After the slave owners went bankrupt, they all wanted to keep me as a mistress.

Hearing Mu Qiu's voice, Lilith rubbed her sleepy eyes, yawned, and woke up.

She stretched slightly, and her not-so-large top lifted up with her movement, revealing her snow-white belly.

Why are you... sleeping here?

Mu Qiu was somewhat stunned.

"Can't you?"

Lilith blinked her deep red eyes, staring intently at the black-haired boy beneath her. "Or... does the Hero not like this?"

"No, that's not it..."

Mu Qiu shook his head.

It was just a bit unexpected.

and……

"Won't others find out if you do this?"

Lilith shook her head, her long white hair swaying behind her head with her movements: "No, Hero, as long as I don't want to be seen, no one can see me except you."

As she spoke, she raised her right hand, and a six-pointed star mark appeared on her palm.

“Hero, look, this is proof of our contract. I will always be your most loyal Lily.”

A contract?

Lily is not a slave, so the function of detecting slave values ​​cannot be used on her. Mu Qiu can only vaguely sense through the contract that it is beneficial to him, but it also seems to be just an equal life contract.

It's probably the kind of contract that's equal, but not completely equal?

Mu Qiu guessed.

They are equal in personality and will, but in reality they must obey the orders of this hero. Hmm, that's very medieval, isn't it? An equal contract that is equal but not completely equal.

If I remember correctly, the "partner contracts" that this world has with pets, mounts, and even dragons are also like this.

While they are equal in personality and will, they still have to obey the master's orders. This is not a true equal contract, but a partnership contract is indeed a type of equal contract.

Only the "non-harm pact" signed between adventurers can be considered a truly equal pact in his eyes.

"Hero, that career mentor seems to be preparing lessons."

Lilith's voice suddenly rang out from the side.

"Oh? Really? She got up so early to prepare her lessons? That's really dedicated."

Mu Qiu nodded with a smile.

Not bad.

As expected of a top-tier legendary professional mentor with a monthly salary of 1.5 million gold coins, the fact that he can offer such a salary means that someone previously hired her for a monthly salary of 750,000 gold coins.

This is not the normal salary range for a legendary professional mentor. Even though the knowledge base of an elven mage is generally the deepest among all mages, and even though she is only one step away from epic status, she should not have such a high salary.

It must be because of her solid professional knowledge and high level of professional ethics that she was able to gain the employer's recognition and receive such a generous salary!

Thinking this, Mu Qiu took out the crystal ball with a smile.

"Preparing lessons so early, Miss Melinda, that's really thoughtful of you."

"Wow, they even have water-spraying magic. Are they planning to teach Vera water magic?"

"Ok?"

"The range and shape of this water jet... wait a minute?!"

Mu Qiu rubbed his eyes and slowly magnified the image in the crystal ball.

"No way, sis, is that the kind of water magic you're spewing?!"

……

PS: Today's three chapters were all combined into one 4,000-word long chapters. The bounty for the three chapters has been paid, and 17 chapters are still owed.

Chapter Sixty-Five: So the master was playing a shooting game with Adele?

Mu Qiu stared at Melinda, who was practicing water-spraying magic inside the crystal ball, and fell silent.

He suddenly realized that this legendary elven mage, who had lived for over a thousand years, was not as arrogant and aloof as he had imagined.

"So your aloofness as an elf is just a facade?!"

Looking at the voluptuous elven woman inside the crystal ball, Mu Qiu wanted nothing more than to rush in and yell at her: Stop right now! What kind of weird magic are you trying to teach our Vera?!

"However... she is, after all, an elf who has lived for over eighteen hundred years."

After regaining her composure, Mu Qiu calmed down and thought about it carefully. She realized that this was probably just a normal physiological need.

She's lived to be 1,800 years old, so it's normal for her to be a little repressed, right?

Moreover, since an elf like Miss Melinda has never been in a relationship, she can only solve her own problems, and we shouldn't be too harsh on her in this regard.

Mu Qiu shook his head, put the crystal ball back into his system inventory, and after washing up, prepared to head to the manor's restaurant.

He discovered that the crystal ball could be viewed in the system inventory. Although the system inventory could only preview items, the crystal ball itself would display the scene around Melinda at that moment. In this way, he could monitor Miss Melinda's every move at all times.

