City of Desire [Kingdom Building]

Chapter 12: Shocking Profit

Souteneur Merchant Lv. 3

Souteneur Merchant Lv. 4

Souteneur Merchant Lv. 5

Skill Gained: Shop Open

This was the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes, and immediately, my eyes went wide. The level-up wasn't surprising; I had expected it.

What is surprising is the two other level-ups that came after it and the skill.

Getting three levels at the same time is very rare; one had to achieve quite a feat to gain three levels at once. I have not only gained the level but also an amazing skill that any merchant would be jealous of; it is fucking billboard skill.

Shop Open Skill will make the business more noticeable; it will be like having a big sign which attracts everyone's attention; how much attention it will attract depend on my level.

Currently, it will be weak, but as I level up higher, its power will also increase, and the benefits it will be able to provide me will be immense.

I opened my attribute page and looked at three attribute points; I thought for a while before dumping two points into the charm and immediately felt its effects.

The effect was more due to the charm reaching the ten points than me dumping the two points at once. Any attribute point, once it reaches ten increases, its power takes a dramatic increase, which is more than added attribute points would have added.

The last attribute point I added to the vitality finally and immediately felt a refreshing feeling washing over me, it had only lasted for a moment, but it had made me crave it more.

Seeing the interface, a smile couldn't help but appear on my face, and for the first time since I had gotten the class, I felt true hope.

Things for me did not seem as bleak as they were a month ago; I could even feel some radiance.

I looked at the attribute page for a few seconds before I closed it and got up; it was already eleven am, so I quickly freshened up and showered before eating breakfast which was on the hot tray.

When I walked into my office, I found Carla was already there, as usual, looking through the file.

"Haven't you slept?" I asked as I sat down. "I took a nap for about two hours," She replied as she put the file on the table and slid it toward me.

"That is not sleeping," I said, to which a small smile appeared on her face, "Thank you for your concern, Remus, but I have the skills that let me operate on the minimum rest," she said, and I am not surprised.

It is said soldiers and whores are two people who have the most endurance-related skills.

"I wish I had such skills; it would have made my life much easier," I said with a sigh, to which she gave me a soft smile before suddenly a surprise appeared on her face as she looked at me.

"Congratulations, Remus, it seemed like you have leveled up," she said, and a surprise couldn't help but appear on my face before understanding flashed in.

"My passive skill," I said, and once again, she smiled.

This made me note an important point, getting control over the passive skill. It is hard; they are called passive skills for a reason, but it could be done, and I will have to do it.

Level and skills are the greatest weapons in this world, and the better control you have over them, the more benefits they will bring you.

"I have also levelled up, and so are all the girls," she said suddenly, breaking me out of my thoughts. "All?" I asked in shock, not daring to believe what she had just said.

"Yes, all of them," she confirmed. I had expected the girls would level but did not expect all of them would level up. It is a very welcome development that will help the establishment a lot.

The clothes and makeup help, but they still pale in comparison to the help that levels and skills provide.

"With it, we now have four ladies with level 20 working in the establishment," I said after some time; hearing that, a small smile appeared on Carla's face.

"It is six," she corrected, giving me another shock. I only remained in shock for a second before a big smile appeared on my face.

It seemed like I was not the only one who had leveled up more than once.

"I hope they will listen to my suggestion on attribute point distribution," I said. "I had told them your words; whether they listen or not, it is up to them," she said, and I couldn't help but nod at that.

I did not say anything for a few seconds, just looked at the file in front of me before gently picking it up, but I did not open the file and instead turned to Carla.

"So, what is the number?" I asked, and her amethyst eyes turned serious. "You might not believe it if I told you," she said softly.

Seeing the clients yesterday, I know we have earned quite well and even had a number in my mind, and seeing her expression, I became even more confident about estimation.

Taking a deep breath, I opened the file in my hand.

At first, everything was as I expected, but after a few lines of numbers, my expressions began to change, and it completely turned to shock on the second page.

I read page after page, and each word was meticulous, and the numbers were clear; by the time I had put down the file around fifteen minutes later, there was a clear shock in my eyes. I did not dare to believe what I had read; the number was nearly double what I had estimated.

"Hundred and thirty-seven thousand crowns," I said softly as I put down the file after a few minutes, "I was shocked when I tallied the numbers and recalculated three times before daring to believe it," said Carla.

"The number is truly hard to believe," I said softly, with my voice barely louder than a whisper.

I watched the establishment the whole night and thought my estimate was around seventy thousand; that itself is quite a shocking number, but now looking at the number, which is nearly double, I am having quite a problem believing it, but the numbers don’t lie.

We have earned one hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred and thirty-seven crowns, seventy-six thousand of which had been earned by the ladies themselves while the other six-one thousand were earned through the food and liquor.

Carla hadn't added the gifts and tokens the ladies had received in addition; otherwise, the number would have reached even higher.

We charge two hundred crowns per hour, the highest among all six high-class brothels in the city; only one other brothel charges as much as us.

It might seem high considering common people could comfortably live for a month for such an amount, but it is still quite low compared to the real high-class brothel of the big city; their prices start from the thousand crowns. Though, the women in them are also high leveled, every one of them being Level 25 and above.

The city maintains strict standards as only high-class brothels are allowed in the entertainment district, while the others set their shops in the pleasure district or the red-light district, but it comes with a price; the taxes are higher than that of the red-light district.

With taxes, ladies taking 10%, salaries of staff, and other expenses, I would still end up with around 50% profit, which is great as I had not expected; I would have more than 25% in profit.

"The business is good, but maintaining such earnings beyond a few days would be hard; it would be a huge deal if we could get half numbers after a week," Carla said with a hint of disappointment.

"Not likely," I replied with a light smile.

I know why she is thinking that; we had so many patrons because of guests that had come to the city for the inauguration, but after the Prince left, the guest will also be left with him, and those are the clients that the establishment had served yesterday.

"Are you talking about the clients of merchant cities?" she asked, and I smiled. "I don't think they will give us much business, at least initially," she said with a shake of her head.

"You are quite wrong about it," I said with a big smile; Carla is a very smart woman, wise, and knows a lot more than what women of her station should know, and it is the reason why my father had chosen her to run the brothel.

Still, she was restricted with her knowledge; she did not know how hungry the Empire was for trade, to fill the coffers that had been draining due to the constant wars.

Merchants around the Empire, even in Rimwell province, had big orders ready, knowing the resumption of trade, and now that one merchant city-state agreed, those orders will float in, and the biggest beneficiary of all would be Greltheaven.

"You will see it soon," I said, seeing her not believing me; the first ships from the Meldhorn were going to arrive in the late afternoon, and I planned to go to the port and take Carla with me to watch them.

"I really hope what you said is true," she said with hopeful eyes, "Don’t worry, I am not wrong about this," I said, and I was pretty confident in my words.

We did not speak for a minute before I focused back on the work. "Yesterday, our patrons drank a lot; we will need to replenish them and also order the wine from the second list,"

"Ask the chef the list of ingredients and let him choose the dishes he had, wanted," I said, writing down a few things. "The wines on the second list are quite expensive; it will take everything we earned yesterday," said Carla.

"It is fine; we will earn more because of it," I said.

There is a common phrase I have heard from a lot of my clients that you need to spend more to earn more.

The wine is pure profit; we are selling it at a huge margin and seeing how much our guests drank yesterday and the type of wines they chose, I am buying even more expensive liquor today.

Carla left a few minutes later with tasks in her hand while I focused on the letter I had to write to the head of the House of Silver, my Grandfather.

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