"Aren't you the energetic one, sir? You're already here so early in the morning?"

I sweat that this is my first time going to a place of this sort. As soon as I entered, all my senses were overwhelmed by the scent of cheap perfumes and the smiles of women. The majority of them appeared only wearing short skirts. They smiled mockingly as they looked over my way. One of them was smoking a pipe, while the others who were covered in heavy make-up looked at me with enchanting smiles and said.

"Hmm…"

"I haven't seen you before. You're not an old customer, so did you just arrive in the city? You've come to the right place. Of all the places in the imperial city, we're the best at helping men relax and have fun. Many travellers lost track of when they had to leave when they came here…"

I smiled bitterly. Are you sure that you didn't off them when they didn't have money to pay you? I feel like the probability that is highly probable… But from a logical standpoint, the chances of such cases occurring in the imperial city shouldn't be too high, I don't think…

"Hey, uhh… I'd like to ask where blacksmiths are commonly found in the imperial city."

I really didn't want sink into depravity here, probably because all the women around me were all national-level beauties like mom, the empress, Nier, and Lucia. I'm currently not interested in common women. However, I still need to gather the information I need… Nier didn't enter with me just as I predicted. Once I get to the second floor, I'll find a window to jump out of and all will be well.

"Blacksmiths? Blacksmiths are gathered three neighbourhoods away from here. You'll find a city wall inside the city there. I wouldn't go out of my way to go there, it stinks like rotten eggs." She frowned as she fanned her nose vigorously as though she was there smelling the stench.

I smiled bitterly to go along with her. The rotten egg smell she mentioned must be sulphur. But is it alright to have blacksmiths within the city? Isn't it better to have production engineering equipment placed on the city outskirts…? The blacksmiths and artisans here must commonly use sulphur, right…?

Wait! Sulphur?!

That must mean that humanity's technology has already reached the point where they're using cannons then!

Ah, right… I heard humanity already had guns when I was with the elves. But I thought they were arquebus so I didn't pay too much attention. I never expected them to have cannons already. For all I know, the standards of their cannons may already be at the 18th century's level. That also means that humanity here has already started using flintlock guns.

Elves with magic wouldn't be able to keep up with the attack pace of humanity then. A human with a gun is a completely different being to a human without a gun.

"Are you here to ask for directions, sir? How about relaxing now that you've got your answer? As our ancestors use to say, 'a man must relax his mind in order to work', right? This is also the first time I've seen a man bring a girl along with him here… Or is that your wife looking for you?"

I turned around and was shocked to find Nier standing behind me. She closed her eyes and placed her right hand on her sword handle. All the women around me backed off in an instant. Nier's aura was implying "come close and I'll kill you," which was extremely frightening. She placed her hand on her sword handle while standing behind me in silent.

"NIer… Why did you come in…?"

This is no place for a girl to be!! What sort of psychological obstacles did you have to overcome to enter?! Why did you come in?!

"Don't worry. You can do whatever you please. Just pretend I'm not present."

Nier pulled out a piece of cloth that'd be used to cover her eyes, then flicked her ponytail and said: "I can locate enemies just through my hearing so you don't have to worry. Please follow your degenerated soul and go ahead with your degenerative-depraved personal activities. This place is perfect for you if you think about it. How about you move into here?"

"…I have nothing left to say about your animosity towards me…"

How can I pretend you don't exist?! Are you just going to watch me do what I want to do if I decided to?!

And you've deeply hurt me with your words once again!

"The young lady is truly an interesting one. She looks so adorable when she's jealous."

"You're thinking too much. I'm not jealous. To me, he's just a target that I hate to the very core and couldn't be more eager to kill."

"Just kill me and be done with it…"

"I can't, and that's why I asked you to kill yourself."

She drew her sword, went down on one knee and handed her sword to me with two hands… I felt my mouth twitch. It's my mistake. I can accept living with anyone but Nier. She's not joking. She really does hate me to my core! What did I do to you?! Or did the original prince do something to you?! What happened to us not sharing any relations.h.i.+p?! Why do you hate me like I prost.i.tuted you or abandoned you?!

Actually, it's worse than that!

"Please choose a girl for me!"

I grit my teeth. If that's how you want to play, I'll go along with you! The second floor should be where the rooms are. I dare you to follow me into the room!

"Sure! Who do you like?"

A girl pulled me over, clapped her hands, and the girls who heard it came over and posed seductively. I swept my eyes across them. I wasn't earnestly choosing. Black hair, black eyes, tall and a generous bosom. Okay, you!

Wait!!

Aren't those basically the empress's features?!

Aaaahhh!!! Is that what I think of the empress?! Why?! Why?! Shouldn't I choose one that resembles Lucia more? Why am I choosing one who's similar to the empress?!

Man, that's too scary!!

"Alright. Get a room on the second floor…"

As soon as the woman finished shouting, the woman I chose rushed over. She smiled seductively and wrapped her arms around mine. I almost gagged because of her poor quality perfume. Seeing her up close, I noticed her face had wrinkles that couldn't be hidden and her skin was turning dark… Sorry auntie, but I really don't feel that way about you. Once we get upstairs, I'll be leaving through the window. I'll pay you, don't worry!

"Miss… You don't need to follow us upstairs now do you…?"

"Move…"

Nier pushed the boss lady aside with one hand. She stomped up to the second floor and followed closely behind me into a small room. She then closed the door and blocked the door.

I was face-to-face with the woman. The woman looked at Nier confused, tugged on my clothes and quietly asked: "What's this about?"

"Oh, don't worry about me. Just ignore me. Do whatever you please."

Nier brought a chair over and sat by the door. She closed her eyes and folded her arms, acting like she didn't exist. I grit my teeth, aggressively yanked the window open, left some gold coins behind and leapt out!!

Toss it! I'll leg it if I have to!!

Translator Comments: Next chapter posted here will drop in 96 hours instead of 72 hours for reason previously explained. About the "read more" b.u.t.ton, I'm testing some things out, so please put up with it until I figure out what I need to which won't be long. Sorry guys. And last thing, whoever you people are creating fraud donations, f.u.c.k off! If you're trying to troll, you're just wasting your time filling out the form. The bot systems aren't stupid, they can pick up on it, nimrods. Find something better to do. The level of stupidity exhibited basically indicates that if I were to put your brain in a bird's head, it would fly upside down. Leave it alone if you don't want to use it.