Chapter 135: Press 1 to Receive a Cat-Girl
Tick, tock. Tick, tock.
Inside a dim stone chamber, a flickering candle danced without end.
On the wall, a slender black silhouette stretched long in the faint candlelight.
Following the light to its source—a man, bound in iron chains, stood fastened to a wooden post.
A brown burlap sack covered his head. His body was riddled with blood-soaked wounds.
Then, abruptly, the sack was undone and pulled away, tossed to one side.
The mont the man opened his eyes, the darkness laced with faint traces of light left him briefly disoriented.
As his eyes gradually adjusted, they went wide.
He shifted his body—and the sound of iron clashing against iron reached his ears. All 4 of his limbs were completely locked in place.
He looked up. A dense circle of mysterious figures had him surrounded.
Each was draped head to toe in black-hemp Cloaks, half their faces concealed, leaving only a pair of eyes that stared directly at him.
"You! Do you people know who I am?!"
No one around him spoke—but a voice ca from nearby.
"Then do you know who I am?"
Leah sat in a leather chair, one leg crossed over the other.
She held a sharp carving knife, idly filing her nails as though she had nothing better to do.
The man fixed his gaze and stared. The mont he made out Leah's delicate features, he froze on the spot.
Leah Clavena.
The Clavena Family, as it stood now, was renowned throughout the entire Royal Capital—its fa no less than that of the imperial family itself.
And in the city of Blairstone in particular, the Clavena Family could be said to hold the sky in one hand.
Even a stray dog wandering past on the roadside would wag its tail and bark My Lord at Viktor.
What's that? You say stray dogs can't talk?
Drag it off and stew it!
No matter how hard he thought, he could never have imagined it.
One mont he'd been dining and singing in the most lavish restaurant in Blairstone.
And the next—darkness. He'd been snatched by the Clavena Family?
The man's body began to tremble uncontrollably. His lips quivered nonstop. Cold sweat had soaked him through entirely.
"Miss Leah... what is... what is this...?"
"What's wrong—never seen a kidnapping before?"
Leah twirled the carving knife once in her hand and rose to her feet.
With her movent, the cloaked figures surrounding them closed in behind her.
The man jolted violently, fear seeping into his eyes.
Leah raised the carving knife to the man's throat, tilting his chin upward.
Her alluring eyes carried a trace of amusent; her tone held a note of genuine curiosity.
"Didn't you just ask us whether we knew who you were?"
"I'm quite interested now. Go on—tell us."
The man's mind went completely blank. He forgot even to tremble.
His throat locked around his own saliva. He didn't dare swallow. Leon leaned close to Leah's ear and spoke softly:
"Miss, his na is Hanna."
"He's a freight carrier for the Rether Family—handles cargo shipnts between the Empire's north and south."
Leah listened to the report, one eyebrow arching upward.
"Oh my, a Rether Family man?"
"You know what grudges your main household has with ours, and you still dared to co waltzing around our territory?"
A few drops of cold sweat slid down Hanna's forehead. He let them run along the tip of his nose without daring to move a muscle.
"Miss Leah, I... I just got lost..."
"Lost?"
Leah snapped her wrist—and the carving knife flew from her hand, shooting toward Hanna and burying itself deep into the wooden board behind him.
He could even feel it—the thud of the blade striking the plank, and the sharp whistle of air it carved through on the way.
Hanna's breathing grew heavier. A fraction of an inch closer, and that razor-fast knife would have sliced clean through his neck.
Leah looked at him with a pleasant smile and said softly:
"The Clavena Territory is so vast—and you just happened to get lost right at my doorstep?"
Hanna squeezed his eyes shut, trembling, not daring to say another word.
Leah extended her hand to the side. Leon, reading her perfectly, placed an alarm clock into her palm.
She wound the spring tight and held it up to the man's ear.
Clang!
A sharp, clear ring burst out.
The tick-tock that followed was relentless—like the tolling bell of the Grim Reaper.
"Tell where the cargo is hidden."
"If you can't tell before this clock goes off—your head cos off."
