Book 5 – Chapter 249

When we stopped at the Ruby Vixen brothel, it took me a second to recognize the place. It did seem to still be a brothel, but it has gone through a transformation since we've been gone. The building wasn't exactly in bad shape before, but now it had been completely retouched and repainted. There were new windows inset into each of the floors, including the lobby, made from opalescent stained glass that would let light through without actually being clear. Various images were depicted in the translucent stained glass of some recognizable people. Among the ones I recognized were Oceane, Sibyl's older self paired with her newer self, Grace and her sister Lia, Raya's new three-tailed form, and even myself...

Raya gasped. "This place looks so pretty now! Hey! Is that me!? That looks amazing!"

Cecilia pulled me aside while the others took in the sight of the revamped Ruby Vixen. "Once you get everyone loaded off and into the brothel, I'll go check our carriage and the uunas into a stable. How long do you plan on staying here this time?"

"I'd love to say not long, but trouble has a way of finding us. A few days at least," I replied as I climbed down from the coachman's seat.

The door to the Ruby Vixen opened and I smiled up at someone I recognized the moment our bond connected. Grace had come to greet us. "Lilith! Raya! Sibyl!" The woman smiled and rushed over to hug me before moving on to Raya and Sibyl. "I was so excited when Jade told me you and your friends would be arriving today." She glanced over at the women who were coming out of the carriage. "It seems you have brought quite a few new sisters home with you. Let me go get someone to help them get settled."

"Not all of them intend to work at the brothel," I hesitantly told her. "And one of them is a kid, an orphan we picked up."

"No trouble at all! We can put everyone up regardless. We are family after all," Grace said with a smile.

The women awkwardly entered the brothel, still unfortunately wearing their previous slave clothes mixed in with what few spare outfits we were able to give them. With so few things to spread around, all of them were looking pretty underdressed. Tenna and Kino followed the group inside, the wolf boy looking particularly embarrassed by the idea. Nelly kept the young Maddie close, a brothel isn't exactly a good place to take a child but no one seemed concerned about it at the moment. We'll figure out what to do with her soon enough. Once the carriage was empty I looked up at Cecilia and tapped the carriage on the side. "We're all clear, head back here when you're done and we'll figure out what we're doing next."

"Sounds good!" Cecilia replied as she gave a feeling of acknowledgment through the bond. Nikka chuffed at me and I stopped to pat her on the flank before she turned to pull the carriage away.

"Do you have any bags with you?" Grace asked as she watched Cecilia drive off the carriage off.

"Mimi's got it all."

She smiled. "Yes, of course. Well! Follow me then. There are lots of things I would like to fill you in on since you have been gone."

I followed her into the brothel. "Will Oceane be joining us?"

Grace shook her head. "Unfortunately, that will not be possible today. She has become very busy, even busier than she was before. Still, all of it has been growing well."

The inside of the brothel had changed significantly. Before the interior had a pretty homey feel, but now the place looked much higher class than it had before. All of the wood has been redone, the place has been repainted in tasteful colors, and the natural light that the stained glass windows let inside made the place feel a lot more pleasant to hang around in. There were still comfy looking benches and chairs covered in pillows everywhere but they had been replaced with newer high-quality ones. Tisha and Jade, the two bobcat snow leopard hybrids, were already talking with the new succubi and making sure all of them were comfortable. They had greater control over the bond and there was no telling how much their powers have improved in the last three weeks. They would do a good job helping the new girls improve their control over their new abilities.

"This place looks a lot nicer than before. What happened?" I asked.

Grace smiled and led me past the front desk. "A lot of things, there is much to fill you in on."

"Things like the 'Ruby Vixen mercenary company' that got us through the gate without any trouble?"

Grace chuckled, "Yes, like that." She turned to her sister who was sitting behind the desk. "Lia, will you make sure everyone Lilith brought in have rooms?"

"Sure, as guests or as new hires?" Lia asked.

"Guests for now, let us do two to a room. We will have to find out which ones will choose to stay here and which may be interested in some of our other pursuits. Make sure the suite is prepared for Lilith, the same one as last time. Oh, and invite the new girls into the dining hall, they look like they might need a fresh meal."

"No problem, sis," Lia replied.

"Let us go talk in my office," Grace said while turning to me with a smile.

Her energy was infectious, I could tell she was in a good mood. "Sure, after you."

I followed her into her office and sat down across from her. Things hadn't changed much in here, the room was still filled with her personal things. Her desk had been cleared and there weren't any papers on top of it this time giving it a more orderly look than I remember.

"So, what have I missed? It looks like the building has been renovated."

Grace smiled and nodded. "Yes, we suddenly have a lot more money than we used to. The food shortages have been mitigated by the influx of imported food from the frontier towns and the capital, so people have money to spend on us again. All of our girls have improved in bed and no longer need regular food so our income is up and our expenses have gone down considerably as well. Many of our girls also decided to attempt new careers as adventurers and they have been pretty successful so far. So much so that Oceane decided to form a mercenary company to help with finding work and distributing it among our members."

