated. Those were the only options available to them.

Because of Aishael’s little episode, the mood was rather awkward again.

So far, out of all the people she had spoken to, only Reyage had gotten off unscathed. Everyone else was basically a victim of her acidic lashing. You could almost say that this little girl had talent in this field. Even Paliseth ended up with the short end of the stick after their exchange.

Naturally, that wasn’t to say that Paliseth wasn’t any less talented either. It wasn’t that she truly lost, she just knew my stance on this matter, and that stance was definitely in favour of Aishael. If the two of them were to ever get into an argument, I would clearly stand on Aishael’s side. This little girl was just too pitiful for me to consider otherwise. Not only were her parents all dead, she now had an uncaring granny to deal with as well.

Being the cunning old hag that she was, Paliseth smartly chose not to dwell on this matter, even if Aishael had angered her. In fact, she even put on a benevolent smile like an elder looking at her favourite grandchild.

All this was a result of Paliseth’s determined efforts at currying my favour. Whether it was the death of a son or swallowing her pride, nothing was off the table.

Because of the awkwardness of our current situation, some of the surrounding Half-Elves began to congregate around us. Slowly, they began to walk up to us, surrounding us in the process. And unlike those Half-Elves we saw at the elevator, these Half-Elves were unabashedly hostile towards Lanbael. Not that they were showing it openly, but they weren’t really hiding it either.

Seems like this Lanbael hasn’t been treating them well normally.

“Hey! What do you mongrels think you are doing?! Have you grown tired of living?!” Realising their intent, Lanbael swiftly yelled at the daring Half-Elves, every bit the practised tyrant of this little domain. “How dare a bunch of mongrels act so disrespectfully in front of his holiness! Treasonous, the lot of you!”

The moment the T-word came into play, the Half-Elves almost gave in on the spot. Whatever anger was propping them up had dissipated in an instant, replaced by an inbred subservience hammered into them by Lanbael.

However, just as she had a smug smirk on her face, the Half-Elves rallied together once more and pushed forward a couple of steps.

“You… fine! Since you lot want to die that much, I’ll happily oblige!”

Having said that, Lanbael promptly took up a combat stance while the other Half-Elves prepared for a last desperate charge as well.

However, the impending clash never came to be. With just a simple sentence from Aishael, the entire situation was defused. “It’s alright. Stay back for now, I wish to talk to that old hag over there who claims to be my grandmother.”

Claims to be?

Even with Paliseth’s jadedness, that last bit rattled her quite a bit… Man, would it kill you to not provoke her?!

I hurriedly coughed to draw their attention towards me, then… nothing. Everyone was staring at me right now, but I had clearly not figured out what my next step was… awkward…

“So… what do you Half-Elves usually do?”

It was just casual chatter on my part, yet Aishael seemed to have been considering this question quite seriously. She paused for a good long while then looked me right in the eyes. “Guard the slave gladiators… and fight.”

Oh? So they take part in fighting as well then? But the equipment they are training with is really bad. Even those Half-Elves guarding the slaves seemed to be poorly equipped as well. And that was me being polite.

“And what do you guys eat on a daily basis?”

Still out of a topic to talk about, I asked the next thing that came to mind.

“Eat?” Aishael was stumped once more. This time however, she waved towards a mature-looking Half-Elf and beckoned for her. The lady took out a small sack from her waist and threw it at Aishael who couldn’t even be bothered to open it as she simply shoved it in my direction and said, “this.”

“This?” I took the sack from her and gave its contents a feel. Before I even opened it, my nose was immediately assaulted with a foul odor. It was an acrid smell, the kind you would expect from rotting food.

My brows furrowed subconsciously as I prepared to open the dreaded sack. At the side, Lanbael anxiously whispered in my ears. “Your holiness, there’s no way these lowly Half-Elves would ever have anything good to eat. If your holiness is hungry, I can prepare…”

“It’s okay. What I eat is different from you all anyway. I’m just curious. I’m sure you won’t mind right, Elder Lanbael?”

