.
Once inside the entry vestibule, two steps lower than the room beyond, I immediately confirmed what sort of establishment this was. Actually, let me rephrase that. The fact of what sort of establishment I had entered metaphorically stood up and slapped my face with itself.
If the inside reminded me of anything, it was fantasy art depicting the interiors of harem tents. In places, silk sheets hung between the many columns supporting the roof to act as partitions. They were standing in for the tent walls of that impression. Otherwise it was an open space. Young women in somewhat revealing attire lounged on silk pillows and quilts here and there, or sat on cushions. Several were doing domestic tasks like sewing or embroidery; one of them even worked at a hand loom, on which she was fashioning an ornate silk brocade. The rest were just chilling, except for a trio engaged in a card game and a younger girl playing a lute-like instrument I didn’t recognize.
While we were still in the entrance, my escort instructed, “Please remove your shoes and place them in the shoe rack.”
This act wasn’t only familiar from anime; Tiana had learned about this at Mother’s house in Atius, and had to practice doing it, although we didn’t make guests do so there. I suppose it was preparation for the possibility that she might travel to Pendor some day.
I removed my slippers and secured them in one of the tastefully designed shoe lockers. She showed me how to lock it with a touch of my hand. It would only open again at my touch and nobody else’s.
Wearing the sandals provided, I followed the woman across the room. On the far side, at the point where we were apparently headed, I saw an archway masked by a dense curtain of beads. There were several other similar archways at regular intervals along that wall. Each had either vases with tasteful flower arrangements or half-scale bronze statues of alluring nudes in pleasing poses.
To the left and right, openings wide enough to require support columns led into adjacent wide spaces with somewhat lower level floors. I realized from what I had seen outside that these were the interiors of the adjacent wings. I could faintly detect significant water in the one to my right, on the scale of a swimming pool, and I could hear something that sounded like a fountain.
Windows in the walls above the openings let sunlight into the room, bathing everything in natural light, as did skylights in the peaked roof above us.
The hostess stepped aside again at the archway, sweeping back the hanging strings of pearls for me to enter. Inside was a low table with cushions for sitting, and a variety of side furniture.
I wasn’t sure of the purpose, and given what sort of business it seemed to be, I was pretty wary, but this looked like a tearoom, not a bedroom, so I entered.
After she followed me in, she gestured toward one of the sitting cushions as she passed me and circled the table. I went ahead and sat. Sitting on the floor like this, Asian-style, is a Dorian thing, so I wasn’t entirely used to it, but I had been taught the basics of this by Mother’s staff very well. I knew how to do ‘correct sitting’ as Pendorians say.
I’m sure it comes as no surprise that the words ‘correct sitting’ translate into Japanese as… ‘Seiza’.
A teenage girl, probably a couple years older than me, entered from a deeper room carrying a tea tray. She was gorgeously attired in the underage woman’s complement to the hostess’s attire, a bare-midriff outfit that was a better match to the harem vibe. Traditionally, this outfit would indicate her as a girl who was still considered a child, which she did not appear to be.
I came up with the theory that it was for non-prostitute staff, because it could be taken to mean ‘hands off, this one’s not for sex.’ On the other hand, it might be fetish-wear, like an Earth woman dressed as a schoolgirl.
She placed the tray to the side on the table, bowed to each of us and departed. As the hostess prepared to serve the tea, she stated, “There are two guestbooks on the side table to your left. Please sign the appropriate book.”
I saw the two books, labeled ‘Honored Guests’ and ‘Application for Residence’, and realized that she was ferreting out whether I was a customer or a job applicant. Suppressing a smirk, I moved the ‘Honored Guests’ book to the main table and flipped to the latest page, easily found because it had one of those ribbons like an old-fashioned Bible marking the page.
The woman glanced at it and nodded as she poured my tea.
“Might I ask what diversions might interest Honored Guest during her stay?”
Having already detected the presence of what had to be a bathing or swimming facility, I said, “First, I would like a bath. I think I detected a bathing area in the adjacent wing.”
Her eyebrows rose slightly. “Of course. We are a bathhouse, first and foremost, after all.”
I was still pretty sure that first and foremost they were a whorehouse, but I didn’t contradict her. As I spooned sugar into my cup, I asked, “What sort of bathing facilities might I find here?”
