"These damn gang thugs, they can only bully us..."
"Hush! Do you have a death wish?"
"Ah..."
"The Wizard Lord is here!"
Just when Colin was puzzled, the crowd in front of him, like dominoes passed from person to person, suddenly parted to create a path.
At the end of the path, a hairily robust short man was forcefully grabbing the wrist of a frail girl.
Colin frowned slightly and continued to walk forward.
The short man did not notice the unusual atmosphere around him; he leered at the girl and whispered:
"Let me tell you the truth. There was nothing wrong with the bread from your bakery; I deliberately framed your mother."
The girl's lips were tightly pursed, her eyes filled with anger, tears streaming down her cheeks onto the ground.
"Do you know?... Your mother was so naive to come and apologize to me... she didn't even consider how I could possibly let her off," the short man said, with a smug smile as he saw the anger in the girl's eyes.
He loved seeing them angry yet helpless against him. Had her mother not been too old, he might have kept her for his own pleasure...
But it was time to give the girl false hope and take her for himself.
Like before, play with her for a few months, then sell her for a good sum...
His tone shifted.
"Of course, my aim was always you, Renee. Just agree to me obediently, and I'll buy your sister back..."
At this moment, he finally noticed something wrong in the girl's gaze.
He turned slightly, and when he saw Colin, his face instantly turned ashen!
"My lord!"
He quickly shrank back, dropping to his knees with a thud.
Colin ignored him and walked on.
Seeing Colin pass by without a glance, relief flooded through the short man's heart.
For commoners like them, comparable to weeds, if they offended a Wizard Lord, death would mean death, with no one to seek justice for them.
He saw that Colin was moving further away and turned to look at Renee,
Perhaps from the shock of seeing Colin, he felt a sudden surge of brutality and raised his hand, intent on slapping her face!
The girl instinctively closed her eyes, her eyelashes trembling with fear.
Pfft!
But what landed on her face was not a slap.
It was a handful of warm, foul-smelling blood.
A metal arrow clattered to the ground.
The short man's eyes quickly dimmed; his raised hand gradually lowered before he heavily collapsed.
Colin withdrew his gaze, with the remaining traces of magic power from his witchcraft fading away.
He continued forward, not dwelling on the deed he had done effortlessly.
Although he was no good man,
He found it difficult to remain entirely unaffected by such things.
Especially when the right and wrong of the situation were crystal clear and the action required from him was but a simple gesture.
Inside Blackstone City, commoners and Wizards were worlds apart in status.
That short man, from his clothes, actions, and the words of the surrounding bystanders, clearly had no significant background.
He didn't even need to explain himself; the Guards would learn everything from the onlookers and take the initiative to clean things up for him.
After walking a bit further, he suddenly frowned slightly and looked back.
The girl he saved just now... her name was Renee?
She was following at a distance.
Seeing him look back, Renee's face showed panic and she instinctively lowered her head.
She was not pursuing Colin.
It's just that they happened to be heading in the same direction.
Quickly, Colin also realized this and withdrew his gaze, continuing onward.
Soon, he finally arrived at the slave market.
The so-called marketplace in front of him was actually just a main street.
People lined both sides of the street—muscular men and young women, all with collars on their necks and all common humans.
Before coming here, Holt had told him that if he wanted to buy slaves like Half-Elves or other non-human ones, he had to wait for the biannual caravans or try his luck at the city center's largest slave trade market.
Non-human slaves were generally more expensive because they typically had innate talents in certain areas.
However, most of the non-human beings who had fallen into slavery were not so extraordinarily gifted.
Holt even gave an example.
On the second floor of the Giant Axe Tavern in the city center, reserved solely for Wizards, there were a few non-human dancers, such as Half-Elves, Mermaids, Catwomen, and so on.
But the non-human blood in their veins was already very diluted, and at most, they could bring about some slight changes, mainly in appearance.
Such as the pointed ears of the Half-Elves, the fish scales of the Mermaids, or the cat ears of the Catwomen.
Colin walked slowly down this street, his expression calm, but his heart somewhat heavy.
Anyone seeing their own kind being sold as goods for the first time would inevitably feel uncomfortable.
However, the slave traders lining the street didn't think so; when they saw Colin, their eyes lit up, believing a big customer had arrived.
But they didn't dare to call out and beckon him, in case they offended the Wizard Lord.
So, as if they had a plan, they simultaneously raised their whips and lashed out at their healthy slaves.
In doing so, they attempted to catch Colin's eye while showing off the strong bodies of the slaves.
Crack—crack—crack.
For a moment, the sharp snapping sounds were unceasing, mixed with faint groans of pain.
Moreover, some slave traders directly tore off the clothes of the female slaves beside them, exposing their bodies, which were noticeably cleaner than the other slaves.
Colin sighed inwardly.
He wondered how these slaves were trained; they had such numb expressions that were extremely uncomfortable to see.
The back of the long-haired male slave at the right front was gradually seeping blood.
But as if feeling nothing, he stood blankly, his gaze vacant.
The female slaves did not endure whipping, but their eyes were even more hollow than the males', as if deprived of life.
With no desire to continue browsing, Colin randomly walked into a shop.