With the help of the elves, we finish restyling all the guest rooms on the bottom floor in just a few days. Now, all of them follow the same design and are completely safe from any undesirable spectators peeking in. 

The purple curtains now completely cover the windows, not letting even a speck of a sunray fall inside. They are of course removable. Getting some fresh air in there from time to time is quite a no-brainer. Can’t have it become stale and heavy from all the possible scents and light aphrodisiacs.

Bedsheets and pillows are now of various shades of violet too. We ordered a material that’s supposedly easy to wash from any possible fluids. We even saw some made out of a hydrophobic one, but it would have been quite stupid to choose it. Yeah, it’s perfect for things like coats or other clothing, but you don’t want to end up swimming in sweat and love juices while you are at it. I don’t know who thought making bedsheets out of it was a good idea. They definitely didn’t test them long enough to notice the issue.

The internal design of the rooms with lots of dark mahogany and white marble parts here and there seem perfect so we don’t change that much when it comes to walls. Lighting crystals, which were light orange before, are now replaced with pinkish ones that can also reach purplish hue with more energy infused. We leave a yellowish one in the main lamp hanging out from the ceiling so it will be easier to clean and use the room when it doesn’t serve its main purpose.

I’m currently going around and inspecting everything, thinking of possible changes and improvements while I’m at it. Sirgia accompanies me and tests all crystals since she was the one who fine-tuned them to achieve the cosiest result. Everything seems to be working fine and I don’t see any parts that require reconsidering again. It all creates a pretty lovely atmosphere.

I try to recall whatever I know about hotels and their more naughty counterparts while glancing all over the room we are currently in. We nailed the atmosphere quite decently. All the important parts seem to be there. All locks work without an issue. Beds are comfy as hell. Looks like everything is pretty much ready. 

While brushing my hand over one of the cupboards near the bed, I’m reminded of one more feature which both of them utilize. And it’s one of the most important ones, especially for the lewd establishments. It’s communication. You don’t go through tens of floors back down to the reception desk to ask for something or request a thing to your room. And in the case of love hotels, it’s even more crucial since you aren’t going to parade out of the room in the middle of the session to ask for an extension or whatever else.

“And suddenly you start appreciating telephones when they are gone…” I murmur with a wry smile.

Sirgia catches onto an unknown word and walks closer to me with a curious expression.

“Don’t mind me, just trying to figure out how to connect each room to the reception desk. Having rows of stones enchanted with Message doesn’t seem like the best idea.” 

I ruffle through her hair. She really looks insanely adorable in her maid outfit. I pick her up and sit her down on the cupboard. She’s now slightly taller than me in that position. She smiles cutely when I brush her cheek. Most likely sensing my intentions, she leans in for a kiss and we join our lips in a gentle peck. I’m the one to tilt my head a bit upwards this time.

While Safi and Emi pretty much always lively assault me with deep kisses, Sirgia’s ones are more tame and soft. Even though she’s being less reserved than before, her true nature still surfaces in things like these.

Pulling her a little closer, I pepper her lips with tens of quick kisses without diving any deeper, evoking a little giggle from her. She stops me with her hands and looks me in the eyes for a moment, before joining our mouths together again and inviting my tongue for a slow and gentle dance. 

Ending our little session of affectionate fun, she rubs her cheeks against mine while entwining her arms behind my neck. A moment later, she pulls back and keeps glancing at my face while moving her small hand over my cheek.

“What is a telephone, Master?” she asks, not forgetting my previous words.

“Well, it’s kind of a device, I guess we can call it an artifact, which allows a person to speak with another one, who also has a copy, over huge distances. It’s quite sophisticated though and I don’t think it would work in this world. It’s different from Message. Closer to Telepathy I guess.”

Sirgia’s eyes sparkle a bit when hearing about it being complex.

“Can you tell me more about how it works? Please?”

