Negotiations with Michelle's Father! To Gain the Upper Hand...Shephy! It's Difficult!
Negotiations with Michelle's Father! To Gain the Upper Hand... Shephy! It's Getting Hard!
A handsome middle-aged man with neatly styled short crimson hair, the same color as Michelle's, was subtly glancing in my direction.
The guest who had visited our brothel on official business by the King's command was waiting silently for our escort, behaving quite nobly without any impatience.
- "Father... that man is such a stubborn old fossil! A fossil! He's obsessed with trivial rules and etiquette! And despite that, behind the scenes he's a fucking perverted bastard who lusts after young girls! Especially ones who just turned twenty, hick! If he sees girls who look particularly young, he hides it from mother! Drags them straight into the customer rooms! Hick!..."
'The behind-the-scenes part isn't that important... or is it?'
Anyway, having frequently heard from Michelle when she was thoroughly drunk about what kind of person her father, Count Arondal Essex, was like, I could easily tell that this rigid noble was waiting until we personally escorted him inside.
"Michelle?"
Of course, normally it would be Michelle's role to escort him - neither the Count would need to wait nor would I need to step forward personally...
"S-sorry, Madam"
"You know you should be sorry?"
"That is..."
"Forget it. I'm the one who dragged you out here forcibly"
"I'm sorry..."
She still seemed awkward around her father, having abandoned her duties to stand blankly beside me, just staring at the floor.
"Well... hoo, it's nothing"
Michelle's father, Count Arondal, cut off what he was about to say and looked at her with a more complicated expression than Michelle's, watching her being scolded by me with pity.
'Sigh~ What should I do with this father and daughter?'
Letting out a mental sigh about how to resolve their complicated father-daughter relationship, I couldn't leave the Count at the entrance any longer, so I quickly escorted him inside the brothel myself.
"I cannot keep someone of your stature waiting here forever, so please allow me to escort you inside, Count-nim"
"...Inside, you say?"
"Hehe, yes♡ That 'inside'♡"
Even though it's a brothel, not all customers come just to embrace the courtesans.
Of course, most customers come to relieve their sexual desires with the courtesans, but among them are some distinguished guests who need etude before going to the bedroom, so our brothel also has a salon for receiving such guests.
The 'inside' I just mentioned is slang for that very salon, and since it's Michelle's father visiting for the first time in a while, I planned to personally entertain Count Arondal, apologize for Michelle's recent vampire transformation, and discuss the purpose of his visit.
"Hmm... It's a tempting offer, but I must decline this time. If I could just have a cup of tea, that would be sufficient"
But the Count firmly refused my suggestion using noble-like expressions.
'You had no intention of doing that from the start, did you? Well, even in a world like this, enjoying entertainment at a establishment where your daughter works is a bit awkward, right?'
The momentary thoughtful attitude followed by a stubborn refusal, the mention of drinking tea while subtly hinting that serving drinks would be acceptable before getting to the main point - he was truly a noble-like guest I hadn't seen in a long time.
'The problem is that he happens to be the father of a courtesan working at our brothel, and not just any courtesan but Michelle, who's practically royal-class'
"Oh, is that so? What a pity, Count-nim. I wanted to offer personal compensation along with an apology for what happened with Michelle... Then please forgive the humble surroundings, but I'll escort you to my office"
Though my office has long since become no different from any other sex room, aside from this room, the only place to receive Count Arondal would be Michelle's office upstairs, so I escorted him to my office which I had the other girls clean up in advance, just in case.
"Then please discuss the details with your daughter, no, with Miss Michelle"
"P-please take care of it. Count Essex-nim"
Count Arondal's noble visit was to pre-negotiate with the brothel about the upcoming visit of royals and nobles to the adventurer city, and some event that would mark the end of winter
And the most important part of any negotiation was always money-related matters, so since I'm clumsy with complicated financial calculations and have no confidence in haggling with nobles, I've been passing this responsibility to Michelle even when other nobles visited.
'The power struggle is already over anyway'
"...Very well"
Though he came on official kingdom business, the Count couldn't hide his discomfort at having to discuss brothel matters with his beloved daughter, making his displeasure quite obvious as he looked at me
"Then I'll excuse myself for a moment"
I cleanly ignored the Count's gaze, opened the door, and left the room.
"Hmm? Ah, I was unnecessarily keeping the busy Madam occupied. My apologies"
"Not at all. I'm actually the one who should apologize, Count-nim. Then I'll take my leave..."
"Madam?... Surely not? Madam?"
Creak-
Thud-
"Now then~..."
Leaving Michelle behind who seemed to have guessed what I was about to do, I used the ultimate lewd technique [Aging Control] that I rarely use since it's usually unnecessary, adjusting my physical age.
'Tina made it look kinda fun, you know♡'
Though my actual age is approaching forty, after acquiring semen growth I've maintained my physical age around late twenties. I reduced my physical age to the maximum limit allowed by the system, then raised it back up a bit.
