We had a relaxing but meaningful time, asking about the store and its business over a cup of tea, and before I knew it, it was already dark outside. Even though it was the middle of August, it was already dark before 8:00 p.m. The street is brightly lit by the lights leaking from the stores along the street, but it is still dark.

"Well, it's time to go around. First, we will go around the perimeter of the store, and then we will go inside the store. Normally, we would go around the outside and inside separately, but since it's your first time, we'll go around together this time. Muscle-san can wait here this time."

"Understood"

Now, let's get to work.

It was good until I went...... with a lot of enthusiasm.

But there was no such thing as trouble. I ended up just taking a walk around the perimeter of the store. I felt somewhat let down.

"Well, it's better than nothing."

When you put it that way, it's true.

"Next we'll go around inside. Unlike outside, we have to pay attention to the rooms inside. And we have to make sure we don't run into other guests. You have to be much more careful than outside."

I nodded and went back inside the store.

"Some of the guests have already started?"

I said this in front of one of the rooms.

This brothel is a four-story building, and the first floor is the employee space, or rather, the rooms for apprentices who work under the staff, the kitchen, the bath, and the owner's room, etc. The second to fourth floors are the guest rooms or rather, the rooms for the working ladies, and it is said that they are the rooms where the customers are served. The doors of the rooms are decorated with patterns of flowers and grasses, which are used to identify whose room it is.

Gordon-san stopped in front of one of these doors, the one with the lily of the valley on it.

"Listen, problems are most likely to occur before, during, and after the first act. It's not uncommon for people to ask for too much or get too carried away during the act and overdo it. And the second time, it is often the case that the guy who was not satisfied with the previous play ignores the girl and tries to force himself on her. Especially in the middle or the second play, when you've had a few drinks and you're getting drunk. It is at these times that problems tend to occur, so the purpose of the patrols is to carefully check what is going on inside the rooms."

From the second floor up, in the guest room area, we are talking in hushed tones. There is no one in the hallway except for us. In such a quiet hallway, it is possible to hear voices inside the rooms even from outside the door. It seems that the room is not that tightly soundproofed, so if you listen inside like this, you may even be able to hear what they are saying.

And from the door in front of me, I heard a woman's voice that sounded as if she was in pain and a man's voice that sounded as if he was moaning.

"Well, we can't stay in the same place forever, so if there doesn't seem to be anything strange, we'll move on. What's wrong, little girl?"

"Eh? N-no, it's nothing."

"With a face that says "nothing"......, I guess even B-rank adventurers aren't very good at this side of the pond."

"N-no, that's not true......"

"Kukuku, You have a cute side, don't you? But, you can't do this job if you're too shy to confirm things, right?"

"I know"

I know this because it's my job. But still that... It's embarrassing to have sloppy comment.

Well, it's not that I want to look into the act itself. I'm just looking in from the outside like this, and if I don't see any problems, that's all right.

"Uuu..."

Even while doing this, I can hear the voices of men and women from the other side of the door. Occasionally, the female voice is louder and higher, which makes it feel extra vivid.

"Well, you just have to get used to it. do your best"

Gordon-san said so and proceeded down the corridor. He seems to be laughing, as his shoulders are shaking from time to time.

Kuh, you can only laugh like that now. Look, this much, it's nothing!

"Ha~h, you guys must be too energetic......"

I returned to the security office after my last patrol of the day and slumped down on the table.

"Did something happen?"

Muscle-san, who was waiting responds to my muttering and calls out.

"I don't know what it is, but it's already dawn and i can still hear...... from many rooms."

The patrols are basically once every half hour. If there is a guest who might cause a problem, the frequency is said to be increased, but today it seems to be okay.

The order of patrols rotates among three people, with one person patrolling the outside, one person patrolling the inside of the store, and the remaining person waiting in the security room. The next time, the three of us will make the rounds three times, shifting our responsibilities one at a time. Since I was outside last time and inside the store this time, my turn to stand by is next. When the next round is over, the next one is closing time, so for me, all I have to do is wait in the security office and my work for the day is over.

Right now, I have just finished my second round, which means it is around 4:30 a.m. Most people would be sleeping in their beds right now. Most people would be sleeping soundly at this point, but the guests here are all at....... I heard those voices coming from all over the room, and I was even more tired because I wasn't prepared for it. There was no need to hide anything, so I told Muscle-san what it was.

"Most customers do. They enter the store after it opens, have a drink and get into the act. After that, many of them take a nap to recover from their fatigue and then they have one more session before leaving the store. There are other customers as well but they seem to be less frequent."

According to what I heard while waiting in between visits and what I know, most brothels charge a set price for a night's stay. The hours of operation are set by the government and are 12 hours from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. the next morning. Because of this, it seems that most customers enter the brothel from just after the turnover until around 8 p.m., have a simple meal and a drink, and stay there until morning. There are a few customers who leave during the night, but they seem to be few and far between.

By the way, it is said that all the women who work in brothels are either peddlers or are working to pay off their debts. There is no slavery in this country, and human trafficking is illegal, so there are no people who say they are forced to work (at least for a while).

People who sell themselves come from poor farm families and live in brothels from around the age of 10 to reduce their families expenses or to help their families make a living, and they learn how to work and start working in stores at the age of 15. If they stay here, they are guaranteed food, clothing, and shelter, and in some cases, it is better than their original life because they can acquire basic education in a middle-class or higher brothel.

The debt piece is still there. They become prostitutes to earn money to pay off their debts.

In both cases, there is a kind of indenture, and in the case of peddling, it is said that if they can earn a certain number of years and that amount of money, combined with the amount paid at that time and living expenses until they are able to work, they will be free. In the case of debt, the standard is the amount of debt and living expenses, etc.

Either way, it seems that in order to work in a brothel, there is a kind of consent form, and you are not allowed to work without the consent of the person you are working for.

"It's no wonder it's hard to get used to it in the beginning. Even Gordon and I were confused at first."

"Eh?　Muscle-san and Gordon-san too?"

I was a little surprised. I was surprised to learn that Gordon was just like me in the beginning, even though he was so overbearing. But I can still understand Gordon-san, but Muscle-san seems to be very sturdy and has nothing to do with that kind of thing.......

"Yeah, well, it's different for men and women....... Gordon is like that now, but on the first day, every time he came back, he was like...... damn it!"

Hey! Hey! Don't stop me there! You're making me curious! How did it go every time you came back!

"What happened next?"

"Sorry, I just remembered something. It was Gordon's first day here. I didn't have any problems patrolling outside, but when I came back in here after going around the store, I was so tired......"

"Sounds like fun, what are you talking about?"

"I was just about to get to the good part of the conversation when Gordon-san came in with the sound of the door."

Tch, I was almost ready to hear Gordon-san's embarrassing story.......

"What, she seemed tired. I was just telling her a little old story."

"Hmmm, what kind of old story?"

"Not much. Just a little story about Gordon's first day here."

"Wow, that's a lot of......, huh?　Did you tell her, mister?"

"No, I was just about to tell her when you walked in."

"Well, well...... mister, please don't talk about it."

"Mm? I won't talk about it if you insist, but......"

"Ah, please."

"Yeah, I was interested to see what the story was about......."

"Yeah, no, I'm done talking about this. Don't ask any more unnecessary questions, little girl."

It looked like it was going to be an interesting story, but.......

As he said, I could not hear this story from either Muscle-san or Gordon-san until the end of the store hour