The Tale of the Dark Elf Princess

I wake up first. Sirgia follows shortly after due to my gentle brushes on her cheeks. She opens her eyes slowly and smiles cutely when she finds me so close to her. She leans even closer and leaves a gentle peck on my lips. I begin tickling her exposed tummy, making her giggle adorably. I can't get enough of this little dwarf.

My jelly girls finish their hibernation too and we take a quick shower together. It gets a bit cramped, but Sirgia uses that as an excuse to rub her naked body against mine after seeing the slimes do it. It's a completely different experience when someone with a real skin does it. I reward her efforts with a few more kisses and we move to the kitchen after dressing up.

We swiftly prepare breakfast and set it in the dining room. The slime girls go to bring our new guests here and I walk to check up on Cornelia. Arriving at the door to her room, I knock a few times. No answer comes. I do it again but louder. Still nothing. I can sense her lying on her bed on the other side, so she must be sleeping deeply.

「I wonder what she wears to sleep.」

With a small smile forming on my lips, I use her lack of response as an excuse to wake her up personally. Let's see how she will react. Stealthily opening the door, I take a peek inside and spot her exactly where I felt her be, lying flat on her belly while semi-covered with sheets.

I step inside and close the door behind me. I haven't checked out this room after she has taken it for herself, so I glance over the interiors with curiosity. Not that much changed. There are lots of papers scattered everywhere though. And some scientific and magical devices here and there. It's slightly dark in here due to the window being almost completely covered with one of the curtains we've ordered recently. No wonder she sleeps so peacefully, barely any sun reaches her spot.

Walking closer to them, I casually uncover the blocked window, without using any sudden movements. A faint groan escapes Cornelia's mouth, but it doesn't seem like she's going to wake up just from that. With this much light, I can finally take a better look at my lovely Ice Queen.

Cornelia lies on the bed with her limbs spread to the sides. Her hair is not being held by the usual accessories and flows freely down her neck and shoulders. As for her clothes, it looks like she's wearing a dark purple negligee. Not the seductive transparent one, just a regular material piece. I bet she has panties in the same fashion.

I sit down on the edge of her bed and stare at the sleeping beauty. She looks so calm. I almost feel like I shouldn't disrupt her peaceful rest. I begin stroking the back of her hand with my finger. There's no visible effect so I move further and circle around her forearm. She rotates it and catches my arm with her hand, still completely asleep.

"Mhhnnn… not now… I need to bathe first…" she whispers some words while fondling my forearm and starting to move it closer to her face. "What do you mean by saying you love my scent… mnnnn... stop… Al..." My hand reaches her face and she starts rubbing them against each other.

Soon, she begins realizing that something is wrong, taking a few sniffs of my hand. I stopped turning my skills off around the girls and instead began my training in controlling them better at low power after resolving myself again, so some sweet scent may be currently surrounding my body. I think it smelled like lilac in her case.

Cornelia starts slowly opening her eyes while blinking a lot. She suddenly stops after locking her gaze with mine and freezes, most likely trying to figure out why my smiling face is present in her room. She moves her eyes to her body, then glances at my hand which is stuffed under her cheek and follows it up my arm to arrive back at my face, with hers getting increasingly red.

If we follow the usual stereotype, then she should start trying to impale me with her ice spears at any moment now. That does not happen though. She just keeps looking at me while her expression reaches a flushed state. I brush my finger over her cheek, making her squirm a little.

"What are you doing here?" She somehow manages to speak coherently but still a little shakily.

"I came to wake my sleeping princess up. What else?" I give her a wide smile.

Her eyes move to my hand under her cheek again. "And this?"

"You pulled me in when I was doing so. You know, I don't mind lying down for a few cuddles if that's what you want."

Her pupils tremble a little. "In your dreams!"

She rises to a sitting position, finally revealing the rest of her body, of course, covered with the negligee. That does not mask her womanly charms completely and my eyes instantly dart off to the ample peaks standing attentively under the purple material, which in turn pull it upwards, revealing a bit of her charming, slim abdomen, and as I expected, purplish panties.

