Chapter 68 – Talking & Flirting

"Is this the part where you interview me for the job? I’m sure you will be quite satisfied by the end of any job interviews with me." I responded with a big old grin on my lips and a perverted light in my eyes.

"My, my, flirting with me right in front of your girlfriend." Sophia let out a little chuckle. "I know you said she doesn’t mind you sleeping with other people, but that is still quite shameless."

"You will find it takes quite a lot to shame me, and Vel doesn’t mind, do you, baby? In fact, if you weren’t related to her by blood, she might be more than willing to join in the fun with me and another."

"As long as they’re a woman or nice like Saph here, that is," Vel interjected, taking me a little by surprise.

I turned my attention to my girlfriend and gave her a curious look. "Wait, you’re not into men? How did I not know that you’re only interested in women?"

Before Vel could respond, Saph, who had been sitting quietly, uninvolved in the conversation this whole time, decided to speak up in the form of letting out an offended gurgle, which of course caused me to correct myself. "Right, women and nice slimes like Saph. Sorry."

"It’s not really that big of a deal and there wasn’t really a chance for it to come up." Vel just shrugged. "After all, most of our time was occupied either training with Dad or… doing stuff together."

"Ah, young love." Sophia giggled. "There’s nothing quite like the passion of two young people… doing stuff together. Why, when I was your age, I remember all the stuff I would get up to and all the people I would do that stuff with. But as much as I would like to sit here and catch up with you, my niece, who I didn’t know I had before today, there are more important things we need to discuss and only one place where we can do so safely."

"If you would, please follow me. It’s only a short carriage ride to the Varsen estate." Sophia said as she stood up from her desk and ushered for us to do so as well.

Seeing no reason not to go along with her wishes, the three of us followed the ethereally beautiful woman as she made her leave, practically gliding across the ground with as much grace and poise as she held herself with for the entirety of our meeting so far. While we followed her deeper into the Red Den and out the back exit, I couldn’t help but have my eyes fixed on her, but not in a perverted way. Between Sophia’s confidence, her poise, her ethereal beauty, and her success, she was the kind of woman I hoped to become one day. Whether or not, that was in fact the kind of person I would become, only time would tell.

Outside, the back exit to the Red Den opened up into a spacious courtyard boxed in by a thick iron fence, guarded not by the suit-wearing bouncers seen inside the establishment, but by private guards in armour, wielding spears and shields. Several other doors joined this courtyard to various other parts of the buildings around it, one of which was a thin, three-story tall building that looked like it was housed entirely behind the fenced-in area instead of jutting up against it like the rest of the buildings.

Our destination was a stable-like area that was mostly empty right now. Apart from a few horses milling about the stalls, the only other thing of note that occupied the stables was an ornate wooden carriage adorned with various bits of golden filigree. Although this was the only carriage in the stables right now, it looked like five or four other such vehicles could be housed in there at once.

While I was looking around at the sights, Sophia gave orders to those attending the stables to prepare her carriage. Once that was done, though, she turned back to us and noticed my eyes on the three-story tall building. "Many of those that work here don’t come from as privileged an upbringing as I do. That building over there is where I offer free room and board to any of my employees who wish it."

“Originally, this area was a discreet way for the previous owners of the establishment to ferry in their more high-standing clientele, but in the two and a half decades since I’ve owned and run the Red Den, it's now more focused on supporting and keeping my staff safe. Any who wishes to patronise my establishment, no matter who they are, must walk through the front doors. In the Red Den, commoners and nobility are treated equally. All are respected and shown care unless they prove themselves dishonourable and are thrown out."

As the woman finished answering our unasked questions, the carriage had finished being readied and pulled out of the stables for us to get in. The same stablehand responsible for that stepped out and opened the door to the carriage for us, reminding me of the fact that in this kind of world, those of social standing and wealth were often treated better than the more common people. And as much as Sophia looked after her staff or ran her business with equality in mind, she very obviously had quite a high standing in society. I didn’t know how high that was, but given the reputation of her establishment and how lavishly decorated her carriage was, she was obviously very rich.

Speaking of which, the inside of the carriage was just as lavishly decorated as the outside, but in a different way. The wooden walls were painted with finely detailed imagery of flowers, while the seats were the softest silk cushions I had ever put my butt on before. Since there was only enough space for two people to really sit on each side of the carriage, that meant I found myself sitting next to Sophia while Vel sat next to Saph. Once we were all seated, Sophia called out to the driver, telling them to begin.

There was a slight jerk as the pair of horses pulling the carriage began to move forward, but after that, the ride was surprisingly smooth. After only a few seconds, Sophia spoke up. "I’m curious and if you don’t mind me asking, which one of you is your slime, Saph, bonded to?"

