Elves and humans were not originally on good terms.
The reason is simple.
“Because they are different.”
From their appearance to their values, liking a species that is completely different from start to finish was not easy.
Elves and humans hated each other and looked down on one another.
Until the Races clan was exterminated by the empire.
“Kill the elves!”
“No! Don’t kill them all! Those that are useful should be sold as slaves!”
“Stamp them with the slave mark! Khahaha!”
“You insolent elf bastards! How dare you look down on humans?!”
“The era of the elves is over now!”
Since the cursed day when Tiffany fell under the emperor’s persuasion, the social status of elves and humans began to diverge.
Humans became rulers, and elves became slaves.
Most elves died on the battlefield, and the surviving elves were all stamped with the slave mark and sold.
Tiffany was no exception.
She, too, had to spend her years as a slave of Kralus.
Horrible times that she didn’t even want to think about…
But recently, there has been a risk that this could happen again.
On the day the party members disbanded, Emperor Carlos called Tiffany aside and said this:
“Tiffany. If it becomes clear that you are incompetent, I will impose a heavy punishment on you alone, even if the other members are fine.”
“A, a heavy punishment?”
“The friendly border kingdom of Grimor, Elpi Kralus, is desperately wanting to reclaim you. If they can buy you back as a slave, they are willing to pay a large sum. It’s an offer that I have no reason to refuse.”
“T-That’s impossible! I am an elf of the Hero Party!”
“Not yet.”
The emperor gritted his teeth with a lifeless face.
“However, if Victor’s hidden power is revealed to be true, your existence will become worthless. Then, it would be better to sell you for a high price and find a new elf. I’m telling you this in advance. By the way, you cannot escape. The other members can go wherever they want freely, but you must not take a single step out of the accommodation we have prepared for you. This is a royal decree.”
“…This can’t be!”
Elf Tiffany was suddenly placed under house arrest.
She was alone in an empty room, wrapping herself and falling into despair.
“I… what will happen from now on… Does Victor really have hidden power? That can’t be… He… he is… he is that cat… he is just…”
Tiffany thought of Victor, and her eyes welled up with tears.
“He’s just a nice, foolish person…”
Victor.
Victor Evans.
She remembers the first time she met him.
At that time, Tiffany was a bona fide slave with a collar under Kralus.
She was running errands in the market accompanied by a trainer.
The trainer was whipping Tiffany’s back with a whip as if telling the people around to watch.
“Walk, elf! Carry out your master’s orders!”
“Ah! A-Okay, trainer! I’ll do as you say, please don’t hit me anymore!”
Crack.
Crack.
Crack.
With repeated beating, Tiffany’s back turned red.
But no one helped her.
To humans, elves were like beasts that needed to be disciplined harshly.
Regulating elves with whips in busy marketplaces was considered completely normal etiquette.
This showed how great the humans’ hatred towards elves was.
If someone could overcome such hatred… they would have to be an outsider from outside the Lave continent.
“Wait a minute! No matter how much you do it, it’s too harsh!”
-That was right. Just like Victor Evans.
“Stop it, stop! It hurts!”
“Who are you now?”
Victor, who was shopping in the market at the time, began to intervene to save Tiffany, who was being whipped.
The trainer was taken aback.
“Can’t you see I’m training an elf right now? Why are you interfering? Who are you? Do you know who I am? I am a subordinate of Elpi Kralus…”
“I am Hero Victor Evans! What crime did this elf commit to be treated like this?”
“A crime? There are more than a few crimes committed by elves. Anyway, this slave is our property. There’s no reason for you to interfere.”
“To say a living being is property! How can you say that?”
“What the hell is this guy.”
The trainer was dumbfounded.
It was the first time he had gotten into trouble for training an elf.
“Hey, Hero. You must not know since you came from another world, but elves are not humans. They have no human rights.”
“Are you saying that they should be beaten harshly just because they are elves?!”
“That’s the law. Except for extreme exceptions.”
“Exceptions? Like what?”
“Well, to give an example, an elf who belongs to a Hero Party is considered an honorable human, so their human rights are guaranteed. But that doesn’t mean I intend to put this stupid elf into the party, does it, Hero?”
