The women I set free are obsessed with me

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Victor, former master of the Assassin's Guild.

Another epithet that adorned him was Shadow Peacock.

His daggers, conjured from the shadows, carried out the slaughter with a grace that resembled a peacock's dance, its wings spread. Hence, the nickname was born.

Dagger-like feathers began to dance, using the torchlight as their stage.

"Aaaaargh!"

"W-We're under a night attack! Grab your weapons and fight back!"

The mercenaries tried to respond, but they were already too wasted. They fell indiscriminately, unable to react to the daggers flying freely around the camp.

Thunk, thunk, thunk.

As the bodies of mercenaries impaled by shadow daggers danced, droplets of blood were scattering like flower petals.

It was so beautiful that the battlefield looked more like a stage.

And at the center of this chaotic stage, Karami moved leisurely like he were in a different dimension. He approached the elf who had collapsed, unconscious from unbearable pain.

[Alfia, the Eternally Suffering Elf]

She was the second main slave.

"Huh, I can't believe it's actually an elf."

Victor, having finished the cleanup in an instant, stood beside Karami.

As if to add credibility to the claim 'It's assassination if there are no witnesses,' when the daggers disappeared, all the mercenaries had merged with their own shadows.

"Would you mind breaking the prison bars? And the shackles too."

"Are you sure that's safe? If she wakes up and uses her power, I might not be able to subdue her alone."

"It's fine. That won't happen."

Though he didn't know how Karami could be so certain, if Karami said so, then it must be true. With this mindset now ingrained in the back of his mind, Victor swung his dagger.

Slice.

After a soft cutting sound, the iron bars and shackles were sliced like radishes.

"Oof."

Karami hoisted the collapsed Alfia onto his back.

"What are you going to do with that elf?"

"You're asking a slave trader what he'll do with a defenseless elf? What a pointless question."

"Hm."

"Surely you're not feeling uncomfortable about this now?"

"How could I? I have no right to feel that way."

Karami and Victor left the scene of the brutal massacre, exchanging trivial small talk.

On the way back to the city, Victor glanced sideways.

Elves were said to live off dew alone.

Alfia looked frail even at a glance, yet Karami was sweating profusely as he carried her.

"You look like you're struggling. Wouldn't it be better if I carried her?"

"Huff, huff… It's fine. I'll take care of my own slave."

Victor wasn't sure whether to call this responsible or foolish. He felt a complicated mix of emotions.

***

"Is this thing really an elf?"

"This thing? Don't say this thing! You should say this person!"

What's going on…

Alfia pondered in the darkness.

The unrestrained high-pitched voices were typical of children, heard everywhere in the world. Her head was already spinning, and the chaotic noise assaulting her eardrums made it even worse.

But why did she hear children's voices?

Alfia tried to recall her memories.

She woke up after drinking, only to find herself kidnapped by humans and locked in an iron cage. When pain tore through her, she begged for alcohol but was coldly refused.

After that, she slowly lost consciousness, and just before blacking out, something happened, but…

I can't remember.

There were no particularly helpful memories.

In the end, Alfia decided to pretend to be unconscious to assess the situation further.

"J-Just now… her ear twitched…"

"Amazing. Her ears are so long. Is this real? Can I touch them?"

You shouldn't do that.

Elves have sensitive ears. Touching them carelessly would be a great discourtesy, young human children.

"We can't. Big Brother Karami said we shouldn't touch her carelessly."

Big Brother Karami.

I don't know who you are, but thank you anyway.

Alfia tried to keep pretending to be asleep, but there was only so much she could learn through listening alone. She couldn't stay like this forever either.

She slightly opened her eyes.

Four children were leaning in, staring closely at her.

"Her eyes are open!"

"She's awake!"

Because they were so close, they noticed her slightly opened eyes. Alfia squeezed her eyes shut, inwardly sighing before putting on a gentle smile.

"Ahaha… Hey?"

"Hello!"

"You're all quite polite. But you're a bit too close, could you back up a little?"

The children moved their faces back.

Well-behaved children were cute regardless of race. Alfia slowly sat up and looked around.

She had been lying on a pure white bed. There was another identical bed right next to it, and furniture that looked like a storage cabinet.

While this was an utterly ordinary interior for humans, it was all unfamiliar to Alfia, an elf.

"Where is this…?"

"It's our home!"

"Home? Not a prison?"

"Prison? B-Big Sis, were you a criminal?"

"I didn't mean that…"

What in the world was going on?

Come to think of it, the shackles that had been all over her body were gone. But Alfia felt no relief at all.

"Huh?"

Because of all places, there were shackles on her soul.

Alfia was greatly shocked.

Why… why this of all things?

A soul contract.

For elves, this held a vastly different meaning.

Elves love only one person in their entire lifetime. To leave evidence of this, they engrave a thousand-year oath upon their souls with their lover beneath the World Tree.

If the promise is broken, the oath transforms into a curse, taking root deep within the soul. The rest of their days are then spent in unimaginable agony.

But Alfia's soul now bore shackles. It had been defiled. This wasn't a stain she could simply wash away like dirt from her hands. It meant that her love could never be shared with another, ever again.

