I Own a Brothel in Another World

Chapter 38 – Marking Up

After arriving back at home, we eat a nice dinner together. It’s a good thing that two of the elves are helping in the kitchen or Sirgia would have to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. With their assistance, meals come out quite quickly. They also shared with our chef some of their homeland’s recipes so she could try preparing them. As expected from her, Sirgia was all in for listening about dishes from other parts of the world and didn’t even consider that as having more work. I think she never does think like that if it involves artifacts or food.

And since I instructed her before that I will gladly try out different cuisines too, she doesn't have to stretch out the menu that far. Only when one or more of us dislike eating some specific ingredients does she have to prepare personal meals, and so far, it has rarely happened.

During our pleasant time, I inform everyone about me learning a way to get rid of masterless seals. The elves grow excited and happy at a moment’s notice. We agree on dealing with that after dinner. If everything goes without any issues, we might actually think about already registering them at the guild. That would take one problem off the list. 

Still, marching into the hall while followed by seven demi-humans may not be the best idea. I guess we will have to do it in turns to not seem suspicious or anything. Not like having many combat slaves is somewhat frowned upon, but registering almost ten at once while I’m literally an F-rank adventurer may garner unnecessary attention. In the worst situation, I can always try bringing out the sigil that Ross gave me in case I get into trouble or something, but I would like to save that as the last resort.

Sirgia keeps stealing glances at me for the whole meal so I volunteer to wash the dishes with her and order others to rest while the elves are to prepare themselves and wait in my room. 

Safi and Emi envelop me with their bodies from the front and back, sandwiching me between themselves before I leave after Sirgia to the kitchen. The former squeezes me from the back while seductively grazing my abs with her chilly hands and the latter pushes her chest against mine, stealing my lips while standing on her tiptoes. 

The more time we spend on their lessons, the more active they start to get, trying to show me that they are listening and properly utilizing the techniques I show to them. And oh boy, they are quite efficient in them, especially in their duo plays. If this Human kingdom wouldn’t be so racist, there would be no man they wouldn’t be able to steal the heart of with their advances.

Cutting them short of the fun, I free myself with some mana-squeezes and mana-kisses. I can’t get lost in their embrace right now. They are already getting a full course of me pretty much each or every other night. Naturally, they do get my point and obediently let me go and join Sirgia.

We clean the plates in silence, only the sound of running water accompanies our chore. She clearly has something on her mind. It can be easily discerned by her sporadical lack of focus from time to time. After we are done, I wipe both mine and her hands with a towel. 

Sirgia still keeps quiet, so I pick the clearly a bit shy dwarf up and sit her on the counter so that we are on a similar level, with her slightly higher than me. There’s something really charming in having to look up at such a cute girl and see her gaze down at you.

I give her a little peck on the lips. “So, what is on your mind, hmm?”

A faint blush finally appears on her expressionless face. Both states look adorable, but this one suits her much better. She dives in to reciprocate my previous bit of affection with her own kiss.

“When can I… receive the reward Master promised me last time…”

She tries really hard to not avert her gaze and keep her eyes on mine. I place one hand on her cheek, brush it gently, making her tilt her head a little to lean into it, and smile at her.

“Whenever you want, my sweet, little chef. Or perhaps I should start using something different? My sweetie? My cutie? My love?”

Sirgia’s cheeks turn a shade darker, now almost reaching crimson levels.

“My… love…?” she mutters quietly with a curious glance.

“I already told you that I like you a lot, didn’t I? Do you want me to call you that?”

Pulling myself closer, I rest my forehead on hers and rub our noses gently, making her even more flustered.

“I… I’m fine with… my little dwarf…”

“Oh, really? I wouldn’t think that you liked me calling you by race this much.” 

I raise one eyebrow at her and she averts her gaze, at least as much as she can since we are pretty much in each other’s faces.

“That’s because… it means… that even though I am a Dwarf… I’m yours… and this makes me feel happy…”

She slowly speaks her mind, stopping at times to find correct words. They completely take me by surprise. I did not expect this level of cuteness. I can’t hold myself back and steal her lips without any warning. My action startles her a little, but she soon melts under my caresses and we softly exchange loving kisses. After we separate, a pleasant smile paints her lips.

