玉蒲团之云雨山庄

"I\'m... Surrounded...?" The little girl uttered in surprise. Her eyes widened, and the grip on her knife visibly loosened.

With her current state, she\'s not a threat to Lyan.

*Whoosh!*

Lyan pulled the sheets beside him and threw them toward the half-halfling at magnificent speed.

"Wha- Wait!" Startled, the little girl attempted to flee from the dangerous situation, but her legs became weak as she remembered the acid ants surrounding her.

In such a brief duration that was less than several seconds, the situation had changed. The half-halfing that was aiming at Lyan with her knife has lost her knife, and is currently having her hands locked behind her back by Lyan.

"That was rather dangerous, little girl," (Lyan)

*Flick!*

With a snap of his fingers, the lights inside the room immediately light up, giving a clear vision inside the room. Finally, the

"R-Release me!! O-ouch!" The half-halfling fiercely resists by moving her body violently, but as Lyan exerts more force on his hands and emits his murderous intent for a moment, the resistance immediately ceased.

"Good. Now let\'s see..." Still, with a smile, Lyan narrowed his eyes as he observed the little girl before him.

She\'s now completely in a panic state. Cold sweats are running profusely, and it\'s bland to see that she couldn\'t find any solution to get away from her current situation. Tears started to gather at the corner of her eyes, but she grits her teeth to fight back the urge to cry because of the hopelessness of the situation.

"You got a great spirit for a little girl, aren\'t you?" Lyan uttered in admiration.

(I was confused whether she was a child or not before since the halfling could have made her look much more babyface than normal humans, but judging from her reactions, looks like she is still a child, huh) (Lyan)

"How old are you, girl? Answer me, and I might let you off," (Lyan)

It took some time for the girl to process Lyan\'s words. After several seconds, the focus started to regather in her eyes, and she replied.

"...Really?"

"Yeah. Of course, it will be a different story if you lie, though," Lyan shrugged.

The little girl\'s eyes wandered around for a while, but after thinking that there is no harm in telling her age to him, she lightly nods to herself.

"13. 13 years old," The girl replied with a small voice.

"13, huh..." Lyan stared at the body of the girl.

(She looks no different from an 8-year-old child... Poor kid, but there is always someone who might want such a small body like you when you\'re slightly older, so don\'t be sad) (Lyan)

Lyan uttered in pity inside his mind as he observe the body that has little chance of developing into the same level as at least Xena.

(Setting asides the jokes, I guess she really is a halfling then. She seems to be still developing, so she might grow slightly bigger since she\'s a half-human. The main problem is...) (Lyan)

Lyan\'s eyes stopped at the sight of the slave collar on the girl\'s neck.

(Again. Slavery, huh...) (Lyan)

It\'s not the first time Lyan encountered the term of slavery since the story of the three girls from the House of Roses and the bandits he fought together with the Valkyries, but it doesn\'t mean that he doesn\'t feel anything about them.

(As expected, it bothers me... Especially if children such as this girl are being enslaved to do such vile things like this. I guess just like how some of the demons are humane, there are humans that have demons in their hearts as well) (Lyan)

Truthfully, Lyan is very thrilled when he saw the pair of ears on the girl\'s head. He\'s excited to meet the races other than humans such as the elves, the beastmen, and the other races. But the disgust he felt from looking at such a small girl before him getting enslaved forcefully suppressed the excited feeling inside him.

The man called Lyan, setting aside the fact about him being branded a hero because of his previous life accomplishment, he\'s no saint. He doesn\'t have a high sense of justice and dreams of eradicating evil on top of the world. But there is one thing about him that made people stick with and adores him.

He lives up to his own rule.

"Eh?" The little girl uttered in surprise when the force holding her hands behind her back disappeared, letting her hands to move freely. She immediately jumped from the bed to the window. Her heart beats loudly as she thought about leaving immediately, but then she looks behind.

Lyan is just staring at her with his arms folded. In an instant, she stopped in her tracks.

"You... You\'re really going to let me go...?" The girl asked in shock as she stares back.

"Of course. What? You think I won\'t fulfill my promise?" (Lyan)

Without a word, the girl made a slight nod.

