Monster Girl Development Master.

"Anjie, what are you doing here?"

He said he hadn't seen the leader of the Anti-Zhuang Sen Alliance at the canonization ceremony before, and thought he had run away because he knew there was no chance. He didn't expect him to be here.

"Of course I'm here to inspect the goods. Although the Harper Knights brand is beyond question, I can't just ignore it completely."

Anjie spoke without turning her head. She was holding a crossbow and aimed it at the breastplate armor thirty meters in front of her, pulling the trigger.

Boom!

The crossbow bolt pierced the plate armor from a distance of over thirty meters, which seemed unsurprising. But when a female knight in a blue robe carried the pierced breastplate from the armor rack, those who saw the details were somewhat astonished.

"At this distance, the crossbow bolt didn't penetrate?"

"This is just a direct hit; imagine if they wore a robe over it, and underneath they wore armor and chainmail..."

"If it's scale armor, it's definitely been pierced by a bullet."

Although they couldn't see the superiority of plate armor with the naked eye, after witnessing its effectiveness firsthand, these flatterers, who were at least wealthy merchants and landlords, actually recognized its excellence and were speechless for a moment.

So, it turns out they didn't lose out on this; they actually gained something?

Zhuang Sen smiled with satisfaction, about to seize the opportunity to start promoting the armor, when he saw An Jie approaching with her entourage, a smug smile on her face: "Zhuang Sen, you've finally arrived! I'll take all these armors, from five..."

Halfway through her sentence, Anjie glanced at the crowd surrounding Zhuang Sen and sensed something was amiss, so she stopped. Caution took over again, leading her to question an impossible fact—could Zhuang Sen really have become the chosen one?

Meanwhile, the crowd was stunned again. Were Zhuang Sen and An Jie really that close that they could reach such a monopolistic deal?

Zhuang Sen then realized that An Jie must have believed that he couldn't truly uphold the banner of the Chosen One, couldn't unite these people to oppose her, and couldn't bypass her triple tariffs, so she came over to inspect "her own" goods with impunity.

That saved him a lot of trouble.

Zhuang Sen pushed his way through the crowd and came to Ange. Ange, who was only taller than Nia, unconsciously took a step back when facing Zhuang Sen in his angelic form, bumping into the thigh of her guardian knight.

"Don't even think about doing anything reckless, Zhuang Sen."

Ange still remembered how Zhuang Sen had ripped Jem's throat with a single claw. Her first thought was that the madman was about to overturn the table in a fit of rage.

Zhuang Sen regretfully withdrew his right hand, which had failed to humiliate An Jie by patting her head, and laughed, "Sister An Jie, I can't agree to that, because these guests have already made reservations."

Oh, so it's not that they have a good relationship, it's that they have a bad relationship.

Then I understand, I understand.

The clever ones in the crowd suddenly understood, especially those who knew who the three walls actually belonged to, and they understood why the Church of Vengeance insisted on holding the canonization ceremony in this Thorn Manor.

So, could they take advantage of this opportunity...?

"Chosen One, I would like to purchase ten more sets!"

I want twenty sets!

Thirty sets!

The flurry of bidding orders astonished Anjie, especially when she heard some people referring to Zhuang Sen by his name, which she found even more unbelievable.

Was she dreaming? Otherwise, how could Zhuang Sen really be some kind of chosen one?!

She pinched her face hard; the sharp pain contorted her delicate features, a stark reminder of the situation.

As Zhuang Sen accepted the customers' orders, he smiled at An Jie and sincerely thanked her, saying, "Thank you, An Jie."

Chapter 63: Magic Iron Equipment

Thanks to Ange's strong support, two hundred sets of plate armor, which had only been made ten times, had already been pre-ordered. This made Bishop Charles's face grow increasingly grim, and he became more and more wary and dissatisfied. He had originally thought that Johnson would affect the War Church's arms business by leveraging the craftsmanship and reputation of the Rom Harper family, but that should have taken at least a few months.

