Rodrick had his hand over Hector’s mouth in an instant. “Don’t say that word! Holy Uncle, are you trying to get us kicked out?”
“And what would you call it?”
“It’s a brothel, Hector. Please.”
Humility and Charity. Shit. Why did he bother giving away money and deliver food if he was going to humiliate himself by letting Rod drag him to a business full of prostitutes? Hector winced. That thought was wrong in so many ways. He shouldn’t regret his earlier acts of virtue. And thinking he was above being in this place probably ant he deserved to wait in it for his friend to… finish. “Fine. Let’s do what you ca here to do.”
They entered and took seats along the bar. The bartender was there in an instant. “Hello, gentlen. You have to buy a drink. The nu is painted on the bar top. Cost is fifty credits.”
The nu didn’t have any complexity to it. Beer, wine, cider, and ad were the options. Rodrick asked for a cider and Hector ordered a ad. He figured he might as well try sothing new since he was paying such a high price for his mandatory beverage. Once the glasses were set in front of them, won began to appear.
They sward Rodrick, smiling as they approached, reaching out to rub his shoulders and ask if he was a delver. Why yes he was. How exciting to et a hero. Was it scary in the dungeon? Most would say so, but not him. Hector sipped his ad as he sat there, trying to beco invisible.
He need not have made the effort. When he glanced over to see how Rodrick was doing, a couple of the won flinched away from him. Of course. He was a Xian savage. Well, why would he be offended by their fear and revulsion? He wanted to be left alone, after all.
The girls all introduced themselves, flirted heavily, indicated they were available if Rod wanted any services, and drifted away to sit nearby. Rodrick positively glowed at all the attention. Hector wondered if the man actually needed this. Not the sex part, but being seen and validated by people he found attractive.
Hector supposed he couldn’t judge soone too harshly for that. He’d gotten scandalously entangled with Evelyn and hooked up with a reporter on another world who thought he was a magic hero on a mission to save his world. Well, co to think of it, Rosa had been right about him. And Evelyn… he rembered her fondly.
When the girls were gone, Rodrick scooted closer to Hector. “Which one should I pick?”
“I didn’t catch any of their nas.”
“No? How are you going to ask for soone?”
Hector almost coughed as he took a sip of ad. “I don’t think the ladies want to entertain a Xian, Rod.” That was a small misdirection to get out of the situation without speaking ill of those in the business or patronizing said business. He hadn’t said he was too good to pay for sex. Score one for humility.
Rodrick’s horrified realization was sothing to behold. His eyes bugged out and his jaw dropped, then he stared at the floor as his shoulders slumped. “That’s terrible, Hector.”
“It’s fine, Rod. We’re here for you, anyway. Which one do you like?”
“Kathy. That’s the third one from the left.”
Hector stole a quick look. “Cute. Looks a little like Zelda.”
Rodrick cleared his throat. “Or maybe the one to her right. Any of them would be good.”
“Rod. I am sworn to not judge. Go for whichever you like best and I will never say a word.”
“Thanks, Hector. You’re a good friend.” Rodrick drained his cider and left to collect a lady. Hector intentionally did not watch so he couldn’t know which woman he chose. Not his business. He was here for moral support. If this was moral. It had to be on Union Central, right? The System surely wouldn’t let won be trafficked, right?
The bartender returned to take Rodrick’s empty glass away. He paused to make eye contact with Hector. “The girls choose who they want to work with. You can stay here if you want to wait for your friend, but I doubt you’ll have much luck.”
Hector stopped the snarky response he wanted to give. “Thanks. I guess I’ll wait, then.”
He turned to look at the services that were listed to get an idea of the tiline. The various types of services were available for half an hour, an hour, or a full night. Hector’s eyes lingered on the list of services. They were given rather obvious euphemisms. Hand, mouth, bed, spicy. Well, he wasn’t sure what exactly spicy ant. Certainly nothing normal. His mory served him up a recollection of the series of hot sauce comrcials where an elderly woman told people that she ‘put that shit on everything’. He chuckled at the thought of a wrinkly old woman drizzling hot sauce on unsuspecting brothel clients for almost a minute straight.
Hector was still wiping tears from his eyes when he felt a warmth approaching. He turned out of curiosity and saw a petite blonde woman approaching. A petite blonde level two Xian.
She took Rodrick’s abandoned seat beside him and offered him a fragile smile. “Are you having a good ti?”
The woman wore a white sh negligee that both concealed and did not. Hector kept his eyes on her own with a bit of effort. “I’m doing well, thanks. How are you?”
The woman leaned against the bar and flipped her hair back to reveal her neck. Hector turned away. “My na is Riley. What about you?”
He would have given a fake na if the city wasn’t so big. As it was, he wouldn’t have to worry about his reputation taking a hit. “Hector.”
“You look powerful as a lord, Hector.”
He almost laughed at that. A lord was thirty-two tis more powerful than soone at his level. And that was just their personal might. They commanded the loyalty of armies of followers. “I’m no lord, Riley.”
