Meeting the rest of the staff.

As I entered the doorway to the kitchen, after accidentally misremembering and walking into the storage room first, I saw that Ivy was still there with the imp man I had seen before.

Unlike Izlani, this man, Ivy had called him Mentis, was blood red like most other imps. He had a well-trimmed goatee but an otherwise bald head, making is tiny horns the only other feature on it. His eyes had that same completely-painted-red look as the female imp, and a pair of folded bat wings with a tail that was swishing back and forth slowly. He had thick muscles, and seemed very gruff. At nearly every position in the kitchen there was a small stool present, presumably so he could stand at them, as like most imps he only looked to be three feet tall.

“Ah, so this is her.” Mentis said as I entered.

“Indeed.” Ivy replied, holding a coinpurse in her hand. “Silus, this is Mentis, our resident cook.”

“Silus Serpentis.” I smiled and held out a hand, which he shook firmly. “It’s good to meet you.”

“Indeed. It’s about time some weight got lifted off Ivy’s shoulders.” He smiled slightly. “I’ll go check on the storage one last time. I think Ivy has some things to explain. I look forward to seeing what you can do.” He nodded to me and walked past me out into the hall.

“Mentis is a straightforward sort of man. He has little patience for fluff. He prefers that you get straight to the point.” Ivy explained. “He’s good at what he does, though. I’ll have him fix you something up before we get started with the shift for today. I had almost forgotten that humans need to eat.”

I blinked and realized I was indeed sort of hungry, though I had only realized it just now. “Do demons not eat? Why bother having a cook then?”

“We do not need to have sex to procreate, yet here we are in a brothel.” She smiled. “Just because we don’t need to eat doesn’t mean that we don’t enjoy stimulating our taste-buds all the same.”

So, just as sex is purely recreational here, so is eating. That was interesting.

“I don’t foresee any reason our food should not be nutritious to you, but there are things we can do differently if it isn’t, for whatever reason.” She explained. It was certainly comforting to know that Ivy had contingency plans for my survival. “Anyway, this is a good opportunity to explain Abyssia’s currency to you.” She then placed the coinpurse in her hand down on one of the counters, and I stepped forward to see. I had been getting increasingly curious about the subject.

She removed four different coins of different metals and then a small gemstone, laying them out on the table. The first coin she picked up was triangular in shape with a small circular hole in the middle, it glittered a shiny dark orange color.

“This is a copper coin, it’s the most common form of currency and the lowest value. In terms of value, five coppers make one of these.” She then picked up the next coin, a silvery square with a line drawn from each corner to its opposite corner, the crossing of which was obscured by the hole in the center. “A silver coin. Four silvers will get you one of these.” She held up a gold coin next, which had a pentagonal shape and lines inside connecting all of the corners in a pentagram shape around the hole in the center. “This is a gold coin. So, this single coin is worth twenty of those copper coins, and four of those silver coins. Do you understand so far?”

It wasn’t too hard to follow, I nodded. Something about this seemed intuitive, a similar currency system may have been used in the human world, but I was very curious about the last two objects on the table. She held up the gemstone next, which wasn’t much bigger than the coins. It was a vivid dark red color and mostly transparent but with intermittent clouds of opacity throughout. Something about this stone felt sinister. The gem was cut into a hexagonal shape with only about a third of an inch of thickness, and it did not have a hole in the center, though each flat side of the gem had a small spherical groove in the center instead. In addition, smooth groves in the surface made the shape of hexagrams across the surface.

“This is a blood gem. More specifically, it is an inert one, most people just call these bloods. When blood gems are first mined, they have magical energy in them. Once the energy is depleted, they are just a simple worthless stone. A long time ago, one of the kings of Abyssia decided to use the inert bloodstone as a measure of currency, so that it would have a purpose. Ever since then it has been part of the official mint. One of these is worth ten gold coins. So that’s two-hundred copper coins and forty silver coins. They actually aren’t terribly common, their main purpose is making storage of gold piece value more convenient, so usually only businesses and rich folk bother with them, and really only in this layer since we have lots of blood gem mines.”

It was a smart move to turn an item of waste into a currency. I mentally commended whatever previous king decided to do that.

Finally, Ivy picked up the final coin, this one was a black but shiny metal that only reflected the brightest light as a dull grey. It actually reminded me of the metal parts that bound my red book. The coin was heptagonal in shape with a seven-pointed star cut into the surface, just like the one on my book. This coin had a hole like the others.

