Starting with the defeated female knight

"Trust me, I guarantee it will be a great 'return gift'."

As she spoke, under Kona's horrified gaze, Jessie carried her body and walked into a cave hidden in the dense forest.

As they went deeper, the surrounding air became increasingly viscous and humid, and something seemed to be wriggling in the unseen darkness.

"Help, help—"

Kona finally couldn't hold back anymore.

But now that she's here, no one can hear her cries for help.

So Jessie didn't do anything to her, she just kept going until she reached the cave entrance.

A faint, warm breath emanated from it, as if some creature were breathing within it, causing Kona's body to tremble instinctively.

"Jassie, no, Jessie, please, whatever you want, take me away..."

"elder sister."

Jessie touched her face, wiped away the tears, and smiled as she spoke.

“Don’t cry like a dog. You told me this isn’t how a nobleman behaves.”

"And adults don't like children who cry all the time."

As she spoke, Jessie took out a flint and tapped it lightly.

pat.

The flame lit the lantern, and the dim yellow light allowed Kona to see her surroundings.

Those are tentacles.

The tentacles were densely packed, intertwined and wriggling, covering everything from the ground to the top of my head.

In front of them was a pit about the size of a person, which looked deep and long.

Flesh-colored, wriggling, as if the cavity of some creature is moving slightly, but upon closer inspection, you will find that there are also tentacles inside, and far more, denser, and more terrifying tentacles than outside.

After the lantern was lit, the tentacles seemed to finally come to their senses, and dozens of tentacles slowly emerged from the pit, opening their eerie eyeballs at the top.

Jessie's body trembled, and her breathing became slightly heavy.

Not fear, but excitement.

"My lord, I've brought her..."

Jessie lowered her head slightly, then touched her trembling sister.

“No, Jessie, you can’t do this. We’re sisters. Our family and parents won’t—”

"Don't worry, sister."

"Adults are very gentle beings and will not hurt you."

She gently stroked her sister's face, then raised her hand and, under the watchful eyes of the tentacles, threw her into the tentacle abyss before her as she struggled and begged for mercy.

Before the other person was completely swallowed by the tentacles and lost consciousness, she hugged the protruding tentacles, rubbed them affectionately, and then lowered her head and spoke softly in the sight of the person about to be swallowed by the tentacles.

"And believe me, sister."

"It won't be long before you become just like us."

"Become a good child who is grown up."

-------

P.S.: My CPU crashed, so I can only use some old screenshots to make do. As usual, I'm going to grab some food and will continue later.

Volume 1: Chapter 98: Domo, the Noble Assassin Desu

Human Empire, Main Town.

Although it is called a town, it is actually the main settlement and production center within the territory of a noble family.

It has a larger population than Dawn City, and its resources are quite abundant. It is also located on a major transportation route. Its agriculture, handicrafts, and commerce are all of considerable scale and are quite advanced for the empire.

Similar towns are not uncommon in the empire. Although they certainly cannot match the prosperity of the capital, they are rich in real estate, and are also characterized by trade and a shared culture.

Aside from the average level of education and some other deficiencies, their standard of living is almost comparable to that of Dawn City in its early stages.

Even in years of poor harvest, people could barely make ends meet by tightening their belts; and in years of bumper harvest, the granaries were so full they were almost overflowing.

In addition to food, there were blacksmith shops, prop shops, apothecaries, cathedrals, mage towers, and various facilities and buildings for arts and entertainment...

After a day's work, people with a little spare cash can stroll around the small market and buy some trinkets that interest them.

Or you can go straight into a pub, find a table, order a pitcher of dark beer, eat some coarse bread, and chat loudly with the people at the next table about all the latest happenings in town.

Occasionally, you might encounter a few adventurers from out of town. While listening to them boast about their various stories, they would sigh and make sarcastic remarks, which would often fill the tavern with a joyful atmosphere. Of course, sometimes this would also be accompanied by bloodshed and conflict.

But all of this happened several months ago.

Opening her eyes before the first rays of dawn, Wendita woke her daughter and rummaged through the cupboard for some coarse dry food.

I threw it into water to soak, and then ate it with my daughter, whose face scrunched up like a bitter gourd just looking at it. After a quick rinse, we went out.

Wearing tattered clothes, walking on a dilapidated street.

There were already some people on the street, but looking around, the streets that used to be bustling with conversations and even the occasional humming of tunes were now completely silent.

Everyone's expression was not good; their eyes were either numb, sorrowful, repressed, or angry, but none of them were happy.

Especially after they noticed Wendita, their numb or sorrowful gazes were filled with even more hatred.

Even the lowest of bloodlines is a factory worker in town.

Both of these identities were something they loathed.

But Wendita did not become a worker voluntarily.

Despite being of the lowest bloodline, no one in the town respected her.

But it was precisely because of this that she realized she needed to work harder in life. From a young age, she learned to read people's expressions and would do her best to do things that others looked down on or found troublesome. When she encountered various problems, she would also try her best to learn and solve them.

Especially after finding and adopting his current daughter, although he was a little tight on material things, he felt more and more fulfilled spiritually, and could even be said to have hope and something to look forward to.

Not only is her daughter adorable, but she is also very well-behaved and considerate. She has never looked down on her heritage and has been learning various things from a very young age to try to help her share her burdens.