“Not at all… not at all… why would I ever…”

Faced with my smile that didn’t seem like a smile at all, Lanbael couldn’t help but break out into a cold sweat. One could almost describe her expression as being slightly twisted right now. She probably already knew that I liked Aishael. Furthermore, while this little girl might have been really rude towards most here, she hadn’t done much to anger me yet. The fact that Lanbael seemed so apprehensive only made me even surer that there was something in this sack that I had to see.

As expected, the moment I opened up the sack, I was greeted by a translucent bottle of white, slightly viscous liquid. Next to it was a black piece of bread that looked more like a stone and probably hit like one as well.

Because the bottle wasn’t sealed up, it gave off a sour, fermented smell. As for what the liquid was, I just knew it was dangerous and definitely expired. The rock-like bread itself was probably every dentist’s nightmare, or perhaps wet dream -depends on how you look at it. You could tell from a glance that someone didn’t even bother milling the wheat before baking it into bread.

No way… is that mold I see growing on the bread? So it’s not just a blunt weapon, it’s a chemical weapon as well… What the fish, is that even edible anymore!? A pig wouldn’t eat that…

Naturally, the bread wasn’t actually as hard as a rock, but it wasn’t that far off either. At very least, it would hurt if I tossed it at someone.

“Is this what you eat normally?” I picked up the black weapon with a pinch, lips twisted in a curl. “And is this really bread?”

Aishael didn’t respond immediately. She instead took the bread from me and then took a bite out of it. She did not take a forceful bite of the bread but instead chewed on it slowly. Finally, after a good long while, she managed to bite off a small chunk of the bread. She kept it sloshing about in her mouth first, allowing the stale bread to soak in her saliva and soften before swallowing it.

Madness… rather than eating a piece of bread, that’s more like fine dining!

Under my disbelieving eyes, the now moistened bread travelled visibly down her throat, at which point she said, “we get two pieces of bread instead during wartime.”

“Two pieces of bread?” I was stunned. My finger reflexively shot up to point at the bread. “You eat this even during times of war?”

“Mhm.”

I know I’ve asked this before but… is that even edible? Are you sure they didn’t give you that extra piece of bread to use as a backup weapon? Your normal weapons do look pretty bad in comparison after all…

I practically snatched the bread from her at this point. I couldn’t bear to watch a little girl munch on a black rock any further. Bread in hand, I pinched it with my other hand to test its hardness. I felt the moistness from the point where she bit down… should I try it out? Hmmm… maybe not. I’ll just give it a sniff instead.

The bread itself did not stink. However, I just couldn’t shake off the feeling that it was giving off some strange odor… my imagination, perhaps? Either way, I did not want to keep it any further. I tried to toss it away, but the moment I did so, Aishael suddenly reached out to stop me.

I gave her a confused look. The next thing I saw was her placing her own hand on top of mine then guiding it towards her. First, her body then her face began to come closer as well.

Is she trying to seduce? Hey, let’s be clear here. I know I might seem like I have a preference for little girls, but that’s not true at all. It just so happens that all the girls I like are little. Besides, this little acid tongue is probably older than Nicole.

By the way, how should I even react to her advances? Maybe close my eyes and take the plunge? Who knows. Someone tell me please.

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Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

If you liked my work translating Devil’s Evolution Catalog, feel free to check out Song of Adolescence. Also, every comment is appreciated even though I might not reply. I do read them.

Leave a comment

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Author: The Sole Survivor	Original Source: SFACG
Translator: CatatoPatch	English Source: Re:Library

Sponsored by: Quentin Carey, tyler scheuering, LoliMaster 69, Chocobeanz, Kordell Mckee, Wesley Brown, The Black Fiend, Primula Hope, nord_nikon, Wyverius Blackfire, Silva, Yanga, HatefullMango, Andrea Boudas, Alex Rodrigues, Mazamaicus, Emblyon, Alexander Semino, maou99sama, Sager

I gotta hand it to our little acid-tongue… not just anybody can dig out a person’s black history and lay it out so bare for everyone…not anybody at all…

“Weep…”

Ah… she’s crying. She’s burying her head in my chest and bawling her eyes out now… my poor baby.

