City of Desire

Myrathra Dawnstar

I woke up feeling a weight that wasn't on my shoulder when I awoke yesterday.

It is heavy, but this weight didn't drown me with stress, but made me excited and nervous, as I had never felt in my life. Even when opening my own brothel, my swirl of emotions wasn't this insane.

It is a massive responsibility, and I have so many ideas that will complement Silver's vision well.

Three floors, three massive floors!

Only yesterday did I come to know the true scale of the legacy, and it is beyond what I had imagined. I knew it would be big, but I didn't know it would be that big.

Project Scarlet will occupy three floors of it. Floors that were far bigger than the floors of the Velvet Garden tower had been.

I took a deep breath and got up, touching the large binder. I fell asleep after reading it from cover to cover.

Yesterday was busy; I had handed over all my teaching responsibilities to the others, while the Headmistress took over all my administrative responsibilities.

From now on, Project Scarlet is going to occupy all my time.

It will not be easy, but this is already making things very exciting and stressful for me.

Soon, I showered and freshened up before putting the folder and notes I had made into my bag. On the way, I ate breakfast before walking toward my new office.

It is in one of the smaller buildings, not far away from Lady Carla's temporary office.

I reached it and stepped inside. It is bare, aside from a table, chair, and cabinet; it has nothing.

I took out the notes I had made. I have divided my work into four points.

Interior Tools Recruitment Training

These four are the most important points. Lord Silver gave me complete responsibility for it and a massive budget, but I only have nine months to achieve it.

That is not enough time.

"Lina, connect me to Halbin," I said to my mage. Halbin, my manager, handles all my business in Archmage City. He is a capable man, and I hope he will show his capability.

"It's connected, Vice-Headmistress," she informed and extended her hand toward me.

'Boss, what a surprise, I didn't expect you to call me in the middle of the month,' said the man on the other side.

We talk only once a month, and it is mostly about business. I have a large business in Archmage City, and it is doing quite well.

I had planned to visit in a few months before Legacy opens. So, I would see how my business is doing, but now that won't be possible.

"I need you to find a few people for me," I said to him.

"Ok," he replied, with his voice losing all casualness and turning all business.

"The first name is Trovak; he used to tell others to refer to him as Mr. Trovak."

"I don't know whether it is his first name or last name. He is an orc, who used to visit me in the open brothel of Korzul City of Baxzar,"

"He was in his late thirties and early forties then; a peculiar one, even among those who visited the brothel," I said.

The last time I saw him was over two decades ago. I didn't even think about him until yesterday, when I read the particular excerpt in Silver's notes.

'It would be hard to find him with so few details; he might be dead,' replied Halbin. freewebnøvel.com

"If he is dead, there is nothing we could do, but if he is alive, he will be very helpful to me," I said.

'May I know why you want him, mistress?' He asked. "It's confidential; all I could tell you is that it is related to Velvet Garden," I replied before looking at the page in front of me,

"There are more people, but they will be much easier to find than him," I said and began listing their names and details.

"It's a lot of names," he said as I stated all nine names. "There are, but I am sure you will be able to find them," I replied.

"I will, Boss," he stated in his usual confident voice.

A few seconds later, I cut the call and turned to my mage once more.

I don't know the whereabouts of those nine people; I know the others, and some of them are very tricky– especially the first one.

"Ismena Sanalis," I said. Let's hope that old witch agrees.

I was lost in my thoughts when my mage extended her hands once more. I took a deep breath before taking it.

'Little Myra, you finally have time to call this old woman,' said the woman on the other end, her voice sweet as honey. "I had just called to check whether or not you had died yet, you old witch," I replied.

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The woman was my mistress once; I worked in her brothel for a decade before moving to open my own.

I hate this woman.

'Oh, these old bones are still kicking. They wouldn't lie down so soon," she replied.

The woman is nearly a hundred years old and runs a large brothel empire. She has only one in Archmage City, but more in the surrounding kingdoms.

She is also powerful. Only a step away from Lv. 50.

'It's good that you're still alive. If you had kicked the bucket, I would have needed to talk to your useless children to get what I want." I said, and she laughed.

'Oh, you finally need something from me,' she said, her voice filled with joy, while I massaged my head.

'Tell your old mistress what you want, little Myra?' she asked, and I could feel the joy from the old woman's voice while I took a deep breath.

"Peraza," I replied finally.

'I told you to get a taste of her. While she prefers men, she makes exceptions for fine women. She once told me she would make an exception for you.' Said the old woman.

I wish she were in front of me; I would squeeze her neck. Instead, I took another deep breath.

"I want her. What would it take for you to release her?" I asked. Peraza is a friend, but her contract is in the old woman's hands. Unless I want to break it at high cost, I will need the old woman's permission.

I wanted to ask Pereza first, but that would have made this old woman angry.

'Why do you want her?' she asked.

Of course, she will not even think about releasing her without knowing the reason.

"Her style, I want her to teach it to some girls here," I replied. It's a truth, but not a complete truth. I would not make the mistake of telling the woman the complete truth.

