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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.