Part 10
"Wait, so is 100 Dracons cheap?" Knight asked Iroha as he stared at his first meal in this new world. A meal that was simply a loaf of bread and curse water. According to Iroha, the water would 'ease the pain' of developing a filter for mana.
"Oh, yeah. 100 Dracons is pretty much 100 Yen," she replied matter-of-factly.
"Huh?! Yen? How do you know what Yen is!" Knight's face contorted with confusion.
"Huh?! Wh-what are you talking about!" Iroha cried, stumbling over her words. "I'm... In your mind remember... So I know some basics of your world."
Knight couldn't buy that explanation, but just as he questioned her further, a voice rang out behind the front door, catching everyone's attention.
“Muahahaha, you can not stop me, evil spirit. I command thee to open-!”
Just like the voice commanded, the wooden door swung open, falling off its hinges. Two great shadows filled the doorway, with one laughing maniacally.
“Gahahaha, it seems you were no match from my brother, the mightiest of them all…all but me at least.”
“What was that, little sis’? Did thee dare judge thyself above me-!?”
“Enough of that, kid. Y’know that both of you don’t hold a candle to me.”
A rough voice interrupted the argument, presumably pushing the two that were talking into the Inn.
“Huh?” Everyone in the Inn let out when they saw to kids stumble through the doorway.
The two kids with pointy ears did not take the act of aggression lightly and retorted in sync, “Hey! Thou shall now face the wrath of-!”
However, just as air became visible and swirled in their paw-like hands, they were simply squashed as two tall men pushed past them.
“Uh, sorry ‘bout the brats.” The taller one said, scratching his two-toned hair.
“C-Customers! Customers that aren’t De…Iroha!” a small animal screeched, flying out from behind the counter to greet the clients.
“Yeah…give us the cheapest beers you have.” The smaller, silver-haired man said.
“Sure, no problem! First set on the house!” Meimi cried, rushing back to the kitchen.
“Sweet,” the pair said, mustering up dust-clouds as they sat down.
However, the two kids did quite the opposite and pelted towards Knight.
“You there!”
“Huh- Woah!” Knight jumped off his chair, the boy right in front of him.
“Tsch, not worthy. Scarlett scream, what about her?”
“A weak, frightened child. Though she may have the potential.” The girl answered, closing in on Rei.
“Woah, Woah, Woah, what are you doing?” Knight jumped in front of the strange girl.
“Huh? Someone unworthy dares get in my way.” She glared at Knight, baring a sharp fang.
“Oi, can you do something about these kids?” he shouted to the two men drinking merrily.
“Huh? Who said-” the black and red-haired man was shushed his drinking buddy, who pointed in Iroha’s direction.
“Now’s my chance, Cerrin.” He said, getting up from the dust-covered chair.
“Ah, go on Klavier-bro,” Cerrin shouted as Klavier walked towards Iroha.
He said nothing as he approached, ignoring Knight’s stare as he got down to one knee, pulling a rose from his robe pocket.
“My… I am extremely s-sorry if I am bothering you but I must say you look b-bweatiful,” unfortunately, he wasn’t intoxicated enough to keep exude confidence and instead stumbled over his words. “Will you accept this g-gift of…err, love…?”
‘Love?! He doesn’t even know her’ Knight thought as he watched the travesty unfold, although…
“Gosh, me beautiful? I don’t think anyone could see me as beautiful…especially a handsome man like you.” She shyly complimented him. However, it was obvious to Knight that she was probing him to continue. She seemed like she was having fun inside.
The man clutched his chest as his heart skipped a beat and his face grew beat-red, “M-m-m-m-m-me? Me hand-handsome?”
“Yes, you are very handsome. I’m sure your girl wouldn’t be impressed with you talking to me.”
“Gah!” The man cried as if an arrow pierced his heart.
To Iroha’s displeasure, Cerrin intervened, saving Klavier from further embarrassment carrying him back to the table before going back to chat.