“Then, does my adorable, little dwarf want her reward right here and right now?”

She considers that possibility and looks around the room. I also take a glance around. It might not be exactly comfortable anywhere in here, but with Sirgia’s strong body and the effects of my saliva, we could pretty much go at it anywhere and it wouldn’t be inconvenient.

For a moment it seems like she might have found a decent spot when her gaze lands on a long counter a bit behind me, but she shakes her head to compose herself.

“No… someone might come in here… Maybe someday…”

She definitely wants it to be here. And I could casually send discreet whispers to all other girls so they don’t accidentally walk into us, but let’s not put Sirgia under unnecessary pressure.

“That’s fine. I’m okay with whatever you want.”

“Then… tomorrow. Let’s do it... in the workshop. No one should come there.”

Figured out that she might choose that place. It’s pretty much like a kitchen but for artifacts and they both are connected to the things she loves.

“Why not today, hm?”

“Because today it’s Safi’s and Emi’s turn to sleep in Master’s bed and I don’t want to risk intruding on their time if we… take too long…”

I hug Sirgia closer and brush through her hair with my fingers while patting her head.

“Even though they definitely wouldn’t mind that. You are a really understanding and kind girl, you know that?” I praise her a little while showering her in less sensual affection to not escalate things further.

She giggles in my embrace, definitely regaining back some of her confidence after realizing that I’m not planning on taking another step.

“Does Master prefer bad girls?” she asks a bit more playfully than seriously.

I leave a quick tap on her cheek. “I prefer you.”

With another giggle from Sirgia, I help her come down and she hugs me to the chest for a while longer as we stand in the kitchen. Then, I escort her to the underground workshop and help her change from the maid uniform into some work clothes I bought her recently. 

She looks amazing in a light brown, sturdy, leather shirt and dark brown pants on belts. It always was a dream of mine to see a real Dwarf in such getup and it’s even better when it’s an insanely cute and skilled girl. 

I observe how she walks from table to table while doing various things, from preparing numerous materials, starting some carving or drilling devices, through checking schematics and notes, ending at testing some enchantments. She seems to be working on those communication devices. I approach her while she isn’t carrying anything serious and give her one more kiss on the cheek and a few pats before leaving.

Checking via our mental connection if the elves are already in my room, I head there immediately. I find all six of them sitting on one of the beds together, casually all over it, mostly around the middle, cross-legged or hugging their knees and such. They are chatting with each other when I arrive.

“Welcome, Master.”

Elea says in Elvish and starts moving to the edge to greet me properly, but I wave a hand to stop her. Walking to the bed, I glance over all of them. Everyone is smiling nicely and looking at me. I sit on the border and turn to them.

“Ready to get rid of the seals?” I ask Elea.

They all nod and also turn to look at the supposed leader of the group.

“Um, can I have a question?” she speaks up.

“Of course, what is it?”

“Since Master can remove slavery marks, can you also create them?”

Quite an unusual question and definitely not one I have expected, but there’s nothing stopping me from answering it.

“Yes, I can. Although, I can only leave the base mark on someone, without any restrictions. But, it’s not like I would want to impose any on you girls. Why the question though? I can already sense you and you also can to some extent feel me, thanks to the Partners connection.”

She smiles and nods. “Thank you for your kind words, Master. And while the part about our connection is true, the main goal is to have us register as combat slaves, yes?” she asks.

“That’s right.”

“And while Master mentioned that the guild doesn't exactly verify the seals, we just recently were discussing this topic and came to the conclusion that it would be better and safer to have any kind of mark on us instead of there being none. It would be more believable that way.”

I raise one of my brows. “You want me to mark you as my slaves? Even though I’m freeing you?”

They all nod again. “Even with Master’s slavery sigil, there wouldn’t be anything enslaving us, right? So, we don’t see anything derogatory in that. And it increases the safety of the holder. Master stressed many times how much you care about even our security, despite us being new here.”

I rub my chin while contemplating their words. They naturally hold some wisdom in them. I would be stupid to disagree just because I don’t like the idea of marking them.

“Certainly, this isn’t that bad of an idea. Are you sure you are okay with that?”

A wave of energetic nodding follows. 

“Well, I’m not going to say no to that then. As you said, your well-being is my utmost priority and this plan supports that goal.”

