Plea for help

Somehow, we managed to escape from the collapsing dungeon. The moment we stepped out, the last remnants of the portal we crossed through surged with purple bolts and shrunk to its centre, disappearing.

We made it… Finally!

I dropped to the ground, exhausted. The cracks along the canopy I constructed along my back gave in and fell alongside me, scattered as random chunks of rubble. It drained quite a bit of MP, even for me. I felt the fatigue of mana exhaustion creep up on me and hit like a ton of bricks.

“We’re finally out!” Freya collapsed alongside me.

With some time to rest, I examined the woman I pulled out from the gem. She was still unconscious, struggling to breathe.

I’ve never seen this mana exhaustion to this extent before. I’m surprised she’s still alive. Well, it makes sense that she’s exhausted, since she was probably the reason that Magia Golem had so much mana supply. It was draining her dry.

{Half Elf Woman Lv23}

{Condition: Unconscious. Malnourished}

At least she doesn’t have a weird status effect. If it was simply a lack of mana, maybe there was something I could do about it? I rested my hand over her, careful not to cut her with my stone claws.

The flow of mana within her system was weak, to the point that I just barely noticed it was there. Usually, my body absorbed mana passively. It was something I could adjust when around people so I wouldn’t affect them, but combined with Perception, it allowed me to get a sense of people's magic affinity.

I wasn’t sure if it was my new evolution's affinity to magic, but I could tell she had a vast supply of mana. At least, if it weren’t so depleted.

If it’s because of that, maybe she just needs a recharge? I poured my mana into her through our physical contact, and the faint glow of golden light resonated along my palm and travelled into her body. Her mana traces don’t feel as weak now, but did that help?

{Answer. Target has stabilized, but will remain unconscious}

It’s not much, but it’s the most I can think of to do now. As I rested her down, the strands of her golden hair parted to reveal a long, pointed ear. Oh y-yeah, the appraisal on her did mention something about being a half-elf… I wasn’t sure until just now, but it looks like there are other species in this world, besides monsters and humans.

Freya kept her distance from the elf woman. I didn’t take her for the distrustful type. Though I could understand her skepticism, after everything we just went through. If anything, it was probably weirder for me to have been looking after her, but there was something about her I couldn’t ignore.

I heard her voice from within the gemstone, I was sure of it. I got the sense that she didn’t want to be there or used as a battery for that dungeon. If that were the case, we’d have to look to that strange guy who appeared before the dungeon collapsed.

From the looks of things, we left the portal and ended up exactly where we entered it from before. We were back in the forest, just outside town, where we took the quest. Freya and I exchanged looks and readied ourselves to the sound of wooden wheels against the forest floor.

The end of Freya’s staff glowed a sombre black, as the words slowly left her mouth in preparation. My Perception skill gave me a sense that there was at least one person headed our way by carriage, and it was quite close. After giving her a shake of the head, she got the message and lowered her staff.

The ends of her mouth curved into a smile, “That’s a merchant– that means no walking… we can get a ride back!” Excitement drove her forward in a full sprint as she flagged the driver down.

The wooden carriage screeched as the wheels froze in front of us. The man steering the horses examined us with widened eyes. “What’s wrong, young miss? Need a ride back to–?!” The words locked in his mouth as he crossed eyes with me. “N-never mind!” He whipped the harness, and the horse went into a full sprint away from us.

“I guess not…” Freya hung her head in disappointment.

Do I really look that scary? I brought one of my floating hands up to my face to examine. Sure, it looked a bit dangerous because of the claw-like ends of the fingers, but did it really scare people that much? We’re going to have to walk back.

The trip back was a long one. Not only had my speed decreased, but our party was utterly fatigued. Once the town came into view and the dirt trail merged with the brick roads, I halted without a sound. Freya turned back at me,

“Why’re you stopping?”

It’s not like I’m going to go unnoticed. If I go in there, there’s a good chance the citizens of the town might get scared and might attack me, or worse, they’ll go after Freya. For that reason, I didn’t want to get anywhere closer to the town.

