Please Bully Me, Miss Villainess!

Chapter 218 : Spark 3

"Get in!"

—Bang!

The sound of the iron door being roughly opened echoed through the spacious underground prison.

Shoved forcefully, the silver-haired girl fell to the ground with a thud. The chains on her hands rattled with her trembling, emitting a series of clattering sounds.

"You two—you'd better behave yourselves, understand?!"

Though the small folk guard was short in stature, his voice was notably loud.

"My, why shout so loudly? Look how frightened she is."

"Be gentler with the lady, really."

"...Be serious, they're prisoners!"

"That's why you don't have a girlfriend."

"Wait... That's unrelated, isn't it?!"

The other jailers laughed at their overly serious colleague, seemingly not taking the apparently helpless female of their own race seriously at all.

"Let's go, the Third Young Master has returned with the gentlemen from the Eastern Country. The castle's about to get lively again."

"We might be able to snag some drinks too!"

"What about here?"

"You really think these weak women and children can escape?"

"When the designers from the Eastern Country helped build this place, they installed many traps."

"If they dare take one step out of the cage—they'll probably end up as kebabs!"

"Uu... uuu~~~ Why did this happen to me..."

Falling to the ground in shackles, appearing completely devoid of strength to stand, she wept with teary eyes, looking so pitiful that anyone who saw her would feel sympathy.

"Alright, alright, everyone's gone now. No need to keep this up." Yuna said quietly as she pretended to help her up, patting her still-trembling shoulder with resignation.

"Looks like the guards here are quite lax."

The next second, when she removed her hands from her face, even her tears had been wiped clean.

"Didn't they mention traps..."

Yuna admitted she had been scared just now. She really hadn't expected Brin's acting to be so good.

For a moment, her softened heart was almost fooled.

Really~~~ What on earth did Ellie teach her?!

Where did the Brin who used to blush just from making eye contact with her go?!

However, this appearance reminded Yuna of their time back at the academy.

Back then, Brin gave off this impression—soft and weak, looking like someone easy to bully.

Often, those who appear easy to bully tend to attract more bullying.

The small folk, due to their smaller stature, naturally don't have an advantage in terms of strength. Fortunately, when the gods created all beings, they were relatively fair. While the magical aptitude of the small folk can't compare to that of pure-blooded elves, it's still somewhat stronger than that of demi-humans and humans.

However, even with better magical aptitude, the difference isn't that noticeable. At most, it just makes learning magic a bit easier.

Although there have been quite a few great small folk mages in the history of Oz Kingdom since its founding, their achievements still fall far short compared to those of other races.

However, in the academy, these characteristics made them targets—

There was a group of bullies who specifically picked on the small folk, calling them nasty names.

These bullies would snatch things from small folk classmates and hold them high to torment them. The worst ones would even stuff small folk into garbage bins.

Brin was the most bullied child in her class at that time.

It was then that Yuna, filled with adolescent righteousness, reached out to help Brin.

At that time, she acted more out of a burning desire to change the status of her race,

As for saving someone, it was just incidental.

But after all these years, she sadly realized that her power alone was far too limited.

If her own people looked down on themselves, inherently feeling inferior to other races, that would be truly hopeless.

To change the social status of the race... Could it be that, as her father said, only money could build status?

"What's wrong? You're frowning."

"Ouch—"

She reached out and poked her own brow.

"Brin......"

Yuna looked at her, falling into brief contemplation.

"Hm?"

"Come to think of it... I seem to have caused you a lot of trouble."

"...Really? You're saying this now?"

To facilitate their upcoming actions, she divided her hair into two strands, braiding them into plaits and tying them up.

"I've said it before, haven't I—I made up my mind to help you. If you're still hesitating, what does my resolve amount to?"

"No, no... That's not what I meant......"

Before she could finish, Brin wore an 'I understand everything' expression and shook her head.

"I know—Yuna, you're probably thinking complex thoughts like 'Even if we resolve this incident, will our position really change?'"

"............"

Can this girl read minds? This is too scary!!

"Hehe, that's just because you're really easy to understand, Yuna."