“Thank you for considering our suggestion.” Elea bows her head slightly.

“No, no, no. Thank you for bringing that up. Not many would willingly offer to have a slavery sigil placed on them out of their own volition. Let’s deal with the old seals first.”

I climb onto the bed and join them in the middle. They form a semi-circle in front of me. This time they don’t have to unpin anything since the slavery marks are visible on the exposed area above their chests.

One by one, I move closer to them and spend around 10 minutes per person to properly erase the masterless seals. It’s accompanied by lots of finger-grazing with my hand over their smooth, dark skin and some of them react quite… sensually to that brushing.

In the case of Elea, I can see her long ears getting slightly red and feel her heart rate rise noticeably when I’m up close with her. No other elf girl reacts this strongly. They do make some playful sighs or even a moan from time to time, but they all keep their calm, pretty much telling me that they are just having fun with teasing me.

Elea though, tries to stay composed much harder than her friends. She’s the calmest when I work with her seal, at least in terms of no sighing or moaning, her heart can’t exactly be called calm. Their group didn’t give an image of some shy girls with how they acted in the beginning, so Elea’s reaction can only bring a few possible explanations and after what we went through together, I’m quite strongly leaning towards a certain one.

Well, I shall observe her a bit more just to be sure. Perhaps not for as long as with Cornelia. I might be wrong and it’s just my Class affecting her to some extent. Elea is, or was, a Princess, in other words, a Priestess, and kept her body pure for something like 200 years if I recall correctly. Thus, being able to keep her role for this long, although maybe for Elves it feels way shorter, she shouldn’t suddenly have fallen for a man, right? And a Human at that.

「She did seem to revere me a bit even before I revealed my Hero’s background though… No point in assuming. We will see with time.」

We finish taking down the seals without any issues coming up. Next, since we have already decided on that, we move onto applying new ones.

“Hmmm… Where do you want them to be?” I ask, considering the best place.

“Aren’t they usually around the collarbone?” Elea joins.

“Yeah, but that’s for normal slaves. You don’t need to have the mark in an easily visible spot. There’s no need to brand your beautiful bodies again.”

The girls all smile. 

“Maybe under the navel then?” 

Neira unexpectedly throws out a suggestion and everyone looks at her and then back at me, most likely waiting for my reaction. I give the elf a side glance and she just smiles even more seductively.

“We would be like Succubi then, right?” Roseni asks others.

“Yeah, they have those cool marks down there, that’s what I heard too,” Cinra follows.

“I always thought those were so cool! Imagine if they could glow when—”

“That’s enough. Let’s keep the conversation on its tracks. Master is the one who will decide,” Elea stops Filue before she has a chance to finish her sentence and all the girls turn back to me.

I scratch my head. “Personally, I don’t mind, but you still would have to show those if someone asked. Would you be fine letting others check that part in public?”

A wave of ‘ah’ and realization quickly follows. 

“Only to Master,” Neira answers with the previous, enchanting smile, making others nod.

I shake my head smiling too. “Then, I guess a shoulder should be fine, right? It’s usually covered and also easy to show when necessary. Are you fine with that?”

There aren’t any objections. While I sort my knowledge about slavery marks in my head, the girls get back to the semi-circle formation, with Neira being the first one. After I’m confident enough in what I’ve recalled, I move closer to her from the side.

She smiles at me and lowers her right shoulder strap, sliding it along her arm and revealing her skin near the shoulder. I reach my hand to touch the place but I stop midway and my gaze falls a bit to the side. When the shoulder strap slides down, it also lowers the corresponding part of the chest material with it and her voluptuous right breast comes to my full vision, hanging seductively, free out of its imprisonment.

A giggle can be heard and I move my eyes back to her face questioningly. She just smiles, nothing more. Just your usual situation with flashing someone your intimate parts. Yep. There’s just one thing wrong here. Or rather, the lack of one thing which is supposed to be upholding two other things.

“You do wear panties at least, don't you?” I ask Neira while raising my brow.

She giggles again. “Of course.” She lifts her skirt to show her black underwear.

“Then why not a bra?”

“Because they feel stuffy. Are we required to use them?”

I shake my head. “No, it’s fine. Just… that was quite unexpected and took me off-guard. Could you at least cover yourself a bit while I work on the seal? Doing it like this may prove a little bit… distracting.”

