"Were you really selling people just now?" Stone blinked, heaven knows, she was just making it up.
“Yes. But I don’t know why. Because in the laws of the Fallen Empire, only prisoners of war can be traded openly, but there hasn’t been any war recently.”
Luo Pipi was also troubled. Slavery was no secret in the circles of the great nobles. For one thing, her family also had slaves. Under normal circumstances, it was not surprising for any family that had been established for more than three hundred years to have a couple of slaves.
The problem is, normally, slavery is a very low-key affair, something that can't be openly discussed. Secretly keeping slaves or engaging in slave trading is fine. But a city like Kodak, daring to openly conduct slave trading in the city center's trading district, is truly bizarre!
"Who is the lord of Kodak City?" Stone casually grabbed a scallion pancake and started eating it with relish. She was the kind of person who was particularly oblivious to things, and besides, the slave trade and such really had little to do with her.
Luo Pipi was taken aback by the question, then began to ponder deeply, resting her chin on her hand. Meanwhile, Shi Tou and Liu Liu took the opportunity to start eating voraciously. Shi Tou, in particular, secretly tossed the snacks he was holding into his ring space when no one was looking.
Anyway, by the time Luo Pipi came to her senses, the table was already empty.
"You...you're so childish!" Luo Pipi glared at Shi Tou without hesitation, then got up dejectedly and asked the proprietress to bring more food, as she hadn't eaten yet!
After Luo Pipi started eating again, Shi Tou asked her innocently, "Do you remember who the lord of Kodak City is?"
Luo Pipi's hand, which was stuffing food into her mouth, suddenly stopped in mid-air: "Cough cough, I remembered, but you interrupted me and I forgot again."
You glutton!
Tears welling in her eyes as she quickly ate, Luo Pipi thought the most painful thing in the world was being looked down upon as a foodie by another foodie~~/(ㄒoㄒ)/~~
After eating and drinking their fill, Luo Pipi began asking the landlady about the place. The landlady could tell that the three of them were outsiders, but fortunately, as a small business owner, she didn't mind their out-of-town status at all. Instead, she enthusiastically introduced the local customs and culture of Kodak City.
With the landlady's enthusiastic explanation, Shi Tou finally understood why human trafficking existed here. It turned out that Koda City had been a border region of the Luo Ming Empire for hundreds of years. Although the border had been peaceful in recent years, and there were no prisoners of war, centuries of inactivity had resulted in a considerable number of prisoners of war and slaves in Koda City!
The so-called prisoners of war and slaves were quite different from the slaves of the six major Eastern families that Stone knew. Being prisoners of war meant they had no human rights. Furthermore, slaves were forbidden from intermarrying with ordinary people, a stark contrast to the slaves of the Eastern families. It's important to understand that the primary purpose of slaves in the Eastern families was for reproduction.
Of course, this doesn't mean slaves were forbidden from reproducing, but rather that they were prohibited from intermarrying with commoners. In other words, slaves could only mate with other slaves, and any offspring born would be slave children.
Because the number of prisoners of war and slaves in Kodak was so large back then, the number of slaves in other places decreased sharply, while the number of slaves in Kodak remained considerable. It's important to understand that slaves are not ordinary people; although they can reproduce, in most cases, slaves are consumables, and their reproduction rate cannot keep up with the rate of attrition.
Except for Kodak. There's no way around it, the slave population was just too large! o(╯□╰)o
"Hey, how about we buy a slave too?" Stone looked at Luo Pipi with a mischievous grin.
Luo Pipi paid the money expressionlessly, then bent down and picked up Liu Liu, who was almost full, ignoring Shi Tou and turning to walk towards the place where he had just discovered the human trafficking.
With a gloomy expression, Stone followed Luo Pipi, muttering to himself as they walked: "Are you really going to buy slaves? We have so many secrets, can we really trust slaves? And what about Linda? Although she's not a slave, she's my contracted maid. If she finds out, she'll be unhappy, blah blah blah..."
Stone walked all the way to the corner where they had just been, and bumped headfirst into Luo Pipi's back before stopping, clutching his nose: "What... Pfft!"
Upon seeing the situation clearly, even the usually oblivious Stone couldn't help but exclaim, "This...this is too exaggerated! This is not scientific!"
Science, you idiot, it was already dead the moment the stone traveled through it.
Regardless of its history, human trafficking remains a criminal activity. While Kodak City has never banned human trafficking, it has also never encouraged its expansion.
Therefore, human trafficking was usually carried out discreetly in a corner of the trading area. Under normal circumstances, outsiders would not come here to buy slaves without the introduction of an insider.
So sometimes, it's really hard to predict a person's luck!
"Stone, don't talk, I'll go ask around." Luo Pipi frowned and shoved the slippery thing in her hand into Stone's hand, then turned and walked towards... Linda!
Yes, you read that right, it's Linda!
Linda was originally just a commoner, but she voluntarily signed a master-servant contract with Stone. Magical contracts are completely different from slave trading, because magical contracts are based on voluntariness; if either party is even slightly unwilling, the contract cannot be successfully established.