I chuckle at her and place one more kiss on her lips. “Let’s see, I’ll try to envision it with our home as an example. There would be one device with two parts in this room. The lower one would be a panel to put in numbers. There would be another one located in the reception desk and also in every room in the mansion and all of them would have their unique sequence of numbers that would identify them. You could pick up the second part of this device here and it would automatically make the one at reception create a sound to inform someone about a request for conversation. After they pick up theirs, a connection would be made between those two and both people could hear and speak to each other through them. And the one in reception could input the unique numbers in the bottom part before picking up the top one so that it makes a connection with any of the devices in the rooms. As for the more technical details, all those devices would have been connected with a rope that can transmit electricity. When someone would speak to their own device, it would change the sound into electricity waves and send them to the other one which would receive them and transform back into sound for the other person to hear.”

That’s still quite a basic interpretation of how it all works, but I think it’s enough for her to grasp the concept. Sirgia’s imagination and creative way of thinking are great, but I don’t think she will be able to recreate the whole thing without electricity being spread and used commonly.

“I think I have an idea how to create something like that,” she suddenly says.

I raise my brows in surprise. “Really?”

“It most likely won’t be exactly the same, but there are a few things I just came up with which could potentially work. It just needs to connect the people using the artifact so that they can communicate with each other and the one at the reception desk has to be like a master device that can reach any other one, right?” She reaffirms if she understood me correctly.

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“Then, I can start working on it even with the small workshop I have in my room. Should I do it?”

“I mean, sure, but that’s a lot of artifacts to prepare. Are you fine doing all of it alone?”

“Of course! It’s nothing! As long as I succeed with what I’m thinking of and create a working prototype, the rest will just need me to repeat the process but quicker.”

She explains with a lot of confidence and pride showing on her face. I ruffle through her hair again and she smiles contentedly.

“I’ll leave it to you then. Don’t push yourself like with the first project. And tell me whenever you need anything.”

“Anything?” She glances at me a bit shyly and I nod. “Then… I need some more kisses from Master…”

“Don’t be ashamed of asking for much more…”

I fulfil her request for a few more minutes before we come out of the room and finish checking the rest of them.

Next, I head out to the town to get weapons for the girls. Not much planning here, I just visit some weapon shops and pick up a few decent looking ones. We’ll think about something better if a need for them arises and that most likely won’t happen until we get the combat slave plan going and perhaps figure out some low-tier storage rings.

As for the magical focuses, I’m not that well-versed in them so I spend a bit more time in the shop which deals in them, listening to some details from the owner of the store. With their help, I get one that has nature affinity and one that serves as a general mana catalyst. 

Naturally, the clothes and collars are still far from ready in just a few days so I move to the castle. I spend a few hours browsing through the books about slavery marks. I don’t find that much useful information in the general part of it, mostly what I already knew or stumbled on in the past when also checking out the topic.

The basics are there. A slave mark creates a connection between the slave and the owner, with various restrictions and additional features the higher tier the mark is. With the highest being similar to what Sirgia had, where she couldn’t go against master’s orders or she would be in a lot of mental pain and both her Job and Class were almost completely restricted.

That connection persists all the time, as long as one of them is alive. The books list some functions of various slave marks, but they don’t say anything about placing or removing them, besides mentioning death and that the owner can get rid of it. I’ve already learned how to do that.

I decide to move to the restricted section. Not the forbidden one, just a bit less public and available to people living in the castle. A person comes with me to watch if I’m not going to try and steal anything since this part of the library consists of many quite important or serious writings. And it also leads further into the forbidden chamber so the lady who comes with me has to keep an eye on that entrance too. The librarians and guards do know who I am, but that doesn’t mean that they will just turn around and act like it doesn’t concern them whatever I do here.

She seems quite eager to help me with my research. It’s a woman somewhere around 30-40 years old I guess, with dark brown hair woven into a single long braid. She does not act completely enamoured with me, but she smiles openly at my banter and follows me quite close, often asking if I don’t need anything else.

With her help, we quickly gather a bunch of books on slavery seals and begin the research. She also takes part in it. I just can’t convince her not to, and another pair of eyes will make it faster so I instruct her what to look for.

