Petra spent the past few days reading.
Today, she took the frog and the centipede for a walk through the morning market.
Sevensen had most of the stuff she needed, but some of the rarer supplies were difficult to find. She planned to read through the entire library, so she wasn't in a hurry to buy the majority of what she needed. She spent what little free time she had looking for specialty stores and hidden markets.
Petra walked through the busy market.
She looked through the many street stalls for anything that caught her eye.
Over the past week, Petra had learned a lot about the history of the Cross Continent. The majority of the first floor was just historical records and anecdotes.
When she looked through the city now, she had a much better appreciation for its historical significance. When the little girl looked at some random pillar, she could associate it with a recorded battle where 'what's his name' was thrown from the sky and broke his back. When she looked at a pit, she would associate it with 'some famous noble' who was dipped in the sewage pit and hung there overnight. If she were on modern Earth, she would definitely be one of those annoying tourists who took pictures of everything, even the small rocks on the side of the road.
As for the accuracy of her 'associations, well... who would correct her? She looked like she was having so much fun, explaining why the new door of the brewery was actually an ancient relic to her fat frog.
Petra stopped at the large tent at the end of the road.
The sign in front of the tent read, 'Slave Market'.
Petra pursed her lips.
She wasn't the kind of person who cared very much for human life, but as an upstanding little citizen, she wouldn't take it if she didn't have a reason. As for slavery...
Petra pulled down her hood and walked into the tent.
The tent wasn't that big, so it was likely that it was just a child branch of the Black Market, selling some less important things in today's morning market.
Petra entered the dark tent.
A few red lights illuminated the tent from inside, making it very hard to see the faces of the surrounding people. To the sides, the few 'displays' were properly illuminated, making them the center of attention.
Petra looked at them one by one.
It was worth mentioning that this wasn't the kind of slave market that had naked young girls, who had been scarred by whips and were chained to the floor, left to cry in self pity.
Because the Cross Continent only had one empire in the south, many crimes were dealt with by a set of local laws, usually dictated by the closest city. The overall atmosphere was mostly controlled by public opinion, so things that went overboard tended to be against the law. This was caused by the concept of 'always having someone above you'. Without having a powerful warlord to protect you, people generally wanted only a few simple things. Many laws focused on punishing the unreasonable. Unfortunately, a lot of these laws didn't work.
As for these people, the 'slaves', some of them sold themselves into slavery, some had committed heinous crimes, and others just wanted to find a home or a person to take care of them.
After Petra looked at all the slaves on display, she called over one of the beauties who worked for the slave market and managed to get a catalog. The woman was scantily dressed and 'very voluptuous'. She wore a tight black dress that was embroidered with the seal of the black market. Two golden gloves adorned her slender and petite hands, and a long black ribbon hung from the back of her neck to the bottom of her knees.
On this list were many people who weren't on display.
There was a combination of 'Criminal Slaves' and 'Free Slaves'.
Petra scanned through the descriptions, looking for anything that caught her eye.
There were quite a lot of interesting things...
The first thing that caught Petra's eye was a young woman from a nearby village. She had sold herself because she struggled to take care of herself after her arm was badly crippled. The reason she caught Petra's attention was because she came from a long lineage of blacksmiths. She was a free slave.
The next thing Petra looked at was a young girl named Wind. She was a silver elf with an affinity for water magic. She was caught after killing a fellow silver elf and sold to the slave market. Her description gave Petra tsundere vibes.
The final thing Petra looked at was a beast eared girl named Rose. This young girl was marked as 'prone to outbursts' and 'very violent'. Like the silver elf, this girl was also a criminal slave. Beside her profile were a few more bits of information about her background. She was exiled from her family for being too dangerous. She has killed many people since then until now.
Petra wanted to take these three girls home as maids.
As for their loyalty?
As a poison master, what couldn't she fix?
She also realised that the information on Emerald Dragons seemed to be true. That innate curiosity would cause her to do things that didn't normally make sense.
Petra talked to the saleswoman and soon got a response.
She bought the three girls for 1NCC, 24G.
A few minutes later, Petra followed the woman to a small room in a building behind the tent. She was served tea and snacks while waiting.
Petra nibbled on the biscuit while thinking.
'Was it really so easy to buy a life in this world?'
'Life doesn't seem to be very valuable.'
