âWhat in damnation was that? You didnât tell me that you were already an expert tamer!â
âOh, that? Itâs just a little trick that I could employ since it was restrained. As you know, I have a beast lord bloodline as well, so that helpedâ
Edrick acted quite nonchalantly as he walked with his new pet by his side. AnsbachâAs he had decided to call the fluffy fellowâHad been imparted with a pet crest, which was just the same thing as a servant crest. Though with a body covered in fur, the crest itself was impossible to see.
âIs that so? Thatâs quite the handy trick youâve got there⊠Any chances that it can be replicated?â
âI am afraid notâ
Wenxiong shrugged. It was a good thing that Edrick already had a way to tame creatures. This should definitely be of great help to him in the future, and that was without having learned any actual beast-taming techniques, too.
âHere, take thisâ the ancestor handed a round gem of sorts âItâs a classic tool for tamers. A willing creature can be put inside of it for twenty-four hours at most. Makes it easier to transport certain beasts, or just makes it more convenient to go aroundâ
âJust put your new pet inside it. Iâll take you somewhere funâ Wenxiong grinned. It didnât take a genius to figure out what kind of âfunâ he was referring toâŠ
âOh? I thought this market didnât really have much of what you were interested in?â
âHehe⊠We arenât going anywhere in this market. They only offer the sort of stuff that humans donât feel anything wrong with lying down in bed with⊠But Invefno is a big city! There is a red district where really good stuff takes placeâ
Wenxiong cracked his neck.
âYou see, apart from the various Paradisos, the business of selling pleasure isnât very developed in Leynlornd, do you know why?â
âI am afraid that I am not too aware of the reasons for itâ Edrick knew a little bit, actually, but he let the ancestor explain more thoroughly.
âThe thing is that brothels are technically legal in this kingdom, but they have pretty strong restrictions placed on them. After all, making pleasure easily available might kill the desire for people to start families... And a nation that makes no babies is a nation that is running itself into the groundâŠâ
â...And also, too many brothels donât acquire their âgoodsâ in the correct manner. They try to cut corners and resort to slavery, but as you know, thatâs completely banned here. That only leaves two real places where there is some professionalism about itâ
âThere is the Red Mansion, which is backed by us and has a squeaky clean history, as well as high prices, which makes it so that the common man doesnât have a real easy access to the goods. And then there is the red district of Invefnoâ
The ancestor scratched his chin with a smile.
âRed Mansion is also involved here, but mostly to watch and make sure that nothing unlawful is going on... But the goods are instead far more diverse. You can even take some of them home if you wantâ
âAnything besides these two is shady, underground, and the like⊠Naturally, we also sponsor a lot of those. I am sure you would love many of our sponsors and some of our sub-clansâŠâ
âI did look into those more closely after I returned to the clan. Iâll need to visit them eventuallyâŠâ
âThatâs the spiritâ
The two men arrived in the red district whilst it was still broad daylight. The place was already plenty occupied. In fact, there was a public display where one could get a turn with a âworkerâ for just a few Copper Leyens.
Apparently, the price would decrease throughout the day as more and more people had their way with her and soiled the goods.
That was indeed something Anoteros wouldnât be expecting from the Red Mansion. They did things more cleanly and viewed the act itself in an almost ritualistic fashion that was to be respected. What was happening here wasnât proper at all. Most of these men would be worth nothing to a dual cultivator.
Neither Edrick nor Wenxiong were very interested in that, however. With practised movements, Wenxiong took Edrick to an establishment that was a bit tucked away from the rest. Considering the sort of things happening in the open, it made one wonder just what sort of activities could be so odd that it would be concealed even hereâŠ
In this world, there were specific terms for many things, and a few of those thingsâEven in this bizarre and wild worldâWere seen as problematic by the wider public.
Some of those were âLagneiefestsâ, which involved one receiver and many givers.
Bestia, which was what Wenxiong was very clearly into.
Monstrosita, which would be what Niediao was obsessed with.
Or even Persanta-Missa, which was something else entirely⊠And although enjoying that last one wasnât exceptionally frowned upon in itself, the practitioners tended to make the âadjustmentsâ to their partners themselves instead of just finding someone who already fitted the description.
Naturally, there were layers.
Certain creatures were seen as alright to desire, whilst some others would get you more than just a few weird glances.
In this place, however, Wenxiong was welcomed like a war hero.
âAh, Sir Wenxiong! It is such a pleasure to see my best client back! Who might this gentleman be who is accompanying you? It has been a while since you last recommended us to someone else!â
âAhah, this is Zixuan, but you can just call him Edrick or Anoteros. He is a young member of my clan, a real talent and diamond in the rough! He recently came back from a little trip outside the clan, and I discovered that he possessed most incredible tastesâ spoke the ancestor with his arms crossed.
âHe is propping me up like I am his direct sonâŠâ
It felt quite good, actually.
âHow nice! What might I interest you with then? Something exotic, or maybe something more basic for the young fellowâs first time here? Our catalogue has not changed since the last timeâ the manâWho was certainly the owner of this placeâHanded Wenxiong a small book from a stash where several more identical ones were also placed.
It was an advanced, menu-like way for customers to know what they could perform some âBestiaâ with here.
âI think weâll both take a Flower-Twined Deer. What do you think, Edrick?â
âSounds good to me, but how does it work exactly?â
âDonât worry about that. The service providers are well-tamed and can understand commands very clearly. They were trained specifically for this purposeâ
âInterestingâŠâ