The inn was as brightly lit, as always, but somehow, it seemed darker than usual. An elf sat at a table, alone. A few tables away, his party was eating as well. However, Ash wasn't worthy of joining them. He was dirtied. Dirtied by his desire for power.

When the effects of the momentary psychosis dissipated, the elf was left with a disgusting sensation in his stomach. He had lost control. His desire for power had become a desire to kill. To murder. Who was to say he wouldn't do the same to Robinia, should he lose control again?

Disgusted with himself, Ash now sat at a table, alone, drowning his sorrows in a bottle of rum. Another thing the former slave had found out about Elcrada. The liquor there was exquisite. It wasn't the first time he found brief happiness at the bottom of a bottle.

The current day was Thursday. It had been three days since Evitagen had shown himself. As annoying as he was, the shady salesman was the only person who knew of the elf's unfortunate situation.

'Survive, huh?' Ash pondered. What in the world could ever hurt him? In this region, he was practically untouchable. He kept pondering and pondering why this was his challenge, but then a voice broke through to him.

"Which table ordered a bottle of rum?"

'Fuck'.

Ash had tried to stay as low-profile as possible, in order to avoid detection from the others. He had completely forgotten that something as mundane as good table-service could compromise him.

"Is Ash here? He always orders entire bottles..."

It sounded like Lin, but the elf didn't stay to check. The elf stood up, sprinted out the door, and kept running until he was well out of the lodging-district. He didn't know where he was going, but he kept going in that direction.

As he ran, he started to notice the drop in wealth in the district, he was currently in.

'Where am I?' He thought to himself.

He looked at a nearby house. Its windows were cracked and only lit up by nearly burnt-out candles. Ash looked around, and noticed that all of the houses were like this. Empty. Poor. It would seem that Elcrada wasn't supremely prosperous, after all.

Was this the district, people went to, should their careers as adventurers fail?

The elf looked over his shoulder, back to the beautiful, prosperous part of town. It was illuminated by the rays of the sun, which reflected in the many springs and ponds there. It wasn't so in the slums. Smog hung in the air, making it hard to breathe. It blocked out the sun, and made it look all the more depressing. It almost seemed as if the world had turned its back on the residents.

"Your father really did a great job here" Ash mumbled, directed at Robinia, whose father was appointed lord of the town.

Unlike the rest of the town, the walls of the city were extremely visible from here, since this part of town was almost located at the bottom of the wall. If one were to look from the slums, the walls would remind one of those of a cage.

Ash kept walking through the depressing area, curious to see what else he had been missing. He walked past a few brothels and shady liquor stores, before reaching an alternative town square. A sign by the side of the road read "Western Town Square".

There were hardly any people there, and the ones present only appeared to be passing through. A few shops and boutiques were located here and there, including some of highly questionable origin. "Blades for hire, "Al's Toxins", and a few slave dealers were among some of the shops.

'It wouldn't be good to be seen in this part of town. How to get back?'

"Hey you!" Someone shouted.

Ash looked around, but realized that he was the only one around, except for an elderly man, who was standing by a few cages, in which there were slaves.

"What?" The elf asked, reluctantly. It wouldn't be wise to get too involved or familiar with any of the locals.

"Your purse looks heavy, how about getting yourself a slave?" The old man asked. He was eyeing the purse, which hung by Ash's belt.

"Sorry, I don't keep slaves" The former slave said, slowly drawing his knife behind his back.

"You know you want to. They'll do anything you want. Even satiate your-"

The old man stopped his sales pitch. He had been knocked out with the held of Ash's knife.

Scared, the various 'goods' in the cages started screaming and pleading for their lives in their native languages. Some were elves, some were human, and some were beast-kin. All as one, they were pleading for their lives, as if Ash had the authority to give or take it.

The elf grabbed the key to the cages, which the old man had kept in his belt. He walked up to the cages and unlocked them. The slaves stopped screaming, and turned to quivering. For some reason, they still thought Ash was out to kill them.

"You can go. Leave" The elf said, pointing towards the smog-filled outside world.

He then turned around and started walking back towards the prosperous part of town. If he hurried, the others wouldn't notice he had been missing in the first place.