Cornelia squeaks a little and hastily hides her chest behind her crossed arms. "Go ogle the girls you already bedded, you horny beast!"

She sends me an embarrassed glare, but her eyes soon widen and her expression changes into a slightly uneasy one, still almost completely red though. She must have started worrying that she sounded rude towards both them and me. I chuckle at her reaction. Such a gentle and contradicting tsundere is a real gem.

I move a bit of her hair from the side of her face to behind her ear while chuckling. "Too bad. That belly is a treasure second only to your alluring legs." I wink at her and start moving away. "Breakfast is ready. Take your time. We'll wait for you."

Standing up, I head to the door, giving the flustered Cornelia one more smile from the doorstep. The other girls are already sitting around the table when I walk back down. In this world, Dark Elves and Elves aren't herbivores like in some universes I've stumbled on in the past while reading fantasy books, and they hunt and eat meat like many other races, thus we all get the same dish.

The sleeping princess finally joins us. She and Sirgia keep barraging me with questions about all that happened the previous evening. We dine while I tell them the whole story, earning myself a lot of nods and clapping from the dark-skinned beauties, even though I try to not sound like I'm just boasting about my achievements, although I'm proud of at least one of them. Yeah, the fight with the butler. Against someone much more proficient in close-quarters combat, I held my ground satisfactorily. Even Cornelia sends a few praises my way. She is on the top of the list of people who know almost everything about me and now also about my skills.

We move to the main hall and I take a long look over all of the elves. They switched their previous clothes into clean shirts and pants, but their sizes are still inadequate and their breasts are squeezed together in a clearly visible fashion.

"We need some clothes for you. Walking around with six Dark Elves in tow is not the best idea though. Hmmmm…" I speak in Common so everyone understands, and start pondering while Elea passes the meaning to her comrades.

"Should we just size them up and order more uniforms?" Cornelia suggests.

"Don't already assume that they are staying. But the other part is a good idea. Let's measure all of you and do a little shopping." I nod after reworking her suggestion.

Elea turns her head around and informs the girls about our plan, then they begin unpinning the buttons of their shirts and Elea's impressive breasts are soon first to be released from their confinement, springing out in front of our eyes.

"Aaaaaaaahhh! STOP! STOP! STOOOOOOOOOOOP!"

Cornelia screams flustered, rushes to her and grabs the sides of her shirt to cover the bouncy melons again. The other five girls pause their undressing and look at her, puzzled.

Elea glances at me with a bit of worry in her violet eyes. "Did we do something wrong?" she asks in Common.

"Why are you taking your clothes off?!" Cornelia asks her, still slightly panicked, sending glances back at me.

"Isn't the Saviour going to measure our bodies for new clothes?" she asks in turn.

"We are in the middle of the main hall, and besides, HE IS A MAN!"

"Eh? That's an issue?"

"Wha—?"

Cornelia steps back utterly befuddled, moving her gaze from her to me and back. I break into a laugh at this scene.

"Hahahaha… I'm not sure about Dark Elves, but in Human society, it's quite improper for a man to touch a woman's body casually. Hell, even looking can be offensive too. Humans value and protect their privacy, especially when it comes to the sensitive parts of their bodies," I briefly explain since it's quite obvious that it may not be the same at her home.

"Ah… We are terribly sorry, Lady Cornelia. We weren't aware of that Human custom," Elea hastily bows to her.

The magician calms herself down. "It's okay, it was just a misunderstanding, sorry for screaming at you."

"I'll let Cornelia and the other girls do the job. Join me in my room after you are done so that we can talk about you and the future." I leave them and head to where I mentioned.

Twenty minutes later, the group of dark elves, Safi, Emi and Sirgia come in. They tell me that Cornelia already left to pick up some clothes for them. Hopefully, she won't repeat the thing from the past where she was supposed to choose something for Sirgia.