Unexpectedly, it has already had an impact, even a direct and severe blow – it's obvious that with the introduction of plate armor, a new type of armor with significant advantages, the sales of scale armor and chainmail, which have inferior defensive performance and are more troublesome to maintain, will inevitably decline.

Chainmail might be okay, since it can be used as inner armor, but scale armor is not. Ironically, scale armor used to be the main outer armor, the market leader and the top seller...

Forget it, it's just ordinary armor after all, and the scale is limited. Its quality and quantity won't shake the market. Besides, if Zhuang Sen can make plate armor, why can't the Church of War? Copy it! Copy it!

After much deliberation, Bishop Charles had no choice but to change his approach and decide that if he couldn't win, he would join them. After all, these so-called plate armors didn't seem difficult to manufacture; even if there were some secret techniques, he could always figure them out by buying a couple of sets, disassembling them, and studying them carefully.

Thinking of this, Bishop Charles felt somewhat relieved, especially when he considered the advantage of having superior magic iron equipment; his expression improved considerably. In any case, the Church of War had eighty blacksmiths, while Zhuang Sen only had seven—the advantage was in his hands!

……

Meanwhile, standing alone outside the crowd, Anjie realized that her perfect plan had failed. Zhuang Sen had successfully opened up sales channels and even destroyed the three barriers she had spent a lot of money to set up. She could continue to collect tariffs from Zhuang Sen, raising the costs for merchants and putting pressure on him. Then her Blue Raven Merchant Guild would have to face retaliation from these people, and she might even suffer greater losses in the end.

As a businesswoman herself, she naturally knew what a businessman would do for profit. In fact, a large part of the reason she formed the anti-Zhuang Sen alliance was to monopolize the arms in Zhuang Sen's hands.

So, why is it that so many people truly regard Zhuang Sen as the chosen one?

……

Leaving aside the mixed feelings of Bishop Charles and Ange, Zhuang Sen had finished discussing ordinary plate armor and naturally steered the conversation toward magic iron equipment. Rom Harper, who had been near Zhuang Sen all along, naturally took over the topic and led everyone to his own creation.

Two magic iron longswords lay horizontally on an exquisite wooden stand. One had a fiery red blade, the other an icy blue blade. Their fittings were ornate and beautiful, with even gemstones inlaid on the hilts, making them look like some kind of decorative sword. However, these were certainly not decorative items; they were very famous magic iron weapons. Eight out of ten people in the crowd recognized them at a glance: "These are Flame Blade and Frost Edge?"

The Flame Blade and Frost Edge are simply additional fire and ice damage effects, respectively. However, they represent a milestone in the development of Fel Iron equipment technology, being the first artificially manufactured and replicable Fel Iron equipment. Before them, Fel Iron equipment was merely a larger, harder, and sharper version of ordinary equipment.

Therefore, even though the technology of magic iron equipment has now developed to a deeper level and simple additional damage is no longer outstanding, all magic iron blacksmiths will still forge a set of Flame Blade and Frost Edge as proof of their improved skills when they are able to forge magic iron equipment with abilities.

Or, to put it another way, only blacksmiths who can forge Flame Blades and Frost Edges can be considered true masters of magic iron blacksmithing. Someone like Rom Harper before him wouldn't qualify; he could only forge ordinary, unrefined magic iron equipment.

Bishop Charles, who had followed in, saw this scene, and his expression, which had just improved, darkened again. There were very few blacksmiths in the entire Leon Territory who could forge magic iron equipment. There were only three in the War Church of Leon Territory, and one of them, like Rom Harper before him, could only forge ordinary magic iron equipment without any additional abilities.

In other words, the Church of War can no longer monopolize the market for magic iron equipment; at least a third of it will be swallowed up! No, that's not right. Bishop Charles looked at Nia, who was still holding hands with Zhuang Sen and staying by his side. He hadn't forgotten that Zhuang Sen had said before that the armor he was wearing was Nia Harper's work, and that the armor was clearly magic iron equipment!

However, it seems there are no additional abilities?

For some reason, Bishop Charles suddenly felt a little uneasy and vaguely uneasy.