“This is a shadesteel coin, most people call them shades. They are worth five of those blood gems. Which means they are worth one-thousand copper coins, two-hundred silver coins, and fifty gold coins. This currency is a recent one, invented by our current king in honor of his daughter who impressed him by overthrowing the duchess of Stygia, the third layer, single-handedly. In fact, princess Maloreth is something of a personal hero of mine.” Ivy added.

“Wait, why would a princess wish to be a duchess, isn’t a princess of higher status?”

“They are two separate matters. While it is true that technically she commands more respect and authority by being a princess, to live only as a princess would be to live as an extension of the king. She would have no land, no realm to command, and no subjects to rule. Becoming a duchess means she gets the best of both worlds. Respect, loyalty, nobility, and rulership. In fact, the prince Vanthos rules as a duke as well. He is the ruler of Erebus, the sixth layer.”

That one sounded familiar. “That’s the layer the Arachae are from, right?”

“Indeed, though they struggle under Vanthos’ rule. He has a distaste for them and at the best times he ignores them and at the worst time harasses them, driving them further and further toward the edges of the layer. The prince is not a kind ruler by any metric.”

I rubbed my chin. I wondered idly if Vanthos’ rule was why Vixilica left Erebus in the first place.

“Anyway, that is the overview of our currency. As it is extremely valuable, I typically keep bloods and shades in a secure location, so as not to lose them or have them be stolen.”

“Where do you keep them?” I ask.

Ivy smiled slightly. “I shall reveal it to you at such time as I hand over this establishment to you in full. Until then, I intend to keep it to myself.”

I nodded, supposing that was a fair decision.

“Come then, we should meet the rest of the staff and then prepare for your first night.”

Ivy led me back out into the hall, and then into the tavern portion of the building. Standing behind the bar was a tall, handsome omen man with chiseled features and a very loose black shirt. He had a stylish and well-groomed stubble on his chin, and short blonde hair. Around his neck was a collar, which I immediately understood to mean that he was owned by somebody. And as the collar bore no metal plate like Ivy’s, there were no exceptions to his exclusivity.

“Good day Ivy, and who’s this?” He asked, curiously, putting down the mug he had been wiping with a cloth.

“This is my new apprentice, Silus Serpentis.” She explained.

“Good to meet you.” I said, holding out my hand for him to shake. He did so and smiled warmly. He certainly was charming, and if I were attracted to men at all he would have been at the top of my list.

“Halek Ivory, I’m the bartender.” He said, and then turned to Ivy. “Finally deciding to hand over the reins?”

Ivy frowned slightly. “It’s about time I moved on to better ventures. So far, Silus seems more than capable.”

“We’ll find out soon for sure.” Halek said. “But I agree, she at least has the look of a madam, and carries herself like one as well.”

“That’s kind of you to say.” I replied, nodding.

“So, how are things going with your master?” Halek asked, casually.

Though most might not have noticed, I spotted the slightest twitch of Ivy’s lip at the mention. “Well enough,” she said, and she was lying, I could tell, “but his decision regarding this collar has made things quite difficult for business, as you know.”

“Have you told him as much?” Halek asked.

“He is stubborn. That is one of the qualities I admire and love about him. I have made it known, but of course, he has no obligation to do anything about it. I knew the risk.” It was clear that she was upset on that matter, but there was something else there. The lie from earlier told me there was something else going on under the surface. “How about yours?”

“I am happy as a clam.” Halek said, and I detected no deceit in his tone. “My mistress treats me fairly and thankfully is sensitive to my needs.”

“You’re not very high maintenance.” Ivy observed nodding.

“There is that, but I don’t think you are either. There’s just a lot more riding on that collar than mine. I’m just a bartender, you’re the madam.”

Ivy nodded. “Well that is why Silus is here.” She said, directing the conversation back to me. It was clear she wasn’t comfortable with this subject.

“I’ll do my best to make sure the transition is smooth.” I said, honestly.

“Hal, I’m done dusting the wine-cellar.” A new voice called from across the room.

I turned to see a buxom omen woman in classic barmaid attire walking toward the bar, a short lass with auburn hair and freckled skin. Though an eyepatch was worn over her left eye, her golden right eye peered at me curiously.

“Oh! Who is this, a client? I didn’t stay down there too long, did I?” She asked.