Just look at what you did, little girl, you made our resident timid girl cry. You went too far.

Seeing her so affected by that verbal lashing, even I panicked a little. I quickly gave her a head pat, then gently comforted her. “Don’t cry… even if you’re useless, your master will never abandon you.”

“Wahh… even master is bullying me now…”

Wait. Why is she crying even harder now? Did I say something wrong?

Upon hearing the word master being uttered from Jezsere’s lips, Aishael’s brows immediately jumped, clearly amazed by the implications of that simple word. No matter how useless Jezsere was, she was still a daughter of Paliseth. Yet here she was addressing me as her master while her mother seemed to have no problem with that at all. This was the stronghold of the Shadowhunters, exactly who had the power to enslave their Matriarch’s daughter here?!

Just like that, there was now a hint of seriousness in that little girl’s eyes. She no longer held that arrogance in her tone as she addressed me. “May I know your name?”

“Me? I’m just a bystander.”

Honestly, I was more intrigued than angry at this little acid tongue. Even though she made Jezsere cry, the sight of a little girl bullying another girl to tears had its own… charms as well.

“A bystander?”

“That’s right, a bystander.” I winked at her. “I have to leave sooner or later after all.”

“Then what is your identity?” Being denied the direct answer she wished for, she furrowed her brows even more. “I mean your identity in this place.”

“That really has no meaning now, it is whatever everyone else wants it to be.”

“Alright, let me ask something else. Are you an Angel?”

“I guess so.” I shrugged. “A fallen one though. So no matter how much you pray to me, it’s not going to work.”

“Why would I even pray in a world where there’s no god.” She was still as cold as before while she said that. But there wasn’t that stinging quality to her words; perhaps it was because she still wasn’t sure how to interact with me.

“Shael, that’s his holiness.” Seeing the two of us in a miniature cold war, Paliseth took the initiative to break the ice for us, summarizing my position in the clan in a few words. “Sir Mo Ke is the child of the goddess, Lolthe.”

She then gave me a fervent look, one which I couldn’t be sure if it was even real. However, that simple bit of explanation was a like revelation for the little acid tongue, as if she had unlocked the very secrets of my existence.

The child of Lolthe! It was only then that the others living here understood how revered my position was in the clan. I was basically the master of the entire clan. As long as I willed it, I could command anyone to die with a single word.

Even Aishael was a little affected by the gravity of the situation now, but she still maintained that frigid coolness. “Your holiness… what is an important figure like yourself doing here?”

As expected, the truth of my identity did affect her treatment of me. She treated me with the utmost respect. Even if her face was still that same ice block, it was a fact that she hadn’t whipped out the acid yet. Furthermore, I could see that sense of deliberation behind her words, like she wanted to make sure her words weren’t going to offend me.

Even so, I had a feeling that there was a different reason why she was so affected by my identity.

“Because I wanted to.”

Now that we were on the topic of my visit, I couldn’t help but feel a little guilty about this whole situation. At the end of the day, Aisha’s death had a lot to do with me. At least that was how I genuinely felt.

I wasn’t hiding it or anything, but humans enjoyed a wide berth of leeway from me. In all likelihood, because I was once one of them. That was also why I still couldn’t sign on fully to the whole Apocalypse and end of the world setting. I did not want to invade the Western Human Realms. But if I didn’t, I would be the one to be killed instead… and my safety came first. Having secured that, I would find some way to spare the humans. My only concern at that time would be if I suddenly forgot my principles in the heat of the moment.

Either way… if saving the world wasn’t possible, I could still save people, right?

