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At that moment shock crossed Lucy’s face before she quickly masked it, but not before the shopkeeper saw. Seeing that there was some interest from her  he decided to give more details.

 

“Yes, your ears heard correctly young patron. These wares of mine have genuine traces of Giant’s bloodline with a guarantee that each slave’s grandparent was at least a  Half -blooded Giant from the Great Forest. The auction will star-”

 

“How many do you have? And how much for all of them?!” Lucy questioned suddenly

 

This time it was the shopkeeper’s turn to be shocked at the other party’s efficiency for business. Never before had he had such a wealthy patron that was so straightforward.

 

 Suppressing his excitement the shopkeeper responded clearly,

 

“There’s sadly only 20 men and 20 women. All matching your specifications of course” Said the shopkeeper with a mock sad sigh, “But young patron you must  understand this caliber of slaves are exceedingly rare and as such can only be auctioned off to ensure we here at our establishment recoups the proper value for them. You see the -

 

Lucy suppressed an eye roll as she caught on to what the shopkeeper was getting at. This old guy was quite clever and was basically saying without saying, “Auction only”.

 

 Sadly, he had never met Lucy before and didn’t know she never took no for an answer.

 

“A thousand gold coins each. Final offer.” Lucy wagered without batting an eye,

 

“…”

 

For a moment there was a long stretch of silence  that had Lucy wondering had she been heard, before suddenly the sound of a loud gulp from the short shopkeeper sounded out.

 

“T-That will be 40,000 gold coins m-miss for the 40 Giants’ bloodline male and female adult slaves ’ he finally said as a look of giddiness began to bloom across his face, “T-this is in addition to the 10,000 gold coins for the 160 teenage boys and girls… For a grand total of 200 slaves for 50,000 gold coins. A-Are you certain this is what you wish to buy madam, there are no refunds?

 

“Yes, yes I’m sure here!”

 

At that moment Lucy emptied out the sack as an impressive mound of gold coins spilled just before the short shopkeeper.

 

CLINK

 

CLINK

 

CLINK

 

CLINK

 

After the rain of gold coins finally ceased, the poor shopkeeper had a look of shock upon his face. He truly had not expected this young miss to be wealthy to such a degree!

 

 Even some of his best regular customers had only spent about 15,000 gold coins in entirety. As he took in the profits that he would be making, only two questions were on the short shopkeeper’s mind.

 

Just who was this young woman? And how could he keep her as a patron?

 

“Is that sufficient?” Lucy asked with a raised brow after waiting in silence for some time

 

Quickly regaining his senses, the short shopkeeper gave a wry smile before replying,

“O-of course! Thank you for your business,  f-follow me they’re just in the back“

 

Lucy hesitated for a moment while mentally calculating whether or not she had the time.

 

'Oh well, since he offered I might as well make sure I'm getting my money's worth...'

 

“If you swindle me, I’ll  kill you” said Lucy as she followed the shopkeeper through an inconspicuous deadbolted door.

 

 

The old shop keep then gulped hard and nodded his head so vigorously that his facial wrinkles shook before leading her down a dark hallway lined with huge metal cages.

 

As soon as Lucy and the shopkeep passed the first set of metal cages, multiple cacophonous voices yelled over one another from within begging to be bought .

 

"Please buy me big sister!" said one small boy with an eyepatch, "And I promise I-I'll serve you faithfully forever"

 

Lucy felt a tugging on her heart strings as she stared at the dirt stained face of the boy clinging to the cage and for a moment she considered purchasing him but quickly rethought the idea over how young he was.

 

At his age he would probably only get in her way or be used against her somehow, and it wasn't like she could turn him into a vampire because vampire children were notoriously hard to control and awaken.

 

'Steel your heart Lucy, remember...caring too much is what caused you to lose your head and your kingdom the first time'...

 

"Aye settle down or no supper you hear! And that goes for all of you!" reprimanded the shopkeep with a bang on the bars of the cage, " I apologize for their behavior hehe I guess they require more training, but the Giant's bloodline slaves are just ahead in that golden cage"

 

The golden cage he mentioned was easily several feet taller than the other ones they passed and judging by the thickness of the bars and the fact they were in fact made from real gold and inscribed with complicated runes Lucy could tell that this cage was especially made to contain beings with great strength and height.

 

At that moment Lucy and the shopkeep approached the gilded bars of the Giants' bloodline slaves cage and peered inside.

 

Standing inside, barely clothed and shackled by their hands and feet, just as the shopkeep had said, were multiple young men with Giant's blood in their veins. It seemed they were all around the same age of late teens and early adulthood and they all had impressive bulging muscles which was shocking considering the fact that they were never allowed to work out.

 

In addition to their impressive muscles their height was also quite abnormal, though some of them were a bit taller or shorter they all were atleast 7' 5" feet tall with proportional limbs to match.

 

From this observation alone Lucy was able to gauge that they each had about a quarter of Giant's DNA since pure blooded Giants could reach heights of well over 10 feet but similarly were always muscular no matter their lifestyle.

 

Such was the genetic inheritance passed down from the mythical Giant Race.

 

Thanks to their genes they would enjoy incredibly long lifespans of up to 500 years, and their bodily condition would be considered to be among the best of any humanoid so things like diseases or poison would have little to no effect. They were unable to use ki or magic however but their genetic advantages more than made up for this shortcoming in Lucy's eyes.

 

All in all she felt they would be the perfect fighting force to make up her kingdom's troops, their height and strength alone would make them formidable opponents and if she were to get them some proper training as well perhaps awakening some of them as vampires ...

 

"....They'd be unbeatable" she whispered in awe while making maniachal machinations in her head.

 

"Hm, you said something?"

 

"Mhm um no just that I'll take them. I'm assuming the women and children are in that other cage over there?" Lucy question while gesturing to another golden cage a few feet down the hall.'

