Freedom

One, two, three…There were fifteen guards in total.

Each one was likely at B-rank. Maybe even higher. And each of them was pointing their weapon directly at us. Well, at Elaina. They still could not see me with my invisibility bracelet.

Most of them used a sword, but a few used a spear and one even used a staff. He was probably a mage or some kind of magic-user. Certainly nothing good for us.

How did we end up in this situation?

It all started when we left the cell. We had made our way slowly through the corridors. Others cell like ours littered the hallways, but we hadn't been able to open them with the key that we stole. Fortunately, there were only a few guards that we found actually guarding the prison. The place was surprisingly empty.

Eventually, we found some stairs, only to have a voice come from the purple stone we stole off the guard. The stone turned out to be a communication device, one that allowed the guards to talk with each other.

The voice told us to immediately stop our escape. Someone had found the dead guard's corpse and had already figured out we escaped. Of course, we did not stop but kept running, right to the exit.

The rest was quite anti-climatic. We never found the exit. Instead, a group of guards found us first. Most likely, they had some way to track us as they did find us quite quick.

Not only did they find us quickly, they were also quite angry. While I didn't know for sure, that guard we killed was probably quite liked around here.

"Alright, I surrender." Elaina threw up her hands, the sword and dagger clattering onto the floor.

None of the guards let down their weapons though. They were no longer underestimating us. One of the guards, who I assumed to be a mage, whispered something to the lead guard.

"Now make the other one take off her invisibility," The lead guard said. It seemed they knew I was here…

Before Elaina protested, I removed my hand from hers and squeezed the tight bracelet off my wrist. Maybe it wasn't the best choice, but they already knew I existed and I didn't want to be stabbed accidentally.

"Now what she would do with them, sir?" One of the guards asked.

"We don't have the authority to punish them. Send them back to their cell after you strip them—"

Before the guard could finish his sentence, his body suddenly turned a bright purple. No, it wasn't just him. All of the guards were glowing purple!

In mere seconds, the light dispersed. The fifteen guards who had been blocking our way had all vanished into thin air.

No, not vanished. That wasn't correct.

"That was teleportation!" It was exactly the same as when my mistress teleported. Except this was fifteen people.

"Teleportation?" Elaina muttered beside me. She seemed just as shocked as I was.

But where was the caster? They must be quite powerful to teleport so many high-rank guards. And why did they help us?

"Wow, you girls are so cool!" A chirpy voice came from behind me.

My body stiffened. It couldn't be her, not here. I turned around before immediately regretting the decision.

"D-demon Lor—" My words were interrupted when the small figure jumped into my arms as I stuttered back. Fortunately, they weighed almost nothing or I would've fallen back.

The girl's arms hooked around my neck as she pressed her little body against me. Her feet dangled down, the girl no taller than a child. She was even shorter than me!

"Ah~ I missed you so much Kitty." She nuzzled my cheek with her own, her green hair blocking my face.

My first thought was to peel the girl off me but she seemed determined to cling. And even if I had the strength to get her off, which I did not, I definitely did not have the courage to do it. The last thing I wanted to do was piss of the Demon Lord of Wrath.

All I could do was hold her up by her butt to support. I hoped she wouldn't mind.

"Miss Ellie…um…why are you here?" It was impossible to hide the shakiness in my voice.

"Don't call me Miss Ellie. You can just call me Ellie. After all, we're friends!" She looked at me with a big, toothy smile, her face mere inches from my own.

She really was cute with her big, bright eyes and plump cheeks. I had to stop my hand from giving them a little squeeze. If I didn't know she was a demon lord even stronger than Mistress Lilith, I might actually mistake her for an adorable child. The girl looked much younger than when I had met her at the banquet with her green hair was bunched up into pigtails.

Elaina walked up to me, probably even more surprised than me with the appearance of this fairy. She knelt a little so her head was level with Ellie's.

"Hello Ellie, my name is Elaina. I'm Kitty's friend. Were you the one who got rid of the guards?" She asked with a friendly smile.

