Elven Legacy

Chapter 170: Punishment Concluded / End of V5

"You should let me take them, your Highness; even if you don't mind the burning sensation atop your skin, they are in a very weak state, and what they need right now is proper rest along with some healing." Advised Illumia seriously while eying Elif, whom Marley and Idonea were embracing.

"I suppose you're right; after surviving that, I don't want them to die shortly afterward; that would be quite unfortunate." Replied Elif with a nod as he looked down at the two trembling women.

"I don't think I'll be able to take them off by myself without possibly injuring them; they're hugging me quite tightly, after all." Added Elif with an awkward smirk as he glanced at Illumia, seemingly requesting some assistance.

Although Illumia did chuckle at my situation, she did offer me assistance, and with a snap of her fingers, both Marley and Idonea vanished from my body and appeared atop Illumia, embracing her instead of me, prompting me to slightly smirk, as it was quite the sight to see my three servants nude while embracing each other.

"You know, I never expected this situation to happen when Her Majesty asked me to be your personal servant, your Highness; the world is a crazy place." Remarked Illumia with an amused expression before lightly shaking her head and entering the house to tend to Marley and Idonea.

Seeing the three leave the courtyard, I shook my head before sitting down in my seat and eyeing the massive cauldron in the distance, which was now entirely surrounded by dazzling purple flames, causing the small pillar of steam above the cauldron to get even denser while Mandy endured scalding temperatures that put even molten lava to shame; yet, even so, not once did she utter a sound.

'You're halfway there, Mandy.' Thought Elif as he leaned back in his chair while eyeing the cauldron before glancing at his body, which was now covered in burn marks.

Now that I no longer have two people attached to my body, I was able to view the damage down to my body; of course, I was merely holding them for only a minute, so the amount of damage they did wasn't much, but even so, in a matter of one minute, they managed to burn parts of my body, which goes to show how hot the liquid was in inside that cauldron.

Yet what is slightly startling is that the yellowish liquid they were floating in didn't enhance the heat or anything similar to that; in fact, its purpose was the opposite. The liquid inside the cauldron actually has healing properties, and it is rather potent as well; the reason it's needed for cauldron burning is that without it, the person inside the cauldron will have their body burnt to a crisp, and while, of course, it would just make more sense to lower the temperature, if one did so, it wouldn't be considered an effective torture method, would it?

Although my circumstance is a little different, I'm not using it to torture anyone; instead, it's being used as a form of punishment. Then again, I suppose it's not that much different. Shaking my head, I summoned a rejuvenation pill and ingested it while letting it do its work, as I found no need to manually guide the pill since I didn't have any serious injury.

Time continued to move, and without Marley and Idonea's guttural screams of agony, it no longer felt so painfully slow; within the next hour, Illumia exited the house again, still nude, as she stood beside me.

"I've treated Marley and Idonea to the best of my ability, and they are currently resting inside; although neither has sustained any serious injuries, they are both physically and mentally exhausted." Stated Illumia calmly as she slightly bowed to Elif, who nodded in response while eyeing the cauldron hidden behind Calida's purple flames.

With my nod, Illumia returned to normal and stood beside me as we both watched the cauldron in the distance; before we even knew it, the bright artifact sun in the sky slowly began to dim as night approached until it emitted a slight greenish hue, seemingly mimicking one of the OverRealms many moons. However, even though night had arrived, the cauldron burning was still in effect, and I'm sure Calida's purple flames were creating a bright beacon under the darkness of night.