Chapter 315
Chapter 315: This Milk Is Really Good
Floating magical light drifted through the luxurious and brilliant carriage interior, filling the spotlessly clean compartment with a radiant glow.
Leather seats were arranged throughout the carriage, and an elegant crystal tea table stood upon the floor, atop which rested a pristine white porcelain teacup filled to the brim with steaming milk.
Through the window, one could see clearly that the train was traveling through the high sky.
Below, the magical rail tracks unfurled dreamlike through the air, carrying the train soaring between blue sky and white clouds.
Weaving through brilliant rainbows, breathing in the crisp, dry-cold air, pressing ever onward toward the distant Kant Kingdom.
Birds in the sky fluttered about merrily in flocks, letting out cheerful chirping cries.
Sunlight cascaded down, painting a soft and gentle arc across the white clouds.
In this comfortable carriage, Auréliane sat alone on the leather sofa, her distinguished air requiring no words.
From time to time, Teacher Viktor would come to look in on her, but the greater part of his time was spent immersed in one of the other carriages.
No one could say what he was doing in there.
Though the entire first-class carriage was certainly not occupied by her alone.
At this moment, Xiangyilan—that Cat-girl maidservant with perked ears—was moving about busily within Auréliane's field of vision.
Dressed in a black-and-white Maidservant's uniform, she deftly prepared refreshments for the Princess—brewing tea, pouring milk…
While she worked, the cat ears atop her head bobbed up and down, and her tail hung loosely behind her, swaying gently from side to side.
Auréliane watched every small and delicate movement Xiangyilan made with careful attention.
Does she actually enjoy these sorts of chores?
Auréliane fixed her gaze on the happily working Xiangyilan, her heart full of puzzlement, and a few flickers of complex emotion passed through her eyes.
A Demi-human Maidservant…was she?
Her prior contact with Demi-humans had not been extensive—mostly surface-level understanding.
She could only recall that during her real-world experience at the Adventurers' Capital, there had been that Demi-human unit that followed her.
From that time onward, Auréliane had formed a certain understanding of these Demi-humans' discipline and combat strength.
And after that?
Before Auréliane could continue turning these thoughts over, Xiangyilan had already finished brewing the fresh tea and milk.
Holding the pristine white porcelain teapot in both hands, she padded over to Auréliane with light, soundless steps.
Xiangyilan gave a slight bow, and added warm milk to the teacup in front of Auréliane.
White steam rose from the teacup and spiraled in the air, carrying the fresh fragrance of the milk with it.
Xiangyilan gave another small bow and said:
"Your Highness the Princess, please enjoy."
Auréliane offered Xiangyilan a word of thanks and gave a slight nod.
Tasting milk brewed by a Demi-human for the first time made Auréliane feel genuinely curious.
She found herself wondering what exactly a Cat-girl's milk would taste like.
Auréliane raised the teacup and took a small sip of the milk.
As the rich and dense milky fragrance flooded into her mouth, Auréliane set the teacup down and savored it slowly.
Though compared to those experienced Maidservants, the flavor still showed a certain rawness, what Xiangyilan had brewed was already remarkably good.
Especially for a Demi-human—she had done exceptionally well.
Demi-human hands were not naturally suited to tasks like these.
Their hands were made for hunting and weapons—natural claws.
Considering the physical traits of Demi-humans, this level of skill was genuinely rare.
Auréliane looked toward Xiangyilan and opened her mouth to ask:
"Xiangyilan, you…"
"Why do you have a name like that?"
She was a little curious.
Demi-humans typically had no names.
Yet the exquisite cat-eared girl before her had a unique designation entirely her own.
—Xiangyilan.
And not just Xiangyilan, either.
Even the Demi-human guards—every one of them had a name that belonged to them.
This struck Auréliane as somewhat strange.
Why would Demi-humans need names?
Xiangyilan stood respectfully to one side, leaning forward slightly, and began to explain to Auréliane:
"It's because my Master once said that I carry a pleasant vanilla fragrance on my body, and so he gave me this name."
"All of these were personally bestowed by my Master."
Auréliane listened to Xiangyilan's explanation and suddenly froze.
Ma…Master?
Seeming to notice the Princess's curiosity, Xiangyilan explained in a composed tone:
"I was rescued by my Master from the hands of a slave merchant."
"He gave me wisdom, and gave me the aptitude to become a Mage."
"But unfortunately—perhaps because my talent isn't sufficient—even now I am still only a Magic Apprentice."
At this point in her account, Xiangyilan showed no disappointment whatsoever; she simply gave a small smile.
Auréliane grew more and more astonished the more she heard.
When she heard Xiangyilan say she was a Magic Apprentice, Auréliane was even more struck with wonder.
To become a Mage required constant, unrelenting acquisition of knowledge.
Yet to have a Demi-human—for whom even learning to read was enormously difficult—study Magic would demand effort perhaps 10 times, or even dozens of times, greater than that of an ordinary human Mage.
And yet Xiangyilan had become a Magic Apprentice. That alone proved she was intelligent.
Talking with Xiangyilan, Auréliane could already feel that intelligence firsthand.
And yet, slave merchants…
The thought of it dimmed something in Auréliane's eyes.
When Xiangyilan had mentioned slave merchants, a barely perceptible flash of fear had passed through her eyes.
Though the small and delicate Cat-girl showed every sign of ease, that fleeting trace of dread had not escaped Auréliane's notice.
Without Viktor, without the Clavena Family.
These free Demi-humans—who knew what dark corners they would have been sold into.
Slave merchants were despicable beyond words.
