Inside a luxurious room, a werewolf was sitting at a desk, reading through documents. The golden decorations that could be found all around the room were displays of influence of the owner who was none other than the Nightmane himself. He used to be an orphan who got raised by the Duke Metalclaws to become his faithful servant, and he was proud of it. After all, the power he possessed as a direct subordinate of a duke wasn't anything to be scoffed at. Being entrusted with all the shady businesses in the city, he thought of the duke as his benefactor who gave him a new life.

“Kukuh.” He laughed reading through his underling's report. It was written that they had brought a new girl who supposedly had a high status. Normally, slavers would not try to get involved with nobles, but it wasn't the case here.

“A human girl, I wonder what family she is from.” Although nobles of the same rank appeared to possess similar influences, it wasn't true at all. Even though the beast king gave the ranks of the nobility regardless of the race, only few humans were able obtain it because of their racial limitations.

'Those inferior beings don't deserve to be called nobles.' It was a common thought among the beastmen nobles, and he had inherited the ideal from his master who was not an exception. Naturally, the faction of beastmen repressed them, and their power was limited.

“I can't wait to see their distorted faces.” He laughed in satisfaction, imagining how the disgusting human nobles would react realizing their daughter is in his hands. Even though it was a dangerous act of going against the beast king's policy, the thought of sharing the same rank as those puny humans disgusted his master, and he was allowed to take such actions under his name.

“We brought the girl.” He could hear his underling's voice from the other side of the door.

“Enter.”

As the door opened, he could see a little girl in white dress walk in next to his subordinate.

“So, she is the one.” He walked up to her and touched her face. The softness of her skin and her hair showed signs of excessive care, and with no doubt belonged to someone who didn't know hard labor. However, her lack of reaction bothered him, and the unfocused eyes and the expressionless face were something he was used to seeing.

“How dare you touch her beforehand?” He kicked the beastman into the wall. Coughing blood, the beastman stood back up, in order to not displease him even further.

“N..no, sir, I didn't lay a single finger on her yet.” Without understanding why he was getting scolded, he tried to justify himself.

“Lies. There is no way a noble girl would have those dead eyes.” Nightmane pointed at the girl. Despite the violent actions being performed right next to her, she didn't look concerned at all.

“B...but it's true sir, we didn't do anything to her! It's weird, it was hard to catch her because she tried to run away so much!”

“So, she was normal when you brought her and now is in this state? Let's see, the report says you brought her not even an hour ago. It's pretty obvious now what you have done.” Nightmane growled. Realizing that he couldn't find an explanation, the beastman knelt in front of him.

“I didn't do anything, I swear! But I'm sorry, please forgive me!” He couldn't decide whether he should justify himself or apologize.

“Hah, are you still on about it despite the evidence? Bad dogs need some discipline.” He kicked him again on the ground, and started stepping on his face.

“Trying to get a taste of such a high quality product before his master, and trying to lie about it. You deserve to die a thousand deaths.” Nightmane wasn't concerned about the girl's well-being. He was mad that the rare product he was looking forward to was flawed by his underling's selfish action. The girl wouldn't have been brought to him if it wasn't for him, but that thought didn't even cross his mind, as he kept beating up his subordinate.

“I'm sorry, I'm sorry...” The beastman's voice got weaker and weaker, until he eventually fainted.

Nightmane looked back at the girl who was looking at him. Although the display of violence should have scared a girl of that age, her expression didn't change.

'Tsk, she is broken.' Even though he just vented out his frustration on his underling, he got annoyed again looking at the girl. A noble girl who had never known pain was a rare toy, and their agonizing expression was the most satisfying thing for him. Yet, there was no enjoyment in playing with a broken toy.

He gave a final kick on the unconscious beastman, and turned back at the girl.

'The dress she is wearing is rather high class.' He noticed as he started inspecting her.

'Arachne's silk, no... It's not just a normal one. It's one that a high-ranked Archne made wholeheartedly.' Arachne's silk was an expensive material, but it wasn't extraordinary neither because there were Arachne slaves caught for the purpose of making them. However, what she was wearing was different from what he had seen before.

The quality of an Arachne's silk depended on the Arachne's level, and how much effort they put in making it. However, they are proud demons, that never put in such effort under slavery. Beastmen had tried different methods in the past trying to produce the highest quality of Arachne's silk, but even when their minds were broken, they would never produce such thing. In fact, their mind needed to be intact for them to produce the highest quality silk, and they absolutely refused to do that as long as sanity remained in them.

'To find one at this quality, you have to find an Arachne that is about to propose.' Because of their individualist characteristics, they rarely put their heart in their production. The only practical case they did it was when they were about to propose.

'Arachnes are powerful creatures. On top of that, they are hard to find because of their stealthy nature. It is nigh impossible to find a silk of this quality. Just from which family is she?' Nightmane carefully examined the possibilities. The most powerful human in the country was a duke, and even if she was his daughter, duke Metalclaws could back him up in the matter. In fact, if she was his daughter, she could be used to further reduce the humans place in the country.

“Kukuku.” He started grinning like a Cheshire cat as he started patting the smooth dress she was wearing. The smoothness he could feel on his fingertips was of the highest quality, but the girl was most likely a greater treasure herself.

“State your name.”

“...”

He grimaced as she didn't answer. Because of his stupid underling, he couldn't interrogate her anymore. Resisting the urge to kick him a few more times, he started undressing her to change her into something more appropriate for a slave.

“...”

Even though she didn't make any noise, she noticeably flinched.

“Huh?” Nightmane noticed the unexpected reaction.

“Are you embarrassed?” He asked, without being able to hide his broadening smile.

“...” He didn't know why she was like this, but at least, he knew that she wasn't completely broken.

“I see, I see. Isn't it nice that you are still feeling fine?” He laughed as he patted her shoulder.

'I can't wait to see that cute face distort in pain.' His underling might not have done much after all. If that was the case, he might have gone too far on him. He lightly kicked the lying beastman while thinking as such.

“Ouch! Sir? I'm sorry sir, please forgive me!” The beastman started apologizing again as he regained consciousness.

“I will consider it if you tell me everything you know about her.” He didn't expect him to regain consciousness, but it was even better.

“They are in the report, sir. Wait a second, I found out one more thing about her.” Seeing that he piqued Nightmane's interest, he continued the report.

“She is capable of using light magic, since she cured the drugged children in her cell.”

“Kukuku.” Nightmane burst out laughing.

“A light mage from a prestigious family, how cherished have you been, I wonder? Little girl, won't you heal this beastman uncle over here?” He pointed towards his underling who was barely standing due to the beatings earlier. However, she didn't do anything.

“Aren't you a naughty one? Even though you are a light mage, you refuse to heal an injured person in front of you!” He opened his arms towards her to gesture how irrational was what she was doing. Seeing her not reacting, he turned back to the beastman.

“Change her and follow me.”

“Yes, sir!” Even though he was injured, it wasn't an excuse to disobey him. Once he changed the girl's clothes, they headed towards another room underground.