"&%$@$*!&&$.....!"
As soon as the beastfolk girl saw Mia, she muttered something unintelligible. But Mia couldn't understand a single word.
"Um?"
"She doesn't even understand our language."
The girl snapped, her tone sharp and unfriendly.
"Why should I understand yours?"
Mia asked, bewildered.
The beastfolk girl narrowed her slit pupils like a cat and glared at Mia before bursting into tears again. One of the maids, seemingly losing patience, slapped the girl across the face.
Smack.
"Did I not tell you to stop crying? If you continue disobeying orders, I'll send you to the forced labor camp!"
At those words, the beastfolk girl abruptly stopped crying. She clutched her reddened cheek, her large eyes brimming with tears that fell one by one. Mia was about to ask what was going on when Lily approached.
"Lady Mia, Instructor Rodolphe is offering to cast a wing-concealing spell for you! He says it's his break time now—shall we go?"
"Ah, wait a moment. Excuse me—what exactly is going on here? Why are you treating a child like this?"
One of the maids gave her a mocking look. She was a young woman with noticeably uneven eyebrows.
"...Sorry for the disturbance in front of your door. Come along, Roy."
The girl—apparently named Roy—looked like she was being dragged off to slaughter. Her expression was so pitiful that Mia raised her voice.
"I don't recall getting an answer to my question."
A slightly older maid turned to face her. She was a middle-aged woman with a prominent hooked nose and a stubborn look. Speaking slowly, as though granting a favor, she replied.
"She's a child we purchased. Discipline must be strict."
"Then I'll buy her from you."
"Lady Mia?!"
Lily gasped in shock. But at the same moment, Roy lunged forward and clung to Mia's arm. The two maids looked back and forth between Roy and Mia in disbelief.
"You impudent little—"
"I'm going with her. You'll pay for me, right?"
Roy's bold words left Mia speechless for a moment. Wait, do I even have any money? Maybe Leca would know what to do?
"How much?"
"Lady Mia, this is—"
Lily looked deeply troubled. But it was too late now. Roy clung tightly to Mia's arm, sticking to her like glue. The two maids whispered rapidly to each other.
After a long round of hushed debate, the older maid finally spoke.
"Two thousand denarions."
"What? That's outrageous!"
Lily shouted. Mia, unfamiliar with this country's currency, felt lost.
"As you wish, then. We'll take the girl back. Come along."
The older maid tried to force Roy away from Mia. Roy looked back at her with a heartbroken expression. Mia leaned toward Lily and whispered.
"Is two thousand denarions really a lot?"
Sigh…
Lily closed her eyes and shook her head, exasperated, before replying.
"We'll take the girl. Come to my quarters tomorrow morning and the payment will be ready."
The younger maid smirked as if enjoying the situation.
"And if she's not there, may we come to you instead?"
She pointed at Mia.
Mia nodded. The two maids giggled and left as if this were all some kind of joke. Lily folded her arms and shot Mia a glare.
"What exactly is your plan? How do you intend to pay them back?"
If I say I just acted out of pity, will she scold me? That must be a huge amount. I'll need to become queen at this rate just to pay it off. Damn it.
Mia scratched her head, then finally came up with a lame excuse.
"She said something earlier… I think she has something to tell me."
She remembered the moment Roy had mumbled something in an unknown language. Roy then pointed a sharp claw toward the necklace around Mia's neck.
"This?"
Mia looked down. It was the tiger's eye necklace—the one given by the cat beastfolk Kai, then later reforged into a necklace by Leca through a dwarf artisan.
"That's one of our kind's guardian gemstones. When I saw you wearing it, I thought maybe you had beastfolk blood."
Roy's golden eyes scanned Mia up and down. With her oddly mixed features—part fairy, part human—she must have seemed all the more suspicious.
"Oh, no. I just got it as a gift."
A charm to bring wealth, kai said. And now I'm in debt….oh my god.
"Anyway, let's visit Instructor Rodolphe and then head to the market. But what should we do about her…"
At Lily's words, Roy let out a defiant hiss.
"I have a name—Roy! And I'm going to the market too!"
"Then keep up, all right? We're not going to look for you if you get lost in a crowd!"
Roy stuck out her tongue.
"Obviously. You think I'm an idiot?"
