NEC Chapter 96: Seven-Radiance Garland, Northern Executive

Little centaur Kaga returned from the exercise with his small face flushed red with excitement, looking somewhat like a ripe berry.

Of course, it could also be from the heat.

For Lord Chen Mo's "high-flat dual-purpose machine gun" firepower test, the little centaur had made great sacrifices. His soft hair along with the glossy mane on the back of his neck had all been shaved completely clean.

Weapon platform, the cleaner the better! Whether hair getting tangled in components or mane catching fire, both would be terrifying situations.

Over the past two days, the novel, puzzled, and even slightly pitying looks from his companions made him feel like he had thorns in his back. Accustomed to his usual image of flowing mane and graceful galloping, this bald head was indeed conspicuous in the camp.

Fortunately, he had finally achieved perfect results. Although ninety percent of the bullets missed their targets, the effectiveness of those few scattered shots that hit the armor used as test subjects was sufficient to prove the ferocity of the weapon on his back.

After the test ended, many centaurs crowded around, surrounding this magical weapon that had just been unloaded, their eyes blazing with intense light.

Little Kaga was now being carefully tended to by a centaur girl whose eyes were full of admiration, gently helping him remove the heat-insulating non-slip padding from his back. The padding was already soaked with sweat, emitting a mixed scent of rubber and male hormones.

The centaur girl used a soft cloth to wipe his spine covered in sweat beads. After such intense exercise, plus the excitement of completing such an important mission, Kaga couldn't help but look around, enjoying this long-overdue glory.

Then, Little Kaga saw "Little Dreadlocks" pull out his personal curved knife and start cutting off his dense braids one by one.

"What's wrong? Didn't you usually treasure those like your life? Don't want them anymore?"

"Don't want them anymore!" Little Dreadlocks gritted his teeth, cutting stroke by stroke, with a faint crystalline glimmer rolling in his eyes.

His technique was somewhat crude, cutting unevenly with patches here and there.

In the camp, Little Kaga had never thought much of this guy. After all, Little Dreadlocks' greed and underhanded methods were famous in the tribe. Last time when finding someone to teach the Zircon Family’s deputy captain a lesson, Little Kaga had immediately sought out this guy. As long as you paid him, he dared to do anything.

This was the first time Kaga had seen this guy cry.

Kaga bumped Little Dreadlocks with his shoulder, "Don't be sad anymore. Now no one's using a whip to beat you, right!"

Little Dreadlocks' hand trembled from the bump, and the curved knife cut a gash on the back of his neck. Tears finally couldn't be contained and rolled down.

"Those bastards killed my dad... wuu wuu, you know... wuu... my dad beat me every day, if I couldn't earn money to bring home he'd beat me... my mom was even beaten away by him... he only remembered to beat me!"

"I... wuu wuu wuu, I counted every whip... I had it all planned out... wuu wuu... when I grew up, when I could beat him, I was going to return every whip to him!"

"There's no chance now! Dad's dead... wuu... Mom's dead too..."

By the end, you couldn't make out what the little centaur was saying. Snot and tears mixed together, making his sobbing occasionally punctuated by loud sniffles, sticky fluid covering his face and chest, making him look utterly wretched.

"Who isn't the same? My dad's dead too, uncles, aunts, everyone's dead!"

Little Kaga gently extended his forearm, embracing this little guy who used to be Little Dreadlocks, now "Baldy."

"Practice shooting with me!"

"Yeah!!!"

After watching the exercise, Chen Mo returned from the shooting range and encountered Herlan waiting at the entrance of the temporary camp.

"Lord, there's news about the slave matter!"

"I've invited people from the Seven-Radiance Garland trading company to come over. They're now waiting outside the checkpoint for your audience!"

"Then call them over!"

"Sir, please wait!" Herlan saw Chen Mo heading straight inside and urgently reminded him, "Could you perhaps change clothes and arrange proper ceremony?"

Chen Mo turned back to look at his acting secretary, "Is this important?"

"Extremely important!" Herlan stepped back half a step and bowed deeply.

To be honest, this head steward's heart was quite frustrated.

The reason Herlan could command such a high price despite being idle, and why the old secretaries from Cloudmist Domain who introduced and vouched for him all felt it was worth the money, mainly lay in their group's familiarity with and mastery of the entire noble circle's game rules.

Many problems that seemed to span multiple noble levels with no apparent solution could always find alternative approaches and breakthroughs through them.

Which noble loved wealth, which lord was fond of drink, what quality of blue silk golden-tail birds could open a certain earl's door, how to follow a convoluted network of affair relationships to deliver pillow talk to the kingdom's chief minister...