“What level are you?”
He glanced back at her and caught the line of neck she’d been trying to show off earlier. His brow drew down and his lips compressed to a severe line. “Did soone hit you?”
Riley covered her neck with the negligee that hid just enough to conceal the abuse without effectively obscuring other things that typically weren’t shown in public. “Would you like to book an hour bed, Hector? Please?”
Hector studied the girl a mont. He detected a trace of desperation in her eyes. She was no Arahant to bewitch his mind. The desperation was either real or she was a spectacular actress. He nodded. “Let’s book an hour.”
The paynt prompt appeared and Hector signified his agreent, causing five hundred credits to disappear. Riley stood and offered her hand. He accepted it and she pulled him to the elevators. They rode up to a higher floor and entered a room whose door was already opened with a blinking green light above it, unlike the solid red lights of other doors they passed.
They entered and the lock automatically engaged once the door shut. Before them in the small room was a simple bed with a stand to one side that he was presumably supposed to place his valuables on when he stripped. He folded his arms over his chest while Riley sat on the bed.
“Are you being hurt because you’re a Xian?” Sothing else occurred to him. “Is the System letting it happen because you’re a Xian?”
“Sit with ?” Riley patted the bed.
She looked so fragile and fearful that he instantly felt guilty for looming above her. Hector sat down beside her, leaving a healthy space between them. “What is happening, Riley?”
She shrugged with one shoulder. “Spicy rooms.”
“What does spicy an?”
“It ans whatever a girl and a client agree that it ans.”
Hector felt like she was forcing him to read between too many lines. He wanted her to speak plainly. “You agreed to let soone rough you up? Is that what you’re saying? And the System lets it happen because it’s consensual?”
Another one of those disaffected shrugs. “I have to earn credits to pay off my debt.”
“Are the other girls earning by doing the sa things?” He knew the answer.
“The other girls are more popular.”
“And you’re not popular?” Because she was a Xian. Hector thought he was about to start getting violent with the n who frequented this place.
“I’m popular for spicy rooms.” Riley slid closer to him and began to slip out of her negligee. “The other girls have regulars who treat them nice.”
Hector pulled her garnt back up over her shoulder. “Stay dressed, Riley. I want to finish this conversation.”
“I just need a couple of regulars, Hector. Please? I know I’m not a real Xian.”
“Neither am I,” Hector said, flustered.
“Aren’t you from Tian? You’re so bright. I felt your presence from across the building.”
Hector studied Riley, putting his ntal sense to work. Level two soul. Negligible body enhancent. No ntal strengthening. No domain. A slight aura – less than peak level one. “I’m only level five, Riley.”
“That’s pretty high, isn’t it?”
“For this world, perhaps. How are you a Xian? I didn’t think the System assigned people to beco our kind.”
Riley shrugged. “My parents couldn’t take care of anymore. So people said they would make sure I was fed. They made drink potions until I changed. Then they sold to the brothel. I had to sign an agreent to pay them back for my room and board when I was old enough to work. How are you a Xian, Hector? You said you weren’t a real one.”
“I’m a drear.”
“From another world?”
“That’s right.” Hector tried to hide his frustrations. He didn’t want to frighten the girl, but he was beginning to feel quite murderous. Riley was a false Xian like him. Only instead of being annoyed by the casual bigotry of the other kinds, her entire existence was defined by it – after being sold into what was effectively slavery.
“You’re so strong, Hector.” She pressed her head into the side of his shoulder. “I wish I had the dreams to help know what to do.”
Hector looked down at the top of her head. “We have an hour. I could teach you things.”
She pulled away in a panic. “Don’t you want the bed service? Please? I will be so good you want to co back every day. We’re both Xian.”
He brought up the System to check his current credit balance. Just under seven thousand. “How much is your debt?”
“My debt? It’s a lot. Over two hundred thousand.”
Too much for him to pay off, in other words. Besides, if he did pay it off, what could she do as a user of cosmic energy in Promise City? Certainly not delve at her low level. She’d be back to the only work she knew how to do. Probably even more fragile, having been given hope only to lose it.
Instead, Hector began going over the numbers. If he paid for an hour every day, that would co out to fourteen thousand credits every month. He’d need to do dungeon runs more often than planned if he didn’t intend to run out of money. This could be his daily charity and humility. Charity because he was handing out his funds to soone in need. Humility because he would hate to appear like a client of the place.
“Do you want to be your regular, Riley? An hour every day?”
“Yes, Hector! You will like it.”
“And you’re willing to do whatever it takes to make happy?”
Riley hesitated. “Spicy?”
“Not spicy.”
“Bed?”
“I guess technically.”
“Technically? Like a Jinn? Technology?”
“I promise I will never harm you, Riley. But when I pay for the hour bed, we won’t do the normal bed stuff.”
She studied her hands, obviously trying to find the trap. “An hour every day? You’ll be my regular? What… what do you want that’s not bed stuff?”
“You have to beco my student. I’m going to teach you how to cultivate.”
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