In a few hours, I learn that slavery ownership can be removed via other means than just death and it also doesn’t destroy the seal. The restrictions still exist, even though the slave becomes masterless. It’s a technique usually reserved for those slave merchants who work for the government. 

When for some reasons it’s needed to undo the connection and the owner doesn’t want to do it willingly, they can void the slavery contract. That technique isn’t explained in detail in the books, but at least I now know that it exists. It doesn’t get rid of the mark, just the connection, but dealing with it after a slave is without a master is much easier.

One of the books fortunately mentions a way for slave traders to verify what seal is placed on a person and if its connection is active. I memorize it to test later when I come back home.

As for breaking the seals, it’s as I expected and not much information is available here, besides the few tricks I figured out when reading their descriptions in the public area the previous time. It’s most likely intentionally not placed here so that it doesn’t get leaked out and stays available to the chosen individuals. 

There’s always a chance some slave traders have come up with their own technique of breaking seals or acquired the information through other means, but I don’t think it will be possible for me to act like one and try to ask for it directly. Selina definitely has her ways considering how big and well-known her business is. Mentioning breaking the seals could seem suspicious even if she placed me in the VIP category.

「Guess I’ll have to trouble Ross. He might agree to arrange a meeting with one of the kingdom’s people who deal with the seals while I pose as a freshly employed slaver. Voiding the ownership may be out of the question, but breaking masterless marks should be fine.」

Since I’m already at the castle, I decide to ask for an audience. I’ll be able to take asking for help with advertising and slavery seals off the to-do list at once if everything goes right. We end our research in the library and after thanking the woman for her assistance, I move to the royal part of the structure and inform one of the servants about my request. He tells me that the King is currently talking with the other Heroes who just returned from their first mission and asks if I want to join them. 

I don’t think it would be a good idea so I politely decline. Shino would definitely start inquiring about what I have been doing during this time and there is a chance she would want to visit my ‘store’. I’m not ready to reveal the true purpose of my business to them yet. It will happen, but not so soon.

Not having any other things to do, I walk to the training area behind the barracks and start practising with my weapons, which now include the whip, shortsword and whip sword forms. I’ve managed to somehow create or unlock one active skill for the shortsword, the big blades emerging from the ground, while training with it so maybe I’ll figure out more of them for other shapes the same way.

Since my Whip Mastery is at level 4, I focus on the new whip sword form. It feels kinda weird having a weapon like this. It’s not something new to me since those can be sometimes found in fantasy fiction or games, but that’s completely different from reality. I’ve watched a lot of videos in the past about how whip swords aren’t exactly good weapons and are quite troublesome in use.

Nevertheless, I’m kinda in a fantasy world myself now so there’s a chance it will do fine. And it’s not just some random whip with blades attached but a supposedly powerful artifact from who knows how long ago. I wouldn’t be surprised if it dated back to even centuries before the Great War. 

At first, it really is awkward. I try to use it similarly to the normal whip since it should be the closest to it, but I can barely do anything besides throwing it in a straight line and pulling back. Any attempts to waggle it around in more controllable patterns fail completely. I almost cut myself a few times when the tip springs back at me after applying a wrong angle before pulling it back.

Some knights take breaks to watch as I struggle with this coiling snake-like weapon, chuckling from time to time when my moves end in a complete failure. For other weapon types, I had an instructor to teach me some basics and correct mistakes, but unfortunately, for this particular one, I don’t think there’s someone who could help me in the capital. Ross would most likely send a message asking around since there should be a chance for someone like that existing, but who knows how long that could take.

Even though I’m not doing that great, I keep my composure and repeatedly try out different moves and strategies to handle the mischievous yet deadly weapon. A competitive spirit awakens in me. Something in the back of my mind is telling me to not give up and push through until I succeed. Mastering such a difficult and unique weapon seems worth it for the sake of pride and boasting effect. Perhaps one day I’ll be known as a legendary whip sword user. That sounds definitely much more impressive than just longsword or greatsword.