“Why do you think I don’t intend to?”
In Victor’s eyes, the elf, whose ears were just slightly pointed, looked just like any human.
If he didn’t save her while she was being whipped and tormented like other humans, it would be a disregard for human rights and dereliction of duty.
Victor wanted to save Tiffany.
“I’ll accept that elf as a member of our party. Then, there should be no problem, right?”
“What? Are you, are you serious?”
“I am serious. So, don’t bother her anymore.”
“…Ugh, fine!”
The trainer could no longer respond.
When a hero said something like that, what could an ordinary trainer say?
In the end, Tiffany was freed from her slave state almost miraculously in this way.
At that time, even Kralus, who was just a merchant, found it difficult to overturn the hero’s decision.
“Th-Thank you, new master.”
Tiffany, who was immersed in her life as a slave, greeted Victor humiliatingly. Victor smiled and said,
“There’s no need to call me master. You’re no longer a slave. What’s your name?”
“Tiffany… I’m Tiffany Races.”
“Tiffany. I’ll call you that. You can call me Victor. We’re comrades, so let’s get along well from now on.”
“Comrades…”
Not as a slave, but as comrades.
Victor had clearly said so.
Those words were like the words of an angel.
Tiffany shed tears.
“T-Thank you, master… I haven’t heard such warm words in a long time.”
“Hahaha! I said call me Victor, not master! And there’s no need for formal language!”
“A-Okay, Victor… Thank you… Thank you so much… I won’t forget this favor… Never.”
However, the human heart is deceitful.
After joining the hero party and regaining her freedom, instead of gratitude, newly emerged feelings began to dominate Tiffany.
It was ‘anxiety.’
Worries that
Her sins,
Her shame,
Her past—
That she was afraid everyone would find out.
That was it.
Tiffany repeatedly confirmed with Victor,
“Victor. You must never tell everyone that I was a slave, okay?”
“I will. I’ll never tell. Trust me.”
It was hard to trust wholeheartedly.
Having endured harsh treatment from humans for many years, Tiffany couldn’t fully trust Victor either.
She was plagued by continuous nightmares.
<Is Tiffany saying she was actually a slave?>
<Hahaha! Really?>
<Then we can’t be friends!>
<Hahahaha!>
Nightmares where Victor would reveal her secret and be ostracized by the comrades.
Tormented by those nightmares, Tiffany began to distance herself from Victor.
That wasn’t all.
Whenever Victor showed incompetence during expeditions, she would go ahead and tease him.
“Victor is surprisingly clumsy. No, rather than clumsy, he doesn’t know how to do anything? And yet he acts all high and mighty?”
Every time, Victor showed little reaction.
Still, Tiffany could clearly feel a part of her heart aching somewhere.
<How can he say such things? Has he forgotten that I saved him?>
… It felt like she could hear words Victor hadn’t even spoken.
“Victor…”
Victor.
Victor Evans.
He’s a good guy.
She knew that from the first time they met.
In a way, he was such a steadfastly good guy that it could be said he was almost too good.
But… but.
She could never have imagined that he possessed hidden powers.
Always incompetent, Victor.
Victor who didn’t know how to do anything.
Victor who only relied on the powers of his comrades.
Victor who was a subject of ridicule to everyone.
Victor who just laughed off those ridicules.
What was Victor thinking as he laughed them off?
Did he never feel any anger?
Or did he suppress his anger deep inside?
“I never even thought about those things… Come to think of it, I only kept my guard up against Victor. I never once considered what Victor himself felt or thought.”
Guilt.
That stabbed her heart.
Victor is a benefactor.
She knew that, but…
Now, she could only hope that Victor remained the incompetent figure everyone expected him to be.
“If… if Victor really is the cornerstone of the true hero party with hidden powers… then I’m… I’m finished… In that case, no one can forgive me… Not even Victor…”
Tiffany sobbed in despair.
Please.
Please, I hope Victor doesn’t have hidden powers.
At that moment, there was nothing she could do except hope for that.