World of Women - World of Women – V4 – Chapter 24

Although Ash’s words were filled with a grandiose declaration, there wasn’t a rise of excitement. No one truly believed anything she had said. Well, I had seen enough that I was able to believe it in part, but I was the only one. To Brooke, I was just an unlucky guy. Whether I was from another world or not was as much a mystery as demons themselves. To Oswald, there was even more incredulous disbelief. He had been the one to declare me as some kind of hero during a court case, but it wasn’t because he believed in any of it. As for Cornelia, she seemed to have finally caught up, but it was hard to say what she did and did not believe.

The point of us coming to Oswald’s place had been accomplished. We were cleaned up, the trackers had been removed, and now we were hiding while the heat died down. Cornelia and I were alone for a bit. The room was too crowded with all five of us. Brooke and Oswald were on the lookout, and Ash went to feed the baby, although she wasn’t exactly clear on where she went. Cornelia peaked out of the blinds to the street below. There were squads of women, and they seemed to be going door to door.

“Do you think they’re really looking for us?” Cornelia asked.

“Do you think they aren’t?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know, Clyburn. A day ago, my only worry was whether you were going to get another woman pregnant. Now, you’re talking about demon cults and conspiracies that rise through the entire government of Amaryllis. The MPA… I believed in it…”

“You see the Male District…”

“I know…” She finally looked away, flopping down on the bed. “I know. I can see how men are being treated. They might as well be prisoners, just like the evil… heh… even my understanding of the evil queen was wrong.”

“Do you think she knew?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you think she knew her actions would one day end up being recorded in history, and she’d be called the evil queen? Wasn’t she the woman who stopped the demonic invasion, but no one knows the truth.”

“What’s bringing this on?”

“I just… well, it’s not like you believe any of it anyway.”

“I just saw a girl shot to pieces and then stand back up unharmed. Try me.”

“I come from another world, Cornelia. Or, at least, I have the memories from there. About six years ago, I suddenly recalled the memories of a past life. It was a world without magic and demons. Men and women were born in equal amounts.”

“I-is that so…” Her mouth twitched, but she refused to say she didn’t believe me after already making a point of listening.

That would have to be enough.

“It just got me thinking. I’ve never seen myself as a hero. Even after everything, I don’t want to be the savior of the world or whatever. In my previous life, I was a mess. I wasn’t able to conceive children so my wife left me. I ended up drinking myself to death.”

“You… had a wife who left you?” She looked over at me, her brow narrowed.

I chuckled at her look. “Yeah, when there are enough male selections to be choosy, who would pick a guy like me?”

“There are a lot of girls that would pick you!” She turned in bed, her expression suddenly looking determined.

“Heh… yeah, here… now that I can have babies… I went from a life where I couldn’t conceive to a life where me having babies is the most important thing I will ever do. How strange is that?”

She shook her head. “No, it’s not the babies that make a girl want you! It’s because you’re you…”

“Heh… well, you didn’t know the me from back then.”

“No…” She reached out and touched the top of my hand. “I know the you now. Are you the same person you were back then?”

I thought about it for a second and then shook my head. “I don’t know. I’d like to think I’ve changed, but somehow, it always feels like I ultimately accomplish nothing. I couldn’t stop my mother from going to prison. I couldn’t keep my sisters with me. I couldn’t stop the MPA from being passed. I couldn’t keep those close to me safe. Is all my life going to be is knocking up women?”

“Clyburn… I can’t tell you the future, but take it from someone who can’t have children herself. Even without the promise of pregnancy, the women in your life still want to be with you.”

“Clyburn.” A voice from the doorway caused us both to turn to see Brooke standing there. “You’re not useless. Rather, you’re working on something really important. Come on. We’re going to get you out of here.”

“We’re leaving the male district already?”

We had only been here a single night. I was expecting it to be here days if not weeks, especially if the entire city was looking for me.

“Not just the district… the entire city,” Brooke explained. “We’re going on a road trip.”

“Where?” Cornelia asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.

“The only place they would be taking me where I can be useful.” I sighed. “The demon castle. What about Ashton?”

