Hostage

The musty house was less than pleasant to traverse in. Nonetheless, my legs carried me to the tarp where the man last took me. Ela was right behind me, she was in her regular human form.

Setting the tarp aside caused dust to billow in the air, making me cough and close my eyes.

"S-Stay back!"

The dust cleared, revealing a man holding a small dirk against a boy's neck. He was behind the set of steps that led into the room.

"I-I won't hesitate, so let me through!"

His hands were trembling, and there was a small line of blood going down the boy's neck. The boy had a grimace and dried tear stains on his face. He was very quiet considering the situation. Ela clenched her fists and talked through grit teeth.

"We can make an agreement, you let the boy go and we will not obstruct you."

The man was breathing unevenly and licked his lips.

"N-No, I'll get out of here first then the boy will be released!"

Blood started to rush into my head, heating it up.

What would I think if I was him?...

With the biggest smile I could muster, my footfalls started to echo down the steps.

"Alright, alright, you can go and after you have gone you will leave the boy unharmed."

The man started to back up slowly.

"Don't come any closer! I will do it!"

My footsteps did not pause, I kept the smile on my face.

"What do you mean? There is no need to be violent, we can both get out of this with what we want."

The man continued to back up, then suddenly collided with a wall.

"Stop, I said stop right there!"

The bleeding on the boy became heavier. I pretended that we were all friends and continued walking.

"Calm down, you really should stop being so para-"

In the middle of my sentence, I pounced towards the man, stretching out my hand. The man tried to move the knife, but it was being encased in ice, unable to move. Still trying to move the knife, he did not notice a fist was flying right towards his face.

With a thump, my fist hit his head hard, making it knock into the wall behind him. The man collapsed to the ground with his eyes rolled back into his head. The boy was partially encased in the ice as well, causing him to go down with him.

Kneeling down, my hand gripped the encased ice and slowly peeled it away from the boy. He cried out in pain and immediately started to bleed from his neck.

My finger moved next to the boy's neck and the boy's neck immediately sealed up. After which, the boy calmed down.

"Uh... thank you..."

My feet rose up from the kneeling position and I flicked my wrist, sending some blood off of my finger.

"No problem."

Ela gripped my shoulder and whipped me around.

"For what reason did you take such unnecessary risk? The boy could've died!"

My hand took Ela's wrist and pulled her hand off my shoulder.

"The boy could've died if we let him have his way. What if we let him go? He could've stabbed the boy, forcing us to try to save him, and run away."

Ela rubbed her forehead with two fingers and the corner of her mouth twitched. She needed a few seconds to form her words.

"Perhaps... but you are being fairly aggressive are you not?"

Disregarding the conversation, my hands started reaching out to unlock the iron bolt locks and opening the doors.

"It may be aggressive, but it is efficient. He was desperate to live and willing to do anything for it, he would not have any conviction to actually get rid of his only leverage."

My fingers went to scratch my eyebrow.

"Anyways, you all were captured by slave traders but my friend here and I saved you, so go on and get out of here."

There were various slaves that slowly came out of their rooms. Ela's expression softened as she tugged my sleeve. The inner corners of her eyebrows were angled up.

"Wait, Jay, these people may not have a place to go, we can't just leave them here. Remember what happened to that girl?"

Ela pulled me to face her.

"Wake up Jay."

My eyes squinted tightly and rubbed my head with my palm.

"The snow..."

Ela furrowed her brows.

"The... snow?"

My hand delicately peeled off Ela's hand.

"One second..."

While taking slow deep breaths, Alyx's spell was slowly being formed inside me. Ela stood aside, waiting for me patiently.

It did not take long for me to cast Alyx's spell at my feet, enveloping me, Ela, and the boy. My head cleared and my unknowingly growing hatred was greatly reduced. My mind was much more conscious of my aching body caused by all the spells cast. My mouth opened, then closed.

"...Ela, do you feel any different?"

Ela shook her head.

"Yes, I am no longer able to sense mana."

Huh... she didn't seem to be affected by the snow... at least not yet.

"The snow has a magical effect that makes people more aggressive. If you really did not feel any change other than mana, I think I know how it works. For people that have a stable mental state, it either does not affect them or has unnoticeable effects. However, for those with aggressive emotions, it slowly amplifies them."

