REBORN AS A HIGH ELF SLAVE

In Hyra County, the inn Hans was staying at was much bigger than most inns in Edger County. 

Morning light was pushed weakly through the greasy windows of the common room, making everything bright inside, as Hans stood at the low wooden counter, back straight despite the dull ache in his back that had settled there after two days of hard travel and the worst conversation he had with Neir yesterday. Though he was careful not to let any of it show on his face, always being the perfect butler of the Edger household.

The innkeeper, a thick-necked man with ink stains on his fingers from doing his part-time job, which he was now doing just beside this job, counted out the remaining coins into Hans’s open palm. 

Three silver marks and a handful of copper bits. That was what Hans got as his change. The silver was stamped with the crude likeness of the current king on one side and the crossed scales of the Merchant Guild on the other. The copper bits were thinner, softer, already worn smooth by countless hands they were passed by. 

In Hyra County, silver coins still held real weight enough to get by somehow for a guy like Hans. Further east, closer to the capital, most people among his peers preferred the heavier gold pieces, but out here a man could live for a week on what Hans now held. Plus, it wasn’t like his county was wealthy enough for him to get a heavy salary. Only after Teressa had taken charge of managing the household, the servants and he were getting their monthly salary on time. Still, most of the time he used to refuse taking salary, knowing how much debt the household he worked for had.

Only now that Eon has taken control of the house, Hans was sent here with many more potions and stuff Eon himself made; Hans was able to secure enough funds for him to get by here with the help of those same potions. Otherwise, with his salary, he wouldn’t be able to lodge in an inn like this in Hyra County.

Neir destroyed the potions he presented to him, but there were more potions with Hans. Selling some at the local guild made him enough to buy some raw material from the Hyra County market for Eon. He plans to do just that today. After that, he will go straight home. He has things to do. Planning what to do now that negotiations with Neir fell through. 

He closed his fingers around the metal and gave a short nod. “Thank you.”

“Safe roads,” the innkeeper muttered, already turning back to his work. He did not ask where Hans was headed. The man had his priorities straight.

Hans stepped toward the open doorway. The morning air outside was cooler, carrying the scent of wet stone and horse dung from the stable yard beside the inn. 

He had barely crossed the threshold of the inn when two men blocked his path. Broad-shouldered, in plain cloaks, the kind of quiet muscle on them that never needed to raise their voices to be obeyed. One of them had a faded scar running from the corner of his mouth into his beard. The other kept one hand resting lightly near the hilt of a short sword under his cloak.

Seeing the two suspicious men blocking his path, Hans’s stomach tightened. For a single heartbeat he was certain these were Neir’s people. The second son of Count Hyra had a long reach and an even longer memory for anyone who goes against him. Hans had walked out of that last meeting with a bruised face and a threat still ringing in his ears. So, it would not have surprised him if Neir had decided to settle everything by using violence on his own land.

He kept his expression carefully blank. “Gentlemen. Is there a problem?”

Neither man answered. The scarred one simply tilted his head toward a covered carriage waiting a short distance down the street. The gesture was polite enough, but it left no room for refusal.

Hans felt the copper bits dig into his palm as his fist tightened. He considered the distance to the nearest alley, the weight of the small knife he kept inside his boot, the number of witnesses on the street. All of it came up short. All simulations he could come up with showed him this ends badly for him. 

So he gave a single, stiff nod and followed.

---

The carriage that the men made him sit on smelled of polished leather and expensive oil. The windows were covered with dark cloth. Hans sat on the narrow bench and tried not to count the turns the vehicle made. When it finally stopped, the door opened onto a quiet courtyard of pale stone and carefully trimmed hedges. The house itself was larger than it looked from the street, two full stories of pale brick, the windows shuttered against the morning light.

He was led inside without a word. Both men ahead of him seemed to value silence. The hallway was cool and smelled faintly of beeswax and old books. Then the double doors at the end of the corridor opened, and Hans found himself standing in a spacious study.

In front, the man seated behind the broad oak desk was not Neir, as Hans had feared.

The man was older, heavier, the soft bulk of long years spent behind desks rather than in saddle. His face was round, the skin flushed with the healthy color of a man who ate well and slept without fear. Dark hair, already thinning at the temples, was combed carefully back. He wore a deep green coat of fine wool, the kind of fabric that never saw the inside of a common market. A single gold ring sat on the smallest finger of his right hand.

He was Neil Hyra. First son of Count Hyra. And the official Heir to this county.

Hans’s mind went briefly blank. He had prepared himself for Neir’s cold eyes and sharper tongue. He had not prepared for this.