After receiving the wing-concealment spell from Rodolphe, Mia stepped out into the streets with Lily and Roy. It was her first time being out legally—and it made her feel like she could soar straight into the sky with excitement.
The bustling marketplace was packed with people, and it had everything imaginable. Clothes, shoes, spices, food, accessories, talismans made from parts of animals or magical beasts, trinkets, dishes—you name it.
Mia's eyes widened at the sheer variety of this otherworldly bazaar. Everything was fascinating, and everything tempted her. But what caught her attention most was a peculiar-looking talisman vendor.
The vendor's appearance was grotesque. He was missing one eye, making it impossible to guess his age—he looked both middle-aged and ancient at once. Most of his hair was gone, he was short but stocky, and his face was riddled with boils and sores. A truly dreadful sight.
Mia picked up a tiny glass bottle filled with a dark red liquid. It was small enough to fit in her palm, and the embossed patterns on the glass were strangely beautiful.
"Heh heh… That caught your eye, young lady?"
"What is it?"
"That would be mermaid's blood. A love potion. Heh heh heh…"
"Mermaid's blood?"
"Anyone who drinks it will fall in love with the first person they lay eyes on. Works like a charm!"
Mia looked to Lily, silently asking if this guy was serious. But Lily only shrugged.
"Or how about this, then?"
The vendor pulled out what looked like a shriveled chicken foot—though it was pitch black and gave off an eerie glow.
"What is that supposed to be?"
"The claw of a one-legged divine beast eagle. Slip it under someone's pillow, and they'll fall ill soon enough."
Lily grimaced and turned her head. Roy hadn't said a single word this whole time. Her expression remained dark.
"Don't you have anything normal? Everything here's just… creepy."
Mia frowned. The vendor let out another unpleasant chuckle.
"Well then, allow me to show you my most special item. Here it is…"
He rustled around in his coat and pulled out a small bottle sealed with a cork. Inside, a black liquid was bubbling and swirling on its own.
"Why is it… boiling like that?"
Mia murmured. The vendor's single eye gleamed as he let out a raspy, phlegmy laugh.
"Because it's witch's soup."
"Witch's soup?"
"A potion that grants one wish. I had it specially made by a certain witch I know."
"Pfft, for all we know, you scooped it from a sewer."
Lily scoffed, and the vendor snapped.
"Does sewer water boil on its own, huh? Think before you speak!"
Mia examined the bottle curiously, and the vendor, sensing opportunity, began to babble with glee.
"It took ten rare ingredients to make this, I'll have you know—mermaid tears, claw of a royal lizard, secretions of a Kerberos, a werewolf fang, an eye from a catfolk…"
That's when Roy suddenly yanked her hand away from Mia and bolted.
"Roy?!"
Mia ran after her at once. Despite her small frame, Roy was fast—she disappeared in an instant. Mia weaved through maze-like alleys, chasing her like a game of hide-and-seek, until she finally caught hold of Roy's arm.
"I told you to stay close! Why did you run off like that?"
"I didn't know you were one of them."
Roy glared at Mia, breathing heavily. Mia blinked, confused.
"One of who?"
"You were planning to kill me and use me for magic ingredients, weren't you? That's why you paid extra to buy me!"
"What? No! I was just curious, that's all!"
"How am I supposed to believe that? Otherwise, you had no reason to buy me."
Mia faltered.
"I'm telling the truth. If I were that kind of person, would one of your own have given me this?"
She held up the tiger's eye necklace. Roy's expression softened a little at the sight. She let out a sad mewl.
"I was almost sold off to a place like that…"
"What?"
"There are rumors among the beastfolk. A noble's been buying us up for use in magic experiments."
"Seriously? Who?"
"What difference would it make? They just say it's a noble. No one knows exactly who."
"Then how did you know you were headed there?"
"There's… talk."
Roy glanced around and lowered her voice even more. Fortunately, the alley was relatively quiet, but even so, she whispered.
"They say that scary mansion always sends the same two palace maids to collect us. And those maids…"
She began to sing a strange little tune.
"Big hooked nose, sharp as a hawk—
Beware the hawk, it snatches in the dark!
Eyebrows wriggling like a worm—
Beware the worm, it writhes in a storm!"
"That's what our folk sing," Roy added softly.
Mia's mind flashed back to the two maids from earlier.
The older one with the hooked nose.
The younger one with mismatched brows.
A chill ran down her spine.