The blood-soaked Sea Elf relaxed her tense fighting stance slightly when she realized the newcomer was the Black-Armored Swordsman she knew.
Selina raised her free hand and gently wiped the scraps of flesh and bone from her cheek with the backs of her fingers. Her blue-green eyes gleamed in the darkness, her expression calm and natural, as though the scattered body parts on the ground had nothing to do with her.
The Sea Elf spoke to Renato, her tone even carrying a hint of cheer:
"I was looking for my kin in this maze built from driftwood, but there are no ocean currents on land, nor any fish swimming about. I didn't know where to go and kept going in circles..."
Selina tilted her head. The clotted blood in her long blue-green hair swayed with the movement, and dark red liquid slid down the tips to drip into the pool of blood at her feet.
"Then these surface dwellers found me and said they would guide me. But they brought me to this wrong place instead, and tried to forcibly demand 'payment.' They attempted to hunt me for my flesh..."
Renato rested the Silent Lady against his shoulder, maintaining an Upper Sword Stance, ready to bring it down or draw it back at any moment.
He sampled the emotions carried by the dense shadow energy around him, assessing Selina's state.
She bore him no ill will. Her mind was perfectly calm, even a little pleased...
As for the Sea Elf's account, Renato was somewhat speechless.
These hardly sounded like guides. Demanding "payment"? This was clearly robbery.
Those people from White Harbor had probably intended from the start to lure her somewhere deserted, knock her out or kill her, and steal the valuable jewelry she wore.
Granted, when Renato had seen