Voyage Of The Villainess

"So seven of them decided to leave and these three remained." Malaya glanced at the slaves, she brought at the auction house last night.

"Yes," Seth said. "They said, they wanted to say something with you first." 

Malaya glanced at the three people standing in front of her. The slave that remained was the first slave-the elf male she bought first, then a female dwarf and Malaya glanced at the beautiful man with pinkish hair and pinkish eyes.

"I am Melech, Milady." The elf introduced himself first. "I wanted to offer my gratitude for saving my life."

"It\'s alright," Malaya said with a smile. \'I just did it because of my contract with Seth.

"I\'m Drogu," The dwarf introduced himself next. "Before I leave, I wanted to give you this dagger that was crafted by me to show my gratitude." He extended both his hands and there was a beautifully carved white dagger.

"Thank you," Malaya said. \'Well, it would be rude to not accept his token of gratitude.\'

"I am Arnes, a siren, Milady." The last man said and bowed down. He looked like your soft-cinnamon roll guy and had really more feminine features than any male. He was just a little to her by a few meters. 

"You are a Siren?" Seth exclaimed in surprise. "Do sirens live in a far secluded place in the South? And their territory is something that could not be easily infiltrated by anyone."

\'Siren? Isn\'t that the race who has a beautiful voice, and their magic lies with their songs. It seems Seth was also surprised by this.\' Malaya observed Melissa.

"A siren? From what I remembered in the auction house, you are a half-elf?" Malaya asked. "And you\'re a male? I thought Sirens are all females?"

"It is just a misconception to us sirens." Arnes started answering in a polite voice. "And I told the traders that I\'m a half-elf in order to hide my identity. If many find out that I\'m a siren, I would not simply end up in the auction house."

\'It is said that Siren could control people\'s minds to the point that it could lead them to insanity. His magic was perfect for anyone who wanted to control people or an entire army.\'

"Why are you telling me this?" Malaya asked as she eyed Melissa. "Are you not afraid that I might use you?"

"You will not, Lady Malaya," Arnes said. "For someone who spends so much money just to free slaves like us. I don\'t think that Lady Malaya would do something like that." He said with politeness. "And even if Lady Malaya willed it, I can\'t do anything about it."

"Why is that? The slave contracts have been burned." Malaya said. "You are free to do anything you want now." 

"The Mermaid Tears you bought. It is also called the Siren\'s cry for us. And whoever has that, we needed to treat them as masters and we could never disobey their will. Since you bought it with you, you are my master now and there is nothing for me to go to other than your side." Arnes bowed down.

\'Eh! My storage item has something like that!\' Malaya cried internally. Malaya held her head, \'Ah when I thought I finally have the dream storage space I wanted. Plus it is one of the ornaments I needed. The priestess has still not made any contact with me after I have this.\' Malaya glanced at the small blue pearl that was attached to her silver bracelet.

"Arnes,"

"Yes, Milady?!" His eyes sparkled when Malaya mentioned his name. He looked like some kind of puppy right now for some reason with those sparkling pink eyes.

"What would happen if the Mermaid\'s tears were destroyed or got lost?"

"I will lose my voice, and I will slowly wither until I die," Arnes answered like he was just stating facts.

"In short, you will die?" Malaya asked then massaged her temples. \'This is giving me a headache. Why would the priestess want an ornament like this that connects another being\'s life?\'

Malaya looked at Arnes. "I apologize even if I want to give it back to you, I wouldn\'t be able to do so."

"It\'s alright, Lady Malaya." Arnes flashed a smile. "I don\'t need any of that anymore. I know you won\'t use my tears for something evil."

"No," Malaya said. "One thing that I don\'t want is to hold other people\'s lives. I also have a friend like you who swore her life to me, but I rejected her. Your life is something you owe and no one else. To set you free completely even without your tears, we could make a contract under the goddess of light. Will that be alright with you?"