“As you wish, Master.”

Neira then proceeds to move her hand to her breast and covers it with her palm. All is good besides the fact that she presses onto it with quite the force and it almost spills around her fingers, which accentuates the sexy shape even more due to how big her boobs are. This definitely isn’t unintentional. I make a deep sigh, close my eyes and try to focus on creating the mark on her arm near the shoulder.

The first step is to connect with the target’s mana. It comes quite easily since I can sense them much clearer thanks to them being my Partners. I create a link with our energies and begin shaping a complex knot to prepare the base for the seal.

When enough of our mana is led to the correct spot, I begin forming the circle part of the slavery sigil by tracing my finger filled with essence over her skin. 

A few seconds later, that part is complete and I start infusing more of my own energy into the mark’s foundation, properly focusing on fusing it with the next piece, which is the core of the mark. I didn’t prepare any ideas for how the centre of the sigil has to look so I just leave that part to my subconsciousness. My slavery teacher taught me that the image will be composed to suit the slave owner if they don’t design the sigil style themselves.

The last and most important part is to activate all pieces at the same time and fuse them into one. I’m not adding any formulas for restrictions so anything else is not necessary. I take my fingers back, summon a small knife from my ring and cut my thumb a little. Pressing it against Neira’s skin again, I trace a full circle around the spot where our energies are connected and I can feel the mark forming.

Letting everything slowly subside, I open my eyes to confirm the success of this quite complex process. The moment the seal enters my sight, my eyes widen in surprise. Neira doesn’t miss that detail and angles her shoulder to see for herself.

“Oh! It’s so lovely!” she announces with a smile.

What appeared on her shoulder is in no way even close to the circle I made with my finger. The foundation took the shape of a heart, very similar to the pendant we’ve commissioned for our girls. It has those two horns on the top and a pointy succubi-like tail on the bottom. Additionally, the mark also has wings sprouting from the lower part of the heart now. And, in the middle of the seal, there’s a really fancy letter A in… Infernal?

「Huh? All things aside, why not Common? Why is it Infernal? Some demonic races use it. Maybe due to the succubi-like appearance of the sigil? Weird.」

While I’m pondering over it, the other elves swarm Neira to take a glance at the seal and start joyfully whispering between themselves. Even Elea seems to be into it as she doesn’t try to tame them down this time. They get very eager to get their own marks after seeing the design. I guess that part about Succubi they mentioned before is something they really adore. You learn something new every day, huh.

All other girls properly hold the cloth over their chests so it doesn’t slide down with their shoulder straps. Looks like they choose to let me work in peace on their new tattoos over trying to tease me and I’m glad they do. There are no issues going forward and everything finishes cleanly. They check out each other’s sigils, which all look identical of course.

Elea leaves the giggling group and moves closer to me. “Thank you for giving us such beautiful marks, Master. We did not expect them to be so nice. Did you perhaps draw them according to what the girls mentioned before?” she asks.

I shake my head. “No, I honestly didn’t. I haven’t even thought about how they should look. I guess that’s just the type of sigil that… suits me or something? They are supposed to be portraying the nature of the owner I think?” I answer while scratching my head.

The girls stop whispering and giggling and glance at me, then at each other and back at me while smiling beautifully. Somehow, I get slight chills from their gazes, completely not sure why.

Next, we discuss how we will go with the whole registration thing since it’s good to wrap everything up at once if possible. Going out with all of them in maid outfits would garner lots of unnecessary attention so we agree on going in pairs, excluding me, and I will also take a trip to the town before that to pick up some cheap, leather, protective clothes just for the plan. 

Personally, I wouldn’t mind having my personal corps of battle maids like a certain powerful protagonist of one of my favourite novels, but let’s leave that for later when we will all be a bit more powerful. God, I always adored those girls, especially the leader. Let’s add battle maids to the list of things to create someday.

Anyway, we all agree on it. The registration part of course. During our dinner together, they still aren’t over getting the marks and other girls are able to steal a few glances of the sigils. I kind of expected that to happen, but Sirgia, Safi and Emi come rushing to me after to ask for one too. Looks like they don’t want to feel left out. 