"That would be me," Vel answered meekly, still tightly holding onto the magic stone box that was gifted to her.

"Interesting. Are you pursuing a more martial path like your father, or a druidic one like your mother did in her early days?" Her aunt asked as she eyed the staff leaning next to the young elven woman against the side of the carriage.

"Druidic like Mum." She said, not elaborating further since, although she had warmed up considerably to her aunt, she was still rather shy around her given the intimidating air the woman had about her.

"If you’re interested, my son has a group of friends he ventures into the city’s dungeon with. I’m sure if you wanted a little bit of experience fighting monsters on the lower levels while you’re here, they wouldn’t mind if you tagged along." Sophia graciously offered, but her niece wasn’t too sure about it. On the other hand, I was more focused on the fact that she had a son.

I’m not sure why, but I wasn’t expecting her to have one. For some reason, that was just the image I had of her in my head. One, that was apparently quite wrong.

"Is that really alright? I’d hate to be a burden." Vel said, not making eye contact but looking down at the floor.

"You won’t be a burden as I expect you are at a higher level than Caiden. He just turned eighteen a month ago and thus only just recently awakened to the system."

A few seconds of awkward silence passed after that, which I soon broke as I spoke up, continuing the idle bit of conversation we were having to pass the time before we reached the Varsen estate. "So you have a son and a husband, I assume. What are they like? How did you meet your husband?"

“My husband and I were arranged to be married by our parents, like most marriages of those of my station. That being said, Nicholas is a good and honourable man, whom I completely adore and consider myself fortunate to have married. I was quite lucky to be paired with him. Caiden takes after his father quite a bit and is hoping to become a knight just like him," Sophia explained with a delighted, happy smile on her face that was evidence enough that she was being truthful and talking from the heart, not just giving false airs.

"But I must warn you…" She went on, her expression shifting to one of dreadful seriousness as she stared at me. "I don’t mind if you try pursuing my son. No doubt he will be interested in a woman as beautiful as you and as youthful as himself, and he could do with a little experience in that regard. But if you try and fuck my husband, you will regret it."

For a moment, I could have sworn a thin, short dagger flashed into Sophia’s hand, but as soon as I noticed it, the weapon was gone again. However, as taken aback as this as I was, I didn’t feel all that threatened. Just because I liked sleeping around and having fun didn’t mean I was going to push boundaries that were clearly established. If She didn’t want me to fuck her husband I was not going to try to even if he was the sexiest man alive.

"I understand. It may not be as time-tested and deep as you and your husband's love, but I feel similarly about Vel. I love her, and if anyone other than myself or Saph were to try something without preapproved consent, then I would not be happy…"

Towards the end of my response, I was distracted by the giggling of my girlfriend, who I was just talking about, a girlfriend who had a big, happy grin on her face. "What are you smiling about?" I asked as I gave her a suspicious look. Either she is up to something or I did something without realising it.

The latter of the two turned out to be true when Vel answered by saying, "That’s the first time you said you loved me."

"Oh, is it?" I playfully remarked. "Well, it's true. I love you, baby."

"I love you too," she responded blushing and all embarrassed over being so lovey-dovey in front of her aunt, who she had only met a few moments ago.

Said aunt just had a slight chuckle to herself as she watched our exchange, not wanting to interrupt us in the short time we had before our carriage came to a stop. However, that stop didn’t mean we were at the end of our journey, merely that we had reached the gates of one of the more wealthy parts of the city.

After a slight pause in the journey, where the city guard stopped us to make sure we belonged in the place they were protecting from the common riff-raff, we took off again. As we travelled down pristine, paved streets lined with thick, colourful gardens and lavish, fenced-off estates, I found myself looking out the curtained windows of the carriage more than I did on the first half of our journey.

As amazing as this world was, filled to the brim with magic and skills, even this world was not without its issues. Wealth disparity and classism were issues on Earth, but it appeared that they were much more prevalent here.

While the streets I saw early were much more like those you would expect to find in a medieval era, these ones were more modern looking. Not only were the streets paved instead of just being a collection of cobblestones, but their magic crystal-fueled street lights, better-built houses, and better-dressed people were practically everywhere. Comparing the streets outside the gates to those inside was like comparing two different worlds.

That said, there was nothing I could do about it. Hell, I didn’t even know if I should worry about such things, as although the people outside this wealthy district were obviously less well off, they didn’t look like they were suffering to get by. Everyone I saw looked healthy and well-fed.

With a shake of my head, I shoved such thoughts aside for the moment and turned my attention back to Sophia. "If you don’t mind, there is something I have been meaning to ask you in relation to something that you mentioned earlier."

