Chapter 20 - Water Buffalo (1/2)

When Hei got back on the streets, he continued to follow the crowd of people. Now he had to find some food first and then ask for information. The dilemma was whether to try one of the city's various restaurants or to buy some simple meals in the stalls.

As he walked, he suddenly noticed that the people in front of him had stopped. They were looking at something in front of them. From there, various shouts of men and animals could be heard.

Curious to know what was going on, with agile movements, he pushed his way through the crowd until he reached the front. Once there, he could finally see what was blocking the passage.

In the middle of the road, there was a series of wagons full of goods pulled by large animals of the same species: specimens of water buffalo.

These were animals commonly used for multiple uses: they ranged from the plowing of agricultural fields to the production of milk that was more nutritious than dairy cow's milk. They were also useful in transporting goods because of their size.

The water buffalo was divided into two types: river buffalo and swamp buffalo.

The first had a black skin with some specimens that instead had dark, slate-colored skin, while the latter had a gray-colored skin at birth which then became slate blue. Another difference was that river buffaloes had longer faces and bigger limbs than swamp buffalo.

The specimens that were pulling the wagons were river buffalos. They all had black skin except for one specimen in front of the others that had an albino color. In addition to the color, the buffalo in the front was also distinguished by its size. It reached about 2 meters in height at the withers. It was indeed a fantastic specimen, but unfortunately, its grandeur was contaminated by signs of lashes and burns.

It was carrying the largest wagon. But it had stopped because the weight it and its companions were moving was too much. Their strength was, in fact, failing. In order to give them the chance to recover, it decided to stop, even at the cost of being whipped for doing so. Seeing this scene, Hei immediately realized that unlike the other buffalos, the albino specimen was a spirit beast and that, therefore, it still had energy to continue, but it had stopped for the good of his companions.

This was the first time he saw a spirit beast, excluding his mother and sisters, in a human settlement and that they were used for a specific purpose. The various spirit beasts he had seen over the years were only wild ones while at Leaf Village, there were only normal animals without spirit power.

However, this first encounter, instead of generating in him a sense of surprise, created inside him a sense of disgust and anger. It was evident that the load was too heavy for the buffaloes. They were about to exhaust their forces. Moreover, instead of letting them rest, they were continually whipping the albino buffalo to make it advance as it was the leader of the other buffaloes, and they followed its leadership.

Normally Hei would not have interfered, considering that there were various variations to consider to free an animal. For example, he had done nothing for the animals in Leaf Village as they were treated well. For him, the use of animals and spirit beasts for purposes such as the transport of goods and the production of meat was permitted because it was part of the food chain, where in order to satisfy their need for food, they had to use other living beings' life.

However, this was valid until the specimen in question was treated with care. At the same time, it should have a satisfying life before its end. Otherwise, it would have been just unnecessary suffering inflicted only for amusement, to the detriment of beings that couldn't defend themselves.

Hei didn't repudiate the conflict: the strict law of the forest had taught him that to live, he had to fight with all his strength. But this didn't mean that he accepted such a scene of unnecessary torture like the one taking place before his eyes. After all, except for some rare cases, animals and spirit beasts generally killed each other solely to satisfy their primary need for food and not because they enjoyed killing.

'Mother, Can-'

'Go, don't worry. Do what you think is right. I will always support you in any case.'

So Hei stepped forward and pulled away from the crowd. Then he continued to move forward to position himself close to the albino buffalo. When he arrived there, it happened that another whip was coming, and it hit Hei's face instead of the albino buffalo.

The blow left a bright red mark on Hei's cheek, but he didn't back away. On the contrary, he looked into the eyes of the person with the whip who, when he saw that strange boy's eyes, took a couple of steps back in fear. Hei's gaze was comparable to a predator waiting to bite the prey.

Seeing this twist, the surrounding people burst into various discussions with each other.

”Has he gone mad? Who's that boy?”

”Doesn't he know who those wagons belong to? Does he want to die? ”

”To whom do they belong? I don't seem to recognize the owner. ”

”Idiot, they are Dong Zhen's wagons, one of the most famous Green City's merchants, he is also known as a slave trader. He is said to have a monopoly on this business in Green City.”

”Are those his wagons? Really? Shit, then it's really the end for that guy.”

While people were arguing with each other, a fat middle-aged man suddenly came out of one of the wagons, dressed in a luxurious red robe. He wore rings with precious stones on each of his fingers as he was holding a half-bitten fruit with his left hand. His black hair was neatly combed back, and several golden hair clips held them in place. At first sight, he seemed only a fat, well-dressed merchant, but his eyes contained an evil glow that made those who watched closely disgusted.

Behind him came another person. He was a man about six feet tall with short dark hair neatly combed. He wore a light iron armor without a helmet and decorations, while two medium-sized swords were attached to his waist. He gave off a feeling of threat and violence that testified that he was a fighter who had his fair share of fighting and killing and that he shouldn't be joked with.

”What the hell's going on? What is all this mess? I don't pay you to transport my wagons and then stand in the middle of the road.” The fat merchant scolded with an air of annoyance. While he was doing this, he waved to the man behind him who lightly drew his sword out.

Upon seeing this, the man with the whip immediately began to panic as he tried to respond without stammering in fear. ”L-lord Dong, I apologize if we disturbed you, but as you can see, the albino buffalo didn't want to move and then this boy-”