In other words, magic contracts are far more sophisticated than human trafficking!
Watching Luo Pipi walk towards Linda, Shi Tou began to ponder something: if Linda really was captured and enslaved by those people, could she sue them? Recalling his past life, he realized that was indeed possible, but this wasn't his past life; it wasn't a world where you could call the police when in trouble. Although, sometimes, finding the police could be difficult…
Oh, and the Mage Guild too!
Stone had a sudden inspiration. Since it was a magical contract, it had to be under the control of the Mage's Guild. Similarly, if she wanted to file a complaint, she could only go to the Mage's Guild. However, Stone hesitated for a moment. If she remembered correctly, the bigwigs of the Mage's Guild seemed to be members of the Eastern Family.
Looking down at herself, Stone met Liu Liu's big, dark eyes and burst out laughing. If even Liu Liu couldn't recognize her, then those magicians who had only seen her portrait at age 12 would surely be unable to resist coming!
Moreover, she can pretend to be Liuliu's mother by holding her now... Well, being a mother is still a bit difficult, after all, her body is only 16 years old, while Liuliu looks at least 5 years old!
Okay, if my biological mother won't do, then my stepmother will do.
My sweet little one, from now on, I'm your stepmother~~~
Chapter 247 The Blacksmith's Wife
"Miss……"
Stone, holding Liuliu, blinked innocently and looked at Linda in front of him: "What's wrong with you?"
Linda's current appearance is beyond just "miserable." When they broke up yesterday, Linda specifically chose a rather worn-out dress for herself. Although the dress had many patches and was quite old, at least it was clean. Who would have thought that after just one day, Linda had transformed into a complete beggar.
"Miss, you didn't give me any money..." Linda glared resentfully at Stone. In truth, Stone hadn't mistreated her. It wasn't that she didn't have money; it was just that she hadn't taken the money from the bedroom with her when they broke up.
Stone was even more confused. He turned around and looked at Luo Pipi, who had a dark expression on his face: "Um, how about we go back and talk about it?"
Luo Pipi nodded, reached out and picked up Liu Liu, and strode forward toward the artisan district. Finally back in their new home (?!) in the artisan district, Shi Tou took out various daily necessities from his ring space: "Here, Linda, Luo Pipi didn't clean it properly, go and clean it again."
Linda's two streams of hot tears mingled with clear water and flowed throughout the entire house.
"Luo Pipi, do you think we should set up a forging room?" To be honest, Shi Tou has a dedicated forging room in her ring space, but she has to put on a show, right?
"I won't, do whatever you want." Luo Pipi hugged Liu Liu and decided to stay away from the two of them: "Liu Liu, I'll go buy you some good food."
Watching the two animals, one big and one small, leave, Stone stared boredly from inside the house: "Linda, you still haven't told me. What's going on with you?"
"Miss, you didn't give me any money..." Linda muttered as she wiped the furniture with a rag in her hand.
"Don't just repeat those two sentences, explain in more detail!"
Linda sighed and recounted her miserable experiences from yesterday and this morning with great sorrow.
It turned out that early yesterday morning, after Linda saw Stone and his companions enter the city from outside, she patiently waited for a while before slowly following the crowd into the city. Once inside, she wasn't in a hurry at first, because it had been a long time since she had visited a human city, and she looked around curiously.
It wasn't until the sun was high in the sky that she finally got directions and headed towards the trading area. But the problem was... by then, Stone and Luo Pipi had already arrived in the commoners' area.
Poor Linda didn't realize until she reached the trading area and wanted to buy some tea that she had forgotten to bring any money when she left the ring space!
Now, both hungry and thirsty, she could only desperately search for stones in the trading area. The problem was that at that time, Stone and Pipi had already arrived in the artisan district, seemingly forging items so they could buy a house there.
Remembering their previous agreement, Linda thought she should look for an area specifically for hiring maids. Unwittingly, she stumbled upon a slave trading area. Sadly, lacking Luo Pipi's extensive knowledge, she only knew that human trafficking was illegal in the Luo Ming Empire. She assumed it was just a normal employment arrangement.
"So you were captured?! I'm going to kill them!" Hearing Linda's words, Stone was filled with malice and wanted to rush into the trading area to kill those human traffickers!
Seeing this, Linda immediately threw down the rag in her hand and grabbed the stone back: "No! Let me finish what I have to say!"
Stone was startled at first when Linda tugged at her. But then she saw the rag Linda had thrown on the ground and was immediately disgusted: "Oh my god, your hands are so dirty!"
Linda was exasperated and glared fiercely at Stone. Stone thought that Linda was at least helping her with the work, so he held back and didn't dare to provoke the girl any further: "Ahem, I was just kidding."
"Hmph! So, are you going to listen to me or not?!"
"Yes, yes! Tell me slowly. If those human traffickers really mistreat you, I'll definitely get revenge for you!"