“The farther she stays away from that place, the more comfortable I’ll be. However, if the demon cult is trying to get to Rebecca and use her to take the inheritance, I’d rather see you get it first.”

“Then, off we go, I guess.” I looked at Cornelia. “Are you coming?”

“It doesn’t seem like I have a choice.” Cornelia sighed.

The pair of us collected our stuff and then followed Brooke out of the room. We ended up on the roof, where Oswald was sitting with a pair of binoculars in his hand.

“Where is Ashton?” Brooke asked.

“Isn’t she with you?” Oswald cocked his head.

“I’m pretty sure she’s not in the building anymore.” I sighed.

I had a feeling I’d be seeing her again. I no longer saw her as my enemy, but I still wasn’t clear what I felt about her. Was she helping me? I wasn’t sure. It seemed like it, but there was no telling whether her aid would eventually end up being in my favor. She could just as easily be manipulating me to get what she wanted. She was just as mysterious as Charlie. At least, other people remembered that Ashton existed and interacted with her. I didn’t even consider talking to Cornelia about her. Even if she appeared in front of us, they would all call me nuts a few weeks later.

“Well, whatever, move out. They’re on another street right now. You’ve got a window of about fifteen minutes.”

“Oswald… I…” I stopped, not sure quite how to take the older man.

He had a profound impact on my life before I was born. He was my dad’s best friend, the father of my half-sister that I loved, which technically also made him the grandfather of my kid with her. He had helped me out twice in my life, and as much as I accused him of just being louche, he probably had done more for men in this world than I ever had.

“You don’t need to say anything. I’m doing what I’m doing for my own reasons. I always have,” Oswald said, not getting up or turning to look in our direction.

I could only nod and follow Brooke as she continued past him. She reached the end of the building and then dropped down to the next one. The roofs weren’t all flat-topped, so navigating them wasn’t always easy, but Brooke moved with an ease that said she was used to traveling over rooftops now. We did our best to keep up with her pace, but I occasionally had to help Cornelia along. Every once in a while, Brooke would stop and gesture for us to hide. There would be lights, the sound of people, or even dogs, and then we’d be moving on again.

It was about fifteen minutes before we finally came to a roof and stopped. There was a window behind the house and Brooke quickly ushered us into it.

“Are we out of the male district yet?” Cornelia asked.

“If it was that easy, then it wouldn’t be the male district.” Brooke rolled her eyes. “We can’t just go underground or climb over a roof for this one. They already have it all locked down. You’re not going to be able to leave the district without passing a checkpoint. I don’t anticipate either of you being able to get past in a disguise. If we had the time, I’d chose to just wait it out, but that’s not possible now.”

“You know, if you can just get a symbol out of here, I could teleport us out.”

“Do you think they wouldn’t have thought of that?” Brooke crossed her arms. “Your teleportation isn’t as mysterious and hidden as you think. They have mana sniffers out there. If you used that much mana… well, they’d know exactly where we left and where we went. At that point, I can’t guarantee we’d get away.”

“I see…” I blushed, feeling once again like a small fish in a big ocean.

“Where are we?”

“This is a safe house, of sorts. This a food distribution center that helps bring in supplies for the men. The woman in charge here is… well… you’ll see.”

I cocked my head, but Brooke didn’t offer any more information. She turned away and began escorting us down from the attic into the floors below. This building looked to be in a bit better shape than the one we had been in. That likely meant that it was closer to the edge of the district and more likely to be seen by the public.

At the very edges of the district were fancy hotels where women could have a rendezvous with the men. They’d be cleaned up and dressed to entertain their guests. Anyone who acted up would be removed and denied the privilege in the future. Good food and a warm bed with a woman were the best a man could hope for right now. If they tried to talk or complain about it, well, wasn’t it the unreasonable men who ended up in the male district in the first place? They were surely embellishing, only unhappy that they didn’t get to live their previous lavish lifestyles being pampered by real taxpayers. It was such an environment.

