The sapling that Vilanthe had turned into was hidden in a corner of a pile of goods, struggling upwards to compete for a little sunlight. She could stroll on the ship after dark, but during the day she could only hide in the cargo hold. There was only a small porthole here and no water, after a few days, the leaves on the small tree had wilted and drooped.
However, she didn't dare to leave the cargo hold casually. After getting on the ship, Vilanthe realized that this was not an ordinary cargo ship as the White Pigeon Merchant Guild had claimed, this was a slave ship! Underneath the cargo hold where Vilanthe was, the lower deck was full of young slaves huddled together.
When night fell, Vilanthe quietly left the cargo hold. She didn't want to take this risk, but she was really too thirsty. She hadn't had a drink for several days and she wasn't sure if she could hold on until the ship docked.
Freshwater was a precious resource on the ship, only available in the kitchen. A thin sapling stuck to the door. There were people talking in the kitchen, so Vilanthe had to wait outside.
Shelley was a new crew member who had just come aboard, and Phil, who worked in the ship's kitchen, was his uncle. He had just lost his first job last month, so Phil introduced him to work as a sailor on a White Pigeon Merchant Guild's ship.
"Uncle, you only said this was a normal job, but you didn't tell me that this is a slave ship! We are trafficking slaves from the Orlan Empire to the Silver Empire if the Church finds out..." Shelley showed a frightened expression.
Phil reassured him carelessly, "Half of the 'goods' on the ship are from the capital, do you think the Church has no idea about this? We have the backing of the merchant guild, what are you afraid of?"
Vilanthe outside the door widened her eyes in surprise. The Church was so accommodating to the White Pigeon Merchant Guild and even allowed the White Pigeon Merchant Guild to do such business with the Silver Empire. The White Pigeon Merchant Guild was actually selling the people of Orlan to the Silver Empire to be slaves?!
But something seemed wrong. Vilanthe recalled the information she knew. After Duke Elvys established the Silver Empire, he restored the freedom of all slaves and strictly prohibited any nobles from keeping slaves. In this case, why would they transport slaves from the Orlan Empire? Did they only ban the domestic slave trade and ignore slaves from other countries?
Shelley also voiced the doubts in his heart, "Isn't it rumored that the Silver Empire doesn't have slaves? So that's a lie." His tone was sarcastic.
"There really aren't any slaves in other parts of the Silver Empire." Phil pursed his lips, "But our destination is the Duchy of Safi. How are those vampires supposed to live without human slaves? I think they even have a blood tax there."
Vilanthe felt slightly relieved. If the Silver Empire really preached freedom on the surface but smuggled slaves from neighboring countries in secret, she would really have to consider whether her choice to come here was right. But if it was only the Duchy of Safi, things might still be negotiable.
Duke Safi, was a vampire who was even older than Duke Elvys. To this day, his position in the governing council was only below Duke Elvys, his existence was a scar from when the Silver Empire was established. Due to Elvys' hostility towards vampires, all vampires had to seek refuge in the territory of Duke Safi. They formed a sizable force that made the newborn empire quite troubled, ultimately Duke Knox Safi obtained a seat in the council with the condition that all vampires could not leave the Duchy of Safi without authorization.
Over the years, the Silver Empire and the Duchy of Safi maintained a strange balance, whether there were undercurrents swirling within it was something Vilanthe couldn't say. She knew about these secrets of the Silver Empire not because she was a princess of the empire, entitled to access such political information. Rather, because she had to spend her days learning boring subjects like etiquette and flower arrangement, the maids would occasionally talk about interesting stories from other countries on the continent, and the entangled history between the Silver Empire and the vampires would be included in the negative propaganda story titled "The Incompetent Rulers who Bow to Vampires".
Condoning the merchant guild to sell their own imperial citizens as slaves to other countries was obviously more hypocritical, and Vilanthe felt even more disgust towards the Church. Were races and bloodlines that important? Important enough to burn the queen of an empire, the wife of a monarch, important enough to force a monarch to become a humiliating breeding stallion, just to give birth to an heir who met the requirements of being a "purebred human"?
Vilanthe felt nauseated.
She waited until the two men in the kitchen had both gone to the deck to enjoy the breeze before Vilanthe crawled out from the corner, moving her root system to enter the kitchen.
She found a basin of fresh water and happily extended a branch into it. Glug, glug, it tasted so good!
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"Miss Ina, are you also interested in becoming a sponsor of the academy?" Dean Helena caressed the cup in her hand, looking at Ina who was sitting opposite her, "Which project are you interested in?"
According to the academy's regulations, sponsors who provide financial support for a project can gain all the results of the project, and neither the professors nor students involved in the project can leak or use the research results.
This is because generous sponsors may provide funding for a project that can support multiple research projects under a professor's guidance. This appropriate range of fund reallocation is acceptable, otherwise, the professors would not accept all kinds of odd and even unreasonable demands from these nobles or merchants who don't understand magic. Correspondingly, having paid a high price, the results of the project designated by the sponsor belong solely to him or her.
Ina herself was a mage, and a powerful one at that, who seems to have been bored enough to start running a restaurant. Although it was good news for the academy to have another sponsor, Dean Helena was somewhat puzzled as to why Ina suddenly made this request.
"I haven't come up with an interesting project yet. Because what I want to sponsor is," Ina paused, seeming to observe Helena's expression, "the academy's cafeteria."
This answer was unexpected to Helena, but considering Ina's current occupation, it seemed to make sense.
"Miss Ina may not know, but the cafeteria of the Star Academy is very special." Helena looked troubled.
Was it monopolized? Or was the entry threshold too high?
"There is a compulsory regulation in the academy's cafeteria, the food on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays is free."
This surprised Ina. She had planned to launch some free tasting activities in the cafeteria in order to complete random tasks 0-7 and leave an impression on 100 students of Star Academy about the Dragon Flame Restaurant in a week. She didn't expect that the welfare of the students at Star Academy was already so well done.
Helena called Lusen, who was on the side, with a wry smile, "Lusen, what do you think of the academy's cafeteria?"