Because Stone's attitude was quite good, Linda finally calmed down: "Actually, I really didn't know they were slave traders. I thought they were just normal hired servants! I was even wondering why there were children among them!"
Stone's eyebrows twitched, but he refrained from speaking.
"I spent the whole afternoon there yesterday, but you never showed up..." Linda looked at Stone with resentment, making Stone feel uneasy.
"Ahem, we... forgot, hehe~~~" Stone took a step back guiltily. Heaven knows what she was busy with yesterday.
"Forgot?!" Linda gritted her teeth. "I was hungry and thirsty all day yesterday, and then I was freezing all night!"
Stone weakly raised his hand: "Yesterday...it was very hot..."
"So what if it's hot? Does that mean I can't stay cold all night? Huh?!"
Seeing that Linda was really furious, Stone decisively lowered his head and repented. Okay, she was indeed wrong. If she hadn't been so crazy yesterday and asked Linda to come into their house as an outsider, Linda wouldn't have gotten herself into such a mess.
“Hmph, when those slave traders came again this morning, this time they…” Linda said, her voice filled with rage, but Stone was too guilty to speak, so she could only perform a monologue: “They asked me if I had run into any trouble, so I made up a story about encountering thieves, and then they sold me off too.”
"Huh?!" Stone looked at Linda in horror: "Are you stupid? You want to be a slave?"
"I told you! I didn't know they were slave traders at first!!!" Linda was going crazy, her big eyes almost popping out of their sockets, making Stone shrink back.
"When did you find out they were slave traders?" Stone had already retreated to the doorway. Luckily, the house they bought was in a remote area, and there were no neighbors passing by. Otherwise, the gossip about the legitimate wife being bullied by the hired maid would have been enough for people to talk about for a long time.
Linda was tired and sat down on a chair next to the table. As soon as she sat down, she noticed a clump of dust on the chair, and her face darkened immediately: "How did Luo Pipi clean this?!"
Stone hesitated for a moment, then said, "Well... you know, her practical skills are even worse than mine." Indeed, she was the city lord's only daughter, unlike Stone, who had the title of princess but had to do everything herself.
"Never mind, my clothes are dirty anyway." Linda sighed and continued, "When those slave traders heard me say that, their faces turned pale immediately, and then they told me who they were. Actually, they were quite nice. They not only let me sit in their place, but also bought me some food. Of course, I already returned the money to them when Luo Pipi gave me the money earlier."
"Luo Pipi gave you money? Didn't they sell you out?" Shi Tou blinked, indicating his incomprehension.
"You're the one who got sold out! I sold myself, okay?! Besides, that's not selling, that's hiring, don't you understand?!"
Stone nodded quickly, afraid that Linda might get so angry that she'd kill herself. o(╯□╰)o~~
Seeing Stone show weakness, Linda felt a little better: "By the way, let me tell you, Lopipi hired me for 3 silver coins a year. Remember that!"
"You're offering it so cheaply?" As soon as the words left his mouth, Stone knew he had made a mistake again. He quickly took out a money pouch from his ring space: "Here, take all of this. I remember there are several hundred gold coins in it!"
Stone stuffed the purse into Linda's hand and quickly darted out the door, saying, "You can stay home and clean, I'll go out and buy you some clothes!"
He quickly slipped out, and when he reached the next street, Stone could faintly hear roars coming from his house.
"...This was originally my purse!!!"
Silently wiping away his sweat, Stone felt that Linda's reaction time was getting longer and longer.
She said she was going to buy clothes, but actually, Shi Tou had no idea where to buy clothes. Okay, no, to be precise, she didn't know where to buy clothes for ordinary people. Back in the capital, her clothes were either made by Huo Xiaoxiao along with some clothes she made for herself, or she bought the most expensive and glamorous clothes from the capital's commercial streets.
Of course, most of the time, she wears her school uniform...
Because this is the artisan district, most of the shops nearby sell tools. Not just weapons, but also many iron household items and ores. Looking at the abundance of ores in the nearby shops, and the fact that most of them were the same type, Stone figured there must be mines near Kodak City.
Of course, there are also daily necessities sold in the artisan district, since the people living here can't just run to the trading area every time they need to buy something. However, the goods here are generally not as good as those in the trading area; they are probably inferior products wholesaled from some rural areas.
As he walked around, Shi Tou was suddenly drawn to the storefront of one of the small shops.
The shop was small, but it stood out because it was surrounded by blacksmith shops. There wasn't a sign, but a cloth curtain hung at the entrance, painted with what looked like a large pair of scissors—I couldn't tell if it was embroidered or not.
"Is this a scissors shop?" Stone wondered. Scissors, at first glance, looked like they were made of iron, but blacksmith shops usually didn't sell them; general stores did. Could this be a general store?
With nothing better to do, Shi Tou decided to take a look inside. If it really was a general store, she could also buy some things for her home. Actually, she already had everything she needed in her ring space, but unfortunately, high-end items weren't suitable for that dilapidated house.
"Welcome, welcome! You must be the new wife at the blacksmith's house!"