'Her style, it's good, isn't it?' she asked. "Yes," I replied. Pereza is what Remus had described as a dominatrix.

She is a woman who dominates men, and men love it. We have many clients who love it; it is very common among men, and Pereza is very good at it.

She didn't do half of the things, Silver wrote, because they are illegal in Archmage City and most other places. Even in Baxzar, women couldn't do that.

It is why she will love it.

'She is one of my best earners,' said the old woman, but she didn't refuse. 'But I could let you borrow her for a while," she added. Borrow, not release.

The old witch is too smart. Once one falls into her clutches, it's very hard to get out.

I knew what I had to do to get out of her clutches. It was difficult; I had to make many sacrifices.

"What do you want?" I asked, readying myself for the steep price, she will ask. 'There are many things I want, including your brothels," she replied, but I didn't rise to her provocation and remained silent.

A second passed, and another. Soon, a minute passed. Nobody spoke.

"If you are not willing, I will cut the call. I have other candidates to contact," I threatened. To deal with her, one should never let her know that she has power over you.

If she knows it, she will squeeze every drop out of you.

'Always so impatient,' replied the old woman. I said nothing and remained silent.

"The Archmage's ball is coming up; I need a complete wardrobe. I heard a lot about those mist-crafted dresses and jewelry that Velvet Garden produces," she stated finally.

"It seemed like you had gone senile. Since I last saw you," I replied.

"I will give you a mist-crafted dress plus shoes along with the average monthly earnings that Peraza makes," I said. That is massive.

Average earnings of Peraza in Archmage City are huge, and I wouldn't have asked for her if I weren't personally aware of her abilities.

"Now, it seemed like you have gone senile, little Myra," she replied.

"Take it or leave it, you old witch," I replied.

Peraza is good, but she also causes trouble as she sometimes goes a little too far with clients.

The only reason the old woman hadn't thrown her out is that she brings in a lot of clients, many of whom are regulars and spend good money for her time.

"Fine, I will accept. Peraza had been bugging me for a change of scenery. It will be good for her," she agreed. Making me take a sigh of relief internally.

"I just hope you won't let her be turned into an undead while she was there," quipped the old woman, before cutting the call.

For the next hour, I contacted many people and succeeded in getting the people I needed.

I have a good relationship with many of them. And for those with whom I do not, I use the weight of Velvet Garden.

It might not be a spirit, but Velvet Garden is a powerful legacy, and unlike Archmage Tower, which is a mage tower, only mages enter.

Velvet Garden is an entertainment legacy. Here, anyone could have the time of their lives.

I looked at the clock and saw that I had about an hour before my first meeting.

The next few days are filled with meetings. I have to meet with the architects, the interior designers, carpenters, leather smiths, and many more.

Thankfully, nearly all of them are in Velvet Garden.

I may have to contact one or two, who might not craft the 'things' that Silver had written, even though I could barely understand them.

I was lost in thought when a knock rang out.

"Come in," I replied, and the trainee came in holding thick binders. "These were sent by the headmistress," he stated, and put them on my table.

'These are confidential, for your eyes only,' the voice of the headmistress rang out in my mind.

It's a pretty powerful telepathy skill, from what I could tell. It has a range of at least a mile, and maybe even more. She is not even Lv. 40 yet.

It's all because of her class; it's as powerful as mine and aligned with legacy.

"Thank you," I thanked the trainee. "It was my pleasure, Vice-Headmistress," he replied and walked away, while I took out the first folder.

When I opened it, a smile appeared on my face.

As expected.

I guessed Velvet Garden keeps a detailed record, and I was right. This is a record of clients. It had their complete profile and a level of detail that surprised me.

Every brothel owner worth their salt keeps records, but I have never seen ones as detailed as this.

Their identification from name to age, as well as the class and level they might have. The general class is easy to guess, but the level is hard, especially the accuracy with which it started here.

They also noted the type of girls they prefer, the specific ones they prefer, the positions they like, and the ones they don't like.

Whether they tip, and how much they do.

There is also the experience, which is rated on a scale of one to ten stars. One is terrible while ten is phenomenal.

This is the most important thing for the client. If your rating is good, you could get onto shorter waitlists, access higher-level floors, and exclusive rooms.

If one is terrible, forget about getting into Velvet Red; they will find it hard to get into other floors besides the stores.

It is barely above getting banned.

There is more, far more, and these will be things that will be useful to me.

General temperament, emotional needs, ego sensitivity, conversation topics, attachment patterns, and much more.

Not everyone has all this information filled in, but many do. Especially the information on regular clients.

I put it back and took out another folder, and this one belongs to the girls of Velvet Garden, and when I read it, the details quite shocked me.

Silver is right; we do not need to recruit the girls for Project Scarlet; we already have them.

The things we need to do are teach them. All the people I called were for that purpose.

There is one more thing.

The girls, I want the girls from the establishment to do this. The question is, will they do this? I will have to clear it first, because if they didn't, I would have to recruit those who would.

I pushed those thoughts away, closed the binder, and put it back before walking out of my office. freewebnøvel.com

To attend the first meeting.