Starting with the goblin extermination

Arlando 3563, Riverwood, West Sewers.

Elsa's sister was never far from her mind. Everything, even the most trivial event, would awaken memories of her sister.

This time it was the pungent smell of garbage from the sewers.

That day, her younger sister's small, thin body struggled to drag her out of the garbage heap. It was a warm memory she could never forget, but the memory had faded, as if bleached by the terrible fact that her sister had disappeared.

A lovely young girl, under the puzzled gazes of passersby, carried a foul-smelling corpse on her back.

Her long, curly golden hair and round, youthful face were covered in dark brown sludge from the sewer.

"Hang in there, sister," the younger sister said, then paused as if dirty water had dripped into her eyes. "We'll be home soon." She said this while giving Elsa a gentle smile.

Elsa struggled to open her eyes in her drowsy state, unable to distinguish whether she was in a memory or in reality.

"Where is this...?"

"Home. You're home, sister."

Elsa blinked, wiping away her tears. The Bloodhound Badge hummed in her hand.

This time, it's my turn to take you home, Lily.

The scene before Elsa's eyes was distorted.

The dead end that was originally blocking the way rippled and disappeared like water, revealing a staircase extending downwards.

Elsa pulled up her mask, concealing her figure within her cloak, and stepped onto the stairs.

The road down was long, and the air grew increasingly dry.

After climbing the last step, she found herself standing in an extremely wide underground street.

Or rather, a miniature town built beneath Riverwood.

Elsa instinctively looked up.

A deep blue sky stood above, with even a few white clouds drifting slowly.

But upon closer inspection, a distinct sense of incongruity can be felt.

Illusion. A vast and expensive high-level wide-area illusion.

In the pitch-black depths of the earth, a patch of clear blue sky has been created. Perhaps, this is the Bloodhounds flaunting their wealth and power to everyone who enters this place.

Beneath the false sky lies real evil.

The streets were crowded with all kinds of shops and stalls.

Like Elsa, many people wrapped themselves in black or gray cloaks and wandered around the stalls like ghosts.

There were no shouts of vendors; everyone was lowering their voices to haggle over prices.

The stall displayed contraband that could not be found in the world above ground: addictive hallucinogens that glowed green, magical weapons still covered in blood, and even fresh entrails preserved in glass jars, belonging to an unknown race.

Elsa weaved through the crowd.

She has to hurry.

She stopped in front of a spacious shop.

The shop sign features a picture of crossed chains.

Outside the shop, next to a filthy sewer grate, lies an inconspicuous wooden hair clip.

It has a rough edelweiss carved on it; it was a birthday gift she carved herself.

right here.

Elsa pushed open the wooden door.

The room was dimly lit, and a burly human boss sat behind the counter, toying with a bloodstained leather whip in his hand.

"What kind of stuff do you want?" The boss didn't even lift his eyelids. "The laborers are on the left, and the ones for venting your frustrations are on the right. Pick whichever one you like."

"A half-elf," Elsa said, deliberately lowering her voice, "a young woman, don't try to fool me with some old hag."

The boss raised his eyes and sized Elsa up; the gray cloak clearly couldn't hide from the slave trader's ruthless eyes.

"You certainly know how to pick your time," the boss grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth. "Please follow me."

He stood up and pushed open a door behind the counter.

Elsa followed him down the spiral staircase and into the dungeon.

The air here was even more polluted, and under the dim lanterns, there were rows of densely packed cages on both sides.

Inside, various races of living beings were imprisoned, their numb and empty eyes moving slowly with their footsteps.

Elsa scanned each of the iron cages.

Until you reach the end of the dungeon.

Four or five girls were huddled together in a narrow cage.

One of them was hugging his knees, burying his face between his dirty legs, his once radiant golden curls now matted into black clumps.

It's Lily.

Elsa's heart almost stopped beating for a moment, and her knuckles turned white from gripping the dagger too tightly.

The shopkeeper picked up the lantern, and under its light, the girl in the iron cage slowly raised her head.

His young face was covered in grime, and his body was covered in bruises.

The moment Lily saw who it was, her pupils contracted sharply.

Even through the gray mask, she recognized the pair of trembling blue eyes hidden in the cloak standing outside the railing.

It's my sister.

But she was a clever half-elf, and she restrained herself.

The surprise turned into a deeper fear. Lily lowered her head again and shrank back into the shadows of the corner, as if she were just an ordinary slave who had been frightened.

"Good taste."

The boss noticed Elsa's pause in front of the cage. He walked over and banged the bars hard with his whip, making the girls inside tremble.

"These half-elf chicks took me a lot of effort to get them; they're clean and unharmed."

The boss turned his head, his eyes gleaming with greed.

"Which one do you fancy? Cash on delivery, I'll clean it for you right away and deliver it to your door."

"Blonde, how much?"

The boss held up two short, stubby fingers adorned with rings.

"200 gold coin".

Elsa's hands, hidden beneath her cloak, tightened suddenly.

200 gold coins.

Even if she sold everything she owned, she couldn't scrape together that much money.

Too expensive, and too unreasonable.

"You're robbing me," Elsa said coldly, the blade of her dagger sliding an inch from her sleeve. "I know the going rate; an ordinary half-elf slave costs at most 80 gold coins!"

"Rules? My word is the rule! This little slut has a pretty face, she's no ordinary girl!"

The boss's fat face suddenly contorted, a ruby ​​ring on his thumb instantly lit up, and his body temperature rose sharply.

A sense of magical oppression locked onto Elsa.

"Don't think you can run wild here just because you're covering your face! I don't care if you're here to find relatives or to have fun! In my territory, this little bitch is only worth 200 gold coins right now!"

Elsa gritted her teeth and stood still, not taking a single step back.

But the dagger was put back into his sleeve.

The black market has its own rules.

Given her current strength, attempting to snatch someone from this place guarded by high-level spellcasters and heavy troops would only result in her dying here with her sister; there is no other possibility.

Seeing this, the boss sneered, and the red light on the ring gradually went out.

"You're smart to be careful. If you dare to shed blood here, I guarantee you won't just stay here, you'll be locked in the same cage as her and sold to the most depraved trolls."

After the beating, the boss's face returned to its usual snobbish expression.

"However, seeing how much you care about this little girl, how about I do you a favor?"

He patted the railing:

Three weeks.

The shopkeeper's smile vanished. "If you can't come up with 200 gold coins in three weeks, I'll sell this little girl to the underground brothel in Wolf Howl City. There's a wealthy old patron there who loves delicate, undeveloped half-elves like her. I've heard that no one who ends up in his hands survives more than a month."

Three weeks. 200 gold coins.

This is simply an impossible task.

"Don't touch her."

Leaving behind this feeble warning, Elsa turned and retreated into the darkness.

She didn't dare to turn around.