"I see..." (Lyan)

(Well, it\'s normal, I guess? She\'s been living in the underworld where lies and betrayals are part of the livelihood) (Lyan)

Lyan slowly approached the girl. The little girl opened the window to make sure that she could flee when Lyan made a threatening move, but then Lyan stopped at a quiet distance from her and crouched down, matching their eyes at the same level.

"Look. It\'s an adult, and especially a man\'s duty to fulfill their promise. If someone does not do so, then he must not be an adult, let alone a man. You hear me, child?" Lyan flicked the little girl\'s head.

"An adult... Duty...?" The girl\'s eyes seems to went distant when she uttered those words. As if she remembered about the words of a person dear to her, tears gathered at the corner of her eyes.

*Pat!*

"Eh?" The little girl came back to her senses when she felt the gentle warmth on top of her head.

"Another thing. It is also an adult\'s duty to hear out a child\'s plea. Now, is there something you want to ask me, child?" (Lyan)

Lyan\'s eyes are firm. The little girl immediately knows that she had been seen through by him since the beginning. Her hidden fatigue, her hidden stress, her hidden wounds-

And her hidden plea.

"Please. Help me,"

********************************************************

At the corner of the capital city, the place that the people refer to as the dwellings of the underground people, the place is crowdier than ever because of the rain and the dark.

There are people who gamble, brawl, do illegal transactions, buy illegal slaves, and many more.

"Ohh... So you\'re back, halfbreed. Looks like you got a lot of loot today, huh?" A bald man with an eyepatch on his right eye uttered with a rough voice when he saw a half-halfling approaching the building from the alley while holding a big sack of money on her back.

​ *Thud!*

"All of these are golds!! Hahaha!! Great job! Great job! Come here!" The man tapped her head roughly and asked her to follow her in a slightly less-roughly way. In normal circumstances, she would still get kicked and beaten even if she brought the minimum requirement quota of her task. But today, it seems that the loot she brought with her impresses him, or rather his greed enough to make him not beat her.

With a silent snort, she tidies her cloak up and silently follows the man that is her master without any word.

"Man! Those bastards scams me and made me lose all of my money and all of my slaves!! I almost sold you to those nasty bastards that research the human body for fun because of it. I guess it\'s a wise choice to refrain from selling a great half-halfling like you, huh!!" The man laughed heartfully as he sits on the chair and spill the inside of the leather sack. A small pile of gold coins filled the table, bringing a big smile to the man\'s face.

"Golds!!! All of these are golds!!! I could now buy even more slaves than before because of this!!! Great job-" Suddenly-

*Click!*

The sound of the door getting locked sounded, and sensing the sense of danger from his back, the man turned his back around as he tried to cover the gold behind him with his body as if protecting them.

"Eh? Halfbreed? What do you think you are doing? I command you to stop!" The man shouted, but the little girl continue her steps.

As she gets closer, her sight got illuminated by the lights.

"Eh?" The man uttered dumbfoundedly as he realized the most important thing that he should have noticed since the first time she arrived back.

"Where... Where is your magic collar...?"

___________________________________________________________________________

Name: Lyan Arkanium Evocatore

Occupation: Mythril-ranked Mercenary

Money: 3,797,710,950 Elnes / 3797 gold 71 big silver 9 big coppers 5 coppers

Weapon: Magic Glaive, 1 (Decent) One-handed Sword, 2 (Good-Quality) One-handed swords, 1 (Decent) bow

Equipment: Black leather cloak, Leather Armor, Breastplate, 2 Health Potions, 2 Poison Vials

Grimoire\'s Companions: 8 High Spirits, 3 Valkyrie, Shadow Goblin Lord (Lv. 5), Papilio Slime (Lv. 45), Galewing Butterfly (Lv. 45), Rock Golem (Lv. 50), Deadlight (Lv. 63), Moonlight Butterfly (Lv. 45), Ice Golem (Lv. 50), Acid Ant Queen (Lv. 9), Magma Bear (Lv. 1), Fey Mammoth (Lv. 1), Arcane Retriever (Lv. 1)

Grimoire\'s Army: 6 Shadow Servants, 800 Skeleton Army