Fae had been in this cell for a few days now. they had split her up from Saida since getting here. The cell looked like a common prison cell. it was better than some of the other cells she had seen coming in. for days she had barely gotten to sleep hearing the screams and cries of beastmen and other slaves they had captured. she even thought to have spotted a human slave passing by her cell once. strangely they let her keep her armor. she had thought they would put her in rags and sell her stuff. but they had even brought her weapons along. they lay on a shelf across her cell and they even came by to refill the arrows in her quiver.

She had learned a few things being there tough. One wolfgirl slave had not followed a slavers command yet she wasn't in pain. The slaver had told her to take care of a wealthy merchant that was there to buy slaves. When the slaver returned he had slit the merchant's throat open. turns out she used to be an assassin during the war. so taking care of someone could be code for killing. Of course the slavers subjected the wolfgirl to immense pain afterwards but it took a long time for her to stop laughing. Fae still got chills thinking back to that but she figures that commands could be manipulated if they could hold another meaning. 

She snapped out of her thoughts and heard the slavemaster enter the hallway while talking to someone “That one was the weaker one. might sell her to the farm.”

“Well if i'm happy with the other then i'll pay for both and you can give her to the marquis as a gift from us both.”

They stopped before her cell. The slavemaster looked through the tags attached to necklaces then held up the necklace with Fae's slave gem. “Tell us, what are your skills?” 

Fae had no option to tell or she would suffer the pain. however she could test whether she figured out some crystal weaknesses “i can use mana arrows and their elemental parts.”

“your movement skills as well.”

“Blink ability.”

Triston was not impressed. He took the necklace from the slavemaster “Would you say you're a strong archer? I mean you did get caught.”

“I'm pretty sure I can kill most people I've seen so far. I only got caught because someone I loved was killed before me.” 

She bit her lip. It hurt her to recall that but it was true. had she not seen Kolvar die she would've noticed the bandit leader. otherwise she would've fought to the death. that answer seemed to please the prince “does that include me?”

“Remove the collar and I’m willing to find out.” looks like she could answer things vaguely too. She wasn't sure if she could take on this man. He was well equipped even for an adventurer. his golden hair did give him away as a royal. she would guess he was a prince or at least duke and thus very well trained.

“I'm satisfied” he said to the slavemaster, handing him a bag of coins “hand the other one to the marquis in a few days. you have the cloak to hide her collar?”

“we had one made that can wrap around it” 

They opened the cell and gave her a cloak with a collar that could wrap around the slave chain on her neck. After she put it on she was told to grab her equipment. The collar prevented her from attacking anyone holding the necklace with her crystal. She could probably kill the slavemaster now that the crystal was in the prince's possession. She decided against testing that for now. on the way back she just listened to the conversation they had. “Do you need some empty crystals?”

“No need, my sister already handed some over and i've been wondering can you make someone give a false confession even if they're obviously wearing a collar.”

The slavemaster pondered for a bit “I don't think so any command for a slave to tell the truth would conflict with the command to tell a lie. maybe you can hold out another slave's gem and have it commanded to tell the fake confession on cue.”

“Genius my good man.”

“What would you have the elf confess?”

“The elf? oh i wasn't thinking about the elf”

***later that day***

Arce and Bruce had met up back at the marquis mansion and were sharing what they found out. “sky boxes and small fire... golems with massive amounts of mana sounds about right. I heard something similar from a mage in town. she seemed deathly afraid of it and considering what that man told you i can understand why.”

“What about the elf slave? what do we do when he comes back with her?”

“Nothing I guess.”

“You can't honestly believe…”

“It's not about what I believe. It's that we can't do anything about it. If the Nobletalons want it, then elves will become the next subjected race"

“You do realize what I've known for a while now.”

“Yes, after that dwarves will probably be next. I'd like to help. But I can't just leave my sisters.” 

The room filled with an awkward silence for a bit “Even if no opportunity arises to help the elf. I think you can escape the island with your sisters after the mission.  you can make your way to the dwarven capitol.”

“I don't think they open the city just for me and my sisters.”

“They would if you're considered a friend of the dwarves. Listen, I gave Miss Isabelle a medal with my family's crest. In case she needed to do the same thing.” 

Arce smiled at him, “sneaky dwarf.”

“yeah yeah i know. I owe you for the nice living arrangement in the past week.”

“And I owe you my life after that abomination encounter. I think I'm in more debt now.”

