Shapeshifting Collar

"...You're right," Chuan Wenwu suddenly said, his voice so calm that even the slave trader froze for a moment. "The fault doesn't lie with you, a mere merchant. It lies with the country that established and condoned these rules, with this era."

The slave trader immediately sighed in relief, a smile spreading across his face again. "Oh, Lord Hero, I'm so glad you understand! That's what I've been saying..."

"But I don't agree with it." Chuan Wenwu cut him off, his gaze steady. "I won't do anything to you here, not because your business is 'legal,' but because I know the root of the problem isn't here. If I smash your shop, a second and a third will soon open."

"If a 'hero' truly has the power to save the world, then changing these rotten rules should probably be within that power too."

His gaze swept over the iron cages and settled on the figures huddled inside. His voice softened, yet carried a crushing weight. "If I'd never witnessed or known about the darkness here, perhaps I wouldn't do anything. But now that I've seen it, I have to do something. Just not now-when I have enough power, when the time is right, I'll tear all of this down myself."

The slave trader's smile froze. He looked at Chuan Wenwu, his eyes flickering, before finally saying stiffly, "...I-I'll remember your words, Lord Hero. Now, is there any other 'business' you'd like to discuss?"

"Of course." Chuan Wenwu tugged at the corners of his mouth, but the smile never reached his eyes. All that remained was a cold, hollow pretense. "I'm here to buy equipment for Bruce. Didn't you say you were going to fetch it? What are you standing around for?"

The slave trader didn't dare utter another word. He turned and practically scrambled into the back courtyard.

Only then did Chuan Wenwu collect himself. His face darkened like a gathering storm as he walked toward the iron cages, step by step, as though "touring" an exhibition of living agony.

The cages nearest the entrance held Demi-Humans with the most pronounced animal features.

The werewolf who had curled up on the floor under the torment of the curse brand was now barely managing to lean against the iron bars, panting. Wolf ears that should have stood upright drooped limply. Bloodstained fur clumped into tangled patches, and fresh branding burns overlapped old lash scars on bare arms, their scarlet color hideous.

In the next cage, a leopard beastfolk huddled in a corner. A tail with half its length missing was wrapped in blackened rags, pus seeping through the gaps to form a small, dark-yellow puddle on the floor. Those slit-pupiled eyes, which should have shone like stars in the dark, were now veiled in gray. Only when Chuan Wenwu's footsteps drew near did the captive flinch uncontrollably, thin whimpers squeezing from a throat like those of a frightened cub.

Chuan Wenwu pressed his lips together without speaking, but his fists clenched at his sides until his knuckles turned white.

Bruce stayed close to his feet, his amber eyes filled with unease. Low whines rumbled in his throat as he brought his nose near the iron cage, but he dared not take another step-he could smell the blood on the Demi-Humans inside and sense their bone-deep despair.

Farther into the shop, the "merchandise" in the iron cages grew increasingly varied: burly men with bull horns, girls with drooping rabbit ears, children with moist deerlike eyes, and even elderly bear beastfolk. Whether they were beastfolk with pronounced animal features or Demi-Humans with only slight traces, men or women, young or old, all had been crammed into cages like cargo.

The Demi-Humans who looked almost indistinguishable from humans generally wore only tattered clothes and scraps of burlap. They were packed into a slightly larger cage, most with dull, vacant eyes, filthy from head to toe. Only their tears had washed two tracks down their faces.

Several half-grown children were shut separately in even smaller iron cages. The rags covering them were as thin as cicada wings, and their lips had turned purple from the cold. Their little hands clutched the corners of the cloth, with not even enough room to find a companion to huddle against for warmth-no one knew whether their families were still alive, or whether they were locked in some cage out of sight.

Every sound in the shop was subdued.

There were no heart-rending screams, only broken sobs, stifled groans of pain, the clatter of chains scraping against iron cages, and breaths made labored by prolonged hunger and weakness. Every sound struck the heart like a hammer.

Despair spread through the foul air like a plague, so heavy it nearly crushed the mind. This place felt less like a shop than a hellish exhibition hall displaying living agony. Every iron enclosure was a prison, holding lives that were slowly guttering out.

It was horrifying.

The more Chuan Wenwu saw, the harder it became to calm himself.

Emotion urged him to cleave open the iron cages and rescue these wretched people, to smash this scene of barbarity and backwardness to pieces.

