The werewolves' digestive system is not very accustomed to vegetarian food, and it's said that there's a special beast-training arena here, so meat is in short supply and there's no extra for outsiders. The soil of the Savage Highlands is also quite strange and can't be used to grow crops like wheat or soybeans, so there are no restaurants or cafes in Evol where humans can eat. Almost all outsiders can only eat food specially cooked for them at the inn.

  This inn was also prepared by the city of Oufu for outsiders. The boss here is a half-beast, who speaks human language very fluently. Half-beasts have a stronger physique than humans, with pig-like mouths and two fangs protruding from their mouths, making them look ferocious and stupid. However, in terms of intelligence, they are actually the most outstanding among all beastmen, almost indistinguishable from humans.

  The body of the one-eyed dragon has been sent back and is quietly lying in the dining hall of the inn, covered with a cloth by the half-beast owner to prevent it from affecting the appetite of customers.

  No one came to claim the body, it was the executioner who led two werewolves to carry him back to the inn. This inn originally belonged to the City Council, and after investigation, it was found that they were in cahoots with them.

  The other guests had already finished eating and left, but Xiao Yi was still in the room upstairs because he had no appetite after watching the execution. The thieves were huddled in a corner, discussing something with Old Thief Foduoren while eating from a plate of food. It was a porridge made from the fruits and tubers of several rare plants found only in the barbaric highlands. At first, it was barely edible, but as soon as you ate more, a strong greasy flavor filled your mouth and nose, making it feel like it was going to rush into your head. The coarse powder scratched your throat, causing a dull pain, even when Old Thief Foduoren occasionally added some beef or mutton scraps to the pot. The thieves had been eating this for over ten days, and many of them were getting irritable. This was far from their expectations of making a fortune and living a life of luxury. However, no matter how angry they got, they didn't dare kick over the table, smash plates, or fight with each other, as the shadows of the man-eating demons and wolfmen, as well as the stone stele and gallows in the square, were excellent deterrents. But the frustration that had been building up day after day made many people very dissatisfied with Old Thief Foduoren, the mastermind behind this plan.

  The old thief has been running around between the Big Ear Monster and the Beastman these days, trying to find a way to communicate with them and get the loot. Now he already knows some specific situations of this city, and the manager of this city seems to be human. This is good news, in the experience of thieves, people of the same kind are much easier to deal with than the unresponsive beastmen. Some people suggested secretly kidnapping their families, while others suggested going directly to threaten them, but they were all just brainless words from professional habits. From Foduoren's expression, he seemed to have his own plan.

  Asa quietly ate the food in his bowl, one mouthful at a time, without saying a word, as if he was the only one who could truly appreciate its flavor.

  Just as they were about to disperse, the middle-aged man who had delivered the corpse came again with a wolf-like person in tow, informing everyone in this group that they would all need to gather at Central Square tomorrow afternoon, saying there was something he needed to announce to them.

  As soon as the man left, the thieves conferred with each other and immediately became agitated. The central square was where they had just hanged Du Yichen, and his cold corpse was still lying nearby. Many people were also resentful about losing this comrade. The anger, resentment, and grievances that had been building up over time, combined with the guilty conscience of being thieves, were all stirred up by this ambiguous notice into hostility. Many people drew out their weapons and shouted as they went to fight to the death.

  "Damn it, do they want us to deliver ourselves and wait for them to hang us? Killing one doesn't make a profit, killing two is a gain." A bandit yelled while waving the knife in his hand.

  Foduolong hastily stopped the crowd, but it didn't work and instead added fuel to the fire. Several people were already shouting whether he was in cahoots with these beastmen, deceiving everyone into coming here like some private mine, capturing big-eared monsters as slaves, planning to use them as labor or preparing to raise them like cattle and sheep, using them as food at any time.

  "What do you think we should do?" someone asked, seeking Asa's opinion. After all, he was the most qualified criminal here, with the best skills, and now he didn't say a word, calm and quiet, looking like an old strategist who had everything under control.

  A Sa continued to eat the mushy food, seemingly carefree and confident. As he ate, he muttered vaguely: "I don't know... let's talk about it tomorrow."

  "Tomorrow, if we go together, it's likely that we'll all be hanged. They already know that we're in cahoots with One-eyed Dragon and that we're after those goods." The knife-wielding bandit was the most agitated. "We might as well make a break for it now and fight it out."

  "The consequences of going tomorrow are still uncertain, but the outcome of charging out with a knife now is certain. You do what you want to do, just don't say you know me if you get caught." Asa finished eating, put down his plate and walked out. He was surprisingly unconcerned about the tense situation.

  In this tense atmosphere, the young man's nonchalant attitude and calm words were undoubtedly the most shocking and persuasive. The thieves saw that someone was so calm and composed, they too became infected with calmness, and some of them even thought to themselves: "If you really want to kill or capture us, just bring a few wolf-like men over, what's the point of notifying us in advance?" So they decided it was better to wait. The crowd began to praise this young man for his composure, facing such a situation without being flustered at all, truly worthy of someone who had seen big scenes before.