“Sorry about that, Klavier isn’t the best when it comes to girls.” He laughed
“Oh no, it was amusing” Iroha laughed.
Knight didn’t like the topic of conversation. Surprisingly, he kind of related to Klavier, although he wasn’t nearly as bad as whatever that attempt was.
“Hey, what’s up with these kids?”
“Ehhh…” The man stroked his shabby stubble, “Their…just crazy. That's the easiest way to put it, dude.”
“Ah, right…seems an awfully lot like 8th-grade-syndrome,” Knight muttered.
“8TH-grade-syndrome?”
“You heard that?”
“Uh, yeah dude, these ears ain’t just for show.” He said, pointing towards his pointy-ears, slightly larger than a human’s.
“Ah, right. Well, it’s just what we call people like that.” Knight explained, underwhelmed by what he assumed was an elf’s ear.
“Oh, neat. What are you doing in Dragol’s landing?”
“Nothing you need to know,” Iroha butted in.
“Jeez, sorry I made conversation,” he said, backing away. “What’s your name, my dude?”
“Uh, Knight, she’s Iroha and the little one is Rei.”
“Uh, you don’t look like a Knight but sure. What’s your real name?”
“…” Knight was speechless as he rubbed his nose in disappointment. Naturally, there were a lot of people that couldn’t resist making jokes on his name and he thought they were of bad taste – or ‘cringe’. “Ha-ha… No. It really is Knight.”
“Huh? Really?” Cerrin asked, pulling out some-sort of device from his tunic underneath his armour. “Oh, I guess it is.”
“…”
“Okay, okay,” he laughed as Knight scrunched his face, before stretching out a hand. “Good to meet you, Knight. The name’s Cerrin. My bro over there is Klavier.”
“Nice to meet you…Cerrin…” With slight hesitation, Knight shook the outstretched hand. However, the hand felt unusually warm and course.
“Oh…yeah. Tough being a salamander…though even tougher for me…” Cerrin said, averting his gaze as he muttered the last part.
“Salamander?” Knight asked with a puzzled face. ‘Ain’t that a spirit?’
“Uh, yeah. I’m half-salamander and half-spriggan.”
Knight was taken back by another familiar word, “Huh? I thought you were an elf?”
“Yeaaah… I am. Though I guess technically we’re Fairies. Sounds girly that though, I prefer Elves.”
“Fairy! You can fly then?!” Knight cried in glee, excited at another childhood fantasy he was witnessing.
“Uh…yeah. Why are you asking all this? It should be common knowledge…even for demons.” He asked with a sceptical expression.
“Just ignore him, he gets a bit hyper around species and races he hasn’t seen before,” Iroha explained before smiling at Knight. “Isn’t that right, senpai?”
Luckily, as Knight went red Cerrin decided to end the conversation.
“Well, nice chatting. Come over and meet Klavier when you’ve finished eating.”
“Oh, sure.”
“Nice dude. Oh, don’t worry ‘bout the kids, they seem to like…Rei was it? Anyways see ya later.”
* * *
Finally finishing the unappetising meal, Knight joined Cerrin and Klavier who were gleefully chatting although suspiciously keeping the volume as low as they could. Despite the two kids creating quite the noise.
“Hey, Cerrin.”
“Oh Knight-dude, sit down. This is Klavier.” Cerrin greeted, pointing towards Klavier who was gulping down beer.
“Ahhhh, Knight, is it?”
“Yeah, what were you guys talking about just now?”
“…” the pair were silent.
“Guys?” Knight muttered.
A few seconds passed before Cerrin put down the beer in his hand whilst making a serious expression.
“Knight my dude, I think you can be trusted. What I’m about to say isn’t much of a secret but…”
“Non-demon girls and kids will give us hell for it…” Klavier continued, “So, promise not to let the girls or them kids know? I guess you should keep it from your little girl as well.”
