The Holy City of Fields, also known as the Stone City, is located in the north, and its architectural style is rough and bold. The third largest building in the city is an auction house, and the last auction at the end of September just ended perfectly.
At this time, in the warehouse behind the auction house where goods were stored, many people were busy preparing to count and hand over the goods being auctioned.
The storage area for rare living things is filled with countless cages of various sizes. In order to match the high prices of these goods, the cages are specially made using some sturdy and beautiful materials.
The cage placed in the front is made of chrome silver with some patterns on it. The necklace and handcuffs also made of chrome silver are buckled on the slender wrists and neck of the creature in the cage.
—It was a girl with long fiery red hair.
At the auction just now, this girl was bought for a high price of 5,000 gold coins.
"Well, not bad." The blond man, dressed in gorgeous and exquisite clothes, stood outside the cage, used his cane to lift the red hair of the girl in the cage, and carefully admired her face. "Not bad, as beautiful as it looked on the auction table. This gift is worth giving."
The other man standing next to him smiled and said, "After all, they are descendants of the nearly extinct Lodite. Isn't their tribe famous for their bodies and beauty? They are called 'descendants of the goddess of beauty' or something like that. You have given them so many treasures, plus this gift, Count Roland should help fulfill your wish."
The blond man talked to him for a while, then called the manager and ordered, "Everything I photographed should be sent to Pudala as soon as possible, especially this. Please take good care of it on the way. If you die on the way, I will ask you to pay three times the compensation."
The steward smiled and said, "Of course, Baron, don't worry, our auction house will arrange for you a most powerful and reliable mercenary group to escort your goods..."
The back street of the auction house is a main street with many taverns and brothels. The mercenaries who transport goods for the auction house all year round would stay here to kill time while waiting for the goods.
The Golden Lion Mercenary Group of more than 30 people is considered one of the largest mercenary groups here. Most of the mercenary members are middle-aged men who can't stand loneliness. A group of men sit in front of the wine counter, drinking beer while flirting with the female employees behind the counter and making some explicit jokes.
These pubs often run underground brothels on the side. Most of the female employees in these pubs, who dress particularly elegantly and seductively, have hot tempers, tell dirty jokes all the time, and can get money out of men's pockets to buy them drinks with just one sentence, also do sex work on the side.
"Aili, I've already bought ten glasses of wine from you, why don't you let me kiss you?" The man, whose face was flushed from drinking, said with a smile.
Ai Li lifted her open collar and glanced at him coquettishly, "You bought the wine, not me."
"Don't be so heartless. It's not like I haven't bought you before. We are so familiar with each other..."
"Yes, yes, that's why I'm fed up with you. You're such a stingy man. Look at the bracelet you bought me last time. It was a fake. I was laughed at by others."
The other men laughed as they listened to their companions admitting their mistakes and trying to please him, and then falling drunk again.
After dealing with a few male customers who shamelessly tried to take advantage of her without paying, Ellie turned her gaze to the darkest corner.
There sat a strange, tall, strong man.
He was taller than the strongest mercenary here. He was wrapped in a thick black and grey cloak and had gloves on his hands. The strangest thing was that he had a skull of some unknown animal on his head, so he couldn't even see his face clearly. His whole body was covered tightly, with no skin showing at all.
While other men were busy drinking and flirting with women, he sat alone in the corner eating.
He didn't even take off the strange skull on his head to eat. He just pulled open the movable mandible on the skull and stuffed a palm-sized steak into his mouth.
Ellie watched him for a while and found that he was eating without making any other sound except swallowing. This was the second time she saw this man, but he seemed to have no interest in her, which gave her some ideas.
"Hey, do you want a drink?" Ellie walked over with a glass of wine, pushed the glass of clear yellow wine in front of him, and leaned forward intentionally, posing in a charming manner.
As long as the person in front of you looks up, you can see the beautiful scenery.
However, the tall and strange man was still concentrating on eating the meat without even a pause, let alone looking up at her.
Ellie waited for a while, a little unconvinced, and tapped her red-nailed fingers on his plate, "I'm buying you a drink, why are you ignoring me?"
"My name is Ellie, you are also from the Golden Lion Mercenary Group, what is your name?"
No matter what she said, the huge man just sat there eating with an irritating indifference.
"Hey! Ellie, stop wasting your time. Muri doesn't like women at all!" The mercenaries who were drinking nearby noticed the situation in the corner and shouted, "Come over and play with us."
Ellie turned her head and rolled her eyes, "If she doesn't like women, then how can she like stinky men like you!"
