“No. Take from the prisoners whoever you see fit. You know better which reds your unclean… friends will like. For breeding or for fucking. I don’t know what for.”

“Okay,” said Nikto, “for breeding they need purebred red.”

“They screwed up with me and Aika, right?”

“I told Javarg and Nurkh that you are not a purebred red, they didn’t believe. You thought I was just cheating because I didn't want to sell you.”

Lis at these words of Nikto looked at him like that:

“Is it possible not to pronounce these names?”

“Lis! I wasn't going to sell you!”

“Let's never bring this up again!”

“Fuck, you yourself constantly raise it.”

“Because it weighs on me that the unclean now have my child!”

“Really? Let me take her. She has dark hair and doesn't look like red at all. She is not suitable for breeding.”

“She? Is that a girl?”

“Yes. Apparently, she looks like your mother. Was your mother a purebred black?”

“Yes. But an ordinary commoner.”

“So what? Should I pick her up now too? Together with Marcus?”

“And what will I do with the child?”

“I have no idea. Let Karina take care of her.”

“Are you kidding?!”

Nikto smiled:

“Yes.”

“She'll fuck up if I bring her a child.”

“But it ‘weights on you’.”

“Okay, if everything is all right with her, let her stay for now. I'll decide later.”

“They are doing well with Aika.”

“Bring me only Marcus then.”

“Agreed,” said Nikto, “I also want to take some red ones to the Limit. Reds are rare, expensive slaves. The unclean ones have very few of them.”

“Is that why they are trying to breed them?”

“Yes.”

Nikto turned to Arel, who was standing next to him, his face lit up:

“I have the rarest and most expensive. Which no one else has!”

Due to the fact that Arel participated in hostilities, he was freed from all the attributes of a slave. He was not wearing an uncomfortable collar and the nose ring that got in his way. He could speak.

“Arel, you will stay here with Lis and wait for me. Lis is your master in my absence. Obey him!”

Arel glanced quickly at Nikto with undisguised excitement.

“Don't worry so much,” Nikto chuckled, “I'll be back very soon. Not a whole hour will pass in your world.”He patted the prince like a dog on the top of his head, stroked his completely disheveled braid:

“Arel, is that all? There’s February in your eyes, have you lost your mom? Don’t spoil my blood with your suffering.”

When Nikto and Verniy left, Lis looked at Arel, standing in complete confusion, and even some pity flashed in his gaze:

“You can sit on a chair.”

Arel, silently, apparently, the habit of being deprived of the opportunity to speak all the time, sat down at the table. Lis poured him some wine and placed a bottle next to him:

“You can drink. That’s your favorite.”

But Arel didn't want to.

After a while, Kors came down to them, he greeted Lis.

“Yeah, the Reds lived here on a grand scale,” Kors remarked contentedly. “I really liked the rooms! There are so many antiques.”

“Sit down, Kors,” Lis gestured to a chair. “Have a drink with us.”

Kors sat down and poured himself wine into a beautiful crystal glass:

“And their wine is very good.”

“Yes,” agreed Lis. “They make everything generally better than blacks.”

Kors grimaced in displeasure, clearly not wanting to continue this non-patriotic theme, and asked:

“Where is Karina?”

“Just like you, he enjoys a chic environment. She’s taking a bath, it seems. There is running water and warm water here.”

“Yes. I also took advantage of this. That’s very comfortable!”

“Women do it longer, you probably know.”

“Of course. Let her put herself in order.”

They were silent for a while, and Kors, while resting, drank wine with pleasure.

“Are you going to gather everyone in the courtyard on the square?” He finally asked Lis.

“I will, a little later. I want to wait for Nik and then gather everyone. There’s no rush, let them come to their senses too.”

“They will collect the corpses…”

“Yes,” the face of Lis didn’t reflect a single drop of pity for the dead.

Kors handed him his glass:

“For the victory, Alis!”

Lis smiled rather indifferently, he was not at all euphoric that they had captured the Fort. And so much time and effort was spent on preparation, so much excitement and hardship endured. But he still held out his cup to Kors, and only Prince Arel didn’t participate in their conversation and didn’t raise his goblet.

“You seem to be not very happy?” Remarked Kors.

“No, I'm glad,” Lis disagreed. “Kors, I'm not a boy to jump for joy, and this is not my first victory. I have had many other victories. I'm used to it.”

Kors studied him carefully.

“I am thinking now about Karina, about my daughter. Why did she fall in love with you?”

“Well?”

“And I can even understand her to some extent,” said Kors. “You are not stupid, you are cunning. Without a doubt, there is some charisma in you. And this all together makes you interesting, despite the appearance.”

Lis who drank the wine literally choked:

“Here it begins…” he drawled.

“Sorry, Alis, but you are dirty, infinitely dirty. Unfortunately, you have combined the most unrepresentative features of both races. The ugliest combination I've ever seen, and believe me, I've seen a lot of reds and their half-bloods,” Kors raised his glass of dark red wine and looked thoughtfully at Lis through the glass. “Red hair often has a burgundy shade, it's beautiful, like the color of expensive wine, your hair is lighter. Your eyes are not as beautiful as they should be. I will not say anything about the nose. Surely it has been restored countless times and inaccurately, because I see, in addition to the scar on the bridge of the nose, there is generally a curvature. But, however, your dirty appearance doesn’t surprise me, because your mother was a whore, and before your red father conceived you, at least a hundred peasants and soldiers had already cum into her. How couldsomething worthy appear from this cesspool?”