The carriage jolted just as it did when Fisher was inside, but this time, the tall silhouette of the human man was no longer at the front. Instead, there was a Spider-man species named Xi Ya, holding two guns.
"Someone actually expanded the carriage to this extent. Hey, little dragon, what did that human do?"
"Ugh..."
Xi Ya pressed a musket to Lar's head, causing her small face to turn pale. Seeing this, Mier disregarded the danger and wrapped little Lar in his arms, shielding her from the gun.
"Don't touch her!"
"Tch... You're going to be sold for money anyway, it's not like we'll harm you. Plus, encountering a Dragon-man species coming of age, not bad luck."
She glanced at Rafael, who was weakly sitting at the edge of the steps, and smiled, "Even though you're not coming of age in your tribe, the appearance might be a bit lacking. But humans don't know the difference... Let's confirm if there are any treasures inside."
She opened the leftmost door, revealing Fisher's room inside. She looked over the books inside and then opened the drawer in front of his desk, finding a men's leather wallet on the top layer.
Xi Ya unclasped the wallet and counted the coins inside, finding only a few thousand euros.
She's been robbing for ages, so she recognized human society's money, like the Narli paper notes called "Narliou," Schwali's red notes called "Vali Gold," and Kado's known as "Holy Maiden Coin."
To the demi-human species, these were just numbers, and it was enough to roughly remember the corresponding value.
She smirked, saying:
"Turns out it's a poor guy, oh well, not sure about the price these books might fetch."
Rafael, outside, while the other searched the carriage, quietly called Fasher over, pulling aside her garments. Seeing the slave emblem on her chest still glowing, she knew Fisher wasn't dead.
For some reason, Rafael actually sighed with relief, but immediately felt as if it were a blasphemous thought and withdrew her previous expression.
The gigantic Spider Lady made the carriage's space extremely cramped, especially when she entered the changing room to search for items, leaving her enormous spider body outside. The fearsome spider back terrified Lar, who could only bury her face in Mier's chest.
"Clothes.. Clothes.. Just clothes.. Huh, there are women's clothes, but not for Dragon-men... Kree, come take a look."
Kree floated over from the doorway and looked at the deep purple women's clothes Xi Ya held on the hanger. It was a complete set of attire, resembling a human-style short outfit, paired with pale white silk fabric that looked very expensive, along with a flower-embroidered sunhat and a beautiful purple long skirt.
Kree's face flushed, attracted by the beautiful long skirt. The design of these clothes was very much to her taste, so she spoke to Xi Ya,
"I'm taking this one."
"Huh? This was clearly found by me, right?"
Xi Ya's many eyes looked at her, only to be glared back by her single eye,
"Can you wear it?"
She glanced at the enormous spider body beneath her. Xi Ya opened her mouth, resignedly tossing the clothes to Kree, and then re-entered the dressing room, hoping to find any human's hidden treasures inside.
Kree took the clothing and found it suddenly scorching hot, like lava, the temperature causing wounds to appear on her ethereal hands. Purple halos appeared around the garment, followed by a string of unknown text.
If there were demi-humans familiar with the language of Narli here, they could see it said,
"Aside from Fisher, no creature is permitted to approach this clothing, or you will receive my curse. This is the only warning. Please convey to Fisher I know about this."
The purple text gradually faded away, and for some reason, Kree felt the room's temperature drop by a degree.
Observing the wounds on her ethereal hand, Kree wisely refrained from picking up the clothes on the ground. Even a fool could see magic was arranged on them, and rashly taking them again could cause more severe harm.
"The skirt has magic, don't touch it."
Kree calmly spoke, prompting Xi Ya to glance at her with schadenfreude, as if there was some retribution for her spider body not being able to wear them.
The third room was the Dragon-man Lady's quarters, so naturally, there wasn't anything valuable. Xi Ya intended to open the fourth room, but found it locked.
Xi Ya pulled out a gun to aim at the door lock, but was stopped by Kree,
"Don't act foolish, you idiot... Space magic is arranged inside the compartment. If the Array is destroyed, we'll all be crushed to death in here."
Xi Ya smirked,
"Alright, alright, you're knowledgeable, I'll listen to you… speaking of which, those humans were too poor, they had nothing valuable."
Little did they know, this was all Fisher had.
"This magic carriage and those few dragon-men made for a decent haul. Selling these to humans will make quite a profit."
Kree floated to the front of the carriage, seeming to have reached the destination, and she gently pulled the reins, bringing the galloping horses to a stop.
It was pitch dark all around, and aside from the wilderness, there seemed to be nothing noteworthy. But then, after Kree spoke a few words to the void, the ground in front suddenly sank down, transforming into a slope, revealing an illuminated cave inside.
"Ha, finally home."
Xi Ya, uncomfortable staying in the cramped carriage, got off first to lead the horses ahead.
Rafael leaned against the side of the door, watching as they entered the cave. From the tunnel leading down the slope, the space inside was unexpectedly vast, the first sight was a stone hall filled with various items.
There were human firearms, medicine, coins, and gold, as well as a simple jail cell on one side of the hall. Rafael saw a few humans inside looking out, and upon seeing the massive Spider Lady bringing things in again, they disappointedly sat back in the cell.
Were these guys robbing humans nearby?
"How is it, found anything valuable?"
A petite girl came running from another tunnel, covered in dirt, with a long, sturdy tail swaying behind her, like a pangolin's. Her hands were disproportionately large compared to the rest of her body, perfect for chiseling rock and digging through soil.
The Mountain Armor Species was a type of cave-dwelling demi-human species living between mountains. Rafael had never seen these demi-humans in the area where he lived, only read about them in tribal records, and seeing one today was unexpected in such circumstances.
"Nothing valuable, just a few dragon-men and a carriage carved with some magic symbols, you could say it's not a loss... Remember to contact that human tomorrow, see if he wants them."
"Why do I have to go again? I still have to dig!"
"Dig, dig, you dig every day, can't you take a day off?!"
"If I don't dig, where will you all live? I said this before. I'm not going tomorrow, Xi Ya!"
"You expect me to go into a human city looking like this?"
The view from the carriage didn't show the outside situation, only the fierce argument between those two demi-humans could be heard. Lar glanced outside, then peeked out of Mier's embrace, looking towards Rafael,
"Lord Raphael... I'm a bit scared..."
"Don't worry, Fisher's still alive."
If Rafael's body wasn't so weak, she would have said she'd lead them out... But at this moment, she didn't know why she said that Fisher was still alive, as if she was relying on him.
No, it wasn't relying, just… just that her body was in poor condition now, and that human was so strong, these underlings wouldn't stand a chance against him.
If she waited until she came of age, she was confident she'd defeat that guy, so it wasn't reliance, just that under the present circumstances, she had no choice but to believe in him. That human wouldn't let her leave just like this.
That's how it was.
Rafael thought to herself and then raised her head to find a phantom-like figure beside them, expressionless, watching them,
"Even if that human's alive, he couldn't possibly save you, so give up the notion and get off now."
Humans wouldn't send soldiers out from the city walls to help him. They were well aware of the nearby human city's stance; they wouldn't easily send forces into the wilderness. They hadn't yet established themselves firmly on the South Continent, and if they came out, she would sell this information to the northern goblins.
Those fools hated the humans hiding behind the city walls.
And if it was just that one human...
Ha, if he dared to come, let him return that life he barely managed to save.
...
...
In the misty night, Fisher, gripping the handcane, slowly strolled to the riverbank, placing his hat, which had fallen off as he dodged bullets earlier, back on his head.
He picked up the handcane, looked in a certain direction in the darkness, and then slowly walked towards that direction, vanishing into the misty night.