Let go of that monster girl!

"If an ordinary rat girl were to do this, her gentle nature would probably make her cower and cover her head in fear if the vendor got even slightly angry."

"How about recruiting a few big dogs? Dogs are loyal, brave, reliable, and they're also great at fighting, meow."

That does sound like a good suggestion.

A single large dog can easily defeat more than twenty rat girls. These muscular giants are incredibly tough and reliable, even in temperatures as low as minus thirty or forty degrees Celsius.

But Morren was worried about something else. He didn't answer immediately, but looked down at the flower cakes on the table and said:

"Logically, that's how it should be done: the strong dogs are responsible for fighting, and the shrewd foxes control the market."

"And then what? What are the Rat Girls responsible for? Workers? Actually, they're not as good as the Snow Cow Girls as workers."

"Congratulations, Miss Jimmy. Now you should understand why, no matter who controls the kingdom, the Rat Girl will always be the Rat Girl."

Molen's gaze fell on the fox-shaped daifuku on the table.

The social ecology of Dwarf Mountain is quite fragile. The fact that the Rat Girls can live a peaceful life as skilled workers is almost entirely due to the pure Rat society and the visible hand of Moren.

It is very dangerous to admit that some beast girls are better suited for a certain role than others.

If we assume that all the mouse girls will become factory workers and the foxes will manage the finances, the dwarf mountain market will fall into the foxes' hands in just a few years.

In a free competition, the mouse girl would never be able to outsmart the fox girl; the difference is an objective fact.

Just like how, without even needing any underhanded tactics, fox-shaped daifuku would naturally dominate the market, leaving rat-shaped pancakes to be sold at very low prices.

If you let the rat and the dog eat together, the result will only be that the dog will lick the rice flour clean.

But if we force the use of a physical hand, well, we can't expect the mouse girls to settle the score.

If feasible, Moren still hopes to establish a system that can protect the Rat Girl and other weak beast girls even without him.

Jimmy leaned back on the table, picked up another pancake, took a slow bite, gave up thinking, and decided to listen to Baron Morren.

"Then, Baron, what should we do, meow?"

This is a good question.

Molen didn't know either.

The differences between animal girls are a fact.

Please, even with such a tiny difference between humans in the past, countless sages struggled and bled for years without solving this problem.

Expecting Morren to suddenly find the ultimate answer is like taking this novel for granted.

However, while he may not understand social issues, he does understand some technical issues.

"Let's take it one step at a time. The mice's flower cakes aren't very competitive, so let's add some competitiveness to them."

-----------------

It is 60 kilometers north of Aishan Market.

Sweet radish collar.

The Countess's Castle.

Fox Seventeen sat in front of the bronze mirror, laying out her most expensive cosmetics one by one. She carefully drew her eyebrows in front of the mirror, and after finishing, she looked at them closely. If she was not satisfied, she gently wiped them off with a cloth and started over.

The blond-haired man stood beside her, holding a bronze mirror, watching her carefully apply makeup. He couldn't help but praise her:

"We think you're already very beautiful, Seventeenth Sister."

Fox Seventeen rolled her eyes.

"What do you know? A big shot like Countess Carrot will at most glance at you twice. The first glance is very important."

"Seventeenth Sister, didn't the Baron send us here to discuss building schools? They should be very happy to receive a few schools for free."

Fox Seventeen put down her eyebrow pencil and glanced at her naive companion.

"If your ears were rounder, I would definitely think you were a rat girl. Do you think the Carrot family doesn't build schools because they can't afford them? Or that the Baron builds schools because he has too much money to burn?"

The blond-haired fellow felt wronged but dared not speak, holding the bronze mirror.

Fox Seventeen picked up her makeup tools again, but still patiently explained to the blond-haired guy:

“The noble lady is most afraid of her subjects being too smart. If the Rat Girl learns words she shouldn’t know, wouldn’t she be forced to do things she shouldn’t be doing? This matter is not as simple as it seems. If an ordinary person brings this up, they might lose their life.”

"Waaaaah."

The blond-haired fellow flinched, tucking his tail between his legs in fear, while Fox Seventeen smiled and comforted his companion:

"Don't worry, with the Baron backing us up, at worst we'll get a beating and be kicked out."