Knight was taken back by the heavy atmosphere but nodded anyway.
“Knight-dude, there are many brothels in this town. Most are pretty shabby or plain normal. But you know there’s a particular joint said to be run by direct children of the Succubus, right? You know they specialize in gifting wonderful dreams to others, right?” Cerrin explained in glee, nudging Knight every time he said ‘right’.
“Uh no…but out of curiosity, can anyone go?”
“Huh?! You sure you’re a male? How do you not know?” Klavier exclaimed as he slammed his beer down.
“Uh, kinda new here,” Knight spoke the truth.
“Well, yes, anyone can go. Well, any male of course,” Cerrin laughed wildly.
“Tell me more,” Knight replied immediately.
Klavier, whose face was getting red, put down the beer and explained, “Well the main demons here are succubi. This type of demon specializes in absorbing the irrepressible lust of humans, which, of course, is the energy men use to sustain themselves.” He grinned, gleefully nudging Cerrin.
Knight listened to Klavier’s every word carefully as he continued.
“So, luckily for us lads, succubi can only feed on our mana by drawing out lust. Thus, we are a necessity to them, hehe.”
Cerrin jovially continued in Klavier’s place, who took another swig of beer, “So, in the shitty month of RainMoot, the succubus come to mind. When we’re sleeping, they’ll use the chance to show us a wonderful and exciting dream. We’ll be refreshed and they can sustain themselves. Plus, they know how to hold back and won’t eat so much mana that we become unable to continue our fun-filled lives. How about it? Everyone wins, right?
After hearing the pair’s words, Knight nodded his head, leading him to a thought.
‘So, the succubus would have no reason to attack humans, and males can vent. This would indirectly contribute to a drop in sexual crimes, right?’
Knight was glad they told him about it. Seeing his reaction, Klavier said, “Actually, I only heard about this shop from others recently. We were planning to visit that shop for the first time today, after a few beers. And then we met you, Knight.”
Klavier took a large swig of beer and said, “And that’s the story dude… How about it? We'll pay for you. So, want to go togeth-”
“Bring me with you,” Knight answered immediately.
However, just as grins bigger than the joker's appeared on the trio's faces, Iroha interrupted.
"Oh, senpaiiii."
"Oh for fuck's sake." Knight sighed in response, "look, I'm a man. I need to check things out."
Iroha's playful expression faded and her grey eyes narrowed, "Look, we need to get out of here. You can't go wasting time in a brothel!"
"What!?" Cerrin and Klavier cried. "Who told you we were going to a brothel?"
"Yeah! Fair enough you helped me escape that shithole, but for one, you ditched me and now I'm fucking armless!" Knight cried, releasing his pent-up anger hidden by his care for Rei. "I'm only following you 'cuz I have no idea what I'm even doing in this fucking world!"
"..." Iroha's narrowed eyes drooped and her lips frowned. "I...I'm sorry."
Despite her first sign of regret for what she did, Knight didn't care, "Yeah, well you should be! You expect me to blindly follow you? I don't even know how I got here, you say you were sent to me but why don't you explain anything?!"
"M-master..." A sweet, timid voice entered Knight's ears along with the tugging of his hoodie.
"I'm sorry Rei but she needs to be told!" He cried, pushing the girl he saved away. "If ditching me wasn't a big enough reason to not trust you then what is up with your attitude?! There's something off about it, why don't you explain that huh?!"
Iroha averted her gaze from Knight's intense stare, mumbling, "I...I haven't been acting strange. It's... just who I am."
"Bullshit!" Knight spat, "Always trying to make me go red! If you really want to take me somewhere then you can fucking explain. And that will have to wait 'cuz I'm going with these guys."
"N-No! Don't...please." Iroha desperately cried, watching Knight turn his back.
"You sure about this Knight-dude?" An apprehensive Cerrin asked.
"...Yeah, even more so." Knight grunted as he walked out the door."
