Elf? Witch? Knight? Slave!

"A small gift, just a token of my respect," Remy said with a smile.

Isaac raised an eyebrow, nodded, and did not refuse. This would not be the only time he bought slaves; there would be plenty of opportunities for cooperation in the future. He turned his gaze back to the slaves in the iron cages. "How many like these did you bring? I'll take them all."

Remy looked at Isaac in surprise. He was beginning to lose track of Isaac's purpose in buying slaves.

He had originally assumed Isaac wanted them for experiments. This world was not like Isaac's previous life; although not everyone could accept human experimentation, they were not overly opposed to it either.

At the very least, as long as the test subjects were slaves, there would be no legal problems.

At most, it would damage one's reputation.

But experiments did not require slaves of such high quality. Slaves like these were usually bought to develop territory.

Still, Remy did not ask further questions. As a qualified slave trader, not asking how slaves would be used was the most basic professional ethic in his line of work. It was just a pity that he had not prepared many.

"That is a bit unfortunate. I only brought a little over forty like these this time, which is rather few. If you need more, you may have to wait a while. I'll need time to prepare them." As he spoke, Remy lightly waved his right hand, and the black cloth over the second carriage fell away, revealing slaves roughly identical to those in the first carriage.

Isaac examined them carefully, then said with satisfaction, "Mm, not bad. Hold onto them for me first. Start with three thousand. Send them over whenever you have them."

Remy glanced at Isaac in surprise. Three thousand...

The later ones would definitely be sold at market price. They could not keep charging one Gold Coin each. Three thousand slaves meant more than twenty thousand Gold Coins!

Even for Remy, that was a major order!

But what did he need so many slaves for? As far as Remy knew, Isaac did not have any territory to develop...

Could it be a blood sacrifice?

Remy's heart tightened. A blood sacrifice was different from human experimentation. Especially when humans were used as offerings, whether they were free citizens or slaves, it was not permitted by secular law.

Yet Remy still said nothing. He merely nodded, indicating that he would deliver the remaining slaves later.

Who cared whether it was a blood sacrifice? He was not the sacrifice. Why refuse business?

"Please take a look at this as well..." Having secured such a large order before they had even finished negotiating, Remy was ecstatic. Smiling, he led Isaac to the third carriage.

When the black cloth fell, the creature in the iron cage made Isaac's eyes light up. Unlike the previous two carriages, the third was a "single room." There was only one slave inside—a beautiful slave!

Golden hair, fair skin, a gently rising chest, emerald-green eyes, pointed ears...

"An elf?!" Isaac's eyes widened slightly. And a native elf at that!

"You can get one of these too?" Isaac looked at Remy in astonishment, revising his opinion of him upward.

Elves were no ordinary slaves. Their beautiful appearances, combined with their unmatched rarity, kept their prices sky-high. Whenever one appeared, it was basically at an auction. Without forty or fifty thousand Gold Coins, one should not even think of making an offer.

For slave traders, elves carried extraordinary significance as well. Whether one could capture an elf had become a dividing line in the slave trade. Catching an elf meant one had truly established oneself in the business!

Elves were an extremely insular race, and they lived only within the Elf Forest. Legend said it was a moving forest, and there were very few ways to locate it.

Furthermore, every elf possessed outstanding magical talent, and their strength was far from ordinary.

Even if an ordinary slave-catching team happened to stumble upon the Elf Forest, they would be unable to break through its outermost barrier!

Thus, when he sensed Isaac's astonished gaze, Remy could not help feeling a little pleased with himself. He puffed out his chest and waved a hand. "I acquired her by luck. What do you think? Is my lord baron interested?"

"Lord Remy is willing to part with her?" Isaac asked in surprise.

An elf was no ordinary slave. Aside from fetching a high price at an auction house, one was also an excellent advertisement. This single elf slave could easily double Remy's business!

"If my lord baron is interested, one hundred thousand Gold Coins. Consider it the price of making a friend," Remy said with a smile.

This time, Isaac was genuinely surprised. He studied Remy seriously, but then shook his head and declined his goodwill. "I appreciate the gesture, but I'm not interested in elves. Let's see the next one."

