Pale Emblem

Chapter 144 Limited Charm

Maddie led everyone to the edge of the big mine. Several patrolling armed slaves discovered them and immediately began shouting, telling them not to get close to the mine. At the same time, they sent a companion into the mine to report the situation.

Not long after, a group of fully armed barbarian slaves came out of the mine with great momentum. They were all over 1.9 meters tall, tall and fat, more than twice the size and weight of ordinary half-elves, wearing half-leather armor, each holding an iron-clad mace, and a few spinning axes on their belts. They strode over, looking very oppressive.

“This is our mine!”

The leader of the team had not arrived yet, but he shouted loudly and asked as he walked: "Who are you? What do you want to do here?"

He deliberately showed his canine teeth, which were much more developed than those of a half-elf, and pointed at Victor and his group with his thick fingers, looking like he was saying "I'm very fierce".

In the face of the barbarian slave miners' arrogance, Harvey and Maddie just sneered disdainfully. The gladiator slave Kent had no expression on his face and didn't even look at them.

The barbarians are brave and aggressive by nature, especially the young barbarians who are just beginning to develop. They do not know how to control the boiling anger in their blood. They fight with their peers every day and do not care how hard they hit, which often results in casualties.

The barbarian shamans use circumcision on those guys who always lose battles, to cool their boiling blood and prevent them from continuing to seek death.

A biting dog doesn't bark, and a man-eating tiger doesn't show its teeth. The truly strong always exude confidence in their laziness and calmness, because they have the ability to cope with various challenges. The weak are often sensitive and irritable, unable to control their temper, always showing their teeth and claws, and are used to attacking others. They think they are showing off their strength, but in fact they are bluffing.

Barbarian teenagers with weak talents are becoming more and more aggressive, and circumcision is a means of protecting them.

Harvey and Maddie were both former legionnaires and had fought against real barbarian fighters. They certainly weren't afraid of the circumcised barbarian slave miners.

As for Kent, as a gladiator slave in the Dark Valley, he often fought with barbarian gladiators. The fact that he is still alive says it all.

Kent was too lazy to even look at these tall, fat, disabled slaves.

The captain of the armed slaves had not yet noticed the contempt of these strange half-elves, and Christine had already attracted his attention with her kind and gentle voice.

"Don't be nervous, we don't mean any harm... We are here to trade ore."

  The captain of the barbarian slaves looked at the beautiful half-elf lady, his tone softened, and he said hesitantly:

"I don't know you guys... have you been here before?"

  Christine was not willing to waste time on such a small character. She smiled slightly, a barely perceptible glimmer in her amber eyes, and said:

"We are merchants introduced by Isaniel from Water Snake Town. We are here to discuss a big deal with Chief Ansai. Please lead the way for us."

After hearing this, Captain Mannu immediately felt that the other party was originally the chief's distinguished guest, so he must take them to see Chief Ansai immediately. He must not delay the chief's important affairs, and it must also be kept secret.

The other armed slaves had the same understanding as the captain.

"Okay, I'll take you to see Chief Ansai right away!"

The Barbarian Slave Captain turned around, raised his hand to greet the half-elf guest, and said, "Come with us."

Christine smiled sweetly at Victor. She didn't even need to say a word, as her facial expressions and body movements were able to express a lot of things.

Master, I am awesome, right?

It's a piece of cake.

Everybody stay close to me and I make sure there won’t be any problems on the road.

Assassins and shadow hunters both have secret blood abilities that reduce their presence, but Christine's characteristics are completely opposite to theirs. She is enhancing her own presence, following the Barbarian Slave Captain all the way and becoming the most dazzling and eye-catching presence. The Barbarian Slave miners they meet only pay attention to Christine and ignore others, and are also bewitched by her. No one dares to stop her, and no one is suspicious of them.

This is almost a kind of domain power, and its essence comes from the abyss aura that Christine possesses.

That’s right, Christine is not an artificially created alchemical demon, but a true half-elf demon. Her life level is no less than four, and she is at least a silver-level extraordinary creature.

With the help of Christine, Victor and his followers easily sneaked into the interior of the large mine. Looking up, he found that it was a huge open-pit mine, like a funnel split in half, about 180 meters deep, and the bottom was connected to a turbulent river valley, so the entire mine was dug on a cliff facing the river.

