To work as a professional was exhausting. In less than a dozen days Leo had visited every notable household in Avila and, if one ignored a couple of incidents, his carrier has gone rather smoothly. Currently he had amassed more than triple the amount of spirit stones he needed and it was finally time to find a way to leave the Aurora mortal realm.
When he told his two madams that he’s going to stop providing the ‘special’ services, the two clearly got upset. Unfortunately no matter how they tried to persuade him, Leo refused to do another older lady or her not so beautiful daughter even though they suggested to increase the price.
Of course, they were pleasantly surprised by the fact that in ten days the information of Leo’s actual abilities didn’t spread through the city, but they realized it was only due to the fact that, just like Ottavia, each Leo’s client wished for another respectable aristocrat to ‘experience’ his services. For the short period of time the complex feminine minds worked as one and allowed tens of Avila’s ladies taste what the previous one had, making their own failure less painful.
Of course, during this time Leo learned a lot.
The most important thing was the crying. If until now he thought that only the moody damsels of Greenland cried, then finally he was forced to realize they were not that different in the Aurora mortal realm. And the younger they were, the more likely they were to cry, especially if it was their first time being close with a man.
Fortunately Leo could heave a sigh of relief, knowing it had nothing to do with him. First of all, he was a professional and knew his stuff and secondly, the amazed looks on the faces of his other clients was the proof of his expertise. Even more – sometimes his sole skillful thrust managed to satisfy a lady so much, she continued to happily laugh long after he left.
In the end the only conclusion Leo could come to was the thing Jack mentioned now and then – ‘bitches be crazy!’. Of course, he never thought of his clients as ‘bitches’. They were respected women of different age, often aristocrats of high standing in the city.
Francesca and Ottavia also told him to not worry and explained that the crying was a ‘normal’ thing a young girl would do after a moment of closeness. The main thing he had to do was to follow the protocol to the letter – bring flowers, be polite and gentle, and in the end pat their bottom and praise for the job well done.
There was only one occasion when Leo didn’t, or rather – couldn’t perform according to the rules. One of his clients, seeing his scarred body for some reason suddenly got on her knees and strangely kissed his most valuable asset, kind of taking it between her lips and slightly biting it. Purely on instinct he channeled large amounts of Qi down there in order to protect it, just in case she did something out of order, when her husband came in.
As the result for no fault of his own, Leo lost concentration and the famous ‘one thrust’ technique happened in the client’s mouth, but the amount of Qi the process contained was so large, the poor non-cultivator simply passed out and fell on the floor with her eyes rolled back and bodily fluids covering her face. For a split moment Leo considered turning the lady over to pat her butt as he usually did, but then realized it might make her husband feel uncomfortable and only patted her cheek. Afterwards he quickly got dressed and left, politely saying goodbyes and wishing them both a nice day.
Leo was worried about the atypical situation at first, but both Ottavia and Francesca assured he had acted like a real gentleman and was not to be blamed for anything. The only thing he was supposed to do the next time if a similar situation arose was to shake the husband’s hand and thank him, but fortunately it never came to it.
Besides the crying, there were two more important things Leo learned. Well, in fact, the first one also had something to do with it.
There was an occasion, when he was hired to make lady Gallo’s favorite daughter, Gina, happy. While the widow of Giulio Gallo, the richest iron mine owner in the region, Annetta Gallo, was ‘too old’ according to the rules set by Ottavia and Francesca, she thought that at least her daughter should experience ‘the once in the lifetime opportunity’ and be close with the greatest hero the holy city of Avila had ever seen. Her only condition was for her to observe the event so she could make sure her daughter’s first time was incredible enough.
Leo was not against it – after all he was a professional. He even brought two bouquets of red roses, spent a while talking to the two ladies, getting to know them. Gina was quite nervous, but he was patient and her mother was there, so everything went smoothly.
When the time came, Leo executed an elegant ‘one thrust’ and was certain this had been one of his best performances so far. Strangely enough, not only Gina, even her mother Annetta began to cry and from that moment on Leo learned the crying had to do something with the family traditions and the poor girl was not the one to blame.
The other thing Leo learned was that mixing up names was not really a good idea.
When he was already invited to the bedroom, Leo called the client ‘Cristina’ even though her name was Carlina. Of course, he immediately apologized and explained that ‘Cristina’ was the previous client he just came from and both their appearances and names were similar, but unfortunately Carlina was not to be reason with. She became upset and said she was not going to pay a fortune to someone who was running around the city, doing everyone he got his hands on.
At first Leo could only sigh in regret, but then he pulled himself together and decided he sometimes had to do sacrifices for the business and his own good name. Therefore, he apologized one more time and proved his worth by performing a skillful one-thrust for free. The move did surprise the client, but the speechless look on Carlina’s face was worth thousand words and Leo could leave happy with himself even though this time he worked for free, compensating for his own shortcomings, of course.
When Leo realized he had worked enough and had plentiful of immortal spirit stones, he began to seek an audience with the sect master. Of course, given her scheming character, he would’ve preferred to never meet lady Evelyn again, but he wanted to leave the Aurora mortal realm on peaceful terms. Technically he could’ve just went over to the teleportation platform, knock out the guarding elders and teleport wherever he wished to, but if there came a time when he needed to return, things might get awkward.
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After thinking for a while, he and Jack came up with a simple plan – he would seek out the sect master and ask for a reward and no matter what she offered or how she intended to scam him, he would insist on sending him and Jack on any kind of expedition to any of the minor realms. From there, using the immortal spirit stones he had, they would teleport to the Golden city and start a new life.
