Chapter 33: Charm Speak

It was probably not the first time she had heard such a question; the young maid merely shook her head humbly without any surprise.

“How could I possibly be something as powerful as a Demon? As you might guess, I’m not human, but a magical creature called a Charm Speak. But don’t worry, I was raised from a young age as a slave by a shop, learning various skills for daily life and service, and I would never have any harmful thoughts towards my master. If you are still unsure, you can pay directly and sign a slave contract with me in front of the shop’s notary.”

“So you’re a Charm Speak, no wonder…”

Vilyric didn’t pay much attention to the subtle self-recommendation in her tone, but remembered what she had read about the Charm Speak in a book before.

Charm Speaks were somewhat like a mix between sirens and succubi from games.

They were very weak; in terms of basic stats, they weren’t much stronger than ordinary humans. A trained, robust adult male could easily defeat two or three Charm Speaks at once.

However, conversely, Charm Speaks had a very special talent, aptly named –【Charm】.

Of course, the charm of a Charm Speak was not powerful enough to control sentient beings to follow orders, at least not for ordinary Charm Speaks.

This so-called charm was simply a special magic mixed into their speech, enabling others to feel fondness towards them.

Additionally, the form of a Charm Speak was not fixed. When they were born, they resembled small glowing orbs, and later, under the guidance of their mother, they’d imitate a certain creature completely.

After that, they would completely transform into the form of the creature’s young, growing up like a normal child until they had an appearance identical to that of the creature.

Of course, this mimicry only allowed them to take on the appearance and physical form; it couldn’t grant them any of the same innate abilities as the creatures they imitated, and they couldn’t transform into larger or more powerful species, such as dragons, which held special powers in their bloodlines.

This was the survival method of Charm Speaks. Being inherently weak, they had to rely on this trait, along with their half-baked charm, to cling onto more powerful races for survival. They would typically mimic the feminine appearance that best matched the aesthetic standards of their target species in hopes of gaining protection.

Since this Charm Speak now presented a form identical to a human, it suggested that her mother had already fallen into human hands when she was born. And perhaps even her previous generation had been raised in the same way.

Seeing Vilyric lost in thought for a while without speaking, the Charm Speak girl thought she was being looked down upon for being a magical creature, and eagerly raised her head to explain in a slightly alluring tone that evoked an instinct to pity.

“Although I am a lowly creature, the mimicry of Charm Speaks is perfect! It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance. Aside from giving birth to offspring, my body is indistinguishable from a human, not to mention that it’s less likely to be damaged or age. The tactile experience when using it should also be…”

Huh? The tactile experience? What does that mean?

Vilyric was momentarily flabbergasted, confusingly trying to figure out what she was referring to. In the end, she could only respond with a vague “uh-huh.”

There was a sense that this Charm Speak maid seemed quite eager to be purchased, but the Priestess already had too many people around her. Leila and Renée, those handy sisters, were already there to handle her daily servant work. What would she need a slave for, collecting merit by letting them go?

Moreover, as mentioned earlier, the Charm Speak race had almost no survival ability apart from relying on the strong.

Here, or if someone bought her later, at least she could scrape by; but if someone foolishly bought her and then just released her, in this hostile United Kingdom towards foreign races, the only future awaiting this Charm Speak would be an even more tragic one.

Vilyric couldn’t just pity her and needlessly spend money to add a burden to her life; this wasn’t a shelter for lost girls.

Seeing the black-haired girl’s attitude, the Charm Speak maid, who had encountered too many similar situations, seemed to understand her meaning. A fleeting expression of unnoticeable regret and resentment crossed her face as she lowered her head again, reverting to her initial humble demeanor.

“Well… what would you like to see? I can introduce you.”

Vilyric didn’t pay attention to the change in her expression. She was inherently warm on the outside but cold inside, quickly losing her interest in things she wasn’t curious about.

“Um… things we want to see…”

There wasn’t much to see on the slave side. What would looking do? Although Vilyric had many ways to rescue them, this wasn’t the main purpose of the Priestess’s trip, and she didn’t want to make too much noise before finding the Ghost Thieves.

On the other hand, these foreign girls came from all over the world, and even if Vilyric really acted, what would she do afterward? Take each one back home? Clearly impractical.

If the officials were reliable, Vilyric could entrust them to the Demon Town for processing. But given the situation in the United Kingdom, coupled with the information gleaned from Lester and Lan, it was reasonable to guess that the city’s upper echelons had likely colluded with the poachers. Handing them over would undoubtedly be sending lambs into the tiger’s mouth.

Therefore, Vilyric didn’t plan on going through unnecessary trouble.

As for the other items in the Universal Shop…

To be honest, even though she only glanced briefly, the quality of things here was indeed much better than those stalls outside. At least the effects and side effects of the potions were clearly labeled underneath in the royal language.

Still, fundamentally, they remained the same; just well-packaged, light-rejecting items.

“We’ll look around ourselves. If you have something to do, go ahead.”

“Alright, if either of you need anything, please feel free to call.”

Once again, she bowed deeply in extreme humility before the inadequately dressed Charm Speak girl quietly left. However, she didn’t go too far and continued to watch Vilyric and the others from a distance, still seeming a bit keen on selling herself.

Without paying attention to that vague gaze, the Priestess, along with the Little Dragon Daughter, wandered through several sections of the Universal Shop.

The items for sale were quite comprehensive. Besides the various commonly found and rare potions, there were materials not just limited to magical beasts and creatures, but also special metals and various grades of magic crystals.

At this moment, something suddenly caught Vilyric’s attention.

To be precise, it was something that left her a bit puzzled.

It was a gold crystal, no bigger than half a palm, wrapped in a semi-transparent specially-made metal box and protected by a small magical array, placed inside a display case.

No, this thing… no matter how she looked at it…

“Master, this thing…”

Clearly, the Little Dragon Daughter also sensed something was off. After all, she had been with Vilyric every day and was very familiar with this purest form of light element polymer.

Because… how to put it, when they couldn’t find anything good to eat before, her master would directly compress the light element into something resembling high-purity crystals and give it to her as candies to chew on. The Little Dragon Daughter still had quite a few stashed away in her little bag for emergency snacks.

   

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