Mountain and Forest Kingdom

"Things at the port have been chaotic again recently."

"The prophet said that because of the persecution of the Church of the Dawn and the Church of the Holy Light, many extraordinary people outside have come to us to take refuge, and they do not abide by our rules."

"I know, the prophet said this is law and order."

"Yes! It's just that public security has deteriorated! What is public security?"

"I don't know, it's not good anyway."

Near the seaside reef outside the monastery, several nuns doing odd jobs gathered together to clean toilets and kept talking about what happened in the past few days.

Flushing toilets need to be placed in the toilet. Except for the castle in Oak City, which has this kind of thing, the other toilets are only available in VIP rooms.

There are still not enough toilets, and most people just use pot urinals to solve the problem.

After cleaning the toilet in the sea water a few times perfunctorily, the girls doing chores squatted together and chatted even more perfunctorily, no longer working with their hands.

Ten minutes later, a nun wearing a white nun's uniform walked quickly from a distance.

"Lana! Come out with me! Go move things in town!"

After Lana heard this, she immediately got excited and stretched her neck and shouted: "Let's go in the afternoon, it's almost noon now."

"It's only ten o'clock! Stop talking nonsense and come here quickly!" The nun yelled at Lana: "If you think about being lazy again, I'm going to beat you!"

Lana was honest now and didn't dare to say any more words of refusal.

The nun didn't just bring Lana with her. In addition to Lana, there were three other nuns. There was also a cart carrying goods beside the nun.

The person in charge of leading the team was not a nun, but Ula, the female tavern owner who came to help.

Ms. Ulla is already in her thirties, and it is not unusual for her to become a grandmother here in the Land of Ice.

In short, she is just an old woman.

Although she had re-established a stable family, Ulla also felt the passage of time, and her work focus shifted from the tavern to the monastery, where she often came to pray and do work for the monastery.

Everyone knows that Ms. Ulla is thinking about giving up the tavern in a few years and entering a monastery to spend the rest of her life.

The tavern is open from morning to night every day, even at night all year long. Ulla may not be used to this kind of thing.

Under the leadership of Ulla, the nuns quickly pushed the cart towards Dumu Port.

Lana looked at the trolley pulled by the adults. Although she wanted to sit on it, her reason and experience told her that she would be beaten if she did so.

The old nun next to Lana looked at the ink-stained Lana and scolded: "You are always lazy at work. You take an hour or two off every time you can finish something in ten minutes. You are not pious to the prophet and God at all. , If the benevolent prophet had not forgiven you for the sake of the honor left by your parents, I would have sold you long ago!"

Lana had been beaten since she was a child. She had been beaten by her parents and also by the nuns in the convent. At this time, she listened to the reprimands honestly.

The old nun would definitely not shut up after saying a word, and the more she spoke, the angrier she became.

"You don't understand the mercy of the prophet at all. It's rare for a slave like you who knows how to eat and is lazy to live to the age of thirteen without getting rid of the disease of laziness and laziness. His hands, feet and head are intact. This is a rare thing. .”

"In the noble houses outside, slaves like you who are disrespectful to their masters and hang around all day long have been sold to the poor, or have been executed long ago."

Lana listened honestly, she had heard this kind of words many times.

Because she is a slave of the prophet, and because her father was beaten to death by a violent bear, Lana has lived peacefully to this day, and can continue to live like this.

The monastery takes care of the food. Except for the occasional reprimands and punishments from the nuns who have gradually become accustomed to her, no one from the outside can come in. Life is so peaceful and leisurely.

She didn't know how to read at all, she just couldn't. The nuns couldn't ask her to help her copy things, and she was clumsy and would break books and precious things, so she gradually stopped caring about this Kuhl who only did odd jobs.

There are not many Kurs left in the territory, maybe less than ten.

When the Kur people attacked the town of Pumixiu, almost all the men were killed, leaving only some young women.

Later, in order to deal with the Wakiri, several Kurds were discovered when they reoccupied the village of Dumu.

In recent years, the Kur people have lost even more sense of existence, and Lana has no consciousness of being a Kur person. Apart from saying that she is a Kur person, she usually follows the rules of the Star people.

The Kur people have no traditions at all, let alone any history or civilization worth remembering.

The old nun kept chattering to Lana for more than ten minutes, and she didn't quiet down until she was approaching the center of the town.

At this time, Ulla said: "Let's go to the dock. A slave merchant came here yesterday and is waiting at the dock now."