After around an hour or more, I finally get some grasp on it. The mastery has risen to the second level. I can make some decently looking horizontal swipes now along with the thrusts. It’s still not as impressive as my efficiency with a normal whip, but that’s to be expected. You can’t master something in an hour, without any external help from someone who already knows a bit about it.

Just as I am finishing the last set of exercises, a familiar feeling arises in my body. I quickly focus my mind on it and a chunk of mana flows through the purple helix to the crystal at the end of the handle. The whip sword retracts for the first time and forms a blade of a longsword’s length. The only difference is that its edges look like rows of pointy and rounded triangles. It’s like a saw-edged blade but the ‘teeth’ are much larger, giving really ominous vibes, almost like it’s a weapon of some sadistic villain.

After all of the blade parts set themselves in their responsive spots, my body moves on its own and positions the sword in front of my face with the tip facing to the sky. It flashes with a purplish glow and suddenly, all of the small blades shoot out to the sides, detaching themselves from the whip, and begin spinning around me like some kind of a protective wall of death.

I glance all around as the spinning blades whirr in the air, emitting a low humming sound. They move in a certain distance from my body and when I make a step, they also fly along the path. I try running and there are no issues with accidentally getting into their path as they match my speed without any problems.

「This feels so weird… but at the same time, it’s so cool. I guess I now have at least one defensive ability. This came faster than I expected.」

Cutting off the flow of mana makes them all fly back to the almost flat rope and attach themselves to it again, and the ominous blade forms back. I check my mastery and it did reach level 3. Seems like it’s the required threshold for skills to manifest. 

「Why did it rise that fast though? Was it because it’s a whip and a sword and I kinda used both a lot already? Or something is really wrong here. I wonder if I’ll ever figure this out.」

While I’m pondering over it on the sides, Ross walks up to me. Supposedly, he arrived here around 20 minutes ago but didn’t want to disrupt my training so he just sat on a bench and watched the show. That explains why it got so quiet out of a sudden. All the knights must have stopped procrastinating and went back to do their stuff when they saw the King walk in.

We move to a nearby, small garden and sit down by one of the stone tables. There’s no one around, but he takes out a similar artifact to what I’ve seen the info broker use back before the operation. In his case, it starts floating after being injected with mana and I don’t think he has to focus a lot to keep it up.

“That was quite something, I must say. I’ve never seen a sword split like that,” he opens the conversation.

“I’m surprised no less than you. I didn’t expect anything else besides me getting hundreds of little cuts during this very first training session with the whip sword shape,” I chuckle with a wry smile.

“And yet something did happen, and it looks pretty useful. Should be possible to utilize it both defensively and offensively, I think.”

“Yeah. We shall see. Anyway, how did the meeting go?”

He smiles. “Good. Besides an unexpected fall into old Dwarven ruins after they clashed with an Abyssal, everything went pretty well.”

“Nothing ever goes along the plan. Typical. Did we learn anything new from their expedition?”

“Not exactly that new, but we confirmed again the presence of a weird water-like surface which is actually solid. Both the Heroes and us suspect that this is some kind of a portal, but we never had a chance to investigate it.”

“I see. Well, not like me knowing that will be of any help. I’m kinda useless here, sitting on the sides.”

He waves his hand. “Don’t say that. You have your own goals and plans. And besides, you never know how and where you can find a connection to the calamity. If you don’t mind, I’d like to share with you our findings regularly. And besides, it looks like you are getting stronger bit by bit so perhaps one day I’ll ask you to cooperate with the more serious investigation too.” 

“I’ll see about that in the future. I have some decent leads on how to utilize this Class a bit more efficiently than I thought at first, but it still needs time. It’s not like I don’t want to go exploring, that’s actually really tempting, but as you just said, I need to focus on the goals and plans I’ve set my mind on right now. And to do that, I’ll need a little help from you.”

After this little chat, I move the conversation onto the important things. 

“Speak then and this humble servant shall grant your wishes, My Lord.” He lowers his head and places his hand on his heart.