"By all means, ask any questions you may have. That is, as long as they don’t pertain to those certain things I told you not to speak of. You can ask those questions when we are safe to talk freely." The ethereal beauty said as she turned her head to look over at me.

"Earlier, you said that you lost control of your presence when you got emotional. What do you mean by that?"

"Ah, right." Sophia nodded as if coming to a realisation. "I take it you are not very long past your awakening. It’s hard to tell the age of those with classes that focus on charm, and your charm score must be high for your age for you to look as you do while still being unaware of your presence. I assume you’re in the low levels of tier 1, no more than level 20 at the most?"

"Yeah…" I hesitated to respond, unsure of how much to share with the woman. I knew I definitely didn’t want to tell her about where I came from or the rarity of my class, as Damien told me not to share those with people I didn’t explicitly trust, but these were things Sophia could assume with a glance, so what was the harm in telling her? "It’s like you say, low tier 1, and I’ve only awakened for a little bit. Not even as long as you son."

“Breaking through to the 1st class evolution in less than a month is quite an accomplishment. Caiden is only around halfway there himself level-wise, but it's likely going to take him a few more months to reach his class evolution. You might make a wonderful addition to my staff after all." Sophia mused aloud, with a delighted look on her face. "Ah, but you wanted to know about presence."

"Presence is similar in a way to the aura manipulation of martial classes and the spell casting of magic-focused classes, but it is actually much easier to use than either of them.” Sophia began her explanation as all three of us listened with rapt attention. "You will first be able to sense presences around the time you get a charm score of 50, but you won’t be able to really do anything with your own presence until your charm score reaches 100. Which is not something you will achieve until tier 2."

"Essentially, presence is the broad terminology given to the outward expression of our charm score. It’s what makes us appear more attractive to others, and once you gain proper control over it, you can do numerous things with it other than just make yourself look more attractive. In fact, you can even do the opposite. Here, let me show you."

As Sophia said, her ethereal, unnatural beauty slowly faded away until she looked like a normal woman wearing make-up. Sure, she was still rather attractive and beautiful, but she didn’t look like the most attractive woman I had ever seen.

"This is how I normally appear, whenever I look at myself since charm does not affect oneself in the way it does for others. And this…" Sophia went further, shifting her appearance to one that looked absolutely horrid. "This is what happens when I turn my presence to the task of making myself look as unappealing as possible."

Although nothing had physically changed with Sophia's appearance, her presence shifted the way I perceived her in an odd way. No longer did I think she was beautiful or attractive, but quite the opposite. Her features were twisted and warped in the worst possible way, but only in my mind's eye.

A part of me was screaming to get away from such a horrid-looking abomination, and I probably would have tried to make a run for it if I didn’t know what was actually going on. As it was, though, I managed to bare through that urge until Sophia returned her presence to normal, taking on her usual ethereal look.

"That is quite something…" I mumbled under my breath as I composed myself before continuing to ask the questions of this woman. "When you apply your presence like that, are you manipulating my mind?"

"Kind of," Sophia answered as if the fact that she was casually messing with my brain was no big deal. "It’s not like presence can force you into doing something you really don’t want to do, though, at least not at my level. It’s more of an influence on another person."

"For example, take when I accidentally lost control of my presence when we were in my office. I let my seriousness and concern for my brother slip into my presence and influenced you in such a way that you became overwhelmed by your nervousness and couldn’t stop talking. However, in your nervousness, you misconstrued what I was wanting to know. Presence is not infallible and not all-powerful."

"Still…" I paused to gather the thoughts I had on this issue. "Doesn’t influencing people like that bring questions of morality into your line of work? I’m sorry if that’s rude, but I don’t like the idea of forcing others to do things that they don't want to do."

"That’s quite alright. These are valid concerns you have. But at the end of the day, if someone is really opposed to something, only an overwhelming presence could force them to do that, and the person doing so would need to be in tier 4 to do such a thing. And even then it is not something you could accidentally do, you would need to purposefully try and fight against their will. And only a handful of people in the entire continent are high enough level to do actually that, but none of them, as far as I am aware, are focused on charm."

"That said, the influencing effects of charm are the easiest to resist of the non-system abilities of presence, spellcasting, and aura manipulation. All it takes is a high willpower score, the right class skill, or a relatively common enchanted item, and the effects of one's presence are easily defended against. Indeed, many members of the nobility and royalty wore rings to protect against presence at all times, just in case there was someone with a high-tier charm-focused class out there that no one knew about, secretly pulling strings.

"Compared to the literal mind-controlling spells some high-tier spellcasters possessed in the past, presence is not that big of a threat." Sophia finished up her explanation, giving me a lot to think about as the carriage finally reached its destination.