Necromancer, summoning 055? What the heck?

Chapter 105 The Sobbing in the Night Wind
Although the new city in the Han Hai Territory only had a framework, the location of the slaves' residence had been planned in the city long ago, and the basic construction was completed before the slaves arrived.

Building bright and clean houses was certainly impractical; the slave dwellings in this area were constructed using the traditional "sand pit" method.

In the northeast corner of Hanhai City, there is a large sand dune slope. This area has been specially enclosed within the city limits because, at this stage, the sand dunes can effectively block wind and sand, providing shelter for the dwellings below the slope.

Under the guidance of the Sand People, the centaurs and goblin laborers toiled and dug a circular pit about two arm spans deep into the ground. The pit walls were sloping, and the ogres applied a hardening spell to the walls, completing a simple reinforcement.

Inside the tunnel, a simple framework was built with willow wood, and the roof was woven from the branches of sandy shrubs, then covered with a layer of straw mats or felt.

Then, a 30-centimeter-thick layer of sand is laid on top, wetted, patted down, and dried to form a hard, insulating layer.

The entrance was made into a sunken passage, with a double-layered felt curtain hung on the door, thus creating a semi-underground sand dwelling.

As instructed by the lord, the living environment should be made as comfortable as possible, given the limited resources available.

The old sand dwellers shared their knowledge generously, for example, digging sand ditches outside each sand pit to prevent the shifting sand from collapsing the roof or flooding the house.

For example, there are sealable ventilation holes on both sides of the roof, which can be closed during the day to protect against the sun and at night to dissipate heat and provide ventilation.

The lord also ordered the construction of public toilets, sewage channels, and garbage stations on the outskirts of the sand dune residential area.

The elder of the sand people leaned on his fine red poplar cane, looking around the sand dune settlement again and again, clicking his tongue in admiration.

A sand dune of this size would be fit only for the best beetle hunters back in our area. Now they're using it to house slaves—what a sin!
Then he turned around and went into his mud-brick house, which was located on the hard ground in the southeast.

The man has contributed to the territory, and now he lives on it!
As for those slaves, the fact that you were able to come to work in the Vast Ocean Territory is already a testament to the luck you've accumulated over several lifetimes. Work hard and accumulate merit!
The Seven Luminaries Garland Trading Company didn't cheat anyone; the young and strong slaves they brought this time were indeed of good quality.

After a long trek through the desert, the slaves were all somewhat weak, but after a short rest and a good supply of food, they quickly recovered their strength.

They began to actively engage in the production activities of Hanhailing.

Of this batch of slaves, 70% were humans and 30% were orcs. There were no minotaurs or centaurs, the best of the best.

Among the human slaves, 30% had family members, and these were mostly middle-aged and young women plus children in their seventies and eighties.

There were no elderly people, and no babies.

This is not because the merchant guild is taking care of the Han Hai Territory by bringing the old and young across the desert and keeping them alive at a cost that exceeds their negligible value; there is really no need for that.

Like the previous groups of people, the new slaves went from being fearful and uneasy to working diligently in just the time it takes to eat a meal.

The lord said that if we work hard, we'll be fed as much as we want, so what is there to worry about?

That very night, Lord Chen Mo finished a training session and stepped out of his temporary camp. A surge of inexplicable excitement welled up in his heart—this was a historic moment when the population of his city had surpassed a thousand for the first time!
"Big Liu, Little Ma, come with me to the sand dunes!"

The lord's loyal ox and horse guards, fully armed, escorted him towards the northeast of the city under the dim moonlight.

A large LED solar-powered outdoor light has been installed in the square in front of Shawozi. It will automatically turn on at night, illuminating the square.

This unprecedented spectacle attracted many curious slaves to gather here.

The adults sat on the edge of the battlefield, sharing stories of yesterday's hardships, today's abundance, and their hopes for tomorrow.

The carefree children, having eaten their fill, seemed to have been freed from their previous hardships. With their round, dark bellies exposed, they chased and played under the lights, engaging in games that others couldn't understand.

Taking advantage of the free light, the women used the evening hours to mend their tattered clothes.

Slaves had to take care of themselves, and a box of needles and thread was often the most valuable possession in their households.

