After the slave owners went bankrupt, they all wanted to keep me as a mistress.

Mu Qiu was satisfied with Fiona's attitude, so he let her go.

I slapped her twice today as a small warning, to create a sense of crisis for her and let her know what price she would have to pay to stay by my side!

—It won't be long before she's being trained into a legendary professional. If I go too far, and instead of running away, she chooses to backstab me in a fit of rage, that would be troublesome…

Sheng Mien, fight against Mien.

Mu Qiu would rather spend more time finding more slaves who would break their contracts and run away than raise a slave who would betray him after growing up.

No matter how much money the system has, it will eventually run out. Going bankrupt is inevitable!

Therefore, your personal safety should be the top priority!

"Um..."

At this moment, Vera rubbed her eyes and woke up groggily.

She stretched like a lazy cat, her long silver hair cascading loosely over her shoulders, her pointed ears twitching contentedly. She first sniffed the air inside Mu Qiu's bed, then opened her eyes and saw Mu Qiu standing by the bed curtains, staring at her expressionlessly.

This scenario might be a bit awkward for most people.

Vera paused briefly, then, with a perfectly normal expression, raised her hand in greeting.

"Good morning, Master~ Did you secretly do anything lewd to me last night?"

As she spoke, she buried her head in the blankets again and sniffed gently before sitting up again.

"I didn't smell any filth. So, the master's little head can also be controlled by the big head?"

"No one would do anything lewd in the dungeon!"

Mu Qiu's lips twitched, and he said irritably, "If you're awake, get up quickly and get ready to leave."

The three of them quickly tidied up the tents, and then Mu Qiu reached out and put away the tents that were not folded up, preparing to put them out again when needed.

When Serafia returned, she had changed into a brand new pure white priestess's robe, and the black ribbon that had covered her eyes was now tied back neatly, giving her a noble and holy appearance.

"Good morning, every body."

She glanced at Mu Qiu out of the corner of her eye, her tone gentle and revealing nothing amiss: "I have already used divine magic to conduct a preliminary survey of the vicinity, and so far I have not found any other unusual passages or newly emerging powerful demons. We can return the way we came."

"Thank you for your trouble, Miss Saint."

Mu Qiu nodded. He didn't mention what happened last night, pretending he knew nothing, to save face for the Holy Maiden.

The group headed up the same path they had come from.

Since the path down had been thoroughly cleared, the return journey was much smoother. They only occasionally encountered a few monsters wandering from other side roads, which Fiona and Vera easily dealt with.

Serafia walked alongside Mu Qiu, recording the environment along the way, and used a special holy light mark to record the location of the fork in the road and the characteristics of the entrance in detail in a crystal.

"Miss Fia, what is this?"

Mu Qiu followed beside Serafia and, seeing her take out a crystal, couldn't help but ask curiously.

"This is an essential record crystal for conquering dungeons."

Seraphia shook the crystal in her hand and said softly, "It's used to record the entrance to the passage, the terrain of the entire dungeon, and records of monster kills, etc..."

Mu Qiu blinked: "If there's no record crystal, does that mean the Adventurers' Guild's quests can't be completed either?"

"Well, of course."

Serafia nodded without hesitation, "Otherwise, those nobles who have never been to the dungeon could directly buy materials from adventurers to upgrade their adventurer levels."

Vera muttered under her breath, "Actually, it could have been done anyway. We just need to bribe the people in the Adventurers' Guild who are in charge of checking the record crystals. Except for the records of killing lords, which are hard to fake, the records of killing ordinary monsters are usually not checked carefully. The staff in the Adventurers' Guild can't check that many records anyway."

Seraphia frowned slightly, brushing a strand of golden hair behind her ear, and said seriously, "This is wrong! If anyone is caught cheating, the guild will severely punish the responsible staff, confiscate their adventurer badge, and clear all their contributions!"

"Furthermore, materials from Iron and Bronze tier monsters do not require recording with magic crystals. Only materials from Silver tier and above require recording with magic crystals. However, it is not necessary to record every single monster. As long as you can prove that you killed the monster yourself, that is sufficient."

Serafia said in a serious tone.

