Let go of that monster girl!

There's something sinister about this whole thing.

Morren simply couldn't understand what grounds Chesie had for doing this.

Although Chesie's reaction was particularly subtle after Moren said "There are no useless demi-humans, only useless lords" on the day the caravan arrived.

But surely that doesn't warrant such a grand gift?

It's like you complimented the manager of the department next door at work by saying, "Your hairstyle looks great today," and the next day she insists on giving you an apartment.

It doesn't make logical sense.

After much deliberation, Molen still felt that the remote and impoverished Dwarf Mountain was not worth the kingdom's special envoy's time to scheme against, so he decisively decided to stop thinking about it.

“We can’t explain 200 gold coins to the patriarch. How about 300 gold coins? You can take this vampire rat with you, and we’ll give you some other discounts.”

The cunning merchant's eyes twitched slightly, and he forced out a fawning tone.

Molen glanced at the exquisite birdcage.

Since the special envoy has left such a generous gift, there is no reason to refuse.

Chessy hates fox-girl slave traders.

What a coincidence, Morlen doesn't like it either.

“500 gold coins,” Morren said.

"This, Your Excellency..."

"Give me 500 gold coins, and I'll reluctantly help you get rid of this guy."

"you!"

The fox-woman merchant was so angry that she almost slapped him with her claws, but the sword in Moren's arms kept her calm.

"Hiding vampires in the rune workshop is a serious crime, but the kingdom can turn a blind eye to some things, especially to nobles."

“But noblemen have special privileges,” Morren said, pointing to himself.

“You don’t have any.” He pointed to the fox in front of him.

"If this guy is to stay with you, he'll probably have to keep giving the kingdom's overseers a lot of benefits."

The fox-woman merchant gritted her teeth, and Moron knew she had guessed correctly.

The only merchants who are more afraid of unsold goods than fruit sellers are probably those who sell contraband.

These goods are priceless, but every second they remain in our hands is a huge risk.

I've never heard of smugglers setting up warehouses to stockpile hundreds of tons of contraband in hopes of price increases; that's pure suicide.

The kingdom is rotten to the core, but you can never be sure if the next supervisor won't ask for an exorbitant price.

And right now, he is the only potential buyer.

They should be begging me to help them deal with it.

"You need to think about what you plan to do if the conditions offered by the next supervisor conflict with Chesie's?"

"Oh dear, Lady Chessie, the supervisor insisted on buying it, so we sold that little vampire mouse to her. We're so sorry."

Molen covered one of his eyes with his hand. "Do you think that one-eyed rat will just kill you after you say that?"

The fox-eater, Qie Qian, is a very famous person.

It is common knowledge that she utterly despises foxes.

The brown-furred fox girl's face turned pale and then red, looking extremely ugly.

Morren spread his hands.

“I believe your family head can see this too, otherwise you wouldn’t have made such a big fuss just to coax me into taking on this hot potato.”

"laugh."

A soft laugh came from the cage.

The white-haired girl raised her head, as if re-examining the aristocratic man before her.

"Absolutely impossible!" The fox-woman merchant suddenly stood up. "Don't push your luck!"

"How about this then?"

Molen smiled and raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.

"I won't charge you anymore. I'll handle it for free. It's a compromise between us, isn't it fair?"

The brown-furred fox girl's expression was incredibly ferocious.

She opened her mouth, then closed it again, her chest heaving violently, her vertical pupils narrowed into slits.

The curtain on the side of the tent was silently lifted by a corner, and the fox maid walked slowly to the unscrupulous merchant's side, whispering a few words into his furry ear.

"Boss, the patriarch said if there's no other way, just give it to him directly, and don't go against the special envoy."

"I know, you son of a bitch!" the fox-woman merchant roared in fury.

"In this slave market, I'm the one in charge! Get out! You stinking monkey, get out!"

"You damn stinking rats! You damn stinking foxes! Get the hell out of here!"

She started grabbing everything within reach and smashing it everywhere like a madwoman. Fruit spun around, but Morren easily dodged it, and a cream cake smeared straight onto the iron bars of the birdcage.

The white-haired girl in the cage watched the farce unfold quietly.

Molen tactfully got up and backed out of the tent with a big smile on his face.

Before the last plate flew over, he casually pulled down the curtain.

Loud crashing noises and the unbearable curses of the brown-furred fox woman came from inside the tent.

"Your Excellency, have the negotiations broken down?"

The flying mice immediately surrounded them, asking anxiously.

