"Oh, looks like Aiden and others are back, they brought other captured demi-human with us let's go and see…" Rex suddenly stood up and said.
Jiang Shuang also got curious, this was the first battle of beastman, although they had taken twice the expected time to finish it, they were sending signals from time to time to let others know that they are fine.
"With all of them wielding weapons at spirit rank, if they still can't win then I can't help but call them reckless. Let's go and see the situation ourselves," Rex said as he placed his hand on Jiang Shuang's shoulder then disappeared together with him.
In the next second, they appeared a little far from the transmission platform at the eastern gate.
Rex then flew near them with Jiang Shuang.
The transmission platform was being used again and again to transport the resident beastman here with the new beastman that are brought back by them. The transmission platform was big enough to transport more than 80 people at once but still, it was being used multiple times to transport all the peoples showing how many people are brought back this time.
Rex then looked around the incoming beastman and was surprised, the number exceeded his initial estimation by several times.
He had thought that 30 to 50 beastman was most, a noble like Kebel could take under control but the number in front of him has long surpassed 150, and more were still being transported.
Jiang Shuang on the side was the same, he too didn't understand what was going on.
There were also many types of beastman mixed in them Rex was unfamiliar with, some had two horns on their head, some had tough-hard skin while some had soft-tender, some were twice as big as human while some were half the size of a human. There even some catkin mixed in them.
But their current state was pitiful, they still had metallic colors on their neck, they had thin malnutrition-ed bodies and sickly faces, they were wearing rags in the name of cloths, a pungent smell was coming from their clothes and bodies ad they didn't have the luxury to take care of themselves.
Every slave collar contains a slave mark, the slave collar prevents them from committing suicide, suppresses their strength, and gives away their location if they try to escape, although they lost their effect after the owner died but someone with a similar technique can again control them.
Rex looked at their lifeless expression and knew that words alone cannot motivate them, so he kept quiet.
At this time, he saw Aeneas, Aiden, and Fred coming over. Dreg and Van didn't come over because they were maintaining order among the newly arrived beastman.
Rex was just looking at them that suddenly his eyes landed on Fred, or more like the petite figure following in his footsteps with her tender little feet. It was a girl, she appeared to be 5 or 6 years old at most, just like other beastman she was only wearing a long rag in the name of clothes but when Rex looked at her he didn't take it into account at all, the girl's appearance has surprised him.
The girl had short silver hairs, her skin was chocolaty and had a glossy touch to it just like his bloodline form, her two big gems like eyes carried fear mixed with curiosity as she looked around her surrounding, the girl was tightly clutching on Fred's clothes with her little hands while hiding behind him so he was only able to see her head at the moment, but her two long pointed ears already gave out her identity.
'A dark elf?' Rex was shocked.
He wasn't shocked because she was a dark elf but because she was in the Golden Bird Continent. Young elves mainly lived in the Everlasting Green Heaven Forest of Myriad Beast Forest, the true home of elves. The environment there is highly beneficial to them, not only it increases their cultivation speed and power but also their lifespan. It is said that fighting elves in Everlasting Green Heaven Forest is just seeking death.
Furthermore, elves were not a weak race they can wield the power of nature, their talent was needed in many places so there were at least a few elves in any big organization, resulting in them having connections in almost all the continents.
And it was obvious after all, elves are natural healers, this alone shows their worth. This was why people didn't like to make an enemy of them, as such even Azure Emperor never took any elven slaves or subordinates, he may have derived out Elven organizations that make deals in the continent but didn't go as far as to kill or capture them but now Rex saw that there was a genius working under him who had captured an elf? He was wondering how he was able to survive for so long while working with these sacred ones.
Jiang Shuang was also impressed by Kebel's fearlessness or maybe his greed.
[Woah! A walking DNA signature, Rex go capture it]
'Shut up, I'm not brain dead,' Rex thought.
When the Little Elf noticed Rex staring at her, she quickly hid her head behind Fred.
Fred saw it and awkwardly smiled.
"You are popular with kids," Rex said in a meaningful tone.
Fred bitterly smiled but inwardly he was relieved. He was worrying if Rex will see him bringing an elf here as trouble, after all carrying a baby elf was like carrying a ticking bomb if someone spread rumors saying Frozen Flame had a slave elf then things might get troublesome. The elves might not come to fight straightforwardly but their impression of people related to Frozen Flame will drop exponentially limiting the expansion of the organization.
{Brother Rex, it's better to hide the girl, if the rumors spread then...} (Jiang Shuang)
{You worry too much, I already thought about that, let the rumors spread we can use this to our advantage as long as we play our cards right and how can I limit those adorable thing's future, you heartless Jiang don't you have a daughter too? How can you say that I will tell this to your wife... Humph,} Rex snorted.
Jiang Shuang's lips twitched, he only said to hide her identity which can be done using a disguising technique or tool but Rex words made him sound like he was trying to kick her out of the city.
"Hey, girl what's your name?" Rex got on his knee as he asked but the dark elf didn't even spare him a look.