The crowd began to praise Rom Harper, lauding his improved skills. Some even politely inquired about the price, attempting to acquire the expensive magic iron equipment. However, they only targeted the two longswords; as for the scale armor, that was not something anyone dared to buy.

Rom Harper was naturally pleased to hear this, but he didn't forget the main point. Taking advantage of someone's praise, he said, "This is not my effort, but my daughter's help. She pointed out my oversights and helped me to go further. In fact, her work is much better than mine. Those plate armors are her invention!"

This was naturally a pre-arranged plan by Johnson, with the main theme being a three-stage gradual progression. From the new plate armor to Rom Harper's masterpiece, while attracting crowds, it also paved the way for Nia's appearance and built up her reputation.

As expected, following Rom's blunt remarks, everyone lowered their heads to look at Nia, who had been rather inconspicuous. Nia tilted her head slightly, her polite smile tinged with arrogance, showing no stage fright whatsoever, a stark contrast to her usual shy demeanor in front of Zhuang Sen.

While Zhuang Sen found it cute, the others didn't share his perspective and thought Nia was a bit arrogant. Mainly, Nia's age and appearance made it rather unconvincing.

However, this was expected.

Zhuang Sen coughed lightly, drawing attention back to the scene: "As I mentioned before, this set of armor was made for me by Nia, but I forgot to mention that besides mine, Nia's own, and the Priestess Dantalian's armor, they were also forged by her..."

Zhuang Sen paused for a moment, then added with a smile, "These are all magic iron armors."

An uproar arose, but no one questioned the claims. At this moment, no one believed Zhuang Sen had any reason to lie; after all, production capacity couldn't be faked, nor was there any need to. However, his claims of instructing Master Rom were probably just flattery; he probably only knew how to forge the most basic types of magic iron equipment.

Zhuang Sen could see their confusion, so he let go... well, let go of Hana's left hand, and took the helmet from Dantalian: "Everyone should know the classification of magic iron equipment. The most common type relies solely on the material's properties to achieve sharpness and hardness. Another type involves guiding the internal attributes of the material to form additional abilities, such as increasing fire resistance or damage. Finally, there's the type that adds actively castable abilities to the equipment, similar to bloodline abilities, which is the most special category."

The crowd gradually realized what was happening: "Your Chosen One, you mean..."

Zhuang Sen did not answer, but simply raised his helmet and activated the attached ability—Rock Skin!

Visibly, a thick layer of bluish-gray rock had grown on the once-shiny helmet, making it look somewhat bulky and unsightly. But now, no one cared about aesthetics; only astonishment remained. Nia, who had been almost invisible, suddenly became the center of attention, but for a moment, no one knew what to say.

They were simply dismayed to discover that they couldn't appease Zhuang Sen through trade anymore; rather, they now had to consider how to secure arms trade with him. Novel plate armor and legitimate magic iron equipment—both were practical items, even heirlooms.

Not far away, Bishop Charles's expression had returned to normal. There was no need to consider anything else now. They had already lost in terms of quality, and as for quantity... they should think of other solutions.

He looked at Anjie, who was in shock, and narrowed his eyes slightly.

Chapter 64: Your daughter is amazing!

Zhuang Sen's arms sales campaign concluded perfectly. Orders for plate armor were booked up for six months ahead. While there weren't as many orders for iron armor, there were still many inquiries, and sales were expected to be strong once further news spread. As for Ange's outburst of anger, refusing to stay for the banquet, it was clear that the anti-Zhuang Sen alliance's tariff blockade had crumbled on its own.

Although this doesn't mean everything will be fine afterward, at least today can be considered a great victory. Zhuang Sen happily waved goodbye to An Jie, who angrily smashed the small window of the carriage and sped away.

Zhuang Sen was even happier.

By this time, the crowd had long since dispersed and rejoined the banquet. Slightly reluctant to leave, he turned to Hana, who stood blankly beside him, preparing to use his manipulative skills on this socially awkward sunflower. From his personal perspective, he naturally wanted to keep Hana, but the Flor family wasn't the Harper family. The Flower Baron, who controlled a third of the material business in Leon Territory, wouldn't become his vassal. Therefore, he had to target Hana, getting her to join voluntarily, so that the Flower Baron couldn't directly refuse.