At least for now, Isaac had completely lost interest in elves. In his eyes, elves were nothing special. Aside from having a higher average appearance, they were no different from humans.

Oh, right. Their magical talent was also somewhat better.

But that was all. Elves held no research value for him at present. As for appearance...

Sorry, but this elf was not within Isaac's preferences. At least compared to Lapis Lazuli, she fell far short, even if Lapis Lazuli was only a layer of skin.

Hearing that, Remy felt rather regretful. He was not merely being polite; he genuinely wanted to sell her directly to Isaac, just as he had said, to make a friend.

One could only say that was very merchant-like.

To Remy, Isaac's identity as a Mad Witch both frightened and excited him!

He was frightened because Mad Witches were truly mad. No one knew what they might do the next moment, because no one knew during which ritual they would completely become puppets of an Outer God. Destruction always accompanied a Mad Witch!

And it was exceptionally terrifying destruction!

But at the same time, it also excited him greatly!

As the saying went, wealth was found in danger. Mad Witches were indeed mad, but there was no doubt that they were all geniuses!

First-rate geniuses!

Thus, many ingenious ideas often emerged from their hands, and those ideas might possess enormous value!

And even disregarding all that, purely in terms of potential, every Mad Witch was a promising investment with tremendous future growth!

As long as they survived.

So although Remy's reason told him to stay away from Isaac and preferably never have anything to do with him, his merchant's instincts urged him to build a good relationship with Isaac and firmly seize this promising investment!

What a pity...

Isaac did not want the elf...

Next, Remy showed Isaac several other kinds of slaves: dragonkin, ratmen, adventurers, and even a Tier 1 knight. Unfortunately, none caught Isaac's eye.

He was buying slaves in order to train Arcane Secret Masters. Once they learned the secret arts, Isaac would send them away. He had no intention of raising a pile of trash weaker than the Great Sword Ghost on his territory.

The other slaves were therefore rather unsuitable. Either they could not practice the secret arts, or their cost was too high.

Until the final carriage...

"My lord baron, I guarantee you will be satisfied with this one!" Remy smiled mysteriously, then rubbed his hands in a lewd manner. His fat, greasy tongue slid out and licked around his lips.

Yet rather than reacting to Remy's disgusting gesture, Isaac narrowed his eyes, his expression turning serious.

Because he sensed magic power in Remy's movements!

At the same time, the black-cloth-covered carriage before them also released a wave of magic power.

In other words, Remy's series of seemingly disgusting movements was actually the method for undoing some kind of Magic Seal... Interesting...

Isaac began to look forward to what was inside the carriage. Even the carriages holding the elf and that knight had not been equipped with Magic Seals, showing how much importance Remy placed on this thing.

But what could possibly be more important than an elf?

Soon, under Isaac's expectant gaze, the black cloth fell, revealing the contents of the carriage. His eager, excited expression froze. After a long moment, he turned his head and looked at Remy as though he were insane.

"Are you crazy? You even dared to capture a Witch?!"

That was right. When the black cloth fell, the iron cage revealed a girl around one and a half meters tall, sixteen or seventeen years old, a few years younger than Isaac.

Although she wore plain clothes, and her messy gray hair covered her face and concealed her delicate features, she was currently curled up in a corner of the iron cage, looking small and pitiful.

But no matter how pitiful she looked, Isaac recognized at once the surging magic power within her!

At the very least, it rivaled the peak of a Formal Wizard!

Of course, not every woman with magic power was a Witch. But if it was Chaos Magic Power, that was another matter entirely.

There was no doubt about it. This was a Witch!

And Witches could not be made into slaves!

Because there was a nation on the continent specifically dedicated to accepting and protecting Witches—the Witch Country!

It was a country ruled by lunatics. Thus, although many of its laws were extremely overbearing, because most of them involved protecting Witches, the nations of the continent still recognized some of its laws and regulations despite it not being one of their own countries.

Among them was this—no one was permitted to capture a Witch as a slave for any reason, or it would be considered a declaration of war against the Witch Country!

