Poke, poke.

Gerald poked the Dark Elf's forehead with his finger a few times.

"Wakey, wakey! The sun is shining and the birds are chirping, this is no time to be lazying around!"

The Elf groaned and opened her eyes with difficulty.

Gerald patted her on the cheeks and smiled, "Did you sleep well? I slept like a baby, I feel so refreshed! So, what did you think about my proposal? Oh, sorry, I forgot you can't speak. Here, let me help you…"

The stone shifted and the Dark Elf girl was partially freed from her rocky prison.

She took a big breath of fresh air and then spoke with pride. "Fuck you," she said.

"Oh, come on!" Gerald groaned, "I know you Elves are stubborn, but at least cooperate with me! Just tell me who sent you already!"

"You know what? I think I'll spread out that I captured you and that you told me everything. Then I will hand you over to the Guild for a trial. That way your masters will know you leaked the information about them and they will differently torture your sister, or maybe even just kill her outright, to get rid of the evidence."

He evilly smiled, "What do you think about that?"

The Elf's pupils shrunk and her eyes opened wide in panic, "No! You can't do that! Leave my little sister out of this! Please!" She started begging him among quiet sobs. A few tears even came to her bloodshot eyes.

'Oh, damn, she was telling the truth about her sister? If that's so… This makes things much easier for me…' Gerald acted nonchalantly, but he was surprised on the inside. But at least now he found a weakness he could exploit.

First, you have to break the enemy down, making him ready to fight with his life, make him paranoid, desperate even. And then, when he is at the end of his rope, present him the option of peace and he will be unable to reject you. This way, the mental defenses will be broken without much difficulty.

The Dark Elf being sleep-deprived would also help.

"Sigh, listen," he squatted down and placed a hand on the Elf's shoulder, "I don't actually want to hurt you, but it's really important that you tell me the name of those who sent you. We both have the same enemy…"

"They have your sister, I'm sure you can't be fine with that. When was the last time you saw her? Was she okay? Can you be sure she is not suffering without you?" Gerald spoke softly and with concern, trying to rouse some deep-suppressed emotions from the Elf.

He also released the stone grip on the young girl, giving her the feeling he actually cared.

"I can only see her every two weeks…" the Elf finally spoke softly. She appeared sad and in deep thought like she was lost in her memories.

"And during this time, what does she do? Is she happy? Or does she cry herself to sleep every night? As her older sister, do you even know?" Gerald probed further.

The Elf shook her head and tears came to her eyes, "No, I don't know! She is always smiling when she sees me, but her body looks so frail… She had such great talent in alchemy, we came to the city to find a job, but were captured by that scum! If they didn't have my sister as a shield, I would have already killed them all!" The sorrow slowly started turning to anger.

'Hmm? Her sister is an alchemist?' Gerald's interest was piqued. "Who are they? Please tell me. If we work together we might be able to take revenge and free your sister at the same time!"

The girl made an expression like she was struggling in her mind. "They… It's- It's the Serrell family!" she finally cried out. "They kidnapped my sister, my poor Qiona! And that fat bastard, Adelard, he was the one that ordered me to kill you. I'm sorry! I'm truly sorry, I never wanted to live a life like this…"

She broke down, crying.

'Easy,' Gerald smirked. "So it's them, huh? I should have known! Sigh~"

He hugged the crying Elf to console her, "Listen, girl, err, what's your name?"

The Dark Elf wiped away her tears, "Sniff, It's Xilia, Xilia Evergreen."

Gerald nodded, "Listen Xilia, I'm not going to lie to you, it would be extremely difficult to simply barge in the Serrell mansion and save your sister, err, Qiona. Although they are not on friendly terms with the Guild, the latter can't just ignore when someone breaks the law in the city. If we try to do something without a good reason..." Gerald slowly explained.

"Oh no! Then what are we going to do?" Xilia asked with red eyes. She was keeping her emotions in check for years and now she finally felt like she could let them all out.

"Hmm," Gerald rubbed his beard and pretended he was thinking hard. "You were a part of that environment for a long time, right? Is there anything that we could use against them? Did they do any other nasty things that we could exploit?"

Xilia's eyes enlarged as she finally saw hope, "Yes! There is so much! Most recently they even worked with some foreign forces, I think they were called Green Scales. Anyway, they ambushed and killed many warrior groups from the Guild! They were also the ones that tried to poison you…"

"What? It was them all along? And to think the Guild Master sent guards to search the entire city and found nothing!" Gerald gasped, but in his mind, he was like, 'Jackpot! You Serrell bastards are going down! Haha…'

"That's not all! Among the things they did was also many other…" Xilia continued to speak for a long time and with every passing minute, Gerald's grin grew wider.

'With this information…. I won't even have to lift a finger!'

***

In the Guild.

"Luna," Gerald came to the counter and greeted Luna. "I need to speak to your father, the Guildmaster. It's important."

Luna looked surprised, "My father? What for?"

Gerald pointed at Xilia behind him, who was hidden under a cloak. "She has important information about the recent attacks on the Guild's warriors. And also some other secrets that should not be said in public."

"Oh? And who's she? I haven't seen her before…"

"Hmm," Gerald thought for a second, "She's…my friend. Her name's Xilia," he quickly explained.

"Nice to meet you!" Luna then agreed to take them to meet the Guildmaster. "I just hope your information is important, my father is a busy man."

"No worries!" Gerald laughed it off. They arrived at the Guildmaster's office when Luna knocked and then entered the room.

"Father, I brought guests. Supposedly they have some important information for you." Luna quickly explained the situation.

"Oh, I see. Gerald, lad, what's this all about?" The Guildmaster questioned.

Gerald respectfully bowed, "Sir, my friend here has some information that might interest you…" He indicated with his head that Xilia should tell her part.

"Ah, yes sir! So, the thing is…" She proceeded to tell what she already told Gerald, with slight modifications to the story, of course.

The Guildmaster listened calmly at first, but then he started to frown and become angry. When Xilia wasn't even half-done he already erupted in anger, "WHAT?! Those bastards were the ones that killed my people?"

He turned to Xilia and roared, "You! How do you know all this?!"

Xilia quickly explained her tragic story and how she was forced to work for them. She also quickly added a few unlawful things that happened at the Serrell mansion.

The Guildmaster was becoming more enraged by the second. In the end, he looked like he was going to explode at any time. Gerald could already imagine flames shooting from his eyes if he would get just a tad angrier.

"JAVIAR!" the Guildmaster roared at the top of his lungs, making the entire Guild shake. The people in the office had to cover their ears in pain.

"What's happening?! Are we under attack?" Javiar stumbled in. He was desperately trying to put on his armor as he came inside.

The Guildmaster deeply exhaled and then spoke with a deep voice, "Gather the guards! I want one hundred men ready to march in fifteen minutes! Gather them in front of the Guild, there is no time to waste! Go!"

"Yes sir!" Javiar quickly saluted and ran back out. He still had no clue what was going on, but now it wasn't the time to ask.

He never had seen his friend so agitated and angry before, something big was definitely going on!