#213 - Black Market Merchant

"Kiki, my name is Kiki, sir!" The house-elf Kiki answered obediently.

"Why did you appear here? And what exactly happened here?" Seeing that the other party had finally stopped yelling, Anduin quickly got to the point.

"Kiki, Kiki was accompanying her master to do business. Kiki accompanied her master in the forest for a whole day and night, and then, and then..." As Kiki spoke, she once again revealed a look of horror, and her voice trembled again.

"Don't be nervous, Kiki. I won't hurt you casually. Tell me, what did you and your master encounter in the Forbidden Forest?" Anduin didn't dare to cast the Fear Charm again, and squatted down to look at her at eye level.

"Kiki and her master finally arrived at the trading place. Many scary monsters surrounded us. They were fierce to the master, and then the master told Kiki to run. Kiki listened, Kiki ran, and then Kiki flew up. Kiki felt so much pain, and then Kiki didn't know anything else. Where's master? Where's master?"

Kiki seemed to have a messy mind and couldn't organize her thoughts clearly. She spoke intermittently and incoherently, but just through some of the information she said, Anduin was able to piece together a lot of information.

"Don't be nervous, I'll ask you one question at a time, and you speak slowly." Anduin took out a bottle of tranquilizer, fed it to Kiki, and said in a slow voice.

"Did you appear here because you had an appointment with someone?" Anduin asked after seeing Kiki's expression ease a lot.

"Kiki doesn't know. Kiki only knows to follow her master. After the master arrived here, he didn't leave, as if he was waiting for someone." Kiki spoke much more smoothly after drinking the tranquilizer.

"Was it a group of werewolves who came to see your master? People who look very much like wolves but walk on two feet?"

"Yes, it was that kind of monster, that… werewolf. But at first, Kiki didn't see a werewolf, it was a human wizard. Kiki was looking at the cargo box, he was talking to the master, and then the wizard got angry and shouted loudly, like a wolf howling. Then, many monsters appeared around, werewolves."

"And then your master told you to run?"

"Not at first. The wizard first walked over and grabbed the cargo box and rummaged through it. Kiki had just organized it. Then the wizard was even more angry. He roared at the master, and then the master told Kiki to run, and Kiki ran."

"Besides that wizard, were there any other humans? How many werewolves, or those kinds of monsters, were there?"

"There was only one wizard, and many werewolves. There was one, two, three, four, five, six." Kiki counted them one by one with her fingers, all the way to six.

Six? Anduin frowned, feeling a little puzzled. He could only count five footprints he saw earlier. Where did the other werewolf run off to?

"Do you remember what that wizard said to your master?" Anduin suppressed his doubts and continued to ask.

"Kiki only remembers that the wizard was very fierce. He asked the master why there was no Living Death Draught, only Sleeping Draught, and the amount of Vanishing Potion was not enough. How could they take down unicorns with just these? But they don't know that the master has already tried very hard. The herbs needed for those Living Death Draughts can't be collected at all." Kiki gradually became aggrieved as she spoke.

"Take down unicorns? Their target is unicorns?"

"Kiki doesn't know. The wizard kept scolding the master after looking at the cargo box, and then the wizard seemed to hear something, and then he started to take out his wand. Kiki only remembers that the master was shouting for Kiki to run at that time."

Hearing this, Anduin roughly understood the situation at that time. Kiki's master should be a black market merchant selling potions, who had made an appointment with that werewolf wizard to trade here.

And the goods provided by the black market merchant could not meet the werewolf wizard's needs. After that, the werewolf wizard heard something, possibly a signal from that lone werewolf. This place is only a few kilometers away from the meeting point. If it was their unique werewolf howl, it would indeed be possible to receive it.

After that, the werewolf wizard prepared to double-cross them. The werewolf wizard probably released a Blasting Curse, seriously injuring Kiki, who was running away, and the black market merchant also suffered a tragic death. The werewolves didn't follow up with additional attacks, possibly because time was tight, and they felt that a house-elf couldn't survive under a Blasting Curse.

But what puzzled Anduin was, was that black market merchant really so compassionate? At this time, he still remembered to let his house-elf run first, and then he looked at Kiki again.

"Is your master very good to you?"

"Master is very good to Kiki." Kiki nodded repeatedly after hearing this. "Master only hits Kiki once every five days, and there's food to eat every day, one meal a day!"

After hearing Kiki's words, Anduin was speechless for a moment. You call that being good to you? Then he thought of an incomprehensible point and tilted his head to ask.

"Your master told you to run, why didn't you use Apparition? Don't you know that spell? I remember that although house-elves don't have abundant magic power, they are one of the few races that can stably cast spells wandlessly from birth?"

"Kiki knows how to Apparate. Usually, Kiki brings her master to Disapparate for traveling, but at that time, the master told Kiki to run, not to Apparate!" Kiki tilted her head and answered with wide eyes.

Uh, Anduin understood. At that time, the black market merchant probably wanted Kiki to Disapparate with him to escape, but this Kiki was too honest, and actually really ran on foot.

Moreover, Anduin recalled the scene of the corpse he saw earlier. The black market merchant fell facing the direction of the Blasting Curse.

It was estimated that the black market merchant was preparing to pounce on Kiki, letting her take him away, but his own house-elf misunderstood and really turned around and ran. With this kind of speechless understanding, Anduin couldn't help but feel sad for the tragically killed black market merchant.

"By the way, sir, do you know where Kiki's master is? Kiki misses master." Kiki had finally calmed down at this time, and could feel that Anduin didn't mean to hurt her.

"Your master..." Anduin recalled the corpse he hadn't checked yet, then looked at Kiki's wide, round eyes, and felt a little unbearable. "Okay, I'll take you to see him."

Then he let go of the body blocking in front of Kiki, allowing the other party to see the tragic scene behind him.

"Mas, master? Is this master?" Kiki staggered to the fragmented corpse, looking at the somewhat familiar body, and her beloved cargo box next to it, tears streaming from her eyes.

And Anduin also came to her side. He also needed to re-examine this scene.