NOVEL WEB Chapter 136 - Achievements
“Shouldn’t this be a good thing? For both humans and the snake-people,”
After listening to the words of the little kid, Xiao Yixian couldn’t help but speak up. The little kid glanced at her and said in a calm voice.
“You’re right. If humans and snake-people can really make peace, it would be a good thing for both sides. Humans wouldn’t have to worry about snake-people’s raids, and the snake-people wouldn’t have to worry about resources.”
The little kid said, his eyes squinting slightly.
“But don’t forget, in any group, there will always be people who profit through various means. Xiao Li’s idea of making humans and snake-people coexist in peace has already upset some people from the beginning.”
The little kid’s purple eyes shimmered with a strange light as he turned to Xiao Yan and continued, “Your sister naturally understands this, but instead of retreating, she took a hard stance before doing all this. She started by cracking down on the slave trade of humans, using very forceful methods.”
“Wait, slave trade?” Xiao Yan suddenly paused and asked, “My sister said that slave trading has been banned by the Jia Ma Royal Family and should have disappeared a long time ago.”
“Disappeared? What are you thinking?” Xiao Yan’s words seemed naive to the little kid, who sneered and said, “As long as there is a huge profit in something, no matter how much it’s banned, there will always be people willing to risk their lives because the profit is worth it.”
“Before the ban on slave trading, not considering the exchange rate between the gold coins at that time and now, a male snake person could be sold for around ten thousand, and a female snake person for fifty thousand.”
“So, after the ban on slave trading, can you guess the price of snake-people on the black market?”
The little kid, with a serious expression, raised his hand and gestured to a price.
“Male snake-people were priced at one hundred thousand, and a female snake person would fetch at least half a million.”
Xiao Yan and Xiao Yixian were shocked, especially Xiao Yixian. All the wealth she had gathered from that secret room didn’t amount to even one million gold coins. And here in the Tager Desert, two female snake-people could fetch a million?
“So now you understand why so many people want your sister dead.”
The little kid leaned back in the carriage, swinging his legs.
“Cutting off someone’s source of income is like killing their whole family. Your sister’s crackdown on the slave trade is to make the snake-people believe in her determination. She has succeeded. In the past six months, your sister has dealt a heavy blow to many slave traders and safely returned those abducted snake-people to their tribe.”
The little kid sneered and said, “As for the cost, your sister can’t even sleep peacefully now. Every time she goes out, she has to be accompanied by a group of bodyguards. She doesn’t even leave the mercenary company for anything unimportant.”
With a smile, the little kid continued, “She’s doing a good deed, but she’s constantly under the threat of death. It’s really sad. I don’t know what your sister’s endgame is.”
Xiao Yan looked at the little kid and asked, “How did you get to know my sister?”
The little kid waved his hand casually and answered, “Your sister bought a map from me when she first came to the Tager Desert to establish her mercenary company. Later, for various reasons, she bought goods from me more than ten times. Occasionally, she even bought some information from me that others didn’t know, such as the location of the slave traders’ hideouts.”
“Your sister always paid on time and never owed me anything. Over time, we became familiar. She even hired me as a bodyguard for a couple of days, but she thought it might cause unnecessary trouble for me. So, on the third day, she let me go.”
The little kid said this with satisfaction, acknowledging Xiao Ling’s integrity. However, he couldn’t deny that Xiao Ling’s decision was correct. If word got out that there was a mercenary company with a single ice manipulator in the whole Tager Desert, it would undoubtedly bring a lot of trouble. Even if Xiao Ling hadn’t let him go, he wouldn’t have continued to work for her.
“… Anyway, thank you for helping my sister,”
Xiao Yan bowed his head to thank the little kid. At this moment, Xiao Yixian furrowed her brows and looked at the little kid, asking, “Um… kid, how old are you, really? Why do you sound so old-fashioned when you talk?”
Especially when the little kid referred to himself as an old man, Xiao Yixian had been holding back her curiosity the whole way and couldn’t resist asking.
“Kid?”
As soon as Xiao Yixian’s words fell, the little kid’s previously amiable face instantly turned gloomy. Veins bulged on his forehead, and he looked at Xiao Yixian with a cold smile.
“You think I’m a kid?”
“Uh, sorry, sorry! I was just curious!”
Realizing that the little kid was displeased, Xiao Yixian quickly apologized. The little kid huffed and reached into his pocket, fumbling for something. After a while, he handed her a portrait.
Xiao Yixian took the portrait in a daze, and Xiao Yan leaned in to look as well.
It was a portrait of an elderly man who appeared to be in his sixties or seventies. Even in just the portrait, both Xiao Yan and Xiao Yixian could sense the man’s youthful handsomeness.
“This is how I originally looked. As for why I’ve become like this now, it’s none of your business.”
The little kid said, taking the portrait back from Xiao Yixian’s hand and tucking it away in his pocket. However, he noticed that both Xiao Yixian and Xiao Yan were still staring at him, which annoyed him, and he bared his teeth.
“What’s the matter? Do you have a problem?”
“No, no, no!”
Xiao Yan and Xiao Yixian quickly shook their heads, and both had similar thoughts.
No wonder the little kid didn’t sound like a child at all. It’s a shame for that cute face.
After another fifteen minutes, the carriage came to a stop, and the driver turned to the three of them.
“Guests, we’ve arrived at Rock Desert City.”
“Oh, thank you.”
The little kid waved his hand in greeting and then jumped off the carriage. Xiao Yan and Xiao Yixian followed suit.
In front of them was a city that appeared much smaller than Stone Rock Desert City, and a sign on the city gate bore the inscription “Rock Desert City.”
“Let’s go; I’ll take you to the Desert Metal Mercenary Company.”
Xiao Yixian waved and led Xiao Yan and Xiao Yixian into Rock Desert City.
Once inside the city, the little kid scanned the pedestrians on the street from left to right, furrowing his brow slightly. He muttered softly under his breath.
“It seems like the rumors are true. We’ve encountered some trouble recently…”
“What do you mean?”
Xiao Yan, hearing the little kid’s murmur, bent down slightly to inquire. Wasn’t the street peaceful?
“I told you earlier, your sister intends to turn the mercenary company into a transit point for both humans and snake-people.” The little kid pointed to the street and said, “The last few times I came here, I saw quite a few snake-people on the streets, but now I can’t see a single one.”
“Could it be that they just happened not to come today?”
Xiao Yixian made a guess from the side, but the little kid furrowed his brow and only spoke softly after a long pause.
“I hope so…”
========= Translator Note =========
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