Elena didn't speak for a while, she felt her heart beating fast and tried to keep calm.
Every time she looked at Lucien, her gaze would flash and she would blush a little.
"To be honest, I'm was not expecting anything like this, do you mind explaining a bit of what do you want from me?"
"I'm impressed, you didn't show greed at the notion of purified bloodline."
"And it's not what I want from you, I want you."
"You can still be part of your family, but you will be working for me. There will be a lot of stuff to maintain and keep track off, which I can't do myself currently."
"So let me see if I get it, you want a maid that can do your chores and keep track of the business or whatever."
"You can call it whatever you want, this is a chance I'm giving you, being my maid would be much of a better future than being grown in a greenhouse by that little family of yours, being married off when they feel like it."
"I'm willing, but on one condition."
"I want to see your real face, I can smell the powder from 1 kilometer."
"I'm even more impressed now, I was expecting a question about my family, but just my face, sure."
Lucien wiped off the disguise with a napkin, and showed his true face to Elena.
She stood there dumbstruck.
'Perfection, even as a kid it's perfect, is this the charm of the pure-blooded.'
'I guess with his potential it's true, being his maid is better than being married off to some rich noble to make a connection.'
"You are very handsome, Master."
"You don't have to call me that. The purification of the bloodline will have to happen when we are really alone, this won't work, but you shouldn't worry about my abilities over Vampire bloodlines, I'm pure-blooded after all."
"I was never worried, I've already agreed to be your follower. So tell me now, what is my job going to be?"
"Since you are part of a merchant family, I'll give you a channel or two through the bandit areas, you can use them to make some profits, rise in the ranks of your family, and gather information about the world. Of course all the spare money you get would be poured towards increasing my strength, is that fine?"
"Another thing is managing the 2 Rank 1 slaves. A commoner needs 6 months to recover the quality of the blood after losing around a liter, so Vitality based Rank 1s would need about 3-4 days, so every 3-4 days send that blood to me."
"I'll show you some trust, the place you are going to have to send it will be the imperial palace."
"Do it using books, empty the insides and put the blood banks in there and then package them so they don't open easily. We can schedule a time and I'll be waiting for them at the gate."
"That is about it, I'll give you all the gold I have for the purchasing of the slaves, with the 10% discount and the leftovers, get them a manor or something."
Saying so far, Lucien opened the bag he was carrying with himself, the 5245 gold coins were inside.
Elena laughed at the sight of the gold.
"My dear Master, I can't believe you carry so much money around with yourself, you should deposit them in a bank and use checks or the notes provided there, it's much more convenient."
"As you can imagine, they are not clean, I can't prove where I got them, banks don't work with bandits. This is going to be your third job, you are going to fence all my shady goods through your channels and laundry all the dirty money I got."
"I'll send the goods to the slave manor, you should either live there or check it regularly, prepare a room where I can leave large amounts of them."
"Now all the talking should be done with. Just one last thing, I did mention I won't make you a slave or control you through some other means, you has to be out of your will for this to work, but... if you betray me..."
Saying so far, the iris in the crimson eyes turned vertical and a dangerous pressure was projected in the room.
"I'll erase you and everything you love from this world. I'll make sure to take your Souls after I kill you and put them through Hell."
The face of the beautiful Elena turned ghastly white, it was partly because of the pressure, but mostly because of the suppression of a far superior bloodline.
"I... I... I wou... I wouldn't...dare..."
'Let's see how well does the carrot and the stick work in this world, include a little crush in there and it's a nice mix. If she betrays me I would at most lose some money, and a couple of Rank 1 slaves, which by that time would be completely irrelevant.'
'It's a nice investment let's see if it pays off.'
The pressure suddenly disappeared with everything returning to normal.
"I'll take my leave now, keep me updated through the communication device, my beautiful partner in crime."
Lucien didn't linger around after the business was finished. He went into an alley to reapply the disguise and then back to the palace. It was a lot easier entering the palace than he expected, the guards remembered him, and didn't suspect a thing.
Sitting back in his cultivation chamber, finally made the decision.
'I think all the talent I have shown to my father will keep me safe for now, I'll get the balanced build to the peak of Rank 1, before breaking through, it would be much easier, but that would still be after Soul and Particle control, I'll be ready in 3 years tops with the latter.'
'For Agility and Soul, I'll use Darkness, for Vitality I'll use Vampire, and for Strength - Ghoul.'
'For now I leave the Soul Devour aside, I can't kill humans here.'
'I still have 26400 points, I'll use them to get the manuals for the Vampire and Ghoul Paths and if there is insufficiency in the blood or flesh energy. I will be getting 2 liters of Rank 1 blood every 3-4 days from the slaves and 1kg Rank 1 meat per day from Henry, he said he couldn't give me Rank 2 meat without exposing my strength, but Rank 1 is already enough for practicing the Ghoul Path.'
'I'll wait for the herbs, as it doesn't matter yet, I have enough energy to breakthrough as it is, when I'm Rank 2, I'll look for something of the appropriate grade, I can imagine they are not grass you can find beside the road.'
'Lets get started.'