The girl’s voice was barely audible over the rest of the crowd, but the timidness in it somehow caught his attention. Hoping the girl wasn’t some scammer, he spun around to face her. She was standing just out of range of his perception, but was holding out a card of invitation to one of the nearby brothels. In fact, he even recognized the name of the brothel since it was the one his coworkers always went to and couldn’t shut up about. Normally, Sigmarus wouldn’t have paid the girl any heed, but her appearance stopped him in his tracks. Indeed, she was beautiful, but that wasn’t why. It was because she was young. Too young.

Frowning, Sigmarus thought, She can’t be more than sixteen, right?

The girl wasn’t particularly tall, though that was common for most people who grew up as muskrats. Her height barely reached his shoulders. Surprisingly, only a few strands of her slightly curly light brown hair were out of place, which was impressive even for a showgirl. Her hair rested at shoulder length and was neatly trimmed at the ends. Bright hazel eyes stared up at him from below her bangs. A single mole poked out beneath her left eye, accenting her petite nose. Although her cheeks looked somewhat gaunt, there was a subtle smoothness to them hidden under a thin layer of make-up. Compared to many of the women here who were wearing bikinis or lingerie, her frilly white top which exposed her shoulders and navel could be said to be modest. Even her black short skirt covered more than the other girls. Despite that, her figure easily compared to many of the popular adult women around her. However, one part of her stood out most to Sigmarus.

Unlike most of us muskrats, her eyes are still bright… She has something to live for.

The girl’s thin rosy red lips curled into a smile as soon as she got his attention, though Sigmarus could tell it was well-practiced. It was a smile he knew all too well. Before he could think too much about the past, she pulled back his attention with her soft voice again.

“Would you like to visit us today, sir?” The girl cordially asked, extending the invitation card once more.

Sigmarus looked the girl straight in the eyes. Perhaps his stare was too sharp, because she fidgeted slightly under his gaze and briefly averted her eyes before forcing herself to make eye contact again. Although Sigmarus had no need for a brothel’s services, he wondered why a young girl like her would already be working in one. Thinking she might have some rough circumstances like many other muskrats, he figured helping her in an indirect way might not be so bad.

Speaking gently, he offered, “No, thanks. Instead, how about ten credits to show me where the Red Street Gym is at?”

As soon as the words ‘ten credits’ left his mouth, the girl’s eyes brightened. She nodded without hesitation, which caused Sigmarus’ lips to curl up ever so slightly at her amusing reaction. After all, he knew how much his coworkers spent in brothels. Even the best hostesses only cost his coworkers a hundred credits for an hour. Ten credits for a minute of this girl’s time? It was basically easy money for her. Those ten credits could buy her enough nutrition bars to last for a full day.

The falsity of the girl’s smile lessened as she pulled back the invitation card and said, “Follow me, sir. It’s not too far.”

“Thanks.”

The girl quickly walked around him while gesturing for him to follow. For a moment, Sigmarus thought the girl’s walking speed was rather slow, but he gradually realized two things. One, the girl seemed unaccustomed to the heels she wore on her feet considering how much she was minding each step. Two, his agility stat had more than tripled since last week. With both things combined, of course she would seem slow. As such, he maintained a steady pace beside her.

Along the way, she turned her gaze toward him and asked, “Are you sure you don’t want to visit us? I can still give you the invitation.”

“Sorry. I don’t go to such places.”

The girl’s eyes lowered at his statement and ruefully muttered, “Ah, I see.” Then, a few moments later, she turned down a side road to the right and said, “Um, well, the gym is down this road here.”

Sigmarus nodded and followed her another few tens of meters. To his surprise, not even a single homeless person was sleeping on the sidewalks here. Near the end of the short road, the girl stopped and faced him. She then pointed to a nearby building and said, “This is the gym, sir.”

“Thanks for guiding me,” Sigmarus said while raising his wrist-com in order to transfer some credits over to her. The girl then raised her left arm as well, and, after clumsily fumbling with the hologram buttons which appeared over the white bracelet wrapped around her wrist, held it in the air between the two of them. The white bracelet was permanently fastened around her thin wrist just like any employee of the businesses around here. Since wrist-coms could be hacked into, the bracelets served as a replacement for receiving credit payments. After typing out his transfer of ten credits, he lowered his arm enough to place his wrist com beneath her wrist. Moments later, a soft ‘ding’ jingled from both devices, confirming the transfer.