That was the burden I bore right now. And that was the lens through which I saw Aisha and her daughter. The burden of the Apocalypse was the proverbial sword of damocles over my throat. It weighed on my heart and I couldn’t tell anyone about it either, so when I saw Aisha just die like that during my first return to the Western Human Realms, it was no longer a simple death. It was a herald of what was to come. What were if the Three Hells won? Would the humans all end up like Aisha? What about Nicole? And Roscar?

These were all questions I did not have to ask myself back when I was in Purgatory. Everyone there was a creature of Purgatory so they naturally wouldn’t understand how I felt. In fact, I could easily numb myself to the nagging voice in my head while there. Now that I was here however… everything came swarming to the forefront with that one single death.

This suffocating pressure was mine to bear alone, but I needed some way to cope as well. That was why I had this frivolous attitude right now; it was how I pushed aside all the uncomfortable questions I had piled up.

The fate of an entire race really shouldn’t be decided by the hands of just one Devil… at least not me anyway.

“Well, that’s a reason.”

“Yes, it is…” I wasn’t sure how to explain away the attitude I had now, so I quickly tossed a look at Paliseth. Given how observant that old hag was, she probably already saw my predicament.

As expected, she quickly picked up on the hint and came up with a cover-up. “Shael. Actually we came here because…”

“Because of my mother?” Aishael interrupted her before she could fully explain herself. “Other than my mother, I can’t think of any other reason as to why such a strange group would come before me.”

I had to say, this little acid tongue had some wits about her.

Seeing us fall silent, she continued with her deductions. “My mother left for the colosseum two days ago, so according to the rules, she has to stay there for at least seven days. Of course, there’s always that off-chance that a male Dark Elf would come challenge her, but what are the odds…”

Because of the increasing number of slave gladiators in the colosseum, the Dark Elves came up with the Slave Chasm to accommodate them. At the same time, they had the Half-Elves sent off to this new area to guard the slaves. A classical case of killing two birds with one stone. After all, if you couldn’t see those mongrels, did they actually exist?

The colosseum had its own share of rooms used to accommodate the slave gladiators that were up for selection. When it was the slave’s turn to be sent to the colosseum, they would be placed in these single rooms. For one week, they would be available for challenge. After that, the next round of slaves would replace them.

In actuality, there were also slaves who were permanently stationed in these rooms, but these slaves were the exceptions. Solar-sama used to be such a slave… probably because every Elf wanted a piece of that action…

The size of a clan’s slave stock was actually a show of strength as well. A very important one, in fact. The thirteen clans would sometimes have a slave exchange. Strong slaves were basically breeding stock to be exchanged, barring slaves like Solar-sama, of course -that kind… you kept locked up like your prized possession.

“Is she… dead?” Came Aishael’s cold voice.

“…” How should I answer that… directly or perhaps in a roundabout fashion.

“Shael, I need you to be calm…”

“I am very calm.” Aishael narrowed her eyes at Paliseth. Like she said, she was the picture of calmness right now, or rather, coldness. “So she’s dead then.”

From the look on our faces and our deafening silence, there was no doubt that she was dead. That was why she did not bother waiting for us to answer before asking, “and the body?”

The body!

I paused for a second then quickly looked at Paliseth. “The body?”

“It has been retrieved… it can be laid to rest at any time…” Paliseth nodded towards me awkwardly then turned back to face Aishael. “I intend to have your mother buried beside Lewell… your father… do you wish to pay her your last respects?”

“Who was it?”

Who? I guess she means who killed her mother.

“It was Sarkath… don’t worry, he’s dead by my hands.”

The moment Paliseth said Sarkath, I swore I could see an aura of iciness burst out from her little body. But that was quickly snuffed out when Paliseth mentioned how he died.

This display actually wasn’t my imagination at all. It was a typical sign that a Magister had lost control of his or her emotions. That aura was a mix of uncontrolled mana and Fighter’s Aura combined. That bone-chilling coldness was the result of the two energies colliding with each other, and was also a sign that she was of the ice element.

