"Where's your stock, Tila?"
"I left it back at the inn for now. I'll go get it now."
"Do you need a hand?"
"No, I'm fine. Thanks a lot for your help and advice, Giya."
"You're welcome! Ah, one more thing. If you want to keep this spot, you can pay rent for the next day when you leave. Otherwise, you'll get assigned another random position next time too. It's also possible to rent a stall semi-permanently like I do."
"I got it."
"Great. Good luck with the sales. I'm off to the brothel now."
"Speaking of which, what other kind of services do they have there?"
"Haha, I see you liked it a lot. It's one of the best places in the city so they've got a lot of options. If you have the money, that is. You can drink with girls, watch them dance, and chat with them. When you're in the mood, you can choose any of them that is available and have sex with her. If you're loaded, they've got special options where you can get two or more women. There's also a choice to get one woman for two men if you're into that. As for sexual acts, let me tell you, some of the girls there are quite open-minded. There's probably everything you can imagine and more."
"Wow… Why am I not richer?"
"My words exactly. I can barely get the cheapest options most of the time."
It might also be because he was patronizing the place every single day but I didn't voice that thought. This talk seemed to have gotten him excited and he hurried to leave.
"Alright, I'm going now. See you!"
"Have fun!"
It was now time for me to work again. Around me, more merchants started to set their goods on their stalls and no one paid me much attention. Most of them looked young like me and were probably beginning their career too. I discretely took out the fans and batteries from my storage and placed them on my table. I then added a piece of paper, on which I wrote the following: "Next generation enchanted fans. Work by itself for 48 hours before needing a recharge. 25 silvers."
According to my estimation, 1 lod in the inner world was more or less equivalent to 10 coppers in Geola, or 0.1 silver. Since each fan cost me 70 lods, their base price was around 7 silvers. If I could sell them for 25 silvers, that would be more than 3 times my initial investment. It was still quite expensive since people could live here with a few silvers a day. I was betting everything on the extreme technological advantage my goods had compared to what people knew.
Just like in 82, things started quietly. It was now early evening and some people were still getting off work and going back home. A few of them would come to the market to buy food ingredients to cook dinner. Buying enchanted items wasn't the main objective of the majority of them. Even when they passed by my stall, they just chuckled mockingly after a glance and went on their way.
After half an hour without any clients, the fatigue of the day enveloped me progressively. My thoughts started to wander randomly. The previous talk about the brothel came to mind and that pushed me to remember something that happened several days prior.
**********
On the first day when Suuru asked for a morning massage on top of the normal one, she took on a weird attitude when I reached home after spending my time in the library. She watched me pensively as if lost in her thoughts. I wondered if she was dreaming about the next massage but that wasn't it.
"Tila. I've been thinking…"
"Yes?"
"I can't keep receiving from you all the time, right?"
"Are you talking about the massage?"
"Yes."
"It's fine. You're my savior, after all."
"Enough with the savior talk. I want to try massaging you this time."
That was a very welcome offer. To be honest, I was waiting for something like this. I could have asked for it sooner but there was a world of difference between doing something you were asked for and doing it on your own will. Plus, I now knew that Suuru was the kind to get scared easily, no matter how tough she tried to appear externally. Forcing her to do things wasn't the right way to handle her, not that I wanted to, anyway. I owed her too much for that.
"That's a generous proposition. I won't say no if you offer it."
"Good. There's just one thing… I'm not sure how to do it correctly since you've got that, well, that mutation down there."
"I see. That's not a problem. Did I ever tell you I wasn't the only one with that mutation where I was from?"
"What? Really?"
"Yes. It would be a long story to tell you everything but we even made a distinction between people who had the mutation from those who didn't. The ones who possess it are called "men" and the others are called women."
"Men… Yes, I remember. You said something like this when we first talked, right?"
"You have a good memory."
"Hm. Okay, it makes sense now. If you're telling me that, it means there's a way to do that special massage to "men" too?"
"Exactly. Are you willing to try?"
"Yes. I want to make you feel good too."
Her words warmed my heart. I went to kiss her and, past the first instant of surprise, she happily responded to it, soon melting in our smooch. This was how we mostly started "massages" these days and Suuru reacted much better now than at first. Just like the kiss was making me hard, I knew this was also the trigger for her arousal and I didn't doubt moisture was already accumulating in her groin.
"You're so nice, Suuru. I'll leave it to you, then. I'll tell you what to do. It's not that complicated. In a way, it's maybe even easier than massaging women."
She nodded with a resolute expression and I guided her to the bedroom.