At least Cornelia is not all over it when I glance at… her. I sigh with a wry smile. Hastily averting her gaze and acting like it doesn’t concern her might seem like she does consider it to some extent. Actually, I take that back. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was into this kind of restraints too.

I create one on Sirgia’s arm. As for the slimes, I explain to them that a familiar seal would fit them better than slave ones. They get slightly down, so I explain to them that it would make them special and they both instantly cheer up, but… Sirgia is the one to get slightly sorrowful now. 

Kneeling in front of her, I give my cute dwarf a few kisses from below and tell her that I consider every single one of them special on their own and that I would mark them all with unique sigils if I could. Fortunately, it seems to work and she snuggles to me affectionately. I start to realize that being the True Harem Lord won’t be an easy ride.

So, after promising Safi and Emi to figure out monster taming sigils, which would be more appropriate if we start going into the public, I move out to get the clothes for the elves, and perhaps something for Sirgia too.

I head straight to clothing and armour merchants I’ve already visited in the past. For Sirgia, I get a decent, reinforced set which includes simple, plated greaves, leather armguards, vest and shorts. For the elves, I choose various leather armours too, mostly simple and easy to move in ones, and normal linen pants.

And finally, since Elea dabbles more in magic, especially nature, I pick a simple, dark robe, or rather, it should be called a dress from how much it uncovers. I’m pretty sure most of her legs will be visible and the area above the chest seems to have quite a sizable ‘boob-window’.

With everything collected, I return back to the mansion and give the items to the girls. The elves start changing literally in front of me, without any consideration of their half-naked bodies. They at least don’t have to change the panties.

Sirgia stares at them and glances at me, visibly torn about what to do. Not wanting to fall behind, she finally decides to follow suit and starts undressing too. She often sends me shy glances while her cheeks are visibly red.

Everyone leaves their collars on. One, they are really beautiful on them and the last time I tried to insist on someone taking them off, I failed completely. And two, it’s another easy way to show that they are mine. I might be slowly getting used to saying that about the girls, but it still rubs me in a little wrong way on the inside. With how much they are for rather than against that idea, I bet I’ll one day completely forget this feeling.

After they are all done, we proceed with the plan. The first pair to go with me is Sirgia and Filue. The elves decide to set the order via rock-paper-scissors and unfortunately, Elea loses literally to everyone. Sirgia comes first as part of my plan to cheer Elea up. With the number of elves being 6 in total, this way she will be able to accompany me alone at the end. And also just to show Sirgia some affection.

We leave the mansion and stick close together. The girls walk on both of my sides. They both look around curiously. For Filue this might be the first time seeing the city from this angle.

Not wanting to let this chance go to waste, I stop by one of the dinners and we share a meal together. Filue starts acting like the usual slave, but Sirgia stops her and explains to her again that I don’t treat people like that and everyone is considered a friend. She really did change. Not that long ago, she was the one trying to sit on the floor to wait for scraps. This puts a smile to my face.

We don’t take that long to not make other girls wait indefinitely and head for the guild. So far, so good. There are less weird stares than I expected. Maybe I really was too worried about all that. Let’s hope that it will work out with the brothel too.

First time seeing the guild, the girls can’t help but stare at the building slightly in awe. Yeah, it looks quite fancy. We walk in and fortunately, it doesn’t seem like anything special is happening. You never know. Let’s not trigger any weird events, please.

I spot a familiar receptionist with short, black hair and we head straight to her. The cute girl from the day I registered also recognizes my adventuring attire and waves at me while smiling.

“Hello Mr.. ummmm… was it… Karper?” 

She starts joyfully, but after realizing that she doesn’t remember my name, the receptionist makes a wry smile and tries to make a comeback.

“It’s Carter, Miss Elise.” I smile at her.

“Oh, right. I’m sorry. Even though you remembered mine, hahaha.”

“Don’t fret over it, I haven’t been here since that day. It’s not that hard to forget someone who doesn’t show up often.”

She claps her hands. “Well then, how can I help you, Mr Carter?” 

Elise curiously glances over me and my companions. Looks like I’m lucky, she doesn’t immediately frown or show any other negative reactions. She’s either pretty fine with demi-humans or she’s a full-blown professional, unlike a certain blond-haired guy.