Of course, as long as there was enough profit, someone would always take risks. Witch slaves were no exception.

But few dared to do it. At least, Isaac had only read about it in documents...

This was his first time seeing one alive.

"Hehe~" Remy grinned proudly, apparently not realizing how insane his actions were. "Well? Do you want her?"

"..." Isaac fell silent for a moment before asking, "How many Gold Coins?"

Although Remy's act of selling a Witch slave was utterly insane, and buying one carried enormous risks, Isaac admitted that he was tempted!

These days, he often spent time in the research group's library, hungrily absorbing every scrap of knowledge like a sponge. There, Isaac had come across an incomplete but fascinating Black Wizardry experimental journal.

The Black Wizardry itself was rather ordinary. It was a spell derived from heart transplantation, except it replaced an enemy's heart during battle and used rejection to kill them.

But one concept mentioned within it greatly interested Isaac—the Witch Heart.

In the experimental notes, the author regarded the Witch Heart as the source of a Witch's power, believing that transplanting a Witch's heart would grant one the Witch's magic.

In truth, such ideas were rather old-fashioned among Legendary Wizards. After all, the power of Legendary Wizards had originally come from studying Witches.

The theory of the Witch Heart had long since been disproven. Simply transplanting a Witch's heart did nothing.

However, that author believed that while a Witch Heart alone was indeed useless, what if a ritual were used to condense a Witch's power into a single heart? Would that still be useless?

The author did not think so. He even boldly guessed that early Legendary Wizards must have done such things too. It was only after the system of Legendary Wizards gradually matured, and Witches slowly united, that this bloody and primitive method was completely sealed away.

Isaac's view was much the same as that author's. Legendary Wizards were not good people, and they did not possess such lofty moral standards.

Unfortunately, the author of that experimental journal had never completed the experiment himself. Before he could begin capturing a Witch, he had already died in a magical experiment.

Isaac certainly would not sacrifice this Witch or extract some Witch Heart. The first reason he wanted to buy her was that he was genuinely interested in Witch magic and wanted to study it properly.

Of course, by perfectly normal methods, and he would do his best to obtain her consent.

The second reason... was also why, even after buying her, Isaac would not regard her as a slave. He planned to contact the Witch Country and send this Witch there!

It could not be helped. Although Remy had captured her, he had conducted business with the Solomon Family for many years. If this matter were exposed, the Witch Country's wrath could very well implicate them.

After all, they were a group of madwomen. Women were unreasonable enough already, let alone a group of madwomen.

"I can give her to you, my lord baron!"

Isaac was not surprised by Remy's answer at all. After all, this was no longer something money could measure. There was certainly still a price for it, but as a slave trader who had been in the business for many years, Remy surely did not lack that little bit of money.

"I knew it. What do you want?"

"Hehe~" Remy rubbed his hands fawningly. "I heard that my lord baron has recently developed a brand-new potion capable of purifying the bloodline of dragon-blooded creatures in the proper direction?"

Isaac glanced at Remy in surprise. He had not made much effort to conceal the information, but he had not spread it around either. At present, the news had only circulated within the Flesh Cult's research group. After all, it still had many flaws, so it had not been officially announced.

"There is such a thing. It's called the Dragon Transformation Secret Medicine. Where did you hear about it?"

"Your elder sister, Grand Arcanist Sheryl, told me. So, when you officially begin selling this potion, I hope you will allow me to sell it on your behalf. Of course, I would merely be selling it for you. You would set the price, and all profits from the potion would belong to you." As he spoke, Remy lowered his posture even further.

"Strange. Aren't you a slave trader? Why are you trying to make money from potions too?" Isaac asked curiously.

"As long as it makes money, what does it matter what I sell? Don't you agree?"

"That makes sense. Fine, I can allow you to sell the Dragon Transformation Secret Medicine. You do not need to give me all the profits either. Buy it from me, then sell it for however much you can. But we need to establish three rules~"

Remy's eyes lit up. He quickly suppressed his excitement and said, "Please tell me."