Just then, footsteps sounded at the door. The horse-woman knight stood there, glanced at them, and said in a rather impolite tone:

"The Countess is free now, please come over quickly."

Fox Seventeen and his blond-haired companion quickly packed their things and followed.

In the corridor, the horse-women soldiers lined up on both sides, each one at least a head taller than them, and getting taller and taller. By the time they got closer to the reception room, the horse-women on both sides were nearly three meters tall.

This escalating sense of oppression terrified the fox.

Fox Seventeen kept his eyes straight ahead, his steps were steady, and his big tail swung back and forth.

The blond-haired guy followed behind her, his shoulders hunched, his big tail tucked tightly into his buttocks.

At the far end of the hall, the head of the Carrot family sat high up, his golden hair cascading down. He looked down at the two foxes who had entered, his eyes filled with undisguised contempt and an overwhelming sense of oppression.

"Speak up. Don't think I don't know what you're up to. You have three chances to say something."

An extraordinary being, powerful, beautiful, ageless, born noble, and aloof from the world.

This was not the first time Fox Seventeen had met this unicorn.

When Jimmy left Wolfsburg and followed the cat-and-mouse caravan to this place to trade mithril, he suggested to the head of the Carrot family that they donate a school, but was politely thrown out.

But Miss Jimmy is a good cat, while Fox Seventeen is a bad fox.

In this world, there are always things that only a wicked fox can do.

To make a sale, you first need to know what products the other party needs.

The blond-haired fellow was nearly scared to death, clutching his big tail and trembling. Fox Seventeen, however, put on a smile, took a step forward, and said in a friendly, flattering tone:

“Our dearest old customer, Countess Carrot, we did a lot of business together back in the old market.”

"So as you know, we never care about those superficial things. Let's get straight to the point. For example, as you know..."

"No mouse girl has a chance of surviving this winter."

Chapter 155 Flower Cake Techniques

"I can't believe it, the Countess actually agreed."

The public rat carriage was extremely crowded, with two fox girls sandwiched among a large group of rat girls, surrounded by round ears that reached their chests.

The mouse girls stared intently at the paper bag in Fox Seventeen's hand, their little noses twitching as they inhaled the sweet aroma of roasted radishes inside, their mouths practically watering.

The public rat cart has a fixed route, and you can get off wherever you want, but the fare is one copper coin, and a round trip costs a full two copper coins, which only a very few rat girls can afford.

The dirt road was full of potholes, the rat-cart clattered along, and the horsewomen ran faster than the carts, so they almost never repaired the road.

The rat cart's wheels rolled into a large crater, causing the entire cart to suddenly sink, and the rat girls tilted downwards along with it.

Then it rushed up a protruding rock, the carriage jolted violently, and all the rats inside flew up.

When they landed, the mouse girls squealed and stumbled, bumping into each other. But they simply helped each other up, sat back down, and went about their business, clearly used to it.

The blond guy wasn't as skilled.

She was upside down, her tail up, the whole fox lying face down in the middle of a bunch of mouse girls, her big tail standing upright in the mouse field like a fox carrot.

She whimpered, the inside of the rat cart was too crowded, she was trapped in the middle of the rats, and couldn't turn over for a long time.

The surrounding mouse girls stretched out their little hands and, with considerable effort, worked together to pull her out of the mouse girl mud pit.

Fox Seventeen opened the paper bag as if she hadn't seen anything, took out a skewer of roasted sweet radish, took a bite, and then continued the conversation.

“A naturally extraordinary being like Countess Carrot generally looks down on weak beast girls. So Jimmy’s argument, which is supposed to be for the good of the rat girl, will not be able to persuade her.”

The blond-haired guy finally managed to sit up and started smoothing his messy hair behind his ears with his fingers. A mouse girl next to him took out a small comb with two missing teeth from her pocket and quietly handed it to him.

The blond-haired guy took it, thanked him, and while combing his hair, thought for a moment and said:

"So, Seventeenth Sister, that's why you told her directly that this was the Baron's plan? Because he needs to invest in building a factory, and therefore requires a mouse girl with basic knowledge?"

