Following the departure of Milla and Vincent, who walked out and left the lobby, Elara, still sitting gracefully in her chair, refocused her entire attention on the thick document she was reading.
Meanwhile, the dozens of adventurers and several guild staff still present in the lobby could only stand frozen in their respective positions.
None of them dared to make a sound. The mere presence of the supreme ruler of the Erthland Empire was enough to freeze their courage.
A thick, awkward silence broke out, filling every corner of the air inside the guild lobby.
Realizing that the atmosphere in the lobby felt far too quiet and stiff, Elara immediately stopped her reading. She looked up calmly, sweeping her gaze one by one across the faces of the adventurers surrounding her.
The Emperor's gaze instantly startled the adventurers. Some of them even unconsciously held their breath, while cold sweat began to trickle down their temples.
"Why are you all just standing there like that?" Elara asked, breaking the awkward silence. "If you want to chat with your colleagues, just do it! Ignore me sitting here reading."
Hearing the casual remark from the Emperor, everyone in the room looked at her with disbelief. Their gazes seemed to say: "Are you kidding me?! How could we possibly act normal with an Emperor in this place!"
Even so, Elara chose to pay them no further mind. She shrugged slightly, then her eyes returned to focus on the document she was holding.
Whatever! Elara said in her heart, letting out a short sigh. The important thing is, I've already asked them to act as usual!
In front of the guild, Vincent and Milla, who had just stepped out, crossed paths with Aesta, who was still on guard waiting for the arrival of the group bound by the anti-mana and magic handcuffs.
"Where are the two of you going in the middle of a guard situation like this?"
"I was directly ordered by Her Majesty to escort Miss Milla to her home." Vincent answered in a professional tone.
Aesta nodded in understanding. "If that's the case, carry on with the escort duty you were ordered to do. I will continue to stand guard and wait here until those poor people still shackled by the handcuffs arrive."
Wasting no time, Vincent resumed his steps alongside Milla, walking away and leaving Aesta standing alone watching the street in front of the guild, but not before giving a firm nod in response.
Less than half an hour later, the continuous sound of metal chains dragging began to approach.
The people whom Calian had previously rescued and freed finally arrived in front of the adventurer's guild building under the heavy escort of a line of imperial soldiers. Both of their wrists were still bound by the anti-mana and magic handcuffs.
The moment the group arrived before her, Aesta immediately took command. After dismissing the line of escort soldiers to resume their duties, she guided and escorted the dozens of poor victims into the guild lobby to meet the Emperor directly.
As they entered the guild lobby, everyone's eyes instantly fell upon those who had just arrived.
Upon reaching the area near the chair where the Emperor was sitting, they came to a halt.
"Your Majesty, the poor people bound by the anti-mana and magic handcuffs have arrived safely!" Aesta reported, giving a military salute to the seated Emperor.
Hearing the report, Elara immediately closed the thick document she was reading. She raised her head, then looked at the people who had just arrived alongside Aesta.
The Emperor's gaze swept over their physical condition one by one. She saw the diversity of the victims before her.
It turns out they don't only kidnap non-human races to be used as commodities in the black market. Human races are still an easy target for their plunder if they are deemed to have commercial value! Elara thought to herself.
The greed and cruelty of the barbaric people involved in the illegal slave-trading syndicate made Elara's chest feel tight. She felt incredibly furious.
That furious feeling rapidly mutated into peaking anger as her eyes looked at their faces, which were so deathly pale from psychological trauma, and their bodies trembling from the effects of the mana-draining handcuffs.
Witnessing the suffering of her people directly before her eyes, Elara's desire to immediately burn the entire slave-trading syndicate to the ground grew ever stronger.
For Elara, she only wished for all the people of the Erthland Empire to be able to live safely, peacefully, and comfortably without the need to be haunted by the terror of kidnapping and slavery.
Even though her anger towards the syndicates was raging fiercely in her chest, Elara knew she had to remain calm and rational.
She was the Emperor. The very first thing she had to do immediately was remove the accursed anti-mana and magic handcuffs that continued to torture her people.
She then pulled out a black key, previously made by Arlen, from her storage earring.
Gripping the black key, Elara stood up from her chair and walked towards the kidnapped victims who were standing with hopes of freedom.
"So that I can easily remove those handcuffs from your wrists, hold all your hands out forward!"
Hearing the instruction coming from the Emperor's mouth, they wasted no time. With their hands still trembling, they simultaneously held out their shackled hands forward.
Upon reaching a young elven woman standing at the very end, Elara's left hand immediately grabbed the woman's right hand with a gentle touch. She then inserted the universal key made by Arlen into the keyhole of the anti-mana and magic handcuffs.
Click! Clang!
The handcuffs instantly sprang open and came loose right after Elara turned the black key. The shackles fell off the skin of the elven woman's wrists, then dropped and hit the surface of the lobby floor with a loud clang.
Feeling that her mana circulation was now slowly beginning to flow again, the elven woman's knees instantly lost their strength, and she slumped weakly to the floor.
The elven woman lifted her two hands, which were now truly free from the shackles. She looked at her hands with tear-filled eyes, her breath catching as she held back her overflowing emotions.
As she continued looking at both her hands, her defenses broke. Tears laden with profound relief and deep gratitude finally poured out heavily, dripping down and instantly soaking the elven woman's face.
Elara looked down, gazing gently at the poor woman. "You are free now!"
The elven woman tilted her head up. She looked at the Emperor's face while tears continued to stream down her cheeks.
"Thank you... thank you very much, Your Majesty."