I woke up when my bed partner started stirring.

Another benefit of martial arts skills, a couple of hours of sleep was enough to feel refreshed, as long as I didn't push myself too much with martial techniques and deplete too much essence.

Then, I looked at the beauty in my arms, and couldn't help but wonder what would happen now that she lost her virginity. Considering just how aggressively she had been pushing to seduce me, it caught me flatfooted.

It probably had a lot of social implications, but I left it for the future. Ultimately, the situation was simple. Either she was trying to be adventurous and making a poor call in her excitement, or she was trying to trap me into marriage. If the former was the case, I should be strong enough to save her from the consequences even now, let alone once I received a few more rewards.

And, even if the latter was true, I was sure I could still escape in a way that still left her happy.

I owed her. Not just for teaching massage while triggering the System, but also helping me by inadvertently helping me to discover a new feature of the System.

[Pampering Bonus - 25 (Capped)]

[25x Return - Massage Technique Lesson, Minor Familiarity]

Not only Pampering had a better multiplier, but it was easier to trigger consistently. An excellent reward.

I didn't know if Pampering and Pity could be triggered together, but even if they could, it wasn't something that could be triggered in her easily. The only reason she pitied me was a very long and complicated story about distress, temporarily making her forget that, even with that, I was far luckier in life.

While she lay, still wrapped by the towel, I triggered the lesson, and once again felt a new set of information settle into my mind, turning me into a true expert in ordinary massage. However, the fact that it was just called Minor Familiarity surprised me.

This new world clearly had a higher idea about what should be counted as true expertise.

I wondered if the impact would be far more pronounced if I manipulated the essence during the massage … but I didn't want to experiment on my partner. The lesson on medicine had taught me just how dangerous manipulating essence wrongly could have been.

Soon, she woke up. She shuffled comfortably. I watched her expression carefully, while I kept my hand on her back. A gentle position that nonetheless allowed me to check her heartbeat. I wanted to see if she tried to trick me.

I might not be planning to punish her, but that didn't mean I would let her play me for a fool.

Then, the moment she woke up, her eyes widened in shock. Her heartbeat picked up as well, which told me that her panic was not fake. "G-good morning, young—" she started as her panic turned into despair.

"No more talk of it, Master," I said as I leaned to kiss her cheek, but slow enough to allow her to pull back if she wanted. I was aware that, with her social situation, it might be tricky to reject me outright.

She leaned into the kiss, her expression losing some of its intensity, replaced by hope. I said nothing once I pulled back from the kiss, and just hugged her tight. She said nothing as well, but her hug was desperate.

"Now, Master. Why don't you tell me what you have in mind?" I said, and she trembled. "Tell me. I promise I won't be angry," I consoled her … but I had to repeat a variation of it for almost five minutes for her to relax.

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"I … I tried to seduce you," she finally admitted. I barely held back a joke about a successful mission, and only because she was too tense. "I wanted you to free me from my servant contract to make me a concubine..."

It took a while for me to get the rest of the details, but it soon turned clear. Apparently, she had been a serf from a small family in the village, but beautiful enough for it to be dangerous in a world where laws were more of a suggestion for the powerful.

She signed a servant contract with some kind of warped recruitment company that trained her and put her in the current upscale inn. A girl was supposed to collect enough money to free themselves, but the girl in my arms had a father with a gambling problem, which prevented her from collecting the money.

Now, with her contract was about to be over, she was desperate. She was afraid of which business would buy her contract next, pushing her into a complete unknown.

I also asked a few more questions subtly, to understand exactly what a concubine was. I knew it was some kind of lower-ranked wife — which was a weird concept to me — but that was the extent. Researching marriage laws hadn't been my biggest priority. I just knew that polygamy was the law.

Her explanation surprised me, and not in a good way.

Apparently, while wives had some legal protections — far less than I would have expected — concubines had next to none. The husband in question could order a concubine to live in a wooden hut for the rest of her life and only give her enough food to survive, and she had to follow the arrangement of her husband.

"Tell me, do you want to be a concubine, or do you want to be free of the servant contract?" I asked.

"Being your concubine would be an honor—" she said, before I interrupted her.

"That was not my question, Master," I said, using the term just to relax her.

"I want to be free," she admitted after a long pause.

"Alright. You have taught me how to massage, and as a scholar, I have to pay it back," I promised. "How much is to free you from that contract?"

"F-fifty gold," she said, looking hesitant.

"Coins or pieces?" I asked.

"C-coins, of course," she answered, like it was obvious. It was not. The economy here was weird.

"Good, I will handle it," I said, but I didn't pass the money immediately. "Will the inn put it on my tab?" I asked. "Yes, young master," she said. "After the last night, they will definitely give you face."

"Excellent. Do I need to tell them, or can you arrange it?" I said.

"I can arrange, young master," she said.

"Good. Do that," I said. I didn't give the money from the System directly unless I had some other choice, because I didn't know how it would be treated. I didn't want the System rewards to block once more.

With my upcoming visit, I should be able to get enough to make that not a concern … and if not, I could always bring her away and escape the city.

"And then?" she asked, trying to push down her excitement.

"You're free to do whatever you want," I said. "You can go back to your home, stay in the city, whatever you want," I said.

She looked at me. "M-may I stay with you?" she asked.

"You can stay here until I leave the city, but I won't take you with me," I said. I wanted to help her because she helped me with the System, but I was not looking for a long-term girlfriend. "Do as you wish. You're a free woman."

"I … I will stay with you until you leave," she said, her face looking determined.

"Go and handle your business then, Master," I said, the term enough to bolster her confidence.

Once she dressed and left, I reached for the book that described the common herbs, their harvesting methods, and the other stuff.

She returned barely ten minutes later, excited as she passed the contract at me, but her tenseness returned once I started reading the servant contract with a frown on my face. I frowned, not because the contract was difficult, but because I didn't like the punishment clauses embedded.

What a merciless world.

I ripped the contract, and she gave me a big smile. "Now… Pearyin," I started, chuckling slightly as I realized I didn't have the opportunity to ask her name, and had to learn from the contract. "Any plans?" She shook her head. "Why don't you sit down and read a book?" I said. She froze. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"I don't know how to read, young master," she said, quick to panic like she had made some big mistake.

I had an hour to kill. "Come here, I'll teach you," I said, and she looked excited. "Or, would you prefer if I taught you martial arts?" I said. Not the Tiger Fist, of course, but I was sure that I could teach her some basic takedown moves based on what I remembered from a smattering of judo and aikido, enough to bring her to Intermediate Initiate if she had the potential to learn.

I broke through boxing, after all.

"You would teach me martial arts?" she gasped.

"Sure," I said. "Making a breakthrough is not likely, but it should be enough to at least defend yourself in an emergency," I said, not mentioning anything about helping her reach the Initiate stage.

I assumed it was possible, but it was not a certainty.

I didn't like over-promising.