Chapter 5: Romance Assistance Options.

“I’ll take them both!”

Lu Wei spoke without the slightest hesitation.

She took the key from the slave merchant’s hand and opened the door of the iron cage.

Only when they heard the creaking sound of the door opening did the eyelashes of the two frost wolf girls tremble slightly. They looked toward the person who had come…

“Do you want to thirst them to death? You couldn’t even spare them some water!?”

“Bring water! And treat their injuries as well.”

Hearing Lu Wei’s words, the slave merchant’s eyes lit up.

“No problem, Your Highness!!”

She swayed her hips and quickly walked into the storeroom. When she came out again, two strong men followed beside her—one carrying a bucket of clean water, the other carefully holding several bottles of murky green potion.

Without waiting for Lu Wei’s instructions, the three of them skillfully began treating the frost wolf girls’ wounds.

……

“That will be 31 gold coins and 65 silver coins in total.”

The slave merchant rubbed her hands together and said.

“Your Highness Lu Wei, since you’re a new customer, I’ll round it down for you. How about 30 gold coins?”

Hearing this, Lu Wei reached into her bosom and took out her money pouch…

But before she could take out the gold coins, the next second—

“You people—are you trying to rob us?”

Flora, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly spoke up.

“Even if you include the cost of branding the slave mark, it should cost at most 10 gold coins at most, right?”

Hearing Flora’s words, Lu Wei was the first to be stunned.

Meaning… she had been ripped off?

But the slave merchant only smiled apologetically and answered matter-of-factly, “Little girl, it’s clearly written on the cage—5 gold coins each, 10 gold coins total for both.”

“Additionally, these two little ones were heavily injured. We used 5 bottles of healing potion in total, 3 gold coins each… and then there’s the cost of branding the slave mark, plus the labor fee for nursing them.”

She answered calmly,

“This fee is absolutely reasonable…”

Lu Wei did not interrupt. She simply looked at Flora with a faint gaze…

“You’re lying. The 5 gold coins marked on the cage are clearly the price for both of them combined, and it already includes all costs from treatment to branding the slave mark!”

Flora’s behavior was completely different from usual. She no longer had her usual timid appearance.

“It’s only because the buyer is Her Highness Lu Wei, who knows nothing about these things…”

“You saw that Her Highness is rich and generous, so you raised the price on the spot!” Flora said angrily.

Then she pointed at the empty potion bottles on the ground,

“Low-grade healing potions mixed with water. You pretended to use several bottles, but you only actually used two.”

“This is outright fraud… If I remember correctly, this already violates the laws of the Avalon Kingdom, doesn’t it?”

Hearing these words, the slave merchant’s expression finally turned somewhat ugly.

“How could our healing potions possibly be low-grade ones mixed with water?”

“All healing potions look the same. How can you tell the difference? Little girl, you have no evidence…”

Upon hearing this, Lu Wei finally caught on to the trick.

The slave merchant was clearly avoiding the important points and deliberately steering the topic toward the healing potions…

“Because I am an alchemy apprentice!”

Flora angrily interrupted the slave merchant,

“Not only did I see it, I also smelled it! If you still want to argue, then take the potion bottles on the ground and we can confront each other in court.”

Listening to the argument between the two, Lu Wei suddenly felt a bit emotional.

She had actually been treated like a fat sheep and slaughtered?

The NPCs in this world could actually deceive people…

No wonder. After all, she had just transmigrated over and was still carrying the mindset from the game,

naturally assuming that merchants wouldn’t deceive players.

…In the world Lu Wei came from in her previous life, there was a groundbreaking neural link technology that allowed uploading players’ consciousness and fully synchronizing the game’s sensory experience.

《Bonds》 was one of the games that used this technology, providing players with an immersive experience.

As for Lu Wei… she had accepted the fact that she had transmigrated so easily, without showing excessive surprise. This was partly the reason.

From her perspective, this was simply a game with a more realistic engine, more human-like AI, and only missing the logout button…

But now it seemed… she might have been wrong?

In this familiar yet strange world, she had personally witnessed scheming and infighting, racial slaughter, and these pitiful people who had fallen into slavery.

They were all real existences, not just playful elements of a game.

“This is truly… a novel experience.”

Thinking of this, the corners of Lu Wei’s mouth slowly curved upward… and she actually smiled from the bottom of her heart.

She smiled and patted Flora’s shoulder.

The latter had been puffing her cheeks in anger, but the moment she saw Lu Wei’s face, she immediately deflated like a punctured ball and returned to her usual timid appearance.

Seeing this, Lu Wei’s smile gained a trace of confusion.

She turned her head to look at the slave merchant—

Only to find that after seeing her smiling face, fine beads of sweat had appeared on the other party’s forehead…

Lu Wei: “?”

“Your Highness Lu Wei…” The slave merchant endured the pressure and still tried to argue, “It was our fault for not clarifying the price in advance.”

“How about 15 gold coins? We’ll take a loss and give you a friendly price…”

But upon hearing this, the smile on Lu Wei’s face instantly disappeared without a trace.

“My maid said at most 10 gold coins. Are your ears deaf?”

Her face darkened and she frowned,

“If you keep babbling, I’ll have someone deal with you!”

Lu Wei’s face showed a textbook example of a spoiled and unreasonable expression,

instantly silencing everyone present…

【Ding~】

【The girl’s heart is pounding because of you. The romance assistance option has been triggered. “Flora” is looking forward to what will happen next!】

【1. Forcefully order her to call you “Master” in public. (Obedience)】

【2. Pat her head and praise her behavior. (Favorability)】

【3. Severely scold her for laziness and demand that she immediately start working. (Work Efficiency)】

“…?”

Did some strange option box just pop up?

“No, no problem, Your Highness Lu Wei.”

The slave merchant responded and immediately began preparing the materials needed for the slave mark…

But at this moment, Lu Wei had no energy to pay attention to her.

“Romance assistance option…?”

Looking at the few lines of small text before her, the corner of Lu Wei’s eye twitched involuntarily.

Then, some not-so-pleasant memories surfaced in her mind…

Back then, the game 《Bonds》 had always been criticized for its weak guidance and excessively high degree of freedom, leaving players unsure how to play.

So the production team held an overnight meeting and came up with this solution.

【Whenever the攻略 target becomes emotionally agitated because of the player, romance options will be triggered.】

It was considered some kind of assistance function. After all, some players didn’t know how to talk to girls without dialogue boxes and options. They would only shout “This isn’t what I wanted at all” while giving the game bad reviews.

But after the function was implemented…

There were even more bad reviews.

The reason was that the popped-up options were too hellish and extremely utilitarian. They only indicated what benefit you would get by choosing them… but completely ignored that what players actually wanted was sweet romance.

Shifting her attention back to the options before her, Lu Wei actually thought about it seriously for a moment.

Following the romance options could provide additional bonuses. For example, the head-patting action. Normally it might seem inexplicable, but once done according to the romance option, it would genuinely increase favorability.

So, looking at Flora beside her, who had been intimidated by her aura,

Lu Wei cleared her throat:

“Not bad. As a maid, you actually know how to protect my interests…”

“I permit you to call me Master in public.”

She raised her chin arrogantly and declared.