"Where are we going now?" Belle hurriedly chased after him with her long skirt.

"'We'? Are you going to be with us?" Adal looked at Belle.

"Of course, I have already acted as a fraternity. Don't you welcome me?" Belle opened her eyes wide and looked at Adair.

"No, no, of course, welcome, very welcome. But let me think about it. The dance ended a little too quickly. Um..." Looking at Jones, Adair asked, "Jones, do you have any place to go?"

"No idea." Jones shook his head: "After all, I haven't been here."

"Okay, then I'll decide. Let's go to the top of Gaoting Mountain first, you haven't been there yet."

"The top of the High Court? Is it where our hearing?"

"Yes. Let's go for a walk first."

"Why not the foot of the mountain? I'll have to go to the top of the mountain sooner or later." As he said, Jones looked at the endless city at the foot of the mountain.

"Uh... are you interested in the foothills?" Adale hesitated.

"Of course." Jones said firmly: "I am a city lord, and of course I will be interested in the city."

"Okay, that's fine." As he said, Adal pretended to give a standard salute to Jones, bowed and said, "You are the most honorable guest in the High Court today, and everything will be listened to you."

Immediately afterwards, he blew a loud whistle.

Soon, the butler drove slowly from a distance in his own carriage.

...

"What did you say? Jones Dragura, the lord of the Snake City, went to your dance?" In the castle not far away, a blood man with long black hair, burly and handsome face, and wearing a black dress slowly turned around.

Standing behind him was the host of the dance that Jones and Adair had just attended.

"Yes, short silver hair, about seventy-five years old," said the dance owner respectfully. "The key is that someone recognized Adair, the master of Sambo's family, by his side, and the daughter of the Rizzo family was with them. They belonged to the same brotherhood."

"What are they going to your dance?"

"I don't know, I haven't had time to talk to them yet. However, the daughter of the Rizzo family is on the invitation list for my dance party."

The black-haired blood clan man raised his eyebrows slightly and looked at the owner of the dance party.

"His Highness Prince Harrez, the development of Giant Snake City has put pressure on all of us. I heard that the people from the Gangro family are promoting this hearing on the one hand, and on the other hand, they are trying to contact Giant Snake City. Should we also..."

Speaking of this, the host of the dance party did not say anything further.

The man of the blood clan, known as Prince Harrez, thought for a while and said softly: "The Giant Snake City is not a blood clan at all. Strictly speaking, they should belong to the power of the Lich King. Our Nicklaus family will not be as anxious as the Gangro family guys. At most, they will watch and push at the right time. The threat of the Giant Snake City is great, but the Nicklaus family has accumulated for thousands of years. Even if there is no profit for a hundred years, it is not a big problem. Besides, it is only one year. If someone wants to charge, let them rush. I heard that the Lich King Grey is a person who cannot tolerate sand in his eyes. It is a bit risky to fight against such an opponent."

"Yes, you're right, we don't need to be so anxious!" The host of the dance party said respectfully.

"but."

As soon as this "but" came out, the dance owner who was already preparing to leave suddenly raised his god again and looked at Prince Harrez.

After a pause, Prince Harrez continued, "But if he takes the initiative to contact you, you might as well contact him."

As he said that, his eyes slanted towards the dance owner meaningfully, and said in a low voice: "Check wherever they went after leaving the dance, what were they doing."

"Okay, I understand." The host of the dance party bowed quickly and turned around and left.

After the dance owner left, Harriz picked up the scissors in his hand and trimmed his flowers carefully, while saying to himself: "Sambo, Gangro, neither of them should be taken lightly. Sambo somehow, was mixed with the power of the Lich King. Gangro appeared to be against the Giant Snake City, but in fact, he just hated that he had not gotten the cake. And this Lich King... What exactly did he want to do? Why did he fight with Heaven to this point, and he still have time to share his power to build a Giant Snake City on the Colin Peninsula? Does he want to defeat Heaven with gold coins?"

As he said that, he raised his eyebrows slightly and smiled slowly.

A blood clan servant slowly came behind him with his footsteps and whispered: "Your Highness, our surplus last year has been calculated."

"How many?"

"Two million and five million gold coins."

"Which were we two years ago?"

“Two five million.”

"Ninety percent less?" After pausing for a while, Harrez whispered to himself: "No loss, it's good news."

...

Jones has never been to the top of the mountain, and the mountainside and the bottom of the mountain can be said to be completely different from the world.

Winter has passed and the ice and snow have melted.