If I keep taking out the crystal ball, Miss Melinda will definitely be angry if she sees it one day.

While pondering, he went to the restaurant.

Today's breakfast was prepared by the head maid, Adele, while Luna was responsible for purchasing the ingredients.

On the table were two bottles of warm spiced wine, two steaming cups of highland goat milk, and rows of grilled fish.

Adele probably didn't know whether he preferred dairy products or alcoholic beverages, so she prepared both in advance.

Luna must have bought the grilled fish specifically for Adele, and not wanting to waste any ingredients, she simply cooked it all.

This area is adjacent to the kingdoms of the mountains and has a high altitude, so highland sheep are one of the local specialties.

He had dinner with Vera yesterday, and that's probably why Adele even prepared two breakfasts.

However, Vera hadn't gotten up yet, so Mu Qiu came to the restaurant to eat first.

“Adele, sit down. Don’t be shy around me.”

Mu Qiu gestured for Adele to sit down, and the red-haired fox-eared girl gently twitched her furry ears, pulled out a chair, and obediently sat in the first seat to her master's right.

After spending a few days with her master, she had a general understanding of his temperament. In his eyes, the etiquette and demeanor of the nobility were only for show to outsiders.

In the manor, the master showed absolutely no signs of the elegance expected of an aristocrat, and always ate at the same table as the maids.

If they were in front of strangers, Adele would stand obediently behind her master, but since it was a private occasion, she would sit wherever her master told her to sit.

As soon as she sat down, she saw her host grab a roasted lamb leg and, without even putting on gloves, start gnawing on it roughly.

Adele pursed her lips and said softly, "Master, the monster meat you asked us to buy... Luna and I went to the local market, and the vendors there all said that a lot of monster meat can't be bought on the market."

"Can't buy it?"

Mu Qiu frowned.

Daily expenses were also a source of losses. In order to minimize the loss of these system funds, he instructed Adele and Luna to buy the most expensive furniture and food they could afford, and even gave each of them 100,000 gold coins of public funds.

"Yes, I asked the merchants there. Dragon lizard meat and two-headed bird eggs, which are produced by magical beasts, are either sold to the Adventurers' Guild or to local nobles and wealthy merchants."

Adele said softly, "Some well-known adventurer groups will hunt specific magical beasts to supply nobles and wealthy merchants, while ordinary adventurers will often sell the corpses of magical beasts to adventurer guilds. Members of the guilds will then sell the meat, fur, and blood of the magical beasts to their regular local partners."

"Only when supply exceeds demand will a very small amount enter the market. Even those that do enter the market will first be pre-ordered by some merchants, and then those that the merchants don't want will be sold off at a low price."

Mu Qiu raised an eyebrow thoughtfully.

In this world, although "monster" and "monster" differ by only one word, they are completely different concepts.

People in this world refer to wild beasts that possess elemental power or have exceptionally strong physiques, making them impossible for ordinary hunters to hunt, as magical beasts.

Monsters, on the other hand, are creatures in the dungeon that have been corrupted by demonic energy for a long time. Some of them do not look much different from the races on the surface, but they are all mindless monsters with only a desire to kill.

While the monsters in the dungeon possess rarer magical materials and have a chance to drop dungeon equipment, and there are also more monsters, with a new batch of monsters appearing out of nowhere every so often, the danger level is also higher.

Encountering mutated monsters, lord-level monsters, or even a dungeon riot could result in heavy losses for adventurers venturing deep into the dungeon.

Moreover, the corpses of monsters in the dungeon contain demonic energy, making them completely inedible even after processing, and even adventurers who stay in the dungeon for a long time will be affected.

Legend has it that an adventurer once stayed in a dungeon for ten years without ever leaving. When his former companions returned to the dungeon, they found that the other had become a mindless monster.

However, this is just a story told by a bard in a tavern, and it's hard to tell whether it's true or not.

However, the Adventurers' Guild also reminded every adventurer in the Adventurers' Handbook that they should not stay in the dungeon for too long. Even without considering the effects of demonic energy, the terrain of the dungeon will change slightly every once in a while. If you stay in the dungeon for a year or two, you may never be able to find your way back.

Although large dungeons typically have "safe layers" that remain stationary, the larger the dungeon, the higher the likelihood that it connects to the abyss...