The instant the alarm began ticking, Hanna let out a howl of terror.
His features crumpled together in an agonized expression, as though the next second would bring him to tears.
"Crying?"
With those words, one of the cloaked figures stepped forward and delivered a sharp slap across the man's face.
Smack!
The crack of a clean, precise slap rang out—and the wretched howl that had been building toward a sob cut off abruptly.
Leah stroked the alarm clock with a pleasant smile:
"Crying counts as ti, you know."
Ring ring ring—!
The alarm clock erupted into violent shuddering. A cascade of tallic ringing echoed throughout the cramped, dim underground chamber.
From all around, the sound of blades clearing their sheaths rang out in sharp succession.
Hanna's eyes flew wide. He stared at the silver daggers glinting in the candlelight—and imdiately began nodding his head in a frenzy:
"I know, I'll talk! I'll talk!"
"That cargo—it's hidden... hidden at Sano Port!"
Leah smiled, picked up the alarm clock, wound the spring tight again, and turned the hand back a full rotation.
Hanna stared at her, bewildered:
"Miss Leah, you're..."
"You get another rotation."
Leah narrowed her eyes with a smile:
"Only 1 hiding spot? I don't believe that."
Hanna forced a grimace, straining for a smile, tears already threatening to spill from the corners of his eyes.
"R-really... there really is only this one, there really is only this one!"
But Leah only smiled, reaching into her pocket to produce a small bottle of red potion. She held it in front of the rchant, swaying it back and forth.
"Do you know what this is?"
Hanna stared at the red potion before him, slightly dazed.
The Magic Potions sold by the Clavena Family had a reputation that had swept across the entire Empire, north and south alike.
1 bottle retailed for 1,000 Geo—but on the black market, it had been marked up countless tis over.
Impossible to obtain even for a fortune.
And the red potion before him now bore the sa packaging—yet sothing about it made Hanna uneasy.
"A new product from my family. 2,000 Geo a bottle."
"Care to give it a try?"
Looking at Leah's half-smiling expression, a slowly rising sense of dread crept into his chest.
Ring ring ring—!
The alarm clock went off again.
Leah's smile seed to grow even more delighted.
"Leon."
The Elf behind her stepped forward in an instant, drawing her dagger.
"Drain him."
Inside the dim room, a flash of cold light passed across the man's neck.
Accompanied by a warmth that stung.
Blood surged out in a rush.
In that mont, Hanna's eyes went wide.
A wave of weakness washed over his entire body—warm and draining, as though sothing was being violently pulled from within him.
He stared in silence at the woman's smile before him.
All he could feel was that seductive smile.
Like a devil's.
***
The clear moonlight filtered through wisps of cloud like fine gauze, and spread across the cold-blue surface of the sea.
At the port, dozens of cloaked figures stood in the open space, waiting in silence.
This was the stockpile location wrung from Hanna's lips.
A number of guards were stationed here on patrol, keeping watch over the cargo.
Before long, the cloaked figures began to move.
Their movents were lightning-fast—like hunting leopards—silently cutting down each patrolling guard one by one.
The bodies were dragged into the shadows and cast into the churning sea.
The night was their best camouflage.
Only once the surrounding guards had been thoroughly cleared did they regroup.
The cargo laid out across the square—enormous, like giant crates—was tightly covered in blue cloth.
Only through the uncovered gaps beneath the fabric could one make out the material below: sothing resembling iron cage bars.
Press close to the surrounding stillness, and you could even hear the sound of breathing from within.
They exchanged nods with one another.
One of them placed a hand on the Transmission Crystal at her ear, relaying the ssage.
A bank of dark clouds drifted away on the wind. Moonlight spilled down across the massive iron cages.
Every Shadow Guard had already taken complete control of the area, and the surrounding guards had been wiped clean.
Beneath the bright night sky, the port held nothing left but dozens of cloaked, hooded figures.
Leah stepped out from the shadows, Leon behind her, dressed in the sa attire as the others.
The mont everyone saw Leah, they lowered their heads in deep respect.
"Miss Leah."
