37
That day, Sajis, who had been invited to a ceremony in the town next to Pyacca from the morning, was heading to Hana-Hana after work.
He usually visits at night, but it’s still just past noon today. He decided to visit suddenly because he wanted to see Yaquel’s surprised face, as well as watch Yaquel do his day work. Although there will be a royal banquet this evening so he can’t take long, he decided to have his fill of Yaquel until then. Sajis smiled at the thought of his beloved Yaquel.
Arriving at Hana-Hana, Sajis quietly got out of the carriage, had his attendant wait there, and headed to the workshop where Yaquel was. He silently opened the back door and searched for Yaquel, keeping his footsteps under control. Then he spots Yaquel’s back sitting on a bench in front of the workshop, and Sajis chuckles.
He’ll surely be surprised if I suddenly pop up from behind him. He’s looking forward to his reaction just because he usually doesn’t have varied expressions in his face.
Sajis slowly approaches Yaquel step by step. Checking from behind, Yaquel seemed to be writing something.
“Yaquel!”
WAH, he grabbed both of Yaquel’s shoulders to surprise him.
“U-eh! What!?”
Surprised as expected, Yaquel unconsciously stood up and dropped the notebook and writing brush that he was holding. Yaquel turns around and sees Sajis’s face.
“Sajis-sama!?”
“Did I surprise you, Yaquel?”
Laughing ‘hahaha’, Sajis tried to pick up what Yaquel dropped with “sorry, sorry”. However, Yaquel hurriedly picked it up to stop him. Sajis was overwhelmed by the momentum. Sajis tilted his head at the reaction that seemed like he(S) shouldn’t see it.
“What is it? Were you studying or something?”
“Ehh…, ahh… yes, studying… it’s similar to that.”
Even while thinking that it’s strange that Yaquel was responding vaguely, thinking that maybe he(Y) was embarrassed that he didn’t understand what he’s studying, Sajis sat on the bench that Yaquel was sitting on and proudly crossed his legs.
“Let me see. I’ll take a look if there’s something you don’t understand. Is it Mathematics? Linguistics? Or is it magic?”
Sajis, who was a top-student of a first-class school in the royal capital, appeals to Yaquel for his intellectual ability. However
“N, no, it’s okay. This is like a summary for myself, so I can’t borrow Sajis-sama’s wisdom. Thank you for your concern.”
While he was dejected by the rejection, Sajis replied with “I see…”.
“More importantly, why are you here today, Sajis-sama?”
“Hm? Today, I was in the neighboring town for work, and I wanted to meet you, so I stopped by to surprise you.”
“Was that so? Thank you very much… But I’m sorry, Sajis-sama. I have an errand to go to the market to buy something for Retana-san…”
“I see…”
“Uh, but I’ll be back soon! I’ll come back by evening.”
“No, you don’t need to rush. I’m just here to see your face. Besides, I’ve been invited to join a banquet tonight. I can’t stay long.”
“I see…”
Yaquel, whose shoulders drooped in disappointment, looked so adorable that Sajis stood up, pulled Yaquel on the waist, and kissed him on the forehead.
“Then let’s do this. I’ll take you up to the market on my carriage. We can take our time together until then, right?”
“Will that be okay…?”
“Yes, of course.”
And, until they reached the market, Yaquel was loved by Sajis as usual in the carriage, and he parted ways with Sajis at the entrance of the market while his hips were on the verge of giving in.
“Aah! Yaquel!”
Yaquel is headed to a fabric store after separating with Sajis, and the one who called out to him was Lulu, a prost*tute from Hana-Hana. She runs over to him with a fluttering red skirt and smile on her face.
“Lulu-san, are you also shopping?”
“Yup! I wanted to write a thank you letter to a customer so I’m here to see if there’s a cute letter set. You’re also shopping?”
“Yes, I came to buy fabric for curtains at the request of Retana-san.”
“Oh, the current curtains are certainly quite old.”
“Retana-san was so enthusiastic about sewing curtains for all the rooms.”
“Ahahaha, that’s so like her. But it would be nice if she doesn’t overdo it again.”
“Yes, it will be fine. I’ll be looking after her.”
Looking at Yaquel’s eyes sparkling, Lulu laughed happily again.
“Oh, yeah. Thanks for last time.”
“Last time?”
“Look, didn’t you accompany Morga-sama in a conversation?”
Remember, that bearded man. Lulu said and he recalled him with the way she touched her chin.
“Not at all. I have also learned a lot of things, I should be the thankful one instead. He said that he was a pharmacist.”
“It looks like it. I’m not really sure since I don’t really ask often what my customers’ occupations are, but when I told him that I was troubled with dry skin, he gave me an ointment that works for my skin.”
He seemed to be a skilled pharmacist and Lulu was happy that she was completely better now. And Yaquel was also advised to ask him if he’s troubled by something.
After parting ways with Lulu, Yaquel heads to the fabric store. He receives the fabric that Retana pre-ordered. When he handed the money for the payment to the shopkeeper, he was given something like a card along with the change.
“What is this?”
“That’s a visitor card. One stamp will be put on it for every 1 Yulin you pay, and this yarn set will be given after accumulating 10 stamps. Since Hana-Hana has paid 3 yulins this time, I put 3 stamps on the card.”
“Oh, that’s interesting.”
“Yes. There are many fabric stores around here, so I thought of a way to attract customers to shop at our store as much as possible.”
“Certainly, I think I’ll come back here to shop to fill up my visitor card.”
“Thank you for saying that.”
With such a design, there will be another reason to come here aside from shopping.
I see, Yaquel was impressed.
“Oh.”
Yaquel, who thought of something, greeted the shopkeeper and left the store.