'This girl doesn't know how to appreciate beauty yet. In the future, when she will grow up and will remember that in the past a handsome king gentleman like me asked her name but she didn't reply, she will feel remorse, what a pity,' Rex thought.
[And I was thinking if this girl posses
Rex turned to Fred.
"She hasn't told me that either," Fred shrugged his shoulder.
Rex then stood up, he didn't push things on further.
{Later, send her to castle,} Rex sent a message to Fred.
Fred's eyes suddenly turned wide as he stared at Rex.
{You bastard, what does that look mean? I asked you to bring her to the castle because her condition doesn't look that good she was isolated from nature for so long especially when she is an elf, and she is a girl that needs care, she isn't as old as Coco yet. If she cultivates in Spirit Pond for a while, her condition will recover because of the essence of herbs mixed in it, Lucia can take care of her during that time... Wait, you should send Coco too, they are both young, they would feel better together, they can freely enter the castle cultivate when needed and can be with you for the rest of the time okay?} Rex explained.
Fred quickly nodded. If Coco and this girl can cultivate near Spirit Pond then their foundation will be solid. Seeing that he let them use Spirit Pond's 1st floor that easily, Fred's favorability of Rex increased.
'Hehe... If those two come to the castle and get familiar with that brat then I will have more time to spend, I should also warn him not to sing in front of these two or should I give these two some life-saving treasures?' Rex thought.
"Brother Ye, there is a problem," Jiang Shuang on the side suddenly spoke.
Rex was in the base form, so Jiang Shuang called him Brother Ye.
"Huh? What is it?" Rex asked.
"I have talked to these two and found out, that all these slaves are actually not from Kebel's household, after dealing with him and emptying the secret chamber in the basement used for imprisoning and taming slaves, they found an invitation later of a slave market," He said.
Rex's brows slightly frowned, now he understood where these slaves came from.
Slave markets don't have a permanent location, they are more like caravans consists of multiple slave traders, they keep moving and temporarily set up camps in certain locations for a limited period, then the news is spread in shadows, and invitations are sent to rich buyers.
"It is just as you think, the slave market had only set up camp and was going to open a few days later but our forces attacked it and freed the slaves. Brother Ye, you know that slaves are classified into three categories Labor Slaves, Battle Slaves, and...." Jiang Shuang stopped there as he looked at a group standing out than others.
The group consisted only of females, some of them were catkins, some had rabbit-like long ears while other had goat-like curved horns, some of them were even humans, the only thing common in them as they were all exquisite beauties with alluring figures, unlike other beastman who were wearing rags they were wearing clothes albeit the revealing type.
"Sex slaves..." Rex frowned, on this point he was really angry. Slaves are either captured or trained to become one from birth. The battle slaves are trained in a way that they will give priority to their master life instead of theirs, the laborers are trained in a way that they will work until their bodies cannot hold on without any question as for sex slaves they are trained to please their master. He was angry because he knew how the system works furthermore the ones who came in this category had a ribbon tied on their wrists.
The ribbon was ranging in colors white, pink, and red which represent if the slave was pure, experienced but pure, professional. These categories are set by sellers for buyers, many nobles would choose their consort using this category that is if they were humans.
Unbeknownst to Rex, his eyes started to turn into a shade of red, his heart was filled with rage as he thought about how people can be bought. His throat started to turn dry.
[Calm down, or someone else will pay the price,]
Rose's words were like cold water that cooled down his burning rage.
"So what should we do now?" Jiang Shuang asked.
His words carried deep meaning.
The slave from this category was purposely raised in a way that they don't become suitable for battle or for heavy labor to break their chances of jumping out from this business, it was like a virus planted in them that will only grow with time.
Rex closed his eyes for a second and lost in deep thought.
He wasn't worried about others differentiating them, because all the beastman here carried the same pain, they won't even think about differentiating anyone when they know how it feels to get differentiated.
One only knows the value of freedom when they have experienced how it feels without it.
The problem was what to do with them, they are not suitable for the fighting, they can't do heavy labor, they are not educated enough to help in business. And Rex definitely won't try his hand in the red light district, on earth he could do nothing but here he could do anything as long as he has the means and strength.
Suddenly, Rex opened his eyes and the light of wisdom shined through them.
"Actually, I have a way, there are things that they can do better than others... but I don't have time to execute those plans at the moment, for now, let them learn under the maids of the castle, Lucia can handle them, I will solve this matter once me and Lerna returns from our trip to Myriad Beast Continent," Rex said.
[You are thinking of developing media, when we still use the signal tower to expend the network range,]
'I had no plans to do it before completing other ongoing projects which might take 2-3 years but with the virtual world's help I may be able to make it work,' Rex said.
Jiang Shuang nodded. He had trust in Rex so when he heard that there was a way he stopped worrying about this matter.
[Reminder: Zakiya told you to meet her at noon!]
"Brother Jiang, I have an important matter to attend to, I leave them to you. I will send someone to break their slave collars later on," Rex said then flew away.
{One more thing, I will head out to Alchemist Association tomorrow morning to permanently take care of that Zhu's business before the trip,} (Rex)
Jiang Shuang nodded.