"Serena!"
After speaking, Marin immediately called out.
The witch Serena stepped forward and said respectfully to Marin, "Lady Marin, please give your orders!"
"Bring Margaret's and Eira's bodies with us. We're leaving!"
"Yes, Lady Marin!"
However, just as Serena rode her broom and was about to fly down to retrieve the two witch corpses.
That profiteer, Mr. White, spoke up once again, "Lady Marin, you should remember one agreement among the various alliances, right? When both sides end in a draw, whichever battlefield the prey dies on, the spoils belong to whoever owns that battlefield."
"They are my sisters. They are not prey!", Marin roared.
But Mr. White silently put on a pitch-black glove, then removed the signet rings from the two witches' hands, "Out of respect for you, Lady Marin, you may take their bodies."
"But the property that belongs to the lord of this territory is not something you may take at will."
"You!"
Marin's face melted more and more severely.
Some of it even turned into skin-colored liquid, flowing out from her nose and her chin.
Marin was even emitting white steam all over her body, puff after puff of white steam. As if her entire body were being steamed alive.
Ethan was really afraid she might suddenly explode.
"This is the rule."
Mr. White suddenly spoke again, "These are the rules set by several of our alliances."
"By rights, I shouldn't even let you take the bodies away. But I respect you as the leader of the Wilderness Alliance."
"And I also respect you as my honored guest, so I turned a blind eye."
"I hope you won't make things difficult for me."
"Huff!"
The steam above the wilderness witch's head actually began to gradually dissipate under Mr. White's words.
And her face slowly solidified, no longer dripping liquid.
"Fine! I'll give your Merchant Alliance some face."
"Serena, take them away."
"Yes, Lady Witch!"
Only then did Serena ride her broom and descend again. Ethan noticed that on the handle of this male witch's broom, the words "Lightwheel 2000" were carved, yet the shape of the broom was different from the one from Harry's home.
'Could it be that the wizarding world also has cosplay?'
Whoosh!
After the wilderness witches and wilderness warlocks put the bodies into their signet rings, they left.
Only after they were gone did Mr. White let out a long sigh of relief.
"Huff! They finally left!"
"Mr. White, you're joking. Watching how confidently you spoke to the wilderness witches just now, I really didn't feel like you were afraid of them at all."
Only after the witches left did Ethan call the duty team to lead the residents in cleaning up the villa.
At the same time, he had Cook Four serve wine and sashimi again. He planned to have a proper talk with Mr. White, because he had far too many unanswered questions he wanted to ask.
For example, why did he say Ethan was a member of the Merchant Alliance?
What exactly was the Merchant Alliance?
This Mist World actually had so many alliances?
What kind of existence was the Wilderness Witch Alliance?
How many alliances were there in total?
Why were the witches so afraid of Count Drake?
Who was the lord of Mist City?
What on earth was this world all about.
Countless questions tangled in Ethan's mind, almost turning him into a living book of One Hundred Thousand Whys.
Of course, there was also the most important matter of all.
At the end, Mr. White told the witch that among the alliances there was an agreement: whoever's territory the prey died on, the prey belonged to that person.
'That means the signet rings of those two witches should belong to me, right?'
"Mr. White, please have a seat."
Ethan invited Mr. White to sit down. Immediately afterward, Cook Four briskly brought over siren nigiri, siren sashimi, still iron-plate takoyaki, fruit wine from the treant family, and other delicacies.
Seeing so much food, Mr. White naturally nodded happily and said, "Then thank you for your hospitality, Mr. Ethan."
"No need to be polite. A guest is a guest, after all. It's only right."
Ethan tried his best to hint to Mr. White.
'You're the guest, I'm the lord. About those siren signet rings, aren't you planning to hand them over?'
But considering that the man in front of him had just been his lifesaver, Ethan couldn't be too direct, so he could only hint very tactfully.
Unfortunately, Mr. White suddenly raised a hand and said, "Lord, please don't speak yet. Now is not the time to talk."
"Uh…"
Ethan froze on the spot.
'This Mr. White is really damn crafty. I haven't even asked yet, and Mr. White has already blocked his retreat?'
'That wouldn't do. I'm a profiteer too. Why should I be the only one getting tricked!'
"No, I was just…"
"Lord, please be quiet for a moment!"
"…"
Ethan conceded.
He knew that in the end, he was still no match for this one-hundred-and-fifty-year-old veteran profiteer.
"Found it!"
At that moment, Mr. White suddenly snorted coldly. He once again put on his pitch-black glove, then slammed his hand hard onto the tabletop.
Smack!
Immediately after, Ethan heard a squelching sound.
When Mr. White lifted his hand again, Ethan finally saw that beneath the black glove was a snail that had been smashed into pulp, yet was still faintly visible?
[Invisible Eavesdropping Bug: A type of bug that can broadcast the other party's spoken content in real time. Its shell contains a reflective phosphor powder, allowing it to achieve an invisible effect. It is something all major alliances love to use to eavesdrop on each other's intelligence, and is quite common in places like the Mist Tavern and war territories.]
"This…", Ethan was stunned.
Sure enough, he still had to learn more from Mr. White, 'This old fellow is truly terrifying.'
He had even guessed that the witches would be eavesdropping, which was why he wouldn't let Ethan speak.
'Luckily, luckily…'
Otherwise, it really would have been a case of saying more and messing up more. If Ethan had actually let something slip just now, it could really have caused huge trouble.
———
[The Wilderness Witches]
At this moment, the wilderness witches had already left Ethan's territory. Halfway along the road.
Serena suddenly clutched his ear and cried out miserably, "Ah! Lady Marin, our eavesdropping bug has been discovered."
"Looks like that White really does have some skills."
Marin narrowed her slender eyes when she heard this, then turned her head to look at the beautiful witch Lily, "Lily, what about your mutated eavesdropping bug? Was it discovered?"
"Heh! Heh! Heh! How could that be possible?"
Lily sneered, "This is a super-evolved specimen that I spent nearly fifty years training."
"It has no magical fluctuations at all. It's colorless, odorless, silent. It's absolute nothingness."
"If that merchant surnamed White can even discover this…"
"Then when I go back, I'll eat all the mother bugs myself!"
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