Although she had never heard of it, there was probably a secret assassination organization floating around somewhere, too. Petra wondered how much it would cost to buy a head.
She ate the biscuit, casually removing the poison from it.
She swung her little legs, waiting patiently.
After a while, someone entered the room. Unfortunately, it wasn't the three girls that she had been waiting for, instead, it was two large men followed by the woman from before.
Petra looked at her, her big watery eyes shining.
The woman frowned.
'Why wasn't she asleep?'
There were still some biscuit crumbs on the side of her cheek.
Petra tilted her cute little head, looking harmless. Her twin tails swung in the wind. "Sister, are you sure you want to do this? You definitely can't beat me~"
Before the woman could speak, one of the big men cut her off.
"You're already trapped and you still want to play? Such a little girl really shouldn't have been allowed to run around like this." He scoffed, walking over.
Petra's little eyes slowly moved over.
The woman felt like those childish eyes suddenly became terrifyingly cold.
A chill ran down her spine.
That was definitely not the look a nine-year-old should have!
"David wa- BOOM!!!"
A loud explosion sounded in the room.
The man named David clawed forward, wanting to attack the innocent little Petra, dragging her up by the hood.
In that instant, the centipede that had been secretly stealing the remaining biscuits erupted like a leaping cheetah. Its size exploded, and the man basically walked himself into the beast's mouth. There was a single crunch, and then the man disappeared from the world.
The centipede had returned to its 10-meter-long body, even extending itself to 20 meters. In the small room, it basically took up half of it. It wound around the room, blocking the windows and doors. Its dozens of razor-sharp legs twitched violently.
The remaining man was stunned, and the woman was horrified.
The towering beast was like a dragon, looming over the lives of two weak and insignificant mortals.
"T-t-t-this lady, your-your purchase will arrive soon... We're very sorry for any inconvenience!" The woman stuttered.
Petra flicked her hand at the man, then turned to the woman and smiled.
"That's good, that's good, the biscuits were really good, please bring me some more."
The woman struggled to nod.
"Ah!"
The sudden screams of pain from the man next to her caught her off guard.
The remaining man suddenly collapsed, roaring in agony. His skin festered and bubbled, and his flesh turned black. His body curled up and began to melt.
Petra clicked her tongue.
When she flicked her hand earlier, she had thrown the same corpse dissolving powder she had used back in Evergreen Town, only much less.
Looking at the man who was in the throes of agony, it seemed that using a lower dosage just made it last longer.
Within seconds, he turned to mud.
A few seconds later, the mud dissipated into the air.
The woman was horrified.
Petra turned to her and blinked like a cute child. "Don't worry big sister, I just don't like men~ teehee." Her cute little tongue stuck out and Petra knocked herself on the side of the head.
The woman felt cold. They had really kicked an iron plate this time. They had planned to push the sale through, then catch Petra and resell her and the three slaves off record, pocketing all the money. They had done this many times, carefully picking their prey each time.
Unfortunately, this time they were deceived by the cute girls' appearance and the small size of the centipede.
"R-right away!"
The woman stammered, then ran out the door.
She contemplated making a request for help to the main market, but then the image of those ice cold eyes flashed through her mind.
This little girl was definitely not a nobody!
If she had connections to the black market, a little salesman like herself would be finished!
Back in the room, Petra was also thinking the same. If she called for help, should she run? Petra pursed her lips, thinking about what to do.
She had already paid…
When her eyes looked at the big centipede that had returned to its compressed state, she suddenly had a thought. With this thing, was it really possible to catch her? At least, it wouldn't be easy. Who could chase it?
Petra chose to patiently wait.
This also deterred the woman from calling for help.
A few minutes later, the three young girls were brought into the room. Together with a new plate of biscuits, Petra examined the three girls up close.
The three girls all wore simple grey robes. The cloth ended above the knees and had no sleeves. The fabric was rough and opaque, looking more like a potato sack than that thin piece of silk you were envisioning.
The young village blacksmith, despite losing a leg, still had a bit of fighting spirit.
The silver elf, the one who was accused of killing her tribesmen, had a beautiful and disdainful face. Despite her uncaring look, she seemed to be very cautious towards the third girl.
The last girl, the beast eared girl, the Cat Beastmen, was bound by a straitjacket, thrashing back and forth violently. Her jaw was locked shut by a leather gag, and her bloodshot eyes were screaming 'kill kill kill'. She just had that overall serial killer vibe to her.
