City of Desire-Chapter 14: Information

“Didn’t I tell you?” I said to Carla, who was watching more than fifty ships arrive at the port, with Count Darrow ready to greet them in a grand procession.

We have been here for more than one and a half hours, and the wait is worth it.

The ships contain not only goods but also wealthy merchants, who will be my clients. I am very excited, as these ships are just the beginning, and thousands more will come.

The Renwell region is the only part of the Empire that shares a boundary with the city-state of Meldhorn.

Consequently, any trade moving toward the Empire will pass through Greltheaven city; it has now become the gateway to the Empire, along with Deerpond and Riverbell, the other two cities on the river.

It is the same for any trade going to Meldhorn from the Empire.

There is a sea route, but both still need Belnin. It will be the last city-state to normalize its relationship with the Empire.

The Emperor had used colorful words against the city-state and its lord; they were nasty and were widely reported.

So, Greltheaven is vital for trade and will remain so even when all the merchant city-states normalize their relationships.

The first ship docked an hour later, and several important people came out. From what I read in the papers, some important people are coming.

The most important are the representatives of the Lord of Meldhorn and the Meldhorn city merchant guild leader. In addition, there are representatives and leaders of guilds in Meldhorn and other cities that are part of the Meldhorn city-state.

Quite a crowd came, but they were not only for Greltheaven but all the other cities in the Renwell region, and some even went to the Empire.

Lord Darrow is greeting them; with him are representatives of many business and political powerhouses.

My uncle and brother were also there, representing the House of Silver.

The bequeathment ceremony for the title and deeds was in the morning. Manyimportant people attended, including the Dukes and other important guests.

As usual, I did not receive the invitation to attend; they could have invited me, but they did not.

I wanted to curse these bastards; I desperately wanted to be there. The connections I would have made would have been invaluable. I would have forgiven them if they had brought me here to greet these merchants, but they did not do that, either.

Sigh!

I shook my head as I calmed myself down. It did not matter if they did not help me; I would succeed alone.

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Yesterday, I took the first step toward that, and now, I need to keep climbing without stopping. James, let’s go back,” I said, and a minute later, the carriage turned toward the city gates.

I would have liked to stay longer, but there was no time; the establishment wouldopen in a few hours, and I needed to prepare.

There are some things I noticed yesterday that I have to change.

Nothing big, I don’t want to do anything that will take the girls off their game; yesterday’s success has built confidence in them, and in the next few days, that confidence will fortify if the establishment keeps pulling the same crowd as yesterday.

We soon returned to the establishment. I went to my office while Carla went to do the things she needed before it opened in the evening.

She needs to do many things, but given her abilities, she can finish them before the establishment opens.

The most worrying thing of the day had already been resolved; Mr. Harwood had sent the wines we had ordered.

I thought we might not get all the wines, but he sent them all, and I am relieved. Our guests had drunk more than four times more wine than I had imagined

Today, I refilled the stocks and ordered even more expensive wine.

I would have bought even more expensive liquor if I had the money, but I cannot.

Currently, I can only afford to buy from my second list, and I hope the establishment will earn me enough by the weekend to allow me to purchaseliquor on the third list.

I have made a list of many things, and as I get more money, I will keep buying the more expensive things. It will cost me a lot, but I don’t mind.

It is a golden opportunity for me; while the city is still developing, I need to grow my business to the level that it becomes a brand synonymous with a high-class brothel.

Anyone who thinks of a brothel in Grelthaven, then it should be Velvet Garden.

My conviction has become even firmer after seeing the ships.

If this city is not destroyed in the decade to come, it will grow beyond what the prince had dreamed of when he built it. I do not doubt that even one bit.

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This city is the gateway to merchant states; it will grow bigger and more prosperous than Deerpond, the capital of the Renwell region.

It wouldn’t even take it very long.

Click!

Before I knew it, it was half past five when the door opened, and Carla walked in with a small stack of papers in her hand.

The papers seemed to contain something important, given the expressions on Carla’s face.

“What is it?” I asked as she placed a stack of papers in front of me. “Important,” she replied, putting them before me and sitting down.

Her expressions were serious, and I could see a very faint hint of nervousness.

Seeing that I would not get any answers from her, I took the first page from the stack and read it. After reading a few sentences, my expression became serious, with a hint of shock.

I read everything written on the paper, front and back, before placing it down gently and turning to Carla.

“It is a dangerous business,” I said to her sombrely. “I know,” she replied. “I did not ask you for it,” I said, “I know,” she said back.

I looked directly into her momentarily before returning to the stack of papers and began reading again.

What I am reading is dangerous, whether here or on earth; it is risky and will always be dangerous. If not handled carefully, it will kill me.

What she placed in front of me was information.

People talk, and they talk more in whorehouse, especially in the company of beautiful women.

It is the reason my father opened the brothel in Redfawn; he wanted the information, and I think it might be the reason why he got killed.

The information is a dangerous business, and now I am reading it. I am dipping my feet into it despite knowing I might get myself killed by it, but the knowledge is too enticing to throw it away simply.

Most of the information in a stack of pages is useless, but I have written down some important information in my diary in English.

Not all information here is truthful and correct; it is influenced by people's perspectives, not to mention people like to lie when they are impressing women.

Finding the truth about the information is up to me, which is a great task, but I have some experience. Still, I will remain careful, never crossing the line unless it is absolutely necessary.

Reading the pages has already taught me some interesting things, and while they are not immediately useful, they will be when I collect more.

Knowledge is power when used correctly, and I plan to use it despite its danger.

I finished reading everything before burning it all to ashes, wiping out every proof of it.

The proof remains in my diary, but it is tough to understand because it is written in English, which has a different syntax than all the world languages.

One would need to be a very high-level cipher to break through it.

I did not say anything about the information, and Carla also remained silent, silently understanding what had just happened.

She left not long after to make preparations to open the establishment. I stayed in the office, looking at the window. Yesterday, I did not get to watch the opening; today, I will be watching from my window.

Soon, it was six, and in less than five minutes, the first carriage rolled in, and when I saw who it was, a smile couldn’t help but appear on my face. It is a group of five young men in their early twenties; they came yesterday, and now they have come again.

Repeat clients are the most important, so I have asked Carla to build relations with them. It does not matter whether they remain in the city; as long as they return, I want them to visit the establishment.

I want to create such an impact on them.

It took less than two hours after the opening before we needed to close the establishment's gate temporarily; I thought it would happen around nine, like yesterday, but it only took two hours.

The gates remained closed for forty minutes before we opened them again. To close them again, a little over ten minutes later.

It had happened even when I had asked Carla to let more people in today than yesterday.

I watched the clients from my office and sat by a small secret window in the first-floor hall, watching and noting things.

However, there were fewer things to note today, as I had already taken notes on most of the findings yesterday.

Soon, it was midnight; I had just returned from another trip to the changing room and sat by the small window, watching the hall, which had not been empty since eight.

Patrons changed, but the hall remained filled with people.

Since the establishment opened, the gates have been closed more than ten times; even now, the gates are closed, and many carriages come and go back, seeing the gate closed.

I felt terrible seeing that those people would not be able to enjoy the great pleasures that the establishment offered.

They represent the walking money purses. It would have been great if the establishment had been big enough to accommodate them, but unfortunately, it is not.

Though I will be in the future, and if the establishment keeps earning at the pace of today and yesterday, I can make those big changes much sooner than planned.