City of Desire-Chapter 13: Distribution

Carla Salt

Carla descended the stairs with a heavy box in her hands, staring at the contents; she couldn't help but feel happy about it.

When she took the last step, she found all the girls sitting in the now slightly expanded common hall, with better furniture than before.

They looked comfortable, with everyone having a seat, unlike before when they needed to sit on each other's lap; not to mention, the new furniture was more comfortable.

Everyone is sitting in the common room, including the teens. They will not work until they reach eighteen, but they are getting a stipend for the work they do around the establishment.

"Is that?" asked Ina with apparent hesitation and hope. “Yes, your earnings from last night," Carla replied, putting the wooden box on the table before sitting in the chair behind it.

Everyone quieted down, their eyes focused on the wooden box, especially the pouches, wanting to peer inside.

"I will now distribute your earnings," she said, looking at the eager women staring at the box.

"Though I will not share how much you have earned with everyone, that will be at your discretion," she added before removing the first brown leather pouch from the box.

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She did not even look at the pouch she took to find out who it belonged to; she did not have the moment she touched it; she knew it belonged to Margaux.

This is due to her new skill, True Salary, which she gained today in her new class.

Her 'Harlot' class had advanced to Madam, and now she had a new skill thatallowed her to instantly calculate the amount of money each girl had made and who it belonged to.

The class change was quite surprising; she had thought it would take at least a month, but it happened on the first day of opening.

Maybe it was because of how deeply she was involved in the establishment; she had been here even before the first brick was laid and had been involved in nearly every process.

There is also Remus, who she thinks is the most responsible for such a quick change in her class.

It is due to him. She got the Assistant Class, and it reached Lv. 5 today. He is giving me the second skill of the class.

Good Memory.

It is an amazing passive skill. It lets me remember things; it’s very useful in my line of work.

From recognising patrons’ faces and names to the things about the work. It had already started helping me a lot.

"Margaux, this is yours," she said. Margaux, who was sitting not far away from her, got up from her spot and took the pouch and pink envelope attached to it with slightly shaking hands under the gazes of every woman.

"Open it," asked Brenna in anticipation.

"Brenna!" admonished Carla instantly. “What? Everybody here wants to know how much we have made," she replied defensively, looking at the girls, all of whom nodded, seeing that she couldn't help but sigh.

Even if she stops them now, they will ask each other later.

"You don't have to," said Carla, "It is fine; I am sure today everyone will show how much they have made?" replied Margaux before she opened the pouch with shaking hands.

She inserted a fair hand inside and took out the coin, and it was not the blue crown that came out, but a violet imperial, equal to a hundred crowns.

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The imperial surprised the girls, but that was just the beginning; she took out another imperial, and then another.

In front of the shocked eyes of every woman, twelve imperials came out, one after another, before the crowns began to appear.

"T…twelve hundred and six crowns. In my village, this is more than enough for one to live comfortably for months," said Myanna in a shaking voice.

Every woman is shocked seeing the money and why wouldn't they be; what they are holding would take them months to earn in their past brothel, and here they have earned it in a single day.

"Is this a dream?" asked Mina, not daring to believe what she saw. "Not a dream, my dear," Carla replied. Silence descended into the room as the girls watched money on the table, different thoughts running through their minds.

"What is in the envelope?" asked Margaux. Consider it a receipt. “It has details of your commissions and gifts, and it also includes some details about the patrons who gave you the gifts," she replied.

The receipt was Remus's idea. He wanted the girls to know clearly how much they were making. The information about the patron will help her thank him. They like it when we thank them for their gifts.

Through her years in the business, she learned that knowing the patron who pays well always pays.

Rip!

Margaux gently tore open the envelope by the pouch, took out the paper, and began to read it:

"As Master Silver had promised, 10% of your commission is here, and the rest are the gifts your patrons have left you; the house did not touch them."

"Let me look," said Ina, as Margaux handed her the envelope. She still hadn't come out of shock. She was happy to see her friend earning good money, and Margaux needed it more than anyone else.

"Only 40% earned through hours, while the rest are gifts," said Ina, reading the envelope.

The commission is 10%, which is huge already, and even if Remus had paid only the commission, they would still be happy as they made pennies in their old brothel compared to this.

Still, Remus had hinted he would increase the commission in the future.

"Big sister Carla, where is our salary, or is it just for sis Margaux only?" asked Cath humorously.

"Patience dear," she said, before she started calling names and handling salaries. The pouches emptied at a visible pace until the whole box emptied in less than a minute.

All the girls are looking at their salaries; not all have earned the same; some earned more, some less. Margaux is one of the highest, the second highest.

Ina is the highest earner; there is a difference of one hundred and forty crowns between her and Margaux.

It’s not surprising. In the previous brothel, they were among the highest earners, though they barely received any share of those earnings. It would have been the same here if not for Remus.

She wished Lola hadn’t left. She had asked Remus tens of times to take her back, but Remus had said she had lost her chance.

Sigh!

She sighed her depressing thoughts away and focused on the girls in front of her.

Everyone had made good money; the lowest was three hundred and thirty-five crowns, while the highest was thirteen hundred and eighty.

The girls who earned less are a little sad seeing some of their peers earning more than double their income, but they are still happy with the considerable amount. I am sure they will now focus more on their lessons and serving the clients; money is a great motivator.

"B.. the big sister, can't we work?" asked Gloria hesitantly.

Carla turned to the young girl, sitting with the other girls her age.

"No, you all will not work till you turn eighteen," she replied, and she could see the disappointment clouding the young girls' faces; seeing that, she and a few other girls couldn't help but sigh.

The withering circumstances and enough money could make one do anything and even make this profession seem alluring.

"You are the most fortunate girls; learn everything from the teachers and what we are teaching you; it will help you a lot in the future, not only in advancing your class and getting better skills but also in levelling up faster," said Carla.

"I do not need to tell you the importance of that, do I?" she asked. The young girls shook their heads, and they were in better moods.

"Good. Soak every morsel of knowledge and you all will earn more money than you have ever dreamed," she said, putting smiles on the girls' faces.

She talked with the girls for a few minutes before getting up to leave, and then a question came to her.

"This is temporary, isn't it, only while the prince is in the city?" asked Margaux, and immediately, the eyes of every woman in the room focused on her again.

She understood the question, which she had asked not long ago, so she turned to the girls with a bright smile.

"Not necessarily," she replied.

"Master Remus said that with the trade starting with merchant cities, it will bring out a large number of merchants to the city,” she added.

"I am leaving for the port with Master Remus right now to watch the first ships from the merchant cities," she informed, walking out of the basement a few minutes later.

She did not know if her words would come true, but she wished they would. These girls had suffered a lot in their lives, and they deserved some happiness.