"This is the final stockpile point."
Leah stood around the several large cages, surveying them carefully.
"Alright, let take a look."
At her command, they swiftly leapt onto the platform and yanked the enormous cloth covers aside, exposing the cargo within.
Inside the iron cages were living, breathing people.
People with soft ears like cats and dogs—each one distinct in their features.
They were curled up inside the iron cages, huddled together for warmth.
Fluffy tails stood raised; long, pointed animal ears swiveled constantly, as though reading the danger in the air around them.
As if sensing a glimr of light after so long in the dark, they lifted their heads.
They looked at the crowd gathered around and staring—and fear and panic flowed plainly in their eyes.
Leah looked at them and let out a quiet sigh:
"Poor children."
Demi-humans.
Similar to humans—but not human.
They bore appearances almost indistinguishable from humans, yet carried distinctly animal traits.
Demi-humans were not a common sight within the Empire's borders.
The Empire maintained an extrely rigid racial hierarchy. Humans above all.
And so Demi-humans were not permitted to enter the Empire.
If a Demi-human were found within Imperial borders—they would either be expelled from the country.
Or left entirely to the disposal of whoever had captured them.
That was the reality. Demi-humans were not treated as human beings at all.
In the eyes of most people, they were nothing more than thinking, moving pets.
The Carencia Empire had no system of slavery.
So long as one was human—even a beggar—they could not sell themselves to beco another person's private property.
Of course, that was only on the surface.
Noble lords naturally had ways of ignoring such rules.
So long as they weren't too brazen about it—so long as they didn't do it right in front of the Emperor.
Soone would always be willing to look the other way for them.
So then—if certain people wanted free labor they could dispose of as they pleased, what was the solution?
Simple. Buy so Demi-human slaves.
Hiring a human cost money, and even required paying taxes.
But Demi-humans? They were stronger than humans. They had more endurance than humans.
Give them a bite to eat, give them a sip of water—and they would work themselves to the bone just to survive.
As long as they didn't starve to death, they'd be worked half to death.
Thinking of this, perhaps moved to so degree of pity for these Demi-humans, Leah let out a sigh.
"From now on, you're free."
The mont the words fell, Leon drew the Wooden Blade from her waist.
The Wooden Blade flickered with a faint, weak erald glow.
Dense Magic Power surged continuously across its surface.
Channeling the Magic Power, Leon raised the Wooden Blade and delivered 2 horizontal slashes across the iron cage.
The massive iron cage bars were cut open—a gap wide enough to escape through.
At the severed edges, green light still shimred.
Yet the Demi-humans crouched inside the iron cages didn't move.
They only grew more frightened, curling deeper into the far corners of their cages.
Seeing this, Leah cast a glance at the hooded Shadow Guards.
They understood imdiately. They reached up and pulled back their hoods, revealing animal ears of varying colors and shapes—no 2 alike.
Pointed ears, drooping ears, cat ears, dog ears—even long pointed rabbit ears.
To show, clearly.
That they were the sa kind.
Sure enough—upon seeing this, the Demi-humans inside the iron cages relaxed their guard ever so slightly.
The ears that had stood on end at the sense of danger gently lowered.
Leah looked at these Demi-humans who finally dared to stand, and smiled softly.
"Now—will you trust ?"
"Mm. I do trust you now, actually."
Suddenly, an out-of-place voice rang out. Every single person present snapped their gaze toward it without exception.
At so point, a man had seated himself on top of one of the massive iron cages.
Strapped to his back was an imposing greatsword—magnificent, and clearly no ordinary weapon.
The man looked down from his elevated perch at the crowd below, lips curled in a slight grin.
But the overwhelming pressure he exuded bore down on every person present without relent.
Leon sensed danger coming and flashed to position herself in front of Leah.
The man stared at Leah with a pleasant smile:
"I was wondering why every shipnt transported to Blairstone kept getting intercepted."
"Turns out the illustrious Clavena Family has been keeping a pack of Demi-humans as Shadow Guards."
A ripple of mocking laughter followed.
"What an eye-opener."
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