'Even so, this is too much...'
Trying to match the Count's preference for young girls by reducing my age to the maximum allowed by the skill, but when I saw my reflection in the mirror, I thought this looked too criminal. I adjusted my physical age until my breasts, which had been quite mature from the beginning, became half, no, one-third of their current size.
'Yes! But my age is 38! Even though my physical age is much younger, I'm definitely 38! Anyway, in this world, those under 20 can never have sexual contact with others! Of course!'
"Ah, thank you Rohan!"
"Ah... yes"
"What's wrong? Something the matter?"
"...No"
"Hmm~? Then that's fine♡"
'Rohan's secretly a pervert too, isn't he♡'
After repeating the world's most important mantra to myself, I thought about giving Rohan the same service someday since he seemed interested in this appearance, then took the tea he offered and headed back to the office.
*
Right after Madam Shephy left
"Hoo~"
Count Arondal Essex couldn't help but let out an audible sigh despite having his daughter before him, who was now acting as the Madam's representative.
'A viper of a woman... no, too beautiful to call a viper'
Her confident attitude was something he couldn't possibly associate with a woman who had done the irreversible act of turning his daughter into a monster - someone he was meeting for the first time, and even if she was essentially an abandoned daughter he'd left in her care to use as she pleased.
The way she looked him over as if evaluating him, smiling with satisfaction - that appearance held a fatal beauty that would captivate anyone.
If someone could see that smile and not harbor lustful thoughts, they would undoubtedly be either homosexual or have abnormal sexual desires, and the Count belonged to neither category.
'If only she were a little... just a little younger...'
Though captivated by Shephy's confident smile, the Count felt proud of himself for barely resisting her temptation, repeating in his mind several times that she was slightly outside his strike zone.
"Then, Miss Michelle"
Having successfully erased Shephy's enchanting smile from his mind, the Count called the name of his pitiful daughter who was still stupidly staring down at the table.
"Yesep! F-father!"
"...Today I've come as Count Essex"
"Yes, yesheep!"
'Michelle... I'm sorry but I've come with another purpose this time, so please be gracious and forgive me'
There's an annual vacation trip for royals and noblemen that takes place around this time every winter, unless there's a large-scale war or catastrophe.
In truth, it's a pleasure trip for enjoying perverted pleasures using the slave system created by the Goddess - not just a bizarre vacation with courtesans but a traditional annual event that traces back to revelations from the Goddess in ancient times.
- "Wife! I swear I love only you but... what can I do? This is the Goddess's will!"
- 'Yay! Legal prostitutes hurrah! Long live the Goddess!'
Thus it was a festival-like event where one could enjoy the scent of courtesans to their heart's content with the perfect excuse for wives and daughters - something coveted not just by nobles but even by royals married to princesses of the royal family.
'And the seat I'm sitting in was also something everyone coveted... but not anymore'
Actually, the negotiation table with the Madam was a coveted position during former Madam Isabella's time - thanks to her being a yes lady known to all nobles, one could get courtesans for the event at bargain prices and even receive special treatment from Isabella herself and other premium courtesans.
But now it's completely different.
- "Absolutely not. If such pay... such fees continue, it will only lower the standard of the precious guests we serve"
- "It was fine until now? Yes, that's right. What happened until now was abnormal. It's going to change from now on"
Shephy, who became Madam several years ago succeeding Isabella, continued bold negotiations without backing down even when dealing with nobles, raising the fees and treatment of courtesans.
- "What pride do you filthy whores selling your bodies have! Gah! Ptui!... Hey you! Go to that stupid pink-haired girl's house in the morning... Gack!"
Of course, there were nobles who were dissatisfied with Shephy's attitude, but those nobles all disappeared without trace, and shortly after, a handwritten letter from Lord Actuare of the adventurer city would be found in the King's bedroom, stating that the noble was enjoying a brief rest at the lord's mansion and would be returned soon.
As this situation continued, even though it was an annual event, the national-scale entertainment of calling dozens of courtesans for a week of debauchery eventually reached amounts that made the treasury worry about the entertainment expenses.
And so the alternative prepared was Arondal Essex, Count.
'Now then, what should I do...'
Though a secret to most, thanks to the recently proclaimed establishment of the Mixed-Race Monster Autonomous District by Lord Actuare of the adventurer city and the vampire transformation of Miss Michelle, Count Essex's former daughter who was a key related figure, her protector Madam Shephy was essentially indebted to Count Essex.
Thus, Arondal Essex, the loyal servant of the royal family, remained calm thinking about the future even with his daughter who had become a monster of fatal beauty before him, but...
Knock knock-
"Sorry for the delay, Count-nim"
"You're quite late... in...deed... Gasp..."
He became completely captivated by the pink-haired courtesan who arrived late with tea, completely forgetting the negotiation strategy he had planned in his head.
'An angel. An angel has arrived!'
The rigid loyal hound of the royal family, Count Essex, was actually a wretched perverted old man who was crazy about young-looking women.