 

"C-Correct I keep them separated to discourage mutiny. I-If you want we can-"

 

“ I have other matters to take care of right now,  but I’ll be back for them in three days.  But do make sure they’re well clothed and fed until then. Oh! And remove those shackles from them, let them know their new master will allow them to earn their freedom through service”

 

“Y-Yes of course! Come again!” he then yelled at Lucy’s departing figure before directing his sights back on his newly acquired mound of gold coins.

 

 

Lucy exited the slave trader’s tent with a smile on her face.

 

Altogether it had taken about 15 minutes for her to complete her transaction from start to finish and now that she had the extra time, she could get to the auction early.  This was welcome news to Lucy because now she’d be able to get one of the better seats in the front row near the stage.

 

 

Initially, she had  thought it would take far longer for her to buy the slaves she needed and even though she had spent well over 40,000 gold coins on them she did not regret her choice at all but was rather glad she did it.

 

In all honesty, the very existence of slaves with Giant’s bloodline took Lucy completely by surprise. She knew of them from Amara’s distant memories but even back then the race was close to extinction.

 

In the past, they were well known for their formidable strength and awesome height that was a racial inheritance for even their weakest members.

 

They had intelligence comparable to humans and were able to thrive in a section of the Great Forest rife with mana before eventually attempting to branch out. So naturally they and the human race became arch rivals, with the human race eventually gaining the upper hand  and never losing it.

 

Lucy never imagined she’d be able to acquire such rare and valuable slaves, especially for so cheap!

 

But most of all she was excited to finally be able to add more noteworthy vampiric progeny to her ranks. Up till now she had taken her time in deciding upon who she would turn into a vampire next. This was not only  because she wanted to ensure her vampiric subordinates were only the best of the best, but also to lessen the load on her Blood Core.

 

It was no secret that the number of vampire spawn a vampire could create was directly related to their rank in cultivation. For example, a Fledgling rank vampire could only have 1 vampire subordinate. While a Sire rank  vampire could turn as many as 3 vampire subordinates before the stress on the  Blood Core began to slow it’s cultivation.

 

Lucy had not known about this rule when she first turned Sera at the Fledgling rank ,and as such it led to her own cultivation stagnating a bit because of it. 

 

Most of the time vampires would wait until they were well along in their cultivations before they decided to create their own vampire subordinates, this way their would be no risk to their accumulation of power nor their cultivation speed. She was making sure Sera took this route since she was still new to being a vampire.

 

But now that Lucy had reached the Sire rank however, she was ready and able to expand her forces with at least 2 new vampires and she couldn’t wait to do so. 

 

‘Hmm should I choose a male this time around ’ Lucy thought as she continued on her way to the auction,’ I mean I am getting tired of getting my own hands dirty and could really use the extra musc-‘

 

Suddenly at that moment a familiar scent hit Lucy nose, before she rounded a corner and ran face first into a hard chest with an audible,

 

“Oof”

 

“I-Im so sorry miss, are you all right” a husky baritone voice asked

 

Lucy swallowed back the expletives she was about to unleash on the poor stranger once she noticed he wasn’t a stranger at all but,

 

“Nox? What a pleasant surprise! We really must stop running into each other like this, it’s beginning to feel premeditated haha. But what are you doing here? I thought the kingdom left the policing of Grimsby to the mercenaries?”

 

“Haha tell me about it and I’m just passing through to drop off some supplies nearby” Nox replied as he gestured to his full hands

 

Lucy took a quick glance at the ‘supplies’ he’d mentioned before noticing they were things like blankets, food, and even a few toys. She didn’t think these counted as supplies but maybe the kingdom had a different definition for these type of things.

 

Nox noticed the questioning gaze on her face as she stared at the toys in his arms before a scarlet flush began to show across his cheeks.

 

“Oh! T-These aren’t for me or the kingdom. Yeah these are for children- well orphans actually.” Nox replied abashedly as he reshuffled his huge and full hands, “I don’t usually tell people but I was an orphan myself and probably would still be if it wasn’t for the kingdom buying me”

 

Once again, a questioning look crossed Lucy’s face as she wondered had she ever even seen an orphanage in Grimsby before, then with a gasp the implications of the end of Nox’s sentence finally made sense to her.

 

‘He was bought from here just like I’d done a second ago…which could mean that Nox is- no was a slave!’

 

“Oh!” she exclaimed as realization flashed across her face, “I had no idea that you were a slave!

 

“Used to be, but yeah I guess it is a bit surprising haha. Usually, most people take one look at my height and build and  seem to know that I have Giant’s bloodline and from there they just assume I’m still a slave. But I’ve repaid my debts to this kingdom many battles ago and am a free man. The other Giant’s bloodline slaves here aren’t so lucky, so I try to keep their spirits up with these gifts whenever I can. I know it’s stupid but it’s all I can do, if only there weren’t laws forbidding me from buying them myself, I’d purchase them all and give them their freedom. No matter how much gold it’d cost

 

An anguished expression appeared on Nox’s face as his grip on the cluster of supplies tightened.

 

“No it’s not stupid! I think it’s sweet” Lucy said with a soft expression upon her face. Suddenly  she lightly touched his bulging bicep and felt a strong ebb of lust rushing through his blood.

 

At that moment as she stared at Nox a nefarious plan began to slowly hatch within her mind…

 

“I-I’m sorry I really must be going now.” Said Lucy as she retreated her hand and began to depart, “But I’d like to see you again tomorrow if you’re free to show me some fighting moves still…”

 

“O-Of course. I mean I am!” stuttered the hulking knight with a gulp

 

“Perfect! Let’s meet here at noon tomorrow.” Lucy all but ordered before departing with a smirk.

 

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