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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.

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.

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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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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?”

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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“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!

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

I hereby declare myself Mr. Freeze, the prince of cold awkwardness. No conversation shall henceforth be safe from my awkwardness…

Thankfully, someone soon broke the strange mood in the air. And that someone was Paliseth, a lady who had been decidedly silent up till now. “That girl is called Aisha, and her daughter is Aishael.”

In that very instant, there was nothing that could describe my shock. Even Jezsere and Reyage didn’t know about this niece of theirs and she did? Was she spying on Lewell’s family as well? But if that was the case, why did she have Aisha fight against Sarkath?

“The name was given to me by Elder Lanbael, the supervisor of the colosseum. To be honest, I had no idea who was to be sent out until the match started.”

Now that she had mentioned that, I suddenly realised there was another female Dark Elf standing beside her right now. This lanky Dark Elf looked to be very young, and had on an elegant black dress, giving her the appearance of a beautiful high-society lady. In all likelihood, this was Elder Lanbael.

“Greetings, your holiness.” She quickly answered. Being the keen-eyed Dark Elf that she was, she quickly picked up on my foul mood right now. While it was true that Paliseth’s actions had cooled me down somewhat, the fact was that I was still unhappy about this whole situation.

So why was she panicking? The answer was obvious: out of all the Dark Elves present, she was the most likely person to be blamed by the active volcano that was my mood. Clearly, I couldn’t take my anger out on Paliseth, given what she had just done. Reyage and Jezsere were out of the question, especially Jezsere whom I absolutely adored. That left only her to be the sacrificial offering.

However, I wasn’t that unreasonable that I would take my anger out on someone just for that reason. In the first place, Lanbael was acting under the orders of Paliseth… I’ll let her off the hook this time…

I threw her a quick look, eliciting a bout of cold sweat from her in the process. While I might not have looked like much now, the fact was that I had my godmother to back me up. Every action I took, every word I said… they all represented the will of Lolthe.

What was a mere elder in the face of that? Nothing. Send me thirteen of them, and I would send them packing just the same. Just you wait, I will find twelve more elders and let them know the power of my godmother -mwhahahaha!

I turned my attention away from the slightly pale elder and glared at Reyage. “Lead on.”

Behind me, I could vaguely hear someone sighing in relief. Paliseth didn’t have much to say to her subordinate being spared, but that subordinate herself was definitely relieved to be out of the crosshairs right now.

We continued onwards in this slightly claustrophobic tunnel for another ten minutes or so before coming into a much more spacious pit. Calling it spacious was really just me being polite, the pit in front of me right now was so large, it must have been at least a hundred meters across. Its depth was like an all-consuming black hole that strangely seemed to draw me in. Just by looking down, I could feel how miniscule I was in comparison -that had to at least be a kilometer deep!

Right at the bottom of this pit, I could vaguely make out a transparent dome that was most likely made out of mana. Beneath that dome, there were rows after rows of houses packed together like a labyrinth. This was most likely the residential area for the slave gladiators.

On the outside of the pit, there was a winding stairway built into the walls that led into the buildings. With how wide the pit was, it would have taken an inordinate amount of time to create such a large structure. What was worth noting about these stairs was they had no guardrails. One false step and poof…

Right this very instant, there were dozens of scantily-clad slaves being led down the stairs by twelve or so Dark Elves. Most of these Dark Elves were males, and from the looks of things, their job seemed to be watching these slaves and escorting them between the colosseum ring and the residential area.

The group made their way to the side of the dome, at which point the female Dark Elf leading them took off her necklace and drew a circle with it on the dome itself. A second later, the transparent, almost water-like dome parted to reveal a five meter semi-circular hole.

With the way open, the group continued onwards without a word. However, it wasn’t long before they discovered our own party. They quickly suppressed the slave gladiators and brought them over to greet us.

“Greetings, Matriarch.” The Dark Elves bowed. As for the slave gladiators, they were clearly not in the mood to greet us. The majority of these slaves were males, roughly ninety percent at a glance. There were humans, Beastmen, Dwarves and even a particularly handsome Wood Elf… Hold on, that’s not a Wood Elf, that’s a Dark Elf teenager, isn’t it? But something is off about him. Because of his shabby dressing, I had almost mistaken him for the other slaves as well.

(I can’t be sure if the Dark Elf is a slave or not. The text itself doesn’t specify and neither do the next ten chapters. I’m going to assume he isn’t based on what I read.)

The Dark Elf had long ears, similar in length to my own. His hair was silvery white like what would you expect of a typical Dark Elf. However, it was his ears that drew my attention. They were long, but not to the extent a normal Elf’s ear would be.

Paliseth nodded coldly in the direction of the group but did not introduce me to them before leaving. In all likelihood, she probably thought them unworthy of knowing such matters.

Either way, I withdrew my gaze from that strange teenager and began considering the strangeness in him. He was most likely a half-Elf. His appearance was basically that of a Dark Elf’s except for his slightly shorter ears. That was basically the only way I could tell them apart right now.

“The Half-Elves live down there? And what’s up with this magical dome?”

As I now stood at the edge of the dome itself, that strange sensation of being drawn downwards increased further. It made me want to jump down right this very second. Was it because of my weakened body? Or perhaps there was something strange about this place?

“Your holiness, all the Half-Elves in the Shadowhunter Clan lives down there.” Seeing a chance to earn my favour, Lanbael promptly answered my question while walking up to me. “As for the dome… it’s more of a warning system. Because of how large the Slave Chasm is, it’s impossible for us to guard every corner at the same time. That’s why we have this warning system installed instead. As long as someone not guided tries to pass through the dome, an alarm will immediately sound and the soldiers below will rush to seal off the exits.”

So it’s a warning system… I thought it was a protective barrier. But I guess if it was really a barrier of this size, the mana expenditure would be massive.

Also, I guess this giant hole is called the Slave Chasm then? Fitting. I’m sure to the slaves this abyss is every bit as ominous as its name.

“Hmm… let’s continue on.” By now, I was starting to get bored of these stairs. With my wings, I really had no need to take these stairs at all. It was more of a novelty than a necessity for me. But in my current weakened state, I really wasn’t looking forward to walking down these endless flights of stairs. “Are we really walking down all these stairs? Seems like it would take forever.”

“Please be at ease, your holiness, there are better alternatives. Follow me.” Having realised I wasn’t in the walking mood right now, Lanbael hurriedly led us away for another ten meters or so to a metallic looking platform. “We can use this elevator to descend, it will be much faster.”

The platform in question was at least ten times the size of a normal elevator; definitely enough for a party of our size. As we stepped onto it, the platform began descending in a steady fashion. However, there were no supports or mechanisms to be found at all. It was almost as if we were riding Al@ddin’s magic carpet down into a whole new world.

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.

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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.