He recovered the only way he knew how. He bowed, deep and formal, the old court manners of Edger County still living in the set of his shoulders.

“Lord Neil. I am honored by your invitation. Please allow me to express….”

“Cut the crap, old man.” Neil’s voice was deeper than his brother’s, smoother, almost lazy. He leaned back in his chair and studied Hans’s face with mild curiosity. “I know you met with Neir. I know roughly when, too. And I also know you did not leave that meeting with a smile on your face.”

Hans straightened slowly. The polite mask he had worn for decades settled back into place, though a thin sheen of sweat had already begun to form at the back of his neck from the presence the man in front of him was emitting.

“Yes, my lord. I did meet with your brother.”

Neil’s mouth curved in something that was not quite a smile. “Yeah, you did. And I summoned you here to talk about the content of your conversation with him. You wanted him to look the other way regarding a certain… incident at the port in your county. Is that not it? The one involving those elves of yours.”

Hans felt the blood leave his face at the mention of elves. His throat went dry. For a moment he could only hear the soft chirping sound of birds somewhere outside the room and the distant sound of a servant moving in another hallway.

‘How? How does he know that? Does the entire Hyra family already know? Does the Count himself….’

Neil watched the fear pass across the older man’s face and gave a small, almost gentle wave of his hand.

“Don’t look so stricken, old man. You’ll die early with worrying this much. Don’t worry. My father does not know. Not yet.”

The relief that washed through Hans was so intense it almost made his knees weak. He kept his posture rigid by force of will alone.

Neil continued, voice still mild. “You can breathe easy for the moment. But I cannot promise how long that will last. Neir would prefer Father remain ignorant as well; his methods in Edger County would look rather ugly under the old man’s scrutiny. Still, secrets have a way of slipping. Fathers notice things. Servants talk. One day the Count will hear of it, and when he does…that little secret of yours will also….”

Neil let the sentence hang. Then he finished it with quiet certainty.

“You will have another force to contend with. My father has never cared for elves. Not after the last war. If he decides your little rebellion is a threat to the stability of the border, even I will not be able to stop him from marching. Not with Neir threatening my position.”

Hans’s palms were damp. He could feel the sweat gathering along his spine. The room suddenly felt warmer than it had a moment before.

Neil’s expression softened by a fraction. “Fear not. I also do not intend to let that happen.”

Hans blinked with confusion. The words did not make sense at first.

Neil rose from his chair with the careful grace of a heavy man, as if he still remembered how to move well. He walked around the desk and stopped a few paces from Hans, studying him.

“I do not know what those elves of yours are truly planning, Hans.”

“Whether they want just freedom for themselves or are posing a threat to the kingdom, I do not claim to understand their motives, and I will also not pretend to know about their real strength or their history. But what I can tell you is, I hold no personal grudge against them. In fact…” He paused, choosing the next words with care. “If their rise helps clear a certain path for me, I am even willing to lend a hand, as long as that doesn’t make me a traitor to the nation.”

Hans stared. For a moment he was certain he had misheard.

A neighboring count’s first son, offering to help an elven uprising on another county’s soil?

He glanced sideways at the two men who had brought him here. Their faces remained carefully neutral. The woman standing near the tall window, slim, white-haired, dressed in practical gray, met his eyes briefly and gave the smallest of nods. 

Their reaction to their lord’s claim made Hans sure that whatever Neil was saying, it was not a joke.

Hans found his voice with difficulty. “My lord… even if you were to help us through this present difficulty, I cannot see how we would be of any use to you in return. Edger County is still recovering. Our resources are thin. Our position is… fragile.”

Neil’s smile returned, wider this time, and for the first time it reached his eyes.

“Well,” he said, “why not let me be the judge of that, old man?”

He turned and walked toward the door without waiting for a reply. The two guards opened it for him. He paused only long enough to glance back over his shoulder.

“Rest for now, Hans. We will speak again soon.”

Then he was gone.

The study felt suddenly larger without him. Hans stood in the middle of the expensive carpet, the three silver marks and copper bits clinking in his pocket, as he tried to make the content of what Neil said just now fit together.

Suddenly, startling him a little and making him jolt out of his thoughts, a soft voice spoke from behind him.

“Your accommodation has been prepared, Master Hans.”

He turned. The woman in gray had stepped away from the window. Her expression was polite, professional, and completely unreadable.

“If you will follow me,” she said.

Hans hesitated only a moment. Then he inclined his head and followed her out of the study, down a quieter corridor, and toward whatever came next.

Behind him, the heavy oak door of the study closed with a soft, final click.

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