I’m pretty sure she’s 21. She’s a hella good singer, number three in the sales rankings, got nice boobs, a tight butt, and she’s super pretty, and she gets 150 rubers per shot. I’m forever in awe.
That glorious goddess smiled a bit sheepishly, but with a bit of pride, and said, “This weekend I’m taking time off.”
“Oh, you mean...really?!”
“Huh? What, Haru? What is it?”
“Going on vacation during our busiest time of the week can only mean one thing. A man, right?”
“Whaaat?”
“Heh-heh. Don’t tell anybody.”
“Is it that one guy? The guild master’s son?”
Shequraso has a rich, young regular—the son of the owner of the referral service, who runs the guild that covers all the brothels in the nightlife district.
In name, he’s the guild master, but as seems to often be the case in this industry, he’s more like a ya**za boss, and his son is a huge prick.
But they’re one of the neighborhood’s more powerful families, so naturally Madam can’t oppose them. The guy seems to be a fan of Shequraso’s singing and butt, so he comes around pretty often with his posse.
“No, no. I would never go with that guy,” she laughed.
Of course not.
“Huh? Then who?”
“You really can’t tell anybody. It’s...a soldier.”
“Seriously?”
“Wow!”
Because this city is on the front lines of the war with the demon lord’s army, there are lots of people dispatched from the capital with the royal army, and they come to the shop pretty often.
They’re the elites of this world. Young soldiers are usually pretty nice, too, so more than a few girls pine after them.
But to soldiers, we’re just sex workers they met on a temporary deployment, so you have to be careful about getting serious.
“He doesn’t go upstairs, you know. Apparently he comes to hear me sing. Then we went on a date outside the shop once, and all of the sudden he wanted me to come to his room.”
“Whoa, did you go?!”
We do have a date system. It depends on the price of the girl, but for me, one date is 30 rubers. It’s usually something like hanging out a couple hours before the shop opens. Taking a girl home is prohibited, and if you sleep together, the shop’s normal rates apply, but of course some girls go with the flow and end up at the guy’s house.
Supposedly, at that point, whether you take money or make it a personal relationship depends on the atmosphere and how you feel about each other. I went on a date with Sumo once, but we just ate some meat.
“What? I wouldn’t do that so fast. But then he asked me out again. And I felt kinda bad since he treats me to a meal every time and always comes to hear me sing. He seems pretty serious...”
“So did you sleep with him?”
“Well.”
“And?” Lupe leaned in.
“He asked me if I wanted to be his special one,” Shequraso replied with a smile, blushing.
“Eeeep!”
“Ahh, you’re so lucky.”
To be honest, I wondered if he could really be trusted, but Shequraso was a veteran, so I didn’t need to tell her what was what. I was sure she could judge for herself. And I didn’t want to ruin the gushy mood.
“So we must know what he looks like at least, right?”
“Is he cute? Is he cute?”
“Nah, he has a normal face. You guys definitely wouldn’t remember him.”
“Ahh, I wanna fall in love, too.”
“I want a guy besides Sumo...”
“Haru, what about that adventurer who always comes around? You seem to get along with him.”
“Mm, that guy? I just can’t get rid of him, is all. We’re more like fellow zombies than anything.”
We just died together, that’s all.
“Zombies?”
“Never mind. Just, there’s no way I’m going out with him.”
“But I heard about him from other customers. Endless Crimson Rain, right? He’s famous at the arena.”
“Huh? Endless what...?”
“Your friend! That Endless Crimson Rain guy!”
“Bwa-ha! He’s delusional! His dark past must go on for pages and pages!”
“Huh? What’s so funny?!”
“Isn’t he strong?”
“Mm, it’s hard to explain. But in any case, he’s an idiot, totally stupid. He’s definitely nothing special to me, so don’t misunderstand.”
“Hmmm? I seeee.” Lupe nodded as if she had grasped something.
“Wait a sec. Lupe, you don’t...?”
“Huh? N-No! It’s not like that!”
“Out with it! I’ll definitely introduce you. If that sort of guy’s your type, I’m more than happy to.”
“Do I detect romance? Is Lupe’s love story up next?”
“No, I already told you!”
I really love goofing around like this. It’s seriously true that girl talk gives you essential nutrients.
Even when the sunlight started to slant and the foot traffic picked up, we went on chatting and chatting.
From somewhere came a sound like a guitar.
“Oh, this is that song that’s been popular around the bard guild lately. It’s so cool!”
“Right? It’s great. I want to sing a song like this sometime, but I’d need someone who could play it.”
Apparently a musician was performing somewhere.
To me it just sounded like normal strumming, but okay.
“It’s called, ‘Round-Trip Slap from a Goddess,’ right? That playing style is just so original. You can hear multiple notes at once!”
“Whoever wrote this song will get filthy rich. And with a patent on the technique, they’ll make even more. I’m jealous! Wonder what kind of person it is.”
“Hmm.”
I have no idea who this person is, but I’m envious of anyone who gets to live off royalties.
Still, though, it doesn’t sound like such an amazing song to me.
Actually, it’s almost a total rip-off of “Toritetsu.” Laaaaame.
“Okay, it’s almost time to open the shop.”
“This was fun. Let’s eat together again sometime.”
“Yeah. All right, let’s get in there and work hard!”
It was another day of diligently sleeping with men.