Arcadia's Ignoble Knight: Dark Elf Arc

Chapter 54

It was clear that Collafloore did not see, but Caspian didn't have time to explain Elincia's power in detail. They needed to leave.

"Ele?"

"Don't worry. I'll lead you out of the mansion."

With Elincia's help, Caspian led the group through hallway after hallway, until they came upon the entrance hall. However, they were forced to stop upon reaching it.

"Well, this isn't good," Caspian murmured.

"We're definitely in trouble," Derek admitted. "I don't even have my claymore."

Several people were standing in front of the entrance. Ameralda was one of them. However, standing in front of her were nearly 20 individuals dressed in full plate mail and bearing a variety of weapons. Most of them were men, though there were also a few women. Caspian assumed the men were Ameralda's slaves.

"I thought something fishy was going on," Ameralda said when she saw the four of them. She was smiling, but at the same time, it wasn't a smile. "A woman comes to my dukedom with three handsome slaves, two of them elves and one a half-elf. I could not help but be skeptical."

"So you knew we weren't really slaves, huh?" Christo chuckled. "I guess our acting was just that terrible."

"Hmph!" Ameralda snorted as the men and women around her drew their weapons. "It is not that your acting was terrible, though it certainly wasn't great. There's no way a group of elves would allow themselves to be captured so easily, and they certainly wouldn't have acted so docile. There were also those two elf women. I can't imagine a pair of elves who are willing to protect a woman who's going to sell their own kind off to a human. I can only conclude that you three are not really elves at all but humans in disguise."

While Caspian didn't want to, he felt respect for Ameralda's deductive reasoning rise. It seemed she hadn't earned this dukedom due to her family's reputation at all.

"So what happens now?" asked Caspian. "Are you going to attack us? Subdue us and keep us here? If you let us leave, I promise that we won't cause you anymore trouble. We only came here to pick up Collafloore."

"So you work for Erica then." Ameralda narrowed her eyes. "I thought that woman looked familiar. In either event, there's no way I'm letting any of you leave, especially after you tried to trick me. I'm afraid my men here are going to subdue you, and then I'm going to punish you for breaking my heart."

The woman didn't look all that heartbroken, but Caspian couldn't comment on it as the 20 odd men and women charged forward. If it was just those 20, he wouldn't have worried overly much. However, Caspian soon realized there were more people charging out of adjacent hallways and even coming down from the stairs.

"We're surrounded," Christo announced.

"Thank you for telling me," Caspian snapped. "I didn't know that."

"There's no need for sarcasm."

"How should we do this?" asked Derek. "I don't think I need to tell you, but I'm not as strong without my sword."

Caspian grimaced but came up with an on the spot plan that he hoped would work. "Just protect Collafloore. I'll take care of them."

While Christo and Derek acknowledged Caspian's words with a nod and closed ranks around Collafloore to protect him, Caspian did not intend to fight alone.

"Ele, I'm going to need your help. We're surrounded."

Caspian thought he heard Elincia acknowledge his words, but he had no time to pay attention as the warriors who'd been charging forward finally reached them.