Arcadia's Ignoble Knight: Dark Elf Arc

Chapter 19

"Caspian! Caspian!"

Elincia screamed as Caspian crumpled to the floor. Blood pooled underneath him from his gunshot wound. She wanted to rush over to his side, but two of the Peacekeepers grabbed her arms and forced her onto her knees. Elincia tried to struggle out of their grasp, but they were far stronger than she was, and as if to keep her from trying anything, Commander Enriche placed his sword against her throat.

"Commander..." Elincia looked up at the man in shock. "Why?"

"It's nothing personal." Commander Enriche shrugged. "But having you discover the marquis slave trading operation is not something we can afford. Lady Clarissa also tried poking her nose into the marquis affairs, so we had to silence her too."

Elincia felt fear slam into her heart. "You mean she's..."

"I do not believe she is dead," Commander Enriche admitted. "Marquis Hunington has always fancied Lady Clarissa. I assume he is keeping her locked up inside of his mansion."

Elincia was so confused. How could a marquis lock up a sorceress? Barring the fact that sorceresses were the ultimate authority, it should have been impossible to detain one. All it would take was an Aria to invoke Spiritual Evocation and a sorceress could lay waste to an entire building. There was no way they could keep a sorceress confined if she did not want to be. It was easier to kill them.

As these thoughts passed through her, Elincia opened her mouth to summon a spirit of her own. She felt betrayed, but she also knew that now wasn't the time to wallow in those feelings. She would summon Freya. As a spirit of warfare, Freya would be able to defeat everyone here in less than a second, and she was also one of the spirits that Elincia was closest to. Her, Loki, and Eir were the three spirits that cost her the least amount of mana to summon.

"Don't even think about chanting an Aria," Chloe suddenly said as she walked up to Caspian and pointed her pistol at his head. "If you even try to chant an Aria, I will blow your knights brains out."

Elincia closed her mouth as panic spread through her. Unlike a regular sorceress, she did not require Aria to summon spirits, which meant her summoning was much faster than a human sorceress' would be. Even so, it would take her a few seconds to ask Freya for help. That was more than enough time for Chloe's pistol to shoot Caspian. She remembered what happened to that man last night. He had died instantly.

Chloe smirked when Elincia's shoulders and ears drooped. "It seems you understand." She looked at the man beside her, Giles, and said, "Bring that anti-sorceress device to me."

As the man nodded and rushed off, Elincia felt confusion seep into her mind. Anti-sorceress device? What was that? She soon found out when Giles came back and handed Chloe what looked like a black collar with a strange protrusion on it. The woman grinned as she handed her pistol to Gile so he could keep it trained on Caspian, walked over to Elincia, whose heart was hammering in her chest, and attached the collar to her neck, then pressed a button on the protrusion that made her light up.

"That should stop you from chanting any Aria," Chloe said. "I'm not sure how it works, but according to Marquis Hunington, this device keeps spirits from being able to inhabit the body of a sorceress. You won't be able to use any Spiritual Evocation like this."

"Why are you doing this?" asked Elincia. "You're a sorceress too, aren't you? Why is a sorceress smuggling slaves?"

"Silly girl." Chloe shook her head and smirked. "Do you really think every sorceress in the world works for the Sorceress Council? There's no way Sylvia could locate all of us. I happen to be one of the sorceresses who slipped through the cracks." She looked at Commander Enriche. "I hate to ask this of you and your men after you had to clean up after me, but could you put her in the holding cell? Also, do not rough her up at all. An elf will sell for an extremely high price on the black market, so I'd prefer she remain completely unblemished."