“Not at all.” Ivy answered. “This is Silus Serpentis, she is my apprentice and will be helping to manage the brothel. Silus, this is Eruka.”

I held out my hand to shake with the girl. She ignored the hand and plunged her own down to my cock, rubbing it idly. “She’s a big girl ain’t she?” She grinned. I was beginning to enjoy this form of greeting.

“Eruka is the barmaid. I apologize for her being so forward.” Halek said, shaking his head and chuckling.

“No need to apologize,” Ivy said, “her forwardness is exactly the perfect mentality for a place like this.” I knew at once that Ivy was right.

Eruka had begun examining my face with her single eye more closely. “Wait, is she a succubus?” Her hand had not stopped rubbing, it was doing so slowly and gently, coaxing my length into erectness, but I was pretty sure her pace wouldn’t have made me ejaculate, and knew that must have been her intention.

“No, as a matter of fact. She is human.” Ivy replied. “She has no memory of how she got here, however I hope you will treat her well.”

“Oh, better than ‘well’.” Eruka said and smiled at me deviously.

Not wanting to be outdone, I shoved my hand down into the cleavage of her ruffled top. I realized immediately that she wasn’t a whore, and that Ivy had specifically said I had free access to the whores, to say nothing of the standard-fare employees. But Ivy did not appear troubled at the sight of my invasion, so I resumed squeezing her firm breasts with delight.

Eruka responded to my touch with a slight squeal of delight and pushed her chest out. “I’m gonna love working for this one.” She said.

“I’m glad everyone is warming up to you.” Ivy said to me before turning to the others. “But I must finish showing her around.”

“It was nice meeting you both.” I said, removing my hand from Eruka’s top, a bit wistfully.

“Likewise.” Halek smiled.

“Is Dekkan here yet?” Ivy asked.

“I think he’s in the common room.” Halek said. “I heard him over there a moment ago anyway.”

After hearing this, Ivy directed me to the brothel side and into the common room. As my cursory glance had confirmed earlier, this room was quite comfortable. A series of leather couches were tucked into each corner, with single chairs of similar build and materials dotted about. There were three tall tables in the center of the room, presumably for refreshments, and there were gold-lined red curtains hanging from every single wall.

Sitting on one of the couches was a massive ifran man dressed neck to toe in well-maintained leather armor with studs at the chest, forearms, and greaves. His skin was a rich maroon in color, and his chin was bearded and gruff. A pair of ram-like horns extended from his forehead, curling near his ears and pointing forward amid a curtain of shoulder-length black hair.

“Who’re you?” He asked almost immediately upon seeing me, his silvery white eyes narrowing at me in suspicion. “A theif? Need me to throw her out?” He asked Ivy.

Ivy chuckled. “You know full well I’d be capable enough at that on my own.” She said. “And no, this is Silus Serpentis.”

“Another whore?” He asked, lounging on the sofa, only half interested now. “Seems dressed like one.”

“Another boss.” Ivy corrected. “She is my apprentice, and you’ll treat her with the same respect as you would myself.”

He looked at me again, this time with incredulity, but when he turned to see the look Ivy was giving him, which was fierce and stalwart, he smirked. “Whatever you say, madam.” He shrugged and relaxed again, throwing his head back against the cushion of the sofa. “We done?”

Ivy sighed. “I suppose so. Behave yourself, Dekkan.”

His response was only to give a half-hearted wave as we began walking away.

“What does he do?” I asked, bewildered at his demeanor.

“Dekkan is our bouncer. He’s… rough around the edges but he is good at what he does.”

“Making an arse out of himself?” I couldn’t help but make clear my thoughts on the man.

Ivy sighed again. “Throwing people out when they need to be.” She corrected. “I don’t want you two at each other’s throats. He’s important to what we do here, and frankly there aren’t many others that are as good as he is at hand-to-hand combat. I take the safety of these whores very seriously.” She said as we continued through the building.

I wasn’t quite so sure, but nodded just the same, and we moved on to other topics.

We had gotten acquainted with all of the staff now, all that was left was to show me around the rest of the building’s facilities. She left me largely to my own to wander about and familiarize myself with the layout of the Scarlet Tail, as she had other matters to attend to for preparation. Though I half-mindedly walked through the building, peering into various rooms as I went, my mind was elsewhere, part of me was excited to see what the shift would bring.