"…"

Alfia felt an indescribable emotion. Though this fate was foreseeable from the moment she was captured as a slave… the fact that her soul was defiled came as a great shock.

"Big sis, are you okay? You don't look well."

The children leaned in, looking concerned. Alfia forced herself to change her expression.

"Y-Yeah. By the way, are you all slaves too?"

"Yes!"

"Y-Yes…"

"I'm not."

"Me neither."

Not only did they kidnap her while she was living well, but they even enslaved such young children. Alfia gritted her teeth.

"Where is this person you call master?"

"You mean Big Brother Karami? He's waiting upstairs."

Mr. Karami. I thought you were a good person, but I guess not.

Just what kind of human had defiled her soul? To see the face of this so-called great person, Alfia got off the bed.

"Ugh."

She staggered for a moment as dizziness struck. As soon as she regained her senses, pain overwhelmed her. Cold sweat poured down.

"Big sis, are you okay? You don't look well."

"Big sis is fine."

After somehow calming the worried children, Alfia left the room and went upstairs.

Two men were chatting in the tavern.

An elderly man with graying white hair and beard.

His opposite, a handsome young man with black hair.

Thanks to the soul shackles, Alfia instinctively knew. That man was her master who had placed the shackles on her, and the one the children called Big Brother Karami.

And… though she didn't want to admit it, in elven culture, he would be considered her life partner.

…He is quite handsome.

He wouldn't lose out even compared to male elves. Of course, his appearance alone wasn't enough to spark a favorable impression where none had existed before.

When Alfia emerged, Karami greeted her with a smile.

"You're finally awake. I was worried you might never wake up."

Alfia stared intently at Karami, delaying her response.

What kind of person was he?

What was his personality like?

He doesn't seem like a bad person on the surface…

But if he were a good person, he wouldn't have those cute children as slaves. Nor would he have hired mercenaries to kidnap her.

After calmly analyzing, Alfia quickly came to a conclusion.

"Let me go."

"Pardon?"

"I said, let me go."

No room for discussion, a direct confrontation.

That was her decision.

"Not only did you kidnap me and make me a slave, but you even scarred my soul without permission… and you're even using those young children as slaves. Do you have no conscience?"

"Haha, surely not. I always take pride in my actions."

"You… take pride in this?"

"Of course."

Her soul had been defiled and she had to watch Karami smirk without any consideration for her feelings. It made Alfia's anger rise.

"Ugh."

Alfia let out a short groan.

The mischievous spirits, excited by her intensifying emotions, began to rampage joyfully. Alfia clutched her chest as if in discomfort.

"What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

"I-It's nothing…"

"If you say so, that's a relief."

Karami took a swig of alcohol.

"Instead of standing there awkwardly, why don't you come have a drink?"

"What?"

A word that directly pierced Alfia's long ears.

Drink?

Alfia's eyes widened.

Though she wondered, 'Do masters usually share drinks with their slaves?', that wasn't the important part.

With alcohol, she could suppress this pain that felt like being dug into by thorny vines. …Absolutely not because she wanted to taste human alcohol out of curiosity or anything.

"Ahem, I suppose there's nothing better than alcohol to ease the conversation with an unfamiliar stranger."

After clearing her throat and rationalizing, Alfia sat down next to Karami. He filled a glass with alcohol and slid it towards her.

A clear, pale blue liquid.

It was a type of alcohol Alfia had never seen before.

"What's this?"

"It's Lunabloom. An alcohol made from moonflower petals. I think you'll like it."

Alfia hesitated, but seeing Karami take a drink to prove its safety eased her wariness. She sniffed it, then took a small sip.

A soft, delicate first taste. The scent of moonflowers lingered on her tongue. As the alcohol slid down her throat, it felt like the coolness of a moonlit night.

It conveyed the serenity of a quiet moonlit night to her.

"Wow…"

"How is it?"

"I-It's incredibly delicious. I never imagined alcohol could taste like this."

With just one glass of alcohol, her tense body completely relaxed.

The strong alcoholic sensation spreading through her body made the mischievous spirits dizzy. They quieted down, unable to handle the intoxication and her pain subsided.

"Good alcohol knows no bounds between races."

"That's right! You really know your stuff, huh?"

Alfia stood up abruptly, enthusiastically agreeing.

At that moment, silence descended.

When she snapped back to reality, she realized everyone was staring at her with wide eyes. Both Victor, and the four children poking their little heads up from the floor below.

Only Karami smiled like a fisherman who had cast his bait.

"It's merely the nature of things. With each drink consumed, a layer of the veil naturally falls away."

Alfia, her face flushed, sat down awkwardly and took another drink.

"You asked me to let you go?"

"Yeah. Why, are you going to?"

"Hmm, as much as I'd like to, if I just let you go like this, the loss would be too great… Ah."

He had no intention of doing so. Karami, only pretending to consider it, let out a short exclamation as if he had thought of something.

"Then let's do this. How about we make a bet?"

"A bet?"

"To see who's a better drinker. If you win, I'll let you go as you wished. How about it? Aren't I a kind master?"