But reason quickly pressed down on that impulse-he could do nothing now. If he acted, he would not only fail to save these people but drag himself and Bruce into trouble, perhaps even leave these slaves in a worse situation.

Right now, there was nothing he could do, and nothing he could allow himself to do.

Before long, the slave trader came running back with a wooden box in his arms.

Bowing low, he all but sidled up to Chuan Wenwu and raised the wooden box in both hands. He opened the lid as though presenting a treasure, an ingratiating smile plastered on his face. "Look, Lord Hero! This is a magic item designed specifically for Demi-Humans who can transform-the Shapeshifting Collar!"

Inside the wooden box lay a collar forged from black iron, its edges lined with polished spikes. It looked rather like a training collar meant for a fierce beast and was only a little narrower than Bruce's neck. Its design was hardly refined; in fact, it looked somewhat crude.

"Just activate it with mana, and it'll bind to the wearer. Then, while they're wearing it, it'll grow as their transformed body grows, so it won't break!"

Chuan Wenwu: "..."

He looked at the collar, then at Bruce's neck, and asked with a stern face, "Seriously? I came here to buy equipment. What use is a collar that gets bigger and smaller? I want armor that can improve his combat ability or protect him."

Sweat sprang out on the slave trader's temples. He hurriedly took out a handkerchief and wiped it away, his voice dropping noticeably:

"Please be patient, Lord Hero. I understand what you're looking for, but equipment like that is truly hard to come by! Think about it: how much material would it take to make a full suit of protective armor for one of those enormous magical beasts? Besides, magical beasts are already physically formidable. There's really no need to give them expensive armor on top of that! This Shapeshifting Collar may look ordinary, but it's actually very practical. It was designed to keep Demi-Humans from bursting out of their clothes when they transform!"

"You're saying this thing can also keep the equipment they're already wearing from being torn apart?"

"Yes. It may look small now, but it'll grow along with the wearer's body. It also has special magical circuitry inside that automatically transfers the wearer's belongings into its internal space when the collar grows... Here, this bell!"

Jingle, jingle.

The slave trader shook the golden bell at the center of the collar and explained solemnly:

"This magic item's storage space is housed in the bell. It may look small now, but once Mr. Bruce transforms, it'll become much larger, and its internal space will expand along with it. That lets it hold small personal belongings, such as clothes and weapons. The built-in Magic Circle automatically puts clothes on and takes them off."

Chuan Wenwu fell silent for two seconds, his fingers unconsciously tapping the shield on his arm. He had indeed wanted to find armor to protect Bruce, but the slave trader wasn't wrong. A suit of armor seven meters tall was far too impractical. This collar, on the other hand, really was what Bruce needed most right now.

"How much?" He raised his eyes, his voice calm again.

"Heh, heh, heh..." The slave trader's eyes shifted. He had intended to quote a high price, but remembering Chuan Wenwu's earlier attitude, he changed tack. "Th-this collar has been sitting here unsold for ages. Since you want it, Lord Hero, I'll give you a discount! How does five gold coins sound?"

Five gold coins, or five hundred silver coins, already cost more than the full set of equipment carried by a considerable number of adventurers. It was by no means cheap. It was hard to imagine what astronomical price it might have fetched without the discount.

"I'll take it."

Chuan Wenwu didn't haggle any further. He counted five hundred silver coins from his purse and poured them with a clatter into the cloth bag the slave trader held out.

"Thank you for your patronage, Lord Hero!" The slave trader hefted the cloth bag, his smile becoming a little more genuine. Rubbing his hands together, he asked, "Then, do you have any other instructions?"

Chuan Wenwu glanced at him. "Instructions? Then I order you to stop trading slaves and release all these people. Will you?"

The slave trader's smile froze at once, and he hurriedly waved his hands. "Th-that won't do! Even if you're the hero, I paid a great deal for these slaves. I can't just set them free for nothing... But! If you're willing to pay to free them, Lord Hero, I promise to give you a better price. They'll surely be grateful to you for the rest of their lives!"

"Buy them to set them free? Wouldn't that just fuel your slave trade even more?" Chuan Wenwu's voice was icy as he turned to call Bruce. "Bruce, let's go. The air here is unbearable."

"Grr..." Bruce growled at the slave trader, then followed Chuan Wenwu outside without hesitation.

Just as the two were about to step through the doorway, a heart-rending scream suddenly rang out from the previously deathly silent depths of the shop. Its piercing despair stabbed into their ears like a fine needle, stopping them in their tracks.

"No! No, please, nooooooooo-!!!"