Chen Mo did not let the guards disturb the crowd, but stood in the darkness and watched quietly. At this moment, he felt as if he had returned to the southern town of Dongxia on Blue Star.

Although there is no square dancing, no roadside stalls, no neon lights, and no cars coming and going, it has finally regained a long-lost sense of human warmth.

Then, the next second, Chen Mo's eyes widened.

A guy in a patrol uniform, with a smug, satisfied smile on his face, crawled out of a sand dune in the front row. He casually pulled up his pants as he walked.

Behind him, in the doorway, a disheveled, staggering slave woman frantically and stumbled, blocking the thin felt curtain with her body.

Chen Mo felt a rush of blood to his head, making him slightly dizzy.

He knew what kind of world this was, and he knew that such things happened every moment on this continent.

Even on that land of Earth, it is commonplace, nothing out of the ordinary.

Perhaps the biggest difference is simply that in the west it is James Island, and in the east it is Heaven on Earth.

Some were coerced or bribed, while others were willingly given their consent.

Well, that's it.

But at this moment, he could not accept it at all. Just when he was overjoyed and welcoming the milestone of the great development of his territory, and looking forward to the first day of entering a new era, he witnessed such a scene.

Chen Mo gritted his teeth and pointed at the guy, enunciating each word clearly: "Find that bastard out for me!"

The minotaurs charged in first, unleashing a chorus of terrified screams.

The centaur squad spread out and sealed off the area, shouting, "Everyone stay put! Hands behind your heads! Await the Lord's command! Anyone who disobeys will be killed!"

A few minutes later, Governor Helan arrived at the scene, panting and sweating.

A while later, the Sandman Elder, Archmage Downs, Captain Lynn, and other high-ranking members of the territory all rushed over in a panic.

All the middle and upper echelons of the territory were present, and under the lamplight, they paid their respects to their lord, whose face was ashen.

"I remember I said from the beginning that within the territory, it is forbidden to force women or to mistreat slaves!"

"Do you not understand, or can't remember, or... do you simply not respect me as your lord?"

Apart from the elderly Towns, who stood to the side with his sleeves rolled up, the other middle and senior managers all knelt down on the ground.

The investigation was actually quite simple: a guard from the city guards, having not been in contact with women for a long time, was overcome by lust and slept with one of the female slaves.

Faced with this situation, the man clearly knew he had made a grave mistake. He trembled like a leaf, tears streaming down his face as he kowtowed and begged for mercy: "My lord, spare me! I didn't force her! It was...it was her man who agreed! I'll never dare to do it again! I really won't dare to do it again!"

As the direct leader of the city guard and patrol team, Old Silver Armor Lynn was also filled with fear. Under the lord's cold gaze, he tried to raise his head and exonerate himself.

"My lord, I have relayed your orders time and again. I have personally reprimanded each and every one of them for forcing women! Your subordinates would never dare to be negligent in the slightest, much less disobey your orders!" After questioning the relevant personnel again, Governor Helan stepped forward and whispered to the lord, "My lord, this matter... perhaps cannot be considered bullying; it was agreed upon by the family..."

He paused, lowering his voice even further, "Most of the men in the camp have no families, and there are no brothels or women's camps here, so the soldiers are a bit impulsive... But this time, it's done according to the 'rules'."

“I have summoned the man from that family. You… can question him yourself.”

The slave man, shoved forward, had a withered face and a hunched back; he knelt on the ground, curled up in a ball.

Helan cleared his throat, trying to keep his tone steady: "Raise your heads and answer the lord, did that city guard soldier force or coerce you?"

The middle-aged man shook his head repeatedly: "No! Absolutely not! That gentleman...it was agreed upon! He even...he gave me money! A full ten copper coins!"

His voice was hoarse, carrying an almost numb sense of "taking it for granted".

“Our lives as slaves are worthless. In the market, those guards and dealers can sleep with us whenever they want, and nobody ever pays us! It’s not the soldiers’ fault, it’s really not the soldiers’ fault!”

The temporary manager elected from among the slaves, a middle-aged man, also knelt down and came closer.

“Lord City Lord, we slaves in the market don’t even have clothes to wear. The women in each household are locked in cages. When the guards and merchants get interested, they just drag them out to play with them.”