We all sit down comfortably. Sirgia is a bit too hesitant to get onto my lap with other people around and Emi quickly makes use of that chance to pounce on me and snuggle to my chest from the front. Slightly dejected with her moment of weakness, Sirgia plops on my right side and I brush my fingers through her hair to cheer her up a bit. Safi takes the spot on my other side while the elf girls place themselves as a group on the other bed.

First, I explain in detail about this place, starting with the part about it being a safe shelter for other races and ending on the soon to be open brothel functionality of it. Naturally, I mention how one doesn't have to work that way to live here and any help is appreciated, but if anyone decides on it, I'll do my best to teach them everything they need to know and make sure that they won't ever experience anything horrible or displeasing.

Hiding the strengthening part and some other details, I also let them know that my Class revolves around lewd things and if they ever feel weird around me, they should let me know since it's possible that one of my abilities may be somehow affecting them.

One of the women asks Elea something in Elvish, and even though I catch it, I still wait for her to translate.

"Neira, this girl with short white hair," she nods towards the person, "asks if that's why Saviour's scent seems to be so… suggestive."

「Hmmm… wasn't it more like a flower or some fruit for others? Well, I guess it can be like this too. Or does the arousing function just affect them slightly stronger?」

"Yes, it's very likely. It usually varies from person to person. Like this girl here, Emi, says that it's like a fresh apple to her and Safi, here, like morning dew." I point at the slimes around me.

They start whispering between themselves after hearing my answer, most likely sharing whatever smell they pick up from me. I glance over all of them again. Before I ask about their situation and what they plan on doing, I should get to know their names first.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to learn your names. As you already know, I'm Alastair, Al for short. The girls around me are Safi, Sirgia and Emi." I nod towards each when reintroducing them.

Elea moves to the side so that I can clearly see all of her friends. "My name is Elea and I was a Princess in a small tribe of Dark Elves. The women by my side were part of the group of attendants who helped with my duties. This is Neira, Leyne, Roseni, Filue and Cinra." She gestures at white, black, brown, grey and silver-haired beauties respectively and each of them bows lightly during her turn.

"Was a Princess? Did you lose your inheritance rights or something?" I ask, curious about that small detail.

Elea stares at me for a moment, pondering over something. "Ah. It's not a royal title but a functional role. I'm not the kind of princess that is a daughter of a queen in the Human hierarchy. We Dark Elves use a different ruling system where we elect the leaders of the settlement through their merit and experience so that in the circle of people who make important decisions, each is an expert in their field, like farming, magic, hunting, politics, architecture, warfare, strategy and others. And they switch quite often to allow fresh minds to introduce their viewpoints."

"Yes, I do know that. Royal families still do exist sometimes if I recall correctly, so I thought you were part of one."

The Elven community is nothing new to me, and it usually works just as Elea has described it. Some bloodlines still can gather enough renown with their actions and history to be considered royal and referred with more respect by others. I thought they used the same titles after learning that Elea is a Princess in the slaver's den.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know how much Saviour knows." She bows a little again.

"I've read a lot about various races so you can assume that I know most of the stuff that's not kept completely secret. And you can drop that title already, we've introduced ourselves for the second time now. Just refer to me as you would to a friend. And don't even dare to add Sir or something in front of it."

She hesitates a little but nods. "Then… I think I can explain our role along with the story of how we ended up enslaved if you would like to hear it."

"I'll gladly hear you out if you don't mind sharing it."

"Of course I don't. It would be rude to not explain our background to someone kind enough to offer us shelter in their own home." She starts thinking about something for a minute. "I'll start from the beginning then. I will try to not make it too long."

"Take your time, I'm fine with learning more about you."