“This is a building that runs supplies for the hotels.” Brooke seemed to see where my mind was at and continued speaking. “The female working staff that keeps up the charade, so to speak.”

I didn’t say anything in response, merely following her silently as we walked down the stairway to the first floor. We ended up walking into a large kitchen. The smell of food instantly caused my stomach to growl. I hadn’t eaten much in a while. The male district had caused me to lose my appetite. As we reached the bottom of the stairway, a girl with her hair up in a net wearing an apron turned around. When she saw us, she let out a noise of surprise. Her eyes immediately locked on me though.

She seemed to recognize me. When I looked back at her, she suddenly diverted her eyes.

“Brooke, I heard you were coming, but no one told me it’d be with Clyburn.”

“His presence is on a need-to-know basis, Nada. In fact, it’s best if you forget he was here the second he’s gone.”

“Wait… Nada?” My eyes popped open as her face aligned with a woman I had once known.

Nada was the daughter of Veris, a former maid of mine. We had once engaged in a threesome together. Of course, they had been trying to get my sperm to sell on the black market, but at the time I didn’t know any of that. Nada was a drug addict, and I had barely heard anything about her. Veris had eventually returned to working at the mansion, but she didn’t know what happened to her daughter. Of everywhere I expected to see her, I never would have thought she’d be working in a kitchen much like her mother.

“Hello, Clyburn,” she spoke shyly with a lowered head.

Much like her mother, Nada had aged by quite a bit in these few years. Although she was only in her late twenties, she looked closer to being my mother’s age. It wasn’t too late for her though. She still had a beauty to her. I supposed, in this world, she’d have lost some of her luster, but in my old world, she would have still been a beautiful catch that many men would have desired.

Unfortunately, this was a world that only gave you one chance. If you didn’t claim a man in your prime or did all of the things necessary to allow yourself to be in the catalog, then your chances of getting pregnant and passing along your genes were gone. In Nada’s case, she had wasted her youth on drugs, and although she looked clean now, her prime years were behind her. It was a bit sad seeing her now. If it had been pre-MPA, I would have offered to put a baby in her belly, but nowadays that’d only give her more trouble.

“So,” I responded awkwardly. “You’re doing this now?”

I had only met her a few times, and although we had sex and I had wanted to take responsibility for her, life just didn’t turn out that way. Her recovery had been a long and arduous one, and I wasn’t able to be there for it. In the end, she had managed it herself. Now, I guess, she was secretly helping the male district while working for the government, just like Mako. It was no wonder that she didn’t tell her mom about it. She probably didn’t want her getting implicated if things went south.

“I’m doing good,” she said, putting her ladle down and smiling at me. “I ended up working here.”

“How did you get involved?”

“I think it should go without saying that I’ve had ties to the underground before.” Nada sighed. “It just reached a point where I had to decide if what I was doing mattered, and what impact did I want to make on this world when I left it.”

I jerked, hearing thoughts that nearly echoed my own not too long ago. “So, you decided on this?”

“I guess… you know… you’re ultimately the reason I’m here.”

“Me?”

“Mm… ever since we parted, I’ve always thought about you. You were my only, after all. I regret selling your load. I wish you had cum inside me, and maybe I’d have your baby now. However, that was a different me.” She sighed and then opened up a cabinet that seemed to contain various odds and ends and pointed to the other side of the cabinet door. “I’ve kept track of you. The trial, the day of wrath, when you were sent abroad and then went missing. The peace meeting speech…”

On that inside of the cabinet were dozens of article clippings. True to her word, every single one of them was about me. Clyburn filled the headlines, and there were even several pictures of me. I didn’t know what to say. First, I was shocked that even things like me leaving abroad were publicized. I had been a celebrity back then. All men had similar gossip columns about them, and I guess given the waves I had made in Amaryllis, I had more columns than most. To normal girls, male gossip truly was a form of entertainment. At least, it used to be. There wasn’t a new article in the last two years.

“Nada…”

She closed the door and smiled again. “I’m not asking for anything from you. Rather, even if you offered me something, I wouldn’t accept it anymore. I just wanted you to know. Your kindness played a big part in how I got to where I am. I never would have been able to kick drugs or get my life together without you. The reason I decided to help the men here is also because of you. I just… if I ever saw you again, I wanted to let you know that.”

