New law of Beast Taming

"Hey, is it only me or are the villagers looking at us with an annoyed expression as if they want us gone this very second? I don't think I have ever been this insulted as the divine leader before."

Charlie looked around the villager and they tried to avoid her eyes and being looked at. Some even went as far as to hide their faces when Charlie looked at them.

"Leave them be. Maybe your right face and your manners scared them stiff. I know the children feared your weird fox ears for sure, so can you put them away?"

Sakura gestured toward Charlie's head where her ears were twitching above her head. Charlie made an offended expression and clutched her heart dramatically.

"How dare you! These ears are my whole identity. I cannot just put them away like that. It would be shameless and immoral for me to do. How dare you even suggest such a thing to me."

Charlie continued her act and, in the meantime, Amane ignored them and entered a shop that sold the herbs she needed to use.

The old lady who was looking at the counter looked mean and unfriendly. She gave Amane a disgusted look as soon as Amane entered the vicinity of her stall.

"Excuse me, but how much is this herb? Oh, and this one as well."

Amane picked up a few herbs and placed them in the small bag. Amane had not brought a lot of physical money with her on this trip and these herbs were expensive to buy. So, she only took as much as she would need.

The mean, old shopkeeper looked Amane right in the eyes and quoted her price. The old lady had a smug expression on her face as other people around her gasped and looked at her in horror.

According to them, the old lady had asked for twice the price of the herbs she usually charged and they looked back at her customer with pity. Only a fool would buy these herbs at twice the price.

But Amane was surprised for a different reason from the rest of the people around her.
Stay connected with empire

They were all gasping at the high price of these herbs while Amane could not marvel at how low they were.

These herbs were a local specialty of this village and the neighboring villages. They also did not trade with the outside and there was no shipping cost. It made sense why the price was so low in this village.

"Look missy, if you are not going to buy these herbs, then-"

"No, I will buy your entire stock. Give me all you have that can come in this much amount of money."

Amane emptied her purse and took out all her money. She looked at the shocked expression of the old lady and the other villagers around her.

The old lady did not move at first. She had not expected Amane to buy the herbs from her in the first place, never mind emptying the entire stock. But the old woman was also tempted by the money in front of her and she reached out to snatch it.

"No takebacks, missy. Even if you come back to return all these herbs for money, I will not give it back to you."

The old lady looked back at Amane with her greedy eyes but Amane only smiled back at her.

"Sure, if that is what you want. I don't think I will regret my purchase."

Amane made the purchase and quickly left back for the house she was living in for the time being. She had gotten so lucky by getting this deal.

'Ha, I scammed that stupid outsider. She had no idea that she bought all those herbs at twice the market rate. This is what happens when you do not respect us, old folks.'

The old lady was happy with the day's outcome. But little did she know that the one being scammed was her.

"Wow, you sure got a nice deal on those herbs. Aren't they all super expensive and rare?"

Sakura held the herb up and looked at it carefully. Even the quality of the herb was nice and it would fetch quite a large sum in the market. It was a wonder that these places had been left unexplored by merchants.

But it also made sense since people were quick to judge the dragon shrine-protected areas as superstitious and refused to come near them.

In return, the people of these protected areas also wanted nothing to do with the outside world. It was a two-way road.

"Hey Sakura, do you think it is a business opportunity for us? We can explain in this region and…"

"HELP…RUN AWAY.!"

Loud noises from the outside broke Amane's attention and she looked outside. The villagers seemed to be in a hurry to run away from a hoard of beasts.

Amane could sense the confusion and agitation in the air. The beasts were led into this village deliberately.

*whistle*

"Moony, go down and dominate those beasts. I will follow you shortly."

Amane ordered the dragon as she went back to her brew. She had already put all the necessary herbs in and now she needed to stir it for some time to make it settle.

To calm down these beasts, Amane would need to head down herself. But that would mean leaving her potion unattended and it would get ruined.

So, Amane was going to leave those beasts up to Moony while she worked on the potion.

"Are you not going to help those people out, Amane? They seem to be in a lot of trouble. Should I go and help them out?"

Sakura was the only one who asked this question. She looked outside at how Moony was commanding the beasts and making them back down.

But despite her best effort, Moony did not have enough of an attention span to keep all the troublemakers in check.

"Sure, you can go out and help if you want to. But I will require about 15 more minutes before I am done. Is anyone dying down there?"

Sakura looked down, only to see that the village had been abandoned and there was no human in sight. Only the sight of destroyed houses with the beasts ramming into them could be seen.

"Nope, no dead or injured people in sight. I don't think this is an emergency."

Sakura sat down once she took note of it all. It was times like these that made Sakura aware of how bad of a company Yoko was for her.

With one sentence alone, Yoko had stopped Sakura from going out to help these people out.

"Ah, I need to go out and help. As much as I would like to ignore everything, I am the divine leader and it would make my reputation take a hit if I do not help in times of crisis. Wait for her right here and I will come back soon."

Charlie promised as she jumped down from the window. She had stalled around a lot more than she had meant to and now she needed to go out and help.

As it turned out, the village was not as empty as the trio had assumed it to be. There were a few foolish people who tried to fight against the beasts and failed to achieve anything.

Charlie's aura dominated the beast in front of her and the beast instantly turned tails and left her alone.

It made the villager look at Charlie with a suspicious face as he was helped up.

Amane finally finished making what she had been doing and stood up. It was time for her to deal with these beasts once and for all.

Amane snapped her fingers and the echo of her aura caused all the beasts to stop in their tracks and turn toward her.

"Alright, you all have had enough fun. Now, go to sleep and stop disturbing this village."

With another snap of her power, Amane sent the beasts to sleep. It was only possible because these were low-level creatures who had no immunity to any kind of charm.

Once these beasts were asleep, Amane walked down to check up on them.

As expected, the leaking magic from the dragon shrine was affecting these beasts as well. It was making them agitated.

"Y-You witch. It is all your fault. You are the one who brought these beasts to attack our village, right? You want to kill us all, right? If so, then don't hide behind the beasts and attack us outright. We will take you on, kid."

One of the villagers Charlie had just saved yelled at their group. They were far from grateful and their presence annoyed Sakura. She was about to do something drastic when Amane decided to interfere.

Amane held her hand up and Sakura instantly lowered her flames.

"Hmm, do you have any proof that it was us who caused these beasts to come after you? Do not make us out to be the attackers when you do not have any proof."

Amane stood in front of the village with her head held high. The villagers who were left behind bit their lips but Amane could see that there would be no convincing them about their innocence.

"Sakura, bottle up the potion I was making. We will leave this village and head out now. This place is not going to welcome us any longer."

Sakura had seen what happened here as well. And truthfully, she did not want to stay in this village as well.