Lana was suddenly shocked, her hands and feet became cold, and even her stomach became cold.

Ulla looked amused when she saw Lana's frightened look.

"I won't sell you. You are the slave of the prophet. Who dares to sell you?"

Lana suddenly breathed a sigh of relief again and almost cried out of fear.

The nuns next to her also laughed and said some vicious words that threatened the girl.

Lana didn't want to be sold, whether it was to be sold to work in someone else's house or to be sold to someone else as their wife.

Once you get married, you have to work, you have to work at home all day long, and the food and supplies are not as good as here in the monastery.

Lana wanted to stay in the monastery for the rest of her life, eating on time and going to bed on time every day.

There are always a lot of people near the port of Dumu Port, because there have been many refugees and stowaways from foreign countries recently, and patrols have been increased on the coast.

Lana and others received courteous and respectful greetings from passers-by along the way, and the shops on the roadside also began to prepare the goods they needed, so that they could take them directly back to the monastery when they returned.

Soon several people arrived at the dock area where the stevedores were working.

In the dock area of ​​the port stood a wooden pole with the body of a murderer hanging from it.

The nuns walked quickly past the pole, accustomed to this sort of thing.

The Kingdom of Stars has been at war almost every year since its establishment.

In the years before it was established, there were even more fights, and both adults and children were used to this kind of thing.

The death of hundreds or thousands of people is completely insignificant to the current Kingdom of Stars. Even if the dead are the elites of Dumu Port and Pumixiu Town, it will not hinder the overall cohesion.

After someone dies, the vacancy is quickly filled.

The distinguished nuns quickly arrived at the grocery market at the dock, which was divided into several areas.

There are places selling vegetables and fish, and there are places where people can barter, or exchange livestock, cattle and sheep, or refugees looking for work.

Slave trading is a high-end trade. Slave trading is prohibited in the Kingdom of Stars because all people are slaves of Lawrence and no trading is allowed.

But buying slaves has been an ancient tradition in the Kingdom of the Stars.

A considerable part of the population of the Kingdom of Stars was purchased through trade, and these people were an important source and supplement of the initial population.

Slaves under Lawrence were not allowed to purchase slaves. The monastery itself was an institution that provided high-quality talents for Lawrence, so it was qualified to purchase slaves on a regular basis.

Ulla and the nuns walked towards the area where the slave traders were, and soon stopped in front of a concrete floor where dozens of people were sitting.

The slaves here are basically all women. There are also strong male slaves, but there are only three.

The price of slaves is not low, especially the price of male slaves is higher than that of cattle and sheep, and some are similar to those of Dom sheep in their prime.

Good and healthy male slaves were able to do a lot of physical work, were more docile than cattle, ate less, and worked more.

In particular, farms and workshops needed slaves who could do heavy work. Female slaves were unable to do some tasks due to their strength, but many people could do other tasks that did not require strength, resulting in much lower prices.

Lana is not young anymore, but there are still many things she doesn't understand at this time, and no one tells her any truth.

The dirty slave trade soon began, and cries were heard nearby. Some people sold themselves voluntarily because they could not survive, while others became slaves because they could not survive and took their children who could not give up.

This place itself also functions as a vegetable market, so just like on a farm or in a vegetable market, selling lambs in front of ewes, no matter how much the woman cries, cannot inspire compassion from other people.

Fortunately, this is an area that has been contaminated by civilization. Ulla does not want to spend more money. This time, he mainly buys some slaves for the monastery to do chores. They are mainly girls and young girls who are easy to discipline and do not want adults.

However, the benevolent prophet stipulated that if you buy a girl, you must buy a mother. That is, if you buy a child, it is best to let the child's family stay with you.

Ulla doesn't want to buy those older women. Most of these women will become thieves or do stupid things, and they won't take the initiative to learn the language here.

So this time Ulla did not buy those slaves with families and families. Even though those people looked at her with pleading eyes, Ulla did not buy them.

Ulla carefully selected among the crowd. All the slaves were sitting together with their knees in their arms, looking up at these well-dressed nuns.

Before coming here, the slave merchants had given them a good impression of this place in order to better manage these slaves. However, these people did not know some of the screening conditions within the monastery because of intelligence.

So after seeing these nuns, some of these slaves were very excited and hoped to be bought into it to live a good life, while others did not want to be sold this place.

Ulla was a slave before and had lived in a slave house for a long time. She knew very well that the crying slaves had not received training and were not willing slaves.

