Let go of that monster girl!

She opened her eyes, reluctantly withdrawing from Morren's grasp:

"I'll take the Baron to see it now."

“Oh—isn’t this my dear Baron Morren? You’re still alive.”

A crisp but uncompromising voice rang out.

Molen frowned and looked down at the source of the sound.

The rat girl in front of him had only one ear, and a horrifying scar ran down from the cloth prosthetic ear, through the eye patch patterned with marigolds, giving her originally cute round face a fierce look. Her remaining left eye was looking Morren up and down with a mocking gaze.

Behind her stood a row of fully armed rat girl soldiers, their breastplates bearing the emblem of the Marigold Kingdom.

She opened her mouth and continued:

"Of the sixteen lightless zones we've been through, this is the one with the most survivors. You could say that monkeys have a unique talent for survival?"

Moren removed the catgirl from his body and turned to face the one-eared mousegirl.

"Chesie," he addressed the envoy, the Rat Girl, without any politeness, "what brings the Queen's esteemed envoy to this desolate wilderness?"

The envoy, Chesie, twitched her lips slightly upwards, but the smile didn't extend to her single eye.

"Let's go to your castle to talk. The smell of the country rats here is disgusting."

She walked quickly, looking down with disdain at the collapsed buildings and defensive structures that couldn't be repaired due to a lack of materials.

"The shield tax that started the year before last is in arrears; the male tribute that started last year is in arrears; and the ore tax for the first half of this year is still in arrears."

However, I'm not a tax official; all I can say is that this mess is one where taxes are simply not payable.

Before Morren could answer, her gaze was drawn to the half-collapsed building on the mountaintop. The outer wall was half-collapsed, and the inner wall was half-fallen, revealing a gap hastily patched up with stones inside. It looked like a patient who had broken three legs but was still trying to stand.

"what."

The sight of only half of the Baron's castle remaining finally made the envoy laugh.

She bypassed the castle gates, walked straight through the collapsed wall into the anteroom, jumped across the corridor, climbed up to Morren's drawing room, and then sat directly in the baron's seat, lifting her feet and propping them up on the table.

"If I may be so bold, Your Excellency, I have a proposal."

Molen guessed what she wanted to say.

"You mean to suggest that I sell this abandoned mine as soon as possible and find a noble rat woman to have dozens of baby rats?"

"clever."

"No way."

"Just kidding, let's get down to business." Chesie wasn't angry. She maintained her mocking expression, took out a notice from her pocket, shifted her leg position, and continued to prop it up on the table.

"We are grateful for Her Majesty's mercy. Her compassionate Queen has taken time out of her busy schedule to worry about the supply of materials to the refugees in the Dark Zone."

How do the words Queen, mercy, and worry form a sentence?

If those refugees who escaped the darkness hadn't all been placed in the slave market by the merciful Queen, he wouldn't have had to stubbornly hold onto this dilapidated mine.

With a skeptical expression, Morren picked up the notice and read the delicate handwriting on it. His brows furrowed at first, then slowly relaxed.

Finally, I couldn't help but laugh with relief.

"Ha, you actually want to increase taxes in the dark zone, just like that crazy woman."

"No, no, no, Lord Morren, can't you read Common Tongue?"

Chesie pointed to the notice with her finger. "It clearly states here: establish a centralized market that is 'safe,' 'fair,' and 'regulated.'"

Crossing the Dark Zone is so dangerous, Baron, haven't you considered what would happen to your territory if the Cat and Mouse Merchant Guild were eaten by monsters one day? Rats eating rats?

"To establish a foothold in the Dark Zone, a fortified stronghold with high walls is essential, a fact that Your Excellency should be well aware of."

Molen placed the proclamation back on the table and said:

"According to the kingdom's laws, the market is managed by merchants with licenses who pay taxes to the Queen and have the right to levy taxes on shops. There aren't many in the Dark Zone with the financial and human resources to do this."

