Chapter 197: The Rats Among Beastmen

The Draconic Beastman slightly drew back, fear showing in his eyes...

"Okay, first question, your name."

"Xiuban, Sir, my name is Xiuban Uranus!" The Draconic Beastman indeed knew Common, but his accent was quite heavy so it was hard to understand him.

"Uranus? So it truly was a Highland Beastman," Lin Yun mumbled to himself. Uranus was a typical name used by the Highland Beastman family. They lived in the Dark Highlands for generations and their dark red skin and pale stature were the most obvious signs.

"Sir, you... you know about Highland Beastmen?" The Draconic Beastman was clearly shocked.

"Of course I know..." Lin Yun's lips twitched. 'How could I not know about Highland Beastmen, I even know that you guys are called the rats among Beastmen. For countless years, the two major powers of the Dark Highlands used nearly every derogatory term to describe you: scoundrels, despicably shameless, the ones who take advantage of the situation, the adulterous ones, the petty filth... Such an ear-piercing reputation, how could I not know...'

"Second question, why are you in Edge Rift."

But as a result of this question, Xiuban suddenly started wailing...

"Sir, please help, please help..." Xiuban held onto Lin Yun's legs while rubbing his teary face on the brand new robe. He wept as he complained, "I... I was caught by these Sharp Edge Trolls, Sir, help me, help me! Those damn Sharp Edge Trolls killed my seven younger brothers and eight younger sisters... It'll be my turn soon. Thankfully Sir appeared. If you can send me back to the Dark Highlands, our tribe will be grateful to you..."

"Will they now? Wouldn't they use stone axes and stone spears to show their appreciation?" Lin Yun kicked the Draconic Beastman. "Say, Where is the Edge Rift's Troll's Ancestral Tool?"

"Ancestral Tool?" Xiuban froze when he heard those words and immediately retreated a few steps, a vigilant expression on his face. "What Ancestral Tool?"

"Looks like you don't want to talk..." Lin Yun smiled. He didn't ask anything else as he took out a potion from his pocket. "Drink it."

After grabbing the bottle, the Draconic Beastman subconsciously asked, "What is it?"

"Sleeping potion, one bottle can make you sleep for eight hours. During these eight hours, you won't feel any pain, even as I dissect you."

"..." The Draconic Beastman held his breath, his hands shaking as he threw the potion back as if it wasn't a potion, but rather a viper.

"I'll ask again, where is the Troll's Ancestral Tool. I have a dozen of ways to force you to drink this potion if your answer is still unsatisfactory."

"On... On me."

"Good." Lin Yun smiled with satisfaction and extended his hand. "Hand it over."

"This is something that it took me a lot of effort to get..." Xiuban unwillingly fished a necklace from his pocket. The necklace was made out of the teeth of various kinds of beasts. There seemed to be thirty to forty of them, and when Lin Yun held that necklace, he seemed to hear a rumbling sound, as if countless beasts were running in a forest, as if the souls of countless beasts were howling in grief.

Lin Yun knew that this was the power of this necklace. He shook his head and put the necklace away in his pocket while kicking Xiuban to the side. "You spent a lot of effort stealing it..."

"Finding it is different from stealing..." The Draconic Beastman mumbled.

But Lin Yun wasn't paying attention to him at this time. He poured mana into the Soul Walker. "Lord Shawn, I'll hand it over to you."

"Who did you cheat this time?" Lord Shawn's half material, half immaterial silhouette gradually appeared in the carriage. His voice sounded even lazier than before, completely different from that time in the prince tomb.

In Shawn's words, this was the indolent temperament that would naturally develop by being a superior lifeform.

When he signed the contract with Lin Yun, Shawn was still unwilling. He had felt that in any case, a Great Mage would never be able to support a True Spirit Magic Tool.

But he had never expected that the ability of that Great Mage would far exceed what he could have imagined. From their contract till now, he had never cut Shawn's mana supply, and he even cut a deal not long ago in which he had obtained a few dozen Spirit mana crystals.