These were all profound studies!

It was somewhat similar to how certain legal circle bigshots on Blue Star helped people escape guilt, or financial circle bigshots helped companies go public. Things that clearly didn't meet regulations could somehow find the key points and pave a way forward in their hands.

In the ancient Sky Empire, there was a saying that "a good steward is half a nobility advancement chart."

But in Vast Sea Territory, Herlan felt completely useless.

This broken place had nothing but sand and stones, not a shadow of nobility to be seen.

His belly full of noble genealogies couldn't even be used to wipe floors since there weren't any floors to wipe.

Political operations? Sorry, the lord had everything well in hand with perfect arrangements. His mind and experience were completely unnecessary.

Faced with plans detailed down to every execution step, he was hardly different from that dumb bull.

Personal service to the lord wasn't needed either. Chen Mo lived simply. The male and female servants he had arranged for the territory were all assigned by the lord to become public service personnel. All those noble lifestyle service scenarios were completely useless.

Even his modest achievements in military strategy were completely ignored.

Regarding this point, Herlan had few complaints.

He vaguely suspected that this young lord had the support of at least a major power leader behind him, the one on the other side of the lord's altar.

That person not only provided unlimited financial support and materials on demand, but even in governance and military matters, was personally guiding this young little lord, down to every detail.

Simply outrageous! Completely outrageous!

Anyway, Herlan couldn't imagine what kind of relationship would make that great being on the other side do this extent.

Now, having finally found an opportunity to use his abilities, Herlan was putting forth all his strength.

Using his past resources and exhausting his wit and wisdom, he had finally managed to contact this trade representative from the Seven-Radiance Garland trading company.

As expected, the lord had never heard of them.

"Lord, the Seven-Radiance Garland trading company appears to be just a civilian organization on the surface, but actually has enormous influence within Mistmoon Divine Court, with countless connections to the Bishop Council and Dwarf Assembly. Privately they're called 'Dwarf Deities'!"

"The company's branches are spread across the continent, with deep relationships established in every country. Wherever the company's executives go, they must be treated with at least baronial protocol."

"You are currently only a lord without noble rank, so... it wouldn't be good to let people think we're slighting them..."

"Alright, alright!" Chen Mo could hear his steward was getting anxious too, "Then I'll follow your arrangements!"

"Hurry up though, I still need to cultivate later!"

Herlan sighed with relief and quickly began intensive preparations.

Several dozen minutes later, Oren, deputy executive of the Seven-Radiance Garland trading company's northern operations, was guided by Herlan into Vast Sea Territory's temporary lord's camp.

Walking along the way, Oren's physical experience underwent a tremendous change.

Having been in the northern lands for so many years, he had immediately heard the news about this broken place getting a new lord.

After all, this area was also within his jurisdiction.

After some casual inquiring, Oren lost interest.

Too shallow foundations, mysterious origins. Aside from having money, completely worthless.

However, Herlan had activated multiple relationships, directly submitting a trade application from Mistmoon Divine Court. The grand executive spoke, "Give some face, you arrange someone to make the trip."

When merchants stay in cities, when they travel in the wild, this job naturally fell to the northern trading office.

Among the four executives, one chief and three deputies, Oren was the youngest with the least seniority. Who else but him would get this job of eating sand and blowing sea wind?

Coming all this way bumping along, his mood naturally wasn't great. But as he traveled, Oren began to feel something was off.

First, Vast Sea Territory's northern outpost was positioned a full eighty kilometers away.

Although those mercenaries looked limited in strength, facing his well-equipped unfamiliar team, two people dared to intercept and question them. This already exceeded Oren's basic assessment of this team.

After he revealed his purpose, the other party quickly completed contact with headquarters through continuous magical beacon relays and welcomed him in.

Along the way, besides three obvious checkpoints, the accompanying mercenary captain also discovered at least two groups of hidden sentries.

This state of extreme vigilance toward the north, as if facing a great enemy, made Oren begin to feel curious.

Then, arriving at the camp's periphery, a noble reception ceremony that was standard to the point of being harsh completely changed his impression.

Steward Herlan's every movement was impeccable, etiquette so precise down to finger details that receiving the calling card was accurate to the millimeter even if measured with a ruler.

The guards wore uniforms that, while not luxurious, were neat and clean. They stood straight with sharp eyes, ruddy complexions, and full spirits, completely lacking the weather-beaten decadence common in frontier lands.

