Chapter 5: A Slave on Iron Bars

Everyone who lived in the city surrounding the abyss had been evacuated. No one was there now. Once there, Graciela had to wait alone until Cyril brought Dexter to her. She heard that the attack of monsters could last a long time depending on the type of monsters being fought.

However, Cyril had told Graciela beforehand that the monsters they were going to fight this time weren't too difficult. It might take an hour or three to finish the raid. Graciela, who knew how long she had to wait, became calmer.

"I'll take a walk around here so I don't get bored," Graciela muttered as she started to walk.

Whenever she was outside, she always compared people's houses to the size of her room. Sometimes she found a house that was the same size as her room. Even so, she was still surprised because her room size could be comparable to the size of one house.

Graciela stopped looking at the houses when she sensed someone's presence. In the Kingdom of Canarium, magic was common, but not everyone could do it, even if they had mana or magical energy. Only talented and hardworking people could do magic.

The point was, that everyone had mana and Graciela could sense their mana. This allowed her to be aware of someone's presence. However, she was surprised to feel the mana in the city that was being evacuated.

"Didn't Cyril tell that everyone had been moved to safety?"

Graciela decided to look for the mysterious person because his mana was quite weak. It meant the person was not someone who had great magic, and she didn't need to be afraid because her magic was on the next level.

After walking for quite a while, Graciela arrived at a large house that seemed to be the residence of a noble or a rich person. When she saw the mansion, she immediately understood the person she was looking for was from the lower classes. That person might be a slave who had been abandoned by his master.

"I'll check for a bit and leave once I know how things are here," Graciela muttered as she barged into the mansion.

Unfortunately, she didn't intend to go as planned because something unexpected happened. She found a dungeon which led her to an iron grate. Inside the iron bars, a man was lying on the ground with his hands and leg bound in chains.

Graciela didn't have to guess because it was clear that the man was a slave. The people in the kingdom tended to ignore slaves as they were usually prisoners of war. Still, some masters treated their slaves well.

Looked like Graciela met the slave of a cruel master today. As soon as she looked at the slave closely, she could see the many wounds on his body. She also smelled the rancid blood, which indicated that the slave had just been tortured.

"Hey, can you hear me?" asked Graciela, tapping one of the iron bars.

There was no answer as the man in the iron bars remained lying on the ground, hugging his own body. He was wearing thin and tattered clothes, which made Graciela sympathize. The princess should have ignored the slave, as her only goal was to meet Dexter.

However, Graciela had healing magic and her mother allowed her to use it when facing an emergency. She never used it even when she was seriously injured, because she wanted to maintain her image as a weak and spoiled crown princess.

"What should I do with you?" murmured Graciela, taking a deep breath while looking at the slave who was slowly moving. "Hello? Are you awake?" she asked directly.

The slave blinked a few times and raised his long bangs that were blocking his view. Then he met eyes with a girl he had never seen before. The girl had clear blue eyes, just like him.

"W-who are you?" he asked in a trembling voice, thinking that his master sent someone to torture him again.

Graciela realized the slave's fear and immediately took off her mask. Then she showed a sweet smile as she lied, "My name is Ela, an evacuation officer from the kingdom. All the residents here have been moved to safety due to the monster's attack. However, I see that you are still here."

"Uh, th-that's..." The slave could not continue, knowing that his master had abandoned him. His heart didn't even hurt from getting used to such behavior.

"Do you mind if I release you? I'll take you to a safe place," Graciela said, still showing a sweet smile.

However, the friendlies she showed had not been able to bring trust. Graciela tried to understand the man's feelings and not force her will. She looked at him from head to toe; his body was so skinny, but the interesting thing about him was his skin and hair, which looked like snow.

Graciela subconsciously said, "You have beautiful skin. It looks like you came from a fairy tale."

"N-no, I didn't." He hurriedly hugged his body because he didn't want his wound to be seen by others.

"May I know your name?"

"Brice."

Graciela smiled gratefully because the man seemed to be starting to feel comfortable with her presence. "Alright, Brice. I'll say it one more time. I am the evacuation officer and have received orders to secure all the residents here."

"B-but, I'm a slave," Brice interrupted hesitantly.

"It doesn't matter since I have orders to secure everyone, including you."

"Is that true?"

"Of course," Graciela replied as she stuck her hands through the iron bars. "Do you want to get out of here with me? If you want, then you can hold my hand."

It was not easy for Brice to accept other people's hands. Before finally being bought by the Count of Lutra, he had lived with several masters and they all treated him badly.

Their attitude made him think that everyone would treat him that way. After all, Brice was just a slave that no one else would care about, even if he died. He knew very well how people treat a slave.

"I won't force you," Graciela finally spoke. "But in exchange, let me heal your wounds."

"You want to heal my wound?" asked Brice in disbelief.

"That's right."

"W-why do you want to do it?"

Graciela shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe it's because I'm a good-hearted evacuation officer?"

The answer could not satisfy Brice's curiosity. However, his feeling slowly melted because Graciela had a different look from the people who had tortured him. Maybe this time he could trust someone.

"How do you heal me?" asked Brice, who had never seen healing magic before.

"Come closer to me," Graciela asked in a soft voice. When Brice arrived in front of her, she closed her eyes while chanting a spell and red fog came out of her hand.

The strange fog surprised Brice a little, but he could not deny that the fog had a calming smell. The rancid smell that originally filled the dungeon gradually disappeared, as did the wound on his hand.

Brice had to blink a few times to make sure his eyesight was not wrong. His face was flushed with joy and admiration. "Are you a goddess? You are so kind and amazing," he quipped.

"No, I'm not. I'm just a human," replied Graciela, now opening her eyes.

The girl immediately checked Brice's entire body, confirming that his wound had completely healed. The man had indeed recovered because of her magic power. However, Graciela frowned when she saw something strange.

"What happened to you?" Brice asked anxiously, afraid he had accidentally made a mistake. "I-I'm sorry for asking you like that. I should have kept my mouth shut," he continued stuttering.

"You're not wrong, Brice. I was just thinking about something," Graciela quickly replied with a fake smile.

Some time ago, she saw a red mark on Brice's wrist. It was the mark that would appear after the sealing magic was executed. However, the red mark could not be seen by just anyone.

The red seal could only be seen by the person who gave the sealing magic. And the weird thing was Graciela sure she had never sealed anyone, even though she could do sealing magic. Moreover, today was the first time she met Brice.

Graciela never did sealing because the magic was only used for emergencies, such as sealing demons that had possessed human bodies. She didn't know why she could see the seal mark on Brice's hand. Also, she could not figure out the reason why the man had to be sealed.

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