Walking through the crowd of people, Lei Zhen could hear some people screaming and shouting.
"Heh, look at how exquisite the ears are."
"Indeed, and look at the face. It's so different from us."
"I wonder how much it would cost to purchase it."
'Purchase? Ears?' Lei Zhen was filled with doubts when he heard the crowd screaming those aloud.
At last, the crowd was too big and he couldn't even brush past them, causing him to be unable to see what the heck they were talking about.
'For heaven's sake people. Be more civilized and make some space for me to see.' He cursed inwardly, feeling that these people were purposely set to block him completely.
"Ahem, can you people kindly make way for me to see?" Lei Zhen faked a loud cough and asked.
The first reaction that the crowd naturally had was to curse at him for interrupting them.
However, when one of them recognized Lei Zhen and his signature mask, their reaction quickly changed by 180 degrees.
"C-Chancellor?" One of the sailors asked in an anxious tone.
"Apologies, but I'm not a chancellor now that I have resigned from my position and only have an honorary position. Though you can still refer to me as such since people are still finding it difficult to change that." Lei Zhen calmly replied to the sailor.
With that confirmation, the sailor didn't dare to act brash and hurriedly moved the crowd aside on his own accord, paving the way for Lei Zhen.
Even though Lei Zhen had resigned from his position, that does not mean he no longer had any influence. In fact, he was still in the top category of someone that could not be offended.
As a small sailor that still needed to make a living in the Strandland Port, just one word from Lei Zhen to the naval patrollers and his life would be over.
"This sailor is wrong to have inconvenienced the Chancellor." The sailor bowed his head and extended his head.
"Please see the item for yourself." The sailor then added.
Lei Zhen nodded his head and proceeded to walk ahead.
He was somewhat curious as to what kind of animal they are talking about that could amaze them.
However, when he could finally see the center, Lei Zhen was confused.
"Huh? Where's the so-called animal you people were talking about?" He asked in a dumbfounded tone.
There was no animal cage whatsoever and only a big bag placed in the center with some other sailors watching over it.
"Um, Chancellor… we weren't discussing an animal but a young woman." The sailor walked forward a bit and whispered to Lei Zhen.
"A young woman?"
Instantly, Lei Zhen's expression changed as he glared at the sailor through the mask eye hole.
"How dare you speak of human trafficking in public? Do you not fear death?" He shouted in anger.
The sailor quickly went on his knees and proceeded to explain some things to Lei Zhen. "Please ease your anger, Chancellor. Human trafficking is banned in Yors Castle, but that doesn't mean it banned another species trafficking."
"Other species? When did a young woman become another species other than it being a human being? Do you have another death wish?"
"O-Of course a young woman is a human nonetheless. But the young woman we are speaking of is from the elves' species, meaning they are not classified as human. And there is no law against it in Yors Castle."
The sailor began to sweat profusely as he explained even more thoroughly this time, afraid that Lei Zhen's anger might erupt further.
And it was a good thing that the sailor had explained thoroughly since Lei Zhen's anger slowly subsided a bit.
He had read the laws of Yors Castle during his time as Chancellor, and indeed, there are no laws against trafficking other species.
Yet this was the first time he had personally witnessed such an act and he thought the so-called species were just monsters that had been captured alive.
If he had known elves actually existed in Magnolia and were being traded as some merchandise, then he would have stopped such atrocities before resigning.
'Damn it, this is set in a fictional westernized setting indeed. To even have elves in the game, then I suppose the legendary dwarves might also be here.' Lei Zhen thought to himself.
Since he had never seen other races besides the human race and some intelligent monster, the thought of this being true had never crossed his mind.
"Let me see the elf woman that is covered in the bag." Lei Zhen regained his composure and asked.
Since none of them are breaking the rules, there was nothing else he could do besides giving it an inspection.
And even though he could wield unimaginable power, he still needed to follow the laws of Yors Castle. Otherwise, the order they spent explicitly hard to maintain would collapse in a matter of a second.
Meanwhile, the sailors that were the supposed owner of this elf nodded their heads and uncovered the bag once again, revealing a young woman in some ragged clothes.
Despite her poor attire, her naturally long ears and emerald hair attracted a lot of attention.
"Does the Chancellor wish to purchase this good and-"
Before the sailors could advertise the young woman to Lei Zhen, he was halted by him.
"No need, I've confirmed it to be an elf and not a human. Therefore, I'll leave the matter here and apologize for the previous mistake." Lei Zhen said calmly.
And with that said, he turned around and left, shocking the crowd with his sudden departure.
"For a second, I thought the chancellor was going to purchase this elf based on his reaction earlier."
"I know right. I thought this would become a scandal, but surprisingly, it just ended so prematurely."
The crowd scratched their heads at this unexpected ending and slowly returned to their businesses.
As for Lei Zhen, he didn't even bother glancing back at the port.
pαndα,noνɐ1,сoМ Many elves were being trafficked in this world, and it was simply impossible to save them all.
'If I bought that elf woman back, then I would have brought myself more trouble than necessary.' He thought to himself.