Chapter Eighteen: The Devil's Market

  The living beings of the continent of gods regard summoners as the highest combat occupation, and summoners fight in conjunction with summoned magical creatures. There are countless summoners, which requires a large number of magical creatures.

  The demon pet evolved from the contract signed with the demon beast, so a class of people who make a living by capturing demon beasts was born. Those who rely on this for a living will naturally give rise to related markets, such as the Demon Easy Market!

  However, within each country, high-ranking magical beasts are prohibited from being traded on the market, while fifth-rank or lower magical beasts can be purchased on the trading market.

  The sun is high at noon.

  Li Xie and Kano had lunch together, then came to the Demon Easy Market in the Imperial Capital.

  This is a large piece of empty land that has been divided into countless storefronts, forming a market similar to the Earth's flower and bird markets. There are many people buying and selling magical beasts, with sellers coming in all shapes and sizes, while buyers are mostly nobles or wealthy individuals from the Imperial City.

  "Dada Rabbit, a first-class magical pet Dada Rabbit. There is a rare blue variant, priced at 5,000 gold coins each."

  "Teddy bear, plump teddy bear, on sale at a low price."

  "Obama, a rare pure black miniature horse, can be used as a zhong horse."

  Li Xie walked with Kano, indulging in the animals' cuteness, and curiously looked around, asking questions, seemingly forgetting his original purpose for coming here.

  The demon market was very large, with all kinds of demons dazzling in front of him. After Li Xie had satisfied his curiosity, he felt a little puzzled.

  The magical beasts of the other world and the animals on Earth are not much different in terms of species, just a slight difference in shape and a huge difference in ability. However, Li Xie walked through about a quarter of the market and didn't see a single cat!

  Cats are Li Xiang's favorite animals!

  There were no cats in the other world, so thought Li Xie.

  Another doubt, after walking for half a day, all I saw were first and second-order magic beasts. The magic beast that is to be equipped with Carano should at least be a fourth-order magic beast, the first and second-order are really not presentable!

  "Kano, don't they sell higher-level monsters here?"

  "Sir, up ahead are all pet vendors for nobles' entertainment. Further in is where you'll find third and fourth-tier magical beasts."

  "Oh, speaking of which, the nobles and wealthy people in the Imperial City can't consume that many magical beasts either. What happens to the unsold ones?" With so many magical beasts and not enough rich buyers, it's destined that many low-ranking magical beasts won't sell. Moreover, magical beasts generally live long lives, so buying one is a lifelong commitment, making it even harder for low-ranking magical beasts to sell. Li Xie, who has always been fond of small animals, still cares about the fate of these unsold magical beasts.

  Kano sneered: "Low-level magic beasts are used by nobles to deceive their children, and they usually get bored with new things quickly! Moreover, the magic beasts here have been injected with poison and won't live for many years!"

  "Poison?" Humanity's greed knows no bounds! Looking at the cute low-ranking magical beasts around him, thinking of their fate, Li Xie clenched his fists.

  "Sir, if you want a magical creature, there's no need to come here to buy one. This place only sells fifth-tier or lower creatures, and those below the fifth tier are not intelligent and won't be used as main battle pets. At most, they're just for display. If you want a high-level pet, you can ask His Majesty for one. He values you so much that he even gave you an unknown egg; asking him for a fifth or sixth-tier creature shouldn't be refused."

  Li Xie shook his head: "I'm not doing it for myself, I want to buy some magic beasts for you and the guards, first equip them, and when I have the ability, I'll get you better ones. Since there are no intelligent magic beasts here, forget it, Cano, do you know where we can find fifth-tier or higher magic beasts?"

  Kano touched his head, feeling a little moved. He had only followed Earl Xie for a few days, yet Earl Xie was already considering his well-being! Since he was young, he had been in the military and didn't have a magical pet of his own. The first magical pet he had was assigned by the Crazy Lion Army, and it had stayed with him until today. Now that he no longer had an army's magical pet, this silly big guy still missed the days when he had one.

  "Your Excellency, the high-ranking magical beasts of the dynasty are all under your personal control. If you want a high-ranking magical beast, you can only seek it from Your Excellency. However, the number of high-ranking magical beasts in Your Excellency's possession is limited, especially adult ones. It may be possible for one or two, but if you want many, I'm afraid even Your Excellency cannot guarantee that. After all, our dynasty has allocated high-ranking adult magical beasts to the military, and there shouldn't be many unassigned magical beasts under Your Excellency's control."

  "Adult monster? Is there anything else?"

  Kano smiled: "The life of a magical beast is long, with tens to hundreds of years in its youth and growth periods. During this time, the magical beast itself will not have any powerful skills, only when it reaches adulthood can it truly be used for battle. A ninth-stage juvenile magical beast is not as useful as a sixth-stage adult magical beast, because by the time the summoner waits for the ninth-stage juvenile to mature, they themselves would already be old and dead."

  Li Xie thought for a moment and smiled: "Then let's go to the imperial palace, I'll ask His Majesty for a mature high-level magic beast for you, as for the other brothers, I'll think of another way."

  Brother!

  Li Xie's words, which were habitual on Earth, made Kano's heart skip a beat!

  No noble would ever refer to his bodyguard as "brother"!

  What's more, this nobleman is an earl and the heir of the Lamborghini family, with His Majesty's gold medal in hand, the new favorite of the dynasty!

  This man who was destined to be high above others actually referred to his humble guard as "brother"!

  A surge of emotion swept over Cano's forehead, causing his eyes to shine with excitement. He hastily said: "Your Excellency, no need to trouble yourself, actually, there might be fifth-tier magical beasts for sale here too. Why don't we go take a look over there?"

