Chapter 29 The Captive Princess and the Teleportation Circle
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
That had happened three hours earlier, before I infiltrated the estate of Margrave Blanchefort.
Deep within the theater’s underground chambers, I was interrogating the elves who had raided the Grimlock Mansion, pressing them for details. Night had fully blanketed the world outside, leaving the solitary glow of an office lamp as our only source of light. Though their bodies still trembled with residual shock, the women strained desperately to form words.
Their leader, Sylphie, cast down her tear-rimmed emerald eyes and spoke in a faintly quivering voice. Her tone carried the weight of years of painful suffering, yet beneath it lay a fragile, flickering thread of hope she couldn’t quite bring herself to abandon.
Their homeland, the elven forest of Sylvain, had been locked in a brutal, bloody conflict with the Asgard Kingdom’s House of Blanchefort for years. She and her companions were prisoners of war, captured in the midst of that relentless strife.
Margrave Albion Blanchefort had used the life of their captive elven princess, Lyphia Elfheim, as an executioner’s blade over their heads, forcing Sylphie and four others to sign a slave contract.
The order handed down by the Margrave was singular and absolute: kill me, Xenos Grimlock.
The method they were forced to use was exceptionally sinister. All five were to infiltrate my mansion at the same time, and the very first one to lay eyes on me was ordered to set off a self-destruction magic spell on the spot, dragging me into death along with her. In exchange, they were promised that the hostage princess would be spared.
In all likelihood, it was a hollow lie—a promise the Margrave had zero intention of keeping. Yet the elves had no choice but to cling to his words. In a desperate situation devoid of options, it was the solitary shred of hope left to them.
Which meant my sudden appearance in the Margrave’s estate garden via teleportation had been a complete and utter miscalculation on his part.
True to their orders, the moment Sylphie and her squad discovered me, they activated their self-destruction magic. However, their desperate gamble ended in complete failure, entirely neutralized by my [Magic Seal].
Ironically, the failure of their mission was the very thing that spared their lives. It was pure coincidence on my part, yet I had effectively pulled them back from the edge of death.
* * *
Once the interrogation was complete, I immediately summoned my demonic servant, Ashraf.
”I have a mission for you. Infiltrate the estate of Margrave Blanchefort, locate Princess Lyphia, and confirm her exact whereabouts.”
I had never personally visited the Blanchefort estate. Because I couldn’t lock down the spatial coordinates for a teleportation anchor, a direct assault on my part was impossible. For a teleportation demon, however, crossing into the Margrave’s territory and slipping past the heavy security of the manor would be child’s play.
Without a single wrinkle disturbing his flawlessly tailored butler suit, Ashraf offered a silent, deep bow. There was a terrifying precision in his movements. Though the room was entirely still, the air around him seemed to shudder faintly.
While Ashraf slipped away to scout the estate, I didn’t waste the waiting time.
I had carefully observed the structure of the self-destruction magic the elves attempted to use before it fizzled out. Having deciphered its basic structure, I filled in the blanks, stabilized the erratic formula, and copied it. I mentally reconstructed the entire spell, from the flow of mana to the composition of the magic circles, down to the very last variable.
Then, I applied my own modifications and enhancements to forge a brand-new spell.
It was a remote-detonation time bomb spell. By injecting my mana directly into a target’s body, I could trigger a massive explosion after a designated period. The potential uses for this were vast. Whether used for a bit of cruel fun or deployed in actual combat, its utility was virtually limitless.
* * *
Before long, Ashraf’s voice echoed directly in my mind via telepathy—a flat, steady voice cutting through the silence.
’At once, my lord. I have determined the princess’s exact coordinates for your convenience.’
The moment the report arrived, I latched onto Ashraf’s mana signature and teleported directly to his position. My vision blurred into darkness, and an instant later, the soles of my boots met cold, dressed stone. The air here was heavy, thick with a damp chill.
—And, right on cue, I tripped the security wards.
A split second later, a deafening alarm blared through the underground levels of the Blanchefort manor. A frantic, metallic clanging battered my eardrums as I stood firmly in the depths of the dungeon.
* * *
Which brings us to the present.
After completely destroying a behemoth with my new timed explosive magic, I was making my way toward the cells where the elves were held, walking through a corridor slicked with fresh blood and shredded chunks of flesh.
The alarms had fallen silent some time ago, but there was still no sign of human guards descending into the deep. The only sound in the dead-quiet corridor was the rhythmic, steady click of my own footsteps. The sharp, metallic tang of blood mixed with damp earth assaulted my nose.
