The Hapless Harlot

Impetia 10th, 542 F.A

Her lower lip hadn’t stopped quivering since she’d first entered the room. Laying motionlessly on her back, she was but a passive spectator as that hungry predator of a man scaled the bed, hovering over her defenseless body. His eyes were an invisible hand gently gliding over her smooth skin before settling on her lips, his own pair now naught but a breath apart from hers. Kissing was forbidden, but she had been too frightened by the stranger to open her mouth to protest.

Hil swore that if she ever saw Mr. Goblin again, she’d twist his little neck until his fat head popped off like a cork. It hadn’t even been a full day since their midnight rendezvous when she had been selected by a man other than the mayor for the first time.

Once the dread had set in comfortably, she came to the realization that she seemed to be pulling rather important town figures into her room, as she had immediately recognized the man as the inn keeper of the White Lily who went by the name Leaf. He wasn’t quite as well known as the mayor was, but he still had his own reputation within the town limits. And though his gut wasn’t quite as large and his hairline wasn’t quite as far back and his breath wasn’t quite as terrible, she still didn’t feel comfortable with the idea of laying with an older man. And worse yet, if she did lay with him, she would lose her only chance of escaping the debt without having to pile onto the list of strangers she’d invited to this room, as the mayor would certainly lose interest in her after hearing about this.

That is to say that this situation was the end of it all for her. And the worst part was that she couldn’t say no. Refusing to work meant that you were defective, and there was nothing worse than being a defective worker. A woman who carried the stain of selling herself but could no longer reap the financial benefits of it was worthless in every way imaginable. At least, that’s what Fish would often say to her. So, should she refuse him and quit, thereby placing herself at Mayor Langley’s mercy? Or should she continue working at the Chipping Hole like a good little harlot for the sake of reaping on Mr. Goblin’s fortune?

The common time signature of his breath splashing against her face was synced with her own. His mouth hung wide open as his pupils were fixated on her lips with a deranged intensity. His excitement was a palpable musk that sought to overwhelm Hil, who couldn’t help but acknowledge that she was out of escape options. Those eyes contained a primal desire she’d recognized as the very same the mayor had exhibited the first time he had gotten his hands on her. She was going to be devoured and used again. But that was fine. Mr. Goblin said she would achieve her dreams if she stayed at the brothel. Her fated meeting was coming. Just ten more days. Just ten more…

But for some reason, the man’s gaze had warped into something different. The savage looks he had been giving her had dissipated like a cloud of smoke. The change had stirred confusion inside of Hil, who had long since resigned herself to being taken by the man before her. Just what sort of sick, twisted play had he come up with now, she wondered? And as his hand reached down to her face, the fact that she had been frozen in fear was only an afterthought to the liquid that his finger had met underneath the corner of her right eye.

“H-huh?”

Hil touched her own cheek in surprise. Why was she crying? She’d been through so much in her life, between bearing the burden of her household and now carrying the weight of her father’s debt. Why did the mere act of sharing a bed with someone bring her to tears like this? Mr. Goblin told her, didn’t he? That this was the path to her dreams. So then why couldn’t she just grit her teeth for the sake of her future? Why did she go and show weakness at such a crucial moment? If he reported her to Fish, if it was found that she was defective, then her life would be over.

“I-I’m sorry,” Hil said, wiping her tears. “I’m fine. Please continue.”

Though she beckoned him to go on, it appeared to her that those translucent tears had extinguished the orange flame of passion that had possessed the man to crawl over her pale body earlier. His brown eyes were changed. With his lustful, pink urges drowned away, what was left was only the blunt reality of the dark nature of the act that he was about to commit. His circular windows were now only half open, a blue regret backlighting the shame that now colored his once red-drunk expression.

“What… am I doing?” he asked, probably himself.

He removed himself from Hil and his eyes glanced down at his now shivering palms as he sat up on the bed.

“Please.” Hil also sat up. “It’s okay. You can…”

Her voice got stuck in her throat. She turned away. The thought of proceeding with the act terrified her for some reason. It was impossible for her to refute the relief she felt at his moment of hesitation. Perhaps she would be spared a copulatory hour with another man.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have come here. I shouldn’t have forced this onto you,” he said.

“No, it’s okay! It’s… my job.”

The man shook his head, his legs hanging off the bed as he looked away.

“How old are you?” he asked.

“I’m… twenty.”

The man let out a sarcastic laugh. “You’re about as old as my son…”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Hil shifted the sleeve of her blouse back over her shoulder. “Your… son? You have a son, Mr. Leaf?”

The question only led to silence. His nude back, textured by the outline of his spinal cord running vertically down the middle, appeared small and vulnerable. Hil recognized that, despite his age, he could easily overpower her if he so desired. And yet the attitude he’d put on display betrayed that strength.

“Hil, right? Why… did you choose to work here if it hurts you so much?”

“What are you talking about? It doesn’t hurt me. What are you…”

Hil’s shaky voice only hurt the credibility of her words.

“I’m sorry, you don’t have to talk about it. I was just curious, is all.” He rubbed his arm. “You look like you’re in a lot of pain.”

She looked down at her own hands, her palms faced up lifelessly on the sheets that were draped over her lower half as they usually were. “I have a debt to pay off, so I… I don’t have much choice.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Is it a lot?”

“Fifty gold coins.”

The man twisted his head and faced her with a look of surprise. “Gold?”

Hil nodded. “I’ll barely be able to make ends meet thanks to this job, so I can’t quit. Not until I find another way to make money.”

