A Dragon's Curiosity

When the bar got an increasing influx of adventurers as the evening progressed, the hostess Velvet invited Nisha on the second floor, as a guest and not a customer.

The cheerful atmosphere grew increasingly dirty, many of the seasoned warriors and hunters had less settled morals when it came to celebrating and visiting an establishment in the redlight district.

Those with the coin to enjoy the [Red Night Palace] must have had a treasure among their loot from the Dungeon, the prices were rather expensive - although many swore that it was absolutely worth every silver.

Female adventurers also lost their inhibitions and pulled the male servers in their embrace, who regarded being taken advantage of less harshly than the female servers.

Unsure how to answer the pure maiden’s questions as time went on, the hostess retreated to a safer environment.

There were some more eager customers who already pulled their targets of adoration into the second floor as well, but the top establishment of the entire district spared no costs to enhance the experience of their customers.

Each room boasted an enchantment, which isolated any sounds that might escape the walls otherwise.

While the cost for the upkeep might appear rather steep from a casual glance, the discreet atmosphere paid off all the expenditures from a business point of view.

Velvet scolded one of her colleagues who took a jab at her for carrying off a young elf into her room and firmly closed the door, securing the bolt and turning the key to make sure none of the mischievous girls interrupted them.

Contrary to the hostess sneaking around like a thief, Nisha eagerly took in the new surroundings.

She had briefly seen the second floor before when the two went for Carmen’s office before, yet they had not stopped long enough to give her a good view.

Overall, the spacious room had an open layout, a big bed with two sheer curtains dominated most of the area, while two dressers, a big and exquisite mirror as well as a strange contraception made out of wood in the shape of a cross, complete with leather straps and metal rings.

Since the hostess used this place to receive customers, it was kept clean and orderly, no random pieces of undergarment laid on the furniture, unlike Velvet’s private room.

Eager to explore new and undiscovered marvels, the elf walked a round through the open space and then seated herself on the big and fluffy bed, still inspecting everything curiously.

She saw some things that attracted her notice, but eventually her gaze settled back on the beautiful hostess.

Velvet dressed according to the standard expected of her workplace, yet even then it was hardly enough fabric to call it a dress.

For whatever reason, the dragon found herself unable to escape her charm for extended periods of time.

It was not a lack of beautiful objects in her daily life either.

Almost every attendant at the Dharnas estate had charming outward appearances, which was not even part of the requirements for their job.

Noble families passed down their good looks over the generations, too, hence Henry and Luthais shared masculine features that made them stand out among other males.

At the academy, she often faced Unico, whose exotic violet skin accent presented a different kind of beauty.

From the point of view a dragon regarded towards beauty, the mountains of gold, silver and various treasures inside her [Inner World] often tempted Nisha to gaze at them.

But none of them had quite the same allure as the hostess before her.

The room and its contents paled in comparison.

“Wew, those girls really have no idea about moderation. They could at least respect your status as a guest of the boss.

Look at me blabbering, don’t pay attention to them, Nisha.”

She asked one of the servants in charge of the miscellaneous tasks to notify them once the big boss returned.

Now the hostess only needed to think of enough activities to keep them occupied inside her room until that point of time.

Velvet had some ideas, because letting a rather innocent young girl run around the [Red Night Palace] at the peak of their business had all the qualities needed for a disaster.

“So this is your workplace. I actually don’t understand this place too much, can you explain to me what business the [Red Night Palace] engages in?

It might be helpful when I start the merchant house together with my friends, Annabelle and Lydia.”

Despite the nice view, Nisha managed to remember her questions regarding the redlight district, the building and Velvet herself - well, at least a part of them. Perhaps she forgot some of them whenever the pretty lady distracted her inadvertently.

Returning her attention to her bed, the hostess wryly smiled at the young girl.

It was astounding to see how fast the elf made herself at home in a foreign environment.

Furthermore, sudden memories of past engagements with other clients on the same spot, without any clothes or inhibitions.

Suddenly, the decision to bring the girl into her working space did not look like such a bright decision anymore.

Resisting the urge to tell her to get up and find another spot, Velvet sat down next to her and wondered how she should explain her job to a minor.

A sudden inspiration struck the hostess when she considered all aspects of the [Red Night Palace].

“Essentially, everyone in this district is in the business of dealing with human desire.

While not each establishment has the same offers, you can find the whole spectrum of emotional cravings around here.

Luxurious food and drinks, company in form of other patrons in a joyous atmosphere, or in private with a beautiful woman, decadent and opulent environments to fulfill secret wishes, drugs and illegal substances, underground fights to the death, gambling and betting, whatever you can think of, as long as a human is willing to pay for it, you can find it here.

Of course, not everything is available and put out in the open in plain sight like that.

