Chapter 49: I Really Am a Scaredy Cat
I love this smell of smoke, open legs and a lot of sex. It’s been a while, almost a week to be exact, since I last visited the Ring Districts, but I feel right at home every time I step foot in the best brothel in the Imperial City.
My companion, on the other hand, shows something completely different. Ever since we got on this side of the city, he hasn’t stopped staring at things with a mixture of fascination, fear, disgust and even apprehension, almost asking to hold my hand as we walk.
Leonhardt is pure of heart, for crying out loud, it’s like he’s never had sex... wait, inquisitors don’t have sex!
I stifle a laugh so I don’t look like a madman in the street, but in a short while, we reache the place that interested me from the start: Madame Cerise’s brothel. Well, my body knows the way by heart, it’s unnecessary to think to even get here.
I open the doors, a strong incense hits my nose along with the herbs in the air. I wave to one or two acquaintances there, after all, I’m nothing more than a regular at this place, but usually only come in here dead drunk, which is why I didn’t even know its name, much less paid attention to the details.
And right there, on the other side of the room, the voluptuous Renaissance angel is smoking a pipe and stretching on a red velvet couch. Ah, Elizia, in another life, I would have fallen in love with you.
"Eliziaaa!"
I wave my arms high, happy for the first time in a long time. Her face lights up by seeing me, it’s almost magical how her grumpy expression vanishes as our eyes meet.
"Darius! You’re all in one piece!"
She approaches with a jump and first grabs my arm, searching for any wounds on my skin.
"After you disappeared, I thought I’d be alone... and without my livelihood."
"Oh, please, that’s my duty. Let’s have a chat inside, hmm?"