The pirate queen let out a loud guttural burp before tossing on the bed and grabbing the bottle.
“Sex and wine is the best mix,” she sloshed the thick red liquid down her throat. “Don’t you think?”
I went back to chewing the black leaves Maya had given me. It helped me focus less on the depressing side of my life. I was the emperor’s son dammit! Now I was reduced to a skinny guy having therapy sessions with the pirate queen on a love bed. And that wasn’t a bad thing, mind you. And it wasn’t even the pirate queen’s sweaty armpits, bad breath, and the awkward love hugs that annoyed me. It was the mere fact that a prince was reduced to nothing but the pirate queen’s lover.
I forced a smile. “Can I ask something?”
“Ask away sweety.”
I brought my face close to hers, and tried my best not to inhale the wine mixed breath. “When you leave can you take me with you? I can work as a crewman abroad your ship. Even a cook. I can do anything.”
Isla - for that was the pirate queen’s name - gave a weary sigh. I couldn’t complain. It was probably the ninth time I brought this request for her. But today, instead of giving a reply, she took my hand and touched the sigil on my palm. It burned, and a moment later hieroglyphs appeared in front of me.
Jorg Anathin
Class: [Lust]
Sub-Class: [Worker]
Ordeal: Masha
“See that big four letters in the middle,” Isla dropped my hand and let out a burp. “Lust means you can only do work related to love. You either work at a love hotel, stay a loving husband, or work at marriage affairs. And as someone who knows you, I recommend the first option.”
“Fuck.”
“Yes, fuck indeed.”
“No, I mean….I don’t want to stay like this…” I burst out. And for once, I was being honest with her. I didn’t want to stay in some inn having sex. I needed to find my sister. She was the bloody bitch responsible for all this mess. There’s nothing I dream more every night rather than pushing her down the throne and sitting on it myself. “…I want to go to places. I want to see the rest of the world.”
“New rules by the empress boy,” Isla’s voice hardened. “As much as I’d like to keep you in the ship and go to bed with you everyday it is against the rules of what the empress declared. Once you receive a class it is permanent. And people with a certain class can only remain in certain places. Heck, you think I like going on adventures all the time?” she pulled herself up and sat on the bed. “There’s times when I want to stay on one place, build a nice house, and smoke a cigar while watching the sea. But my class is [Greed] which means I serve the Empress by collecting riches and gold till my death.”
The damned System. I don’t know what black magic my sister cast on the world, but none of us can defy the ever-great System.
“Enough with the depressing talk,” she kissed my cheek. “I am going to drink some more, take a nice long piss, and take a nice long nap. You can come in the evening again. Tomorrow I’m leaving for Spatula, so I want to be with you at least one more time before I go.”
“Uh-huh,” I said in a bored voice.
Isla didn’t mind me. She grabbed the bottle and started drinking. I jumped out of bed, grabbed a towel and left the room. There was no point of a drinking pirate queen who couldn’t help me out.
*
I walked downstairs to find Masha was kneeling beside a brown haired girl. She was applying some balm on her belly. When she heard my footsteps, she turned and gave me a look of concern.
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“She finally released you?”
“Nobody releases me,” I grunted. “I released myself after asking the same age old question.”
“At least your one doesn’t treat you like a meat sack,” Kaya snorted. “It’s always the scratching and clawing bastards for me.”
“Don’t move,” Masha rubbed her hand in circular motion one last time before standing. “Now, now, we don’t speak loud enough so our clients hear us. This is our fate, we grit our teeth and bear it. Besides, even in this hellhole there are rules. We can’t raise our voice against a scratch but if they decide to do any physical harm I can always call the Enforces.”
“No need,” Kaya grumbled.
I looked at the two of them. I’ve known them for a few years now. Masha was the owner of the brothel, but unlike other brothel owners she was like a sister to me. Maybe it was because she treated me kindly ever since I found myself here, or maybe it was because she was only a few years older than me. She no longer slept with customers, and she had solely taken the management business, which she intended to pass onto me.