A fertile factory, located in an easily accessible spot, is a very tempting prospect.

But all of this depends on the fact that the mouse girls who will work in the factory in the future must survive this winter.

If Countess Carrot can realize this, then the rats will have a glimmer of hope for surviving the winter.

Fox Seventeen took another bite of the roasted sweet radish, frowned, clearly quite dissatisfied with its terrible sweetness, and then handed the whole bag to the blond-haired guy.

The blond-haired guy continued combing his hair with one hand, took the roasted sweet radish with the other, tore open the paper bag, and distributed it to the rat girls who had been staring at him.

The mice were very excited about the sweet thing. The blond guy returned the comb to the female mouse, still looking puzzled.

"Does Your Excellency really intend to cooperate with the Carrot Caravan? I have a feeling there will be many problems."

"It's just an excuse to reach out to the north; the Baron probably has his own ulterior motives."

"And what about Countess Carrot?"

"She also has her own little scheme."

Wholesale abacuses, even the blond-haired guy might not understand; the city is full of tricks, the fox wants to go back to the countryside.

Anyway, these people all seem to be incredibly cunning, but in the end, they all settle things by who can throw the biggest punch. Those who can reason can't compete with those who can apply physics.

The mouse girls happily shared the roasted sweet carrots, completely oblivious to the loud conspiracy between the two foxes.

Outside the car window, snowflakes gradually fell, and the chill became increasingly noticeable. Inside the car, the only way to keep warm was by squirrels huddled together.

In the distance, a scattered rural market appeared beside the road.

The public hamster cart slowly came to a stop, and the fat hamster pulling it stopped, its round, chubby belly panting heavily.

As soon as the carriage door opened, the rat girls swarmed out and scattered across the stone path.

The two foxes stepped off the rat-cart and looked up at the still-lit sky.

The snow was still falling, with fine snowflakes drifting and swirling, landing on the stall roofs and the muddy ground.

The surrounding market was chaotic, with stalls crammed together, goods piled up on the roadside, and snowmelt mixed with bits of grass that crunched underfoot.

The wheels of carts and livestock plowed the roads into fields mixed with fertilizer, creating an exceptionally foul smell. Everywhere, there were shouts of vendors and shouts of insults, with beggars, slaves, merchants, and farmers mingling together in a particularly noisy cacophony.

Sweet Radish Territory is an earldom, almost as large as the entire unified Dwarf Mountain Territory, but being located in the Bright Zone, it has a much, much larger rat population than Dwarf Mountain Territory.

This market was originally just an inconspicuous rural market at the southernmost edge of Sweet Radish Territory, deserted and dilapidated, until the railway built northward from the low mountains reached this place.

The changes brought about by the low hills were immediate.

What was originally a small place with only a dozen or so stalls has now attracted a large number of caravans. Many vendors who could not cross the desolate wasteland have come here to set up stalls. The market is also being renovated and expanded, and the surrounding Rat Girl Village has become much richer as a result. However, it is said that bandits and robbers have also appeared more frequently.

The chubby hamster parked the car, lowered its head, and ruffled its adorable yellow fur, smoothing out the tangled tufts of fur.

It looked up and saw the Armed Rat Girl Train clanging into the station.

The giant hamster flinched, its black bean eyes staring fearfully at the enormous iron monster, its entire body trembling with fat.

On the platform, the dwarf mountain mouse girls had already begun unloading goods. Boxes were carried out of the carriages one after another and handed to the horse girls. Merchants quickly gathered around, hawking all sorts of trinkets that the mouse girls liked.

The rat girls passing by in the market all looked over, envious of their beautiful and clean new clothes.

"Isn't the south a dark zone?"

"I'm so envious of you, Zhi."

Two fox girls walked through the passing caravans and swarms of rats toward the armed rat girl train.

The snow fell heavier and heavier.

As the blond-haired fellow walked along, he suddenly seemed to remember something and asked:

"Seventeenth Sister, what did you mean when you told Countess Carrot that no rat girl could survive this winter?"

"That's just an exaggeration. Sweet Radish Territory is scrambling for grain to prepare for war, and this year's snow is unusually cold. But it's quite an interesting situation."

What's so interesting about it?