Renji had thought feudalism was bad enough, but he hadn't expected that the Dragon Nation was built on a foundation of slavery, where the vast majority of slaves were...
"What's wrong, you beastmen are supposed to have a lot of fur, right? Can't handle a bit of cold? Stand guard properly, you hear me? If you dare slack off, I'll whip you to death!"
A Dragon soldier emerged from a nearby tent, dressed in padded and thickened clothes, with a fine firearm at his waist. Even in the cold wilderness night, he had his collar unbuttoned, wide open. His staggering steps and the bottle in his hand, along with his slurred speech, made it obvious he had drunk quite a bit.
Soon, another similarly drunk soldier came out of the tent, wrapping his arm around his comrade's neck, urging loudly, "Alright, alright, forget about this guy. Just now, someone in the slave group found a Catkin who had sneaked in, trying to use sir. Gumo's 'Relic' to escape. Now he's been caught by the lord. It's a Catkin! Let's hurry and join the fun, see how sir. Gumo punishes that Catkin slave, haha!"
The two drunk soldiers made their way to the commander's tent, lifting the curtain to enter. Inside, there was a "party" atmosphere, with many soldiers eating meat and drinking, clapping and cheering, looking towards the center of the tent with mocking eyes.
In the center of the cleared circular area, a tall wooden stake stood, and tied to the stake was... a young girl?
No, it could be seen from behind her dirty, disheveled brown hair, no matter how much she tried to hide them, two protrusions were still visible - those were fluffy cat ears.
The lower part of her body, where she had tried to hide her tail in her pants, was now brutally pulled out. Like the cat ears on her head, both were limply drooping.
On her body, there were several whip marks, leaving deep bloodstains on her pale, grayish-white skin.
As for the one responsible for all this...
Smack!*
The man in front of the stake, also the commander of this vanguard force, Gumo, kicked the stomach of the cat girl slave tied to the post. The cat girl winced in pain, her face showing a look of pleading, but this seemed to incite Gumo's cruelty even more.Continue reading on N0 VêLbIn
"What's the matter? Feeling the pain now? Weren't you quite brave when you tried to steal my 'Relic'? To be honest, I admire you for daring to infiltrate my army all by yourself. Did you really think you could escape the Dragon Nation like this? Ah!?"
Swish!
Just an inch away from Gumo, as if triggering some kind of defensive alert, a burst of blue light erupted from his chest. In the next moment, Gumo had disappeared from where he stood, and Eileen's crimson sword cleaved through empty air.
Swish!
Another flash of blue light, and Gumo's figure reappeared, three meters away from his previous position.
The escaping commander gasped for breath, while his tent hadn't been as lucky. The crimson sword had pierced it, creating a gaping hole through which the frigid wilderness winds rushed in. Combined with the recent turmoil, it sobered up most of the Dragon soldiers inside.
"Enemy attack!"
Inside the tent, dozens of soldiers were in a panic, shouting for support. However, perhaps due to the effects of alcohol, they felt dizzy and couldn't even hold their weapons steady. It was only now that they began to regret... and wonder.
Their military discipline had indeed been quite lax.
But...
This was war! Even if the enemy was weaker, they shouldn't have acted so recklessly. It was as if they were even more audacious than when they were in the Dragon Nation. Could it be that because of the change in environment, they had become even more negligent?
No matter how much they thought or regretted, it was useless now.
[Activate Cleanup Mode (Noise Reduction Version)] a cold, mechanical voice resounded.
Mechanical?
The Dragon soldiers inside the tent only saw a blur before their comrades' heads flew high into the air in the next second, blood gushing like a fountain.