ILLUSTRATION AT THE END
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Mirabelle paused where she stood as her legs kept trembling. She looked with fear at this strangely dressed man. She then activated her personal ability – [Data Analysis].
Various lines of data entered her line of vision.
Name: Nelson Julian
Race: Vampire (Slave Trader)
Level: 89
HP: 4000/4000
MP: 2000/2000
Level 89!?
Without even having to look at the remaining stats, Mirabelle knew that her own stats were nothing in comparison to his. Would her meager 20 in Dexterity and Stamina be enough to escape from him?
To be honest, her first thought upon seeing this man was to run away.
However—
Her tiny legs were really trembling in fear. She currently had no idea what to do. Mirabelle felt helpless as she used her fists to hit her constantly trembling legs. She attempted to use [pain] to numb her [fear].
She could only try and escape while he was still focusing on the elven ore.
Just as Mirabelle was about to start running away, his slender fingers roughly pinched her cheek.
"Although you're the princess of the elves, you're still just a little brat. You actually couldn't even move because of how scared you were of me. Still, you really do have a cute face. I should be able to sell you for a good price."
Mirabelle trembled all over. Mirabelle thought to herself at this time, 'He's a slave trader. I'll be sold off as a product if I don't escape from here.'
She might receive horrible treatment if she was sold. Additionally, her mother would also die at home. That was unacceptable! Mirabelle resolved herself and pounced forward to bite on his finger. She forced him to release his tight grip from her face.
Mirabelle then immediately started running. Mirabelle's excellent hearing helped her to hear what he said in the distance—
"It will be rather boring to capture you just like this. Hurry and run. I have the most fun when I'm capturing a slave."
"Damn it, why did I meet someone like this who views such a thing as fun!?"
It was currently nighttime. Nighttime was advantageous for vampires. The vampires had sharper senses than Mirabelle's. Thus, Mirabelle could only try to hide.
She hid in a garden. Her body was small enough to be perfectly covered by the bushes.
—Was using her ultimate technique the only way out of here?
No, she would wait a little while longer. He didn't have a convenient ability like hers. He probably wouldn't be able to find her. She would observe a while longer before using that ability.
Mirabelle clenched her tiny fists. Her palms were beginning to sweat. Ever since she arrived in this RPG world… Nothing had gone well for her. Not only was she now in a little girl's body… She had become the princess of the elves, yet she had to constantly hide in humiliating fashion.
Normal story or manga tropes would never do this to the protagonist.
—Other protagonists would have the opposite experience from her.
Light novel protagonists always had such happy lives. Meanwhile, both of her parents had died. She was forced to hide in enemy territory.
If she could choose, she would have really wanted to be a handsome vampire youth or something like that. She would rather enslave others than be enslaved. However, even if dreams were beautiful, reality was cruel. She was currently being hunted down as a product to be sold.
Just when would she finally be able to stop having to hide? The only solution was to escape from this city. She wouldn't be able to start doing anything unless she escaped from this city.
Yet, even the powerful elf royal guards, led by her mother, were unable to escape from here. So, what could she even do?
The two long ears on Mirabelle's head drooped down listlessly. She hid her head in the bushes. She could only pray that the slave trader wouldn't discover her. It would be alright. She was properly wearing the cape of invisibility.
Even if nighttime was advantageous for vampires, the slave trader wouldn't possibly be able to find her. If she was really captured, then she would definitely become a blood slave and receive inhumane treatment. She might even lose her chastity. That was something absolutely unacceptable. This had to do with her male pride.
Thus, she hid in the bushes. She didn't even dare to move a single inch. At any rate, she had to wait— Wait for that male vampire to leave. However, when Mirabelle looked out again, she realized that she had lost track of his figure.
"What!?"
Mirabelle exclaimed in astonishment as she stood up from the bushes.
Could it be that he had left due to boredom after not being able to find her?
Just in case—
Mirabelle began to use her [Data Analysis] ability to check the surrounding area. Yet, when her ability located his figure… Mirabelle immediately started running with fear in her eyes.