If every level needs to be recorded, the staff of the Adventurers' Guild will certainly be overwhelmed, and the Iron and Bronze level adventurers simply cannot afford to pay for the record crystals.

In addition, recording crystals require a small amount of magic or battle aura to be used.

For Silver-level professionals, it's a small amount; for Gold-level and above professionals, it's a trace amount; but for Iron and Bronze-level professionals, it might drain a portion of their magic power, severely impacting their combat capabilities.

Therefore, when this rule was implemented, the implementing level immediately noticed the problem and made several revisions, which eventually became the current rule. Only materials from monsters of silver grade or higher need to be recorded using magic crystals, and only once when clearing each floor.

Vera leaned close to Mu Qiu's ear and whispered, "Master, don't listen to her nonsense. There are actually many ways to find loopholes. The simplest way is to go to some remote towns and kingdom cities with lax regulations, and improve your adventurer level in the adventurer guild there."

"Ahem! Let's keep going!"

Mu Qiu coughed lightly, feeling that it was somewhat dangerous to discuss this topic in front of the Holy Maiden.

The group continued to ascend to the upper level. After exiting the underground city entrance, Mu Qiu discovered that the Earth Dragon was still obediently staying outside.

The three intelligent monsters that came out last night didn't attack it.

Mu Qiu raised an eyebrow. When he woke up this morning, he remembered the Earth Dragon and thought that the Earth Dragon would be killed by those monsters.

After mounting the earth dragon, Vera and Fiona remained behind him, while Seraphia hesitated for a moment before choosing to sit in front of him.

This time, however, she moved forward slightly, maintaining a small distance.

When we returned to Earth City, the setting sun had already painted the distant sky a magnificent orange-red.

"Well then, Mr. Mu, Miss Elf, and Miss Knight, I'll take my leave now."

Serafia gently patted the back of the earth dragon at the city gate, signaling it to stop. She then jumped off the earth dragon and nodded slightly to the three of them: "Thank you all for your company and assistance this time."

"You're too kind, Miss Saintess. We're just doing what we need."

Mu Qiu responded with a smile.

Mr. Traveler probably doesn't know about last night's accident...

That potion... I'll study it properly when I get back.

Serafia hesitated for a moment, as if she wanted to say something more, but in the end she just said softly, "I will be staying in the temple for the next few days, Mr. Mu. If you want to buy divine spell scrolls, I will be waiting for you in the temple tomorrow morning."

"Then thank you very much, Miss Saintess."

After bidding farewell to Saintess Serafia, Mu Qiu originally planned to have dinner first, but Vera patted him on the shoulder and pointed to the most magnificent and conspicuous building in the city—the castle of Grand Duke Blaine.

"Master, the banquet over there should have already started, right?"

"Hmm...that's true, it's a good opportunity to freeload a meal."

Mu Qiu suddenly remembered the auction house and nodded, saying, "The auction should be starting soon."

Chapter 111 When vulgarity reaches its extreme, it becomes high-class!

Mu Qiu shook the reins of the earth dragon, turned it around, and drove it through the streets until it arrived at the gates of Duke Blaine's castle.

Ivy climbs the towering stone walls of the castle, casting long shadows in the afterglow of the setting sun. The massive iron gates are half-open, revealing the brightly lit courtyard and the main castle entrance behind them.

The earth dragon was stopped at the gate by two guards. The captain of the guards stepped forward, placed his right hand on his chest, and gave a standard knightly salute, saying in a tone that was neither humble nor arrogant: "Sir, please stop."

"I am here to attend the banquet hosted by the Duke of Blaine."

As Mu Qiu spoke, he handed over the invitation letter that the temple priest had given him.

The captain of the guard turned serious, took the invitation, and carefully examined its authenticity.

Upon noticing the Earth Temple mark in the lower right corner of the invitation, his eyes flickered, and his attitude immediately became more respectful. He handed the invitation back with both hands, lowered his head slightly, and his tone became more humble: "So you are a distinguished guest of the temple. My apologies! My lord, please come in. The Duke has reserved a seat for you."

As he spoke, the captain of the guard waved to the guards behind him, and the heavy castle gates were pushed open completely.