It seemed the estate’s defense strategy relied entirely on that magical beast to clean up intruders. Sending human soldiers down here would likely just result in them becoming monster feed, given that the beast didn’t possess the cognitive capacity to tell apart friend from foe. That suited my purposes perfectly.
Referencing the layout Sylphie had described, I scanned the sector until I found an exceptionally heavily reinforced iron-barred cell. The thick iron door was secured by multiple heavy deadbolts, and the stench of rusted iron grew overwhelmingly dense.
Taking a precautionary measure, I called out to the figure hidden within.
”Am I addressing Princess Lyphia? I’ve come to rescue you at Sylphie’s request.”
In the deep shadows at the back of the cell, a silhouette stirred slightly. The faint rustle of fabric was instantly swallowed by the darkness. Using the heavy ring of keys I had taken from Ashraf, I unlocked the massive, cumbersome padlock. The ancient key turned with a heavy, satisfying click, releasing the iron mechanism.
With a harsh, grating groan from its rusted hinges, the iron-barred door slowly swung inward. A draft of stagnant, mold-tainted air brushed past my face.
Huddled inside was a young woman with long, cascading platinum-blonde hair. Even clad in soiled, tattered garments, her natural grace and striking beauty were impossible to mask. Though soot smudged her face and her hair hung in disarray, her posture commanded the unmistakable dignity of royal blood. She looked utterly exhausted, yet her emerald eyes burned with a fierce, unyielding resolve.
This was the elven princess, Lyphia Elfheim.
I gave Ashraf a sharp nod, silently commanding him to free the remaining elves down the corridor. He acknowledged with a silent bow and strode eloquently into the deeper cells without a moment’s hesitation.
”Sylphie did…?”
Princess Lyphia looked profoundly bewildered, her beautiful emerald eyes wavering with deep anxiety. It was entirely understandable; instead of a strong elven warrior arriving to break her chains, she was staring at a human man—the very face of her captors.
Confronted by her visible hesitation, I spoke in a calm, measured tone.
”We can discuss the details later. For now, our absolute priority is getting everyone out of here.”
As if reading the gravity of the situation from my words, she offered a small, tentative nod. A faint ghost of relief seemed to pass over her features.
Before long, Ashraf emerged from the darkness of the corridor, leading the prisoners he had liberated from the adjacent cells.
There were seventeen of them in total. A line of haggard, exhausted elves stepped into the faint light one after another. Their faces were deeply etched with trauma and fatigue, and they cast terrified, trembling glances at their surroundings.
The count was significantly lower than the number of prisoners Sylphie had originally reported.
In several of the cells we passed, lifeless bodies lay sprawled across the freezing stone floors, a grim testament to the horrific conditions of their captivity. A faint odor of decay hung in the air, revealing the sheer depth of cruelty hidden within the bowels of this manor.
In all probability, the missing prisoners had been fed to that magical beast, or perhaps sacrificed in some other terrible experiment. It left a thoroughly foul taste in my mouth.
* * *
Now, however, came the real complication.
Teleporting seventeen elves back to the theater’s underground chambers one by one would take an immense amount of time, even with both Ashraf and myself working together. A significant amount of time had passed since the sounds of my battle with the behemoth had ceased. At any moment, the master of the house or a detachment of guards might descend to investigate the silence. A slight edge of impatience tightened in my chest.
Right as I was calculating the risk, Ashraf stepped forward with a respectful bow, his eyes coolly assessing our escape routes.
”If I may be so bold, Master Xenos, I shall take the liberty of conveying these gentlefolk via my personal spatial translocation magic. Regrettably, my humble arts possess a deep-seated incompatibility with your exalted personage and will exert no influence upon you. I must humbly entreat you to return by your own magnificent means, sir.”
With those words, Ashraf focused his mana onto a bare patch of the stone floor. A pale, ethereal blue light began to bleed outward from beneath his feet.
An intricate array of geometric patterns and ancient runic script came together into a glowing magic circle, burning brightly against the dark stone. The luminescence intensified rapidly, driving the shadows from the corridor. Once the magic circle expanded enough to encompass every single elf, he intoned the incantation in a quiet, resonant voice.
”—Mass Teleportation—”
A blinding flash enveloped the entire group.
The brilliant glare forced me to narrow my eyes, and an instant later, the light vanished. Ashraf and the seventeen elves were gone, leaving no physical trace behind, as though they had never existed in the space at all. The only thing remaining in the damp air was the faint, sparkling residue of dissipated mana.
