"Haaaaa..."

Cranberry let out a deep sigh and shook her head.

"What is this about now? Will you try to convince me that you aren't Lairs?"

She snorted looking down at the bundle of blankets.

"...fuck... young lady, i-it's not like that at all..."

The hidden elven mage shook her head and answered in a dispirited voice.

"Ha?"

A short scoff from Cranberry made her flinch and the missing member of the Dandelions continued.

"...this... the thing is... fuck me... Young lady, the thing is that I'm fucking sick, alright? Fucking everyone here is sick...!"

Lairs's voice was trembling just like her body.

Truth to be told, she sounded a bit odd.

As if the words were forcing their way out of her mouth whether she wanted it or not.

Cranberry straightened her back and glared at her, as if she wanted to burn through the blanket covering the elven woman, with her sight alone.

The red-haired girl heard a tone like that before.

Many times actually...

"The elves... we can sometimes contract a fucking terrible disease that turns us into this fucking ugly ass freaks..."

Lairs took down the blanket and turned to face Cranberry.

The red-haired girl didn't flinch, she only raised her brow looking at the completely change visage of the elven mage.

Her beautiful, long silky jet-black hair was no more, instead, she had thin curly brownish hair and at least three bald spots...

It looked like her skin was covered in a rash and it was peeling off in many places on her body, including the side of her neck and her nose.

Her left eye was covered by a milk-like membrane and looking in the opposite direction than her clear right eye, and even that eye had a constantly twitching eyelid.

She also somehow developed an enormous overbite, her left arm was shorter than her right arm her left hand, and was missing two fingers and all fingernails.

Even her posture was terrible as if she had severe problems with her back, and her legs didn't really seem to work either.

"T-the Envy... Envys are researching a fucking cure for us... we all are... staying here on our fucking own..."

The changed Lairs spoke mechanically while looking away.

"Big sister? Do you know someone here? I've heard something about a cu-AAAHHH!"

Mason ended up scuttling to Cranberry's side, and asked, but as soon as his eyes led on the elf on the floor, he screamed and backed off.

"...fuck...!"

Lairs cursed, clenching her deformed fist and looking away in shame.

"Ha."

Cranberry smirked and glanced back at the other cells.

Every elf in the hearing range that the red-haired girl saw, was looking at the floor and blocking their ears.

A bit odd behavior...

They couldn't show their unwillingness to join the conversation any more clearly than that.

"Really now..."

Cranberry furrowed her brows, noticing something odd.

Lairs's cell was the last one on the right wall, but what the red-haired girl failed to notice earlier because of how the hallway was constructed with a slight curve, was that the corridor continued further.

The thing was it was a short branch, there was no more cell per se there, but it ended in a simple wooden door blocked by the cell's sturdy metal bars.

That door seemed like a normal bedroom door, though it had no window so there was no way to figure out what was actually on the inside.

If this was an escape route, why was it barred like a cell? What was the purpose of mounting those in front of the door...?

"A-ah... sorry for acting so rude just now..."

Mason reflected on his act and hurriedly bowed apologetically to the cowering Lairs, causing Cranberry to stop paying attention to the suspicious door.

"..."

But other than that, the red-haired girl didn't respond back to him in any way.

"S-so my family is actually helping elves... I never knew! Ah! Does that mean that the rumors about elves getting kidnapped are all about my family gathering you for treatment?"

The more Mason talked, the more Lairs was trembling.

Cranberry could clearly see how the elven mage was clenching her fists and gritting her teeth...

"...yes... fucking exactly..."

That's why it was so odd to hear Lairs confirm Mason's naive conclusion.

"So my father is not only treating the mysterious disease but researching the one elves have! Maybe those are even related...!"

Mason seemed elated.

"Ha...!"

Cranberry scoffed and shook her head.

Many things still needed confirmation, mainly because only a few of them made sense.

But if she was right...

Cranberry crouched by Lairs and put her hand on the trembling elf's shoulder.

"Aren't you worried about how the rest of your party feels?"

She asked.

"I fucking am..."

Lairs muscles relaxed and she responded sounding so defeated that Mason started tearing up.

"Don't worry, I'm sure my father will find the cure soon!"

He said in a hopeful voice.

"Your mother is supposed to be here too, did you two meet already?"

Cranberry asked, treating Mason as if he wasn't even there.

"The fuck?! How, the fuck, do you know about that?!"

"...!"

Lairs flinched and stared at Cranberry, wide-eyed from shock - her shout made Mason jump.

"Oh, we have caught one of the guys who abducted you before he could escape, tortured him, and learned a bit of detail. Not much because he died in the middle of the hearing, but still."

Cranberry answered without any hesitation, looking straight into Lairs's eyes.

"...!"

"Big sister Cranberry! You're not serious, are you?!"

There it was!

For a split second Lairs's changed face brightened with joy, before she suddenly lowered her head, hiding that expression.

If Cranberry would blink or gasped and panicked just like Mason did, she would have missed it.

"Big sister! Don't even joke like th..."

"Shut up."

Mason was getting worked up but was cut off with a single ice-cold command.

"You were abducted, right, Lairs?"

Cranberry asked while still holding elf's shoulder.

She could feel how tense Lairs muscles were, just as if she was consciously trying to fight off some higher power taking over her body.

"...no, I fucking wasn't. They, fucking, had to act fast so my fucking disease won't affect other elves...!"

Lairs fidgeted and explained in a pained voice.

"Lairs... what other elves? You were traveling with a group of humans and an undead, through the territory of the Envy family, which is well known for having no elvish population."

Cranberry tilted her head and asked, hiding the existence of the - now exterminated - elven village.

"...! That...! That fucking disease might be dangerous for humans too..."

Lairs responded, with muscles stiff from fighting to retake control over her body.

"Could it be that the elven disease is the same disease that my family is suffering from...?!"

Not wanting to make Cranberry angry again, Mason focused back on the topic that the girl has been tolerating up until that point.

Although the fear in his voice and constant glances towards Cranberry made it clear that he didn't just forget the part about torturing and death of someone that could very likely be his family member.

"Yes. That's exactly right."

Another voice joined their conversation, and a tall black-haired man with piercing green eyes walked on the three of them.

"That's why neither of you two should be here."

The man looked down on them all and frowned.

"F-father?!"

Mason gasped and hurriedly stepped in front of crouched Cranberry, shielding her from his parent.