However, even if there was no drop of rain, the city-state at the foot of Gaoting Mountain was still wet. Every street was muddy. The air was filled with a rotten smell.

Jones has never seen any such city.

The buildings here are very high, at least three floors or more, and seven or eight floors are not uncommon. However, they are not uniformly planned, neat and magnificent buildings. They look like they are pieced together randomly.

The streets are very narrow, but there are many people, including the free people of the blood clan, the goblin merchants, the elves, the dwarfs, the goblins, and occasionally you can see one or two luxuriously dressed blood clan lords... All races have them and are very crowded. Almost every corner is noisy.

When on the mountain, although Huanshan Avenue is not spacious, some unicorns can even run on some sections of the road. And here... as soon as they got off the mountain, the carriage was blocked on the street. The housekeeper had to stand on the carriage and kept shouting, trying to drive away the pedestrians blocking the front. However, it seemed to be useless. The carriage was still as slow as a snail.

Adele was a little outraged, but he had no choice but to spread his hands and said, "Actually, I haven't gone down the mountain, but to be honest, this is really not a good idea. This place is a bit bad."

"It will be better if you are a little far away from the foot of the mountain." Belle unconsciously covered her nose with her hands: "The people gather here are people who serve the castles on the mountain. There are so many castles on the mountain, so there must be more people who provide services. Normally, I don't want to come down. It's a bit dirty. And I'll often be blocked halfway."

Jones sat by the car window and watched quietly, without saying a word.

On both sides of the street were braziers taller than carriages, and the flames shone through the car windows and shone on Jones's face.

Finally, they finally walked through the most crowded section of the road, entered a new area, and became crowded again.

"Where is this place?" Jones asked softly.

"Slave Market." Belle replied softly: "The slaves you asked me to buy were bought here. Now they are all big customers."

Rows of slaves were strung together and walked past Jones's carriage.

On both sides of the road are rows of cage-like buildings, layer by layer. Each window is equipped with railings like prisons. Countless ragged slaves are crowded in the small space, staring out the window with their eyes, just like animals waiting to be slaughtered in the restaurant.

Not far away there is a stage-like building, which seems to be holding a slave auction.

On the Collin Peninsula, it is common to auction slaves and is also a specialty for slave traders. This is true in Hilde, and in the High Court.

Jones was fascinated by everything.

Adele, who was beside him, was startled and quickly reached out to pull the curtains up.

"What's wrong?" Jones asked.

"Uh..." Adair said hesitantly: "I'm afraid you will have a chivalrous attack and want to save them. That's all."

"No, I won't." Jones opened the curtains again and whispered: "I'm different from my father."

"You mean your adoptive father, Lich King?" Belle asked in a low voice.

"Yes." Jones nodded, and continued, "Saving them is my mission, but I will not act rashly. At least before making sure I have enough strength to fight them. I am different from my father, although I also adhere to the spirit of chivalry like him."

Adair and Belle looked at each other and asked in a low voice: "Will you... go in and have a walk?"

At this moment, the carriage was blocked in front of one of the slave markets. A female human slave was being watched by the blood clan pulling her hair and screaming all the way. Passersby passing by were already accustomed to it and didn't even look at it.

Jones watched quietly, until the blood clan and the woman disappeared into the door, then took a deep breath and said softly: "No, let's go."

The wheels were turning, and the carriage slowly moved forward again.

After a long period of time, Jones whispered: "One of the content of this hearing is that they opposed me to liberate slaves. They believe that my large-scale liberation of slaves violates the traditions of the blood clan."

"Then... what are you going to do?" Belle asked in a low voice.

"Nothing is done. According to the law of the blood clan, there is no provision that the slaves cannot be liberated." Jones replied softly: "Not only does the slaves cannot be liberated, but also clearly list the steps and procedures required to liberate slaves. I did everything. They could not find my problem."

"Then why do they hold a hearing?"

"I think they just want to find fault." Adael spread his hands: "In trade, there are not many places they can do. This one is one of the few places that can be blamed on the Giant Snake City. Even this one is actually difficult for them to do. There is no need to be afraid of them."

Sitting in front of the window, Jones frowned slightly, as if thinking about something.

On the street, the carriage walked slowly.

Faces shook past Jones's eyes. Some were cunning, some were haggard, some were angry, some were frustrated, some were desperate, some were tired... all kinds of things, just like a pot of stew. It was like what Jones didn't want the residents of Giant Snake City to be.
Chapter completed!