He looked into Chesie's eyes.

"I suspect this charter will be issued to those foxes who run the slave trade, those who promised the Queen several times the tax rate?"

"This is not your concern."

"Then I'll continue to guess. The special envoy certainly didn't come to advertise the new market, so the actual meaning of the proclamation is that all caravans outside the market will be prohibited."

Morren continued:

“Those cunning merchants are hoping that no one can afford fuel and food so they can stuff everyone into slave cages.”

Cheshire leaned back in her chair, narrowed her one eye, and looked at Morren again, her mockery turning into a look of interest.

“Your Excellency, you are indeed very clever. Why not reconsider your previous suggestion? It’s such a waste for you to stay in such a dilapidated mine.”

"I still refuse."

Molen stepped forward and grabbed the little leather shoe that was still sticking up on the table.

Before Chesie could react, Morren had already lifted her foot a few inches off the ground, then let go, letting her foot fall back to the ground with a thud.

“You’re such a weirdo,” Chesie said, turning back as she walked toward the door. “The Kingdom’s Rat Girls cost tens of millions, and one of them isn’t even as expensive as a nobleman’s breakfast. It’s rare to see someone treat a bunch of trash like treasures.”

Moren looked at the girl in front of him, who was undoubtedly also a rat girl, with a somewhat speechless expression.

“There are no useless demi-humans in this world,” he said. “There are only useless lords.”

Chesie stopped in her tracks, her mutilated ear twitched twice, and she turned to look at Morren.

The smile on her face vanished completely. She seemed to want to say something, but in the end, she simply lifted the hem of her skirt and respectfully gave a farewell.

"Then farewell, and may you have a safe passage through the month of calamity, Lord Moren."

Molen smiled and watched the special envoy leave.

As the footsteps of the row of ratwoman soldiers completely disappeared at the end of the corridor, Morren's smile slowly faded as well.

He walked to the window and looked down at the bustling market.

The fluorescent lights shone brightly, and the mouse girls were still crowding around the caravan's stalls, holding the things they had just traded for. The lively sounds drifted all the way up to the mountaintop.

Lyme was squatting among a group of mouse eggs, silently watching them tease the giant cargo rat with dried mushrooms.

Cheshire led her guards through the market in a sullen mood. The rat girls around them squeaked and made way for her, shrinking back and not daring to approach.

Cheshire may have a foul mouth, but those foxes are the real problem.

By controlling the supply of materials, they effectively controlled the dark zone, eliminating their need to operate any so-called market.

Once supplies are cut off and procurement is shut down, large numbers of refugees who cannot afford to eat will be captured, enslaved, and herded into cages before the month of famine arrives.

A mouse maid quietly entered the reception room and noticed that the Baron was unhappy. She herself became somewhat dejected, and her ears drooped listlessly.

“Baron…” The maid hesitated for a moment, then walked to Morren’s side and looked up to ask.

"That catgirl merchant is still waiting outside. She's carrying two large wooden chests. I wonder what's inside. Should we go take a look?"

Molen withdrew his gaze and rallied his spirits.

"Sigh." He let go of his hand from the window frame. "Let's see what the good news is."

The catgirl merchant Jimmy squatted next to a wooden crate at the castle gate, drawing circles on the ground with her finger.

When she saw Morren come out, she immediately jumped up.

"The Baron was unhappy, meow, but seeing this good stuff cheered him up, meow."

"Unboxing."

Under Morren's command, several mouse girls brought crowbars, inserted them into the gaps in the wooden planks, and pressed down hard.

The wooden box lid groaned as the wooden nail was pulled out of the plank.

A strange cherry blossom scent wafted over, but inside the box lay two massive, dark metal pieces, their surfaces glistening with an oily sheen, reflecting the glow of the fluorite lantern.

What is this?

A female mouse reached out to touch it.

"what."

