The shock on everyone was warranted as having elves as slaves is unheard of. To be sure, this must be from black market stuff and perhaps, if Renatta was also found by others as well, she might have been sold off as well. I looked at Renatta and I can see her trembling in agitation when she saw her brethren inside the cages.
But then, the sudden outburst Riko suddenly made everyone shocked including her parents.
"Free them now! Why are you enslaving them?! Free them from the cage!" Riko angrily shouted and went to the stage.
"But they are elves! They are not humans! This is fine and this isn't illegal! They might look like humans but they aren't and they shouldn't even be considered as one!"
"What a load of bull, Father! Where are the keys?! I will be unlocking their cages! Look at them! They are wounded! You can't even treat them right?! I am so disappointed in you Dad. You as well, Mom for agreeing with Dad about this."
"Why are you freeing them?! They are slaves! They will escape if we let them out of here!" her Dad is also angry.
"If you don't hand the key, then I will do it myself!"
Riko pulled the chains and the lock. Staring at them for a moment, she nodded and proceeds to rip the chains apart like they are not made from metal. She even crushed the lock to pieces, destroying it and unlocking the cage. This made the elves shocked as well as everyone who didn't know Riko's strength as well.
As for us who are her circle of friends aside from Pandora and Suhei who just witnessed everything today, it's not new for us. I personally teach Riko about this technique and how easy it was to break chains apart like nothing.
Riko opened the cage and helped the two elves get themselves out of the cages. Although they were afraid of Riko, Riko started talking elvish language to them.
"kad*ajsauaqq%$qash!"
"qojdiwhbcsubua? u2heudbuquy!"
"#@*adnmsndsuwb *sjdbusuaw!"
It might be jumbled words right now to others but to those who can understand the language, they make sense to them.
The three exchanged some words in the elvish language and the two nodded before letting Riko help them out of the cage. But to speak an elvish language, as expected of Riko, Aside from Riko. Rika also knows the elvish language as well as they were taught by Renatta how to speak. As for us the rest. we are still practicing on it but since we are not so diligent, we didn't get to master it just yet. I can speak a few phrases but not as fluently as Riko and Rika.
"I am so disappointed by all of you. This gift might be something you two might have thought to be great but this is the worst gift you have given to me, I felt bad for them. I am leaving here. Continue this damnable party of yours for all I care, it doesn't matter much to me now."
She then went to our table and looked at us.
"Help me out, guys. I can't just leave them out of here."
As friends, of course, we are ready to help. Even Pandora and Suhei are willing to help as well but when we are about to go out, Riko's father started to speak on the microphone.
"If you leave the party right now, we will now disown you. We will no longer treat you as our daughter! If you want to avoid that from happening, then..."
Before Riko's father can continue saying it, Riko answered immediately.
"That's fine by me. Do you think you can stop me like that? You all are wrong. If that is the decision you all want, then fine. I will gladly cut off our connection. From now on, I am no longer part of this household."
"Hey, hey! Are you serious Riko? You are going to just cut them off like that?!"
"It doesn't change much anyways. My decision is final. Let's go."
And the end result happened. Riko ended up cutting ties with her parents due to this incident. I can't believe it. I didn't even get to do anything at all to alter her fate, she altered it herself. I didn't even need to convince her to do so and she just did it by herself. But at the cost of severing ties with her parents.
"Are you sure about this, Riko? There is no way we can turn back now," I asked.
"Yeah. I don't think I can keep on with my parents anyways. It was a huge thorn in my side and now that I have done so, it seemed like the thorn disappeared. It seems this is the best choice I could do right now."
The two elves are so tired that the female elf collapsed while holding onto Riko. The male elf catches the female elf and started speaking the elvish language.
"You should hurry guys, we shouldn't keep ourselves dawdling while they are in this state," Suhei pointed out to the two elves.
"Suhei is right, Manato. Just for tonight, Manato, can I crash into your place for a while? Your mansion is big anyways so I can just occupy the same room I used before. It's my responsibility that they are like this."
"Alright then. Let's bring them to the car."
"Okay, we will meet you back at home then," Suhei nodded and went with Pandora back to their car.
Renatta is the one who decided to keep on assisting the two. When we entered the car, she immediately removed her disguise, making the male elf surprised to see an elf among us.
Renatta started speaking the elvish language and the two exchanged conversation. After speaking a few sentences, Renatta connected to the Aether and started healing the two from their wounds. However, it wasn't enough.
"That's enough, Renatta. We shall heal them back at home. There, the mana is much more stable and pure. Just let them hang in there for a while."
Pixie appeared and relayed it to Renatta immediately and she nodded.
I started to turn on the engine and we departed from the venue. I made sure that we reach back home as soon as possible. There are traffics here and there but it's not that major and only a few minutes of delay so it's all good. We arrived home after a while. Suhei and Pandora arrived much faster than us, perhaps they managed to pass through the traffic much earlier so they arrived much earlier than us.
Janus and I carried the two inside. The male elf couldn't stay awake for too long and fainted inside the car. We carried them both into the living room, closed the door, and prepared to dress up their wounds while healing them at the same time. Some of their wounds seem to have been very recent seeing some whip lash on their skins. Renatta and I take turns healing the two from their injuries. Most of them have healed up but some will only heal by natural recovery instead so all we can do is just keep them safe for the time being.
Once the two have been given proper medical treatment, we put them in a big room with two beds. According to Renatta, the two are husband and wife so it's only logical to put them together in one room so that they won't panic once they wake up.
All of us are gathered in the living room. Suhei made some coffee for those who are interested.
"I still can't believe we are living now in the age where those we thought to be mere fictional characters are now present in our world. But seeing more of them in real life is something else," Suhei sipped on his coffee as he looked at Renatta.
"Right? I only saw them in movies and games but now, they are right in front of us and interacting with us as real people. But still,, I thought slavery only happened in stories and another form of media about these otherworld people but seeing them firsthand is just different," Janus shook his head.
Renatta started speaking and Pixie immediately relayed the message.
"Renatta said that she is grateful to Manato-sama for picking her up when she first arrived in this world. If a different person might have picked her up, perhaps becoming a slave might also be the outcome to her as well."
"Still, is it alright for you to do that? They are your parents so making a ruckus like that at your party is just something I wouldn't expect," Suhei looked at Renatta wondering.
"It's fine. Now that I have officially cut off my connection with them, perhaps it is time to live by myself then."
And so, the ruckus that Riko made at her own party is something that the guests wouldn't forget so easily. However, due to that ruckus alone, her fate of dying due to the car crash that was caused by the accident is now thrown into the void. It looks like the butterfly effect activated without me realizing it. Because if I didn't rescue Renatta before, perhaps the situation might have played the same in the past timeline.
This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