Because exploring dungeons is extremely risky, not all adventurers choose this path.

Those adventurers who were seriously injured in the dungeons, left with psychological trauma, or who were too old and expelled from their original teams... some will choose to retire and find a security job in town, while others will use their savings accumulated over the years to open a small shop, get married, and have a child...

Of course, there are a few exceptions. For example, some people who have just become adventurers want to avoid taking decades of detours and go directly to apply for a job as a local security guard with their adventurer badge.

Putting aside these special cases, there are always people who are unwilling to give up their career path and still want to fight hard. Or perhaps the income from ordinary work cannot meet their consumption needs, or perhaps adventurers who have been expelled from the team are unwilling to be humiliated and want to prove to their former teammates who can outlive them... These adventurers often gather in groups and turn to hunting monsters on the ground.

Although this job is also dangerous, it is much safer than the perilous underground city, although the pay is lower.

However, on the other hand...

Monsters on the surface need to reproduce naturally, unlike the endless monsters in dungeons. If too many adventurers choose to hunt surface monsters, either the local monsters will become extinct, or the price of monster meat will plummet, making the risk disproportionate to the reward...

Therefore, hunting monsters became a task that only a few adventure groups would undertake.

These precious monster meats were either directly supplied to local nobles and wealthy merchants, or they were processed into other products in factories and transported to big cities to be sold to the wealthy class there. In small towns, only wealthy merchants and nobles could afford such ingredients.

In ordinary purchasing markets, the only meat available is usually from common livestock like highland sheep, and occasionally you can find monster meat that nobles and wealthy merchants don't want.

Although it is also a type of meat, Highland sheep is something that ordinary people can afford. They can eat it once a year during festivals. If it is a family of blacksmiths or craftsmen, they can eat it several times a month. The price is calculated in silver coins, and often includes a small amount of copper coins.

Even the lowest-grade monster meat is a luxury item that only wealthy merchants, adventurers, and nobles can afford. Long-term consumption of monster meat can subtly improve physical fitness or slightly increase magic power, and its price is calculated in gold coins.

This is exactly what troubles Mu Qiu.

If you're just buying regular meat products, like at the grilled fish restaurant the other day, you can eat as many as you want, hundreds of grilled fish, for only ten or twenty gold coins. The bulk of the cost is the chef's skill; all the ingredients combined don't even cost a single gold coin.

But buying a little bit of monster meat can easily cost tens or hundreds of gold coins. And with Luna and her group of orange cat demi-humans at home, if they can buy high-level monster meat, they can lose thousands or tens of thousands of gold coins a day, and hundreds of thousands a month...

"It seems we need to find a way to secure a stable source of monster meat."

Mu Qiu pondered.

Those nobles and wealthy merchants all cooperate with local adventurer groups. If only he knew a powerful adventurer group that could hunt monsters for him.

The name of the Crimson Thorn Adventurer Group involuntarily flashed through his mind.

If we could find a way to cooperate with that fifth-tier adventurer group of Orichalcos level, we wouldn't have to worry about the supply of monster meat. Moreover, hiring a fifth-tier adventurer group would be an astonishing expense every month.

However, he only thought about it for a moment before shaking his head inwardly.

He had no connection with the Crimson Thorn Adventurer Group, and besides, this renowned adventurer group specialized in exploring dungeons and looked down on the meager income from hunting monsters.

"We can only wait for another opportunity to look for it slowly."

Mu Qiu put the matter aside for the time being, shook his head at Adele on his right, and said gently, "It's alright, buy it if you can, and if you can't, grilled fish and grilled lamb leg are also good."

"Yes, I understand, Master."

Seeing that her master didn't seem to care about the matter, Adele secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

The longer she stayed by her master's side, the more she cherished her life.

She was terrified of being driven away by her master because of her incompetence.

Fortunately, their owner was very gentle with them and did not blame her, but the more the owner treated her this way, the more embarrassed she felt.

Should she and Luna go catch a few magical beasts for their master to eat?

Adele pondered.

She's a Silver-level early-stage warlock, specializing in mental magic, while Luna is a Silver-level mid-stage warrior, whose speed far surpasses that of warriors of the same rank. If they work together, hunting monsters below the third rank should be no problem...

On the other side, Mu Qiu ate breakfast while opening his system backpack and viewing the crystal ball through the preview interface.