She smiles. "Initially, all of us were part of a big Dark Elf settlement called Lir-Nirvaen, which is located not that far from the Human kingdom borders. We lived there as your usual members of the Elven community for most of our lives. Besides the aforementioned leaders, there always was a person who was tasked with preparing all rituals, prayers, sacrifices and other events dedicated to the Goddess. As you might have already guessed, it was the Princess. At first, she was chosen by the Council, but it quickly changed into a more voluntary position. The girl who was going to take on the role of the Princess had to be under 100 years old, be a virgin and willing to guard her purity for at least the next 300 years. She was allowed to pick a successor after that time. I offered my service to the previous Princess when she requested for her dismissal. The Princess was also allowed to recruit up to 20 attendants which helped with her responsibilities. The women you saved with me were my past helpers and I always considered them my closest family. You have my utmost gratitude for listening to my selfish request of rescuing them."

Elea bows deeply, and others quickly follow. In simple words, she was something akin to a shrine priestess in their community. Very interesting. But… I wonder if they had ceremonial outfits too… Damn, now I can't shake off this image of her in a Miko cosplay.

She raises herself and continues. "Unfortunately, one day, some of the new Council members wanted to push quite controversial changes into the service of the Princess. They were going against a lot of traditions and heritage and also targeted some of the Princess's personal rights. I stood up against them but the majority had been convinced to support the idea. Later, I learned that it was actually schemed by someone who wanted to drive me into a corner and act like he would be saving me to earn my gratitude and make a move on me, which was impossible with the old rules. Some, like myself, felt disgusted by that and confronted the Council but we weren't able to get through them. A group of around 50 elves gathered around me and we decided that we don't want to have anything more to do with this and left the settlement. We formed a small village a bit closer to the Human's borders and I kept my role as a Princess there, alongside my 10 attendants which left with us, and continued to live in our small community for 55 more years."

Her expression grows sad throughout the story. She pauses for a moment and sighs.

"Then, our village was somehow discovered, perhaps our mages weren't skilled enough in concealment magic, but if I am to make some bold assumptions, I think someone from our previous home leaked the location to Humans. We were raided and many lost their lives while defending their homes. Some managed to flee after I ordered them to, but most of the survivors were captured and branded as slaves. 25 of us were being transported through some Human cities and settlements and sold off for like a year until only me and 5 of my attendants were left. Then we arrived here to be sold in some kind of a big event, and that's how we met our Saviour." Another round of bowing follows.

"We can't thank you enough. We knew how most humans treat other races and we already lost all hope to live in dignity, but somehow the Goddess still sent us her chosen envoy to liberate us from such fate." Elea finishes her story and they all look at me with admiration and gratitude painted all over their faces.

"No, no, no. I'm not some Goddess's chosen envoy, I'm just a—" I start waving my hand to repel their flattery, but then I remember who I actually am. "Hahahaha. Oh, goddammit… I really am one…"

My girls look up at me curiously. I still haven't told them about my real identity. I'm not sure if that's a good idea, but they definitely don't believe that I'm just some random Human who unconditionally loves all races. I glance at the dark-skinned beauties, contemplating the decision to reveal it with them present in the room since they already see me as someone through who the Goddess has saved their lives. I guess it should be fine. I can't keep that hidden forever.

I ruffle through Sirgia's hair with a smile. "Well, Elea is not completely wrong here. I was sent here by the Goddess herself."

"What do you mean, Master?" she asks.

"Have any of you perhaps heard about the art of summoning entities from other realms?"

She opens her eyes wide and the elves begin whispering again. Sirgia looks down with a thoughtful expression. I can see her eyes moving quickly from left to right like she is scanning through some book.

"Wait… Otherworlder... does that mean..."

She soon stops and looks at me with them wide as much as possible, after muttering one of my titles she must have just recalled.

"That's right. I'm a Hero summoned here from another world by the Goddess."

Gasps of surprise arrive from the side of the elf girls. Even Elea looks surprised. She must have not expected her religious remark to hold so much truth in it. I can feel Safi's and Emi's curiosity through our bond as they tilt their heads. Looks like their memories don't hold that much information about that aspect. Sirgia skips closer to me and grabs my hand with both of hers.

"Why was Master summoned? Is Master going to fight in a war? Is Master going to leave?" She barrages me with questions while looking straight into my eyes.

