"This is our nation's brothel," said Officer Mia as she guided me.
The building looked more like a small tavern than anything else.
"They operate mainly at night, but the girls have already reported for work to prepare," she explained.
"Prepare? How?" I asked.
Mia responded promptly.
"Since we operate as a tavern during the day, they do some basic preparations for that. When a customer arrives, they negotiate a price and then go to the rooms upstairs."
"I see."
It wasn't a pure sex establishment. It was more like a tavern combined with street-level prostitution.
"I'll introduce you to the girls. This way, please."
Following Mia, I headed to a room in the back.
There, about fifty women were gathered.
They looked to be in their early twenties. All of them were quite pretty. Like the women at the sewing workshop, they wore long dresses that covered their legs completely, but, fitting for a brothel, their chest areas were boldly exposed... to be specific, it was some ribbons only....
"Although our country is known as a 'sex nation' because prostitution is practically legal, in reality, only a small number of women actually engage in the sex industry. All of these girls chose this work willingly."
"Nice to meet you, Lord Seiou," the women said, bowing their heads.
The women on the left side wore heavier makeup and seemed more casual and relaxed. The ones on the right were simpler in appearance, looking more serious and modest.
Despite being in the sex industry, none of them showed fear or disgust toward me, their king.
"I heard there were issues here too?" I asked.
Indeed, according to Princess Ellis, this brothel was also struggling to survive.
"Yes. There are two main problems," Mia replied.
"The first one is hygiene."
"Dealing with dirty customers is seriously tough," one of the girls said.
"Please do something about it first," another added.
The girls on the right side spoke openly and without formality. Unlike the ones in the sewing workshop, these women seemed very accustomed to their work, with no resistance toward it.
"We have a rule that customers must bathe before entering, but it's rarely followed," Mia explained.
"When someone dirty shows up, we have to wipe them down with wet towels, but it's hard work... They complain it hurts or takes too long. We just wish they'd use the bathhouse first."
"Well, I get it's cold in winter," another girl added.
I understood. In a world where baths are expensive, maintaining hygiene must be difficult.
"The second problem is... well, there are some girls who barely get any customers."
Mia seemed hesitant to say it, but it was clear she meant the quieter-looking girls on the right.
"Prices are negotiated individually. The high-end girls can go for 20,000 Col, while the low-end ones might only get 5,000 Col."
That's quite a range. Negotiation skills must be important here too.
"And those girls are... well, some customers call them 'The 1,000 Col girls,'" Mia added awkwardly.
The currency here, the Col, is roughly equal to one Japanese yen.
"1,000 Col? Isn't that way too low? I thought the minimum was 5,000 Col," I said.
"Yes. Technically, the client pays 5,000 Col. But from that, 2,000 Col goes to maintenance fees for the brothel, and another 2,000 is taken as tax. So, the girl is left with only 1,000 Col."
Hmm. Maintenance costs are one thing, but the tax is incredibly high.
Now that I think about it, even Reina from the sewing workshop mentioned the taxes being a problem.
"Yes. That's because we have to cover the costs of the stationed soldiers from the Zeres Kingdom," Mia explained.
Her voice was low, as if she found it hard to speak about.
"So the sewing workshop is also losing competitiveness because of these added taxes?"
"Exactly," she said.
So even though Reina and the others work hard, they can't compete on price, because they're carrying the burden of the kingdom's soldiers' expenses.
(All for the sake of those soldiers who do nothing but drink all day...)
It became clear to me that this country's situation was dangerous.
"What if we refused to let them stay?"
"In that case, there's a high risk of large-scale bandit attacks. In fact, when we tried to negotiate a cut in the stationed army's expenses, we were attacked by bandits soon after."
Too convenient. That's too suspicious to be a coincidence.
They're basically saying, "Pay us or suffer the consequences."
And the ones suffering are the girls in the brothel and the sewing workshop. This is where the real problem lies.
I looked once more at the faces of the girls seated on the right.
Even though their expressions were gloomy, they had delicate and beautiful features. They were being looked down on and underpaid not because they lacked beauty, but because they lacked confidence and negotiation strength.
A burning sense of anger and emotion welled up inside me.
"I understand. I'll take responsibility for rebuilding this brothel. I won't let anyone insult you as '1,000 Col girls' ever again." I said with a calm but motivating voice.
"Really!?" one of them exclaimed.
"As expected of you, Lord Seiou," another said.
Their faces lit up all at once, as if flowers had bloomed in a dark void.
"Don't forget about us either, Lord Seiou," the girls on the left said playfully, winking at me.
They seemed more confident, probably because they had better success with customers.
"Do you have a good plan in mind, Lord Seiou?" Princess Ellis asked.
"I do. We just need a system where the customers are happy to stay clean and willing to pay more. It'll be easier than fixing the sewing workshop," I replied with a smile.
"But Princess, about the funds needed to rebuild..."
No matter what I do, I'll need some starting capital.
"Let's talk about that somewhere more private," she said.
Apparently, she didn't want to discuss money in front of the brothel girls. So I got back in the carriage with her and the others.