She would glare at others who mocked her mother, and she would envy other children's lives but not make demands. Even when they had occasional conflicts, her puffed-up face was very cute. Moreover, as long as the time came, even if it was Wendeta's fault, she would take the initiative to crawl over to apologize and snuggle in her mother's arms to act cute.

Despite this, although they were an orphan and a widow, and wore tattered clothes, their lives were actually not that bad before.

Thanks to her early efforts, despite her lowly birth, Wendita mastered and learned several skills.

Coupled with her serious and hardworking personality, the things she makes are not only better than others, but also cheaper.

In this way, even if others look down on her because of her bloodline, or are unwilling to buy her products, they will often grit their teeth and accept it because of the cost-effectiveness.

With several skills at her disposal, even after negotiating her salary, her income wasn't actually that low.

The reason for wearing tattered clothes and living in a dilapidated house was primarily for safety reasons.

After all, as the lowest of the low, she was not entitled to enjoy those 'good things'.

Although not everyone thinks this way, even if only a portion of them do, it can be a devastating blow to the mother and daughter.

What she didn't expect was that even though she was so careful and tried so hard to make a living, and went to church to pray every week, just hoping to survive until her daughter grew up safely.

But in the end, disaster still struck.

Moreover, it arrived in a way that far exceeded her understanding.

A few months ago, a group of strange people came to town. I overheard people talking on the roadside, and it seemed they were planning to set up some kind of 'factory'.

She didn't pay attention at first, but soon, with the operation of the factory and the circulation of products, she noticed something.

Most importantly, the factory's operation, which cleared out all the materials and subsequently raised prices, effectively rendered her livelihood dependent on her skills obsolete.

This might sound a bit strange, since according to normal industrial logic, if it were a normal investment to build a factory, even in the industrial age, a textile factory would take several months or even a year to build. It's impossible for it to be set up in a short period of time, let alone affect Wendita's life so quickly.

The problem is that the industrialization of empires was never true industrialization.

Moreover, the foundation of the empire and the nobility far exceeded everyone's expectations, even their own.

To put it simply, not only are the mages' techniques readily available, stored in a database, but they can also be retrieved and modified.

Even the factories and equipment of the nobility were simply piled up long ago; they could be taken out, tidied up, repaired, and adjusted to be usable.

As mentioned before, before the nobles became completely obsessed with bloodlines, many of them made various attempts, and some of these attempts were even successful.

However, due to genetic factors, successful industries are often overtaken by successful breeding, resulting in the destruction of their resources and their abandonment.

Not to mention, as a noble family, even if it's just to maintain the most basic dignity, they still have to operate some businesses on their family territory, so they have something of their own.

Therefore, the industrialization of the empire was not, from the very beginning, like Green's farming that started from scratch to advance technology, and in every sense, it cannot be called industrialization.

It's more like rummaging through the corpse of an empire, taking some parts to assemble, and then using the strength of an extraordinary athlete to deliver a powerful kick.

Then you can use it.

Yes, it's archaeology.

Not only can they rely on their past achievements, but their technology, facilities, and equipment are also almost completely complete and readily available.

In this situation, coupled with the mages' outrageous skills and Green's guidance, it may seem fast that it took several months to achieve this, but in reality, it was already considered slow.

As for Wendeta, her skills were almost completely lost due to the impact of the factory.

Because she had no land and could not farm, she ultimately had no choice but to work in a factory in order to make a living.

To be honest, her time in the factory was not smooth.

In this world where bloodlines reign supreme, even if someone of her lowest bloodline were to enter the factory, they would be despised and ostracized by others.

Fortunately, thanks to her past experience, stronger learning ability, higher efficiency, and a price that was less than half that of others, she successfully entered the factory.

She was relieved when she first entered the factory.

Although her income had decreased, she had heard that the factory belonged to noblemen.

It's incredibly fortunate that someone of her lowly birth could get a job like this. Not only is her social status higher, but overall, it's also much more stable than her previous jobs.

After all, noblemen are intelligent and wise, and are certainly smarter than her, who has not received much education.

They certainly won't make mistakes, right?

So, despite being ostracized, mistreated, and doing more work, they were paid less than half the price of others, and were therefore even more marginalized.

She remains hopeful for the future, believing that things will only get better if things continue this way.

but......

"Why has my salary decreased again?"

"It must be due to that lowly bloodline."

"Grain prices have gone up again."

"I should have stocked up more; we're going to be starving."

"Hey, have you heard? Apparently, someone else has died..."

"It's not just a resemblance, he's definitely dead. I saw it with my own eyes."

"Let me tell you, those machines eat people. I've seen it with my own eyes. They're running faster and faster, but more and more people are dying..."

—In fact, the increased accident rate is due to the removal of safety restrictions.

Wendita did not participate in their discussion.

They wouldn't take her along, and she wasn't in the mood to discuss these things.

Looking at her increasingly meager salary, she was filled with confusion, not understanding why her income was getting lower and lower even though she had entered the factory of a nobleman.

With the recent rise in prices, if it weren't for some savings she had accumulated, she and her daughter probably wouldn't even be able to afford food.

Even so, she still gripped the copper coins tightly, shook her head, and her gaze gradually hardened.