Extreme Polar Beast

(Fan art from rednote)

Fields Holy City, also known as Giant Rock City, was located in the north, its architectural style rugged and unrestrained. The third largest building within the city was an auction house, and the final auction of late September had just concluded perfectly moments ago.

At this time, in the warehouse behind the auction house where goods were stored, many people were busy preparing to check and hand over the items sold in this auction.

In the area where rare living goods were kept, countless cages of all sizes were placed. To match the high prices of these goods, the cages were all specially made, using sturdy and beautiful materials.

The cage placed at the very front was made of chrome silver, with some patterns on it. A neck chain and handcuffs made of the same chrome silver clasped the slender wrists and neck of the living creature inside the cage.

——It was a girl with fiery red long hair.

In the auction just now, this girl was bought by someone for a high price of five thousand gold coins.

“Mm, not bad.” The blond man dressed luxuriously and exquisitely stood outside the cage. He used his cane to lift the girl’s red hair inside the cage, carefully admiring her face. “Not bad, just as beautiful as when seen on the auction stage. This gift can be given out respectably.”

The other man standing beside him smiled and said: “After all, she is a descendant of the nearly extinct Lotite. Isn’t this clan famous for their bodies and beauty, called something like the ‘descendants of the goddess of beauty’? You have offered so many treasures, and now added this gift. Count Roland should help satisfy your wish.”

The blond man chatted with him for a couple more sentences, then called for the steward to give instructions: “The items I bought must be sent to Pudara as soon as possible. Especially this one. Take good care of her on the road. If she dies midway, I will demand triple compensation from you.”

The steward smiled warmly, “Of course. Please rest assured, Baron. Our auction house will arrange the most powerful and reliable mercenary group to escort your goods this time…”

The back street of the auction house was a street mixed with taverns and brothels. The mercenary groups who regularly helped the auction house transport goods would stay here to pass the time while waiting for the goods.

The Golden Lions Mercenary Group, with more than thirty members, was already considered one of the more prominent large mercenary groups here. Most members were men in their prime, an age that could not endure boredom. A group of men sat at the serving counter, drinking wheat beer while flirting with the female employees behind the counter, making some lewd jokes.

These taverns often also did underground brothel business. Female tavern employees who dressed boldly and alluringly, fiery in temper, spouting dirty jokes the moment they opened their mouths—able to coax money out of men’s pockets with just a sentence so they would obediently buy drinks—most of them also doubled as flesh workers.

“Elly, I’ve already bought ten cups of wine from you. How about letting me have a kiss?” The man, whose face was flushed with drunkenness, grinned as he spoke.

Elly flicked open her collar a little wider and gave him a seductive glance, “You bought the wine, not me.”

“Don’t be so heartless. It’s not like I’ve never bought you before, we’re already so familiar…”

“Yes, yes, which is exactly why I’m already tired of you. You stingy bastard, look at the bracelet you bought me last time, totally a fake, I was mocked for it.”

The other men listened as their companion confessed his mistake to please her, only to hit a wall and slump over drunk, and they all burst into laughter.

After dealing with a few shameless male customers who wanted to take advantage without paying, Elly shifted her gaze toward the darkest corner.

There sat a tall and strange man.

He was even bigger than the strongest mercenary here. A black-gray cloak wrapped thickly around his body, gloves covered his hands. Most bizarre of all, his head was covered with the skull of some unknown animal, hiding even his face. His entire body was fully covered, not a bit of skin exposed.

While the other men were busy drinking and teasing women, he sat alone in the corner eating.

Even when eating, he didn’t take off the strange skull on his head. He only lifted the movable lower jaw of the skull and stuffed palm-sized chunks of meat inside.

Elly watched him for quite a while and found that he kept his head down eating, and aside from swallowing sounds, he almost never made any other noise. This was already the second time she had seen this man, but he seemed to have absolutely no interest in her, which made a few thoughts arise in her mind.

“Hey, want a drink?” Elly picked up a glass of wine and walked over, pushing the cup of amber liquid in front of him, intentionally leaning down and striking a most charming pose.

As long as the person before him lifted his head to take a look, he would see an absolutely stunning sight.

However, that tall and strange man still kept his head lowered, eating meat without even the slightest pause, let alone looking up at her.

Elly waited for a while, somewhat unwilling to give up. The fingers with red nail polish tapped on his plate. “I’m treating you to a drink, why won’t you pay attention to me?”

“My name is Elly. You’re also from the Golden Lions Mercenary Group, what’s your name?”

No matter what she said, that burly man like a small mountain just sat there eating, displaying a form of cold indifference that made one furious.

“Hey! Elly, stop wasting your time. Muli doesn’t like women at all!” The mercenaries drinking nearby noticed the situation in the corner and shouted, “Come over and play with us instead.”

Elly turned her head and rolled her eyes. “If he doesn’t like women, does he like you stinky men?”

