30

"Bring them to me," I requested.

I'd switched back to English to avoid dealing with a few more scared expressions. I frowned to myself. I didn't like the idea of enslaving everyone in this room just to control this mansion. It was a requirement for the mansion to appear as if it was still under the control of the madam. They had all submitted willingly so none of them were injured.

The dizzy spell that hit me next caught me a little off guard. I reached out, and a beam of the wood from the floor came up to meet my hand.

"I'm overworking myself," I mumbled to no one in particular.

One particularly stupid idiot decided to slash at me from behind. His head departed from his shoulders so fast that no one even saw me move. I even had time to return to my original position before they realized what had happened.

"I told you to behave, and you would be fine," I spoke in fluent elvish, "That was not behaving."

Sekka came up the stairs, and saw the blood on the floor. Head rolling near the maids that were desperately trying not to scream out.

"I will not punish you for crying out," I returned the floor to normal, "Only attacking will bring you punishment."

They started crying quietly. I felt nothing when I saw their pain. I thought I might have some sort of reaction, but there was nothing. No reaction at all. I opened the bag, and looked at the collars.

I pulled one out of the bag, and studied the intricate enchantments that circled the band. I knew the runic symbol for human so it wouldn't be difficult to swap the symbol for human for the runic symbol for elf. At least I hoped it wouldn't. I wasn't exactly the runic expert. I couldn't have the collars failing on me.

If these elves managed to turn on us then an army would march here. An army we weren't ready to handle. It was important for us to keep ourselves hidden as long as possible. The longer we remained hidden the more humans we'd be able to bring back with us. A large number of humans had been taken to this world.

We'd already set up triage, and recovery stations for the humans we brought back. Letty would be in charge of the half elves, and other species we managed to rescue. I intended to rescue all of them if I could. If I couldn't then I'd done what I could. I wondered what other creatures the elves had enslaved.

There was only so much I could do. I couldn't manage much on my own. I was relying heavily on Sekka for this mission so he'd better be able to pull this off. I really hoped that Sekka wouldn't pull something on me. He was relying on my strength to get his mother back.

He'd been highly loyal since his capture, and very forthcoming when it came to information on the elves. I wasn't about to discredit my own plan for a bit of ego. Should the plan work then we were looking at a few thousand thankful humans, and their families. Maybe even more. We'd have a huge following after this.

That kind of thing would bring us the support we needed when it came to the government council. That was exactly what we needed. A large civilian support would give us a good word to put in. Thousands of rescued humans would turn into hundreds of thousands of civilian supporters. The fact that there were only three dragons would help.

The humans didn't know about the eggs just yet. I didn't plan on them ever finding out. The military, and higher ups would have their suspicions, but most of them would just shrug it off. A powerful new archaic species that's actually on our side for once. It's about damn time.

Add on the fact that we'd established friendly relations with the lizardmen, and the high wyverns. Knowing the queen on a first name basis had to be good standing with another intelligent species. The fact that I'd given Vermillion her name didn't matter all that much. This new species of wyvern would owe me everything. That would get me one hell of a lot of leeway.

I needed to focus on this mission for now. I could easily pass for human if I completely suppressed my aura. Sekka had said that I hadn't managed to look completely subdued. I could pull off all the physical requirements with ease. The part I couldn't manage was keeping the defiance I felt out of my eyes.

Sekka said that the will to fight could easily be seen in my eyes. For now I would combat that minor oversight by keeping my eyes down. I hoped that no one would push their luck while I was playing slave. My short temper didn't do me much good in these kind of situations. We prepared for our excursion for a month before Sekka, and I left.

I created a few dozen artificial mana crystals for Sekka to sell of all varieties. Except for one. Time elemental crystals took far more mana then anything I've ever tried. Even spellcasting was cheap in comparison. That was including when I'd raised a mountain to make it a home.

I wasn't invincible or all powerful just yet. I wasn't going to be all powerful for quite some time. I couldn't step on toes until I made it to that all powerful unstoppable stage. Sure I could take an army of humans on my own, but an army of high elves I would lose in no time flat. I wanted to flare my wings, and roar out in frustration.

I couldn't do any of that without drawing attention to this place unnecessarily. I would be following Sekka's lead on this one. I really hoped he wouldn't push his luck anymore then he had to with me. I didn't want him acting like he owned me all the time.

Sekka