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Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

If you liked my work translating Devil’s Evolution Catalog, feel free to check out Song of Adolescence. Also, every comment is appreciated even though I might not reply. I do read them.

Leave a comment

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Author: The Sole Survivor	Original Source: SFACG
Translator: CatatoPatch	English Source: Re:Library

Sponsored by: Quentin Carey, tyler scheuering, LoliMaster 69, Chocobeanz, Kordell Mckee, Wesley Brown, The Black Fiend, Primula Hope, nord_nikon, Wyverius Blackfire, Silva, Yanga, HatefullMango, Andrea Boudas, Alex Rodrigues, Mazamaicus, Emblyon, Alexander Semino, maou99sama, Sager

The little girl in front of us had very defined yet delicate features, not at all like the tattered, grey training wear she had on right now. Still, there was no denying her natural beauty, rags or no rags. Just by looking at her, I could already tell that she was going to grow up to be a well-endowed beauty.

If there was one thing that was a shame about her, it would be her frigid demeanour. Even when she hit the wooden dummy, there was no visible change on her face, like she herself was made of wood.

Each time she whacked the wooden dummy, the rods would turn in the direction of the force. Meaning that when she whacked one of the rods, another nine or so would come spinning about to hit her. With how furiously she was whacking the dummy, the dummy itself was rotating at blazing speeds. Left for a second, and right another. The dummy spun around at a dizzyingly fast pace, never stopping for a second.

Most people, when practising on the dummy, would let forth an audible gasp, like a “HAH!” or an “AH!”. But not this little girl. She remained steadfastly silent, never making a sound as she continued hitting the dummy. Even her chest remained unnaturally still while her hands only got faster and faster by the minute.

As time passed, her increasing speed began to take a visible toll on her body. Her breathing began to get ragged and her muscles seemed to be shivering from the harsh trial they were being put through. Even so, she never stopped attacking. In fact, her eyes seemed to light up with fire.

Thwack, thwack, thwack, went the wooden dummy. Everyone’s eyes were now glued to the girl. Even the silently mediating Half-Elves were now watching her subconsciously.

“Who is she?”

I had this feeling, call it a premonition, that this elementary schoolgirl was the girl we were looking for.

“She’s La… Aishael.” As expected, she was the Half-Elven girl we were searching for. However, because of Lanbael’s presence, the Half-Elven female leading us did not dare utter the word lady. Yet that did not stop Lanbael from glaring at her, as if to say that calling her a lady would be an insult to their noble Dark Elven blood.

“Mongrel!” Was what she was probably thinking right now. I had no doubt that if I wasn’t here she would have already gone off on a tirade.

Still, just based on what we had seen so far, Aishael’s standing amongst the Half-Elves seemed to be quite high… because of her relationship to Lewell, perhaps? Too bad her granny doesn’t seem to be all that enamored with her…

“Oh Aishael… my poor granddaughter…” Came the first response from us. Strangely enough, it wasn’t Jezsere, Reyage or me who spoke up first. Neither was it Lanbael. Instead… it was Paliseth who spoke up first.

Running completely contrary to my expectations, this silent till now lady seemed visibly heartbroken and excited at the sight of her granddaughter. If I had to describe the scene right now, imagine a grandmother who had just been reunited with her long-lost granddaughter and felt guilty about not fulfilling her duty for so long. Then before she knew it, the granddaughter was all grown-up…

Yet no matter how real her guilt might have seemed, I knew that old hag was just acting. If she could even kill her own son without blinking an eye, why would I ever believe that she would feel any heart pain about her mix-blood granddaughter?

Still, whether she was acting or not, I couldn’t bear to expose this farce. Not to a little girl who had just lost her father and now even her mother…As long as she didn’t know that Paliseth’s love was false, then that love could still provide her with some warmth.

At least… that was what I thought.