"Of course not, it was easily settled. She doesn't have the final say here."

Wow, it feels so good to go against these slave traders.

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

Sulfur was held on either side by two fox-girl soldiers and thrown into a cage in the far corner of the market.

The cheap section was filled with large iron cages, one after another, crammed with wounded rat girls.

The air was filled with a disgusting stench of blood and excrement.

The wounds on my face had long since healed, but my ribs were still aching.

The fox was furious. Before leaving, it kicked her twice and then ordered its minions to throw her into the cheapest cage area.

It seems she's determined not to let that nobleman succeed.

Who would have thought that the sly fox who always had such a fawning face that made you want to slap him would one day be driven to the point of losing his mind.

It's somewhat satisfying to keep quiet about it.

Sulfur gave an exhausted smile.

She sat down against the railing and looked around.

The rats, priced at 6 silver coins, are roughly equivalent to small domestic animals and don't even qualify to be branded.

The establishment of the market naturally cannot be separated from the voluntary labor of these commodities. The rat girls in the surrounding cages were covered with whip marks and bruises, their ears torn and covered with black scabs, curled up in the corner and motionless.

Sulfur lowered his head, his fingers parted his collar to reveal the bright red cross slave mark newly engraved in the center of his chest, and then touched the black curse ring around his neck.

Repeat the same mistakes.

How ironic.

A faint sobbing sound came from the cage next door, and Sulfur looked in the direction of the sound.

Will we die?

A little mouse nestled in its mother's arms, its face streaked with tears.

"With Mom here, I'm not afraid."

The adult mouse girl holding her gently coaxed her, but her voice was trembling.

Sulfur glanced at them sideways.

After a moment of silence, she reached out her hand.

In my palm was a dirty lump of something—a piece of cream cake I'd grabbed in the chaos while I was being beaten in the tent, and a few berries that had rolled on the ground.

It had been squeezed out of shape and was sticky and stuck between my fingers.

"Eat."

"Thank you, sister!"

The little mouse blinked her wet eyes, stretched out her two little hands to take it, and revealed a slight smile.

Sulfur withdrew his hand, leaned back against the railing, and looked up at the dark sky above the cage.

Chapter 36 The Saintess

Good products will sell well.

The copper ingots from the floating airship, plus a batch of jewelry recovered from Flower Town.

It didn't take much effort to sell them all, and I got a full 530 gold coins in return.

The bag was quite heavy. Moren weighed it in his hand; it was substantial, much heavier than he had expected.

The recipient was a snake-woman merchant, and judging from her expression, she clearly felt she had made a profit.

"With this quality and purity, Baron, I'll buy as much of this as you need."

Molen smiled and nodded.

But then again, it seems like I forgot something.

hiss……

It seems I made a promise to a cat a few months ago that she would be in charge of transporting the copper ingots.

He even managed to trick them into bringing their men to help him fight.

Now that we have airships, our transportation efficiency far surpasses that of ground caravans, and the assistance from the Cat and Mouse Caravan seems to be no longer necessary.

If you calculate it that way, it really becomes freebies.

Forget it, I'll figure out how to make it up to the cat later.

Moren felt greatly comforted and led the Ratgirls through several alleyways on the outskirts of the new market, turning into the slums.

The slums were filled with tents, big and small, tattered and worn, pieced together from animal hides and scraps of cloth, crammed together.

Various disabled animal girls moved slowly between the tents. A wolf girl with a missing arm leaned on a cane, a blind lizard girl squatted on the ground groping for something, and a seriously ill cat girl leaned against the outside of the tent coughing.

A simple roadside stall caught Morren's attention.

The stall was hastily constructed with a few stones, on which sat a dark, flat-bottomed pan, from which smoke hissed upwards.

The vendor was an old wolf missing an arm, wearing an apron whose original color was no longer discernible, and skillfully flipping small pies in a pan with his only remaining hand.

Moren sat down on the stone in front of the stall, and the flying mouse girls around him squatted down in a circle.

"Give me a few."

The pie was small, about the size of a palm, with a rough crust and a grayish color.

It has a very grainy texture when you squeeze it, but it does smell a bit like flour.

Taking a bite, the filling is a mixture of some kind of insect and an unknown type of meat, which crunches and has a subtle texture.

But it's exceptionally rich in oil, and one bite fills your mouth with a salty and savory flavor.

Surprisingly, the taste was quite good.

"Delicious!"

"There's meat! I haven't had meat in ages!"