Absolute Beast Dominion

Chapter 480: Hilda [Bonus]

A/N: These extra bonus Chapters are compensation Chapters because I am always late.

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Chapter 480: Hilda

The manager’s instincts immediately told him the slaves might have made a mistake, but he paused to think the situation through carefully. Being an experienced merchant, he knew the owner of such beautiful elves would be no ordinary person, and certainly not someone of lower standing than the red-haired woman, who seemed to belong to some branch of the Ember Family.

He was certain she was from a branch family because the direct bloodlines of the Ember Family were regular customers of his feather business, and none of their women had such a dull shade of red hair. On the contrary, every direct-line woman was almost superior to most men in hair tone alone, so she clearly wasn’t one of them.

But at the end of the day, she was still related to the Count of the city where he conducted business, so he needed to treat her carefully.

By now, the woman was breathing heavily, her face flushed with both exhaustion and embarrassment as she failed to land a single blow on either elf, who didn’t even look like they were trying to dodge her attacks.

The manager, having already clarified the matter with the storekeeper, took the chance to step forward.

"My lady, have these elves offended you in any way?" he asked calmly.

The woman sharply turned toward the voice, her face still red from humiliation and exertion.

"Oh! So you finally came? Such a lazy man doesn’t deserve to be a manager. Look! You are getting robbed of such valuable feathers right under your nose!" She pointed at the peacock and phoenix feathers in the elves’ hands.

Many onlookers had entered the store out of curiosity and were still oblivious to why the red-haired woman was acting so aggressively. Naturally, their gazes shifted toward the feathers.

Among them were many women as this area mainly sold beauty-related products. And being women, they naturally disliked the elves’ beauty. The crowd quickly became stirred up.

"What? They stole such valuable and expensive feathers from slaves? They deserve to die!"

"Hmph! Their faces may be pretty, but their heart is filled with darkness."

"Maybe death is too easy. We should ruin their faces and lament for life!"

"Indeed, death is far too merciful and wasteful. They should be handed to a man for proper discipline behind closed doors. And as a righteous man, I volunteer!"

That particular sentence came from perhaps the ugliest-looking man one could imagine. Extremely Short in stature, round in figure, with a flat nose, drooping and bloated eyelids.

Indeed, with you, any woman would already be living a life of punishment anyway. Many surrounding women silently thought.

But their attention was once again drawn toward the red-haired woman.

"See? Everybody can tell I am right. Now apprehend them!" Seeing the crowd support her claims, her earlier embarrassment slowly began to fade.

"As the one who prevented this robbery, I will gladly take the phoenix feather—"

She was abruptly cut off by the manager, who pretended not to notice she was even speaking.

"My lady, I am afraid you have misunderstood the situation. These elves were merely trying out the feathers after making full payment." He turned toward the storekeeper.

"Show her."

The storekeeper hurriedly pulled open the drawer, revealing the 29 gold coins paid by the Lyswenna. Since many items in the store were expensive and transactions were large, the drawer was emptied after every purchase so thieves could not escape with the money. At the moment, the only coins inside were the amount paid by Lyswenna.

"I-it’s fake! You are just showing money that was already in the drawer before! These elves are manipulating your minds. Don’t you know? They are masters in this field. They can even fool you into thinking you are the slaves while they are the masters!" the girl refuted loudly.

At that moment, her friend—the same one who had commented on Naelith’s hair earlier—leaned closer and whispered urgently.

"Hilda, let it go. You are only ruining your own image." The friend had already realized that Hilda was acting this way because of her earlier comment, trying to display her superiority. And now, because of Hilda’s foolish behavior, even her own image was being dragged down alongside her. She regretted it deeply.

"Hmph! You are right. Trying to discipline mere slaves is indeed beneath me. But that reminds me of another issue." She turned toward the manager again.

"How can you allow pathetic slaves like these to enter an establishment where noble ladies like me also shop?"

I have never seen such a low-class noblewoman with such a crass attitude... the manager thought inwardly. To him, the slave elves looked far more like true nobles with how composed they remained despite being falsely accused.

"My lady, business only sees money. Since they possessed both the money and the minimum appearance required to uphold the dignity of the shop as customers, they were naturally allowed entry."

"OH?! Is that so? Not only are you being robbed, but you are even praising their looks? Have you seen their hideous ears!? If I had such ears, I would have cut them off before I was even born! You know what? Let me perform this noble deed myself."

As she spoke, Hilda drew a dagger hidden near her ankle, orange flames quickly coating its blade with a faint hiss of heat.

"My lady! There is no need for violence!" The manager hurried forward to stop her. The last thing he wanted was for the owner of these elves to become enraged because his ’property’ had been damaged inside his establishment.

Both Naelith and Lyswenna immediately became alert, quietly storing the feathers inside a spatial ring while preparing to block Hilda’s strike. If possible, they intended to remain passive unless absolutely forced to retaliate. The more they acted, the more trouble it could potentially bring Leo later.

Hilda charged straight forward, her dagger aimed directly at Lyswenna’s ear. Lyswenna was about to sidestep once again when Hilda suddenly pulled the dagger back and thrust out her other hand, launching a fireball toward Lyswenna’s face instead.

"Hahaha! You don’t deserve that stupid face. Let me fix it for you."

The fireball was just about to strike Lyswenna when she calmly swept her hand through the air, forming a curtain of water that effortlessly absorbed the attack without harming either herself or the surroundings.

At that move, the entire store fell silent in shock.

"A slave... used an attack?" someone muttered in disbelief, and Hilda instantly seized onto those words.

"Guards! Capture this elf! She is attacking with elemental powers!"