“Excuse me, master Leo!” Madame Francesca approached the youth when he was coming down the stairs with a dreamy smile plastered across his face.
Apart from the first day when he arrived here, this was the only time she spoke to Leo. Obviously they had casually chatted with Jack before, but never with his youngest friend, thus the two young men were slightly startled. What she said next, baffled both even more.
“May I speak with you in private, please? No need to worry, everything is fine! It’s just that I would like to discuss some matters with you.”
Leo threw a questioning glance at Jack who could only shrug in return. Neither was worried he could be in any kind of danger, but as it turned out these seemingly nice and loving ladies could be real snakes. For example a couple of days ago Leo learned that all the sick moms, grandmothers, debts to loan sharks, payments for schools and what not were fake stories with intent to trick him into giving away money.
Of course, he continued to do so since a couple of low ranked beast cores was nothing to him, but the gratitude he received was nice both to the eye and ear, even if it was just a play. In addition, girls really seemed to try hard thus it seemed silly to be stingy.
“Would you like a drink?” Madame Francesca asked when they both sat in one of the many rooms on the first floor while Jack waited behind the closed door.
“I’m good.” Leo shook his head.
“Alright, I understand you are tired and want to return home.” Madame politely said, “It won’t take too long. There is one question I’d like to ask you. A young and strong man like you, Leo, who’s brimming with potential … does a man like you have a dream? Is there anything you truly want?”
Obviously Leo always wanted to move to the Golden city, but there was no way he’d tell about this dream to anyone but Jack, thus he simply nodded.
The lady across the small table was experienced enough and didn’t pry, but said, “You know, if I was twenty five years younger, I would’ve thrown myself at you – the same way my girls do. Fortunately my experience tells me you come here not because you’re a drunkard or a wastrel like others, but because you have something on your mind, a problem that you can’t solve.”
Leo’s eyes widened in surprise and suddenly a terrifying thought passed through his mind. What if this lady was like grandpa Noel and master Torben? What if she was a hidden expert from the corrupt path? Fortunately it wasn’t the case and madame Francesca couldn’t read his mind, at least she didn’t admit to it.
She said, “I feel like there is something you need, something you need to acquire, am I right?”
“Mhm.” Leo nodded with a sigh. This woman was really sharp … and probably dangerous.
“What would you say if I helped you?” She asked.
“Why?” Was the logical question in return.
“I see how every day you selflessly help my girls despite knowing they are cheeky little foxes.” Madame Francesca knowingly smiled back, “I just feel it’s time for me to do something good to you.”
“Thank you.” Leo politely said, “But I doubt there is anything you can help me with. You see – we both basically want the same thing so …”
Madame Francesca patiently waited few moments for Leo to finish the sentence, but seeing he was focusing more on his own toes and not her, she asked, “And what would that be?”
Leo looked back at her in confusion since the answer was obvious.
“Spirit stones, of course. I need a dozen medium ranked immortal spirit stones.” Leo said and sighed seeing her widening her eyes.
Clearly the lady knew the value of the items he wanted, but that was not the reason she bit her thumb’s nail. She had a stash of immortal rank spirit stones hidden for a rainy day, but only a couple of those were of medium rank and if not for a disastrous emergency, she would never spend those. On the other hand, it would be great to teach her friend a lesson, even if it was an incredibly expensive one.
“There might be a way I could help you.” She said, “Not guarantees, of course. But as you might guess, there is no free food in the world and everything must be earned.”
‘Here we go!’ Leo inwardly though, ‘She’s probably going to ask me to kill someone. A competitor maybe? Or several?’
But what madame said next surprised him.
“Every day my girls tell me stories about your proficiency in love making.” Madame Francesca said with a mysterious smile, “It is possible that exactly this skill could get you closer to your goal.”
“What do you mean?” Leo was confused.
When he was intimate with Izel, it was for free and to the girls in the ‘Heart and soul’ he had to pay himself, not the other way around. What madame said didn’t make any sense.
“There is a person, a friend of mine, a very passionate person. She is quite well situated lady and could afford a fee of one medium ranked Immortal spirit stone for a … moment of closeness with you.” Madame Francesca explained, “The question is – would you agree to it? Please, you don’t have to give the answer now – you’ll be back tomorrow, right? We can continue our discussion then.”
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“Alright.” Was the only thing Leo could say.
But before he left, she added, “Great! And if it’s possible, could we keep this conversation between us? For neither of us it’s beneficial if the information of you starting to … well, you know … got out.”
Obviously when Leo and Jack left the brothel, they hadn’t walked more than twenty yards when the youth told his older friend about the offer.
“Daaaamnn! How could you be so lucky!” Jack looked at Leo with eyes full of envy, “If any lady offered me a mortal rank spirit stone, even a low rank one, I’d do her in a heartbeat! But you … f*ck! You’re getting immortal spirit stones offered left and right! Who would’ve thought you’d become such a ladies man? I should’ve gone to the combat division instead of learning alchemy – maybe they would all be after me as well.”
“So you think I should go through with it?” Leo was surprised by his friend’s reaction.
“If the lady is not some kind of a pervert who is into a weird sh*t and if she’s not a ninety year old grandma – I can’t see why not!” Jack said without thinking, “You can do women and get payed for it! It’s a dream come true! And the best thing is – because you’re a cultivator, you can’t even contract any of the diseases the regular people get in brothels. F*ck, I’m envious!”
