Chapter 48: Baptism in Fire… or Not?

Van was still thinking about what a stupid idea this was. But was determined to go through with it anyway. Despite his slight social phobia and his shy nature that would make meeting a bunch of strangers, let alone a bunch of women he would probably have to fuck a complete and absolute nightmare. There was a reason why he so readily agreed.

His weakness.

He didn’t agree because it was something he should learn. No. That wasn’t his thinking at all. Nor was it because it was expected of him or because he should. He knew well enough that if he asked he would never have to deal with this kind of thing. His parents would see to that, and while he didn’t know Sheri that well, over the past year that they were together, he believed her when she said she wouldn’t do anything against his will and kept to that promise. Instead, when he turned her down, she would take a pill that would help regulate her arousal like most normal women would do. A product that was slowly becoming more common, taking place of the birth control that was so prevalent in his memories of other worlds.

Because of this and more, his parents, even Sheri, were surprised when he agreed. But he agreed for a purely selfish reason.

He wanted to desensitize himself.

Who knew what he would experience or be forced to experience out in the wider world. A place where his title and nobility or power and more could, and probably would, mean nothing to those who care not for it and hold even greater power over him.

This was his baptism in fire. He would throw himself into the thing he felt most uncomfortable in. And deal with it for three months in the hopes that, no matter what he would see or was forced to do in order to survive, he could somehow get by. If rape can happen here, It can happen anywhere, and it would be up to him whether it would break him or not. Of course, not without a fight.

This was Van’s thinking when he agreed. This was his way of forcing himself to see the world for what it truly was and not how he hoped it would be. His conversation with his father and what they talked about when they went camping was what helped form this idea.

Still… as he walked through the crowds with his hood down, being stared at by dozens of women, guided by Sheri to the brothel he would be staying at. He couldn’t help but think... that this might not have been the best idea he ever had.

“Are you okay?” Sheri asked, turning her head to look back at her student with concern. “If you want, we could turn back. There is nothing you need to prove.”

“Thank you, Sheri.” Van said, “I’m fine, besides, aren’t you the one that suggested I do this?”

Sheri blushed a little. “I honestly didn’t mean it, but if I had to be honest, It's not a bad idea, nor is it something I haven’t done before. I just wonder why you so readily agreed to it. Are you really sure you want to go through with this? A lot has changed in the centuries I have been alive, this is probably just an old way of thinking I’m still stuck with.”

Van smiled kindly, “It's fine…” then steeling himself and tightening his hands. “ I am determined to go through with this.” looking ahead with determination.

Sheri just looked a little confused. “Some nobles do this to their kids to get them used to what is expected of them for when they are older. Others do it themselves to get a better idea of what it is like for the common man.” she then paused. “Both Ideas are stupid, I may not be a man, but even I know that if you don’t have to do something that most wouldn’t want to deal with then there's no shame in not doing it, but do it anyway so you can feel like you are a Real Man or in most cases a Real Women. It's just ludicrous, you shouldn’t do the things you don’t want to do just because it’s expected of you by society.”

Van quirked an eye at that. He wasn’t expecting this kind of conversation from Sheri of all people. But surprisingly, it did help calm him down somewhat. “Thank you, but I’m actually doing this for selfish reasons.” then he hesitated. “Do you know if men enjoy sex as much as women seem to?” he asked uncertainly.

Now it was her turn to quirk an eye. “Do you not enjoy it when you are with Luna?” she then shrugged. “It always seemed to me that men enjoy it just as much as everyone else, except women, take it a bit farther. Not to mention, no matter how much you enjoy it, always doing it over and over again, for anyone, can start to become a bit tiring. Are you always ready and willing to go at any time several times a day?”

That actually made Van think. If he had to go through the memories of his other lives, there wasn’t a day where they wouldn’t think about sex at least once. But for him, when he was with his father for almost a month, he only thought about sex every few days. When he got home, Luna seemed almost a little crazed to get off, sometimes finishing before he did.

This line of thought brought him to question more aspects of the difference of biology of the sexes in this world and the others he had vague memories of. How it seemed that women had more responses than a man would with signs of constantly being ready for sex at a moment's notice as if they had a constantly active libido. But he decided to cut that line of thinking since he didn’t think it would really get anywhere. Some things are just the way they are because that's the way they are.