* * *
Well, well. A magic circle, huh? Displacing a crowd of that size all at once is a remarkably convenient trick.
To be perfectly honest, I felt a twinge of envy.
Deciding to experiment, I gathered my own mana at my feet, attempting to create an identical magic circle to copy the trick. However, the moment my mana began to pool on the floor, the fundamental nature of my [Magic Seal] intervened, causing the energy to scatter into nothingness before it could form a single line. The mana simply dissolved into the air like a thin wisp of morning mist.
It appeared my inherent traits were fundamentally unable to work with the structured deployment of magic circles. The very core of my ability actively disrupted their formation.
”…Tch.”
Clicking my tongue in irritation, I abandoned the attempt. I fell back on my standard method, activating my personal teleportation. My field of vision warped violently, accompanied by a fleeting sensation of weightlessness, and an instant later, I materialized safely back in the theater’s underground basement where the elves were waiting.
The familiar, dusty scent of the subterranean room tickled my nose.
Outside, the night had finally broken. A few thin beams of early morning light filtered down from the surface, dimly illuminating the theater floor above.
—
Summary:
Moving swiftly into the subterranean cells of the House of Blanchefort after obliterating its monstrous guardian, Xenos successfully breaks the physical bonds holding Princess Lyphia Elfheim captive. Together with his demonic butler Ashraf, they locate the surviving elven prisoners, discovering that a brutal fraction of them have already perished under the estate’s gruesome administration. Ashraf successfully executes a massive wide-area translocation spell to rescue the surviving elves collectively, leaving Xenos behind due to unique structural blockages inside his innate magic capacity.
—
Trivia:
- The alarms inside the Margrave’s underground dungeon fell silent because human guards purposefully avoided the area to prevent being devoured by their own out-of-control behemoth weapon.
- Xenos’s signature ability, the Magic Seal, functions automatically at his feet and completely prevents him from utilizing standard geometric magic circles due to the system structural friction.
- The elven casualties discovered in the deeper cells reveal the severe level of human experimentation being conducted within the Blanchefort estate.
- Ashraf’s high-tier teleportation magic is highly precise but explicitly carries a mechanical restriction preventing it from interacting with Xenos’s body.
Notes:
• Blanchefort – The Albion family are the margrave lineage ruling the border territory. A noble house defined by its fraught and notorious conflict with the neighboring elves, they maintain a formidable presence as the guardians of the frontier.
• Grimlock – As heir and head of the influential Grimlock noble house, Xenos manages the family’s vast financial assets and prestigious military legacy in the Royal Capital. Alongside his father, Gaius, he leverages their significant standing to guard the nation’s borders and uphold the family name. Their deep bond and shared duty ensure the continued dominance of the estate inherited by Xenos.
• de – A particle used in the aristocratic name of the Margrave Albion de Blanchefort.
• Sylphie – A green-haired elf squad leader whose plea inspired the rescue mission. Despite long suffering and captivity, she retains hope for her people.
• Asgard – The Asgard family name, carried by Elenor, is associated with high status and the prestigious title of Saint of Light.
• Elfheim – The royal elven family name carried by Princess Lyphia Elfheim.
• Albion – Margrave Albion de Blanchefort is a nobleman with flowing silver hair, known for his elegant, playful demeanor and chilling nonchalance. Guarding a secret underground stronghold near the Elven Forest, his charming smile masks deep arrogance and dangerous intent. As a fierce enemy of the protagonist, he wields his authority and hidden power with calculated, aristocratic coldness.
• Lyphia – Princess Lyphia Elfheim, an elven princess rescued from the Blanchefort dungeon who endures captivity with dignity, strong will, and noble grace.
• Xenos – Reincarnated as the “Zero Mana” head of the Grimlock house, he masks his immense power—including copied magic and teleportation—behind a cold, incompetent facade. Utilizing his deep game knowledge, he strategically manipulates the underworld and key figures like Mina. Calculating and ruthless toward his enemies, he acts as a benefactor to others while currently orchestrating an annulment with his fiancée.
• Ashraf – A teleportation demon and flawless butler, he serves Xenos and the Grimlock household with perfect grace, composure, and hidden absolute obedience. Clad in a formal uniform with pitch-black sclera and golden pupils, he masks his eerie, pleasure-seeking nature and suspect loyalty with elite decorum. Though kept hidden from nobility, his suspicious past includes unsettling experiments on students.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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