The handcuffs in her hands had already broken into two pieces. This level of restraint was far from enough to hold her. Soon, she had also freed Yuna from her bonds.

"So... we need to become the spark."

She spoke indistinctly, clenching a strip of fabric torn from her clothes between her teeth as she tied up her hair.

"Someone has to step up and make a change, right?"

"But......"

She still lacked confidence.

"Don't worry, you can definitely do it. Back then, it was you who helped me. The person you saved and changed is standing right here, have some confidence."

For several years after that, no one dared to bully the small folk classmates at the academy, all thanks to Yuna's efforts.

"Besides... I've said it before, haven't I? This is all what I want to do myself... Don't burden yourself too much."

She looked at Yuna earnestly,

"For me, it's not a bother. Being able to become your strength is something I've always wanted to do... So, just do what you want to do. I'll support you with all my might from behind."

"Brin......"

Her voice had already become choked with emotion.

"Alright, alright, we have more important things to do now, don't we?"

With a click, she unlocked the handcuffs on Yuna's wrists.

"Thank you so much... Brin!"

"Oh... Let's skip these sappy moments between us, shall we? We've known each other for so many years, aren't you embarrassed... Really."

Seeing her stammering, looking like she was about to cry from emotion, Brin waved her hands as if bothered, awkwardly turning her head away and mumbling softly:

"...Who told me to have liked you for so many years?"

The last sentence was spoken so quietly that only Brin herself could hear it.

·

"By the way, this prison is ridiculously large... Is this some kind of twisted humor?"

The further they went in, the more bizarre the structure seemed to the two of them.

This large prison was converted from the mine tunnels originally located beneath the castle, and its internal structure was very complex.

It's unclear what the designer was thinking when building this prison. Common sense would suggest that cells with separate compartments would be better for holding people, but it was different here. The jailers just threw the prisoners into a large communal cell after shackling their hands and feet.

"Hmph... They probably want the people here to fight among themselves, but fortunately, nothing like that has happened..."

Brin noticed that those imprisoned here were all ordinary people wearing miners' clothing.

Like Ah Huang, they all had cloth strips tied on their shoulders in the shape of rabbit ears, probably some simple form of identification to show they were members of the resistance.

Just then, Yuna heard a familiar voice from the dim cave:

"Lady Lili... Don't treat me anymore. This old man's life isn't worth as much as yours. It wouldn't be good if I infected you..."

"Uncle Jervi, don't say such things. If we treat the wound properly, we can still alleviate the condition."

A human woman was tending to someone lying on a makeshift bed assembled from fabric scraps and wooden planks of varying lengths.

Seeing her, Yuna instantly displayed an expression on the verge of tears:

"—Mother!"

Upon seeing her mother, Yuna rushed over.

"Yuna?! Why are you here—"

Surprised to see her daughter in such a place, Lili was momentarily overjoyed, but after realizing what must have happened to her daughter, her expression quickly turned to one of sorrow.

"How could this be... Is that man so cruel? Even his own daughter is imprisoned here?"

Lili had thought that Floris would treat Yuna better, considering she was his own flesh and blood, but now it seemed his limits as a father were lower than she had imagined.

"It's alright, Mother! We're here to rescue everyone!"

She had so many things she wanted to tell her mother,

About the interesting things that had happened to her outside, about the excellent students she had taught—

Most importantly, that she now had irreplaceable, reliable companions.

Under everyone's astonished gaze, Brin broke the chains on Lili's hands.

Her qualification as a mage wasn't for nothing.

Even with the same amount of magical power, there's a world of difference between an experienced mage skilled in manipulation and a novice. The difference lies in the technique of manipulating magic.

Being able to apply earth magic to the extent that Brin could, it wasn't just simple control over soil and rocks, but even the ability to break down and reconstruct metal.

The materials used for the restraints imprisoning everyone here were just crudely made black iron. Such things were no different from mud to her.

Estimating that Yvonne's side should be about done as well, Brin knelt before Lili and sincerely requested:

"Madam, please come with us!"

However, after a moment of silence, Lili gave a negative response to the two:

"I'm sorry... I can't leave here now."