"Isn't that what the adventurer's guild is for?" I asked.

"Yes and no. There is a lot of overlap, and some of the girls have been working in the adventurer's guild as well, but we were able to get a substantial foothold since the adventurer's guild took so long to reestablish themselves here. There is also a lot of work that adventurers don't like to take, like guarding the farmers, clearing roads, and other mundane tasks like that. Most of the adventurers are still focused on the hunting jobs right now. The hardest part was getting people to take our girls seriously at first since all of our members look young and pretty, but we've gained a reliable and respectable reputation since then and things have improved a lot. The transformation and the ability to rearrange their stat distributions with the change, along with everyone's unique abilities, have given everyone a lot more options. The bond between the girls also makes it easier for them to trust each other when figuring out the best way to distribute their stats and specialize. I am happy to say that your focus on family has spread among the girls and now everyone views each other as sisters. That has made everyone become even closer than they had been before."

"I'm happy to hear that but... is it a good idea for so many of them to be pivoting like this?" I asked.

Grace smiled. "No need to worry. Oceane and the ones who work with her on mission assignments have been very careful to make sure that everyone is up for the tasks they are assigned. There are risks of course, but we have not lost anyone yet. Oceane starting a mercenary company may seem like a strange step, but we are mostly just working to give our sisters who want that kind of life a way to do it as safely as possible. Oddly enough, by tying them more to sex, you have given them the option to do more than just sleeping with johns to improve their lives."

I chuckled. "That does seem ironic." I paused for a beat before deciding to change the subject, "How have you been? Has everything been good with Lia?"

"She has been good! She has been mostly working the desk and I have been teaching her how to balance the ledgers. She also takes a few clients from time to time... Truthfully it has been a little weird to see her do that, but she needs to get it from somewhere. She spends time with some of the other succubi but seeing her interested in men all of a sudden has been a bit strange."

I frowned. "Do you think it's a result of the transformation?"

She shrugged and sighed. "I am unsure. Perhaps she has always had some interest in men and just never expressed it, or maybe she is just trying out new things because the brothel has become... even more sexually adventurous as of late. When the entire place is full of women who can shapeshift, the difference between the sexes feels a lot more... trivial. But she seems happy and I have not noticed any other odd changes, other than how much happier she is. No longer being bedridden is enough to explain that though."

"And you? How have you been?" I asked.

She smiled. "I have been good. Since Oceane has been busy with other things lately, I've taken over a lot of the responsibilities here. The two of us still regularly talk and she asks my advice on her other endeavors of course, but my day to day has been managing the brothel. Though, even that has become quite a bit easier since everyone's transformation. The bond by itself has resolved a lot of the friction between the girls and now that sex has become synonymous with eating for us, a lot of the girls are less focused on the money." She laughed. "Actually, the hardest part after everything has changed is coordinating the ones who are off doing other things. Many of the girls who work in the mercenary company are still doing one or two shifts a week here, so there is a lot of scheduling to account for. Still, as you can see, everything has been going well... I feel like all of the pressure that was on my shoulders is gone now. Now that Lia is safe I have been... just enjoying life more."

"That's great to hear Grace," I said with a smile.

"Now enough about me, what about you? How was your trip to the capital? With the number of people you brought back, it couldn't have been simple. I'm glad everyone has returned to us in one piece, I had been a little concerned for Raya and Sibyl but they seem to be doing well."

I nodded. "Yeah, it's quite the story."

I spent the next bell telling her everything that happened in the capital. I even delved a bit more into my personal background and revealed some of the stuff I hadn't told her before. She quietly listened and asked a few questions here and there until I had finished recounting the story.

She shook her head. "I still cannot believe the terrible things they must have done to those girls you brought here."

"Yeah, that's why I was hoping you would help them. Most of them aren't going to come with me, the carriage was already overfilled and most of them weren't interested in going to the frontier with us either. The only ones that are going to come with us for sure are Kal'daeryn and Nelly. Oh and I suppose Quinn, but he wasn't among the ones we found in the cells with Kal'daeryn," I said.

"I will help all of them figure out what they want to do. The ones who would not mind working at the brothel can do that, and the mercenary company should be a good first step for the ones who want to fight. Those two hyena sisters in particular I can see taking us up on that offer based on the emotions I felt from them through the bond." Her expression turned a bit more somber. "Those girls you brought who are catatonic will be a challenge to work with, but I've seen people like that before. I have a friend who works at the church of Morkinnen who may be able to help. You can leave them in my care, I'll do my best to get them back into a healthy state, as long as it takes."

"Thank you, Grace, that would be a huge help."

She smiled. "No need to thank me, Lilith. Whether you like it or not, I will always be in your debt. Anything I can ever do to help you, I will. But... if I may ask something in return, I would love to spend another night with you before you leave Goldenhearth again. Perhaps something a bit more gentle this time..."

I laughed and reached forward to grab her hand. "Sure, I promise."