Robinia's Perspective

"I'm telling you, he's not what he looks like. I don't trust him".

It was strange for the trapper, Fang, to be as talkative as he currently was, but to him, the situation was dire. Apparently he believed that Ash was possessed and evil or something.

'Men...'

"Fang, why don't you try talking to him yourself? He may not look like it, but he's quite the nice guy, if you get to know him... I think. Go work out the problems, you have with each other. I've seen the way you've been eyeing each other. I'm not blind, you know".

Fang had been rambling about this for hours on end. As soon as Robinia had retired for the night, the trapper had followed her, wanting to get something off of his chest. Luckily for him, Ash hadn't been around to hear it. If he had, Robinia would never hear the end of it.

It looked like the trapper was about to continue the argument, but fortunately for the burdened party leader, knocking could be heard from the other side of the door.

"Miss De la Pole... We've got a situation".

It was the guild receptionist. What was he doing outside Robinia's room?

The elf walked up to the door and opened it.

"What is it?" She asked, trying to conceal disguise her annoyance as tiredness.

"A couple of people came into the inn... They said someone from your party had been holding them captive. They won't tell the full story to anyone but you".

The blood in Robinia's veins froze. She turned to look at Fang, who didn't seem particularly surprised.

'Fang wouldn't do this... Neither would Lin. That leaves...'

The party leader took a step back.

"Come with me" Robinia said, gesturing for the trapper to follow her. Had he been right all along?

As the two descended down the stairs to the dining room, they could hear the sound of multiple girls crying. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, they saw three girls around Robinia's age, sitting around a table. An elf, and two beastmen.

"Are you the girls, who sent for us?" Robinia asked, hoping the answer would be 'no', even though she knew it wouldn't.

They nodded simultaneously.

"Here she is" The receptionist said to the girls. He had a kind smile on his face, but he couldn't completely conceal his cowardly side. It was very clear that he wanted to get away from the crying girls. As soon as he had made sure everything was okay, for the time being, he went back to his desk, pretending to do paperwork.

'Men...' The elf repeated inside her head.

"Miss De la Pole. We've been held prisoners by a man from your party".

There could be no doubt. Fang was present, and they still referred to their captive as "a man". It couldn't be anyone but Ash.

'Ash... Why?' Robinia thought to herself. She was in complete disbelief, but she didn't let it show. A part of her training as a noble had been mastering control of her emotions.

"Did you see his face?" The party leader asked. She had to be sure.

"Not very clearly, no. All we could see underneath the black hood, he was wearing, were scars. Nothing else".

It was the same girl, who kept talking. The others were just crying. It seemed a bit excessive. Just what had Ash done to them?

"Do you know why this man held you captive?"

"We do not. He abused us a lot, but he never told us his motives" She said, revealing bruises on her arms and neck.

The other girls followed suit.

"Don't worry. We'll catch the man who did this".

It wasn't Robinia who was talking. It was Fang. Robinia silently thanked her faithful, contracted party member for being as loyal as he was. The elven girl didn't think she could manage to say the words, he had just said, while keeping her voice under control. The truth was that she was trembling on the inside. Ash, who she had spent countless hours with, training, had been dealing with slaves, or something all along.

"What he said" The elf said.

"We're sorry to ask this of you, but we didn't know who else to turn to" The girls said, truly looking troubled.

"Not to worry. I'm partially responsible for your situation, so I intend to make up for it".

After saying sorry and goodbye, the three girls left. They were still crying.

Robinia was left almost as devastated as the girls. She had been betrayed in one of the ugliest ways possible. The elf had probably only saved her, all those times, so he could use her influence to keep his slave business, or whatever, afloat. It was disgusting.

"Fang. Go wake Lin. We'll be expelling Ash from the party tomorrow".

The trapper left, leaving his mistress by the table they had been sitting at. The table all four of them had once been sitting at. Her facial expression was a complicated one, encompassing many emotions. Frustration being the dominant one.

The troubled girl pulled out her sword and looked at it. The way it reflected the light from the many candles.

'I tried to help you, Ash' Robinia thought to herself, as she began to sharpen her blade. The blade that had been chipped and dulled so many times in her duels with Ash.