Proofread by Thomas F. 2nd June, 2025.
"The four categories of rooms should work well," I said while writing in my diary as the carriage moved toward our new destination from Valentina's office.
"If it had been a month ago, I would have said it would not work; people would not spend such money to eat and drink in a brothel, but the reality is in front of us,"
"So, there is a high chance that rooms will work," she replied as she looked through the window.
I know they will work; people always pay if they find the services desirable, especially to impress women and feel special.
This is not a new idea in this world; many brothels use it, but with the changes I am planning, mine would be the biggest hit.
Soon, the carriage stopped in front of the two-story building, which had a sign reading 'Elese Cain. ' However, that sign is now a bit dusty, as if its proprietor wasn't taking good care of it.
With how big the order was, Elese had closed down her shop temporarily; she had no other choice. As every bit of time and energy she had, she was spending on completing the order.
She is doing quite a good job; in the past twelve days, she has finished ten dresses, and her pace is increasing.
Click!
"The shop is clo…" said a young man working on the cloth, but stopped midway, seeing us.
"Mister Silver," he said, leaving the cloth he was cutting. "Good afternoon, Jesse. Could you tell Miss Cain that we have arrived?" I said to a young man. He was Jesse, Miss Cain's nephew.
"I will inform Aunt right away," he replied and left.
I looked around and saw a lot more people than the last time, fourteen people working on the different parts of the dress.
"Mister Silver, you should have informed me of your coming; I would have been more prepared," said Elese as she appeared.
"There is no need," I said before looking around. "Is there somewhere we could talk more privately?" I asked; she was surpriced but nodded.
"This way," she said, leading us to the upper floor, into what seemed like a messy living room.
"Sorry for the mess," she apologised as she cleared the pieces of cloth. "It is fine, Elese," I said as we sat down.
"Since you have personally come here, Mister Silver, there must be something important?" she asked.
I smiled at that, and instead of answering, I took out the check and slid it toward her. Seeing the number on the check, her eyes couldn't help but widen.
It is a check for half a million crowns. With it, I am paying her the full amount of the contract despite her completing less than 10% of the order.
"I am increasing the order, doubling it," I stated, and I could see her faintly shake before she was able to calm herself down.
"The time?" she asked softly. "The same, but the order might increase even more," I replied, and her eyes became a little unfocused when she heard that.
The new girls are coming soon, and I will not have them wear old dresses; they will also get their custom dresses. This order is just the beginning; it is going to get quite big, and she will have to do it in a limited time without sacrificing quality.
"I will need to hire a lot more people and a bigger space," she muttered softly to herself. She had a habit of doing that when she was thinking.
"So, will you be able to do it?" I asked her. "Yes. I will need to hire a lot of people, but I will be able to do it," she replied a little loudly and turned to me.
"For such quick order, the old price will not do," she said, with voice firm.
If I decline, she will not do it, but I have no intention of doing it.
"Of course, how about five thousand and five hundred crowns per dress? It is sufficient, right?" I asked with a smile.
I could have chosen the other boutique; with such a big order, even those snobby boutiques wouldn't have been able to turn me away, but Elese's designs are great, and most importantly, she captures my vision.
I don't know if it is skill or instinct, but she is doing a great job; those ten dresses she designed are amazing, perfectly capturing the girls' natural qualities.
Fifteen minutes later, we had signed a new deal.
We got out of the shop, with Elese sending us off to our carriage; we had nowhere else to go but back to the establishment and wait.
I will wait for the banks and my brother's response; even if the response is negative, I have other options.
Soon, the carriage entered through the establishment's gates, and a few seconds later, we walked out of it.
The guards at the entrance handed the letters to Carla as we stepped into the hall, where a handful of unfamiliar faces were already milling about—some holding conventional tools, others gripping strange, unconventional objects.
They were from the Nielson, conducting surveys and taking measurements; I talked to them for a few moments before going to my office.
Carla handed me the letters intended for me. Four letters have come, but two of them are the most important. The first one is from the bank, and the second one is from my brother Reed.
Rip!
With my heart beating fast, I opened the second letter from my brother Reed. If he rejects my offer, I will likely have to go to one of the cities of Meldhorn for the girls.
I began to read the letter, and the more I read, the bigger my smile became. He agreed to transfer all the girls' contracts, a total of sixty-two girls, with each contract costing me fifty thousand crowns.
A total of three million and a hundred thousand crowns will empty nearly all I have in the bank, leaving less than ten thousand in my account.
I immediately begin to write the reply; I want to finalize the deal today.
After writing, my brother and I wrote to my man in Redfawn, asking him to handle everything, including giving freedom to those who want to leave, with severance pay, which I had hiked to five thousand.
It might seem like too much, but it is not; I need the girls, who are all in, and it has benefited me a lot so far.