After thinking for a moment, Zhuang Sen decided to probe first: "Miss Hanna, how are you feeling now? Are you alright?"

"Ah, yes..." Hannah visibly flinched, as if forcing herself to stay away, and answered cautiously, "I feel great now, it's just, uh, it's just a little, um..."

Seeing Hana stammering, Zhuang Sen could only take the initiative to speak, guessing, "A little confused? Don't know what happened?"

Hannah nodded, as if she had breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhuang Sen also breathed a sigh of relief: "Miss Hannah, I think you should understand how strange your changes are, and how dangerous it would be if others found out. Even the church couldn't protect you."

Hannah's eyes widened: "No, isn't it a blessing from the goddess?"

"..."

No, you actually believed that?!

Zhuang Sen almost forgot what he was going to say next. If he had known it would turn out like this, he would have just used the church's tricks to fool people... Oh, no, what if the silly kid actually believed it and told the other members of the Vengeance Church? That would be troublesome.

We still have to stick to the original plan.

Zhuang Sen continued, "Miss Hanna, you should already know your identity from your bloodline. I won't hide it from you, Nia, Dantalian, and I are all the same as you. So, join us, we are your true family."

Zhuang Sen's words were not casual. He had investigated Hana through the Church of Vengeance and knew that her situation within the Flor family was not good. Although Baron Flor did not cause a chaotic struggle among dozens of his offspring like Earl Cross, he still had eighteen. As a member who had not awakened her bloodline, Hana was naturally not favored and was even ostracized—it was just unclear whether she was ostracized because of her social anxiety or ostracized into having social anxiety.

But for a socially anxious girl from a dysfunctional family who suffers from a lack of love, approaching her as family and companion is the easiest way to deceive her. Actually, it's not really deception, since Zhuang Sen doesn't need to support another person. Besides, with him, Hana can at least level up to a level three monster girl, and there's no need to worry about her being bullied to the point of having to work as a shop assistant.

He's doing a good deed!

As Zhuang Sen made excuses for his terrible behavior, Hana timidly asked, "Lord Zhuang Sen, are you also a monster girl?"

puff--

Nia, the most lively one, couldn't help but laugh out loud. Faced with Zhuang Sen's glare, she put on an innocent expression, but it was so cute that she let it go.

Zhuang Sen looked at Hana, feeling incredibly uncomfortable. "Girl, can't you get to the point? I'm talking about family and companions, why are you so focused on gender!"

Hana seemed to sense Zhuang Sen's displeasure and shrank back, looking pitiful. Zhuang Sen sighed, "No, I'm not a monster girl, Miss Hana. What I'm trying to say is that you'll be safer and able to grow better if you're with us."

Hana kept her head down, her overly long bangs obscuring her eyes, making it impossible for Zhuang Sen to judge her from her expression, which made him a little uneasy. Mainly, he hadn't expected the socially awkward Sunflower to have such a carefree side, which was quite a surprise to him.

“Miss Hannah, I hope you will seriously consider this, or if you are unwilling to stay, at least keep this a secret.” Johnson said seemingly helplessly, but he was already preparing his backup plan: to go directly to the current Baron Flor and buy his daughter.

This is not difficult, because although Hana has awakened her bloodline, only Zhuang Sen has knowledge of this bloodline. So even if she is left in the Flor family, it will be useless and may even cause internal strife in the Flor family - the Flor family originally only had two bloodline awakeners in the new generation.

Perhaps discussing the trade of potions and weapons could bring Miss Hannah into the picture as an intermediary.

Zhuang Sen was thinking and preparing to leave, but as soon as he turned around, he felt a tug at the corner of his clothes—no, he was wearing armor, so where would the corner of his clothes come from!

Zhuang Sen looked down and saw a green vine pulling him. He turned back and saw Miss Hana looking at him pitifully: "No, not together?"