I guess at least half of every building here has a secret floor beneath the cellar, or hidden pathways to extra rooms in another building.”

Ending her short expose on the redlight district here, the hostess felt pretty satisfied with her description.

It did not dip into excessive or dirty expressions and neither did it imply the indecent nature that accompanied the industry she worked in.

Nisha nodded at first, the elf had seen some of the mentioned cases.

Then, she stumbled over some of the later ones.

“Wait, I don’t quite follow with the forbidden substances and drugs. What do you mean by that?”

As for the betting and gambling, the dragon could picture it at least.

“Oh, that’s a rather sensitive issue, but you cannot do away with them, they always come back.

Drugs are generally substances that induce a rush, hallucinations or similar effects in their users, although all of them carry various side effects, which can range from mild to deadly.

At this time, the market is dominated by [Bliss], a brownish and crystalline mass that’s mainly imported from the desert cities in the north.

You can get the low quality stuff for cheap, and the side effects are rather mild at the start, most only experience slight withdrawal symptoms and minor headaches.

It pushed out all alternatives from most shops and only hardcore addicts still have other drugs stashed away in small shady shops.

I think pretty much most of the visitors to the district have tried it before and a majority comes back for it.”

Velvet generously explained the unknown term to the elf, first timers often had the same issue.

Still, it did not end here.

“Whether you ignore my advice or not, but never ever try to take [Bliss] even once.

The withdrawal and addiction does not seem all that bad at the start, but those working here pretty much abandoned all notion of ever taking it.

You can observe how the consumers wither away, the addiction does not fade with time, and their life degrades drastily.

Their eyes are glazed over, their energy is always low and unless they consume a new dose of [Bliss], nothing interests the addicts.

We had to let go plenty of employees, who could not stand the withdrawal process and keep up with their work at the same time.

Not selling is not an option, but I guarantee you that not a single user is left in the [Red Night Palace].

It’s not even an order from the boss, just by watching people wither away into lifeless puppets is scary enough to deter anyone from using [Bliss].”

Velvet shuddered and earnestly conveyed her advice, not as a favor or a means of building a connection with a person of the same prestige as her boss, but out of concern for the rather naive girl who never had any contact with drugs before.

Alcohol, tobacco and other illegal substances had plenty of side effects as well and still found their place among the common populace, but the aggressive narcotic flooding the market from the north was horrifying to behold.

“I see. In the past, I managed to beg my friends for some alcohol before, all in a relaxed gathering around a campfire in the countryside.

Afterwards, they forbade me from touching any drinks containing alcohol from that point on, no matter what I said.

Apparently, drugs are even worse than that. I will take your warning to heart.”

As the elf corroborated the perspective on stimulants, Velvet let go of her lingering worries that introducing her to the more harmful substances might have had an adverse effect instead and that she might have incited the young girl to try them out instead.

Plenty of young customers had no drinking capacity at all and fell ill after a glass of beer, so she paid the anecdote no further attention.

“Yes, even our resident priest has to step shorter with his drinking, he usually exchanges a better part of his wages for expensive tobacco and plenty of cheap wine.

With the recent [Bliss] wave increasing the amount of patients under his care, he manages to practice abstinence.”

“You’re employing a priest just for the [Red Night Palace]? I thought most of them served at the temple.”

Towards the quick riposte, the hostess had to chuckle a little.

The image the two had towards the priest profession probably had a large discrepancy.

“Indeed, most hopeful priest candidates start off at the main temple and then decide whether they want to split off to preside over a smaller community in other cities and villages or continue their service in the main temple.

But when the older priests retire from active duty, a lot of places hope to retain them in their service for critical treatment.

Angus is a firm believer of the Earth temple branch, he only enjoys female company and too much wine to reach the higher echelons in the rather strict temple community.

Fortunately, he’s now old enough that he lost most of his interest in patronising our female hostesses, and blending the perfect tobacco mix has become his hobby.”

Velvet evidently had quite the relaxed relationship with the elderly priest, as she casually introduced his temper and hobbies to the unsuspecting elf, who did not quite pick up why it was a good deal for the [Red Night Palace] to have an old man healing their hostesses instead of a young one.

“I met some priests before as well. The majority of them have been pretty nice, in my opinion at least.

Still, I can imagine that there’s a demand for them to stand by in case something happens, instead of rushing to the temple.

That’s his job, what do you do around here, Velvet?

Can you explain more about your work as a hostess to me?”

The rather naive question made the smile on Velvet’s face crook a little to the side, as the difficulty suddenly shot up immensely.

Explaining how men paid for the company for women in this place without getting explicit with her words appeared like an impossible task.

Sweeping her eyes over her room, the hostesses’ eyes brightened when they fell on a set of items next to the bed, before the mirror.