These people are very difficult to discipline.

This experienced woman quickly sifted through a group of thin slaves.

She walked up to a girl, held up the girl's chin with one hand, pinched the girl's cheeks to open her mouth, checked her teeth and tongue, then stretched out her hand to open the girl's thin linen clothes, and looked at her neck. and chest.

It's like choosing products for the owner.

This qualified feudal woman is working diligently for her master. Her benevolent master has pulled her from the backward and ignorant primitive slave era into the feudal era.

Her heart is full of gratitude, and she also believes that everyone should be like her, or be treated slightly worse than her, and be loyal to the great master.

While Ulla and the nuns were working hard, fulfilling their duties, and putting their loyalty into action, the girl next to them who was not loyal and was just satisfied with the status quo just for a bite to eat was a little idle.

Lana didn't want to see Ulla and the others selecting slaves. She looked around and quickly left here quietly.

There are many fun places on the street, and there are also many shops selling delicious food. You will never get tired of seeing them all day long.

I rarely leave the monastery. I used to be able to come and go as I pleased, but that was no longer possible a few years ago. I was not allowed to leave unless there was something wrong.

Lana quickly forgot what happened with the old nun and walked to the busiest food street.

There are rooms for making pancakes, rooms for selling bread, and places for selling wine and meat.

Lana looked at the children eating pancakes on the street, wiped her saliva and then touched her pockets.

There were only some gravels and nut shells in the pocket, not a single copper.

Lana was very poor and no one gave her money. The happiest time of the year was when she could get some snacks during the Evernight, or when the prophet held a banquet, there would be a lot of delicious leftovers to eat.

Lana sighed, touched her belly, and planned to go back to eat.

If we go back now, we will definitely be in time for dinner.

"We'll have brown bread and vegetable soup for lunch today, and you can have fried rice in the afternoon."

Lana became happy. The fried rice was made with lard. It was delicious and everyone liked it.

Lana, who walked to the port again, quickly approached the slave market. After seeing the nuns and Ulla still selecting slaves, Lana breathed a sigh of relief. Only then did she know she was afraid.

Ulla didn't notice Lana leaving, but the old nun did, and gave her a vicious look when Lana came back.

Lana lowered her head and dared not speak.

The old nun turned her head and continued to stand next to Ulla and watched, paying no attention to the little nun who had returned.

When Ulla was selecting slaves, the sound of dogs barking suddenly came from the distance, and many soldiers ran towards the Winged Harbor.

In the boring life, there are sudden waves.

"Let me go take a look!" Lana quickly shouted and ran over.

Ulla raised her head and looked into the distance. There was nothing else on the sea ahead except merchant ships and cargo ships. There was no island invasion, and it didn't look like there was any trouble.

Soon Ulla continued to be busy with her own affairs, just like she had ignored the drunkards who were fighting and quarreling in the pub. She was a steady woman who had seen the storm.

On the other side, Lana quickly squeezed her way through the crowd. She had been eating and drinking in the manor since she was a child, and her long-term work gave her a strong body that could withstand severe beatings.

Also, the men around him found out that a girl wearing a nun's uniform was pushing someone, so they subconsciously moved to give her a seat.

The women of the monastery had a high social status in this area, especially for many early serfs, as they were the ones who managed them.

Lana squeezed her way to the front and found an ugly monster curled up under the dike that blocked seawater erosion.

This monster is like a baby, or a strange withered fish. Its body is less than the size of a puppy, maybe only as big as a hand and a half.

The monster's body was pushed by waves of seawater, floating between the dam and the seawater, and its ugly body kept hitting hard rocks.

After Lana saw it, the nearby big dog barked in fear, as if it was afraid of this monster.

"Catch it up and have a look!"

Lana was curious about what this thing was. While the soldiers and guards were waiting for the priest to come over, she slowly slid down the sloping embankment and reached out to support the back of the little monster in the water.

The monster did not move. Its body was still curled up hard, and its arms, legs and other organs could be seen.

Lana soon discovered that she couldn't climb up with one hand. She didn't think much about it when she came down. Now she looked at the high embankment, then turned to look at the dark sea water below, and suddenly felt scared again. .

Fortunately, she was wearing a nun's uniform. The soldiers on the shore had no intention of letting the nun fall into the sea, and quickly lowered the ladder and rope to rescue her.

This outfit has saved her life more than once or twice. (End of chapter)