Demon World’s Brothel - Demon World's Brothel – Chapter 84

“So, ultimately, it’s like that.”

“Is that so…”

Charak was standing across from me. Another week had passed by at Devon’s Watering Hole and business was starting to stabilize. Tempted by food, the rioters had all dispersed, and the soldiers originally stationed outside for protective reasons were cut in half. I would have preferred the lieutenant continue to keep him, but apparently, he was already getting a lot of flak for deploying so many troops to protect such a location. He had already managed to give me two weeks so that I could get business under control, so I couldn’t hope for more.

With our staff doubled, I wasn’t struggling to keep up with the heavy work requirements. The girls traded places between working in the soup kitchen and working within the brothel. I had done this on purpose, as I wanted the public to understand that the two businesses were unbreakably linked. The girls providing services for the demons was what allowed the girls to provide free food to the masses.

Like this, all of the former protests against the facility stopped immediately. Sal’s plan had become foiled just like that. Even if someone was willing to take Sal’s coin and create trouble for us, those who had grown accustomed to filled stomachs or showers quickly took care of them. Furthermore, the same girls who screeched such disparaging words like “whore” and “slut” at the girls no longer dared to speak. These girls had become noble sacrifices allowing others to have food and clothing.

It even reached the point that I had even had one or two inquiries of women looking to work. However, one of them made it clear she wouldn’t be involved in the brothel part, and the other was rather unattractive. Thus, it was still the original girls plus the six new hires. I was hesitant to expand anymore until I saw Sal’s next move, which was why security was so important to me.

That’s perhaps why I was so shocked when Charak approached me in the afternoon after finishing his shift. Over the last week, his work performance had plummeted. Well, that wasn’t true. He came to every shift, but where before he would linger around well past his scheduled hours to drink, these days he’d leave almost as soon as the bell rang. I was expecting the same today, but apparently, he wanted to speak to me, so went to my back office, a small room I had created out of the second floor of the soup kitchen. Of course, this room happened to line up with the row of sex rooms, which allowed me to spy on the girls as they serviced customers just to make sure they were doing their jobs properly.

“You want… more money?” I couldn’t help but reiterate. “Is there something wrong with the service my girls are giving?”

“It’s not that!” Charak shook his head, waving his hands. “It’s just that I haven’t been in the mood lately. As it turns out, I find myself needing more money than I do needing a cock cleaning or alcohol. I just want to amount of service and goods I’d normally use to be converted to coin instead.”

Betrayal of the highest order!

I coughed, forcing myself to calm down. From the beginning, I had hired Charak on a service-for-service rate. He protected the inn and threw out demons that caused trouble, and in exchange, he could drink and get service from the girls. Of course, he still had a small stipend, but it was undoubtedly that most of his salary was paid by the services and not coin.

I depended heavily on that overhead cost. Naturally, making one of my girls suck his dick at the end of the night cost me nothing, even if it was normally a gold coin. Even the alcohol I gave him was usually the cheapest stuff I could get. I even filled bottles from fancier brands so he didn’t know how cheap. He never seemed to notice or mind. However, if I converted all of that to real coin, he’d probably be the highest-paid employee.

This was the inevitable cost of hiring a real employee. I was no saint. I knew that by hiring desperate humans, I could give them slave wages and they’d still work graciously. I considered my salary quite generous considering how much I could get away with paying them. That said, a demon wouldn’t be as easily swayed by such lowball offers. This was one of the reasons I hadn’t gone out of my way to hire more demon guards and had been slowly turning Alleya into a terminator, other than forcing a princess to act against her typecast made me laugh slightly.

“Very well, in that case… I’ll pay three gold coins per week. That’s as much as I’m offering! Don’t beg anymore!”

“That’s great!” Charak let out a breath of relief. “Thank you, Boss. You won’t regret this.”

I let out a cough. “Also, if you know any other demons who might be interested in working security, you can send them my way.”

“Yes, boss! I will, Boss!” He nodded excitedly as he left the office.

I went over to the window and watched as Charak immediately headed off. He seemed to be walking with purpose and a bit of vigor. My eyes narrowed slightly. There was something suspicious going on with him. After a moment of thought, I grabbed a cloak and a mask. I left the office through a fire exit hidden in the back. I ended up in a slim ally that separated the soup kitchen from an adjacent building. Since I hadn’t expanded the soup kitchen on the outside, this was a feature the buildings already contained.

Charak was a large man, even for a demon, and it wasn’t that hard to pick him out in a crowd. He wasn’t exactly trying to hide, so I managed to catch up quickly. I remained a distance behind him as I followed, my head down as I walked. He was heading into the nicer area of down. I knew he didn’t live in this area, so I wondered why he was traveling in this direction as the sun began to set.

I watched as he stopped at a trinket stand. After looking at the wears for a bit, he finally bought something. He suddenly turned around, and I nearly flinched. His eyes narrowed in my direction. It seemed like Charak’s perception was better than I anticipated. I instantly moved to a nearby flower stand.

“You buy…” The demon behind it asked.

He didn’t look like the kind of guy who would sell flowers. I had to wonder who was buying flowers in a demon-run city, but considering the wilted state of most of the flowers, I had a feeling they weren’t being sold, and this guy only ran it to give himself something to do, as countless demons did these days.

Charak’s suspicion seemed to be evaded, he put whatever he bought into his pocket and left. Before I could follow him, I realized that the demon before me hadn’t been asking if I wanted to buy flowers, he was telling me to. Watching him eye me while stroking his sword, I couldn’t help but toss out a few drakes and grab the best-looking bouquet left. He only let go of his blade after I paid. Taking a breath, I continued to follow Charak, making sure to keep a greater distance.

When Charak finally reached his stop, I couldn’t help but freeze. It was Sal’s place. Was he betraying me? I wasn’t sure how I felt about it, but I was still missing something. He didn’t go into Sal’s. Rather, he found a place across the street, that looked similar to how I had with the flower stand. He glanced around suspiciously again, but this time I just kept my head down and continued walking forward. If I were to suddenly try to take cover or something, that’d look even more suspicious.

Although he glanced my way, he didn’t seem to notice me this time. Rather, he seemed more concerned with watching the guards in front of Sal’s. When a drunk patron came out and decided to wrap his arms around the two guards, Charak turned and started moving quickly. As the guards went to toss him into the street, Charak slid behind them and then entered the alley along the side of the house.

My frown only deepened. The drunk had suddenly started vomiting. The escalating distraction allowed me to follow after Charak. The alleyway seemed to lead into a large courtyard surrounded by dilapidated housing. It was here that Charak suddenly stopped. I ducked down, hiding behind a bush as Charak began to pace back and forth nervously. Was this where he was going to meet with his contact?

At that moment, another person appeared in the courtyard, and Charak’s pacing stopped. She put her hood back, and it appeared to be a young human woman. She was rather small, nearly half of Charak’s height, with a light frame.

“You came…” she declared in an unsteady voice.

“Of course, I came…” Charak declared, stepping up to her. “After all… I love you!”

The two of them embraced. What the fuck was I watching?