The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

Upon hearing the host's words, enthusiastic cheers and applause erupted in the hall, and some people even whistled at the girls in the iron cages. However, the girls remained expressionless and did not respond.

Herbert sat up straight. Long-distance communication?

Although Capet had this technology long ago, it had always been controlled by the military, and ordinary nobles could not use it at all. But Anjou actually put this technology out for sale.

It seems that Anjou is even more short of money than she imagined. After all, there is a significant gap in productivity between Anjou and Cape. To raise enough money amidst internal conflicts, she would have to resort to some special methods.

The host on stage continued his introduction, picking up a stick and poking the nearest caged girl while saying, "These girls are absolutely loyal and will serve only you in this life. However, loyalty comes at a price. They may not be that smart, and their remote communication capabilities require your extraordinary magic to function."

Then, the host leaned closer to the caged girl and asked, "Hello? Lord Cassius, can you hear me?"

After saying that, the host took out a dagger and cut off the girl's ear in the cage. He then inserted an iron skewer into the girl's ear and stirred it around. He then held the bloody iron skewer high to show the audience that the girl could no longer hear.

The girl seemed to feel no pain, letting the blood flow freely. She stared blankly at the audience from inside the cage, while the audience erupted in enthusiastic cheers.

Even Herbert was momentarily dazed. He felt that while the scene was somewhat bizarre, the audience's reaction in the stands was even more bizarre and strange.

Herbert had thought that as an old nobleman, he would be used to such bizarre scenes by now, but now he suddenly felt disgusted by the scene before him.

Herbert suddenly understood why the governor hated those old nobles so much. From the perspective of "normal people," were the behaviors of these old nobles so disgusting?

At that moment, the lights flashed and focused on Cassius on another tower. Beside Cassius, there was a young girl who was mimicking the host, saying, "Hello, hello? Lord Cassius, can you hear me?"

Cassius responded to the caged girl beside him, "Of course! To have the caged girl is to have a future life!"

The lights returned to the caged girl, still bleeding, beside the host. The host used amplification magic to reach the girl and listened as she repeated Cassius's words, saying, "Of course! To have the caged girl is to have a future life!"

The vibrant young girl was like a cold machine, completely ignoring the pain in her body, yet she mimicked even the tone of voice perfectly.

"Ahhhh!"

"Long live Anjou!"

The nobles present burst into enthusiastic applause.

The performance had many flaws, but they didn't matter to the nobles present. Even if they did nothing, the nobles would believe that the communication function of these caged girls was real.

After all, this auction was, in a sense, guaranteed in the name of the king.

The caged girl with her ears completely destroyed left the stage, and the host then brought more caged girls to the forefront.

"Two thousand gold coins!"

"No, five thousand gold coins!"

"Eight thousand!"

The auction of the first caged girl had already driven the nobles into a frenzy.

Herbert, meanwhile, fumbled for the ring on his hand and called out his offer.

After the auction ended, Herbert boarded the carriage with his "spoils of war".

Fortunately, in addition to the funds approved by the governor, Herbert also had funds supported by his family; otherwise, he really wouldn't have been able to win over this girl who was being fiercely bid on by the nobles.

Each of these caged girls has a unique pressing method. If someone wants to contact you, they only need to press their own caged girl using the unique pressing method to achieve communication—it's essentially a human telephone.

The girl beside him was still wearing revealing and sexy clothes, but her eyes were lifeless, like a dull doll.

Can you hear me?

Herbert tried asking the girl next to him, and after a long while, the girl silently nodded.

"What's your name?"

After waiting for a long time, the girl in front of him slowly said, "Girl in a Cage, Prototype II."

Herbert then asked several more questions, but found that he couldn't get any answers. No wonder the other party would sell this technology for money; it seems they weren't worried at all about these caged girls leaking secrets.

The caged girl can engage in simple question-and-answer and communication, but she is extremely dull. Her intelligence in answering some questions is even at the level of a child. She can only perform simple following and daily activities.

After that, it became fashionable among the Anjou nobility to take their caged girls to various parties or stroll around the streets with them.

Herbert had been looking for an opportunity to leave Anjou, but recently, because of his purchase of the Caged Girl, he seemed to have received a lot of attention, so Herbert decided to continue to lie low in Anjou for a while longer.

"As expected of His Excellency Herbert, he is indeed very generous. I would like to buy one to play with, but unfortunately my wife will not allow it."

A nobleman who had introduced Herbert to the factory followed Herbert to the factory district and kept circling around the girl Herbert had bought.

"I heard that these girls have more fun than ordinary people, is that true?"

Seeing the lewd grin on the nobleman's face, Herbert could only smile politely and give a knowing look in response.

But at that moment, a worker who had been watching from afar suddenly came up to Herbert and stared intently at the beautifully dressed caged girl beside Herbert.

"Sarah! Is that you, Sarah?"

The guards immediately stopped the two workers, who were covered in dirt and dust, but the worker kept calling out, "Sarah, do you remember me? I'm your father!"

The worker, his face flushed with excitement, shouted to Herbert:

"Sir, this noble gentleman, this is my daughter!"

The nobleman standing next to Herbert immediately ordered the guards, "Throw this thing out! Don't spoil His Excellency Herbert's enjoyment!"

Herbert remained expressionless, guessing that the origins of these caged girls were not clean either. However, upon hearing the name of one of the caged girls, there seemed to be some fluctuation in her eyes. Herbert felt that he was already tired of this kind of drama. Would the next scene be some clichéd father-daughter reunion?

But at that moment, the worker said, "Sir, sir, those people clearly promised to give us two silver leaf coins, but in the end they only gave us some copper coins. Sir, please have mercy and give us more money for Sarah's sake!"

"..."

"Alcohol, alcohol will do! Sir, please order me some alcohol since Sarah has been serving you!"

The girl in the cage still had a deathly expression, but her eyes seemed to be a little moist.

"Give them two silver leaf coins."

For some reason, Herbert suddenly felt a desire for a cliché scene of a father and daughter reuniting to take place.

"Thank you sir, thank you sir!"

After receiving the money, the worker left happily, but instead of heading to the factory, he went to the tavern, or perhaps the casino next to it?