--What do I do? Would it be best to leave her be until I handle Macheo?

Debating on this as she ran her thumb over the padlock, Iris listened to the continued cries of the girl behind the door, feeling her heartache at the sound.

Iris gently knocked on the door, "Uylia?"

Calling for the name of Heldjrim gave her, the crying had come to a sudden halt before Iris received a response a few moments later.

"W...who is it?"

The feminine voice was gentle yet audibly frightened, her words coming out shakily. Iris did her best to put on a reassuring voice, holding a smile to help give herself that calmness.

"I'm Iris, your father Heldjrim sent me to come rescue you."

"...Father sent you, is he okay? Is the village alright?!"

"They're all fine, Uylia, just calm down, alright? I have to take care of Macheo first...Do you know where he is?"

Iris asked, receiving silence as her answer for a minute before the girl finally spoke up again. It was clear that there was fear instilled into her body from her time here.

"...He went out to hunt earlier."

"Macheo isn't here--?"

The answer came as a complete surprise to Iris, she had set her mind on him being present in the temple already. For better or worse, this was now the situation.

--This might be a good thing...He won't know I'm here. Wait...The goblins outside, he'll definitely know something is up…

Iris bit her thumb as she pondered her plan of action; not knowing what Macheo was capable of put a wrench in her thought process. The only guess she could make was that as a Purgatory participant he must've possessed some level of formidable strength.

Nodding her head a few times at her own thoughts, Iris exhaled through her nose briefly before deciding her next move.

"Uylia? Are you still there?"

"…Yeah."

"Okay, good. Just stay there a bit longer, alright? Do you know where Macheo keeps the key to this lock?"

Iris kept herself close to the door as she awaited the answer to her question.

"In…In his room. The door at the end of the hallway…"

"Thank you, Uylia. I'll be back for you, just stay strong, okay?"

Giving her reassurance, Iris placed her palm against the door, gently running her fingers along the grooves of the wood.

"Okay…"

Standing herself back up, she set her sights on the door leading to Macheo's chambers. Somewhat surprisingly to her, no locks of any kind sealed the unknown adventurer's door, leaving Iris no trouble in opening it cautiously.

The personal room of Macheo was almost like stepping into another realm altogether; the interior was clean, almost spotless, housing a plethora of trinkets and goods that were likely the offerings of the villagers.

It was without a doubt a room built for some sort of royalty as it stretched as wide as the average condo. Inhabiting the center of this unlikely magnificent chamber was a bed befitting of a king, covered in navy blue sheeting with translucent curtains draping over the sides from above.

"Not exactly living humbly, is he…"

Iris fiddled with the plethora of trinkets scattered throughout the room, searching for the key to the lock.

Rummaging through this collection of items of no correlation, no sign of the key was found, finding, however, a large sack containing potatoes, fruit, and many other naturally grown products--all of which she knew must've come from the village of primorelves.

It wasn't the only sack of its kind; a few others containing food sat in the corner of the room--ushering Iris' conscience to bring this with her. Reaching the desk formed of ashen wood, she flung the drawers open, rummaging through the tattered papers before her fingers met with something metallic, an object imbued with magical energy--the sensation was unmistakable.

Throwing the plethora of ruined, damp papers to the side, Iris almost laughed out of relief as her cobalt eyes met with the sight of the silver key, etched with wing-like designs.

Before she left the room in a hurry, she looked back at the packs of grub, remembering the gloomy sight of those villagers.

--I'll bring these back with me...They looked like they needed this.

Throwing the somewhat heavy bags over her shoulder, Iris made her way towards the sealed room, poking the key around the lock a few times as she missed it out of a rush guiding her hand. Taking a quick breath and closing her eyes, Iris calmed her unsteady hand, sliding the key into the enchanted padlock as a wave of magical particles released from the lock--watching as the metal dissipated into nothing more than residual mana.

Opening the door slowly, Iris found the frightened primorelf, her silver pupils shaking as if she was afraid the person who would step through that door wouldn't be Iris.

"Are you okay? Can you walk?"

Iris was quick to console her, kneeling in front of her to check for wounds. All she was wearing was a ragged, simple dress that was held together by shoddy pathwork--yet surprisingly, there didn't seem to be any wounds on her.