The crowbar in her hand seemed to be pulled by something and flew straight toward the wooden box. She quickly grabbed the end of the crowbar and was dragged to the side of the box.

A clanging sound came from all around, and the clasps and pendants hanging on the mouse girl's body were all pulled toward the wooden box.

The mouse girls squeaked and scattered, one of them unlucky enough to be pulled back by the hammer in her pouch and crash into a wooden crate. Morren quickly grabbed her by the collar.

The messy rat girls lined up behind Morren, peeking out half their heads to ask:

"Your Excellency, what are these two strange objects?"

"It's nothing too unusual."

This is the final piece of his plan.

"Magnetic crystal".

Chapter 6 The Capable Mouse Girls

Permanent magnet.

How mediocre, how expensive.

Even in the Dark Ages, magnetite was not a rare commodity.

Every blacksmith shop has a few stones used to attract iron nails, and children on the roadside can use magnets to perform magic tricks.

However, natural magnetite has a mixed composition and the impurities cannot be removed by breaking or melting it. Pure magnetite crystals are extremely rare, and their price is comparable to that of gemstones.

Powerful, inexpensive, and durable permanent magnets are the culmination of modern technology.

Behind it are terms like powder metallurgy, vacuum sintering furnace, and rare earth elements—terms that even a medieval bumpkin like me would never have heard of. Of course, the principles behind it are far beyond what Morren's current knowledge can replicate.

However, if you have the vast knowledge of monster girls like Moren, you'll never lack solutions.

Only a very few people know that in a remote, secluded village where cherry blossoms flutter, lives a beautiful rabbit-girl shrine maiden dressed in shrine maiden attire.

Besides being extremely sexually repressed throughout the year, the rabbit girls also possess smelting skills second only to the rat girls, and a "witch" ratio second only to the fox girls.

Since they can forge katanas that are wreathed in flames or lightning, "a magnet stronger than the magnetite on the mountain" is simply an order that is too simple to be true.

Each piece of eternal iron comes from the repeated hammering of more than a dozen delicate hands, and is poured with cherry wine and prayed over a dozen times, and is shaped from a handful of iron powder by secret techniques.

If the catgirl merchant accidentally reveals the buyer's gender, she might even stuff the wooden box full of cherry-pink underwear and letters with elegant writing but extremely vulgar content.

Jimmy counted the gold coins with great joy, while Morren felt a pang of heartache and couldn't help but clutch his chest.

Well, miracles and magic don't come for free.

Although it's definitely much cheaper than actually buying a magnetic crystal, it's still ridiculously expensive.

It cost a full forty gold coins, which was a huge sum of money, enough to buy dozens of limes or hundreds of mouse girls.

"Meow, Baron's gold coins! I'll come back to have cats do my bidding again next time..."

Jimmy stuffed the gold coins into his inner pocket and then tried to stick them onto Morren.

Before she could finish speaking, Moren waved his hand, signaling her to leave quickly.

Looking at those cat ears again, he feared he might not be able to resist snatching the gold coins back.

In fact, corresponding to the shrine secrets of the rabbit girls, the rat girls also have rune forging techniques, and the giant shields they forge can even withstand cannon fire head-on.

However, rune forging requires rune artisans who have learned engraving and infusion from a young age. It is not something that can be done by just picking up any rat girl who knows how to swing a hammer. Obviously, Dwarf Mountain does not have such rat material.

A mouse girl ran from the direction of the warehouse and stopped in front of Moren.

"Your Excellency, the lacquered cloth brought by the caravan has also been put into the warehouse!" she reported to Morren, standing at attention.

Molen smiled.

Everything is ready, let's get started!

Ding-ding-ding-ding.

The long-dormant workshops have been relit, with fluorite and furnace fires reflecting each other.

The rat girls had clear divisions of labor and worked enthusiastically, with the air filled with the smell of fire and metal.

Lyme was responsible for being stuffed until he cried, while the mouse girl was responsible for smelting the copper powder that was replaced.