As Paliseth kept calling out for Aishael, she would take a few steps forward, arms thrown wide open to welcome her. Finally, under Aishael’s icy cold gaze, she hugged the little girl gently, like a mother hen protecting her baby chick.

Then as Paliseth was busy engaging in frivolous small talk with Aishael, all the while mulling over how to break the death of her mother to her, the little girl slowly lifted up her head. In a soft voice, she said as such, “Who are you even?”

Faced with such an unceremonious questioning, even the old hag that she was couldn’t help but be stunned. “Me? I’m your granny, of course.”

“What’s a granny?” She slipped free from Paliseth’s frozen embrace and then finished her off with one last quip. “ I’m sorry, but why haven’t I heard of such a thing?”

Yeah… what’s a granny? I haven’t heard of one too… maybe it’s edible?

While her words were clearly phrased as a question, I would consider that question more rhetorical than anything else. She probably did this on purpose, as if to spurn her grandmother who couldn’t be bothered to even visit her till now.

If I had to hazard a guess, she probably understood that she was related to that old hag. But her only interaction with this fabled grandmother of hers was through the words of others. Her calmness now was an indictment of her grandmother, her way of expressing displeasure.

Putting aside the horrid mistreatment of the Half-Elves in general, the fact that her father was murdered by another one of Paliseth’s sons, meaning he was her uncle, was more than enough reason to be angry at Palisth.

However, even with such good cause, being told off by your own granddaughter so openly was sure to tick off anyone. Paliseth was visibly heaving at this point. She was angry, but she didn’t dare show that.

Now that’s skill… your tongue doesn’t get so acidic with just a bit of practise. That was like what? Two years of practise, at least. I bet if she were to go all out, she might just be able to anger her to death.

“The audacity… I won’t stand for a mongrel like you insulting our Matriarch! Kneel and apologize right this instant.”

Ever one to curry favor, Lanbael was quick to defend her boss’s honor. If only she didn’t have that intolerable arrogance on her face as she did that. But it was only in front of these Half-Elves that she could act so arrogantly. After all, the elder of the colosseum wasn’t exactly the most prestigious of positions to hold.

Even in Dark Elf society, a person’s job was one of the best indicators of his or her prestige. She might have been an elder, but there was clearly a big difference between being in charge of some slaves and being in charge of assassins or soldiers. That wasn’t to say that she held a lowly job, it was just her job wasn’t all that prestigious in her current company.

Aishael turned to glare at Lanbael for a second, then turned away once more without saying a word, as if Lanbael wasn’t even there.

“You dare to ignore me?! You uncivilised mongrel!”

Lanbael was on the verge of exploding at this point. However, before she could go crazy on the little girl, Paliseth swiftly stepped in to save the day. “That’s enough, Aishael is still my granddaughter. Be mindful of what you say.”

“… understood.” Just like that, Lanbael was beaten back into normal form.

“Shael…” Paliseth immediately went back to fawning over the little girl after chiding her subordinate. Unfortunately, Aishael only had the cold shoulder for her. She briskly walked up to us then turned her ruby-red eyes towards Reyage first. “You, I’ve seen you before.”

“I’m Reyage, your father’s brother.” He answered in an equally cold voice. “I’ve met you a few years back.”

“So that’s why you seem familiar.” She then turned her head towards Jezsere. “And you are?”

“I’m… I’m Jezsere…”

Ah… there she is. Our resident timid girl. That shyness just makes me want to pinch her cheeks so badly. But as a Dark Elf, is it really alright for you to be so timid? Especially when Paliseth wants you to be the Matriarch. I guess that’s why she chose you though…

“Jezsere…” She paused for a couple of seconds then said without any doubt whatsoever, “I know you. You’re that famous daughter of the Matriarch. The clan’s number one useless girl.”

“Eh?”

Jezsere was taken aback by this sudden turn of events. She was fully expecting another round of “I’ve seen you before”, at which point she would try and get closer to the girl by introducing herself as Reyage’s sister. Never in her wildest dreams did she expect the subject to turn towards her being useless.