Auréliane remembered things Teacher Viktor had said before.
The Empire's prohibition on Demi-humans entering its borders served 2 purposes: on one hand, to ensure that within the Empire's domain, humans maintained an absolute majority and an elevated status.
And on the other hand, in a certain sense, it was to protect these Demi-humans from being exploited by certain profit-driven villains as a blatant means of amassing wealth.
Yet many people only saw the first part.
Within the Empire's borders, humanity reigned supreme.
This gave many of the Empire's nobles a sense of superiority when facing other races.
Other races possessing intelligence would generally not place themselves into danger.
But Demi-humans were different.
They were like beasts—without reason.
They fell easily into human hands, to be enslaved and used as tools and livestock.
Were Demi-humans permitted entry into the Empire, the nobles would act even more openly.
It was predictable: in every corner of the Empire, one would see those inferior Demi-human slaves.
Even garbage heaps would be littered with Demi-humans on the verge of starvation, stripped of all worth and discarded wherever convenient.
Even now, with the Empire's explicit ban on Demi-human trafficking, there would still be those willing to walk that road of no return for the lure of enormous profits.
Because where there is demand, there will always be a market.
Where there is a market, there will always be profit.
As long as the noble lords required this cheap labor force and could offer sufficiently generous compensation, these slave merchants would take the risk.
Though Demi-humans were indeed cheap—that depended on what you were comparing them to.
Auréliane still remembered words Teacher Viktor had once spoken:
"To slave merchants."
"Capturing an ordinary Demi-human is as simple and easy as baking a loaf of bread."
"But the price fetched is far greater than selling bread."
And so this was something Auréliane had kept in mind all along.
As these thoughts ran through her, Auréliane's gaze fell on Xiangyilan once more.
She found herself curious about the vanilla fragrance Teacher Viktor had mentioned.
So she opened her mouth:
"May I smell a li—"
Bang!
Bang! BOOM!
The words she had just begun hung suspended in the air and snapped apart.
The entire train lurched violently, as though heaven and earth were tearing asunder.
The delicate porcelain teacup on the table was flung to the floor by the violent impact and shattered into countless fragments.
White milk sprayed outward in every direction in a straight line, forming a terrifying streaked pattern.
Auréliane froze on the sofa, utterly bewildered.
Just as she was about to rise and see what on earth had happened, Xiangyilan suddenly pressed a hand down firmly on her shoulder.
Auréliane tried to break free, only to find that Xiangyilan's strength was far greater than she had imagined—her resistance had no effect whatsoever.
She trained in swordsmanship regularly, and her physical strength was clearly superior to an ordinary girl.
Yet she still could not match the small Cat-girl before her.
Was this the physical strength of the Demi-human race?
Immediately after, Auréliane saw that around Xiangyilan's eyes, a ring of green magical radiance had wrapped itself.
Then one of Xiangyilan's eyes began to faintly glow green.
This was the surgery Viktor had once performed on her—fusing the power of the 【Soul-Lurking Undead's Eyeball】 into her body, granting her the corresponding abilities of the 【Soul-Lurking Undead】.
"Please do not move, Your Highness."
"If there is danger, I will notify you immediately."
As those words fell, the green radiance grew steadily stronger, sweeping the surroundings.
The instant the green entirely covered the full eye, Xiangyilan felt the world around her plunge completely into a blindingly thick pitch-black.
Yet through the blurred silhouette of the carriage, she could make out scattered colored spots outside.
Her gaze followed those spots deeper, pressing further, until she detected a cluster of something even darker.
The gentle and endearing expression Xiangyilan had worn at the start gradually receded from her face, replaced by bared sharp teeth and a low, muffled growl.
The muscles of her face drew taut involuntarily, like someone bracing for a great enemy.
"Your Highness, please remain seated here."
"What comes next will be handled by us."
***
The ministers in the carriages could not stop trembling; fear spread rapidly across every face.
Some were so frightened they buried their heads into their own garments.
Why were they so afraid?
Because the train had just suffered a violent lurch.
What the ministers were worried about was not only this jolt—they were worried whether the train could continue forward at all.
Because they were currently in the airspace above the 【Nangabur Valley】.
Only after they passed through this deep and narrow valley would they be fully beyond the Empire's borders.
And right now, the train was traveling along the magical tracks on both sides of the valley walls.
Below them lay a terrifying chasm of unfathomable depth, from which a constant howling whoooosh rose ceaselessly from the depths below.
No one knew exactly how deep this valley was, but everyone understood: if the train were to plunge into it, their only fate would be to be ground to dust.
The Demi-human guards swiftly moved into action, weaving back and forth between the various train carriages.
The crisp, thin clashing of bone-plate and cold iron armor echoed through the hall as they coldly warned the diplomatic officials:
"Stay in your seats and do not move."
"Or bear the consequences."
What the hell is going on?
Watching this group of Demi-human guards spring into action only made the ministers more afraid.
Something unexpected must have occurred to prompt these Demi-human guards to move.
"Where's Viktor, where is Viktor!"
"We want to see Viktor—why is this happening!?"
Suddenly, it was as though an extreme northern wind cutting through glacial ice swept across the ministers' spines, a numbing, bone-piercing cold enveloping them in an instant.
The restless clamor of protest cut off abruptly, as though sealed entirely in ice.
Gwen, carrying a gust of frigid cold with her, walked slowly from the other carriages.
Her expression was frost and stone, her voice utterly devoid of emotion—yet it fell like a deep abyss, cold and indifferent.
"Right now, everyone."
"Silence."