  The orc boss heard the commotion and walked in to ask: "What's going on?"

  "We were discussing how to bury our companion's body, and we were all so grief-stricken that everyone was speaking in a somewhat agitated tone." But only Fodolong remained calm, with a sorrowful expression.

  The orc boss let out a strange nasal grunt and said in a rumbling voice, "There's a rule here, corpses must be handled by their own kind to avoid any racial disputes. Bury or cremate them yourselves, whichever you prefer. If you find it troublesome, the beast training grounds outside the city will buy them from you. Meat is scarce these days, probably thirty copper coins."

  "Oh, okay, thanks." The old thief nodded in response. As soon as the half-orc boss left, he pointed at the one-eyed dragon's corpse and said to the others: "Whoever takes him over there can keep the money for themselves." However, no one paid attention to him.

  Asa walked out of the hotel. He was not calm and composed in the face of such a situation, but his mind was completely filled with more private and beautiful things, leaving no room for other thoughts to intervene.

  It's as if he can still smell her breath, the wind on his face feels like it was just a moment ago that wonderful touch, and there is still her voice faintly in his ears. All of his senses are still stuck in that moment.

  Since Xiao Yi joined his journey, a very subtle and strange feeling began to emerge from nothingness. Unconsciously, he had gotten used to being with her every day, and unconsciously, her voice, appearance, and smile had become an integral part of his daily life, something that made him feel at ease only when he saw or heard them every day.

  At that moment before dinner, he was completely and thoroughly drunk in such an atmosphere. So he didn't care about anything else, and couldn't notice it anymore.

  He had never been with a woman before. In his hometown, not a single girl of the same age as him was interested in this monster who spent all day fighting and training outdoors, seemingly never washing or wearing decent clothes. He also spent his entire youth immersed in his own dreams and training, living an almost ascetic life, exhausting all his energy on endless training and fighting.

  What is known as love between men and women he had only heard of in the mouths of traveling poets and drunken miners, one being too lofty and abstract to understand, the other being too practical and real for those who hadn't experienced it to comprehend. He had never even thought that he would experience such things himself. As for his current situation, he wasn't clear what was going on either, but simply found himself naturally immersed in these emotions.

  Walking on the streets of Oufu is like being in a forest of rock fortresses. The buildings here are probably built based on the giant size of the man-eating demons, with the unadorned corners and stacked height, width and thickness of the rocks themselves, which is enough to be intimidating even if it's not grandiose. But in Asa's eyes now, this is simply the most flavorful building in the world.

  It's already afternoon, and everywhere you can see beastmen walking briskly, most of them carrying goods or pushing and pulling specially made construction tools. From time to time, they chat with each other in their native language. The houses by the street are filled with the sound of ironwork being hammered, wood being planed, and even weaving. The city has invited human and dwarf craftsmen from various industries to teach beastmen various manufacturing techniques. This city is full of the vibrant flavor of new life bursting forth at its inception.

  Asa felt as if he had gained a new lease on life, and even the bizarre beastmen now seemed endearing to him. He had never experienced such a wonderful feeling before, and the entire world had changed because of her.

  I arrived at a market not far from the inn. This was a large place, mainly for foreign merchants and dwarves to trade their goods, and during their stay here, they found more and more people and dwarves coming from other countries to trade. The place was filled with a large number of goods from all around. It was almost no different from the streets in human society, with the sounds of peddlers calling out, haggling over prices, and the clattering of goods being moved, all mixed together to create a lively atmosphere. After watching for a while, those green-skinned or furry figures didn't seem so out of place anymore, and I naturally blended into this peaceful and ordinary life.

  In a corner of the market, there were a few young beastmen selling some strange and exotic specialties from the wilderness. Asa bought several wild fruits unique to the wilderness from a small goblin. This was still a young goblin, but it was even bigger than Asa in terms of body size. Although the lifespan of beastmen is slightly shorter compared to humans, they develop quickly like all other wild beasts, and their bodies and minds can be basically formed in just a few years.

  Half a year ago, he had witnessed with his own eyes a fluffy giant palm grasping a weapon and turning its companions into piles of blurry flesh and blood. The sound of the skeletons bursting, the internal organs flying everywhere, had often appeared in his dreams, waking him up. For a while, he had thought that they couldn't just die so miserably. But now, he was buying things from this palm with a very sweet mood, without any tension, killing intent, or hatred in his heart. Those things had long been squeezed out by the beautiful emotions of the present.

  She took the fruit back to her hotel room. Xiao Yi was on the bed by the window, which was just a few wooden boards put together, sorting out her notes in the dim light. After taking the fruit from Asa, she blushed slightly and nodded with a gentle smile: "Thank you."

  Asa found himself unknowingly having grown fond of seeing her smile. Those hazy eyes paired with thin lips on her round face originally had a gentle smile, as if always excited, but only until he saw the corners of her eyes curve downward and the corners of her mouth curl upward did he realize that this hidden smile was where her true beauty lay.

