Syl-Chapter 242: Prison

We silently followed after Llewel, who was leading us to our prison. Vee's and my own anxiety were certainly feeding off one another, and when I realized that, I quickly reassured her that things would be okay.

"Maybe once we get left alone in our prison, we can plot another escape," I suggested telepathically.

"Yeah," Vee agreed. "I'm just trying to figure out what the hell he even did. If he had used [Dimension Magic], I'm pretty sure I would have sensed it, thanks to [Spatial Sense]. But instead, he just undid everything I did."

"Do you think he reversed time?" I suggested.

"I mean, he is a Chronomancer, so maybe that isn't out of the realm of possibilities," Vee sighed. "But if he can reverse time, that sounds utterly terrifying. How would we even fight a foe like that? How is that remotely fair? Time powers are always like the big bad boss's power, and this guy is nothing but the lackey of that Loreleia woman."

"It's got to have limitations," I reasoned. "Maybe it's limited to a small area, or he can only do a certain amount of time? Like nothing longer than a minute?"

"I hope so," Vee said. "At worst, we play ball and hope they let us go. Trixie mentioned elves liking monsters, right?"

"Yeah, that's true," I replied. "You saw how they freaked out when I mentioned I had [Order] used on me against my will. Maybe it's big enough that they just let us go as an apology?"

"Yeah, we haven't done anything to them unless that elf assassin counts?" Vee asked.

"He was working against them by the sounds of things, so maybe we even did them a favor. I guess the biggest concern is how she feels about me killing her daughter."

"It was clearly a mercy kill!" Vee retorted. "And you were forced to. In my opinion, the only thing they could use against you was the fact that you were using her appearance as your own."

"I couldn't make my own appearances back then… I didn't even have the full elf profile," I sighed. "Maybe I should have stuck with the goblins or avoided getting involved with the humans and adventurers entirely."

"Hey, don't go start worrying about things you can't change now," Vee scolded. "Plus, if you didn't do any of that, you wouldn't have met me! And I might be dead! So, from my perspective, I'm delighted with these outcomes… present circumstances excluded, of course."

"Thanks, Vee—"

"We've arrived," Llewel said, giving me a bit of a startle.

We had arrived at what looked like a blank wall, but when he waved his hand over it, the wood seemed to come alive and shift until it grew into a door handle. When Llewel grasped it and opened it, it opened into an immaculate and well-furnished room flush with every necessity and more.

"You'll be staying in here until Mistress Loreleia comes for your questioning and decides what to do," Llewel said, gesturing for me to enter the room.

I complied, and to my surprise, he closed the door behind us after denying the guards entry. Clearly, they didn't want the whole story to get out, for whatever reason.

"Will we be free to go if my story is proven true?" I questioned.

Llewel sighed and squeezed the bridge of his nose before responding, "Perhaps. If anything, you've benefited us by returning the bag, explaining what happened to Lady Sylthaeryn, and even revealing and thwarting whatever the Outeatus Kingdom was plotting."

"I'm sensing a but?" I replied, perhaps a bit too casual, but he seemed not to mind.

"But, you've impersonated an Elven Princess and can continue to do so. I'm honestly surprised that Mistress Loreleia kept her cool as long as she did."

"I can abandon the form permanently if that makes it better," I offered.

"So you can change your form?" Llewel asked, and I nodded in response. "That... complicates things a bit."

"Why?" I asked.

"Shapeshifters are rather notorious for treachery," he explained. "I'm not accusing you specifically of anything, and as I mentioned, you've actually benefited us. But I have no idea how the Mistress will react or see things through. Not to mention Paeris."

"He really seemed to have it out for me."

"It is his job, although he is a bit of a prude about it," Llewel answered. "He is willing to throw his life away to protect the branch. He also took the emotional brunt and helped pick up the pieces when we first heard of Lady Sylthaeryn's demise. So having you appear as her, despite her death being confirmed, created quite a rift within the branch."

"I can't even imagine what it must be like to see your dead daughter again," Vee commented.

It's not like that's my fault. How was I supposed to know any of this? I silently complained.

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"I can change my form now if it makes it any better?" I suggested.

"Don't for now," Llewel said and shook his head. "At the moment, it looks like we've returned Lady Sylthaeryn, and you've been put under house arrest for your antics."

"Sure… if it helps Vee and I get out of here alive, then whatever," I replied.

"Thank you," Llewel said with surprising honesty. "If you cooperate and don't try to escape again, I'll even offer my own voice for your freedom."

I nodded, and Vee did so, too.

"Can I get you anything? Food? Drinks?" he asked.

"Food. I'm starving," I hastily replied.

"Any… Dietary restrictions?"

"Monster meat is the best, but I'll eat anything," I replied. "And Vee will eat anything as long as it's cooked."

"Hey, I won't eat anything!" Vee protested.

"I'll see what can be done and have it sent here," Llewel replied. "And just a reminder. Please don't try to escape again; you only risk angering the Mistress."

We nodded again, and he left, reaching toward the wall and grasping the newly formed handle. When he closed it behind him, the room was sealed shut from our perspective. I hesitantly held out my own hand where he did, but no handle formed.

"It looks like we're stuck here unless I melt us out or you teleport us," I said to Vee.

"Uh… It might only be you who can get us to escape," Vee answered nervously.

"What do you mean?"

"Ever since we entered this room… well, my [Spatial Sense] has been all confused," Vee explained.