Grinning happily, the girl said, “Thank you, sir. I hope you come to visit us in the future.”

Smiling back at the girl’s contagious expression, Sigmarus nodded, but then briefly considered the fact that she had acted as though unaccustomed to both her heels and the credit transfer bracelet. Before she even took two steps, he couldn’t help asking, “Are you new to this job?”

“Eh?” The girl spun around wide-eyed, causing her hair to flutter around her face. Then, her cheeks reddened enough to be visible even amidst the red glow covering the area. She looked him in the eye and asked, “Um… does it show?”

“A little.”

The quick answer made the girl sigh in response, and her embarrassed blush vanished. Then, her cheeks puffed out as she mumbled, “I thought I practiced a lot.”

“Well, you certainly did your best to make me take that card.”

The girl gently rustled her own hair and her thin lips puckered into a small frown as she said, “Too bad I picked the one guy who didn’t come here to get laid. Of course this would happen on my first day...”

Sigmarus’ smile softened and slowly vanished upon hearing her words. There was a hint of sadness and desperation hidden within her voice for a brief moment. It was subtle enough that he wondered if he might have missed it if not for his newfound perception.

"How old are you, kid?"

The girl hesitated for a moment as though pondering on whether or not she should answer, but then lowered her eyes as if ashamed and said, "Fifteen."

Sigmarus' heart cooled. Why was she already working at a brothel? There might not be official laws down here, but he recalled hearing that one of the local gangs generally tried to prevent underaged prostitution. Then, feeling pity, he smiled softly, placed a hand on her head, and gently petted her hair.

In response to his sudden action, the girl’s eyes widened, but she was too surprised to retreat from his gentle touch.

“I hope your eyes can always stay as bright as they are now,” Sigmarus said, hoping to convey his hope that her eyes wouldn’t darken like everyone else he knew down here while burying his own envy.

The girl’s heart skipped a beat. Unbeknownst to Sigmarus’, she didn’t catch on to his words’ meaning, and only heard them at face value since he had already surprised her. Instead of encouragement, she took it as a genuine compliment, which resulted in her cheeks reddening even more deeply than before. Unsure how to respond, she simply mumbled, “Um, thank you.”

The girl then spun around and tried to return to her job. She wanted to walk off both her thumping heart and heavy blush, but Sigmarus spoke once more before she could walk too far.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?”

“Eh?”

Once again, she whipped her head around to face him. What could she possibly be forgetting?

Sigmarus smirked as he explained, “Well, you see, I always hear a certain coworker of mine complaining about how he has a to pay a ten credit fee every time he touches a showgirl.”

This time, the girl immediately understood his words because of how much this man’s action of petting her head impacted her heart. Realizing why he had done so only deepened the rosy tint on her cheeks. She felt like her face was on fire. No words entered her mind as she shyly walked back over to him and lifted her wristband again. Once more, Sigmarus transferred her ten credits. Just as he was about to turn toward the gym, the girl stammered out a few words.

“Um… My name… is Grace…” Her voice trailed off for a moment, but then her eyes widened. She waved her arms as though denying her previous words and corrected herself, “I mean Valerie! My name’s Valerie!”

Unable to help himself, Sigmarus chuckled at the girl’s antics. Then, he asked, “So your real name is Grace and your floor name is Valerie?”

The girl groaned and answered, “Yes… Damn, I’m not supposed to give my real name.”

“Heh. Sigmarus.”

After blinking a few times due to surprise at his unusual name, Grace quickly said, “Nice to meet you, then, Mister Sigmarus.” Then, her eyes lowered as her blush crept back up and her lips formed a truly genuine smile. “And… thank you.”

Seeing her smile, Sigmarus recognized her thankfulness by saying, “No problem. See ya around.”

With that, Sigmarus waved goodbye and turned toward the gym. Holding onto the pleasant feeling of potentially helping a kind person, he refocused on his original goal. It was time to work on his stats.

“Are you su~re you don’t want to visit us, Mister Customer?”

Sigmarus nearly tripped over himself.