* * *
Cerrin and Klavier played some silly banter as Knight followed them to the shop in question, calming him from his earlier outburst.
Unfortunately, Knight had only been drinking water at Iroha’s discretion, so was a lot less merry than the two elves. If it was just him alone, he wouldn’t have dared to enter that shop, but he had reliable comrades now. And just like the need to muster the courage to buy porno magazines alone, it was less scary when you went in a group. It was that kind of strange psychology that allowed Knight to go through with it.
A few minutes after entering the main part of town, Cerrin came to a stop outside a brick restaurant separated from the two wooden Inns by two narrow alleys.
At a glance, it looked like a normal restaurant, but…
“Welcome–!”
A young woman with long scarlet hair and a body all men dreamed of greeted the trio from the alley.
Ushered down the alley by the beautiful succubus with such a tempting body, they entered the shop and to no surprise, found quite a few patrons, all of them male.
There were several other succubi with alluring figures moving around inside. To be frank, it was causing an urge to well up in Knight’s chest, one he could barely suppress.
It was a restaurant, but there was no food or drinks on the table of the patrons. Instead, all the customers were staring intensely at a survey form on their table, concentrating hard whilst presumably filling it in.
After the tanned succubus led the trio to three empty seats, she pulled a menu from underneath the loose silk covering her bountiful bosom and gave a sweet smile.
“Dear customers, is this your first time visiting us?” she asked. Despite her raunchy appearance, she exuded professionalism, taking the utmost care with potential new clients.
The trio nodded but this time in silence, with all of their eyes drawn to her particularly big set of eyes. Then the smile of the succubus became even more brilliant.
“… Well then, do you know what kind of shop this is, and who we are?” She asked
The trio nodded, nudging each other in glee.
The succubus seemed satisfied and laid the menu down on the table before saying, “Please place your orders. It’s fine if you don’t order anything either… And please fill in the necessary information on the survey form and hand it to the cashier when paying your bill.”
The three took the form, looking over it. Then knight caught something which seemed a bit strange.
“Um, what’s this part about our status, gender, and appearance in our dream…?”
The succubus smiled and explained, “The status part means being, for example, a king or hero in the dream. As for gender and appearance, occasionally there are customers who want to experience how it feels like to be a woman; there are some who want to be a young boy and be forced upon by a strong female.”
‘Are the guys in this town alright?’ Knight wondered. However, that also explained the reason why it was more popular than straight-up sex.
Cerrin shot his hand up and, with a wide grin, asked the succubus, “So, sweetie, for the setting of the target, how detailed can we be?”
“It can be as detailed as you wish. Personality, favourite phrases, appearance, how much she likes you, any feature, and any figure. It’s fine even if you asked for a fictional character.” The succubus professionally explained with an alluring smile.
“Are you serious?” Knight couldn’t help asking.
“I’m serious.” The succubus answered immediately.
The urge in Knight’s chest grew exponentially. This meant that it could be a famous girl, the girl he had a crush on at school; and, that’s right, even his 2D waifus would be fine.
Despite the immediate confirmation, Knight has to ask another question, just in case.
“Excuse me, but wouldn’t we be violating...any copyrights?”
“Er...” The succubus wore a confused look but shook it off in an instant. “No problem, not sure what you mean by that but anything goes. It’s a dream after all.”
“I had to be sure.”
The succubus’ professionalism put Knight at ease. It wouldn’t cause any problems since it was just a dream.
Klavier timidly raised his hand.
“… That means, there are no age restrictions on the targets? No, I’m not thinking about any specific age group, but how should I put this…”
“None, please choose as you please.” The succubus answered without a second thought.
“Is, is that really okay? What about laws…” Knight couldn’t help but ask.
“No problem, it’s just a dream.”
“That’s true.” He agreed.
There were no problems with just dreaming, after all. The wet dream service of the succubus was perfect in every way. That’s what Knight told himself, at least. He wasn’t wrong, but you would still have to question the one wanting the ‘illegal’ dreams.