"Something to prevent teleportation?" I asked.

"It certainly feels that way," Vee replied, sounding very unsure herself. "Let me try teleporting just a short distance. Hopefully, that won't anger him."

I nodded, and Vee took a moment to focus. The spider poofed in a magical blur but appeared in the exact same spot she was in previously.

"That's a much shorter distance than I expected," I commented.

"I was trying to move to your other shoulder," Vee replied. "It almost feels like the entire room has the same coordinates, and it's overriding the destination, if that makes sense?"

"So, no matter where you try to teleport, it will always be to the same spot?" I questioned.

"Feels that way," Vee sighed. "So I'm effectively useless. Wonderful!"

"Even if we can't teleport out, you could probably cut us out using your [Rift Thread]. I could melt us out, but I'm very worried about angering them now, and honestly, if we are getting some free food, I'd like to replenish my strength."

"Yeah, I think our best bet right now is to cooperate with them and hope they let us go," Vee agreed. "I guess our beach vacation will have to wait a bit."

"Or going to the golem city," I added. "I was looking forward to that. Although, after everything that happened and the consequences of that teleportation fiasco, I have way bigger things to worry about."

"What did happen?" Vee asked. "You've lost all your dimensional weight, and the bond was telling me that you died, or were dying, or something?"

I gave Vee a brief rundown of the turn of events. The teleportation broke my [Core Storage] and caused my own core to rupture, ejecting my entire inventory and slime mass to who knows where.

I had died in the process, but my [Core Collective] trait meant that I took the place of Alpha. It was not how I had expected my first time using the lifesaving trait to go, but at least I had confirmed it would work regardless of the circumstances.

"Well, look on the bright side, you've still got your hat!" Vee said.

I stared at the strange hat and sighed. Of course, even a teleportation accident wouldn't get it away from me.

I gingerly activated my [Core Storage] skill to see what had survived the aftermath. All my meals were gone, my slime mass was ejected, and the obsidianite parts were gone. It looked like I had lost everything but my hat and outfit until I spotted a few tiny objects still within the dimensional storage space.

I pulled them out, feeling a slight ache in my core as I did so. My enchanting tool from Greg and Trixie's coin had survived the aftermath. I didn't know whether to call myself lucky for not losing these two sentimental pieces, but I was glad they hadn't been ejected into the void or wherever my inventory had gone.

I tried to deposit them back but received a strange notification instead.

<[Core Storage] space is being repaired. Please wait.>

"Great!" I moaned. "Looks like now that my space is truly empty, it's undergoing repairs."

"I wonder if that Gramps god you are always mentioning did it so you could keep your important stuff," Vee suggested.

"That's possible, although I would've loved it if he could've kept all my slime at the same time," I sighed. "Seriously. I've never been this starved of slime in ages. I feel like I'm about to start eating myself, and I need far more to regenerate Alpha."

"Well, if you didn't have so much slime in the first place, it wouldn't have exploded like you did," Vee countered.

"I wasn't ever expecting to get teleported like that," I complained. "I figured if I was ever doing long-distance teleporting, I'd just pay the Mana cost myself. The fact I was helpless in [Stasis] certainly wasn't helping either."

"Well, it doesn't help now, but in the future, I think I have a solution for us," Vee said.

"Oh?" I asked curiously.

"After it happened and during my level-ups, I got some notifications. I got the [Blink] to [Warp] upgrade offered, but I also got a new trait called [Dimensional Anchor]. It prevents you from being teleported!"

"Certainly would have been helpful back then," I groaned.

"Yes, but then I'd have left you behind," Vee countered. "So I reckon it's a good thing. At least we have two heads to put together to get us out of this situation. I would've felt awful if I left you alone after all you've done for me."

"Thanks, I appreciate it," I replied, giving the spider a little head rub with one of my fingers.

"That reminds me, I haven't looked at all the notifications," I mumbled. "I wonder what happened… Why did they suddenly happen?"

"Um… when you read some of them, I think you might get a few ideas," Vee responded, sounding slightly down.

I pulled up the first notification and was confused.

<Dwarf LV 12; Butler LV 40 defeated. Experience gained.>

Dwarves?

I felt my heart sink a little as I pulled up a few more.

<Dwarf LV 27; Bodyguard LV 30 defeated. Experience gained.>

<Dwarf LV 14; Gardener LV 45 defeated. Experience gained.>

<Dwarf LV 18; Stone Shaper LV 38 defeated. Experience gained.>

I shuddered. There were so many dwarves; why had I gained experience from killing dwarves? This was absurd. And then it dawned on me—my slime.

"I think I know what happened to all my slime when my storage exploded," I said to Vee, feeling a little sick.

"Yeah… I think so, too," Vee replied somberly. "I'm sorry, Syl, it's not your fault."

"Then why am I being rewarded for it?" I shouted back. "This… This is gross. It's one thing to kill when I'm defending myself or fighting mindless monsters, but this… this feels so, so wrong!"

"Well," Vee said, trying to sound reassuring. "The fact that you feel that way proves you haven't become a full monster, in my opinion. You haven't gone full guilt-free and evolution crazy."

I knew what Vee was saying was right, but still, as I looked at all the deaths I was being rewarded for, I struggled to agree. What if Thern, Darmod, Thessa, Lukhek, or Kaldrour were one of my victims?

I felt sick.