After she finished scolding him, she turned around and gave the man a sweet smile, "Your name is Murray? I noticed you last time. How about you, do you want to sleep with me? I have a lot of experience, even if you have a physique like yours... I can handle it~"
She scanned the man's body, wondering what kind of tall and strong figure he had under his clothes. From her experienced point of view, he was definitely a top-notch man, and the more she looked at him, the more she was attracted to him.
Seeing that she refused to give up, the men who were drinking over there laughed. One of them banged his glass and laughed, "Aili, it's useless. He's still a brat who doesn't know the taste of women!"
Ellie: “…Huh?”
"He's not an adult yet, hahaha!" the men burst into laughter.
Ellie looked stiffly at the big guy who was still eating. He was so big, but not yet an adult? Where was this child? Was he a wild animal
But soon, she chuckled, "He's still a young boy... Isn't that better?"
"How about it, little brother? Sister doesn't want your money. Do you want to experience the bliss of life?"
The man wearing the skull finally stopped, pushed his empty plate forward, and said, "Another plate of meat."
The voice is tender.
Ellie: “…”
She threw the plate to the kitchen with a subtle look on her face and said, "Bring another steak, with more meat." The child looked like he could eat a lot.
Until the third steak was finished and the other members of the Golden Lion Mercenary Group called them to leave at the door, Ellie did not hear the mountain-like man say a second word, nor could she convince him to try it with her. Looking at his back as he left, she could not help but sigh with regret.
After leaving the tavern, the men from the Golden Lion Mercenary Group punched Murray's arm and said, "You really don't know how to cherish the opportunity. If Ellie was willing to let me sleep with her for free, I would have gone with her now."
"Yeah, you're really lucky!"
"You're not a fool."
Murray ignored these sour words, just like he ignored Ai Li's nagging before.
He has always been like this, silent and eccentric.
Unlike these official members of the Golden Lion Mercenary Group, Muri was a temporary member. This was his second time joining the team. The other members of the team were not familiar with him and had never even seen his face covered under an animal skull.
"Wake up, everyone! You're drunk in broad daylight. How can you be so drunk? We have to escort the goods to Pdala this afternoon. The reward is generous this time, so no one is allowed to slack off!" The leader of the Golden Lion Mercenary Group had a big beard and was short and strong like a bell. His words sounded like ringing a bell.
The shapeless mercenaries all stood up straight and dared not fight anymore.
After scolding the mercenary group leader, he looked much kinder when he saw Muri, who was much taller than him. "Muri, you should work hard this time. Once you successfully deliver the goods, you can officially join our Golden Lion Mercenary Group and earn more money."
In fact, when Murri was temporarily recruited into the group for the first time, he showed extraordinary fighting ability and almost dealt with an entire bandit group alone.
Such ability is enough for him to join the mercenary group, and even directly become one of the deputy leaders, and receive several times the hiring fee from the leader.
However, the leader did not let him join the group directly, and he withheld the bonus that should be distributed to him, and only gave him two gold coins, because he was too obedient and too easy to be deceived.
No matter how big he is or how good he is at fighting, he is still a child who can be manipulated by just a few words.
The leader of the Golden Lion Mercenary Group particularly likes this kind of "useful" member.
He kindly encouraged the young man, then quickly asked the other team members to load the goods and assigned tasks to each person.
At first, the team of more than 30 people was relatively orderly. When the people from the auction house carried out a cage covered with black cloth, the mercenaries curiously lifted the cloth to see the girl trapped inside. Soon, almost everyone gathered around.
Someone stared at her for a while and cursed, "Such a beautiful woman, is she also a commodity?!"
Someone was lying beside the cage, wishing he could stick his head in there. "Red hair! This is the first time I've seen a woman with red hair!"
The people behind him kept pushing forward, wanting to see what kind of beauty that was. "Move aside, let me see!"
The leader of the mercenary group was talking about the goods with the manager of the auction house. Seeing that the people below looked ignorant, he raised his voice and cursed a few times, asking them to disperse.
A group of men reluctantly stepped back, still reluctant to go far away. Someone couldn't help but say, "Captain, we have to assign responsibilities for the goods anyway, why don't you let me take charge of this?"
The others also reacted quickly and rushed forward to recommend themselves, "Captain! Choose me! This guy can't beat me, if you choose me, I will definitely be able to protect this cargo!"
"Okay! What are you arguing about? Shut up!" the captain shouted.
He knew all the members of his team very well, and they all seemed to have never seen a woman before. Such a beautiful woman fell into their hands, and they had to travel such a long distance and live with her for a month. If something unexpected really happened, he didn't want to lose 5,000 gold coins.
"Get out of here, everyone! Go back to work!" He cursed and drove everyone away, then shouted, "Muri, come here!"
Murray, who was sitting alone in the distance, came over, and the head of the group pointed at the cage and said to him, "This cargo is your responsibility."