When Nick finally returned to his house and lay down on the bed, he wanted to kick himself in the face. When the human masseur was about to contact Holdereen the Crustia, Arteris the Sangui, and Aqua the Ocea, he stopped himself in his tracks. Technically, Hildmarterias didn't do anything lawless. Yes, she was kind of handsy with him, but not too much to consider it harassment. Cultural differences would be blamed here.

"Why did I agree to this stupid contest?.." quite often the best way to avoid problems was to just not get involved. But NO, he had to sustain his pride as a masseur and answer the challenge. His gallantry towards Franka was also partially to blame, but he was just protecting his... friend? Could they be considered friends already? The man had no bloody idea.

So yeah, he kinda dug up his own, non-literal grave. And while today his freedom was still intact, the guy dreaded what this Ramodas will pull from tomorrow on. Knowing her species' aggressiveness and straightforward approach, the girl will try anything to make him bend. Nothing criminal, of course, but there were a lot of ways to tick him off legally. Oh, boy...

When he woke up the next morning, Nick did all the morning stuff and then decided to check today's schedule of appointments. The moment his eyes focused on the list of arrangements, the human man felt his jaw falling off.

"What the fuck?!" all of the appointments, ALL OF THEM, were registered on a single person. And to make the matters worse, every single one was already paid off. And guess who was the client... "Jeez, she doesn't waste time!"

But there was no rule against such a thing, so he had to keep it professional. Despite how the guy felt internally.

"Welcome to the "In Human Hands" parlor." when the client finally arrived, Nick kept his serviceable face, while trying to keep it together. "Do you have an appointment?"

"Right here with me, Niku-chan!" Hildmarterias was grinning as usual, but now dressed more... traditionally? As difficult as it was to imagine any culture among these nomadic brutes, the pretty cool armored dress with ceremonial paintings and markings was actually very nice to look at. The word "armored" was kind of redundant since those pieces of metal were also there just to look pretty. The real protection was their scales. "Ready to give me pleasure only a man is capable of providing?"

"If by that you mean my massaging skills, then yes." he was on duty, thus protected. But in the meantime, the human man had to stay cautious. Despite his dislike for this specific Ramodas, she had a bombshell of a body and knew it well with the fact that he found her sexually attractive. "Please, lay down."

Once the client voiced her wishes, Nick realized that it is going to be a long day. First of all, was the same treatment he gave her yesterday, but longer and even rougher. Ramodas thrived in pain, believing it cleansed their bodies, made them tougher, and was an overall incredible feeling.

"Did you know that our nervous system is tweaked to enjoy pain in a certain amount?!" she asked him, in between violent moans and screams. Good thing that the room and the house at large were soundproof or not a single alien or human would even set a foot in this parlor.

"Yes, I knew about that. I was studying as the Xenobiologist." this time Nick applied the Resonators again, but much more powerful and armor-piercing. Another usage of Infinita's powers would leave him exhausted very fast and he has an entire working day to attend to this woman.

"Oh, so you also know what Ramodas's faith in true desire often produces, lover boy?" in the sci-fi world such a statement would sound illogical, but since eldritch goddesses and all-powerful precursors were also present - nothing was impossible. Even dragon people fucking non-dragon people and for some reason conceiving (sometimes) healthy children with them.

"By defying common sense? Yes, I am aware of that."

"Wanna try it out with me?"

"I am on duty."

"Weekend is approaching, Niku-chan!"

"No commentary."

The real challenge turned out to be... the intimate massage. Despite it not involving baguettes penetrating doughnuts, the human man still had to deal with her erogenous areas. And to say that Hildmarterias was going to make his job easier was very naïve.

"Mmmmm, right inside of it~" she purred when he was working with her down south. "You can use your tongue down there, lover boy~"

"My hands are enough." there was a strong urge to pinch her there, but recent experience has proven that such an act would only make things worse. This is Ramodas, the pain was both the fun and the appetizer for them.