“Can I register combat slaves with you or is there some special procedure?” I ask.

“I can deal with that for you! Are you talking about this elf and dwarf?”

I nod. “Yeah, and there are 5 more Dark Elves I want to register, but it would be inconvenient for me to bring all of them at once so I will bring them in pairs.”

“Oh, seven at once? If I recall correctly, you were an F-rank. Do you have enough money for all of them?”

“And I still am. Don’t worry about the money, I won’t run out of funds in quite some time. That’s also how and why there’s so many of them.” I smile at the girl.

“I see. I see. Very well then, I’ll prepare seven forms and give two of them to you right now. I’ll reserve this spot so you can bring them in turns as you wanted. Are you perhaps preparing for a journey with so many bodyguards?” she inquires curiously.

“Something like that.” I chuckle. Maybe someday. “I want to get done with registration before I forget.”

As she stated, Elise hands me two forms and I fill them in with the girls. I ask them a few things so we can write at least a few details there, naturally speaking in Dwarvish and Elvish. I give the papers back to the girl.

“You know their languages? That’s quite amazing, people rarely do so,” she says while going over the forms with her eyes.

“Well, I like to know my stuff and also languages are like my hobby. I know a bunch of them.”

She nods with a kind smile. “That’s nice! Reduces the chances of having to sacrifice them if they don’t get the orders correctly.”

“Master would never do that!” Sirgia suddenly speaks up and Elise looks down at her in surprise.

Realizing that she did it completely unasked, Sirgia hastily glances at me to examine my reaction while covering her mouth, I can feel her getting worried and a bit guilty. Slaves don’t speak unless their master allows them and she must have forgotten about that due to how relaxed the atmosphere around me is.

We lock our gazes. A whisper arrives near my ear.

~I’m sorry… please… hit me… Master…~

She must be concerned about keeping appearances. I raise my hand and move it towards her head. She does not suddenly wince like in the past, but she naturally tenses a little in preparation and closes her eyes. My palm lands on her hair. Gently. And starts brushing through it. She looks up at me in confusion.

“It’s as she said. I would never do that.” I smile at Sirgia and keep patting her head. A faint blush appears on her cheeks as she drops her gaze to the ground.

I glance at the clerk to see her reaction. She does seem surprised but not in a negative sense. As I thought, she doesn’t seem to be an anti-demi elitist.

“I see… Well, that’s good, right? More efficient in the long term. I think,” she says.

“You could say that,” I answer and lean more onto the counter. “It’s quite rare to not get stared down after such a display. How come you are fine with it?” I ask curiously.

She looks around. “To be honest… they aren’t that much different from us, no? I mean… they still are people in the end. It’s not like I like other races, I just… dislike violence enough to not blindly agree with others.”

“You are a nice girl, Elise. I like that.” I send her a wink with a playful smile. “But I bet a cute girl like you hears that on a daily basis.”

She laughs while covering her mouth. “Flattery won’t get you a discount, Mr Carter.”

I chuckle too. “Dammit.”

We wrap up the procedure and even show Elise the seals just to be safe. She issues us combat slave plates pretty quickly. I pin them to the girls' shoulders and we head back to switch. 

Next two pairs also get done without any problems. We chat a bit more casually with Elise during their registrations. After finishing with Elea’s form, we bid a final farewell. Elise urges me to visit from time to time. I won’t say no. Having a friend in the guild might come handy.

We step out of the guild. Elea starts walking back but I grab her by the shoulder and tell her that we are going to have a stroll together. I want to reward her for her help in coordinating the other girls. She complies with a nice smile.

And thus, I lead her towards a nice recreational area that I know of. We chat with each other along the way. She tells me more about her life and village and I answer some of her questions about me. Rather than asking about my world, as pretty much everyone who knows my identity would, she wants to know about my various likes and views on some social aspects. Nevertheless, we have fun just talking with each other. Her calm and slow way of speaking emanates an aura of royalty. It’s hard to believe that Princess was just a role and not a real title. Maybe all Elves are like that.

Our little fun gets interrupted by some loud shouting. Coming out from an alleyway, we notice a crowd of people gathered around the centre of the market square. It looks like I chose a wrong time to bring Elea here.

We look at each other. She seems to be curious about it too so we begin walking closer to see what is happening here.