“We should not be keeping tabs on that among friends and I truly consider you and your neighbor a friend of us dwarves. Even if Miss Isabelle was unintentionally rude in the beginning.” he grumbled and another silence filled the room.

Until Arce spoke up “So we complete the investigation and I can pick up my sisters? use that medal you left with miss isabelle tho get in the dwarven kingdom? I doubt that the prince has been honest with us if those are truly his plans.”

“Maybe. you are however a human and still safe from this enslaving spree the royal family is on”

“I’m not sure if I would be safe from that. Maybe you can free the elf and run? I can act like I had no idea and return to king's island?”

A weak plan but so far it was the best they could come up with and a lot of ifs were involved. If the prince would let his guard down for them to free the elf, if he didn't suspect that Arce had a part in it, if they would even survive the investigation. Bruce lay down on the sofa in the room pondering better plans.

Arce looked out the window and saw the gates of the marquis's mansion. She saw the prince arrive followed by the elf “He's back.” she said. 

Bruce got up. He figured a servant would  come get them to meet them in the hallway. Just as he jumped off the couch there was a knock on the door and a servant arrived just as expected. if only they could predict the further future. 

They met up with the prince and were introduced to fae “This is the elf i told you about. we'll be counting on her so support us well tomorrow. she'll have a servant room at the end of the hall of our rooms. don't worry she's fine with it”

Fae didn't respond. Arce felt sorry for her but could not reveal that she and Bruce knew. Triston slapped his hands together “so did you find out anything useful. all i could figure out on the way is the dark forest seems a bit more dangerous than usual.”

Bruce pondered what to say for a second “I have not much more than you. I ran into a man raving about flying boxes and metal golems.”

“dwarven design?”

“According to this man the people appearing from them were taller.”

Arce felt it was her turn “I met a survivor that encountered said golem. Seems like its master is open to negotiations with adventurer parties. She kept mentioning how dangerous it was. though she didn't mention actually fighting it. but she said we better be A class or higher.”

Triston smiled “Well i was trained by S class adventurers i'm at A now but after this i can probably be marked as S class too. you guys are capable enough. just stay behind me and back me up.”

They had dinner with the marquis and each went to their room. The prince had a small conversation about his plans with the marquis before going back to his room followed by Fae. Once they arrived he grabbed the active gem in his pocket “You just go to your room now. I'll see you tomorrow. After this trip I'll help you forget your old lover.”

Fae felt like puking but one of the rules had stated she needed to be polite to him at all times. After wishing him a goodnight she walked to the door of her assigned room. then turned and carefully sneaked down the hallway. she had gone to her room but now she needed to get that gem or break it somehow. she heard a door open and slid behind a decorative statue. it was the mage heading to the dwarfs chambers. she knocked softly. when he opened the door  “oh you had an idea?” 

quickly shushed by the mage they went into the room. Fae thought it a bit strange and went to the door to listen. She heard Arce's voice “I detected the collar immediately in the hallway.”

“That prince completely forgot that mages detect mana.”

“We forgot too. until I actually sensed it.”

“Does that help us in any way?” 

Arce turned her eyes down. 

“I guess not.” Bruce said “What else would he have forgotten? He doesn't strike me as a clever guy.”

Arce paced the room “We have to find something. we're going into the forest tomorrow if he figures out what we're up to he can just kill us and say we either betrayed him or died to a monster.”

“The first claim would be correct anyway.”

Fae decided to enter. Upon hearing the door open they thought the prince had overheard them but were surprised to see fae “Yeah i overheard you and i'm pretty sure he's planning to make the dwarf confess to be a dwarven spy.”

Bruce had to hold back from smashing his fist on the table “how does he plan to do that?”

“Enslavement necklace, then give a preset command like: when i say 'reveal your crime' you start saying this. all while he's holding another enslavement gem.”

Arce was more confused. How are you able to say that? didn't he command you not to reveal your enslavement? also i thought he sent you to your room?”

“There's a loophole in these things. He told me not to REVEAL it. Can't reveal something I’m aware you guys already know of. as for my room. I went there. He didn't tell me what to do after that or stay there.”

“That leaves a lot of gray areas. maybe you can run away tonight?” 

Bruce broke that idea “I doubt they would make escape that easy. who knows what happens when you stray too far from the crystal.”

They got stuck again. Fae smiled at the two.  “At least I have someone who can help me now.”