I chuckle at him while raising my brows in surprise. “The hell are you doing? If anyone heard that, I would have been beheaded on the spot. Are you trying to get rid of me?”

He also laughs. “Goddess forbid, of course not. It’s just I always wanted to say that line and you are the only person who wouldn’t completely berate me for it. Everyone is always humble and polite and I have to act like some immensely respectable person which doesn't make mistakes and only shows himself from the overbearing and noble side. But I’m just a human too. It gets boring when no one treats you like an equal. You and Cornelia are pretty much the only people who act casually around me.”

“I see, so you are basically into a master-servant type of play. Noted.” I summon a notepad from my ring and act like I’m writing something down with full seriousness.

“Erm… what could you possibly mean by that?” He smiles awkwardly.

“Oh, nothing. You’ll see for yourself one day. Just wait patiently.” I waggle my eyebrows at him and hide the props. “Let’s get to the point then. First, I’d like to borrow your information network for the day of the opening. It would be great to spread some news here and there about the locum and its purpose, but also about the most crucial rules. I’ll send you a list of them after I’m done writing all down. This might be a little bit problematic, but we need to try to somehow use them in the rumours. I don’t know, perhaps something like ‘Hey, have you ever had some fun with a Slime? I’ve heard it feels like heaven. There’s this new place opening which actually lets you do it. And it’s completely safe as long as you don’t go for their cores.’ or the likes.” I try to come up with a quick example.

Ross ponders for a moment. “Hmmm… I see… Well, definitely doable with a bit of work. I’ll be able to arrange that after you get me the rules. Mark down the most important ones. And… does it actually…?” He gives me a bit of side-glance.

“Yeah. Not like I have that much experience with ‘normal’ people, but it is quite unimaginable.” I smile at him while recalling my fun with Safi and Emi. “Okay, the next thing is much more troublesome. I learned how to identify masterless slave marks, but I’m not completely sure how to break them. And yes, I do break the seals of the girls in my mansion, I hope you won’t snitch on me. This actually might come helpful to you someday since I plan on registering them as combat slaves. Just imagine having a personal army of demi-human girls at your call. Anyway, would it be possible to meet one of the contracted slavers to learn the technique? Should be okay if I only wanted the masterless one, right?”

He joins his hands under his chin. “That’s… an interesting idea. So, basically, it’s like you are creating your own party but with demi-humans. You could act independently from the other Heroes. Amazing! I don’t care how, I’ll make this meeting happen! Just wait for my notice! Truly, you really come up with some fantastic ideas. And it actually can benefit your long-term goal too, can’t it? If rumours about a strong party of demi-humans led by a Human saving the world spread around, it could have a great impact on society!”

Ross seems much happier about the combat slave plan than I expected him to be. I only brought it up to support my reasoning so it doesn’t look like I’m breaking slavery marks left and right, even though he most likely would have figured that out just from knowing me for some time already. 

「Well, it’s good. I don’t think we’ll be the ones saving the world, but undertaking some quests together might actually be nice. We would have a stable income and also ‘cover’ of a brothel while acting like adventurers on the backstage. To do that though, I need a lot more people in the mansion. Enough for the brothel to keep running when I or some girls leave for a journey. That’s something worth looking up to. I’m already getting excited!」

“I’m glad you are up for it. These are the main aspects I need your help with. We are pretty close to starting the business. Perhaps a week or two at maximum more.”

“Great. I’m happy that things are going well for you. Don’t be polite and ask for whatever you need, I’ll try to help as much as I can. Now, that there’s the possibility of you helping with the calamity in the future, I’m even more obliged to offer my help.”

We shake our hands and laugh. This meeting went much better than I expected. And it’s good to know that the others are doing fine too. I hope they stay as a group and act together. Marcia will definitely try to keep the team running, but I’m a bit worried about other girls getting in arguments with Kamil. Even back in class they often bickered amongst themselves and it wasn’t always complete jokes. Well, I can’t do anything about that. I should focus on my side of things.