Yes. This is great. If this method works well, it will surely be a positive feature for the shop and customers.
Yaquel hurried home to consult with Retana and the others about the idea that came to mind.
“Hey~, Yaquel~”
As he was about to leave the market, he was called to a stop by a familiar voice.
‘I finally caught up to you’, an out of breath Eunick puts his arms around Yaquel’s waist. Yaquel gently stroked Eunick’s back while thinking, I’m meeting a lot of friends today.
“Are you okay?”
“I saw you from behind so I came running after you.” Hey, why are you in a hurry?”
“Oh, it’s nothing, I just want to get back to the shop quickly.”
“What, you’re going back already? Since we were able to meet in the city, let’s have some tea together. Or is your errand urgent?”
“No, it’s not really that urgent but”
“Then it’s fine, right? Hey~, can’t we?”
He wraps his arms around Yaquel’s arm. Yaquel also let his guard down at his(E) adorable fawning actions with his upturned eyes and ended up agreeing. As expected, his skills as the no.1 male prost*tute is there. His coquettish gestures and luring skills are great. Do the customers who nominate Eunick always feel like this?
Well, since the idea that came to him didn’t necessarily need to be discussed in a hurry, he decided to accept Eunick’s invitation.
He was taken to a restaurant that Eunick often went to was guided inside. The spacious store is decorated with stylish paintings and miscellaneous goods, and the atmosphere is very nice. When they were guided by an employee to a seat by the window, Eunick didn’t sit on the opposite sofa but instead sat right next to Yaquel. He then entwined their arms together and placed his head on Yaquel’s shoulder. From their surroundings’ perspective, they’re a completely flirting couple.
Even while Yaquel was thinking, oh dear, he couldn’t treat Eunick, who was playing with his palm and writing the word “love” on it, meanly, so he decided to leave him be.
“Yaquel.”
“What is it?”
Eunick called so he replied but
“Mm~, nothing.”
I just wanted to call you~. He laughed with “ehehe” and he(Y) responded with “I see”, and sipped his tea. After repeating such an exchange 10 times, a noisy group got inside the restaurant and it began to get noisy inside.
At the center of nearly ten flashy women, there is one man who looks sexy. His black hair and the mole under his eye looks very impressive. He has the looks that don’t lose to Guinn and Sajis from a balanced point of view.
“He’s… what is he doing in this city?”
Eunick, who wrinkled his browse, talked like he clearly knew the man.
“Do you know him?”
“Yeah… That’s the “Lustful Snake”.”
“Lustful Snake…?”
“Nobody knows his real name.”
“Is he someone great?”
Eunick gripped Yaquel’s hand strongly.
“Did you know that there was a redlight district called Davis in the eastern city?”
“I did. It’s a giant redlight district bigger than Pyacca, isn’t it?”
“That’s right. But it’s now a ruined area.”
“What?”
“Two years ago, Davis, the redlight district that was the most colorful and bustling in Krantz, was destroyed when that Lustful Snake appeared.”
“What did you say…”
Yaquel shot a glance at the man called the lust snake, but no matter which way he looked at him, he looked like a gentleman, and he didn’t feel an intimidating and threatening air of a man who had destroyed an entire district. If he had a strong build like Alton and Guinn and had the appearance of a strong man just by standing still then Eunick’s words would’ve been convincing, but it’s too unrealistic.
“Did that man really…?”
“Yaquel, crushing a red light district doesn’t require brute strength and political power.”
“What?”
“To crush the red light district, the brothels simply have to disappear. Only that.”
“But brothels can’t be ruined that easily!”
“You’re right. Normally, that is. But that man did it.”
“Just how…”
If he was able to crush those shops with neither brute strength nor political power… what exactly was that terrifying method... Yaquel gulped.
“You see, he turned all the prost*tutes useless.”
His body trembled at the weight of Eunick’s words.
“Is something like that possible…?”
“No matter what kind of woman it is, the Lustful Snake steals her heart and body, making them go crazy for him. A woman held by the Lustful Snake once won’t be able to escape. It’s as if she’s addicted to dr*gs.”
“That’s…”
“Right. If you’re a magical hole, the Lustful Demon is a magical “sword”. Using that sword, he corrupted those women and made them unable to take on other customers. Who would go to a brothel where prost*tutes refuse to work?”
“No one will…”
“Doing so, the Lustful Snake destroyed the red light district Davis in just 3 weeks.”
Yaquel looked at the Lustful Demon again. He smiles amiably, and his gentle smile reveals not even the slightest hint of terror.
“How does Eunick know something like that?”
“I was also working in Davis two years ago.”
“So that was the case.”
“I didn’t have the technique nor the skills to talk back then, I was in a lower position. Also, the Lustful Snake’s targets were practically female prost*tutes so I didn’t enter his eyes.”
“I see…”
“Well, thanks to that, I came to Pyacca and became no.1, as well as met Yaquel.”
Hehehe, Eunick bashfully laughed. However, he must have been terrified despite that. He’s not a man who thinks of nothing upon personally watching brothels going bankrupt one after another, as well as the prost*tutes who fell in the hands of a single man. There must have been male and female prost*tutes that he was friends with among them.
As proof of that, Eunick has been holding his hand tightly ever since the Lustful Snake appeared, trembling slightly.
“It’s okay.”
“Yaquel…”
Yaquel tried to reassure him by pulling Eunick’s head and pressing it against his chest. It’s not like he could do anything about it, but Yaquel can at least make it so that Lustful Snake, who is here, won’t enter Eunick’s sight.
Yaquel hugged Eunick until the Lustful Snake left the store and tried to keep the conversation lively by making small talks, albeit clumsily.
And the existence of this Lustful Snake will bring a crisis to Pyyacca and Hana-Hana.