Aleks waved Lenia off and told Grobak to stand to the side for now and remain quiet. He was well aware that the proprietress may notice the more powerful aura, but it wasn’t something he was concerned about because sensing aura wasn’t an exact science to begin with and there were many ways an aura could be strengthened. If Grobak had been classed up to an advanced class than there would be no way to hide the change in aura from others, but for now it was still explainable.

If Grobak was a class which specialized in stealth or had certain abilities or spells, it would be possible to hide his aura from others, even those a certain amount of levels higher. However, this wasn’t the case. His next choice of subordinate would be a rogue type though which would have stealth abilities allowing them to hide their aura. This was why he had no qualms with creating an advanced class stealth based character as a maid.

Before long, Lenia returned with the proprietress in tow. She was leading several young women, who were scantily clad, into the room. They all seemed to be young women under the age of twenty and the diversity of beauty was clearly meticulously chosen. Every flavor of woman was on display, from voluptuously nubile to thin and curvy. The proprietress didn’t know what Aleks’s tastes were and so had brought in many different types to choose from and they were all the best of her stock of slaves in terms of looks.

This also meant they were most likely among the most expensive of her stock, but they wouldn’t be as expensive as an elite battle slave since they were all mortals without a class. A boutique like this wouldn’t necessarily specialize in powerful slaves with a class. That isn’t to say there were no slaves with a class for sale within the boutique, there would certainly be some in their stock of merchandise. They catered to all manner of clients and tended to have some unique slaves that you couldn’t find elsewhere.

Aleks considered the choice of merchandise before him and thought that the proprietress must have chosen such young and beautiful women because of his age. A young noble might be tempted by beauty and even if it wasn’t exactly what they came for it would certainly whet their appetite. They might even purchase more than they planned after seeing the beautiful women on display. Of course, using such a tactic on Aleks was merely a waste of time. Regardless, choosing one of these young women to act as his personal maid wasn’t a bad choice. As unfortunate as Aleks thought it was, such things were important for image in high class society. Either way, a mortal suited him just fine because he wouldn’t need to pay a significant cost to respecialize.

The proprietress seductively sauntered towards Aleks with a playful smile on her face. She was still smoking and blew a ring of smoke as she approached Aleks.

“What do you think? These girls are my very best. I prepared them well just for you.”

Although Aleks wasn’t looking at Lenia, he could feel her eyes boring a hole through him as the proprietress got close to him and placed her hand gently on his arm. She pulled Aleks over to the young girls and explained to him their best features, personalities and their various skills. They had all seemingly been trained to best please a man and were all skilled in massages, various chores a maid would be required to know, and were all apparently virgins who were ready to please their master. They had all received some training in the matters between a man and a woman beneath the sheets.

However, Aleks was clearly not interested in any of that which caused the proprietress to slightly frown when Aleks wasn’t looking. Instead, he seemed to be much more interested in looking in their eyes. The proprietress didn’t ask any questions about it and understood there were naturally many strange individuals among the upper classes who had unique desires or requirements when making their choices. Aleks was certainly a strange one in her eyes but there were far stranger ones. At least he didn’t seem to have any dark fetishes or unique tastes.

Of course, what the woman didn’t know was that the reason Aleks was looking into their eyes without saying anything was because he understood that the eyes were windows into the soul. He was looking for the woman with the least taint of the gods among them, or one with the taint of a weaker god. Grobak had been an ancestral worshipper so it wasn’t a concern when he respecialized him.

Ancestral spirits were a form of divinity but they were different from gods at the fundamental level. It was possible for them to eventually ascend to godhood, but it was a difficult road to progress on, even more so than the traditional path. Most Ancestral spirits were relatively weak and were even disdained upon by the gods and so it was easier to cut off their soul connection when respecializing.

Aleks could devour any soul, but when creating beings or respecializing them, it was a different process. Devouring a soul was taking the soul into his being and then purifying it, but it was a completely separate process when creating his own beings or respecializing existing ones. It was required to cut off the soul first from whichever divinity it was connected with and then purifying the soul with the being’s body before filling the soul once more with ‘Soul Potential’. Choosing a woman with a weaker connection to a divinity would only make the process that much easier. Also, the fact that they were mortals also meant their connection was already much weaker than a being with a class.

Most of the women were too inextricably tied to a god and so they were no good. After looking at a few of them, he quietly discarded them in his mind until he came to the second to last one. She was young, either 16 or 17, but there was a certain stubborness in her eyes that initially attracted Aleks to her. He liked that look, that look of defiance and pride. It wasn’t normal, for these girls were supposed to be trained and satisfaction guaranteed. This girl was somehow different and her soul only had a tentative connection with a nature god of a minor pantheon.

Aleks gently raised her chin with his hand and looked deeply in her eyes which made the young woman feel somewhat uncomfortable. She attempted to move her head away from his hand but he gripped her face harder, holding her head in place. The proprietress frowned from the side, not because of Aleks’s actions but because of the slave’s defiance. This girl had already given her some trouble but she thought she was finally ready to be put out on display. Since she was such a beautiful young woman, she thought that the girl could fetch a good price.

“You can take the other girls away, I want this one.”

The proprietress didn’t really think Aleks would choose that particular girl but she was ecstatic. She could finally rid herself of the problem and even profit from it.

“An excellent choice! Although this girl is a little stubborn, it’s nothing one such as you can’t handle with some strong discipline. You might even enjoy breaking her in!” The proprietress laughed while drawing close to Aleks.

From the back, Lenia was not happy and already wanted to kill the proprietress for getting too close to Aleks on more than one occasion. Not to mention the fact that Aleks was touching the young slave girl’s face and staring deeply into her eyes also made her feel jealous. She held down her emotions but couldn’t wait until she could have Aleks all to herself again. It didn’t show on her face, though, so no one would know her feelings unless they noticed the tight grip she had on the hilt of her sword. Grobak on the other hand couldn't care any less about it. He was busily shaking and scratching his head trying to figure out exactly what the hell happened to him.

“Lenia will go with you and settle accounts, I would like some time alone with the girl if that’s alright. I only wish to ask her a few things in private.”

Lenia was startled to hear her name called by Aleks since she had been focusing too hard on glaring.

“Young master?”

“Go with the proprietress and pay her the price for this slave.” Aleks commanded in a calm voice.

“Yes.” Lenia replied while gritting her teeth.