Later that day, Areth descended to the first dungeon level of the Flying ısland and saw Rina standing there with several attendants, her expression impassive. As he approached, everyone present lowered their heads and greeted Areth with respectful deference.
"Welcome, my lord," Rina said, and the others repeated her words in turn.
Now that he thought about it, Areth remembered that he had written brief character descriptions for each of these attendants when he created them. He had not noticed it before, because far more important matters had occupied his mind. But seeing Mia today had stirred that memory. He was the one who had created their personalities as well.
He had designed Rina as a cold, professional assassin, while Mia was meant to be like the sweet, younger daughter of the household. Looking at these attendants now, a strange feeling welled up inside him. In a sense, he was their father or, more accurately, their creator.
The thought filled him with an emotion he could not easily define. Somewhere deep within, he realized he liked it. He even felt a protective instinct toward them.
"My lord...?"
Rina's surprised call snapped Areth out of that peculiar state. Then he sensed two pairs of fearful eyes watching him from a corner of the dungeon and turned in that direction.
There, kneeling and somewhat battered, were two individuals. Their ears were slightly thinner than those of the elves in the Blood Banner game, and they possessed a skin tone that did not exist in the game at all. In the game, elves were a remarkably powerful race, but these two looked distinctly weak. Their skin was a deep blue, and they were strikingly beautiful even by elven standards. The young male elf had white hair, while the young female's hair was black. Since those hair colors did exist among elves in the game, Areth did not dwell on that detail.
He stepped toward them, causing the two elves to cling to each other and tremble in fear. The female elf clutched the male from behind, crying in terror, while the male clenched his teeth, clearly just as afraid.
At first, Areth did not understand why they were so frightened. Then he remembered his massive body by human standards and his heavy, scaled tail, and he understood immediately.
"Do not be afraid. I have no intention of harming you."
Areth's deep voice echoed through the dungeon, and unfortunately his harsh facial features did little to put them at ease. Because he was speaking in a language the elves did not know, they could not understand his words.
"Rina you said these elves speak an unknown language. Are you certain?"
Rina did not hesitate. She inclined her head slightly, her voice clear and calm.
"I am certain, my lord," she said. "I listened to their speech. Structurally, the words resemble neither the Common Tongue, elven dialects, nor any ancient languages known to us. The intonation is consistent, but there is no discernible semantic pattern."
Areth turned his gaze back to the two elves. Rina's certainty was not without reason. He had designed her that way: low margin for error, cold and precise in her observations.
Though the elves could not understand what was being said, the attention fixed upon them only heightened their tension. The male elf clenched his teeth harder, while the female could no longer hold back her tears and sobbed softly.
Areth drew a deep breath. His chest expanded, his scales tightening slightly. Then he deliberately slowed himself down. He felt himself restraining his presence. He needed to show intent, not power.
"I understand," he said to Rina.
The sentence was still meaningless to the elves, but the harshness in his tone had lessened somewhat. This gave them a chance to catch their breath.
Areth took a few steps back, deliberately creating distance. Then he raised a hand and made a small gesture toward Rina.
"Can we decipher their language?"
Rina bowed her head. "Of course. You could easily learn their language yourself with a spell, my lord."
Areth paused. Her words were logical, but what unsettled him was that he had no idea how to perform such a spell. He could attempt it, but failure would be a fiasco. He immediately started looking for an excuse and found one so quickly that he was surprised himself.
"The issue is not merely understanding what they say, but learning their culture, their knowledge, their world. Do you not know that I do not have time to devote to such matters, Rina?!"
For a brief moment, Rina's eyes widened. The hardness in Areth's voice was more than a rebuke; it carried the weight of his position and the absolute hierarchy between them. It was an error she had not anticipated.
She did not hesitate.
She sank to her knees, placing her hand over her heart and bowing her head as low as possible. She bowed her head so deeply that her forehead nearly touched the ground. Her shoulders were tense, and her voice was entirely stripped of its usual composure.
"Forgive me, my lord," she said. "I overstepped my bounds. I spoke without due consideration."
The atmosphere in the dungeon shifted instantly. The attendants held their breath. Mia instinctively took half a step forward, then stopped herself. The two elves, though unable to understand what was happening, shrank even further at this sudden display, the female pressing closer behind the male.
Rina continued, her voice steady but laced with suppressed fear.
"I had no intention of questioning your time, your focus, or your will," she said. "My knowledge is limited; I possess no authority. If you deem it appropriate, I am prepared to accept my punishment."
Areth looked at her and, seeing how easily his excuse had worked, let out a quiet breath of relief. The woman kneeling before him, who moments ago had been a cold and flawless assassin, now waited like a flawed being before her creator. Yet the sight stirred that strange feeling within him once more.
"Raise your head, Rina," he said.
This was not an order so much as a correction. Rina hesitated, then slowly lifted her head. Her eyes remained fixed on Areth with unwavering focus.
"You made a mistake," Areth said. "But you can correct it. Learn everything you can from these two elves, and at the same time create a parchment that will allow us to understand their language. It seems we will all need to learn it in the near future."
The expression that appeared in Rina's eyes was more than relief. It was the look of a weapon that had been given purpose once again. She inclined her head immediately, this time without kneeling. Her voice returned to its former discipline.
"As you command, my lord," she said.
Even as she spoke, Rina's mind was already at work. She had made a mistake, but it had not broken her. It had sharpened her. Areth noticed. He had designed her that way.
"Good..." Areth said. "But I have one condition."
Rina bowed her head a little further. "I am listening."
"No torture. No coercion. Knowledge gained through fear is always incomplete."
Rina did not hesitate. "Understood, my lord. I will proceed through observation and interaction."
Then she turned to the others. "Attend to them. Provide food, water, and whatever else they need. Let them feel that they are safe."