Meanwhile, the slave traders, completely unaware of this, were taking stock of their 'harvest' on the ship.

"Unbelievable! Today's harvest is huge!" A slave trader rubbed his hands excitedly.

"Yeah! We've succeeded a few times! It's getting harder and harder to catch these things. Look how high the price of these mutated Naga has gone!"

I thought it would be hard to earn this money again.

Hey, that 'terrifying guy' on the island, he capsized one of our ships last time.

"Tsk, I heard everyone on that ship died."

"Hehe, no wonder we bumped into each other! We were just coming over to take a look, but who knew we'd be so lucky to make a fortune!"

"Haha, count them quickly, there are quite a lot!"

"One, two, three... thirty-nine, forty, forty-one, forty-two!"

"Oh dear, what if we accidentally wipe out all the snake cubs on this island?!" one person worried.

"How about... we release a few back? If that 'terrifying monster' goes berserk because of this... won't the entire Sea City be doomed?"

The others glared menacingly at the speaker. "Are you an idiot? Once we've made this money, we'll run away together!"

"What do we care if those people live or die? Once we get the gold coins, we'll go to the little kingdom and buy a noble status, hehe."

The last man squinted at his accomplice who had suggested releasing a few Naga, saying, "If you dare to have any improper thoughts... I'll kill you first!"

The man immediately fell silent.

"Boss, there's another dragon turtle here!?"

Hakin stared at them with dead fish eyes.

"Holy crap! I'm rich! I'm rich! This is dragon blood! Lots of people want it!"

Hajin, thrashing about: "..." If she had known, she would have turned into a giant shark.

"Quick! Don't let it die! Fill the hold with water and put it in the hold."

Hakin: "..."

These people are all veterans and know exactly how to subdue these enormous Naga.

They splashed water on the Naga, and then one of the spellcasters chanted a lightning spell.

When the electric current struck the baby Naga, they could only lie on the ground convulsing.

Haji was also affected and was electrocuted, shivering on the deck.

"Hiss! There's another ghostly Naga here! Anyone want to get a hood?"

Soon, a sealed iron hood was placed over the head of the ghostly Naga, sealing off its hypnotic eyes.

"Tsk~ This ghost is worth a lot of money, we're really rich this time!"

These slave traders were very shrewd; just as Li Aili had guessed, this wasn't the first time they'd done something like this.

Hakin promptly pretended to faint.

"What should we do with this dragon turtle? It's too big."

"Put on one of those magical neck collars that you got."

"Wow, that thing is really useful. I heard it was invented by the gentlemen of the floating islands, specifically to deal with criminal spellcasters."

Soon, an iron ring was put around Hakin's neck.

The hundreds of crew members on board worked together and quickly stuffed their "haul" into the hold.

Many magical metal chains hung from the bulkhead of the lower deck.

The crew chained these magical metal chains around the Naga's necks like dogs.

Several Naga were in so much pain from being stuck that their eyes started to well up with tears.

"Haha, this monster actually has tears?" A slave trader said to his companion with curiosity, while stepping on the little Naga's serpentine body and grinding it.

"Hey, that's the interesting part. Why do you think those noble lords would spend so much money to buy these monsters?"

Didn't you see the batch of smaller ones that were sold into those gladiatorial arenas last time?

Once inside the arena, they were so terrified that they wet themselves and cried for their mothers, while the gentlemen in the stands were incredibly excited.

"Ha~ That was fucking awesome."

"I heard that underground arena made a lot of money from this? Are they going to sell it again this time?"

"No, the boss said we'll go through an auction this time."

The voices of the slave traders gradually faded into the distance.

Once the cabin was empty, Hakin, who had been playing dead, immediately turned back into a fly. To her astonishment, she discovered that the metal ring around her neck hadn't fallen off; instead, it had shrunk and was still around her neck.

Time was of the essence, so she didn't have time to study it and just wanted to get out of there first.

So she climbed up to the upper cabin through the gap in the deck.

Then I saw the pitiful state of the little Naga.

Those enormous Naga destroyed her beloved homeland, and their offspring are about to be sold as slaves by humans—this is probably what is meant by retribution.

Hajin coldly addressed the particularly heartbroken green-reticulated Naga, saying, "Serves you right! Your elders have been destroying the forest everywhere! This is the God of Nature's punishment for you!"

The little Naga trembled with anger, hissing, "You're lying!!"

Hakin: "Ha! I live in Grandsy, and I was there watching when that big blue 'snake' was destroying the forest!"

"Hiss hiss hiss!!!" That's my uncle saving our companion who was captured!!!

"Hiss!" You people who live on the shore are the real villains!!

Hakin then realized something was wrong. She was about to ask again when the hatch was suddenly pushed open.

Hakin instinctively transformed back into a dragon turtle.

The slave trader, who had been chatting and laughing as he walked in, turned around and saw the enormous dragon tortoise lying there sprawled out.

The slave trader's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "Holy shit! How the hell did it climb up here???"

The dragon turtle was an extremely dangerous species, and the slave trader, without saying a word, immediately recited a spell.

Immediately, an electric current was released from Hakin's collar.

Hajin, lying on the ground, was immediately electrocuted and began to convulse.

You bunch of bastards!! Don't fall into my hands! I'll kill you all!!!