REBORN AS A HIGH ELF SLAVE

The corridor the woman led him through was narrower than the main hallway, lined with portraits of previous Hyra counts. Their painted eyes seemed to follow Hans as he walked. Some looked stern, some bored, one or two almost kind. None of them looked like men who would have offered quiet support to a group of elves rising in a neighboring territory. Neil’s reason for doing this was the biggest mystery for Hans at the moment.

While walking beside the woman, he kept his gaze forward and his breathing steady. The woman’s footsteps were nearly silent on the polished floor. She was slender and tall. And strangely, her white hair made Hans remember Elsa for some reason. 

She didn’t speak even once till they reached a modest guest chamber on the second floor. The room was clean, the bed made with crisp linen, a basin of fresh water waiting on a side table. A single window looked out over the courtyard where the carriage had first arrived.

She opened the door and stepped aside. “You may rest here, master Hans. Someone will bring a meal shortly. Lord Neil will send for you when he is ready to continue the conversation.”

Hans nodded. “Thank you, Miss?”

“Sylvia. You can call me Sylvia."

Hans nodded.

She lingered a moment longer, as if deciding whether to say more. Then she simply closed the door, leaving him alone.

Hans stood in the center of the room for a long time after she left. The three silver marks and the copper bits still sat idle in his pocket. He finally set his belongings on the small writing desk beside the bed and sank into the chair beside it.

His hands were not quite steady when he grabbed the chair's sidebars.

Neir had threatened Clara. Had looked him in the eye and offered him a choice between the elf who saved his mistress and the daughter he loved. That wound was still fresh. The broken vials on the floor of that earlier room, the smell of spilled potion ingredients, the cold certainty in Neir’s voice that he really would hurt his childhood friend just over this matter, those things had followed Hans all the way to this quiet chamber.

And now that man’s older brother sat across a different desk and spoke of helping the very same elves Neir wanted destroyed, all of it sounded way too absurd to Hans. In his whole life, he has never been in a strange pickle like this.

Hans closed his eyes and tried to think past the pounding in his temples.

Neil had said his father did not yet know about the port incident. That much was a temporary relief. Count Hyra’s dislike of elves was no secret to Hans. The old man had ridden in the later years of the northern purges alongside Duke Hein. If the Count learned that a group of high elves had taken root in his neighbor County and begun to rebuild under the protection of the last Edger heir, the response would be absolutely catastrophic. Why would Neil risk his position for simply this?

Neil claimed he did not want that response. Claimed he was willing to help if the elves’ rise cleared a path for him.

But what path? Yes, Neil himself was in a situation of his own, having Neir threaten his position as the heir at every step. But just for that reason, risking it all on this elf uprising, knowing how the whole kingdom was against it, made no sense to Hans. One could even say Neil was the one who was getting the short end of the stick in this case.

‘Is there a hidden motive behind his help with this? Is he planning to double-cross us in a roundabout way? But what can I even do even if he does? It's not like I have any option other than him here.’

Hans opened his eyes and stared at the plain wooden surface of the desk. The answer sat just out of reach, like a shape half-seen through fog.

Succession. Influence. Control of the black-market routes Neir currently held. This was something older and more personal between the two brothers. Hans did not know enough about the internal politics of House Hyra to name it with certainty, but he could feel the weight of it.

Getting nowhere near any answer, he decided to freshen up first.

---

He washed his face in the basin, feeling the cool water washing away the sweat that had built up in just one hour after waking up. Then he sat again and waited for Neil to send for him again.

Outside the window, the morning continued, ordinary and bright. Inside the quiet guest room of the first son’s house, Hans of Edger County prepared himself for whatever the next conversation would demand.

He did not yet know whether the hand Neil Hyra had extended was a lifeline or a more elegant kind of trap.

He only knew he could not afford to refuse it without understanding the cost.

And after waiting for about an hour or so, finally the same woman who had escorted him to this room came for him.

Hans got up from his chair. 

Both left the room, walking toward the same room where he once met Neil. 

And when they finally stood in front of the door, Sylvia pushed open the door with her long hand and spoke up, “My lord, entering Hans from Edger County.”

Hans straightened his hair with his hand, and checked whether his mouth breathed foul or not before entering the room with his usual courtesy. Knowing this meeting was his last resort of his, to save his County somehow. Whatever is Neil’s plan, he can’t let this opportunity pass by, knowing what was at stake if he missed this chance to secure aid.

***

The road to the Edger County stretched ahead in a long, dusty ribbon, the afternoon sun sitting low enough to throw their shadows out in front of the horses. Eon and his party had left the bandits far behind sometime after midday. No one spoke about it. The quiet that followed them after Eon’s war declaration to the bandit leader felt heavier than the fight itself.

Elora rode the horse as Eon now sat behind her, her reins held loosely in one hand. After a while, she spoke.

“What are you planning?” she asked finally, not being able to keep the question to herself anymore. Her voice was low enough that it almost got lost under the steady clop of hooves. 

“You don’t seriously plan on going against Neir Hyra, right? What about the peace negotiation you sent Hans for?”

Behind them on another horse, Elsa shifted in her saddle and edged nearer as well, clearly wanting to hear the answer. Her expression was careful.

Eon kept his eyes on the road for a few more strides before answering.

“To be honest… I don’t know.” He exhaled through his nose. “I know it isn’t the right time. We haven’t even settled down properly. Most of us are still hurt, still weak after everything. Years of slavery don’t just disappear because we got free.” 

He glanced back at Elsa once. “But I also can’t just ignore what’s happening right in front of me. Not when it’s this obvious.”

The words landed heavier than he probably intended. Elora’s fingers tightened on the reins. A quiet guilt moved across her face before she could hide it, guilt for the years she hadn’t known, the suffering Eon probably faced that she can’t relate to, the easy life she had lived while these people carried scars she was only now beginning to understand.

Eon spoke up, “And as for the negotiation Hans had been sent for, I guess the timing of this happening could only be explained by saying that negotiation likely fell through. I guess Hans couldn’t get through that guy. I think even without me doing that, a war was bound to happen.”

Elsa finally realised why Eon suddenly decided to declare war on his own without discussing it with them. He likely realised the timing of a bandit attack with Neir’s command could only mean there was no chance of peace existing between him and Eon.

From farther back, Nora’s voice cut in, bright and unbothered.

“So what if we go to war against them? We just have to win, right?”

Suddenly hearing Nora say it, everyone got quiet. For a second, no one answered. 

Then a few quiet smiles appeared, small, reluctant, almost unwilling. Even Elsa’s mouth twitched. There was something absurdly simple about the way Nora said it, like the entire weight of the world could be reduced to one stubborn sentence. It shouldn’t have been comforting. But somehow it still became just that.

“Yeah, we just have to win.” Eon also said it, grabbing Elora from behind for a better grip.

---

They rode on in silence after that. The only sounds were the creak of leather, the occasional snort from a horse, and the wind moving through the dry grass along the roadside.

By the time the first rooftops of Edger County’s market came into view, the light had started to soften. The place was the same as they remembered. Most of the faces in the streets were locals, with no traders, travelers, or people from outside the territory, as if the market only consisted of people who had washed up here through bad fates. 

Still, something about the noise and the smell of cooking fires and the familiar layout of the stalls made the place feel closer to home than anywhere else they had been in a long time to the riding party.

Even Alaric sat a little straighter in the saddle, eyes moving over the market square. The tension in his shoulders eased by a fraction, seeing the familiar faces of some of his soldiers here and there occasionally.

No one said it out loud, but the feeling of being home settled over all of them the same way: they were back in Edger County.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!