Ela tapped a finger on her chin.

"So you are under the effects of the snow? Was the spell just now able to nullify those effects? Where did you learn it?"

My muscles started to relax and I sat on the floor.

"Yes, the snow was clouding my judgement. The spell just now was a spell in Alyx's book that I had seen."

A sudden realization struck me.

"Wait, how did we deal with the eagle bodies from when they attacked?"

Ela tilted her head.

"Eh? We decided to dispose of them, Ned tried to cook one but the scent was unpleasant."

Damn, why didn't I realize the snow was inhibiting my judgement earlier?

"No, Alyx's spell can make the meat edible, if we can kill these animals, after purifying it with that spell we can get food for the people here."

Ela tapped her chin but did not question where my knowledge came from.

"I will get an eagle from where we disposed of them."

Ela's features slowly became dragon-like and she set off. The slaves were silent the whole time. They would occasionally turn to each other but turn back to me.

My hand raised to bring attention to myself, despite the fact the attention was still mostly on me.

"Alright everyone, let's get out of this depressing place. Soon my friend and I will prepare some food for you to eat, to improve your condition."

Leading the way, my steps echoed across the room as my foot landed on each step. Looking over my shoulder to see if the people were following me. Some clearly hesitated while the others were quick to follow, stumbling over themselves.

Eventually, all of the slaves got out of the room. There was an awkward silence that was hard to get rid of. Not only are my skills not geared towards communication, but talking to people who do not respond makes it hard to continue the conversation. Leaning against the wall, my eyes started to flutter as I prepared Alyx's spell.

When my eyes were about to close, the boy that was taken hostage earlier spoke up.

"Sir... what will happen to me?"

His voice was soft and trembling. The time Erin told me her stories came to mind, with her childish and innocent voice. As much as the boy needed comfort, my mouth could not utter those words.

"I don't know..."

The silence continued. The slaves that had frowned, frowned harder, while those that didn't, started to.

...Was this my fault?

Perhaps it was, but there was not a single regret. There was no need to sugarcoat reality, it wouldn't change anything.

Before the atmosphere was too stifling, a large thump happened outside of the room. Making my way to the door, one of my eyes peeked outside.

Ela was there, holding a giant eagle by her claws.

"I have acquired the eagle."

My elbow pressed hard against the door to open it up.

"Ah, nice I will get to work now."

My arm and index finger extended towards the eagle. Alyx's spell flew out from my fingertips. Shortly after, the eagle started to shrink to a size that could more or less fit through the door. My eyes winced.

Ela raised an eyebrow. When it finished shrinking and staring at it for a prolonged period of time, she dragged it along into the house.

When Ela brought it into the room the people were taking shelter in, all the eyes in the room gravitated to it.

My hands grasped the base of a feather and pulled hard. Ripping sounds started to fill the room.

"Hey Ela, could you carve out a piece of meat in moderate portions?"

Ela cut into the eagle with her claws with precision, making many straight lines across the eagle. She delicately took out chunks of meat.

Ela took her time and handed the meat to me after she had removed it. Holding a piece of meat in one hand and a small ball of fire in the other. The sounds of sizzling and the aroma of meat filled the room.

The meat was getting hot in my hand, but this was not the first time I had done this, considering how much I did this in the wild.

The boy that was taken hostage walked with unsteady steps.

"Could... I have that?"

My hand holding the food gently extended towards him.

"Yes, careful it is hot."

The boy lightly poked the piece of meat and Ela peeked at the boy.

"Clean your hands first, hygiene is important."

I cast the water spell on the boy's hands. His mouth opened agape, then quickly rubbed his hands together. The water splashed onto the floorboards taking dirt and grime with them.

The boy took the meat with both hands and took a small bite. He did not wolf it down but took a bite and after finishing, would take another.

As the next piece of meat started to sizzle it seemed the people other than the boy got up one after another to line up in front of me.

One by one, everyone, other than Ela and I, ate their food slowly.

The room was quickly filled up with quiet tearing and chewing sounds.

I started to wonder...

How many people would we have to help before there are no more slaves?

...Hopefully not too much.