The male and female servants standing to either side were respectful in manner and well-trained. There was also an old mage in fifth-tier mage robes with white hair and beard, standing quietly at the entrance to the lord's camp.

Just like on Blue Star where you couldn't tell if troops could fight but judged from their formations first, on Starry Continent when you didn't know someone's real background, you could tell something from the noble ceremony they displayed.

This scene gave Oren a feeling of solemn respect.

This was Herlan's highest moment of presence so far.

The steward suppressed his excitement, wearing an impeccable smile as he brought Oren and two accompanying personnel into the lord's camp.

Upon entering, Herlan felt his vision go black and a mouthful of old blood surge to his throat.

He had calculated everything and managed the outside perfectly, but forgot to go in first to notify this great master.

But I've never served such a casual master before.

He saw the noble Lord Chen Mo in an extremely bold posture, reclining diagonally on that lord's chair dismantled from a luxury carriage and covered with thick animal hides.

The lord's two long legs were casually draped over the chair's wide armrests, hands leisurely pillowed behind his head, humming a tune with strange melody and peculiar rhythm from foreign lands.

If there were someone who understood East Xia language here, they might roughly make out that it was an ancient opera tune.

"Back in the day... this old man's army... was just starting out! All together we only had a dozen bones, seven or eight guns..."

Half a minute later, Herlan, having forcibly steadied his mind through superior professional quality, maintained a proper smile on his face and completed the host-guest introductions.

Both sides seemed uninterested in lengthy pleasantries. In a subtle awkwardness, they quickly cut to the point.

"The slave business has always been a main business of Seven-Radiance Garland trading company. Your territory wanting to buy slaves is naturally no problem."

"However, isn't it still early before the duchy's inspection time?"

Herlan was now serving as the lord's translator. The acting secretary straightened up, pressed his fingertips together on the desk, and replied in impeccable Mistmoon northern accent:

"If we were buying at year's end, why would we trouble Executive Oren to travel so far so early?"

"My lord's meaning is, slaves, we want them now, the sooner the better!"

"Oh, that's wonderful!"

Oren's interest was immediately piqued. Although coming to such a broken place was a tough assignment, being able to negotiate a deal would at least be some achievement to report back.

"I wonder what kind of slaves your territory wants? Human? Beastmen? Half-beastmen? Or special slaves from the upper three or lower three?"

"How many do you need? Are there requirements for age and physique? More female slaves or fewer? Do you want child slaves or infant slaves?"

When it came to business, this executive was obviously much more animated.

Herlan carefully took notes, translating each item for Chen Mo while providing detailed annotations for some concepts.

In this Starry Continent currently defined by humans, beastmen could be roughly understood as humanoid base plus beast characteristics.

For example, the dumb bull could walk upright with head, body, and limbs similar to humans, with clear functional distinctions between upper limbs for grasping and lower limbs for support. This was the humanoid base.

Based on this foundation, whether cow horns or lion heads, cat ears or fox tails, those all belonged to individual beast characteristics that didn't change the essential humanoid nature.

Therefore, this entire category was classified as beastmen.

Half-beastmen, however, belonged to human-beast hybrids.

For example, half-human half-horse centaurs, fishmen with no lower limbs but only fins and tails, or the snake-bodied Naga tribe...

No matter how you looked at them, they didn't possess that humanoid base thing, so they would be classified as half-beastmen!

In the eyes of humans, who proclaimed themselves the leader of all beings and spirit of all races, beastmen were obviously a level higher than half-beastmen.

As for the upper three and lower three that Oren mentioned, the upper three races were the three major groups resembling humans: elves, dwarves, and gnomes. These three races were considered relatively noble, so naturally their prices would be much higher.

The lower three races were goblins, underground cave dwellers, and various creatures collectively called sea races. These were considered relatively inferior and base, with lower prices, though of course using them also brought many troubles.

To summarize in one sentence: the more human-like, the more valuable!

Additionally, there were some races on the continent that had been nearly exterminated by humans, such as greater fairies and giant races. These weren't on traditional slave trading lists. Even if one or two were occasionally captured, they would go to auction houses.

Aside from these "intelligent species" recognized by humans, everything else counted as beasts.

Seven-Radiance Garland trading company was large and well-established with a rich variety of slaves, so Oren dared to boldly ask about everything from species to age to gender, letting customers state their requirements.

When Herlan was translating, the translator fluent in Resting Moon language on the trading company side was also continuously reporting in low voices to Oren about Herlan's lengthy explanations.

Then they heard Chen Mo's straightforward answer.

"Ones who can work!"

"Ones who can work now, or ones who can work in the future, either is fine!"

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