However, that wasn’t the end of Aishael’s lashing either. “I heard that you are a very talented Occultist. But because of your useless personality, your summonings always end up backfiring. That’s why you had to run away from home, because you are useless to the clan… I also heard that you returned not too long ago. So you’re that Jezsere?”

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Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

If you liked my work translating Devil’s Evolution Catalog, feel free to check out Song of Adolescence. Also, every comment is appreciated even though I might not reply. I do read them.

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Author: The Sole Survivor	Original Source: SFACG
Translator: CatatoPatch	English Source: Re:Library

“This elevator allows us to reach the bottom of Slave Chasm in just two minutes or so. Safely and comfortably.”

Lanbael quickly introduced the contraption to us while she led us onto it. As she said, the elevator descended in a remarkably stable fashion. Out of sheer curiosity, I reached out of the confines of the elevator but soon bumped into a transparent wall… so that’s what they use to prevent the passengers from falling off?

“The hidden barrier is to protect those inside while also allowing them to inspect the surroundings as they descend.” Lanbael was quick to answer, eyes open wide for any opportunity to serve me. “Your holiness has wings so falling off should not be an issue, but for us Dark Elves, descending into Slave Chasm is a much more laborious endeavour that requires such magical contraptions.”

Well, that was a really roundabout way to lick my boots. Is this how the high society people do it? Not at all like the usual bootlickers I get it; even makes me a little unsure about how to react… Now, those useless potatoes of mine in Purgatory… bah… let’s not talk about them.

Slave Chasm was a rather unique part of the colosseum. While it was still considered a part of the colosseum itself, there was quite a bit of distance between the two.

The pit itself had to at least be a kilometer deep. And based on how that squad of slaves and guards were moving about, this elevator was probably not meant for everyone to use either, not even those moving cargo. How did I know that last part? Because I just saw the method they used to send goods down.

As the name suggested, the Slave Chasm was a pit that the slaves lived in. Naturally, such a place would not have the means to sustain itself. If those living below wanted to feed themselves, they had to rely on the supplies from the surface… or just revolt.

This pit was still a part of the colosseum, and according to Lanbael, this area was directly below the colosseum above. With its depth of over a thousand meters and a winding stairway leading downwards, those who wanted to travel to the bottom definitely had to travel more than a kilometer. That required a lot of time, even more so if one was transporting goods. Plus, the lack of guardrails meant that the goods had a very real chance of just falling off the side.

In other words, taking the stairs wasn’t a safe viable option. The elevator was forbidden to those sending goods as well; this contraption was only reserved for VIPs. So what was a transporter to do in this situation? Toss the stuff down of course!

According to estimates, there were at least five thousand residents in the pit. That required a lot of supplies daily in order to upkeep. But given the difficulty of reaching these residents, the most logical and cost-effective solution would be to just throw the goods down.

We were just in time to witness the daily resupplying taking place. A dozen or so Dark Elves were pushing several wooden crates roughly the height of half a human to the edge of the pit before just tossing them off the edge. Strangely enough, these crates did not accelerate upon being pushed off. Instead, their descent was slowing down to a snail’s crawl, like a feather slowly floating down to the ground, but only slower.

Woah… those crates have levitation magic cast on them? What the fish! How extravagant can you be?! I know the Dark Elves have more mages than the humans, but to waste them on this?

I’m speechless…

Despite its almost hellish name, Slave Chasm wasn’t a fiery pit where slaves were burnt alive. In fact, the environment was rather cold. The houses themselves were well-built, stone structures; the kind you would find in a village. However, the area we were in right now was not the residential district for the slaves. Instead, this was the headquarters of the Half-Elves.

While the Half-Elves and the slaves were both situated in Slave Chasm, there was still a separation between the two groups. Yet even so, the two groups had something in common: they were both dressed shabbily. The Half-Elves were all dressed in tattered clothing, the kind you would expect to have been passed down through generations. From the looks of things, their living conditions were a lot worse than I had expected.

