Chapter 26 Other Elves

"Goddamn weakling of a princess tries to run away now, huh?"

Not knowing what the heck I was to do, I just let myself be guided out of the inn. I might have been clueless about much of everything… but I wasn't clueless about 'that' situation. Going out, I snatched a knife and hid it in my sleeve. Once we were out, the elf by my shoulders patted my head despite the heavy atmosphere pressing down on us and chatted idly.

How was I? Did I sleep well? Seeing we left right now, I didn't have any food at the inn, but there was food in the carriage, so was it all right to just eat that? He spoke in a kind voice. Leaving all his questions unanswered, I let myself be guided further away. Next to the inn, there was a place for horses and carriages. Some sort of a barn. We went there. And all of a sudden, I grew furious. With sharp and jerky movements, I brushed his hand off my head, stepped away from the elf, and I didn't have control of things anymore.

I retreated to an empty corner of the barn and glared daggers at the elf. "You…! I know this doesn't look like it… but…!"

"Princess? Tell me. What is it, all of a sudden?" the elf seemed genuinely worried.

"Argh! I dunno what to say! You won't believe a word! Just leave me alone! Or else…!" My teeth cracked so much when I ground them. A vein pulsed on my forehead. Those people were just as good as enemies. I'd pick a fight if I had to. If this Receptacle was as strong and sturdy as I thought, I would definitely be able to make use of mana. "No! You stay where you're at! Don't come near me!"

"B-But… Princess… What's the ruckus for? I'm confused. Have you… Please, don't make a scene. We'll talk inside the carriage. On the road. Okay? Come now."

"I said no!"

"L-Let's just talk this through… okay? We can't misunderstand each other, so let's speak of this calmly. We will work something out. Please?"

"Humph!" the other elf heavily snorted again. He coldly glared at me too, now that I looked his way. A wrinkle creased the space between my brows. The knife I hid in my sleeve trembled in rage with my hand.

"I just—"

"Tsk, tsk!" the other elf clicked his tongue. His face was hideous despite having refined features. That was maybe because he looked like a total asshole. So the most hideous face I'd ever seen shook his head at the other soothing elf, who had an expression similar to that of Kind Ma'am. "I didn't say anything up till now. But now it's too much! You really don't know crap, colleague," he blurted. "The brat keeps spitting on us like we're shit. You say follow through, she says no. You say it's for your own good, she says no. She doesn't listen. Aren't you sick of that, eh, colleague?!"

"You. You remain calm. And don't address me so casually." When he addressed that other elf, his expression was totally different. He was cold and distant. Pissed off, too. "And, for the last goddamn time, show some fuckin—" he sighed before he continued, "show some respect to the Princess."

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"Teh! What's it with you—"

"Just speak," he said after he explained to the hideous elf whatever he had to say had better be a productive remark.

"What's with the attitude, goddamn it?" the hideous elf snarled. "I'll show you how to handle the lass. That whimsical little… tsk! You don't know how to handle her, colleague. I said it before, I'll say it now—she only has value as a slave now. You know it—"

"Silence! Be silent, you scum."

"Argh!" the hideous elf groaned, clearly annoyed. "You self-righteous… tsk."

"Hey! The two of you!" They turned to me. I said I was nobody's princess. I was a male, too. As I was nobody's princess, I asked them to leave me the hell alone. I warned them saying I'd pick a fight if I had to.

My words only served to anger the hideous elf more. "See!? That's what I'm talkin' about! She spits on us!" The two elves gradually were working their way up to me. "Goddamn brat. She should be grateful we're not… sending her off right away!"

"I said you fall silent!"

Continuing arguing like this, the two of them walked up to me. I was cornered in the barn. The nearer they were to me, the more damage I could inflict on them. I still gripped my knife, after all. In the confusion of their argument—or no, that could even be called a mutiny, the hideous elf made some remark about such an angry complexion being unfit for a royal princess of my rank. Plus it wasn't girly. The kinder elf only glared angrily at his colleague, now, who knows what kind of ideas flashing through his mind, as he gritted his teeth fiercely. Suddenly, out of nowhere, as I was cornered even more tightly in the barn, I was addressed with some words. "You want it?" said the hideous elf.

"Try me?"

A slap hit me. My eyes rounded in surprise. That blasted off so quickly. They weren't just any elves, were they? My face turned to the right with the slap. The kinder elf now seethed in rage. His face was red, he didn't care anymore about alerting other people, and yelled too. "I'm telling you not to be rash! You son of a—! We gotta work together for the whole plan to work! And you do that?!"

I mean, sure, why not? Grinning, I let my kitchen knife slide down my sleeve, gripped it tight in my hand, and— "Oh? Does it amuse you, princess—Aaugh!?" I drew a line at him. It slashed through him, but only his hand was touched. Such a tinier version of a sword obviously wouldn't be as efficient as the real deal. "M-My fingers…! My fucking fingers!" Two fingers fell to the ground. Thick waves of dark bluish mana were leaking off of me. For a second, I instilled terror into both of them. They both looked at me thinking of where the hell this ominous, monstrous aura was from. But as I right away felt a stinging sensation all over my body—the System quickly warned me of an overload of the current Receptacle's mana core—and I promptly stopped letting the true monster show through the facade.

After a few seconds, as the pressure I emitted totally vanished, they both either forgot it or made it as though they saw nothing, clearly afraid of what that would imply.

The kinder elf spoke first, seeing the fingers down. "You asked for it." I was shocked to hear the other elf pronounce these words. It made me hesitant to slash the knife at him next. I wasn't finished with the hideous elf, though. And so I tried to slash another time at him— The elf backed down with a bolt. "You nutjob of a princess! Goddamn it!" "Princess, it's time to sleep." And the other elf jumped back, too, holding an opened scroll in his hands. Assaulting me with his stored spell, he prayed that it would work on me and that the pressure from seconds ago was but the figment of his imagination. The last thing I remembered seeing was a flashing light. Then I just fell unconscious in the kinder elf's arms.