Kaya was another worker like me probably a year or two younger than me, with a plain brown hair and an average body. By some misfortune of hers, she got the worst bastards who decided to land in here.
“No matter how hard we try we cannot change our class Jorg,” Kaya said, pouring herself a cup from the teapot. She didn’t bother to pull down her dress to cover her belly. Then again, I had seen almost all of the women in here naked, and slept with more than half of them. Modesty amounted very little inside the walls. “Just stay here and gather some coin so you can live like Masha.”
“Speaking of coin,” Masha unlocked the drawer beneath the counter and pulled out two pouches. “This is your month’s payment. Enjoy yourselves.”
She threw the pouches at us, and I opened it to see fifteen gold coins. Not bad. Enough to keep me alive and healthy for the next few months. I turned to see Kaya grinning from ear to ear.
“See? It’s not bad.”
Maybe for her. But I was a prince. I needed to find a way to get back to my father’s castle. Gathering gold coins inside a brothel wasn’t the best path for it. But even if I decided to step out, I had no choice. If anyone sees my class outside the city, they’ll send me back here.
Masha ruffled my hair. “Stay here Jorg. We are all of the same class, and we can help each other. Better sleep with some women and do what you like rather than be born in the [Gluttony] class and go on a suicidal adventure.”
Her eyes hardened when she said it. Her father was of the [Gluttony] class, and he ended with his head on a pike.
Each class had its disadvantages.
*
Before the sun set I went back to my room to grab my clothes. I better take a nice stroll and eat something nice before saying goodbye to the pirate queen again. When I entered the room, she was still fast asleep, her belly flopping and her hand still tight on the wine bottle.
I decided not to wake her up.
The poor woman thought I was in love with her. But the only thing good about her was the money I got. The only reason I got close to her was so I could get abroad her ship and sail away, but that was a long dream now.
I was gathering my pants when I saw a gold ring sitting on top of her wet undercloth. I had never seen it before. And the gem on top of the golden ring was surely not something to be seen on the market. Usually I kept my hand out of the pirate queen’s treasures but this almost lurched me towards it.
I looked at Isla again, and her eyes were sealed shut.
Best time to look at it.
I grabbed the ring and turned it downside. There was something engraved on it, and the moment my fingers touched it, I felt a strange hum inside it.
Nothing wrong with putting on a ring.
I slid it to my finger.
My whole body froze. It was like a lightning stuck from my head to foot. My eyes seemed to pop out, and something swirled inside me. At the same time my hand started to shake, and before me appeared the System.
[Cage Unlocked]
[Releasing Extra Settings]
Jorg Anathin
Titles: None
Family: None
Blood Herring: Royal
Class: [Lust]
Sub-Class: [Worker]
Material Points: 30
Ordeal: Masha
Level: 1
Abilities: [Tap For Skill Tree]
There were so many new details. New details I had never seen before.
I should have stopped. I should have taken the damn ring off and thrown it back on the love juice filled undercloth but my mind couldn’t.
I tapped.
[Skill Tree Unlocked]
[Break] - [Chain] - [Illusion] - [Paladin] - [Construct] - [Hive] - [Interact]
It was arranged in a straight line, but in an easy to read format. All of them were ones I didn’t understand. I tried touching it, but nothing happened. I focused on the [Break] skill, and I felt something unlock inside me.
[Auto Allocating Material Points]
[Break Skill Unlocked]
“W-what?” I spluttered, almost falling on my ass down to the floor.
The screen blinked, now turning the color of gold before disappearing away. As soon as it was gone, I found Isla’s blazing face staring at me. The weariness in her eyes seemed gone, and her body no longer swayed. She looked like she saw a ghost and a monster at the same time.
“Just what-” her voice thundered in the small room. “-the fuck do you think you are doing?”