"Unlike our Lord Bing of Hanhai Territory, who is so...so 'pampered,' giving us a generous sum of money! This is an immense favor! We must thank Lord Bing! We must thank the City Lord!"

A strange sense of absurdity enveloped Chen Mo.

Most of the middle and senior managers here are loyal, but in their minds, they all consider this a matter of course and something they are used to.

They even spoke as if the Vast Ocean Territory was a sacred place on earth, and the city guards were moral exemplars.

Even though their true intention was simply to absolve themselves of potential responsibility, it's clear that they genuinely thought and understood it that way!

Even Old Man Downs, who was not directly involved, looked puzzled, clearly not knowing why his lord was so furious.

My wife ran off with someone else, and I didn't do anything about it. This isn't your wife, so why are you making such a fuss?

Chen Mo felt a burning anger rising in his chest, with nowhere to vent it.

He turned to Liu Zaiyue on his left. The minotaur guard stood quietly beside him, occasionally rubbing his broken horn with his hand as if by habit.

"Old Niu, what do you think?"

"I don't know!" Liu Zaiyue shook his head, clearly finding this kind of judgment a big problem for him, but he immediately added, "Whatever you say, Lord, I'll do!"

The centaurs shouted in unison, "Me too!"

Standing in the night wind of the vast sea, Chen Mo suddenly thought of a long, long time ago, in the equally dark and silent world of East Xia on Blue Star. If those people who ignited the spark were here, what would they do?

Chen Mo turned and glanced at He Lan: "Was that woman also doing it willingly?"

Helan was speechless for a moment, but the middle-aged man kneeling beside him answered: "How could she not agree? Ten copper coins!"

"Bring her here!"

Soon, a woman dressed in tattered clothes was brought over. She was thin and kept her head down, clutching the tattered rags she wore tightly. Her disheveled hair completely covered her face.

Chen Mo repeated his question, but before the woman could speak, the man beside her shouted again, "Master, how could she not want to be in the slave market..."

"Shut up!"

Everyone held their breath in the face of the lord's thunderous wrath.

Chen Mo asked again, but the woman remained silent, her body trembling slightly.

Looking at the woman's tattered clothes in the night, Chen Mo sighed again. He casually took off his outer robe and, with a somewhat clumsy "mage's hand," draped it over the woman's body.

The woman shuddered as if electrocuted, instinctively curling herself into a small ball. Several seconds later, she looked incredulously at the magnificent and heavy brocade robe she was wearing, wanting to touch it but not daring to.

"Don't be afraid, I am the lord of this place. If you have anything to say, just say it."

Under the gaze of thousands of eyes in the audience, the woman's body trembled more and more violently, until one moment—

A heart-wrenching cry, filled with endless humiliation, fear, and despair, burst forth from her chest like the howl of a wounded wild beast!
"Ugh——!"

She didn't say anything, but actually, she didn't need to say anything.

In her "family," in the slave camps, and even in the present moment in the Vast Ocean Territory, on this vast starry continent, it seems that everyone treats her and them as objects.

She can't possibly have an opinion, nor does she need to have one!

Chen Mo slammed the cup in his hand down heavily: "Agree? Is this what you call agreement? Can't you see the marks of her being tied up?"

"Is it that you treat them like livestock with an owner, who can abuse them at will with the owner's permission, without caring whether they want to or not?"

No one answered; only mournful cries echoed across the square.

Sadness seems to be contagious.

Perhaps it was the sound of crying that ignited the deep-seated bitterness in their hearts. Gradually, from near and far, the suppressed, low sobs of the women, like trickles of water flowing into a long river, eventually transformed into a deep and long sea of ​​wailing.

The anger that Chen Mo had been holding back gradually rose up amidst the crying.

He can deal with that damn mercenary.

After all, the lord had given orders beforehand. No matter how many copper coins you gave the man, it was still a matter of using coercion against the woman, and there was no problem with how to deal with it.

He can also deal with a woman's husband.

Although these people don't understand the rules of the territory, as the lord, any decision Chen Mo makes will undoubtedly be resolutely carried out.

What Chen Mo found most unacceptable was that the woman, having come to her senses, kowtowed to the lord to express her gratitude, but her final request was to spare her man.

It seems that she doesn't know how to live her life if she leaves this man.

This is utterly absurd!

(End of this chapter)