I, Stone Golem, only want to forge.

"What do you need a smaller body for?"

Murphy always felt that this giant beast was a bit silly.

However, we don't know where the head of this thing is, so we can't pat it on the head for comfort.

"I need a smaller body so my soul can control it. This body is too big; I can't control it myself."

The behemoth explained.

"I want payment."

Murphy thought about it for a while and felt that he might be able to do it.

Find any fish bones, modify them slightly, and carve some runes on the surface; that should be enough to serve as a small body for the giant beast's soul to enter.

"Rewards... I don't think I'll receive any."

The giant beast pondered for a long time but couldn't think of anything it could give.

It remembered that it once had a place to store treasure, but its soul form was too small.

That fragment of memory vanished along with the other souls.

"Then there's nothing we can do."

Seeing that the other party offered no reward, Murphy shrugged and had no choice but to refuse.

"pity."

The sea creature was indeed as Diaz had described—gentle, or perhaps even docile.

After being so simply rejected by Murphy, she wasn't angry. Instead, she sighed and accepted it.

Of course, this is mainly because the sea monster is a creature without desires or wants.

In the sea, all they do is eat, drink, and sleep, and at most, they might find a partner from time to time to have children.

It does want to be a little freer, but it hasn't really thought about it to a certain extent.

It's at a level where it's good to have it, but not essential.

"What a pity, I wanted to see the human children, they were right across from us."

The giant beast wanted Murphy to give it a free body, largely because it wanted to see human children.

It had heard about it from its friends in the sea who had saved human children.

They are said to be quite cute, and some are exceptionally intelligent, even able to talk to themselves.

Just like the stone figure in front of me.

"A human child over there?"

Murphy asked, looking quite puzzled.

How did this suddenly become associated with human children?

And what does "opposite side" mean? Does it mean the other side of the river?

"That's the guy over there. It has lots of little kids inside its body. I kept talking to it, and it even bragged about it to me!"

The giant beast muttered a few words of dissatisfaction.

However, Murphy was even more confused when he heard this.

The "inside the body of that guy on the other side" that the giant beast was referring to should be the other boats moored on the shore.

But why are there human children on those ships?

And there are a lot of them?

Do the crew members bring their children to work?

Murphy thought about it for a long time but still couldn't figure it out, so she asked the two people who were still chatting next to her.

"Do you take human children on your voyages?"

"How could that be... It's not impossible. Some kids may be young, but they're quite capable. These kinds of people sometimes go boating with us."

Diaz was about to refuse casually, but then he remembered that he seemed to have been a sailor since he was a child, so he changed his mind.

"Are there many children like this?" Murphy then asked.

"Not many, but there are some," Diaz said.

"Oh." Murphy nodded, thus dispelling his doubts.

It is just a stone man, and its race is relatively united.

Nature cannot comprehend the dark, twisted, and negative thoughts within humanity.

So he didn't think about it any further and decided to just let it go.

But Siri, standing to the side, instantly realized something, cold sweat seeping down his back, and even his breath caught in his throat.

He suddenly realized that Murphy always acted with reason and evidence.

Although he might not understand the reason, he rarely asks questions out of boredom.

In other words, Murphy suddenly stopped talking.

Maybe they discovered a large group of children on the boat, which is why they suddenly asked the question.

And this merchant ship had a family of children on board?

And this was when most of the crew members were sick!

This……

"Mr. Murphy asks this because he discovered there were children on the ship?"

Sri immediately straightened his posture, narrowed his eyes slightly, lowered his voice by a crease, and the magic around him began to thicken and become faintly visible.

At this moment, Diaz finally realized that he had thought Murphy was just asking casually, so he hadn't taken it to heart.

Seeing Siri's attitude now, he recalled some unpleasant rumors, and then felt the sudden, chilling aura emanating from the old man beside him.

His heart skipped a beat, and his face turned pale. However, before he could compose himself and say anything, he hesitated.

Murphy spoke first.

"There aren't any on this ship, but there are on the ships opposite."

Before he could finish speaking, Sri's figure vanished abruptly.

When he reappeared, the vines behind him had wrapped around eight children who were dressed in tattered clothes, had pale faces, and were covered in bruises and wounds.

They included both men and women, and varied in age, with the youngest being an infant held by a girl.

The children were soaking wet, covered in thick, dirty sewage, and some even had a hazy, gray mist over their eyes.

Some of the wounds on their bodies even developed pustules due to inflammation and infection.

The children suddenly realized they had changed. Their previously dull gazes finally brightened, and their mouths opened as if they wanted to call out something.

But they instinctively covered their mouths tightly, then shrank back, gritted their teeth, and dared not move. Only their trembling bodies revealed their helplessness and fear.

It's obvious that he was punished for shouting before.

Siri looked at the children, his mouth slightly open, stiffly twitching, as if he were both angry and in pain.

He could tell that among these shivering children, although a few were from the south, most were from the north.

"It's alright, it's alright, I'll get you out of here..."

He forcibly suppressed his anger and spoke to comfort her in a northern dialect, but as soon as he said those words...

The children stopped trembling instantly and froze on the spot, staring at him with fear in their eyes.

Siri's breath hitched, and after a moment he took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled, trembling.

He could tell just from these reactions.

These children were likely tricked onto the ship by the same northerners before they were arrested and put on board.

"Damn it," he muttered under his breath.

I'd heard about slave traders before, who specifically hunted down runaways from the north, but I never expected to actually see one today.

They even arrest such young children.

How could they be this utterly depraved?

Siri took a deep breath, then calmed down and asked Diaz beside him in a cold voice.

"So, what's going on?"

From his brief encounter with Diaz, he could sense that Diaz wasn't a bad person, or at least not this bad.

So he patiently gave Diaz a little explanation, or rather, gave himself some space to explain things.

"I……"

Diaz was so frightened by Siri's gaze and imposing manner that his legs went weak. If he hadn't braced himself against the wall, he would have almost knelt on the ground.

He was about to say that he didn't know anything about it, but when he got to the point of speaking, his gaze fell on the group of children, and then on Sri.

A surge of anger immediately rose within him.

Who can I complain to about this?

If he did it and profited from it, then there's nothing to say and we'll just have to accept it.

The problem is that he didn't do anything and didn't earn a penny, so why is his reputation ruined?

He knew it perfectly well!

As long as this matter gets out, even if his ship wasn't involved, their fleets will be mixed up and constantly interacting.

If one ship dies, the others will suffer as well.

What annoyed him even more was that he had actually noticed this before.

After asking around, I chose to believe those people, but later, due to being busy with work, I didn't continue asking.

"Mr. Sri, I can't escape responsibility for this. Even if I'm on the guillotine, I'll admit it."

Diaz glanced at the children again before looking firmly at Sri and speaking:

"But before that, I want to get things straight."