Looking proud of her business, the woman responded, “Everything from the deep pool that you noticed in the next wing down to private bathing rooms. Naturally, the private rooms cost more, but the girls attending you there are provided as a courtesy to the guest.”
That caught my attention. As I stirred my tea, I asked, “How much is ‘more’?”
“Private bedrooms with a single attendant cost a sovereign per hour, to a maximum of four sovereigns per night. Private baths cost twice that, but come with two attendants.”
I tipped my head. “You have an overnight stay price for the baths?”
“Naturally,” she answered. “For our naiad customers. The House of Gold Leaves was founded by a naiad to be a wintering site for her fellow water fairies.”
That came straight out of left field. “Wintering site?”
The hostess took a sip of her tea with a smile, then explained, “Tëan Tír is not a comfortable place for fairies of the water during the winter. All outdoor water freezes here.”
“So this is an… inn?”
“It’s one of its functions,” she admitted. “Those who must stay, for whatever reason, spend it in our little playland of baths, hot tubs, tea rooms, and diversions. Some water fairies choose to live with us year round, and a few lesser fairies even work. They are our top-shelf products.”
I blinked at her referring to lesser fairies as ‘products’. There’s a limit to objectification… or rather, is objectification a complaint I can even aim at the madam of a house of prostitution?
Although the statement did confirm my initial premise that this was at heart a whorehouse, right?
I mean, it was very confusing. It called itself a bathhouse, it functioned as an inn. It was founded for naiads and presumably lesser water fairies to use as a home. Every house of prostitution I had encountered before this catered primarily to mortal men, not fairy women.
I cleared my throat. “So you mentioned attendants in the private bath. Would their attentions be… ah, full-service?”
I know I had just done so the previous night, but I was itching to hire a couple girls to add to my blood core. After discovering that the special powers it was giving me, I wanted to investigate whether increasing the blood core, building up a bigger supply of blood, would increase the capacity of the spiritual core as well.
After all, I was currently still holding an amount of mana within it that might be as much as the total my body could actively circulate. It was staying put inside there, requiring no effort to retain, ready to tap at any time. It seemed like I could put it into circulation far faster than I could draw mana from the environment, too.
Not to mention, I seemed to be able to draw and circulate mana faster, too. The initial sluggishness I had felt during the fight in the morning had actually been the fact that half the mana I was drawing was filling the empty core instead of my magic pathways.
With a nod, the hostess answered, “Everything in the room is complementary, including the attendants. Other than abusive actions we do not allow, they are there to serve you however you request.”
She bowed her head, “Naturally, I do not suggest that Honored Guest is likely to do abusive acts.”
I twisted my lip. “What about if the guest is a vampire? Would you consider asking the attendant to feed her an ‘abusive action’.”
The woman’s surprise was very plain to see, but she realized it and recovered almost instantly. “I see. A vampire. I don’t know if we have ever hosted one before.”
She had become very wary, and very nervous, so I reached out my hand to touch hers and used just a tiny tweak of Charm to kill her anxiety.
“Please be at ease. We vampires do not feed on people without their permission.”
Looking a little embarrassed, she nodded. “Of course. My apologies.”
“It’s quite alright, ” I answered, and took a sip of tea. “I understand my kind is quite rare in this country.”
She composed herself for a moment while also taking another sip, then stated, “Honored Guest, due to the nature of our staff, we must give them leeway to refuse you. They are required to participate in all acts involving parts of the body only, but outside of what might naturally transpire between a man and a woman, or a pair of women, the girl is free to refuse if she feels it is too dangerous, painful or disgusting. I know that blood feeding is natural from your perspective, but I will have to consider it to fall into the category she might refuse.”
“This is as I prefer, as I wish to have their consent, anyhow,” I nodded. “But I would like to decline an attendant who does not consent?”
With another bow, she said, “I understand. They will be told in advance.”
I mulled it over, then frowned. I asked, “What did you mean, ‘due to the nature of our staff’?”
Sh pressed her lips together in thought, then explained, “This place is at its heart a bathhouse and residence for water fairies, stocked with an abundance of diversions and playthings for their entertainment. In addition to this, our main business, we also provide entertainment for other fairies and mortals who visit. But our third function is to act as a place of care for young women who have become touched by the fair folk. The particular emotional issues of such women need to be carefully taken into account.”
A chill ran down my back the moment I heard her words, and my enthusiasm to feed and explore my newfound ability waned immediately. ‘Touched by the fair folk’ could only have one meaning.