After scolding them, she turned back and showed the man a sweet smile. “Your name is Muli? I noticed you last time. Well? Want to sleep with me? I’m experienced. Even someone with your build… I can still handle it~”

Her gaze swept up and down his body, guessing what kind of magnificent physique was hidden under those clothes. With her seasoned eyes, this was definitely a top-grade specimen—more and more tempting the longer she looked.

The men drinking noisily over there, seeing that she wasn’t giving up, suddenly burst out laughing. One of them knocked his cup against the table and laughed loudly: “Elly, it’s useless. He’s still a brat who doesn’t know a woman’s taste!”

Elly: “……Huh?”

“He’s not even an adult yet hahaha!” The men laughed together.

Elly stiffly glanced at the big fellow who was still burying his head eating and eating. This huge size, and he’s not an adult yet? Where did this child come from, could he be some kind of beast?

But soon, she chuckled slyly. “So he’s still a little young one… wouldn’t that be even better?”

“How about it, little brother, big sister won’t take your money. Want to experience the greatest pleasure in life?”

The man wearing the skull finally stopped moving. He pushed the emptied plate forward and said: “Another plate of meat.”

The voice was youthful and tender.

Elly: “……”

Her expression was subtle as she threw the plate into the back kitchen. “Another meat steak, give more meat.” He looked like a kid who could really eat.

Until the third plate of steak was finished, and the other members of the Golden Lions Mercenary Group called for them to leave at the door, Elly still hadn’t heard that mountain-like man say a second sentence, nor did she succeed in persuading him to try it with her. Watching his departing back, she couldn’t help sighing in regret.

After leaving the tavern, a few men from the Golden Lions Mercenary Group pounded Muli’s arm. “You really don’t know how to cherish an opportunity. If Elly were willing to sleep with me for free, I would have followed her already.”

“Yeah, you lucky bastard!”

“You’re not stupid, are you?”

Muli ignored all these sour words, just as he had ignored Elly’s pestering earlier.

He had always been like this—silent and strange by nature.

Different from these official members of the Golden Lions Mercenary Group, Muli was a temporary member, this being his second time acting with the team. The others were unfamiliar with him and hadn’t even seen his face hidden under the animal skull.

“Everyone, sober up! Getting drunk in broad daylight—what nonsense is this? We have to escort the goods to Pudara this afternoon. The reward this time is generous. No one is allowed to mess things up!” The leader of the Golden Lions Mercenary Group had a huge beard and a short, stout build like a bell tower. When he spoke, it was like ringing a bell.

The mercenaries who had been acting sloppy straightened up at once, not daring to fool around anymore.

The mercenary group leader finished scolding them, and when he looked up at Muli—who was a whole head taller than himself—his expression became much friendlier. “Muli, do a good job this time. Once we successfully deliver the goods, you’ll be able to officially join our Golden Lions Mercenary Group. Then you’ll also be able to earn more.”

In fact, when they first temporarily recruited Muli into the group, he had already displayed extraordinary combat ability, practically dealing with an entire bandit group all by himself.

Such ability was more than enough for him to join the mercenary group, even allowing him to directly become one of the vice captains and receive several times the employment fee directly from the captain.

However, the captain did not directly let him join the group, and even withheld the bonus that should have been given to him, only handing him two gold coins. Because he was too obedient, and too easy to fool.

No matter how big he was, or how strong at fighting, he was still an underage child. A few words would be enough to manipulate him.

The captain of the Golden Lions Mercenary Group especially liked this kind of “useful” member.

He spoke encouragingly to the young man for a couple of sentences, then quickly gathered everyone to load the goods and assign each person’s tasks.

At first, the thirty-some person team was still rather orderly. But when the auction house people carried out a cage covered with a black cloth, and the mercenaries, out of curiosity, lifted the cloth and saw the girl inside, before long, almost everyone had surrounded it.

Someone stared for a moment, then cursed, “Such a beautiful woman is also cargo?!”

Someone leaned against the edge of the cage, almost wanting to stick his head inside. “Red hair, it’s the first time I’ve ever seen a woman with red hair!”

Hearing this, the people in the back squeezed forward nonstop, all of them wanting to see what kind of beauty she was. “Move, move, let me look!”

The captain was speaking to the steward of the auction house regarding this item. Seeing his men acting like they’d never seen the world before, he raised his voice and cursed them loudly, making them all scatter.

A group of men backed away reluctantly, still unwilling to go far. Someone couldn’t help but say, “Captain, since you’re assigning someone to take care of the goods, why not let me take this one?”

The others quickly reacted and rushed forward to recommend themselves.

“Captain! Choose me! This guy can’t beat me. If you pick me, I can definitely protect this cargo well!”

“Enough! What’s with all the noise! Shut up!” the captain bellowed.

He knew his men very well. Each one behaved as if they had never seen a woman before. A woman this beautiful, falling into their hands—such a long journey, a whole month together—if anything truly happened, he didn’t want to be paying five thousand gold coins in compensation.

“Get lost, all of you, back to work!” he cursed and chased them away, then shouted loudly: “Muli, come here!”

Sitting alone in the distance, Muli walked over. The captain pointed to that cage and said: “This cargo is your responsibility.”