Petra nodded.
What an interesting girl!
And cute ears too!
Petra jumped up, skipped over, and karate chopped the raging lunatic on the head. Her white little hand seemed to have no force, but the effects of the chop were instant.
The raging beast quieted down, then fell unconscious.
The surrounding women all looked at her in wonder.
It should be said that the black market had used a lot of drugs to control her. Even after she developed a resistance to most of the drugs, they just continued to use stronger and stronger medicines.
At this point, it was hard to calm her down, much less chop her into unconsciousness.
Petra smiled and signalled to the woman.
Petra had already paid, so all she had to do was take the girls and go.
The saleswoman gave her an awkward smile, then passed her the magic contract that bound the silver elf and cat girl.
Criminal slaves were all bound by a magic contract. Although the 'punishment' worked normally, some slaves like the cat girl just got more and more energetic as they were electrocuted.
Petra skipped over, grabbed the cat girl by the cloth flap near the back of her neck, then dragged the girl twice her size out of the room. The silver elf and village girl felt their eyes twitching as their fellow slave was dragged from the room. The two slightly scared girls followed silently.
Petra left the slave market with the three girls.
The first thing she did was buy them some proper clothes, making the three, well, two, girls look more normal. The unconscious Rose remained a dead weight. At some point, Petra changed from carrying the cat girl to letting her lie limply on the centipedes back.
Petra continued her shopping spree until nightfall.
When night came, Petra booked another room for the two girls, then dragged the still unconscious cat girl into her room and tossed her into the corner with the centipede.
She then called over the two girls and had them sit on the ground, while Petra stood tall on the bed. Her little arms were crossed and she radiated a very imposing aura... well, she would have, if she wasn't a little shrimp.
There was an awkward silence, then Petra spoke up.
Judging from the quick interaction between the three, Petra had a question that was bothering her.
"Did you kill your clansmen?".
The question was simple and quick, but it generated an explosive response.
"No!! What nonsense is that! What bullshit!" The silver elf, Wind, suddenly roared. This seemed to be her sore spot. "I've never even been to a silver elf tribe, much less killed a clansman! Who said this! Who was it that spouted such nonsense!"
Petra's ears hurt.
This loudmouth should have been named Storm, not Wind, geeze.
Then she looked at the village girl.
"What's your name?"
The village girl paused, pursing her lips. It seemed like she didn't want to use her original name. After a moment, she responded.
"Mell."
Petra nodded again.
Then she looked at the little fireball.
"Do any of you know what's going on with her?"
The two girls shook their heads.
"She was there before me, but I heard that nobody was willing to buy her..."
"Same for me. She was there before me. I heard that it wasn't just that people didn't want her, but that she was actually already owned… He was just using the Black Market to hold her..."
Petra frowned.
That was a problem
"Do you know who 'owned' her?"
Wind shook her head slightly annoyed. "I don't think they came very often, but there were rumors that she was a punching bag... I think..."
Petra narrowed her eyes, wondering if she knocked her out too quickly.
She didn't want to buy broken goods.
"Come help me."
She waved her little fist and pointed to the cat girl in the corner.
The two girls dragged her limp body to the center of the room and helped Petra undress her.
The naked body of the cat girl lay open to the air.
Petra: ...
Mell: ...
Wind: ...
"Is that... what I think it is?"
"Uhhhhh~"
"T-t-that is a-a-a!"
The scene skips ahead 5 minutes.
Petra's face was white...
Mell's face was red...
Wind's face was black...
What caused this rainbow of color?
Well that would be little Rose's antenna~
That's not a cat girl, that's a cat boy.
For the first time, Petra felt stumped. Could she return the goods? What happened to her all girls maid harem?
The little lolita felt conflicted.
Should she snip it off?
If she just treated him like a girl, it should be fine...
Now that I'm in town, I can also try to make 'that'…
'Mmm, that sounds good.'
All jokes aside, this young boy had more than one problem. From the quick inspection of his body, Petra found signs of long-term abuse. Not only that, but his body also had slight signs of genetic modification. This was an advanced field that shouldn't normally appear in this world.
This might be why he had such a feminine face, but he was clearly the target of some strange experiment.
When he woke up, Petra would have to make sure he still had his rationality.
She stuck out her tongue, a little embarrassed.
She was a bit too quick on this one.