It was then that Shawn finally believed in the words the Human had used at the start; he would truly have the chance to recover to his peak in this Human's hands. And although he was still showing the same arrogance as before, when Lin Yun asked him to write a contract, he would always do his work properly.

Of course, Shawn was dissatisfied right now, because the one being deceived this time was a mere Beastman!

'Damn, Beastmen have low IQ, why does he still need Lord Shawn?'

Lord Shawn thought for a bit before taking the piece of paper from Lin Yun's hands. He stretched out his claws and quickly wrote a very harsh servant contract.

Lin Yun took the contract and looked at it. He had no choice but to admire Shawn's progress.

"Xiuban, is it..." Lin Yun forced a friendly smile while placing the slave contract in front of Xiuban. "We Humans are different from you Beastmen. We believe in fair trade. I just saved you from the hands of a vile mage earlier, so in exchange, you will sign this slav... ahem, sign this contract..."

"Si... Sir, please let me off..." Xiuban started shaking when he saw the countless runes on the paper.

'How could I sign something I don't understand?'

"Of course, if you don't agree, nothing can be done about it. You can give up some organs in exchange. I've always wanted to research the difference between the hearts of Beastmen and Humans. Oh, right, the kidneys are also an option, I might be able to crack the secrets of Beastmen's low fertility. You might become a Hero among Beastmen then, as someone who gave up their kidneys to help an entire race prosper. This is a huge contribution too..."

Xiuban paled when Lin Yun started talking about organs. And when he mentioned kidneys, Xiuban almost went crazy..."

"I'm signing!"

...

The sky slowly darkened. Lys had already sent someone to notify them that the troops would rest and reorganize in the Silver Moon Mercenary camp. But William and Merlin were mages, so they were used to replacing sleep with meditation, and thus the two didn't leave the carriage and only underwent deep meditation.

But before going into deep meditation, Lin Yun let out the Upper Rank Flame Spirit, Syudos.

As for Xiuban...

Xiuban proved that the Highland Beastmen were indeed the rats of the Beastmen, they were truly untrustworthy.

At first, Xiuban was still apprehensive and hid in a corner of the carriage, afraid that this sinister Human would find a way to torture him, but after almost an hour, Xiuban found out that Lin Yun's eyes had remained closed all along.

Xiuban suddenly recalled something. 'Could it be the meditation state the Elders talked about?'

He then started thinking back on their words. To a mage, meditation was like entering their own spiritual world. Although Xiuban didn't know what a spiritual world was, it seemed that it should be a state where they wouldn't be disturbed.

With that in mind, Xiuban decided to probe things a bit.

At first, Xiuban pretended to be careless and touched the door to the carriage, making some slight noise. But after a few times, Xiuban found that this sinister Human Mage truly didn't react. He inwardly smirked and got up, taking two steps in the spacious carriage.

'Haha, still no reaction!'

At that time, Xiuban grew more courageous...

The Draconic Beastman sneakily moved to the door before quietly opening it...

The air of freedom was truly great, and the outside world was very vast....

Xiuban felt that this was his best chance to flee. The sinister Human Mage and that slow companion of his had definitely entered some sort of meditative state. If he didn't flee now, then when would he?

As for the flames the Human had released...

Xiuban knew about it, as he had seen many Human Mages cast this kind of illumination in the Dark Highlands, it should be called Light, or maybe Bright?

In any case, it was a harmless spell...

The carriage's door was pushed out little by little. Xiuban's feet were on the ledge. With just a light jump, he would be able to breathe the air of freedom. Thinking of this, the Draconic Beastman got impatient. One foot rushed towards the ground...

But it was followed by a scream...

In that split second, Xiuban felt his soles burning. With one look below he could see that the ground had turned into lava. Fortunately, the Draconic Bloodline Xiuban considerable resistance to fire, making it so that the lava was only burning him rather than anything worse.

The Draconic Beastman was horrified and quickly lifted his foot.

But there was not enough time.

Just as Xiuban let out a blood-curdling scream, the ball of flames that he had thought was a Light spell had already transformed into Flame Shackles, quickly coiling around and bundling the Draconic Beastman.