“What do your payments look like, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“One percent interest every month.”

The man shuddered. “I’m surprised.”

“Yeah, it’s a lot…”

“No, not just that. I’m surprised that you’re meeting the payments.”

She shook her head. “This month will be my first payment, but I’ll make it, I think. I have… a generous…”

Her mind drifted as her gaze remained focused on her flat hands before the word ‘patron’ left her lips. Little droplets of sweat had peppered her face. She was ashamed to admit it to this man. It was strange. He hadn’t so much as laid a lustful hand on her yet, but her weariness hadn’t subsided.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be adding to your... emotional sum. I just, I thought you were so beautiful, that I…”

“N-no, it’s okay. You don’t have to say anything.”

The silence was seeping into the walls of the room and making itself at home. Neither of them had the courage to look at the other. There was a worry on both ends about creating a situation that couldn’t be retreated from.

“I… feel the need to confess something to you,” Leaf said. “As for why I’m here. I wouldn’t want you to think that… that I’m this kind of person.

“No! Um, it’s okay. You don’t have to…”

“I was going to use you to get back at my wife,” he said.

Hil’s eyes opened wide with surprise, and she found herself leaning forward. “Your… your wife, mister?”

He nodded. “She forced my son to leave two years ago. He was almost eighteen back then. Basically banished him from Rotteson on her own.”

“But that’s… that’s… why would she do such a thing?”

“Haha, why indeed. It’s not that I blame her for being upset. Apparently, he’d gambled the inheritance her father had left behind for her on dice. Lost it all in one go.”

“Gambling…”

There was something cold in Hil’s voice when she repeated the word. Though she did sympathize with Leaf’s loss of a family member, she decided that he must have been no good after all. Gambling is something that she had no tolerance for. Coin is the life force of a healthy lifestyle. The more coin you own, the better your quality of life. The only coinless folk who live quality lives are those who live under the umbrella of those with coin. That is to say, that gambling is quite literally throwing your life away for the sake of chasing a thrill.

To her, throwing a part of his mother’s life away, especially when it was one with such strong sentimental value, something given to her by a deceased parent, was an unforgivable betrayal of trust that could not be justified.

“I understand why you might think poorly of him, but… he’s still my son. I spent all those years raising him, so… I feel it was wrong to just exile him from our lives. But the value of my wife’s inheritance... It was impossible to convince her to forgive him, and I understand her anger, but… but I can’t love her anymore. She’s the reason my son is gone.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, I… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have… that is…”

His voice tapered off and the silence consumed the room one more time.

“I’ll leave,” he said, standing up.

“My father… that is, he gambled too. Like your son, Mr. Leaf.”

The innkeeper stopped and turned back to face her.

“Your father did?”

Hil nodded. “That’s why… when he died, his gambling debt fell to me.”

“I see… I’m very sorry to hear that. The Canes have been running Rotteson into the ground for the past few years

“The Canes?”

“Never mind that. I wouldn’t want to bother you for much longer. I should be taking my leave.”

At his words, Hil reached out and grabbed his sleeve.

“Please, stay. Tell me a story. Anything. I don’t want to go back out there…”

The prospect of being selected by a man much more terrifying than the innkeeper had been all the motivation she needed to prevent him from leaving. Something inside him had stopped him from engaging in that act with her, which led Hil to believe that he was safer than whoever else was lurking out there.

“A story?” He sat back down, his face bright red. “What… kind of story?”

“Um… about anything. Please. Tell me about an interesting guest you had at the inn.”

He stopped to stroke his chin and ponder. “An interesting guest, you say? Well… a few weeks ago I met with someone who might be interesting to you.”

“Oh, oh! What were they like?” Hil smiled.

“Well, he was a deformed man with a hunched back. Somewhere in his thirties if I had to guess. He wore an eyepatch over his left, and I’ve seen tumbleweeds more kempt than the hair on his head and face. If that wasn’t enough, the man mumbled to himself whenever he stopped at the bar for a drink.”

“Who was he?”

Leaf laughed. “That’s the thing, I have no idea. He claimed to be a traveling artist, though I hadn’t seen him carry any tools. I couldn’t figure him out because, well, mostly he just rambled. He would go on about how there was a monster with strange abilities lurking in plain sight.” The first thought that came to Hil’s mind was Mr. Goblin. Did this strange man come here to look for him? “As for a name, the man hadn’t given his out. He preferred us to refer to him as N.”

“N…” Hil pondered ever meeting a deformed man that met N’s description in the past few weeks, but nothing came to mind. “What kind of monster was he talking about?”

“I don’t know, but it’s not the first time I’ve heard those rumors from a guest.”

She gulped. “Uhm, what kind of abilities were they?”

“Apparently, it’s supposed to be invulnerable. No human has ever so much as made a dent in it.”

That didn’t sound very much like Mr. Goblin to Hil. Even she could beat him around if she wished it. Was that man talking about orcs then, perhaps?

“Has anyone ever spoken about a fortune telling monster?” Hil asked.

“Fortune telling…? No, I haven’t heard about that. But I did hear about someone who travels with a fairy once.”

“A fairy?! Tell me more, tell me more!”

A smile made its way onto Hil’s face as she finally began to let her guard down for the first time since working at the Chipping Hole. The world outside of Rotteson sounded like an adventure from one of the many books she’d read, and Leaf’s words were slowly bringing the fantastical images on those pages to life with his own personal tales.