While they have to wait for the missing slaves to arrive, Feicui Long takes the opportunity to buy several passenger transport carriages along with several horses from Isabella's uncle, since the carriages in which they brought the food belong to the Skylion barony's army, he needs several of his own to later go from the barony to their base or the town under construction, and he also does not want the possible boys and girls to walk.
In addition to that he buys about 35 cows, 20 pigs and 20 hens and 5 roosters, he also buys one carriage along with another 45 spatial storage boxes to bring back more construction materials on the return trip for other projects.
After that, all that remains is to wait quietly at the Skylion family mansion in Feldbach, luckily the mansion is big with large gardens and grounds, with a big carriage house for several carriages and more.
...
Three days pass when a member of the guilds union of slave traders comes to notify them to go and check everything at the union, this time Feicui Long takes Isabella, Isabella's group, Gloria, Mariane and Mylene who acts as escort along with about 10 or 15 troops from the Skylion family.
When they arrive at the union, the same old man, Glover the merchant, is there with that same disgusting smile of his, the old man says: "Young man, all the goods have arrived, you can check them in the warehouse."
That last part disgusts everyone present, especially Feicui Long, but he simply swallows the disgust he feels and says: "Fine, let's go see these people."
They all enter the building through the main entrance, then follow an elegant hallway, they go through one, two or three rooms until they go down some stairs, inside they see a… unpleasant view to say the least, Mariane and Feicui Long are already prepared, same as Mylene and the soldiers, Isabella and her group including Gloria on their part… well at least they don't throw up.
Since everything is horrible, the underground warehouse is very big, with just one look it is clear that at least a thousand to two thousand people could fit here, with colossal cages everywhere, in some they are separated by each of the fourteen mortal races, the slaves are heavily chained from their necks to their arms and hands, they are in a deplorable state, skinny men and women, some even have visible signs of disease and others smell horrible, the worst is that these cages have signs saying cheap products.
On the other hand, there are smaller cages, individual or with few slaves, the small ones with few slaves say decent value, the individual ones are usually for women or male slaves which say good value products, the children on their part are caged in groups of 3 to 4 and say fresh products, all this almost seems like they are selling vegetables or fruits.
Isabella, her group, Arianne, Caroline, Freja and even Gloria who has been an adventurer for longer and has seen some dark things, all feel disgusted but more importantly, now they understand a bit why Feicui Long makes such strict laws about slavery, limiting it only to debts or crimes and on top of that giving them so many protections.
At the same time even Feicui Long shows himself more convinced to adopt that approach, in fact he is thinking that he should even strengthen them more and even involve his church so that it is the one in charge of enforcing the law on these especially the members bound with the emerald-golden dragon pact.
Soon they are taken to a very clean wing of the warehouse, in it there are very clean cages with all the slaves set aside for Feicui Long, they even have new clothes and are washed and well fed, it is obvious they want to leave a positive impression on Feicui Long without knowing that this is impossible, both because of the ideology of the dragons and because of his time on Earth, the techno-energetic civilization and the pure technological civilization, in which he incarnated as mortals of different races, not to mention the other 2 mortal lives that although not as impactful in his worldview, still contribute something.
Merchant Glover says: "Young man, these are the goods you requested, they are all complete families, there are some mothers with sons and daughters, and even some fathers, but few, mostly they are married couples without children, in addition to some being fathers and mothers with their children, they are all between 20 to 35 years old."
Glover then pulls out the list Feicui Long gave him and begins to read aloud: "The amounts would be like this: approximately 20 single mothers, 10 single fathers, married couples without children are 45, married couples with one son or daughter are 20, married couples with two sons or daughters are 5, in total children would be 80, 250 goods as you requested, but don't worry with that amount of children, I still fulfilled almost all the requirements of professions."
Glover adds as if it were nothing: "The quantities of each of the 170 adults are 20 laborers among which there are 4 master builders, 10 carpenters in which there are 2 master carpenters, 10 mortal blacksmiths in which there are 2 master blacksmiths, 20 farmers and ranchers, 5 tailors, 5 tanners, 5 with bureaucratic and administrative experience, 10 lumberjacks and 10 sawyers, 10 stonecutters, 10 masons, 10 miners, 10 smelters, with 35 people with combat experience and good physical condition to be guards or soldiers, I know maybe the farmers and ranchers are half of what was requested, but since you told me to prioritize the union of families I had to do that, also some children are already quite grown and can help in the field."
Feicui Long simply nods and says: "We can check their condition to start evaluating them, I would like to make sure of their health."
Glover says: "Of course, as you wish, I will accompany you to see them."
Feicui Long observes carefully, he really does not care too much about their health condition, since he could heal them even if they are sick, what worries him is that the treatment has left them with physical sequels or even impacted the children's development. While Feicui Long is doing this, a hand from a cage that is behind him and does not belong to the slaves he is going to buy pulls his leg or rather his pants.
A guard from the guilds union of slave traders sees this and angrily is about to cut the hand in two, Feicui Long, who notices it quickly, deflects the attack using his mental energy with psionic force or telekinesis, making it miss just barely. Feicui Long then says: "It's okay, nothing happened at all, so there's no need for such violence."
