Chapter 575: Chapter 575- Felix Merchant Guild

Inside, her mother lay drenched in blood, a dagger plunged inside her stomach, and the house in a wreck after the intruder failed to find what they were searching for.

"Mother!"

Cecilia cried and held the woman in her trembling arms.

Perhaps the woman still had a little bit of life remaining within her, her eyes turned towards the one who held her.

"Cecilia, my child."

"Mother! W-What’s going on? Who did this to you? Why is our home burning? Where is father?"

A droplet of blood trickled down the woman’s lips, painting a beautiful, melancholic picture. The woman mustered every bit of her energy and spoke in an urgent tone.

"Listen, my daughters."

Her eyes went towards Lirae at the back, acknowledging her as her own.

"There is no time. You two must get out of here as soon as possible. After you two left the house this afternoon, a group of human soldiers traveled through the forest and discovered our house"...

"I don’t know how they managed to find our home. However, they clearly had a goal."

Saying this far, her eyes landed on the two girls.

"This place is dangerous. Your father is fighting them right now and leading them away. But there is no way of knowing when they will return again. Before they return, you two must leave and never return here."

"No, mother."

Even Lirae cried. This was the second time she had to go through the pain of losing her mother again.

The two girls cried like little children.

"My daughters."

The woman hugged the two and kissed their foreheads. Then without delay, she pushed them away.

"No matter what, you two must run. You cannot let humans catch you. Especially you, Cecilia. The blood inside you is far too noble. You may not realize it now, but one day you will. Our ancestors, our land, and the blood flowing within you"...

"You must not let humans taint it, for you are the last member of the royal family of Elfenheim. Your father is of royal lineage, and as his daughter, you carry the purest and noblest of Elfenheim’s blood"...

"You are our one and only hope. No matter what, you cannot let yourself die. Now go, before they return."

The woman’s body became lifeless at the end of her sentence.

Cecilia and Lirae shed tears, crying while breaking out their throats.

In the end, it was Cecilia who got her bearings first. Even while shedding tears, she got up on her feet and supported the crying Lirae as they ran out.

They fled through the forest, leaving behind their home in the distance.

However, their pursuers weren’t ordinary. They were still able to track them down in the end.

Before long, they ended up trapped in their encirclement.

Clad in leather and steel, they emerged from the darkness one after another.

"Damn it, that male elf was a pain. Nearly took my head off."

One of them cursed, touching the side of his neck.

"Haha, you got lucky. That bastard was strong. If not for the leader, your head would have rolled on the ground by now."

Another laughed, taking pleasure in others’ misfortune.

Hearing their words, the two of them froze.

Cecilia quickly questioned, her face devastated.

"What did you do to my father?"

Pfftt, hahahaha.

The pursuers exchanged glances before bursting into laughter.

One of them opened his mouth, clearly eager to savor her despair, but before he could speak, a tall figure stepped forward.

The leader.

"Enough, don’t waste time. Capture them. The Felix Merchant Guild wants them alive. They have paid a hefty sum of money, especially for these two. There can be no mistakes." He spoke coldly.

Felix Merchant Guild!

It was the same guild the adventurer they had saved previously belonged to.

At that moment, the two girls came to realize a chilling reality.

"Kekeke, leave it to us, boss. We won’t make the same mistake we did with those two adult elves."

There was no doubt, he was talking about their parents.

Rage unlike anything Lirae had ever known, exploded inside her.

"You monsters!" She screamed, drawing her bow.

Lirae and Cecilia fought with everything they had.

However, the opponents they were facing were not simple instinctual monsters, but humans.

While monsters relied on instinct, humans relied on cunning. What’s more, blinded by rage, Lirae was much too susceptible to their tricks.

A flash of blinding powder detonated at her feet. Smoke surged upward, stinging her eyes and choking her lungs. Before Lirae could do anything, from within the haze came chains, weighted nets, and razor threaded wires.

Seeing her sister in danger, Cecilia tried to help. However, the cost of distraction was her own undoing. A concealed snare tightened around her ankle, yanking her upside down.

In just a couple of minutes, they were captured, showcasing how severely they lacked experience.

The two girls tried to struggle but to no avail.

"Place binding seals on them, suppress their mana."

Shackles made of cryptic runes and special ores snapped shut around their limbs, and before they knew it, their strength drained away, and their vision blackened.

.

.

When they opened their eyes again, what greeted them was darkness.

A damp, suffocating darkness. The air reeked of mold and iron.

"W-Where are we?"

Lirae, having come to her consciousness, looked around.

What she saw was iron bars, rows of cages, and shackles lining the walls. And inside them were people. Humans, demi-humans, all bound with the binding seals.

"Lirae."

A voice spoke to her from the side.

It was Cecilia, she was similarly bound in the same cell as her.

At that moment, memories returned to her, and Lirae recalled how they were captured.

"I’m sorry, I’m so sorry."

Tears streamed down her face as if a dam had shattered.

"This is my fault. If I hadn’t, if I hadn’t been so weak, so stupid, they wouldn’t have captured you. The humans wouldn’t have found your home. Your parents, your home, everything, it’s because of me."

She clenched her fists tightly. "I’m cursed. Anyone who gets involved with me suffers."

First, it was her own parents, now it was Cecilia’s. She was starting to blame her own fate, believing she was cursed.

Cecilia hugged her, her eyes carrying no incrimination.

"Don’t say that. If anyone is to blame, it’s me. I was the one who wanted to help that human. I was the one who brought danger to our home. I was the one who couldn’t protect my little sister when it mattered. So don’t blame yourself."

It took a while, but thanks to Cecilia’s efforts, Lirae calmed down.

Later on, they learned the name of the nightmare that had swallowed them.

The Felix Merchant Guild... A vast, sprawling enterprise owned by a noble. It dealt in a wide range of goods and services. Weapons, spices, ores, rare herbs, artifacts, and even slaves.

Anything that could be sold.

In the coming days, Cecilia, Lirae, along with the other captives were kept in a hidden establishment far from the city’s gaze.

They were fed regularly, washed, and clothed. Given just enough care to ensure they did not die.

Of course, the merchant guild did this not out of goodwill but because they were merchandise.

The two quickly realized the truth. They were being raised like livestock.

Every couple of months, guards would enter and drag someone away.

With the course of time, they became familiar with the other captives. However, on the contrary, they also had to see those very same familiar faces disappear one after another, never to return.

Cecilia and Lirae were helpless to change anything. Besides, their fate was no different.

As elves, their growth was slower than that of humans. Their bodies were still underdeveloped. And that was the only reason they still remained.

The Felix Merchant Guild was waiting, waiting for their bodies to bloom and their values to soar.

Knowing this, Cecilia and Lirae had no intention of staying there. However, escaping was easier said than done. They had no idea where they were or the path back.

Still, they held onto the glimmer of hope and made a plan to escape.

For the two young elves planning to escape, the hope came in the form of an auction.

As rare elves with exceptional beauty, Cecilia and Lirae were deemed prime merchandise.

From the guards as they spoke to themselves, the two sneakily memorized every detail of the process.

As it turns out, the binding seal suppressing their mana and locking their bodies was temporarily removed when a purchase was finalized, so that a new slave mark could be engraved.

It was a brief period where nothing bound their bodies. That tiny gap, that fleeting moment of freedom.

It was their only chance.

It was a gamble, but one worth it.

And so they prepared for the day, replaying the escape in their minds again and again.

.

Soon, the day of the auction arrived.