As for him, he didn’t know whether it was the influence of his past lives or not, or his biology, but he actually had good control over his libido. When he wanted to, he could have sex, anywhere, anytime. But just as well, he could go days without thinking about it, and wouldn’t be forced to deal with things like morning wood, or just thinking about sex would make him hard, or even just the right kind of friction that would make him hard. Oddly enough, if he didn’t want it, he wouldn’t get hard for it. But almost like a switch, if he felt like he should, he was raring to go.

Van was deep in thought when he almost bumped into Sheri from behind, not realizing that they already reached their destination.

“Here we are. The Lovers Guild. If you want to get laid, get pregnant, looking for a spouse/matchmaker or just looking for a good time, then this is the place for you!” Sheri said in an oddly amused voice, then turning to look at Van. “you will never find a more debaucherous place in any village, town or city, than at a lovers guild.” she grinned

Van looked up at the impressively large- no massive Building! As he soon realized that it almost seemed to take up most of the block. It had three large floors, made out of hardwood, and had a large sign with a heart and something in the middle that was illegible due to how worn it was. The building looked both old and new and seemed to have gone through several renovations.

“Come on, let's go inside,” Sheri said, leading the way.

Nervously swallowing, Van followed

The interior was even more impressive. It had red and black colors, with a strange mixture of both bright and dim lights woven about the place to make it seem mysterious yet open and inviting at the same time.

To his right was a small open theater-like structure, with rows upon rows of seats in a circle surrounding a stage. A practically naked man was dancing on it as a group of women cheered him on and threw coins as another half-naked man served drinks to them. One particularly drunk woman jumped on stage and started grinding against the man, who rolled with it and continued his job.

To his left was a hallway of some sort. On one side of the hallway were pillows placed against the wall with little holes cut out at waist level. One woman walked up to the wall and knelt to her knees on a pillow. Taking a few coins, she placed them in a slot near the hole and pushed them in. not soon after, a man’s member was pushed out of the hole, to which the women greedily started to get to work on. She was soon joined by other women who took vacant pillows along the wall.

To his front was what he presumed to be the reception area, with several women, both in professional and scant clothing, providing help to a row of women in front of them. Off to the side though, was a set of stairs that led up to some sort of balcony that had some sort of restaurant and bar. There were dining tables and chairs and the smell of food waft over the area as if to mask the smell of raw sex that pervaded the air. The balcony fencing itself seemed to be made only for lewd intentions. As it was made wide enough to allow someone to place a tray of food on, so they could enjoy their meal as they watched everything happen below. Two women right now seemed to not only be enjoying a meal as they watched everyone, but were also being rammed from behind by two muscular men as they did so.

Van could only stare wide-eyed at the sheer levels of debauchery and the full embracing of lust and desire that was on display here. As women literally let themselves fall into such sins like a dog to a bone, a cat to catnip, or an athlete diving with grace deep into a pool. No hesitation. Only pleasure.

A small pit of dread was forming in Van’s stomach as he watched. At most he was expecting that he would just be placed in a room with at least some control over who he got to see. He would do the deed, the women would leave, and he would recuperate for a while until he saw the next one. This would go on for a few days until he got used to it and fell into a rhythm until the three months were up.

That was how it was supposed to go. Now though, now he had no idea what was going to happen to him. He was beginning to realize that this might be the single most biggest mistake of his entire life.

“Come on Van let's get in line,” Sheri said, pulling Van alongside her as his heart dropped. Taking their place in line, they didn’t have to wait long as it quickly shrunk thanks to the professionalism of the receptionists. Much to his dismay, as while the wait was torture, he would rather wait forever than face what was going to happen next.

Once their turn was up the receptionist polity greeted them. “Hello, and welcome to the lovers guild. Are you looking for pleasure, pregnancy, or love?”

“Actually, we're here because my nephew wants to join up for a few months. You see, we just came to town and are still waiting for my husband to bring the rest of our things to our new home. We’re a little short on cash, so my nephew has offered to help make it up by working here.” Sheri said without skipping a beat.

The receptionist's eyes narrowed, but her professional mask never wavered. “I’m sorry, but we are already filled up on jobs and have no openings available. Not to mention, unless you are his legal guardian, or he is coming to us out of his own free will, we cannot accept him. Please understand, we here at the Lovers Guild have regulations and rules that we must abide by.”

“Oh?” Sheri said, somewhat taken aback by the suspicious nature of the receptionist and the fact that it wouldn’t be as easy as she thought it would be to get Van working into the brothel. “Most brothels wouldn’t care, but then again, the Lovers guild has always held themselves to a higher standard, and they are an international chain, so they are probably heavily scrutinized... So much has changed since a few hundred years ago…” she thought as she tried to think of some other way to get Van in.