Footsteps sounded from behind her.
—Without a doubt, these footsteps belonged to that male vampire.
'Damn it, he's so difficult to deal with. Wicked merchants all deserve to die. People like him never give up until they've managed to get something they want from me.'
Thus, she needed to hurry and escape. Otherwise, the consequences would be severe if she was captured.
A fork in the road appeared right as Mirabelle was thinking this. One path led to the main road, while the other path led to a dark alleyway. It was currently nighttime, when the vampires were most active. If she took the main road, then more vampires might surround her.
She didn't know what was wrong with her head today. This was her first time coming [outside], yet she chose nighttime, which was the most dangerous time. There was no helping it. If she had waited the entire night, her mother would definitely have died by the next morning. She would then experience the heartrending pain of losing her family [yet again].
Mirabelle thought about how her mother was still waiting at home for her. She kept running forward without giving up. Yet, as she kept running… She suddenly ran into something even more solid than a pillar. Even the hat she wore fell off from the impact.
"Just who is it? Putting trash in the middle of the road…"
—It wasn't trash.
Mirabelle raised her head to see that she had crashed into the suit-wearing vampire man from earlier. He was looking directly at her with his red eyes that peered out from behind his eyeglasses.
"As I expected…"
His eyes appeared to give off a blood-red glow.
M… monster…
This was the only word that Mirabelle could think of to describe him as. Only then did Mirabelle realize that her hat had fallen off at some point in time.
—Her pointy ears, an elven specialty, were completely exposed.
Mirabelle hurriedly put on her hat again. Just as she was about to run in the opposite direction, she found that the footsteps she heard from earlier were no hallucinations.
A gigantic hunting hound was crouching on the ground while viciously staring in Mirabelle's direction. Mirabelle was so scared that she sat down on the ground and kept trying to retreat. At this moment, the vampire man raised her slender wrist high up into the air.
"Let me go, 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐝, let me go!!!"
Mirabelle immediately started to swing her fist at his face. She kept shaking herself in an attempt to break free from his hand. However—
Mirabelle's wrist was caught in an iron vice-grip. The vampire's grasp was incredibly strong. This was the strength of an adult male vampire.
So scary—
Mirabelle was only about 1.3 meters tall. The 2 meters tall vampire was just like a giant to her. Mirabelle felt incredible pressure emanating from him.
"You can't escape from me… [Former] princess. Your body is emitting such an alluring scent of blood."
"You… what do you intend to do?"
"Nothing much. Even if you don't realize just how valuable you are. Perhaps I'll be able to sell you for an unimaginable price to those high-level vampires…"
"You… what did you say?"
—Sell?
Although she knew he was a so-called slave trader, she was still really afraid when she heard such words. Would she become marked as a blood slave after being sold? That was unacceptable!
The enemies who killed her parents would become her masters?
Mirabelle was frightened just from imagining it. Mirabelle struggled even more as she thought this.
"Although your struggling is completely useless, still—"
The vampire man covered her mouth and nose with a cloth. Mirabelle's first reaction was that this was something similar to chloroform. She tried her best to hold her breath.
However, the vampire man held the cloth against her face for quite a long time. Even though Mirabelle knew what it was, she still couldn't help but breathe. Not to mention, Mirabelle was only able to hold her breath for a short period of time.
"I'll be quite annoyed if you keep moving around like this."
Mirabelle's consciousness became hazy after she inhaled a large amount of the chloroform-like substance.
"Haha, It seems that I can sell you for a really high price. That's not the only harvest I obtained today. There's also the elven ore that she was carrying. I'm going to make so much money!"
The vampire slave trader saw nothing but the money he would make. It was obvious that he didn't treat this [former] princess as a living person. His sharp gaze viewed this princess as nothing more than an item to be exchanged for money. She was just a toy that the vampire nobles would have fun with.
"You'll wake up to an entirely new life."
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illustration at comment
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