  Especially now, her face has also flushed with a red glow, making her look even more beautiful and lovely. At least it would make Asa's heart skip a beat. Because Asa vaguely knew that this was the expression that appeared for himself. He felt like he could die in this gaze and flush.

  Xiao Yi was eating fruit and looking at her notes, saying: "Hey, you've been here for a few days, do you think there's anything strange about this place?"

  "What a strange place?" Asa didn't think so at all.

  "Don't you think that the orderly situation here is completely inconsistent with the impression that beastmen have given people in the past? It's known that in the western wilderness of the empire, hundreds of humans were killed and eaten by beastmen every year. But now they're actually building cities like humans, learning to manufacture things, trading with humans, and even having their own laws and systems. You saw it today too, the officials here are human. Who exactly is able to gather these originally savage and untamed beastmen together and govern them in such an orderly manner? And why would they want to do this? Aren't you curious about this? Don't you want to know why?"

  "Not surprisingly." Asa was never interested in these things anyway.

  Xiao Yi made a face at him. "I knew you'd definitely think these are stupid. Let me tell you."

  "You should also know that the location of the Barbaric Highlands is in the center of the continent. Due to the natural barriers of the Sandfiss Mountains, Lizard Marshes and the Desert to the south, the Barbaric Highlands have become an important trade route for surrounding countries. In fact, after the imperial army wiped out the beastman tribes here, someone proposed building a city on top. Building a city as a market in such a location would be greatly beneficial to the commercial economy of surrounding countries, and this city could certainly develop and grow through commerce. However, this plan was ultimately not implemented. The Barbaric Highlands originally lacked resources, and it was too difficult to build a city out of thin air in a place far from any human civilization. More importantly, several countries surrounded this wasteland, and no one wanted others to build cities in what was originally a public area. Because that could be used as a military attack springboard at any time. So even if the empire was the most powerful among these countries, it still couldn't afford to offend everyone."

  Only the beastmen who were originally familiar with the living environment here could build a city in such a short period of time. However, they have never been united and do not have any technology, so someone must be leading them. The merchants and craftsmen we saw in the city over the past few days are all from other countries around us. This place was not established for long, why would there be so many merchants from other countries coming here to trade? Even if the location is good and the trade is convenient, it's still a dangerous beastman place. The answer is simple, this place was originally built with their investment. It's hard to imagine that the surrounding countries, which have always had conflicts, would secretly cooperate on such a thing, so it's more likely to be the power of the people, and must be the Chamber of Commerce.

  The Chamber of Commerce is a folk organization similar to the Adventurer's Guild, where business people form a group to make more money for their common interests. Because there are few things more powerful than 'money', this association, although only civilian, has considerable ability and can even influence politics. Due to national system reasons, the Empire does not have such a thing, and several major families monopolize most of the business trade.

  "My guess must be right, it must!" Her willow-leaf eyebrows squeezed together, the hazy eyes under them flashing with a faint light, her delicate nose wrinkled up, and her cheeks also flushed slightly, this was completely an explorer's excited expression when discovering a new continent.

  "No wonder they wanted to keep the construction of this city a secret from the Empire. For the military, which has been trying to eradicate the beastmen for a long time, it is naturally not allowed for the beastmen to rebuild a city. And for those nobles, such a large market with convenient transportation would affect their monopolized business interests. But why were they able to really keep it a secret from the Empire? Although the Empire has never paid much attention to the civilian chambers of commerce in these countries, an activity on this scale should have leaked out somehow. Didn't the military send troops to investigate? Was someone covering for them?"

  Asha straightened up and took a deep breath. All the fragmented pieces of memory and questions were linked together by her detailed explanation. He finally knew what had happened.

  But even if I knew, it wouldn't matter. It's just a sudden realization, and then I feel a little admiration for the duke's tactics, but also some anger at being deceived, and a sense of injustice towards those soldiers who died miserably on the mountain. However, what the duke is really after and what he wants to do doesn't concern him in the least, as long as it has nothing to do with himself.

  "What's wrong with you? Scared by my reasoning?" Xiao Yi looked at him with a pleased expression.

  "I find you very much like a person now." Asa said suddenly, lowering his head and gazing at her face carefully.

  Xiao Yi's face turned slightly red, her eyebrows raised, and she opened her eyes wide to ask: "Who is it?"

  Asha said: "It's that pumpkin-headed Boru Gadan's place in Brakada."

  Xiao Yi burst out laughing and playfully pinched Asa, saying with a half-smile and half-scolding tone: "How annoying, I was being serious."

  "I'm being serious, you two are really alike. You both can think things through so clearly, I really admire the two of you." Asa said with a very serious expression.

  "Go die, you look like a pumpkin." Xiao Yi raised his hand to hit him, but he blocked it. Their palms met, and his heart skipped a beat, but suddenly remembering the Duke, for some reason, a shadow flashed across his mind again.