As Sheri thought about what she could say in order to convince the receptionist. Van was breathing heavily with worry and dread. But shaking it off he decided to help Sheri out a little and tell the receptionist something near the truth of why he was here.

“Umm. it actually was my idea to come here,” Van said nervously.

The receptionist looked somewhat surprised and turned to him. Her complete attention was on him, waiting for him to say more.

“Uhh…” Van began nervously as her eyes stared into his own, then swallowing and forcing himself to continue. “You see, my family can use the money, but we don’t really need it that badly. But the reason why I asked to do this was because… well… I had some bad… situations with women and I just… just want to desensitize myself, and…but… I have a wife I love dearly so...” he couldn’t continue, it was just too embarrassing.

Sheri looked a little sad and placed a hand on his shoulder to try and comfort him.

The receptionist just stared at him, as if gauging his honesty. Slowly her expression softened and a kind smile peeked through. “Well… why didn’t you just say so? I understand though why you may think this was a way to overcome what you may have experienced. And it takes a strong mind and will to make such a decision. But you must understand, we don’t just accept anyone who is willing to work.” the receptionist said sadly.

“There are forms to fill, background checks to make, tests to take on your body and mind's overall health, whether or not your personality is suitable for this kind of work. And much more…” then as if remembering something. “But we do have a training program that you can join.”

“A training program?” Van asked

The receptionist nodded. “It's a program opened for everyone. For a few months, we teach you a little about biology and of course, sex ed. What precautions to take, how to have a healthy sex life. Getting used to sex in general and have a healthy approach to it, with self-defense courses added on free of charge of course. A few months into the program, we give young men such as you the option to be temp workers and slowly ease you into getting used to having to deal with women. With the last week being if you feel safe enough or confident enough to take on small escort work with customers that we have deemed safe and will be informed beforehand. As well as our own professional escorts, teaching you how to not only please women, but find enjoyment yourself and how to pace yourself, and not accidentally hurt yourself during the act. Finally, we do have a trained psychologist and therapist on-site at all times to help you through any trauma you might have or are experiencing.”

Van was honestly taken aback. This was far more than he was expecting to get when he first thought up the idea of working at a brothel. “Is this normal for all Lovers guilds?” he asked, genuinely curious and thinking it was too good to be true.

“For the most part. You see, because of this program and many other reasons, most governments are willing to subsidize our guild. We not only provide a service to lonely women. But we also help in matchmaking and no strings attached pregnancies alongside some of the best doctors around for concerns regarding sex. We also make sure to abide by all rules and laws as closely as we can in any nation or country we are in. in a way, we provide a civil service to our community.” the receptionist finished with some pride in her voice.

Then changing tack, and becoming professional again. “Since it seems you are short on money, and Alcray doesn’t have a central government that would subsidize our programs. We do have an option for you to work off some of the costs while you train here if you are interested.”

“I…” Van was still trying to wrap his head around everything he just heard. But hearing everything the receptionist said did wonders to relieve some of his worries. He still had some reservations of course. He still was worried. But this was looking to be far better than he was expecting it to be. So if he turned this away, he might as well consider himself a coward.

“I really would like that, thank you…” Van finally said.

The receptionist gave a genuine smile. “Follow me, I’ll take you to the waiting room.” turning to Sheri, “we will be taking care of your nephew for now, do you have any objections?”

Sheri shook her head. “Please, by all means.”

The receptionist nodded, then motioning Van to follow her, she walked out from behind the reception desk. “You are very lucky to sign up today, as today was the last day to sign up until the next three months from now. We only do this a few times a year. More if we are subsidized and have a bigger facility.”

Afterward, she sat Van down at a desk and was giving many forms to fill, “you might also want to use your real name and address for this.” she said, giving him a wink. “It would make things easier for everyone.”

Van wasn’t sure, but he decided to take her suggestion to heart and trust her. Filling out the forms, then waiting a few hours to have them processed. The receptionist came back and confirmed that everything was in order and asked him to bring out his vespera bangle if he had one. Once he did, she did something that put the lovers guild mark on an app of some sorts and he was now officially in the guilds training program. Should he wish to, once finished with the training program, he could become an official low-ranking member of the guild. With all the benefits that that would imply.

Once that was done he was escorted to another room, filled with young men around the same age as him and even a few women. They were giving a small speech by someone he presumed to be the woman in charge of the branch and giving a key card with a number for the room they would be staying in. After everything was said and done, they were set off and given the rest of the day to do what they wanted until tomorrow, when their training would begin.