The barbarian slave miners dug a zigzag transport ramp on one cliff of the funnel mine, dividing the entire mine into eight levels. There are varying numbers of small mine caves on the cliff on one side of each ramp. The small mine caves on the upper three ramps have been dug until the minerals are exhausted and are only used as warehouses and dormitories for the barbarian slaves.

It is daytime now, and there are almost no barbarian slave miners in the dormitory. They are all working hard in the slope mines on the lower levels. Some barbarian slaves are responsible for digging minerals, while others are responsible for transportation.

Each slave was pulling a cart full of minerals, and they passed by Victor in an endless stream, like ants. There was no whip of the supervisor behind them, and no collars around their necks to represent their slave status, only the taut trailer ropes, the creaking wheels, the shiny sweat on their shoulders, and their eyes full of energy.

Victor was different from others. He had no preconceived prejudice against barbarian slaves. As for the barbarian slave miners in front of him, in Victor's opinion, they were definitely not slaves.

Although the barbarian slave miners were eliminated at a young age and castrated, losing the source of strength to become barbarian fighters, the physical fitness of the barbarians is generally at the level of junior half-elf professionals. Coupled with years of hard work, the miners' bodies have become stronger.

There are about seven or eight hundred barbarian slave miners in this mine. How many half-elf guards does the mine owner need to suppress them?

It can be seen from this that once the adult barbarian slaves gathered together, it would be difficult for the slave owners to use violence to manage them.

Of course, the heavy work of developing such a large mine cannot be accomplished by just a few hundred half-elf hired slaves. If the number of half-elf hired slaves continues to increase, the development cost will remain high, which is far less cost-effective than using barbarian slave miners.

This is why there have always been calls within the Disa Alliance against the use of barbarian slaves, but the slave owners have turned a deaf ear to it.

Victor had a bad feeling that Christine's plan to seduce and control the barbarian slave leader might not go smoothly.

Without any questioning or obstruction from the barbarian slaves, the armed barbarian slave captain led Victor and his party to the door of the last small mine cave on the third level of the mine ramp. "We have important business to discuss, don't waste time," Christine said to the barbarian slave captain with a smile.

The captain of the armed slaves originally planned to enter the room alone and report the situation to the leader first. When he heard Christine's urging, he immediately changed his mind, turned his fat body to the side, made way, and pushed the door open with force.

The barbarian slaves in this mine were better equipped and each of them was alert and agile. When they heard the noise at the door, they drew their weapons, formed a defensive formation and walked out.

They should be the bodyguards of the miners' leader. They were all stunned when they saw that it was the captain of the patrol team who was forcing the door open, and he was accompanied by a group of strange half-elves.

Christine stepped out from the crowd, her beautiful eyes rippled with wonderful emotions. She smiled but said seriously, "Dear barbarian warriors, I want to discuss a very important matter with your leader, Lord Ansai. Please guard the door outside. Do not let anyone approach here without Lord Ansai's order within two quarters of an hour."

Seeing Christine's charming smile and hearing her solemn warning, the barbarian slave bodyguards lost all their hostility, left the mine with the patrol team, and strictly enforced martial law outside the door.

This kind of group charm with instructions has a time limit. Christine let out a long breath, adjusted her mental fatigue, and whispered to Victor, "Master, we have to hurry up. We must control Ansai within two quarters of an hour. If he comes forward to appease the barbarian slaves at the door, they will believe what I say in the future."

What she meant was that if more than a quarter of an hour passed, the armed slaves and their bodyguards might regain consciousness, and a bloody conflict would result.

There was no point in fighting with the barbarian slave miners. Victor didn't want to get himself into trouble, so he nodded and signaled Christine to do what she was going to do.

There were no candles in the mine, but many luminous fluorites were inlaid on the walls of the cave as a source of lighting. Everyone could see that there was a room separated by a curtain deep in the mine.

Victor asked Harvey and Chris to go in with him, and the others stayed outside for the time being. They opened the curtain and found Ansai, the leader of the barbarian slave miners, and two barbarian slave girls wearing collars.

The female slaves who were in charge of taking care of Ansai were very scared when they saw outsiders breaking in, but Christine calmed them down with just a look, and they automatically hid in the corner without making any sound.

Victor paid close attention to the leader of the barbarian slaves in this open-pit mine. He was an elderly barbarian slave miner, still strong, but with gray hair and wrinkles on his face as deep as his gray-brown eyes.