Those two who left were not the only ones the poachers approached; more than twenty have been approached, but only two have left despite the promise of huge money, and I count that as a big win.
After I finished that, I moved to the letter sent by the bank, which brought an even bigger smile to my face.
The bank had agreed to give me the loan, and they have not even halved the amount as I thought they might.
It is such big news.
Click!
I was smiling ear to ear when Carla walked in. When she saw me smiling brightly, she arched her brow in question.
I did not say anything and just handed the letters to her, and she read them; her eyes had also gone wide.
"These are the best pieces of news we could've hoped for," she said, reading the letters— but then, for the briefest moment, her expression shifted… before settling back to normal.
Making me feel like I had imagined it, but I knew I hadn't.
"I am going to the bank," I informed her, before getting up. It hadn't been half an hour since I had returned, and I was going out again, but it was important; I needed to have the money in my hand.
It took me one and a half hours to return to the establishment; it felt good to have money again, and with it, the expansion will begin smoothly.
…
I returned a few minutes before the establishment's gates opened. I went inside through the back entrance before going back to my office.
Soon, the gates of the establishment opened, and I watched from the windows as usual.
I made my rounds through the establishment before going to my room to sleep.
…
[Souteneur Merchant Level 7]
The text appeared before me as I woke up, bringing a large smile to my face. It had been a while since I had leveled up in my base class.
I immediately opened my class window without wasting a moment.
Class:
Souteneur Merchant Lv. 7
Lawyer Lv. 5
Warrior Lv. 2
Charisma: 10
Intelligence: 9
Vitality: 6
Strength: 5
Skills:
1. Trusty Presence
2. Worthy Goods
3. Contract
4. Shop Open
5. Quick Steps
6. Consecutive Strikes
7. Fast Reading
Attribute Points: 01
In the past week, I had leveled up on both my Warrior Class and Lawyer Class.
The Lawyer Class was just one level behind yesterday; now, it is two levels behind. I don't know if this is true, but it is said that base classes should always be higher than other classes.
If any classes exceed it, it slows down the progress of all classes, especially the base class.
All three of my classes had levelled up in these seven days, but not a single one had given me a new skill. The last skill I got was from Lawyer Class, and that was nearly two weeks ago.
Now that the base class has advanced, I have got an attribute point, and I desperately want to use it on strength or vitality, but I know intelligence would be wiser.
I did not waste any time and added the attribute point to the intelligence, taking it to ten, the same level as the charisma, and immediately, I felt its effect.
Class:
Souteneur Merchant Lv. 7
Lawyer Lv. 5
Warrior Lv. 2
Charisma: 10
Intelligence: 9
Vitality: 6
Strength: 5
Skills:
1. Trusty Presence
2. Worthy Goods
3. Contract
4. Shop Open
5. Quick Steps
6. Consecutive Strikes
7. Fast Reading
Attribute Points: 0
I felt my thoughts getting faster; thinking had never felt so effortless as it does right now.
I took the book beside my nightstand and began to read it. Despite the resistance, I read it at three times the normal speed, the same speed at which I read the legal documents.
I am sure now I will be able to read legal documents even faster, and my other skills will also benefit from this.
All of them, even combat skills and faster thoughts, help react faster; it is common knowledge.
I stared at the screen for another minute before getting up and going to the bathroom. I have yoga to do, and after that, I will train with instructor David.
Seeing that he is taking it a notch higher today will be painful.
THUD!
I hit the ground hard, with every part of my body screaming in pain. I had not felt such pain, even on the first day of training, as I am now.
Unlike the first day, today, there were not only hits but also cuts, hundreds of them across my body.
It looks pretty bad, but it isn't.
Instructor David had said that they would heal on their own quickly; it is one of his skills that heals the injuries he caused to his student heal fast.
"You know, you could have been a little merciful," I said to instructor David as I lay on the grass without having any energy to move; even talking is quite a struggle.
"I told you what you will suffer, and you accepted," he replied.
"Do you want me to take it down a notch?" he asked with mirth in his eyes. "No," I declined with the gritted teeth.
The pain was temporary; I could bear it, given the benefits I am having. Not only am I regaining ease with the sword quickly, but I am also quickly mastering and stretching my skills beyond their limit.
The progress made me happy, as I would have to depend less on others protecting me.
As my business grows, so will the danger. Even my father was assassinated, and my grandfather survived more than ten attempts on his life.
It's the cost of doing business in this world—a brutal, unavoidable hazard.
The more your business grows, the more enemies you will make.
It took fifteen minutes for all the cuts to heal, and only after that did I get up, nearly collapsing due to jelly legs.
As I stood up, I limped toward my room, with pain coming from every movement I made.
It will be hell to climb the stairs.