“What if she’s not pretty?” Leo was skeptical, “Since she’s madame Francesca’s friend she’s probably not very young, you know …”
“What’s the big deal? Just think of Bianca and do her from behind!” Jack laughed, “In the worst case scenario don’t take off her clothes if you don’t want to risk to see her naked – just pull up the skirt and … well … you know …”
Well, Leo ‘knew’ and what Jack said sounded reasonable. And if he could earn immortal rank spirit stones this way, he could get the dozen he needed in a couple of days, maybe even in a day! It’s not like the ‘love making’ took a lot of time.
When the next day they arrived to the ‘Heart and soul’, Leo agreed to madame’s proposal. She was pleasantly surprised, of course, but now was the hardest part – she had to persuade Ottavia, but in a way her friend didn’t notice the trap.
Turns out it was surprisingly easy.
While Leo was having drinks in her own brothel, Francesca went over to the Ottavia’s place and said to her friend, “I spoke to Leo and he agreed.”
Seeing Ottavia’s expression brighten, she added, “There is a problem though. The guy wants an immortal spirit stone for it, a medium ranked one. Don’t look at me like that! It’s not for me – I think it has something to do with the cultivation stuff. I’m not getting anything out of it, just the opportunity to help you.”
Ottavia had worked in this field since her teenage years, in fact, they both had, but she never heard of anyone asking for such unreasonable price. Even the most beautiful girls never had the nerve to raise the price so high, to not speak of guys.
On the other hand, the young man she wanted was an incredibly talented cultivator who almost certainly one day will step into the Nascent soul stage. In addition, he was the hero the Aurora mortal realm had never seen before thus Ottavia itched to add him to her ‘collection’ no matter how incredible his skills in bed were. Of course the last part was what tipped the scales and, after weighting her options for a moment, she agreed.
It took all the willpower Francesca had to not start laughing in her friend’s face right away. With a serious expression she returned to the ‘Heart and soul’ and impatiently waited for Leo to come down the stairs.
When he finally sat across the small table, she said, “I have good news. My friend agreed to your proposal, but you have to understand that the price of one Immortal soul stone is incredibly high so you’ll have to do your best. I’ll give you the address you’ll be expected tomorrow at and, needless to say, you have to arrive clean and fresh, dressed in neat clothes.”
“Sounds reasonable.” Leo nodded. It did feel odd to pragmatically make such deal, but at the same time he was one twelfth closer from getting to the Golden city.
“There are few things I’d like to talk about.” Madame Francesca said and had a sip from her glass to swallow the hysterical giggle that hung in her throat for a while now, “No matter how good of a lover you are, there is always a room for improvement, wouldn’t you agree?”
Seeing Leo blush and nod, she smiled and continued, “My girls told me you have the incredible talent to cum after only few thrusts. But! Can you do it only in one thrust?! That’s the true pinnacle a real man could achieve! If you manage to do so tomorrow, I myself will gift you another immortal soul stone, of a medium rank, of course. The one you’re about to make happy is my dear friend thus it’s very important to me as well.”
“Okay.” Leo weakly said.
This was the first time talking about this stuff with anyone and he was blushed red as a beetroot. Of course, he had heard Jack brag about his conquests multiple times, but never really shared his own experiences in detail. Madam Francesca teaching him was embarrassing, but she was an expert. Besides, everything they spoke about was strictly confidential.
“Good!” Madame Francesca nodded with a smile, “Now for the practical part. Obviously my girls are professionals thus they are prepared for you to do them. On the other hand, for a regular lady to suddenly receive your thing might be … somewhat surprising. To avoid any unpleasant sensations or even directly hurting them, you must oil your ‘weapon’ beforehand. Just smear a bit … or a lot ... of sesame or almond oil on it and then enter, okay? Since you’re a cultivator, I believe you can do it at the speed regular people wouldn’t even notice. Don’t be embarrassed – it’s really important. With how incredibly strong you are one day you might straight up kill someone in a moment of passion just by being careless, but we don’t want that, do we?”
Leo never payed attention to this aspect of love making, but now, when he thought about it, he remembered Izel’s reaction during their first few times and realized he actually might’ve hurt her and it was highly likely her being upset at him had something to do with it. It was priceless to get teachings from an expert in any area of life!
“Thank you, madame Francesca!” He seriously said, “Are there more things I have to pay attention to?”
The owner of the brothel was caught unprepared by the sincerity of the pure youth, but before she felt any guilt she reminded herself she was about to loose an immortal spirit stone by just fooling around. And then she got another cheeky idea.
“Yes, there is.” She said keeping a straight face, “You see, we, women, are very sensitive about our own performance. It’s incredibly important for us to know the man we were just close with likes us and was satisfied the same way we were. You don’t have to do anything special, just pat the lady or the girl on the butt and say ‘Good job, dear!’. That’s all it takes. Another important part is – in under no circumstances you are allowed to fall asleep right after – you politely thank her and leave.”
Madame Francesca paused and thought for a bit, and then continued, “It is incredibly important for you to never forget that in the end its just a business for you – you take the payment in advance and no matter what the client says, never return. There are many misers in the world who’ll try to hoodwink you after the deal is closed – trust me, I’ve worked in this field for decades. Of course, just because it’s business you are not allowed to forget the basic courtesy – you have to always be polite and bring flowers. The client will be paying you a fortune after all, right?”
When Leo left, madame Francesca laughed for a long time visualizing the ‘incredible’ experience her friend was about to have.
In the end she sighed and shook her head, mumbling, “Good thing he’s a kid with a gentle character, otherwise he might kill me tomorrow ...”