Ansai was obviously surprised when he saw the strange half-elf, but he quickly calmed down, sat in his chair, and looked at the uninvited guests calmly. He neither shouted nor questioned them, but just watched with cold eyes.

Christine was equally surprised. She had used natural charm on Ansai, but it didn't work. It should be said that it was completely ineffective.

Through her ability to perceive emotions, Christine discovered that the old slave in front of her was as solid as ore. The reason why he didn't speak was because he found that the intruder had already controlled the situation and resistance was useless, but he believed that if the intruder killed him, he would never be able to leave the mine alive.

The old slave disregards life and death, and his non-cooperation is the most effective form of resistance.

In front of Victor, Christine did not dare to hesitate and immediately used a powerful charm on Ansai. This innate skill can only be used once every two days, and the charm effect is far greater than her "natural charm".

If even "Strong Charm" is ineffective, she can only use "Violent Charm", which will shorten her lifespan.

The glimmer in Christine's eyes rippled back, forming a vortex that firmly grasped Ansai's mind.

Not long after, Christine felt the change in the barbarian leader's mood, just like a solid stone turning into plastic mud. She couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, and continued to use "Strong Charm" and said, "Ansai, I'm sorry, we don't know each other, and you don't want to know us. Unfortunately, we are being hunted by powerful enemies and have to ask you for help. Now that trouble has come to you, what are you going to do?"

  "Strong Charm" still needs a convincing reason to continue to work on the target. Ansai was affected by Christine's charm and automatically imagined what she said:

This group of half-elves were being hunted by powerful enemies, and they had nowhere else to go, so they took refuge in the big mine. Now that they are here, whether I help or not, their enemies will regard us as one group, and then kill us all, because we are a group of lowly barbarians. They want to kill, they don't need any evidence, and they don't listen to our explanations...

  Damn these enemies!

I must help them. Helping them is equivalent to saving our own lives. Helping them is to deal with the enemies who want to slaughter us!

"I understand, leave it to me!"

Ansai said in a deep voice: "I will make arrangements right away. Tell the brothers to keep their mouths shut and pretend that you have never been here. You just stay here and I will take care of everything."

After saying that, the old slave led the two slave girls out the door. Christine had been paying attention to him and clearly sensed that Ansai's cognition had been reshaped by the power of enchantment. Then she turned to Victor and said, "Master, we can trust them for the time being."

Victor withdrew his gaze from the room's furnishings, looked at Christine, frowned, and asked, "You seem to be struggling?"

Christine nodded, biting her red lips with her pearly teeth. After hesitating for a moment, she explained, "I didn't expect Ansai to be favored by the power of fate. The effect of charm on him was greatly reduced... Fortunately, it worked. Did my performance live up to the master's expectations?"

“…It’s amazing, and terrifying. It makes the impossible possible.”

Victor was silent for a moment, sincerely admiring the extraordinary ability displayed by Christine, and then asked: "The one favored by the power of destiny...what is that?"

"This... I didn't know it before, but ever since the master used the snake's tentacles to wake me up and repaired my defects, I have learned a lot about charm." Christine paused and continued, "The favored one of fate refers to the leader of a faction who is favored by fate. Many supernatural powers have little effect on them. It can also be understood that they are particularly lucky and are protected by fate in some way."

"I never thought that a mere miner leader would be favored by fate... It seems that it will not be easy for me to help the master gain power."

There are hundreds of barbarian slaves in the big mine, which is equivalent to the size of a small town, but Victor is not interested in these barbarian slave miners. They are not the mainstream of the Disa Alliance and have done their best to protect themselves. There is no expectation that they can do anything else.

Of course, for now we still have to rely on the protection of the barbarian slave miners.

Victor pressed on, "Are you sure there won't be any problems with Ansai?"

"Master, please rest assured. I have bewitched his mind. I can spend a little more time every day and use the simplest natural charm to ensure that nothing will happen to Ansai and his confidants!" Christine said confidently.

Victor nodded and said, "Very good. We just need some time to change our appearance before we set off again. In the next two days, you will be responsible for keeping a close eye on Ansai and his men... Do you need me to send someone to protect you?"

“Thank you for your concern, Master.” Christine smiled reservedly, “You can trust my strength… I should be the most powerful follower under the Master’s command at the moment.”

Well, this woman was already a silver-level demon before she was reshaped.

Victor then called Maddie over and told him, "Go and see how Herman and the others are doing, and come back to report the specific situation. If possible, ask Herman and the others to return to the mine as well."