Of course, only after coming up with this idea the two realized they could’ve done the same thing without Leo becoming the most famous gigolo of the realm – they simply could’ve used the reserve spirit stones hidden below the platform they would be teleported to. Jack had a theory that this way they might’ve gotten in trouble afterwards with the Golden city or the Golden Hand society, but fortunately it didn’t matter anymore.
Lady Evelyn turned out to be impossible to meet. For some reason the sect master was always too busy and every time postponed the audience. After a couple of days full of futile attempts, Leo had enough and simply ‘parked’ himself in the Spirit tower at her door. The elders guarding the place couldn’t really do anything to him and all he had to do was to wait until the sect master returned. He was prepared to wait for days if necessary and, according to the rule number two, had plentiful of water stored in the amulet, but fortunately for him and unfortunately for lady Evelyn his timing turned out to be on point.
Just as Leo sat down and prepared to meditate for an unknown period of time, the door opened and four people came out, happily chatting. Of course, the conversation abruptly stopped when they realized someone was at the door, but Leo didn’t care.
He got up, politely bowed and said, “Greetings, sect master! I’d like to ask you for a reward for putting my life on the line in order to save the sect.”
Of course, Jack was the author of those words, but Leo was only thankful to his witty friend. He himself would’ve never been able to come up with such elegant line.
“Sigh … alright!” Lady Evelyn was helpless.
Obviously up until now she deliberately postponed their meeting not being certain on how to actually reward the youth. While she was thankful, the treasury was dry and after someone stole a load of spirit stones from one of the mines, they had barely enough to cover the monthly payment to the Golden Hand society. Basically anything that Leo could ask for was something the sect currently couldn’t afford.
“You three, go … I’ll join you later.” She said to her companions.
“Leo?” One of them asked in a surprised voice that sounded like a music to his ears.
He immediately recognized Laura Cloud, the former sect master of the Angelic Dawn. While she was really pretty last time they met, back then her hair was of weird green color. Now though it was bright blond and made her look even more beautiful than Elsa or Etessa who were also present.
‘I wonder if she would ask me do to her for an Immortal spirit stone …’ Leo thought to himself, dreamily looking at her.
Fortunately Laura Cloud had seen too many similar stares in her life and didn’t even notice.
“I also want to talk to him.” She said to lady Evelyn, “If it’s alright with you, of course!”
“Fine, fine!” Her friend waved her off, “You girls go, cultivate. Now that everything is settled, we need you to reach the Nascent soul stage as quickly as possible.”
Afterwards she, with Laura Cloud and Leo in tow went back in the room, but the two young ladies glanced at the youth’s back with complicated expressions, each for their own reasons, of course.
Leo remembered visiting the sect master’s chamber a couple years ago as well as remembered how terrified he was at the time. Now he kind of felt more comfortable, although not a bit less scared. The comforting part came from the fact that surely they would not hurt him – if they would’ve wanted to, he would have long been dead. On the other hand, cheating him was not out of the question.
After the trio sat down, there was a brief moment of silence, but then Laura Cloud was the one to speak first.
“Before you two discuss the formal reward, allow me to thank you for saving my life.” She caught both her friend and Leo off guard, “This is the most precious thing I owe, besides my daughter, of course, if one can use the word ‘own’ in regards to their children. I’ve heard you have a spacial treasure, so you have means to hide it and use in case of emergency.”
While she spoke, a dark stone slate, approximately a yard tall and two inches thick appeared on her lap. It was surprising she didn’t hurt herself by dropping it on her legs, because Leo knew how heavy it was since he immediately recognized the item.
Seeing Leo’s expression change, the two Nascent soul stage experts guessed the youth knew what the stone slate was. While slightly surprised, they figured he had educated himself while staying in the Golden city, thus was not a complete country bumpkin. On the other hand Leo realized why he still had his amulet – clearly the two ladies in front of him had their own spacial treasures, therefore did not eye his, at least not openly or not yet.
He immediately stored the tablet away and said, “Thank you very much! I hope I’ll never need to use it.”
“Good!” Lady Evelyn contently said, “Now that you received your reward …”
“I’m sorry, sect master!” Leo interrupted. He already expected she would try to hoodwink him again and practiced the next part with Jack during the previous days, “There is one more thing. I feel my cultivation is stagnating here, in the sect, therefore I’d like to ask you to send me on another expedition. Maybe this time to a less dangerous realm, because I’d like to go together with a friend.”
He said all of that in one breath, afraid lady Evelyn would throw him out, but now that everything was said, she couldn’t really say no. After all, teleportation to a mortal realm wasn’t that expensive. Of course, it didn’t mean she would openly and gladly agree.
“I have to think about it.” She said, “We are short on spirit stones and you have already received an incredible reward.”
“In that case, why don’t you send me to a less explored mortal realm to find new spirit stone mines?” Leo asked, inwardly praising Jack for the foresight.
His friend already guessed the sect master might disagree and thought of an easy way to persuade her. The two ladies exchanged surprised glances and a moment later Leo could heave a sigh of relief.
“That’s not a bad idea.” Lady Evelyn said, “I’ll inform you when I’ve made my decision on where you might go.”
Before she could change her mind, Leo quickly thanked and left, leaving the two experts pondering about what his angle was. They were too experienced to not recognize the youth was hiding something, but his idea was not bad, especially considering the circumstances.