Just a while ago, I thought I was going to be killed, enslaved, tortured, or a combination of the three.

—I did not however, expect to be escorted to a well lit reception room, and a somewhat comfortable looking chair.

It almost seemed like I was being treated as a guest, but it was weird.

I noticed some magical enchantments on the chairs, but I couldn't understand the constructed spell.

What Affinity was this? I vaguely recognize it, but I don't think I know the name and it seems to have some bizarre conditions and functions. Maybe if I understood what Affinity it was, I wouldn't be so anxious about it—thus I abstained from sitting on either chair, and instead waited for whoever it was that wanted to meet me.

Earlier, it seems I was stared down by those guys before.

I didn't understand it, but it seems they had some sort of Skill that forces intimidation on me. It certainly wasn't magic, or I would have sensed it.

"Why are you still standing? Sit, sit," A woman soon entered the room, telling me to sit.

"If you tell me what sort of enchantments you have placed on them, I'll gladly sit," I said with a smile.

At my remark, it seemed like I upset the various maids and man servants who has been watching, but none of them uttered a word.

"Quite outspoken for a child—if you even are one. But if you insist on knowing, the enchantments react to negative intent. Now sit," she repeated once more, as she took her seat across from me.

The magic in the chair seemed to conform to the woman's body, as it seemed to caress her, and analyze her.

As I took my own seat, I tried not to react to the unpleasant sensation of having a sort of living Aether lick my body and mind up and down, as if trying to taste me.

"Is your seat not to your standard?" The woman asked sarcastically, as if to remind me that this sort of luxury was not something easily given to commoners. Of course, I've had seats many times more comfortable in my past life, but that's beside the point.

"That's not it—it's really unpleasant being fondled by such a gross magic," I said without restraining my opinion.

"Don't be ridiculous. You shouldn't be able to feel magic to begin with. Even if you are an elf."

Right, after being brought in, I had had my cloak forcibly removed, and the fact I was an elf was discovered. At least half-elf.

"I'm somewhat special," I didn't want to quite tell her about my Aether Perception, but I already let it slip. I'll try to down play it, and hope she doesn't pursue the topic.

"Yes, a half elf. Something rarely seen, that you could call yourself a special existence. However, just because you're unique isn't necessarily a good thing."

I don't know what this woman's aim is. The moment it was revealed I was a Half-Elf, my life was basically forced out of my control. The servants seemed to make a big deal about it, as expected—but her?

"Hmm, that's so. But, pardon if this is rude, I'm not good with small talk—but what's this meeting about?"

Don't misunderstand; I didn't mind being in this lady's presence. She was neither ugly nor a stunning beauty, but she was certainly attractive.

A noble or a merchant? I can't be certain of what her aim is.

I'm not being perceived as an enemy, am I?

"Before that, my name is Anna Ophryss, but you may call me Lady Ophryss."

"Aishean Sendall," I replied with my own name, and gestured for her to continue.

"If I were to state plainly the reason for having you here, it involves your recent activity." Oh shit

"I didn't kill anyone you know, right?" I asked in a higher voice, as I tilted my head, and tries to droop my ears.

"Stop that,"—OW!?? What did she hit me with? She just flicked her thumb, and something hit me? My HP didn't drop much, but still.

"The issue isn't who you killed, but the sheer quantity. It's enough that you've caused a disturbance in the air that I don't particularly like."

"Then why am I still alive?"

"Curiosity."

—"I'm not especially interesting though?"

"A child with your stats is quite interesting."

—!!

She has Status Analysis!

No, it doesn't exactly have to be her. It could have been anyone from those guys before, to the maids, all the way up to a simple slave I missed.

"You seem quite panicked?"

"W-welll, I do like my privacy you know? So having my stats analyzed is a little gross?"

"Is that so? Well, my pet only did it after feeling threatened by you. Though she didn't tell me about it until more recently."

—Eh? Wait, what?

Going by what she said, the person who analyzed me was someone from before?