A well-dressed middle-aged waiter was already waiting to the side, smiling and bowing as he said, "Sir, please come with me."

Mu Qiu and his two companions dismounted from the earth dragon, and soon a groom came forward to respectfully lead their mounts to a special animal pen for care.

Vera leaned close to Mu Qiu's ear, her breath warm against his skin, and whispered, "This invitation seems quite unusual, doesn't it?"

"They probably think we're here on behalf of the temple."

Mu Qiu shook his head slightly.

The saintess didn't seem to enjoy socializing. Perhaps the invitation was given to the temple by the Duke, and then casually handed to the priest so he could send someone to the banquet himself.

Following the waiters through the courtyard, the group soon arrived at the main building of the castle and entered the banquet hall.

Mu Qiu glanced around and looked at his surroundings.

Inside the spacious hall, the dazzling light of the crystal chandelier illuminated the space as bright as day.

A group of elegantly dressed noblemen and women held wine glasses and chatted quietly, while maids carried silver platters full of wine glasses and snacks, moving back and forth in the crowd like fish.

The waiter led them to a round table in the front row, near the head of the table, where exquisite silver cutlery and crystal-clear wine glasses were already set.

Vera looked around at the jeweled ladies and young women with great interest, and curled her lip: "It's supposed to be an auction, but it's actually the Duke's banquet. It's a banquet now, but it'll probably start a party soon."

"Even though it's a private auction, we still need to find a reason to hold it, right?"

Mu Qiu smiled, picked up the wine glass on the table, and was about to swirl it and strike an elegant pose to blend into the group of nobles when he realized that the glass was empty.

"cough!"

Mu Qiu coughed lightly, looked at Vera, and gave her a meaningful look.

There was an unopened bottle of red wine on the table, but we couldn't very well let him do that, could we?

Vera, you know what I mean?

At this moment, Vera noticed that a maid was approaching, her pointed ears twitched, and she suddenly got up and sat on Mu Qiu's lap.

"……What are you doing?"

Mu Qiu asked in a low voice.

"Master, didn't you hint at this to me?"

Vera seemed to find the position uncomfortable, so she wiggled her little bottom and found a more comfortable sitting position, nestling in Mu Qiu's arms.

"You don't want those filthy, vulgar maids to come near, you want them to take this spot and leave gracefully, so you can also have a good time playing with the elven girl Shizuka's body... Isn't that what you meant with that look in your eyes just now?"

"How did you, you little sprite, manage to read so much meaning from my eyes! I just asked you to pour me some wine!"

"Because the master's eyes harbor a lewd stench."

As Vera spoke, she lifted her delicate foot and gently stepped down onto Mu Qiu's instep, her movements as gentle as if she were giving him a massage.

"Isn't it more appropriate for Fiona to pour the wine? She seems more like a maid who follows us around."

Fiona was just about to go forward to pour the wine when she heard this and immediately turned around and glared at Vera.

"Huh? What do you mean I'm your maid?! What are you babbling about, you shameless elf! Cricket slave, recognize your slave status and stop acting like you're the master!"

Vera brushed a strand of silver hair behind her ear and chuckled softly, "But I'm sitting on Master's lap right now, you know? It's practically the same as sitting in Master's seat. Little Fiona, quickly go pour us two glasses of wine~"

"Who's going to pour you a drink?"

Fiona snorted and poured the red wine into a glass, handing it to Mu Qiu.

Mu Qiu reached out and took the wine glass, coughed lightly, and gently swirled the wine in his hand, displaying an elegant demeanor, while quietly asking Vera in his arms:

"Vera, do I look like an upper-class nobleman?"

"No, Master, you are more like a vulgar nobleman."

Mu Qiu rolled his eyes, thinking that he shouldn't have asked her that question, and then turned to look at Fiona.

"Fiona, do I look like an upper-class noblewoman?"

Fiona hesitated for a moment, her eyes darting around, and said rather reluctantly, "Um... Master, you are not vulgar at all, you look like an extremely high-class nobleman!"

Mu Qiu: "..."

What's with that unhappy look on your face?

At that moment, a few faint exclamations of praise came from the side.

"High class! This is what high class is all about!"

Oh?

It seems there are still some people with good taste!