The young primorelf girl nodded her head at Iris' question, standing herself up and raising her hand as if showing her rescuer the chains that kept her bound.

"Let me take care of that; just keep still."

Iris assured her with a warm smile, receiving another nod in return as Uylia closed her eyes tightly. With a swift breath taken into her lungs, Iris amplified the mana flowing through her body in preparation for her next spell.

"Licht: Burst."

A simple, small-scale pulse of light manifested between two of the chainlinks, breaking them apart easily. Iris then repeated this three more times until Uylia was completely unbound, taking her hand to guide the short of stature primorelf out of the dangerous temple.

--I don't know how much time I have left until he's back...If I can just get her back before having to face him...That's the best-case scenario.

Moving with haste, nearly tugging the girl behind her, Iris raced down the stairs as the looming fear of Macheo grew greater and greater--with the girl hand-in-hand with her, she wasn't certain she would be able to defend her if the man resorted to such tactics.

"Are you fine? Do you need me to slow down?"

Iris asked as they traversed the steps, feeling the small girl nearly trip behind her. The primorelf fervently shook her head, tightening her grip around Iris' hand. The look in her pristine eyes wavered between two flickering emotions.

"...No, I want to go home. I want to go back to my father!"

"I'll get you there. Don't worry, Uylia!"

The glimmer in Iris' lapis eyes seemed to work their bewitching powers on the girl as she was left agape for a moment, her fears subsided as she felt the confidence ooze from her temporary companion.

Reaching the lobby floor, it was the final stretch--Iris knew well that past that door, it was only a minute sprint at most, even with the girl in hand. No matter how smooth everything seemed to be going in this moment, Iris couldn't shake the anxiety clouding her mind, something deeply seeded within her fervently told her that something wasn't right.

--What is this feeling…?

"...Is something wrong?"

Uylia had likely felt the cold sweat that had evacuated from Iris' palms, looking up at Iris with her constant worried gaze that masked the serenity of those platinum eyes.

"--Nothing. Nothing is wrong. Just keep going, Uylia, we're almost out of here!"

Giving her a somewhat forced smile, Iris then pushed ran through the front doors of the ruined temple, listening to her own boots clack against the marble as well as her own ragged breathing. During her rush, she neglected to remember the fallen, charred goblins left in the marble courtyard--turning back towards the girl she guided.

"--Cover your eyes!"

"...Why?"

"A child shouldn't see something like this!"

Iris told her, standing in front of her briefly to shield her view. A confused look was placed on the primorelf's face, blinking a few times up at Iris.

"...I'm not a child. I'm turning sixty-seven this year."

"Eh?"

It was an aspect of elves she had completely forgotten--their lifespan that dwarfed that of most other mortal races. Even so, it was hard to believe the girl before her was that old with such a youthful appearance, even with a meek attitude to boot.

Shaking her head to snap her out of her constantly wandering mind, Iris pulled on the girl's hand once again to move forward, rushing past the many blackened corpses of the halfling monsters.

--Almost there. Almost there. Almost--

What happened next led Iris to believe this entire time she had been jinxing herself; the pathway they ran towards erupted into a fog of sediment, unleashing a powerful shockwave that forced Iris to shield her companion with her body as the wind tugged at her skirt ravenously.

What felt like thousands of minuscule pebbles had begun pelting against her body, shutting her eyes to endure the strain of this sudden volatile reaction.

"It's rude to enter another person's home--actually, it's grounds to kill in some areas of the world."

The masculine eloquence quickly brought her mind to a probably guess as to who the words belonged to. At the hearing of those arrogant words, Iris could feel the girl she held shaking in her arms; confirming what she had guessed.

"Not only that...It seems you're attempting to run off with something that belongs to me."

"...Something?"

Iris snapped her gaze towards the voice as something so viscerally repulsive left his lips. A swipe of the obscured figure's arm repelled the cloud of dust, revealing himself to her eyes.

It was a fact she had already known before coming here but seeing it with her own two eyes, confirmed, made her stomach sink just a bit. The male before her was young--maybe even younger than herself, yet his eyes, their exhausted, jaded, gaze of sepia were experienced in the cruelties of this world.