Someone I talked to... It couldn't be—

"I was amused that you rather nonchalantly offered to kill me, someone you know nothing about."

"Well you know~? A man would do a lot for a pretty face?"

"Is that so?" She asked with narrowed eyes.

"Of course. There's even a tale about a woman whose looks alone started a war. Kinda silly, but what can you do?"

"Are you truly just a child?" She finally asked. Ah, I am a bit suspicious for a 5 year-old huh? And even Elves age at a human-like pace up until they reach their prime.

"Well, it wouldn't be wrong to call me a child," I answer ambiguously. Shit, I'm bad at keeping (my own) secrets. And I'm even aware that it's almost impossible for me to lie directly. Or at least very difficult.

"Returning to the main topic," She seems to have decided to put that aside for now. "You've killed the subordinates of one of my affiliates, so technically I should have killed you, like you said. But I'm quite interested in using a piece like yourself."

I could only return a bitter expression. So she wants to hire me as some kind of assassin, huh?

"Well, you see miss, I don't really have any intent of staying in this town for too long. My activity in the city was mostly out of a personal sense of justice, so killing people whose crimes I don't know might be outside my scope of ability—by that I mean I don't think my conscious will be able to handle it."

"You sure speak a lot of abstract and big words for someone who poses as a child."

"Why thank you,"

"—However, I never said you had a choice in the matter,"

...

"Ah, so it does react to keywords,"

"—? What did you do?" The woman's brows seemed to furrow.

"Nothing~"

I had been analyzing the bizarre magic since earlier. I thought maybe Ophryss would have been aware that this sort of thing was possible, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

When she mentioned it was a magic to detect negative intent, I realized that the Affinity of the magic was the same as that used on slave collars.

Understanding that, I had something to try and analyze how the magic worked.

She didn't lie about it trying to detect and react to negative intention, but there was quite a bit more to it.

It had the function to restrain and hold back whoever sat on the chair, like binding them in chains.

This function was activated by the detection of hostile intent.

But it also had a few extra activation conditions that called this function.

When she began the passphrase, "I never said you had a choice in the matter", a part of the enchantment reacted, and was about to call the "restraint" function, so I went ahead and used wind blades to break the Magic Stone, that was under me. There should be a cut underneath the chair, but no one should be able to see it now.

"So that's what you meant," She finally muttered, after realizing that I wasn't under the effects of her enchantment..

"I have no idea what you mean~?" I said in an amused tone.

She looked a bit upset, but it wasn't like I was free at this point.

"In all seriousness though, I don't intend to be a personal hit-man."

"Then I'll just have to kill you," she said in a disappointed manner.

At those words, I could sense a barrier being placed around the room I was in.

I couldn't feel the full extent of the barrier, but I'm sure that the walls and doors have been shielded somehow.

No escape, huh?

What's more, Ophryss is surrounded by a protective barrier, so I can't really use her as a hostage.

And as expected, the maids and menservants were armed with hidden weapons.

"Can I win in a head-to-head fight like this, I wonder?" I only noticed after I said it, that I voice that thought out loud.

What sort of magic was this barrier?

Space magic—how troublesome.

I only recognize it because Item bags use the same magic affinity, and I've learned a bit about it.

This space barrier is nearly impossible to break through, without having space magic yourself, or having quite a lot of excess force.

Neither of which are possible for me, I don't think.

Light seems to pass right through it, but sound doesn't seem to pass through, so I don't think I can create a powerful enough light to harm Lady Ophryss—not without harming myself as well, considering my "light bending" only captures a small percentage of light.

Ah, this guy, he nearly cut my head off. I'm unarmed, so I just use wind magic to repel him, before the sword can connect.

I don't have my item bag on me at the moment, and even my dagger was confiscated. Thus, this will be a battle completely dependent on magic.

Luckily, magic is probably my strongest weapon! Right?

I construct a quick wind barrier spell, and cast it around my body. As a result, the chair that I was sitting in a moment ago was blown away, and would have hit a group of servants, but they easily avoided it, and the chair merely became splinters as it hit the Space barrier.