I sighed in relief. While Elaina's spoke as if she was talking to a child, at the very least her tone was sincere. It would be bad if my only companion died.

"Humph!" Ellie snorted as she turned her head away.

Despite Elaina's friendliness, Ellie on the other hand didn't seem to care for Elaina at all. Her face was covered in annoyance and displeasure. Why did she not like her?

'Hey Ellie, is there some reason you don't—"

Elaina began to say, but was cut off a moment later as she screamed in pain. Her body couldn't handle it and she fell to the floor with a thud, her limbs twitching in agony.

"Ellie…are you doing that?"

"I am just administering a small punishment. Don't worry, no permanent damage will be inflicted… It wouldn't do to kill someone with an aspect, no matter how annoying her existence is." Ellie said as she finally let go of me and dropped to the floor. Her tone was utterly serious, a complete contrast to her previous self.

"Umm, I know she's a little annoying…but why is she being punished?" I scratched my cheek, nervous from confronting this demons lord. But I still had to stand up for Elaina. She had helped me escape, even if we did end up failing in the end.

Ellie's serious face quickly changed to shock and then to panic. Her gaze turned to the floor in nervousness as her bare feet shuffling from side to side.

I was amazed by how fast this demon lord could change her character. Did she have a split personality?

And why was this girl so anxious? It should be me that was scared, not her!

"I-its because…" She fidgeted from side to side, her little hands clutching the hem of her skirt. "Before in the room…she bullied you…" At the end her voice became barely a whisper.

She was doing it for me? Wait a minute…

"So you were watching us before?" My eye twitched. Did she hear our entire escape plan?

"I just wanted to make sure the elf didn't do anything to you!" Now the demon lord was pouting up at me, a wronged expression on her face.

"Oh, then thank you Ellie." My hand patted her head and she didn't resist. She even seemed to be a little ecstatic as she stopped the spell on Elaina.

Task successful! Appease the little demon lord.

"Fuck, what the hell was that. It felt like I was being eaten from the inside out," Elaina groaned as she sat up. "Wasn't that a little much? I barely bullied her."

Before I could argue, Ellie's head perked up to the side. "She's almost back. I have to get you out of here before she returns."

"Wait, you're helping us escape?" It was Elaina who asked. It seemed she had instantly recovered from her traumatic experience.

"Listen Kitty. I can only the stall the two but you'll have to escape yourself. If I'm found helping you in anyway…I cannot fight off two demon lords by myself. All I can do is teleport you two as far as I can, but it will still be in the Demon Lord of Envy's territory. You must make your way south, to the others, before they catch you."

"What others?" I asked.

"I cannot tell you. If you are captured, there are spells to read memories…But you will know when you find them. That elf is one of them. Find the other seven."

I wanted to interrupt, but I didn't know what to ask. Why was she helping us? Why did I have to find these others? How did they relate to me?

But she was in a hurry and did not give me the chance to ask. "If you can activate your aspect, you might stand a chance. You are the key, the only one he fears. Only you have the ability to kill him." Her face was expressionless, but her eyes were full of fury. The pressure leaking out from her was unlike any I had felt before, whether it be my mistress or her demon knights.

Suddenly, she looked behind her with an expression of alarm, before turning back to me.

She waved her arm. "Good luck, I will be waitin—"

Her words cut off as I was swallowed by purple light. Everything went black for a moment, and the world shifted around me.

Suddenly, I felt my feet hit something solid. Dizzy from the teleportation, I was unable to keep my balance and fell back onto my butt. Fortunately, the ground was somewhat soft.

I blinked at my new surroundings. As far as I could see, the land was covered in trees. They weren't normal trees as far as I could tell, each one was massive. I couldn't tell their exact height but some of them might have spanned as high as a hundred metres.

Beside me, I looked over at Elaina, who had also fallen onto her behind. She met my gaze with a smile. And then she started laughing.

"We're finally free!" She jumped over to hug me.

I couldn't help but laugh with her. I had a lot of questions, but they could be answered later. Right now, I just wanted to enjoy the moment.

Freedom. It sure felt nice.