These Half-Elves were tasked with guarding the slaves in Slave Chasm, but because of their mixed blood, their standing was barely any better than the people they guarded.

The elevator we were riding just made landfall when the nearby Half-Elven guardsmen hurriedly rushed over to greet Lanbael. Each of them had on a shabby leather armor that was full of holes while their weapons looked like ones from the reject shelf of the blacksmith. Even their form of greeting seemed, no, was definitely more demeaning than usual. Rather than greeting, they were completely prostrated on the ground.

Based on how they were reacting to Lanbael, it was clear none of these Half-Elves had even seen the Matriarch before. Or perhaps it would have been more accurate to say that she had never stepped foot in this area before.

As one constantly on the lookout for ways to curry my favor, Lanbael immediately snapped at the Half-Elves, “What are you kneeling down to me for? Do you not see his holi…”

“That’s enough, we are here to see Aishael, is she here?” I swept my eyes over the prostrating Half-Elves as I said that and found that even their condition didn’t seem to be the best.

So they really are not much better than a slave huh?

One of the prostrated female Half-Elves answering hesitantly, “Lady Aishael is in the training grounds…”

“Lady Aishael?” Lanbael coldly harrumphed. “A mixed blood dares to address herself as a lady?”

The moment she said that, all the prostrated Half-Elves fell silent. Not a single one dared to move a muscle or even breath, lest they drew the attention of Lanbael.

Yet even that wasn’t enough for Lanbael who seemed on the verge of exploding once more. Seeing that, I made the decision to cut her off first. “Bring us to Aishael.”

“…” The female Half-Elf remained silent, turning to look at Lanbael as if she wasn’t sure what to do.

“What are you looking at me for? His excellency wants you to lead the way, so do it.” Lanbael had already guessed that I did not want to reveal my identity so she quickly glossed over this part. “The rest of you can leave. And don’t appear before me without cause… filthy mongrels.”

That last bit was whispered to herself, but I could clearly hear the disdain within the words.

Honestly, that struck me as really odd. Even the slaves did not receive this level of disdain from the other Dark Elves. Most of the time, the females even seemed excited about the prospect of picking their slave gladiator.

It therefore stood to reason that their standing in Dark Elven society must have really been awkward. This most likely had to do with their impure bloodlines, born from the union of an outsider female and a male Dark Elf. In my reckoning, they probably felt that their noble Dark Elven lineage had been tainted by this other half.

Either way, the fact that they were fully prostrated was more than enough proof that their daily life here was horrendous, and most likely worse than that of a gladiator’s.

With that in mind, I turned to look at Paliseth who seemed completely expressionless at the moment… Lady, we are about to visit your grandniece, could you at least show some emotion? Sigh… Unfortunately, her head was lowered so I couldn’t really gleam much from her at the moment.

Under the guidance of that fearful female Half-Elf, we quickly arrived at a circular structure, the so-called training grounds. It was actually an empty plot of land that was surrounded by mud walls. The building itself was austere, only bearing a line of clearly defective weapons lined up in an orderly fashion against the wall. There were roughly fifty Half-Elves sweating away right now, each busy with their own form of training. Some were engaged in two-on-twos, while some were busy whacking the training dummies. Then there were those who were mediating, so on and so forth.

By my estimates, this large area was at least one hundred meters across. At the corner of this training ground, there was a little girl who looked to be about elementary school aged whacking a training dummy, shortsword and buckler in hands.

Unlike the usual training dummies which only had a couple of wooden rods sticking out as targets, this training dummy she was whacking had at least ten over rods sticking out. What was even more impressive about this dummy was that it even spun about when you hit it!

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Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

If you liked my work translating Devil’s Evolution Catalog, feel free to check out Song of Adolescence. Also, every comment is appreciated even though I might not reply. I do read them.