As I look at the emptiness in front of me and consider the coldness outside the brothel. I can’t help but remember the words of one of my favorite characters, ‘Winter is Coming.’

To better understand what I am talking about, I need to take you back in time. To a time before the first snow fell on the land. The harvest of the full moon had ended and business was getting back to normal and then one morning, she came.

I could feel the tension in the air as madam and the woman glared at one another.

“Still rank H nya. How pathetic nya.”

“Still faking the cat accent nya. Don’t you feel embarrassed nya?”

“Oi… don't make fun of me!”

‘Ah… So she can talk without the accent.’ I thought.

I was stuck on cleaning duty with some of the other girls when madam Lexi came in. She was the owner of a rank F brothel called, cat’s cradle.

She was a blond human woman who was oozing with confidence, and who could blame her? Those giant melons she calls tits, those deep blue eyes, that sexy body, the attitude to use an umbrella even indoors without making it look ridiculous.

‘She was the full package, unlike our very own slim, flat-chested Madam Tania.’

“Sofia-chan…”

“Yes…” I stiffly replied. She may have cutely called my name but there was nothing cute about the aura she gave out.

“Use this to scrub the floor.”

“Eh? But that is just a tooth brash…”

“Ar~ra Ar~ra, are you disobeying me?”

‘I don’t know how, but she must have sensed me calling her flat-chested.’

“Yes, mama…” I replied

“Ahahahaha… You are as funny as ever Tania. Hmm… This must be the new girl. Sofia was it. You should learn to keep your inner thoughts from showing on your face. In the future, if you’re in trouble, no matter when, I will lend you my power once.” She said in a motherly way

‘Goddess’ I Thought

“Heeh… Does that make me the devil?”

“Eeeeeee…”

“Now, now, Tina… You are scaring the young girl. Continue with whatever you were doing.”

“Oi… Don’t give my girls orders.”

“It's fine, it's fine, and besides… What I need to talk to you about is important.” She said with a serious face.

Madam Tania didn’t respond. She simply guided lady Lexi to the bar and poured her a cup of alcohol.

“Don’t you have anything better?”

“You know that I don’t, so don’t complain and say what you wanted to say.”

Lady Lexi sighed before emptying the cup in one go and stretching her hand out to have it refilled.

“You heard that the elven kingdom was attacked right?”

“Yeah… It happened two weeks ago, right?” She replied as she refilled the cup.

“Well… the battle is over and the kingdoms that attacked the elven people were beaten silly.”

“That is to be expected.”

“True... but what is not is the fact that those shitty kingdoms went too far in their latest attempt. They threw everything at the elves, as a result, the elven kingdom has suffered a huge financial blow.”

All of a sudden I saw Madam Tania’s face go cloudy. It was as if she was waiting to hear some really bad news from her friend.

“How bad?”

“The whole of winter, the elven brothel will be opened and they will be charging half price. Furthermore, I hear the seven deadly beauties will be coming from the elven kingdom as well.”

Madam Tania drank the whole bottle before throwing it against the wall in anger, “Are you shitting me? If that brothel is allowed to remain open throughout winter with half-priced services, it will mean the end of us lower-ranked brothels. Don’t tell me that the brothel guild approved this?”

“Do they have a choice? The elven brothel has stayed true to the unspoken rule of festival openings, it will be pretty bad if the guild were to tell them not to open for the winter when this is the first time they are doing it.”

“Dam it, dam it.”

I couldn’t blame Madam Tania for acting in such away. I remembered how our business feel the last time the elven brothel opened. If we were to experience such a decline in customers for a whole season there is no telling how hard we will be financially hit.

Living a good life in this world requires a lot of money. Thanks to wars everywhere, prices of stuff are high, too high… way too high.

Don t get me wrong, you could survive on some silver coins a month but that type of living would be basic. I hate to imagine how poverty-stricken people are living right now.

“You seem calm about all this Lexi. Any special reason for that?” I heard madam Tania ask her friend.

Now that she mentions it, Lady Lexi does seem calm.

“I manage to find myself a winter patron.”

“What?”

A patron is a special client who books a stay at a brothel for a long period of time.  Traveling during winter is dangerous for merchants and costly as slippery roads can lead to accidents. Adventurers also don’t accept quests doing this time and most simply waste the winter away at an inn, with the occasional visits to brothels.

Among these merchants and adventurers, are those whose wealth is sufficient enough to book a stay at a brothel for the whole season.

The procedure is pretty simple. The brothel owner is paid a booking fee which covers the stay and services of the girls at the brothel.

The girls are paid by the brothel to provide the client with services throughout winter. The client is basically buying his very own harem for the winter.

I won’t get into the full details because it all depends on the negotiation between madam and the client, but taking this place for example. The divas will be paid 3000 gold coins each. The pros would be paid 2000 gold coins, while we armatures would be paid 1000 gold coins. Terms and conditions apply…

It goes without saying that this kind of arrangement isn’t cheap. We are talking platinum coins here.

100 bronze coins get you 1 silver and 100 silvers get you 1 gold coin and 1000 gold coins will get you a platinum coin. To book our rank H brothel would set you back roughly 50 platinum coins or 50,000 gold coins.

“So… How much did you charge the sucker?”

“How rude Tania. We offer the best services among rank F brothels you know.”

“You still haven’t answered the question.”

“… 120 platinum coins.”

’120 platinum coins! That’s 120, 000 gold coins…’ I yelled in my mind

“Looks like my cat’s cradle will be moving up the ranks again. I feel bad about leaving my former colleague behind but what can I do? I have to think about the wellbeing of my cat girl’s nya…”

Her boasting was beginning to get to madam Tania.”

“I thought I heard your voice, Nyaaa…”

“Kitty-chan.”

The person who interrupted their meeting was the number one girl in our brothel. The diva Kitty.