Leaving the study, Liyami didn’t head straight to the second-floor guest room that Furnace Hook had mentioned.
Instead, she first asked Lant to show her around and familiarize herself with the place.
As for what she had just told Furnace Hook about going to the restroom—that, of course, was a lie.
Still, it reminded Liyami that it had already been more than a week since she had transformed into a woman.
She wondered if her body would experience menstruation now, and if so, when it might come.
Liyami didn’t know much about this, but if she could choose, she hoped she wouldn’t have to deal with it at all.
If it did happen, she prayed it wouldn’t come at an inconvenient time.
Pulling her mind away from those thoughts, Liyami noticed Lant was still rambling on about his past “great deeds,” leaving her speechless.
To be able to invent stories like that—she supposed that was a kind of talent.
Thanks to Lant’s introductions, Liyami got a general understanding of the mansion’s layout and the guard distribution around it.
Broadly speaking, the perimeter was heavily guarded—almost impenetrable.
However, inside the mansion, guards were scarce, limited to only a few personally selected by Furnace Hook.
Because of this, the internal guards were much stronger than those outside.
Someone like Lant could only serve as a patrol squad captain outside and wasn’t allowed inside the mansion on regular duty.
Among the internal guards, the most notable was the current Guard Captain.
According to Lant, his strength was formidable, seemingly above level 40.
All the guards inside the mansion had been trained by this captain.
Yet Liyami still had some doubts. Although Furnace Hook’s security measures looked impressive on paper, in reality, a few mercenaries above level 35 could probably break through.
Especially inside the mansion, with fewer than ten guards, even with a strong captain, wasn’t the defense a bit too lax?
Did Furnace Hook really believe that such a guard force could protect him?
Or did he have some other secret trump card?
Liyami recalled the eyepatch Furnace Hook wore.
From the moment she stepped into the study, she had felt a strange, familiar sensation—as if something important to her was nearby.
At that time, she had noticed the eyepatch covering Furnace Hook’s left eye, and from it, she could sense a magical aura.
That familiar feeling seemed to emanate from there.
What was inside that eyepatch?
Why did she feel so familiar with it?
Could that be Furnace Hook’s hidden ace?
Her mission briefing from the society hadn’t mentioned anything like this, so she knew she’d have to investigate it herself.
Just as she was thinking this, Lant led her down to the mansion’s basement.
The moment they stepped inside, Liyami frowned.
A strong, unpleasant odor filled the air.
Looking around, she quickly identified the source—beastman slaves locked in the basement.
It seemed the basement had been temporarily converted into a makeshift prison.
Though rough and simple, it was guarded by only two men who were snoring loudly.
Only when Lant and Liyami approached did one of them lazily wake up.
Still, for detaining weak beastman slaves shackled in chains and manacles, this was enough.
Without external help, these slaves couldn’t escape on their own.
Lant greeted the guards, and it seemed he was quite familiar with them.
Watching Lant chat with the two guards who had just woken up, Liyami suddenly realized their familiarity made sense—they were probably cut from the same cloth.
“This place? We don’t usually patrol here. The ones inside are the boss’s merchandise, so don’t touch them,” Lant said, pointing at the chained beastman slaves.
He was about to say more when the two guards suddenly pulled out a bottle of alcohol from somewhere.
Upon seeing it, Lant stopped paying attention to Liyami, scolding the guards while secretly pocketing the bottle.
Liyami didn’t watch Lant’s stealthy theft under the guise of scolding. Instead, she stared at the beastman slaves with a complicated expression.
Though she had come here to kill Furnace Hook, the slave trader, what good would it do?
If she killed Furnace Hook, would these beastman slaves stop being slaves or cease being sold?
Of course not.
Even if she did kill him, these slaves would simply be sold by another trader.
She knew selling slaves was utterly wrong, and the Kingdom should be doing its best to curb it.
Indeed, slave trading within the Kingdom had significantly decreased in recent years, almost disappearing.
But beastman slaves were the exception because the Kingdom didn’t consider beastman slaves as part of the slave trade to be eliminated.
It was as if beastmen were naturally meant to be sold as slaves.
That was why most slaves in the Kingdom were beastman slaves.
Buying, selling, and using beastman slaves did not violate Kingdom laws.
Why was this?
Ultimately, it was because the beastmen had chosen the wrong side.
More than twenty years ago, a massive war broke out between humans and the Demon Race.
Humans timed their assault with the Demon King’s succession to launch a large-scale attack, intending to annihilate the demons who had slaughtered humans.
At that time, many races like elves, dwarves, and dragonkin sided with humans to fight the demons.
Only the beastmen chose otherwise—they allied with the demons to kill humans.
Perhaps they believed humans stood no chance, or maybe the demons’ long-term training had suppressed any resistance in them.
Or maybe, like demons, beastmen were monsters who delighted in slaughter.
Whatever the reason, they chose to kill humans alongside the demons.
In the end, humans won and demons lost.
The beastmen were then discriminated against and targeted by other races for their choice.
Today, beastmen have no rights among the other races.
Even many who never harmed humans and simply lived in the deep mountains were captured by mercenaries and enslaved.
If being a slave was bad, that would be one thing, but in some severe cases, it wasn’t just simple slavery…
Liyami’s complicated feelings weren’t because she sympathized with these beastman slaves but because she thought of Colin.
As a good-hearted man, how would Colin react to all this?
Would he be angry or sorrowful?
Would he try to change things or feel powerless?
She didn’t know.
After all, she wasn’t the righteous Paladin Colin—she was only an assassin carrying out the society’s orders.
Sighing deeply, Liyami decided to stop thinking about it.
She had a mission to complete, and this wasn’t the time for such thoughts.
Just then, she noticed one of the beastman slaves’ gazes fixed on her, lingering for a long while without turning away.