"Why not?" the dragon lady pointed at his dataslate. "I read your rules. As long as it is not outright sex, it is allowed..."

Please, don't, please, don't, please, don't, please, don't, begged Nick in his mind, when he realized that there was another rule, closely associated with this one. But this hedonistic killing machine was not just some arrogant blockhead.

"... which includes the wish for the usage of a specific appendage of the masseur, if the client is willing to pay an additional price." her triumphant smile came together with an obsidian-colored card, fixated right between her fangs. "Ready to use your mouth, Niku-chan?"

Why is every woman I service seems to have more money than a private mining company working with gems?! The human masseur glared at her and then added, with a disarming smile:

"UNLESS it is against the masseur's beliefs, standards, and cultural stance. So don't get excited over something you've conveniently omitted from the rule."

But instead of an expression of wounded pride or at least a pout, female Ramodas's grin only grew bigger.

"And here I thought this station is going to be a boring place." she seductively licked her lips. "Humans are a challenging prey indeed. No worries, though, we have allllllllll the time in this galaxy~"

After this hell of a ride finally came to an end, Nick was alone at last. His mental resources, just as well as physical, were almost completely depleted. Oh yes, and a huge boner down south was also definitely a problem too.

"Fuck buckets..." he looked at the clock and sighed. He really wanted to have sex but decided against it. Girls were either asleep or busy right now. He didn't want to call them here just to please him, although they would definitely come running. A good wank will have to do.

But when he turned on the PronHubby and selected one of his favorite videos, a different link has come onto the screen. And then his hands froze in place, only partially able to unbutton the pants. There was a half-naked actress, who stood with her back turned to the screen, with a very familiar body type and buttocks. And then she turned around...

"You've got to be kidding me..." there, doing a hip-sway dance, with a memetic "2 Phut Hon" music in the background, was Hildmarterias. She was smug as always, while energetically doing the sexy movements. Her erotic bra eventually couldn't take her bouncing chest and tactically fell down, revealing her massive, juicy melons. And those muscled hips...

"Like what you see, Niku-chan?" and then the voice came from the loudspeaker. Her voice.

"Okay, listen here, you twat biscuit!" he stood up, grabbing the anti-lust pill out of his infirmary shelf. "You want a war of attrition? YOU WILL GET A WAR OF ATTRITION."

Meanwhile, the majority of Nick's acquaintances suddenly got their hands incredibly full.

Sequoia got into serious negotiations with several troublesome shareholders, that completely besieged her with even breakfast, lunch, and dinner turning into a very short break. She began feeling pains again, internally seething with anger and frustration, unable to reach Nick for relief.

Voltana was almost drowned by the incoming orders from her customers, forced to work almost day and night without stopping. It was an express order with great payment, but she soon began to absolutely regret ever taking it. Her gaming time, massage sessions, and quality time with Nick came to a close, causing her a lot of emotional outbursts.

13th Military Detachment also got their hands full. Several pirate bases seemingly popped out of fricking nowhere near Cornucopia, threatening trade lanes and the safety of the station. So every available forces were sent in to seek and destroy, not to mention the doubled patrols. Without access to Nick's parlor, both Holdereen and Arteris became incredibly cranky and aggressive, basically ready to brutally torture those pathetic miscreants that put them into this state. The rest of the group shared their feelings.

Even Nexus of Cores' embassy suddenly got pretty busy, thwarting some diplomatic incident seemingly caused by one of their drones.

UEF were accused of some fraudulent crimes by several embassies, so the police got involved. Too many to think about a lone masseur, pursued by some thirsty chick.

Uta got so busy with her world-building, that she lost the track of time. She wanted to impress Nick that much.

A sudden surge of crime got CPD tied up too. Aqua was musing why there were so many felons out of nowhere, but continued to do her job, even if it meant working overtime.

Franka also got loaded with additional training and preparations. Despite legality and all of this being expected, she knew someone was deliberately separating her from Nick. And that infuriated her more than she would like to admit.