Inheriting a Lost Bloodline, My First Task is to have heirs?!

Back in Lyartaim, Luna is still in the middle of her act to spite people and sneakily take people out in the guise of being a slave merchant. Though quite reluctant to follow her instructions, Destine, her assigned guide, still called one of the nearby guards to instruct someone to bring the three beast men who have not yet arrived at the plaza. Everybody waited for about 10 more minutes before those three individuals were brought out with the help from several guards.

The first one to arrive was a young boy about 10 years old. He was placed on a make shift stretcher since he seemed to have issues with using his legs. He is scrawny, weak and not at all kempt as if he was just left to his own devices in wherever room they got him from. It seems that whoever his family was, they have given up taking care of him.

The second one to arrive is another young boy. This time, he was about 12 years old and just like the first one, had a slight impediment. His eyes have turned almost white and he has obviously become blind. He has a similar physical situation with the first boy that arrived. At this point, I wanted to roll my eyes on how great their families are taking care of them knowing they have partial disabilities.

In a world where it has been increasingly hard to give birth to children, how can they just throw aside and let these young boys suffer like this. I don't believe that there is no way to help or cure these little ones. Even if they can't be cured, they could have still been cared for, even being fed and bathed regularly should have been basic.

The last one to be brought to the plaza is a man who is already middle aged. With how he looked, he seems to be over 30 years, almost 40 even. He is staring blankly at nothing and seems to have lost his sanity. He was murmuring things that I couldn't understand quite clearly.

One moment he was staring blankly then he will laugh or cry then scream angrily. He was dressed in rags, with unkempt hair, with a few physical wounds that have dried up and he looked like he hadn't taken a bath for at least a week. What strikes me the most about him was how he looked very similar with someone I know.

I stared at Destine with my eyes telling her to explain what is happening and introduce these three new beast men. I had one of my eyebrows raised waiting for her to speak up. She looked at me with a forced smile and she coughed embarrassedly.

She then spoke, keeping her annoyance in but her voice somewhat betrayed her, "The first one is a bear cub who got into an accident while climbing a fruit tree when he was younger, deeming him unable to work or support himself. The second one is a tiger cub who also got into an accident while foraging in the forest. The third one is a leopard beast man who used to be one of the strongest hunters. He has long since retired from being a hunter since he got sick and his family married him off instead. His health started deteriorating when he got poisoned a few years ago and we do not know the antidote to cure him fully. His previous partner has decided to abandon him."

I listened to what Destine was saying and the only thing I can murmur in my head was that everything she was saying was a blatant lie. With the abilities of mystiques, if these two children met an accident, they could have been cured at that time. As for this man, poison can't make people crazy so they must have simply poisoned him so he can be disposed of but too bad he clung to life and is still alive after many years. I also have a gut feeling that Artak is related to this man one way or another.

I clapped my hands suddenly much to the surprise of my guide and the individuals around me. It was like an applause at the end of a beautifully done show. I smiled sweetly and said, "Marvelous! I really like dramatic and tragic back stories like what you just shared, Destine. It makes everything more interesting. For your efforts, I will take these three with me then since it seems that nobody wants them to stay here anyways. Don't you dare overcharge me with these damaged ones. Do you understand?!"

I heard Destine swallow hard when I talked as if it was huge favor from me that I am taking the three males out of their hands. She still has that forced smile plastered on her face as she replied with a very reluctant tone, "Sure... Madam. I will give you an appropriate price for these three."

I nodded at Destine as if very pleased with her answer. I then looked at the other people around the plaza and asked loudly as if I found everything that has been happening extremely amusing, "Is there anybody else who has a dramatic or tragic story that they want to share with the very bored me? I also accept tears and begging too just so you know. Anyone?"

All the people looked at me with disgust. When my eyes met some of theirs though, they all looked towards the ground trying their best to avoid my gaze. The rest stayed silent and they seemed confused if I bought the three people as my first choice of slaves out of charity or if I have evil plans in mind.

They must all be thinking that I have something terribly wrong in my head or my personality was just that twisted. I really wanted to laugh out loud as I was looking at each of their reactions to what I just said. They have a rich variety of facial expressions from surprise, disgust, pity, anger, fear and indifference. It is just that I couldn't laugh right now since I am trying to give justice to the character I am portraying.

I waited for several minutes but still, nobody came forward to speak. Since nobody wants to share their story or answer my question, I looked towards my guide and motioned for her to lean towards me which she did almost immediately. I whispered to her ear, "Have them come forward per family or in groups of up to 10 people at one time. Have them say their name, age, beast man race and what they do to earn a living. If you want me to buy more slaves, you better hurry up. I don't have all day to wait on all of you."

Destine looked at me like I am someone who is getting crazier by the minute. Just the sheer number of people currently standing here in the plaza will take us at least an hour just to finish the introductions and my final selection. Well, I am the one who is paying so I don't think she will ever have the guts to say no to my requests.

She looked towards the guards and everyone in the plaza with fierce determination in her eyes. Maybe it was determination to get rid of most of the people here to lessen the number of mouths that their sanctuary had to feed.

Since she can't get angry at me no matter what I said or did, she used her pent up annoyance and anger to scream angrily towards everyone in the plaza. She told them my instructions word for word and the people immediately arranged themselves by standing in groups. Members of the same family or beast man race stood together as well in just a matter of minutes. The guards made it possible for everyone to move this fast by pushing and shouting at those who were moving too slowly.

The introduction started slow since the people are visibly frightened and some are stubbornly not wanting to speak about themselves to an obvious slave merchant, me. After a few instances that this happened, Destine got annoyed and she nodded towards the guards standing around the plaza. Two of those guards started beating up those who were stubbornly not following instructions or not speaking fast enough. After the other bystanders saw what might happen with someone who is stubborn, the rest of the process became easier and way quicker though their voices are choking with fear and helplessness.

Before I came here this morning, I have already prepared a specific list of individuals, families and groups that I am looking out for to purchase and sneak out of this place. It was a list that was created combining information that I got from many sources such as Void's reports, the stories from the beast men who are currently living in Marahuyo and suggestions made by Artak when we were talking last night while healing people in Izvratya. The list easily consisted of at least 40 people whose names and basic information, I have memorized before coming here.

I leisurely stayed seated and waited for each person in the plaza to introduce themselves. At times, I stood up and walked closer to some of the beast men seemingly doing a closer inspection of their physical features before buying them which should be a normal thing for slave merchants to do. I did my homework and observed them during my visits in slave halls and auction houses so I have quite a strong reference from my act today.

After a few minutes of inspection, I finally started pointing casually to certain individuals and families that I want to purchase based on the list that I have memorized. To others, it may look like I'm just casually walking around and picking people. They may even think that everything was just based on my personal whims but only I know that I was actually getting the very people who were exactly the reason why I came here.