I poke Emi to leave my lap for a moment and she complies. I pull Sirgia in her place and hug the concerned dwarf tightly. She grasps my shirt with her small hands.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to just disappear, leaving all of you alone. I was summoned with a few other Heroes, but because I was really weak, they went to fulfil their task without me. I'm not strong enough for a grand thing like saving the world, but I can try my best in saving a few demi-humans from their cruel fate, can't I?"

I brush her adorable cheek as I explain this. She completely forgets the existence of Elea and other women and snuggles to my chest while looking up at me with a newfound fondness and a bit of concern. I chuckle at that cute sight and lean forwards a bit to plant a small kiss on her lips. Sirgia doesn't resist and closes her eyes to accept my gentle peck.

Our short show of affection evokes some more gasps and whispering from the elves. After we separate, I leave one more kiss on her forehead.

"You girls are my priority and no matter what happens, your happiness comes first, even before the world."

Safi and Emi understood enough of that to get the fact that I care for them a lot and also move closer to embrace me. Not wanting to reject them in such a situation, I naturally comply with their requests and let them both kiss me passionately one after another. Others must now view me as a complete casanova who seduces tens of girls with his sweet words and erotic skillset.

This whole sudden outburst of feelings leaves Sirgia a bit flustered, so I sit her down back on my side to let her cool herself down. She still stays close to my arm, holding my hand with hers.

"Well… sorry for being so… bold in front of all of you." I turn to our guests, who should be the main focus of this meeting instead of us.

Glancing their direction, I think I spot some of them blushing, but they all are definitely smiling and shaking their heads.

"There's nothing to apologize for. We were able to learn a lot about our Saviour from this and we are thankful for that."

She smiles charmingly and a little laugh escapes her lips. Soon a few more follow from her comrades. Oh well, it looks like they really didn't mind.

"So, leaving all that aside, what do you plan on doing now after we've exchanged our stories? With my connections, I should be able to get you out of the city premises, but after that, I can't help much." I try to bring the discussion back onto its right tracks.

"Our home has been completely destroyed and I don't think any of us would want to return to the previous settlement, am I right?" She looks over her followers and they all nod. "Thus, as a representative of this small group, I'd like to kindly ask you to allow us to make this place our new home. We are naturally willing to help with your work to repay our debt of gratitude and as our input into this tolerant community." She lowers just her head and everyone follows suit.

"Well, I'll obviously allow that even if you just wanted to spend your time leisurely, but if you are offering, then this may be perfect. I'm actually looking for a few maids to keep this big place running. What do you say?"

"We would be more than happy to fill that role."

"Great. From now on, you are part of our small but growing family, so don't be polite and speak up whenever you feel like it. Ah, one more thing. Do you have Slave Marks?" I haven't looked closely enough to spot them before.

All of the girls show their respective marks, which are just medium-tier control types. They shouldn't lock their Jobs, but their Classes are definitely being limited to some extent. It was visible during our struggle underground.

"I'll deal with that someday later. I can't easily break seals of slaves that aren't completely under me yet. Sorry, but you will have to wait a bit." I wave my hand at them apologetically.

They look at each other in surprise. "You are planning on releasing us from their influence instead of taking them over?" Elea asks.

"Of course. You are our friends, not slaves. No one has a mark here."

Her eyes wander over all my girls' collars, stopping at Sirgia's one. I catch up on that.

"Ah. Those are just for aesthetics. Well, Safi and Emi are my familiars I guess, but Sirgia just wears it as a part of our brothel's uniform. She's not enslaved, although it's safer for her if other Humans think she is," I explain.

"It was a gift from Master." Sirgia brushes the crystal heart lovingly.

Elea nods with a smile. "I understand. We will then await the joyous day when Master breaks our seals."

"Erm… Didn't we already agree on not using any titles?" I raise my brows at her and ask confusedly.

"Isn't a maid supposed to call her employer Master?" she tilts her head.

I cover my face with my hand while sighing in defeat. "I walked straight into that one myself, didn't I?"