Then Feicui Long turns around to see who is grabbing his pants, it is a dirty, poorly dressed woman who wears glasses. The woman is still anxious from almost losing her hand, but that moment of bravery is not lost, on the contrary the woman, upon seeing Feicui Long looking at her, says: "Sir, please, buy us, my sisters and me, I beg you."
Feicui Long, doubtful, asks her: "But what could your sisters and you offer me? At this moment I am only looking for people who can help me with my goal."
The woman smiles, happy to be heard, and starts pointing at her sisters, says: "My older sister, even though she has lost her cultivation, was one of the most talented mages of the small kingdom of Menak, now a fallen kingdom, she knows how to read, how to write, she knows advanced mathematics, and her diantian is not damaged, so she can cultivate again. My younger sister on her part, although not very skilled, can work as a servant or botanist since she is also educated. And lastly me, I am a royal scribe, I graduated with honors from the royal university, so I can help you with anything you need in your territory."
Feicui Long is not very interested in the mage part, nor in a servant, since he already has a personal one and if he needed more, he could hire them in the barony. But it is the last part, a scribe, that seems interesting to him. She may not be at the level of those he used to have in his emerald-golden dragon empire, but a good assistant and advisor to handle all the paperwork could be very useful. Moreover, the fact that all three sisters are educated is useful since he could create a school to educate all the slaves, so Feicui Long speaks and says: "Alright, I am interested in a scribe, I will buy all of you."
Feicui Long continues walking while observing, but he is soon interrupted again, this time by one of the slaves he is going to buy. The one who interrupts is a man, imposing, who seems to have an iron will and unbreakable pride, but instead of challenging him or anything like that, the man, biting his lip, looks at him and says: "Young sir, I saw what happened before, may I ask you please to buy my younger sister, she is a scout, she has extensive experience."
Feicui Long looks at him and although the mention of a younger sister moves him, especially because he once had siblings he loved… he is about to refuse since that function is already fulfilled by Kagetsume and he could use more beasts to do it or even the watch golems he can create, but when he is about to speak…
The man speaks and says: "I know it's not very impressive, but she possesses a very good ability for this, it's the eye of truth, thanks to it she can perceive hidden dangers, I swear to you if you buy her you will not regret it."
Feicui Long, now interested, thinks about it and says: "Alright, then Mr. Glover, please add this man's sister to the purchase."
Since he does not want to be interrupted anymore, Feicui Long looks at the whole group and says loudly: "If anyone else has a family member who is here, available to be bought, speak now or raise your hand, and also say what they can contribute, otherwise I will not tolerate more interruptions."
Only two people raise their hands. One is a greater beastman male, he is a leopard-type beastman, that is easy to tell from his ears and tail with spots and obviously the kind of spots. The man says: "My cousin is here, she is among the VIP slaves, she is very beautiful, my young sir, and she also has a melodious voice and knows how to play the guitar and other instruments, she was famous in the duchy we come from. I ask you please to buy her before she falls into bad hands."
Feicui Long feels quite interested, but not for the beauty, he already has an incredibly beautiful woman, Isabella, with him, and he also has Reiko who, even if her beauty is not as great as Isabella's, is still beautiful and has another type of charm and beauty. What interests him is the ability to sing and play music, it would be a good way to entertain the population.
Feicui Long looks at Glover and says: "Is the slave available to be bought?"
Glover quickly replies to him: "Normally VIP slaves are auctioned, although they can be bought at market price which is usually 5 to 10 times the starting price before the auction begins. That girl already has almost 72 hours in the auction and went from 25 silver coins to only 75. The last bid was 8 hours ago and there are only 3 hours left of the auction. Honestly, she would sell for more, but that curse mark scares off customers. But in short, yes, you could buy her, but with the current bids it would have to be 5 times the current offer."
Feicui Long looks at him and says: "Is 10 gold coins enough to buy her?"
Glover looks at him and calmly replies: "Of course it is, then from this point on she is yours."
Then Glover looks at his assistant, who immediately uses a sound transmission stone to send the message.
Feicui Long goes to the last person who raised their hand. She is an elven woman, a single mother with a small girl. She looks worn down although well dressed, fed and everything else. It is obvious that what has happened to her has left a lasting mark. The woman says: "Young sir, I don't have much to offer you, but I ask that you buy my old mother, my younger sister and her two daughters, and also my foolish younger brother. My old mother has great knowledge, she was the elder in charge of the village, my younger sister used to run a business and is good at accounting, while my foolish brother is a talented hunter."
Feicui Long intends to accept immediately, but he gets distracted by something for a moment. The elven woman, worried, quickly tries to speak and says: "My lord, my sister also possesses an abili…"
Feicui Long, with his eyes activated, quickly puts a finger on the woman's lips and says: "You don't need to tell me, I already intend to buy them."
And what Feicui Long sees in the vision reveals a very useful ability that could raise their value a thousand times, so he has to silence her.
Feicui Long then says to Glover: "Add those five people to the purchase."
Glover nods and Feicui Long continues with the full inspection of all the people in general. All of them are healthy, none seem to have any injuries that damage their capabilities permanently, and the children also seem to be fine and developing well. With that, the inspection is finished.