“Well, you might not be asking anything of Clyburn, but we need to ask something of you,” Brooke cut in before I could speak anymore.

“Hmm? What is it?” Nada’s smile dropped and her expression turned serious.

“I need to get these two out of the district. It won’t be easy. They have the whole thing locked down. They’re after Clyburn.”

“So, they’ve finally shown their true colors.” Nada frowned. “Then, I can get you guys on your way tonight.”

“You have a way then?” Brooke asked. “So soon?”

“Mm… some of my supplies are being requisitioned by the city. They’ll be shipped out in a truck to the countryside. It’s supposed to be part of some social gathering at a country club, for elites. The two of them should be able to stow away in some crates. They won’t check them too carefully, because the supplies are being taken away from the male district, and they don’t want to have to answer for that.”

It made sense. If the government bought a $10,000 toilet seat, they wouldn’t want people looking too closely at that toilet seat. Since these items were being sequestered off the books, no one would be counting them too closely.

“Then, we’ll have to depend on you.” I bowed politely.

She smiled, looking at me with an impression of fondness. “I will do everything I can for you. Just leave it to me.”

It wasn’t too long at all before she snuck us on the truck. We hid in a crate. Brooke didn’t follow, so it ended up just being me and Cornelia. There were others present, so she did things undercover, claiming she was doing inventory one last time to make sure everything they demanded was being sent, she leaned near our box.

“When you get out of the city, it’ll be up to you to get off the truck.” Nada slid a small device into our crate as she whispered her last instructions. “Brooke has the tracking code. Activate it and she’ll come to pick you up.”

“Thank you, Nada,” I said. “Really, for everything.”

Her lips tightened and she gave a nod before turning away. Soon, she left, and after some words were exchanged, the truck door slammed shut leaving the pair of us alone.

“See?” Cornelia’s voice came out of the darkness.

“See what?” I asked, feeling hot and just a bit cramped.

We were pressed against each other tightly in the box, and I could feel her hot breath on my neck every time she breathed.

“You… your presence in this world hasn’t meant nothing.”

“What do you mean?”

“Isn’t Nada a perfect example?”

“Her? I mean, I barely did anything.” I shook my head.

“So? You said yourself you didn’t want to be a hero. Maybe, you don’t have to be. It’s the smallest things that change a person’s life, right? You shouldn’t have to ask what you need to do to make an imprint on the world. Just being yourself should be enough.”

“Cornelia…”

“All of those girls, the ones who love you, the ones who have had your children, you have changed their world. They will never be the same. They will go on to live completely different lives because you were in their lives, and I believe those lives are better because they met you. Your children will also go out, and they’ll live their own lives, and those lives will also go on and change still other lives. In the end, you will one day end up changing the world. Maybe it will be your children or your children’s children… but none of it would have happened if it didn’t start with you.”

I sat quietly as I took in her words for a bit, but then I raised my head. “How do you know?”

“Know?”

“How do you know… that my presence had made their lives better?”

“It has to…” She said simply.

When she didn’t say anymore, I leaned back and closed my eyes. It’d be a while until we were out of the city, so I had nothing to do but wait. I didn’t want to try to get up and move too much, or we might cause noises they’d check on. For the moment, it was best if the pair of us just stayed hidden in that box.

“After all…” Cornelia’s voice spoke so lightly that I barely heard it. “You’ve changed my life for the better.”

I wanted to argue with her. I couldn’t follow her thought process at all. My decisions had resulted in her abuse. The Day of Wrath happened because of me. Even now, she could have been blissfully ignorant, still seducing, and rehabilitating problematic men. However, because of me, she was now stuck in a box, her career basically over, and even her life questionable. That wasn’t how I would say I made things better.

I didn’t know what was going through her mind, but I also decided not to ask. Instead, the pair of us just sat in the darkness, listening to the sounds of the road as we headed to the next destination, wherever it was going to take us.