I looked around, and as I expected, none of the 10 servants are going to approach under these circumstances—not when there's a wind barrier around me. It can't be seen directly, but it's obvious by the dust and particles that are flying around like a vortex around me. It costs quite a bit of Aether, but I have an adequate supply.

I construct another spell, just outside my barrier, and then build up the second layer to the spell, before activating it.

Blades of wind begin to be fired outward, towards my various targets, but—

I didn't think they'd be able to block something like that.

As soon as their swords clash with the wind blades, the rest of the blade seems to collapse, and loose momentum, causing almost no damage. Others are instead countering my attack with their own magic.

No casualties, but there are plenty of cuts.

Hmmm, despite my high stats, I don't think I have any experience with using magic in battle.

What's more, this wind barrier won't last forever—I've put considerable strength behind it, but I should only be able to maintain it for a few minutes at best.

A miscalculation, huh?

All my kills up until now have been stealth assassinations—will I have to resort to that somehow?

—An idea passes through my noggin, as smirk.

This sort of attack should be difficult to defend against, right?

As a precaution, I apply a protective cloak around my body to defend myself.

I then drop my Wind Barrier spell. and pour all my Aether into a single attack—an ear-splitting noise is produced as a result, and even within my sound barrier, my ears hurt like a bitch.

Still, the 10 servants seem to all be worst off than me, as they can't seem to stand anymore, and hold onto their ears.

I think I even see blood, coming out of someone's eyes? Must be my imagination.

Though at least two of them puked. Of course, the sound is a low enough pitch, that the fluid in their eyes and ears is shaking, so it's expected that their bodies suspect poison.

Soon after, everyone's passed out.

I only stopped after 10 seconds, to make sure of my victory.

You Leveled up!

You Leveled up!

You Leveled up!

...

6 times.

I leveled up 6 times, and reached Level 15.

These guys must have been pretty high level, right?

Not that it matters, when it comes to attacks that you can't defend against.

Certainly, if they were level 50 or so, and had a build focused on vitality and strength, I doubt my attack would have much effect on them, because of how chaotic and unfocused it was. Maybe.

Considering I only got around 6 levels, I estimate the 10 of them were around level 20, 30 at the highest.

But I can't know their stats, so I don't know how they compare to me.

As I look back toward Anna Ophryss, it seems she's saying something.

Eh? I can't hear.

Ah, no, I can't hear, but there's no sound anyways—the space barrier blocks it off. So who is she—

Ah, the barrier dropped—and there's reinforcements coming in through the doors—and they're all fully armed and equiped with armor. Meanwhile, the barrier around the Lady is still up, and she looks rather miffed.

I don't suppose I can change my mind at this point?

Well, that's all I really needed.

Using the bit of my Aether I can muster, I force wind to my feet, and propel myself towards the unshielded windows. It would be bad if I was surrounded again, so I need to go before my escape is cut off again.

However, just as I break through the glass, two of the armored warriors are already on me—they're fast!

It doesn't seem they're using magic to reach this speed—still, I need to get rid of them—they're right behind me, and as soon as we land, I'm certain they'll kill me.

So I hold out my hands, and quickly produce Wind Blades—they can't dodge, and even blocking is difficult. In fact, I don't care if they manage to block.

The man closest to me was hit without a change to block, however it seems he didn't take much damage.

Meanwhile, the other man who jumped out the window after me, manage to block the wind blade with only a bit of difficulty

But that doesn't matter, because the momentum of the blades repels them backwards, giving me some extra room to breath.

I only have a bit of Aether left, so I need to use it sparingly.

Once my feet touched the ground, I tried to create even more distance—but not away from the mansion, but towards it.

I needed to get my belongings back, after all.

Though I may have just roped myself into a game of cat and mouse.

Author Notes:

So Chapter 7 here.

So I have a direction for the story in mind.

Not sure I like that direction quite yet, but I'll continue moving in that direction until I hit a wall.

As always, feedback and suggestions are appreciated.