TBATE - What if Tessia was the legacy ? - The legacy of it all

What I set in motion

Tessia Eralith

-47, 48, 49 aaand 50. All good, you can follow along, the soldier will guide you to a camp on the outskirts of Sapin where you'll be safe." I said to the latest wave of freed slaves as they smiled in relief at each other and in praise to me.

-Thank you for everything, may God smile upon you." Said a very old elf, about 170, maybe 180 years old as he bowed deeply to me, followed by a couple more elves I assumed were his friends and extended family.

-I am only doing what is right." I answered with a wide, proud smile.

Standing at the front door I saw more and more people stepping outside the warehouse. Be it small children or adults, man or woman, human or elf they all thanked me for saving them.

Having finished sending the second to last group of refugees under the protection of an undercover elf soldier from the special forces, to escort them back to Elenoir and small border villages with Sapin, I smiled and turned around.

I felt both happy and proud knowing that those people would be sent back to their villages and family, mostly via large convoys going all around the continent, crossing from Darv and in the outer regions of Sapin.

In only five days we had managed to raid every warehouse in the hands of slave traders within Xyrus city for a total of about 7000 people, most of whom were Elves and Dwarves.

The task hadn't been easy and was only made possible by the contribution of many freed slaves, who not only helped me pinpoint each trader operating in the floating city, localize their headquarters and warehouse. But also took part in the raids for the few who were mages or warriors, mostly acting as guards to make sure we wouldn't get noticed by outsiders.

The most troublesome part however, was still to get the people out and to a safe location without making the authority and other traders suspicious.

Or at least it seemed to be the case, until Hanna asked why we had to move the entire group out in the first place.

The warehouses were large enough to house all of them while I planned a route, sorted the people by geographic area and called for guards to pick them up, and had enough food to last for days.

Stepping in the rundown building on the outskirts of the floating city we had been using as a base of operation for the past few days, I looked around at the dozen people still waiting for their extraction.

-Boss, Boss!" Shouted an excited voice coming from the back of the building.

Looking her way, I saw the young dwarf girl I had become accustomed to seeing in the last few days appear in front of me with a large piece of paper in hand. Recognizing it as on the maps of Dicathen we had "borrowed" during one of our raids, I raised an eyebrow at the sheer amount of ink that had added on it.

-I've located the main HQ of the Sclave guild!" She shouted with a wide smile while bouncing in place like a toddler.

Not waiting for my reaction, she violently unfolded the map, tearing a few more gash in the paper before showing it in my face.

-See?! I've lined up the explanation from all the people we rescued and they all link back to BlackBen!" She explained as I took a step back to get a better look at the map.

Well, considering just how much she had drawn and written on it, the paper was closer to a mental diagram with a few city and region's names popping here and there at random.

The metal diagram in itself was articulated rather well considering it was probably her first time making one. The color scheme for each slave trader organization was clearly defined, dates written for important events and easy to follow arrows that underlined the links.