"Was that Esme just now?"

Kara appeared among the Elves, clearly aware of their deep glare as she spoke and entered their midst. She flexed her glasses a little as she looked around her.

"And this destruction this was her residence, was it not? What happened here?"

The Elves completely ignored Kara as they went on to pick their comradesfirst the Youngs, and then the Elders who couldn't stand on their own.

"I'm asking for an explanation here!" She yelled out, fuming as she folded her hands.

"Shut up, filthy human."

Kara's gaze shifted in the direction of the Elf who spoke up first. The older-looking lady shot her a disdainful look as she spoke up some more. "Can't you read the room?"

The girl laughed a little sheepishly as soon as she heard that.

"Humans and their beast-like intelligence" Murmurs began to leak out of the lips of other Elves, and Kara found herself looking in the direction of each word.

She focused on the lips of the Elves, taking in insult after insult.

"She has no idea how badly she stinks"

"Just leave us alone already! We don't need the likes of you here."

"We have nothing to say to you!"

After the Elves were done with their first round of insults, all of them now standing still as they stared at Kara with sheer animosity, it was her turn to respond.

"Haa my bad." Raising her hands in the air, she sighed softly.

In one of her hands was a vial, and the moment she raised both hands, the object slipped from her hand and fell to the ground.

The glass vial shattered.

Then, its forbidden content spread out and covered the area in no time at all.

"AAAAAANNNNNGGGGG!!!"

Loud moans instantly filled the air as the Elves all crumbled to their knees, all of them growing weak due to whatever Kara had them inhale.

"It's my bad for trying to reason with you lot like sensible people and not the animals that you are"

Kara slowly took off her glasses, revealing less of the submissive shy persona she had been displaying all along, and more of a certain kind of person.

Her gaze was stone-cold, and her demeanor was completely stern.

"Stupid animals that have no idea of their actions the repercussions they cause, and the spiraling effects those will lead to." Kara sighed once again, suddenly possessing two vials of the very same glass in her hands.

'It's a good thing I captured Rey's scent and mixed in a highly addictive component from the flowers from the Dungeon to make the effects stronger.'

She only had a handful of the vials, but Kara reckoned that they would be more than enough to serve her purposes.

"I didn't want to have to use this, but it seems this is all you can respond to."

Upon seeing the vials, the Elves began to drool as they weakly stretched out their hands. Their eyes were desperate, yet their bodies refused to listen.

"P-please Mercy"

"W-we're sorry please"

"J-just a whiff please I'll do anything?"

Kara smiled as she watched them, her lips slowly parting as she whispered the words, "Anything?"

They all nodded like obedient dogs, their tongues out as they completely submitted to her power.

'I should feel bad for this, but there's no room left in my heart for empathy. Especially towards people like this'

Kara only pretended not to know what happened to Esme, as she had been observing everything that happened from the start. She even saw when the Young Ones arrived to assassinate Esme, and she could have stopped it at any time.

But she didn't. Why?

'Master Ater knew this would happen and he specifically told me not to act. I certainly hope all of this works out well.'

She felt bad for Esme, but she also understood that the girl had to see the Elves for what they were. Sometimes, changing the hearts of people just couldn't be done.

Perhaps Esme just had to learn that the hard way.

'And I guess there's a lesson that should be learned by me too. I really should start wearing Rey's scent as a perfume, but wouldn't that be weird?' A slight hint of pink covered her cheeks as she slowly shook her head.

'No! No, it's not weird! This is work-related!'

Upon telling herself this, she further reminded herself of her mission in the Landthe one she had been given from the very beginning.

'Master Ater wants to permanently colonize these people for Sir Rey. They will be perpetually useful to himfor any purpose he requires.'

Her mission was to secure every asset and lay the groundwork for a lot of the methods he would employ to make that a reality.

'Master Ater will take care of the rest, but I suppose I have to play my part for now.'

Getting the refinery up and running was an essential part of it, but that was only the beginning. According to Ater, there was no need to rush into things, and Rey was probably going to suggest some of those things himself.

'All I have to do is follow my orders for the sake of my job!'

Now returning her attention to the Elves, who were now crying and begging for morelike little childrenKara's smile widened even further.

"I'll be asking you some questions, and if you answer them well I'll reward you with some of this goodness. If you do not, then you'll never get this pleasure again. Understood?"

"YES!"

"YES, UNDERSTOOD!"

"UNDERSTOOD PERFECTLY!"

All the Elves nodded and prepared themselves to respond truthfully to any and all of Kara's questionsjust as she intended from the start.

'I guess I can start now, pending the time Rey and the Esteemed Elders return. There's a lot I'm curious about, but I should also be able to uncover more beneficial information for the cause if I let them run their mouth on a bunch of other things.'

Kara brought out a notebook from her pocket and opened the pages where her questions were inscribed in bold ink.

"Let's begin, shall we?"