“Oh, I think I get it.” Her expression drooped slightly, “You’re not sure about going back into town, now that you look different.” I was glad I didn’t have to explain it to her, but somehow it hurt more to hear it back so plainly.

“Well, if I register you as my actual familiar, we wouldn’t have a problem. How about it?” Her eyes flared with a positive expression I couldn’t turn down.

I nodded gingerly, and she celebrated with a grin from ear to ear, “Great! It’s settled then, I’ll register you as my familiar as soon as I check in with Harvey about completing the quest.”

“Mhmm.” I nodded and watched her back disappear as she approached the town's walls.

I turned to the elf girl and carried her with me back into the forest. I found a clearing, surrounded by trees and shrubbery, in a scenic enclosure of greenery.

This should be safe enough. I don’t sense any monsters here. I’m not sure how long Freya will be. Should I just wait around–

“Mister…Golem?”

The voice forced its way into my mind again, just as it did in the dungeon. I could hear the elf woman speaking clearly, even though her mouth didn’t move.

Y-you’re awake? For how long, now? I asked, a bit surprised.

“Not long.” She rubbed her eyes and surveyed the area around her with cautious glares, “Am I really… free?”

That’s right. I answered back through my thoughts. Now that you’re awake, would you mind telling me what you were doing in that dungeon?

“T-thoughts…hazy…” Her expression scrunched as she recalled the thought, “Travelling… with teammates, then–” Her hand covered half her face as a painful jolt widened her uncovered eye. “Man…took… Was used for… mana…drained…”

Her speech seemed pretty odd, but it didn’t seem natural to her. It must have been some kind of side effect of the mana exhaustion she was put under.

That gem was draining your mana? What was it draining you for?

She took a moment before responding. Her emerald eyes lost their glint as the words appeared in my mind,

“...dungeon.”

She powered that entire dungeon on her own? That’s insanity… One thing became clear. Her mana capacity really wasn’t ordinary for her to be able to accomplish something like that. No, it wasn’t anything to be impressed at; she was practically tortured.

That masked man was most probably the cause of it all. He was our real target.

Our target? What am I even thinking… I shook my head to clear the thought away. I can’t get involved in any of this; it’s way too messy and has nothing to do with me. Plus, I’d be putting Freya at risk again…

“Mister…Golem?” The elf woman asked, gingerly.

My name’s Atlas, what’s yours?

“G…aela…” The sound of her voice came out choppy in my head, as if slightly broken.

Veyra? Thank you, I feel more comfortable since we can communicate like this. Quite honestly, it’s been a little difficult without the ability to speak to others. So, I’ll get right to the point. If I take you into the human town, would you be able to find your way back home?

I had to find out more about her if I wanted to help. I didn’t know there was a species of Elves in this world, so I surely didn’t know how they were perceived by humans. I didn’t want to risk taking her into a human town and being enslaved or killed.

“Home…far away…” She looked up at the sky and pointed far into the distance beyond the mountains just over the horizon, “Home…travelled away…fight.” She flashed the dagger attached to the belt under her robe, and I realised she must have been an adventurer.

If she’s travelling away from home as an adventurer, then where’s her party… I came to the conclusion before I finished the thought. Ah, I see. They must have been taken out by that masked man. I grimaced.

I moved a bit closer to Veyra and focused my thoughts on her,

Veyra, I’m sure that if we find the man who did this to you, we’d be able to fix what’s happened to you. If it’s me, would you be willing to go after him, together?

I’d love to stay with Freya, but I couldn’t ignore Veyra’s situation either. What that masked man did to her… I can’t forgive it. But putting Freya at risk for my selfishness wasn’t something I was prepared to do either. It might be better if I left Freya behind, just until I help this woman back to safety.

Galea locked eyes with me in a stunned stare. Her lips trembled as all the features in her face lifted with joy, and tears welled down the side of her face.

“Please…help me.”