The Choice

The last few rays of sunlight danced across the rooftops for a few moments, before Vienna was swallowed by the night. Sophie once again had gone to a stable to survive the night. It was her fourth time and fourth different stable. The net hammock was as uncomfortable as usual.

It honestly surprised her how similar all the stables she'd used had been. The day before she had the opportunity to talk to a "receptionists" in daytime. That bitch had explained to her that while the empire paid for the stables they were run by a mishmash of different people. Some by nobles, some by wealthy industrialists and others by the church. Yet all of them felt exactly the same to her.

Sophie had spent the last three days looking for a suitable owner. Tomorrow would be her sixth day as an unowned woman. She needed to change that in the next fifty hours, or she'd be considered long-term unowned.

She couldn't risk that. It would make finding an owner much harder, if not impossible. Her father had warned her of it on the day she left. „Don't be a stupid slut,“ he'd said, „hurry up and give yourself to someone! If you take to long, only the **** men will want you. Those with a choice will conclude that there must be something wrong with you, if nobody else has taken you in.“. Those were his parting words.

A part of Sophie wanted to wait, and be owned by someone who couldn't get anyone else. After all, **** men still were men. And a woman who considered herself to good for a man was like a street that considered itself to good to be walked on. „Well, there are the men-only streets,“ Sophie thought, „but that's beside my point.“

Besides that, however, Sophie was fairly sure that she wanted to find an owner her father would consider proper. Having access to good women, a group Sophie believed herself to be a part of, was one of the perks of being an upstanding member of society. It would not be right for her to presume to make the decision to reward someone for their bad choices.

To that end, she'd used the last three days well. She'd learned of and even met several fitting candidates and now it was time for her to choose her first owner.

This would be the first and last important decision that she could make on her own. Choosing her first owner was one of her two legal rights (the other being to live). After gifting herself to whoever she chose, she'd then be his property, no different from his hat. He could keep her, or sell or gift her to someone else. If he died his son would inherit her. And thus she needed to choose right.

While there were many more candidates, there were three who had caught Sophies eye:

• Professor Doktor Peter Häusl was one of the most renowned scientists in the entire empire. He was one of the last few generalists who knew enough to research whatever they felt like, no matter the field. In his illustrious career he'd helped develop steam powered automated farms, discovered several previously unknown animals, and created a monocle that allowed engineers to find leaks by showing them heat. „He even had advised the empress a couple of times, may god spank her tits.“

  Now, in his fifties the professor wanted to settle down and had started lecturing at the Imperial University. His new research project were women, specifically their behaviour. He wanted find out why they behave like they do. And thus he had need of Sophie, for his research, and to do chores for him.

  The opportunity was intriguing, and Sophie was tempted to take it. However, after having met the professor she knew why he still was searching. He was weak, lacking all authority. When he wanted tea he had made it himself, instead of having her do it. Even sadder, he offered her a cup of the valuable drink, that she definitely didn't deserve. Not once did he call her by any of the common terms for women, instead always using her name. He didn't even dare to properly enjoy looking at her breasts, despite clearly wanting to. Sophie didn't know if she could serve a weakling like him, who clearly lacked the will necessary to punish stupid bitches like herself, even when they made mistakes.

• Leutnant Josef Bergstein was an officer in the imperial army. He had risen through the ranks remarkably quickly. Most notably he had squashed the Venetian independence rebellion five years ago. If newspaper rumours were to be believed, he was on track to be a general in a couple of years, and could even be the commander in chief in a couple decades.

  While Häusl lacked authority, Bergstein overflowed with it. There was no doubt in Sophies mind that he'd be willing and able to punish her appropriately. That was a major improvement. Another perk was his role as an officer. That meant that he'd hand her out to his subordinates as a reward for performing well. The thought of serving that many men was almost iresistible to Sophie.

  However, he too had his downsides. While he might have been a tactical genius and well integrated into the military, he wasn't very smart in general. A sack of mouldy potatoes had better odds of correctly calculating the area of a square than that brute. And while Sophie could help him with that, he was to arrogant to take advice from a woman, even if he owned her.

• Ingenieur Franz Ebenwalder was a track engineer of the Westliche Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (western railway company), one of the most important companies in the entire empire. It operated a train system running from Vienna to the empires western border with France, passing through Munich on its way. There also were branches to some important cities like Salzburg and Innsbruck.

  The impact the railways had since they were invented about sixty years ago was difficult to fathom. The empire had made good use of them to build up its economy before conquering some of its neighbours, like Bavaria, Baden and Würtemberg. And the WEBG had been very important in both of those things. Franz Ebenwalder was now in charge of important infrastructure projects of the company, and thus very important to the continued well-being of the empires economy and army.

  Trains had always fascinated Sophie, and this was her chance to get involved. Also, Ebenwalder was something of a compromise candidate. He was not as smart as Häusl, but not as stupid as Bergstein. He couldn't induce obedience like the general, but wasn't a pushover like the professor either.