The eager trio then proceeded to fill out the survey forms in silence. Yes, just like the other patrons in the shop. That explained why it was so quiet, despite brothels normally being rowdy. It was a special service to the males, after all. Despite brothels being so common, it was a different kind of relief.
“Well then, all three honoured customers chose the three-hour session. The fee is 5,000 Dracons each.”
‘That’s cheap!’ Knight thought with his newly found knowledge of currency. If Iroh was telling the truth, that is.
He had never patronised them, but he could tell that compared to the ‘speciality’ shops in Japan and England, this was a bargain.
The succubus must have read Knight’s thoughts from his expression, and gave a faint smile.
“To us, we just need enough money to eat and drink. Apart from this, we just need to feed on a little bit of mana from our customers.”
It was a perfect business. There were no other businesses that could bring happiness to everyone as this brothel did.
The trio had submitted wholeheartedly to the brothel policies which gifted love and care to all. They even started worshipping the succubus, mumbling, “Praise be to the goddess… Ah, goddess…”
“Don’t, don’t act like that, how inauspicious!” She cutely answered their worship, breaking her professionalism for the first time before straightening herself up. “Well then, if you don’t have lodging in the town, tell the cashier and she’ll show you to a room. If you do, please leave the address you’ll be spending tonight at, and what time you plan to sleep. Around that time, the succubus from our shop will go to the side of the sleeping customers and let them see their desired dreams.” The succubus said, getting the trio excited for tonight’s sweet dreams. “Oh, and please don’t drink alcohol if possible. If you get dead drunk or sleep too deeply, even we won’t be able to let the customer dream.”
* * *
With Cerrin and Klavier merrily leaving the restaurant after paying the cashier, Knight was left following the same voluptuous succubus who had attended him before.
Without his newly found friends, Knight lost his merry attitude and instead grew nervous.
“Wait, It’s like 5 PM, right? The others can get sleep at any time but I don’t want to be stuck in a room doing nothing until I get tired.”
“Well, if you wish you can allow us to put you to sleep ourselves.” The succubus said with a faint smile.
“Ah, err…would I have to pay anymore? Or is there anything bad about that?” Knight asked, still hesitant.
“Oh, I thought you understood everything. Did you not know?” the succubus asked with a surprised expression.
“Err, I don’t…think so?”
“Then please forgive me, I should have been more thorough in my explanation earlier.” She bowed, apologising with the utmost professionalism.
“Uh, no it’s alright…”
“Well then, the pen you were given allows your mana and lust to be engraved onto the parchment. This allows us to easily materialise into your dream as whatever type of person you want. By being in your dream we are constantly feeding off of your lust which is filled with mana. So, to put you to sleep we can simply enter whilst awake and force you asleep.”
“What!?” Knight exclaimed, stopping in his tracks, “That sounds…”
“Oh, don’t worry” The succubus turned to Knight with a faint smile, “Force sounds a bit rough but it isn’t that bad. We don’t recommend it because we’ll be feeding on more of your mana. But if we know you're low enough to die, so it will be alright, don’t worry sir.”
“Ah,” Knight let out, following the succubus up a set of wooden stairs. ‘Not like I have this mana, so I’m good there- wait! How the hell is she going to…’ Knight gulped, he might not be able to enjoy paradise. “Um, if the client had little mana, what would you do? You wouldn’t even be able to get in their dream, right?”
“Hmm… Well, if it was low enough then we would either have to reject the service, or they could pay more and drink some water with dissolved mana crystals. Then, we’d have to do physical service and not the dream service.”
“…” Knight gulped. He didn’t know whether to be happier or not. He really wanted the dream service, but did he really want his first time to be at a brothel?
“This way please.”
Luckily, there was a plump, peach right in front of Knight, bouncing from side-to-side. He used that to take his mind off things, and an urge he had when he first entered reappeared in his chest.