  Kano said he didn't want to have a high-ranking demon pet, that was absolutely a lie. However, seeing Li Xie think for him like this, he also started to truly move towards Li Xie. In Kano's view, high-ranking adult demon pets were extremely rare, even Mercedes VII wouldn't be able to have many. And now Li Xie had just received Mercedes VII's great gift, and was going to go ask for a high-ranking demon beast again, it would probably affect Li Xie's status in the eyes of Mercedes VII. That's why Kano said that.

  Of course, Kano was overthinking it. Li Xie's position in Mercedes' heart was far beyond what Kano could imagine. Even if he had just sent the "Unknown Egg" and 100,000 gold coins, and then sent a high-ranking adult magic beast, Mercedes would definitely not refuse.

  "Uh, okay, let's see." Li Xie didn't think too much about it. In his opinion, the Tudor dynasty was so excited just because an eighth-tier magic pet upgraded to a ninth-tier magic pet. He estimated that Mercedes VII couldn't bring out many higher-tiered magic beasts! As for Li Xie, who still lacked a concrete concept of magic beasts, he thought that giving Cano and those one hundred guards at least seventh-tier or higher magic pets would be enough to properly protect him.

  One or two, Li Xie still looks down on them!

  So I listened to Kano and decided to buy some lower-end ones first, and then think of other ways later.

  Kano seems more familiar with the demon market in the Imperial Capital, directly bringing Li Xie to a store that may have high-ranking demons - the Exotic Beast Pavilion.

  This is the largest one in the Mo Ye market, with a storefront in front. After entering the store, there is a large courtyard inside, where many magical beasts are raised in iron cages. Inside this courtyard, there is another deeper door.

  A servant saw Kano, apparently recognizing the former leader of the Crazy Lion Corps, and was very respectful to Kano. As for Li Xie, who was Kano's master, he was even more polite, immediately leading the two into the main courtyard.

  The salesperson, bowing slightly at the waist, began to promote their products to Li Xie: "Sir, our store's new batch of rare beasts are all here. They're special breeds among magical creatures. Someone of your stature can only be matched with these most precious magical beasts."

  Li Xie glanced around and saw that the demons in the courtyard were still low-level, just possibly some rare variant species, and couldn't help but shake his head slightly.

  "Get old Diggs out here," Kane said from beside him.

  "Sir, my master is receiving your distinguished..."

  "Be gone!" Kano didn't wait for the servant to finish, and pushed him away. He turned to Li Xie and said, "Sir, Old De Ge Si is receiving a noble guest, he must be in the inner courtyard. Let's go in."

  Li Xie had no opinion and walked straight towards another door of the main courtyard. The inner court should be inside.

  My man wanted to stop him, but was stared at by Kano's fierce eyes and didn't dare make a sound. Hearing the noise, four thugs came running over, saw Kano, and none of them dared to take action. It seems that Kano is also somewhat famous in the Imperial Capital.

  After entering the gate, there is indeed another courtyard. Unlike the large yard surrounded by four walls in front, this inner courtyard looks more like a small garden. The eyes are filled with trees and flowers, and a bluestone path extends inward.

  Next to him, Kano lowered his head and said to Li Xie: "Old man Digus is the boss of the Beast Pavilion, with the backing of Viscount Panseng, the commander of the Leopard Military Regiment. In fact, even the Right Minister has a hand in it. They usually sell low-level magic pets, but occasionally they also sell high-level magic beasts!"

  Li Ye frowned: "Your Majesty doesn't care?"

  "Your Majesty actually knew all along, but turned a blind eye. After all, the high-ranking magic beasts of the royal family are in Your Majesty's hands, and some noble children also need high-ranking magic beasts. They can't be allowed to catch them themselves or buy them from other countries, right? As long as it's not too frequent sales of high-ranking magic beasts and doesn't exceed seventh rank, Your Majesty won't ask questions. This is the unwritten rule, actually, Your Majesty has also opened one yourself!"

  "Huh? Why don't we just buy it from His Majesty then?" It would also be good to let Mercedes VII know that Li Xie needs a high-ranking magical pet! These words, Li Xie did not say out loud.

  Kano smiled foolishly: "Your Majesty's waist-supporting shop sells five-tier magic beasts, and sometimes there are six-tier magic beasts here!"

  As they talked, they had already walked along the cobblestone road to a vacant lot of over 300 square meters.

  On the empty ground, there was a cage with a demon beast locked inside and tied up with thick iron chains. The demon beast looked like a lizard, its whole body was crimson red, it had two heads, and was about two meters long.

  Outside the cage stood three people, an old man in dark clothes with a waistline like a bathtub, except for his white hair that made him look older, obesity made his cheeks round and plump, no signs of aging could be seen on him, this person should be the "Old Digus" mentioned by Kano. The other two were much younger than him.

  Among the two, one can be seen as a master and a servant. The master is a young man wearing purple gold brocade clothes, about twenty-five or six years old, with a long sword hanging from his waist and a dried meat dog by his side. The servant stood behind him, a sturdy-looking man in his thirties, with his hands clasped in front of his chest and a long sword also hanging from his waist.

  "Adult, it's a Double-Headed Dragon Lizard! A sixth-tier magical beast! Its crimson skin indicates that it has reached adulthood!" Kano gazed at the magical beast in the cage with scorching eyes.

  Cain's voice immediately caught the attention of the three, and Diguths burst out laughing: "Haha, who's here! Viscount Aston! Our great leader! Oh, once..."