The wind fluttered Arnes\' lustrous pink hair. \'If not for his voice, I might have mistaken him as a woman.\'

However, instead of answering, Arnes just looked completely blank at Malaya. It took a few moments before he spoke once again.

"To the point that you want to make a contract with the goddess of light? Are you not really going to use my tears to control me?" He asked.

"No." Malaya said. 

"Am I so useless to Lady Malaya that you would not even want to use me?" He looked like he was going to cry for some reason.

"It\'s not..."

"If you don\'t want me, I guess I\'m really useless. But I wanted to serve such a magnanimous and benevolent person, such as Lady Malaya."

"Wait..."

"It\'s alright if Lady Malaya would not give me the tears. But since Lady Malaya saved my life, I don\'t really need the contract either. I just want to serve Lady Malaya. However, it seems Lady Malaya doesn\'t trust me. I understand that her ladyship and I are still strangers..."

Malaya put both her hands in his mouth to stop him. "Alright, I get it. Please stop. I will not make a contract. And if it is your wish to work under me, I would not stop you. Do you not have anyone you need to return to?"

"No," Something gloomy passed to Arnes\' eyes for a moment. But then he smiled once again. "I\'m alone now, Milady. So it would be fine for me to follow you."

"Then if it is really what you want, then it\'s alright."

Arnes\' face became delighted. Then he kneeled down in front of Malaya. "Thank you, Milady. I will do my best to fulfill all your desires."

\'That last phrase sounded weird for some reason.\' Malaya held her head. \'Well, since I couldn\'t give back the tears to him. He also doesn\'t want to make a contract either. And he seemed willing to join my group. I guess I just let it be for now. If I manage to talk with the priestess, I should ask about this matter as well.\'

"Malaya!"

"Captain!"

Malaya turned around to see Oliver and Rhyme approaching.

"Oliver, Rhyme." 

"It seems I\'m interrupting something." Oliver glanced at Arnes who was still kneeling on the ground. 

"No, he said, he wanted to serve under me," Malaya said.

"Serve under you?" Oliver eyed the smiling Arnes. "It seems like it. Does it mean he will be part of your crew?"

"I guess so," Malaya said. "Having one more person would not hurt us in any way."

"If you said so. You\'re the captain of the crew and besides, I\'m just an illegal passenger in your ship." Oliver said.

"Lady Malaya, now that we gave our gratitude, we will now go on our ways." Melech, the elf, and Drogu the dwarf bowed. 

"Take care," Malaya said. They watched the two leave before Oliver spoke once again.

"It\'s almost noon now," Oliver said. "I will accompany you again along with Hyun Jae to your meeting with the prince."

"Ah, I almost forgot about that," Malaya said as she put her palm on her head. "Where is Hyun Jae?" 

"She should be here soon," Oliver said. At the mention of that, Hyun Jae was now running towards them.

"Malaya! I\'m sorry if I\'ve made you wait!" Hyun Jae stopped in front of them as she caught her breath.

"It\'s alright," Malaya said. "I just finished my agenda now."

Then she turned to Rhyme. "Rhyme, please give Arnes proper and clean clothes," Malaya said as she glanced at Arnes\' tattered clothes. "We will be returning before dusk if nothing else would delay us."

---⚓⚓⚓---

With the use of a teleportation talisman, they teleported back to the alley of one of the streets of the city. 

"We arrived." Hyun Jae said. 

"Let\'s go now, it will be noon soon. It would be impolite to let someone wait for us." Malaya said.

However, before they could leave.

"It seems some aristocrats have lost their way here." 

Malaya, Hyun Jae, and Oliver turned around to see a five-man group of thugs behind them. And when they looked at the other side, there were also other four thugs blocking the way.

"Let me take care of this fast," Oliver said.

Malaya looked at the thugs with pity. "Just don\'t overdo it and hurry, we don\'t have much time." She said. 

"These people are looking down...." However, before they could finish their sentences all of them were electrified.