After his brief encounter with the thief, Sesha collected himself and emerged out of the alley. Although he had used minimum force to deal with the thief, he ended up breaking his wrist.

`How could he be so weak!?`

Sesha asked to himself.

Actually, his master had already warned him about this.

"Child, when you are out in the world, don't carelessly use your powers on normal people. Compared to you and I, they are extremely weak. If you get even a bit serious, you might end up killing them."

He remembered these words of his master. More appropriately, he hadn't forgotten them at all. Even when he was dealing with that thief, he had meticulously avoided using his powers but how could he know that when his master said normal people were weak, he meant they were *THAT* weak! Like a doll-made-of-straw weak.

`Anyway, what's done is done, no use thinking about it.`

Sesha decided to put this incident away from his mind. He collected himself and walked out of the alley he was previously on, making a mental note to avoid such alleys in future.

It was already the beginning of the second prahara of the night (9 pm - 12pm) and yet the streets were still bustling with activity. Due to the large influx of people from all over the region, the city's night had evidently become more vibrant. People were chattering in a large voice and swaying while walking. Others were buying things from marketplaces which had remained open to serve customers who were arguing with the merchants in a loud voice. One or two were being kicked out from establishments, swearing on top of their lungs in the process. There were various women at the side of the streets signalling the passers-by in alluring gestures, as if tempting them. One, two, five.. as night matured and Sesha moved deeper into the city, the number of these women only increased.

`Why are they calling me like that? And how come there are so many of them?" Sesha asked to himself.

As it so happened, Sesha had unwittingly walked right into the pleasure district of the city!

***

Pleasure district, as it was called by the people of the city, was a small area located right at the heart of the city where there were various brothels situated. Men from all over the city used to visit these establishments for "pleasure" in exchange for money and hence it was named the Pleasure district. Right now, due to the people visiting to watch the tournament, this district was specially crowded. Sesha, too, found himself right in the middle of this crowd.

Shrill laughter of women filled the atmosphere as they openly flirted with the passers-by. Scenes of men taking women in their embrace and leading them into a building and men emerging from the buildings with a satisfied countenance could be seen everywhere. Whenever a rich looking man walked the streets, nearby women would instantly circle him and attempt to pull him towards them, like a pack of hungry jackals. Even Sesha was not spared.

"Hey, young lad, care to join this sister?"

"Come here little boy, let this one take care of you."

"Do you want to experience heaven boy?"

These provocative words greeted Sesha's ears as he continued walking on the street. Women of different ages were inviting him with obscene gestures which, due to some reason, sent chills down his spine. He did his best to avoid them but ultimately, he too fell in a trap.

"Oh, what pretty boy!"

"Come here little darling."

"Aahh.. I just want to eat him up!"

Sesha met a group of three women who instantly surrounded him. It was inevitable really. A pretty boy walking in the middle of such dangerous place.. He was bound to get caught.

"Umm.. Wh..what do you want?" Sesha asked in a timid voice.

A boy who could throw an enormous Horned Bear over hundreds of meters was unexpectedly afraid of these girls who were looking at him with strange eyes.

"Ohh.. What cute reaction! I've decided. Normally I take ten silvers for an hour, but only for you boy, I will make it five silvers! Let's go already!"

One of the girls approached Sesha and firmly grasping his hands, started forcefully dragging him towards one of the building.

"Just wait there sister! Who says you can monopolize him!" Another one of the girls instantly blocked their path and said, "How about it little boy, I will make it four silvers for an hour! Okay?"

"You bitch! How dare you!" The one who was dragging him earlier spoke up in fury as she realized that her prey was being taken away from her.

"Yeah! How dare you?" The third one chimed in, "I'll service you in only three silvers per hour ~~okay~~?"

A fierce battle then ensued between the three of them which involved a lot of swearing in loud voices. Sesha, who was right in the middle of the three of them, was starting to get more and more nervous. While these three before him did not have any harming intention towards him, they did not have any good intentions either. This intention that he had never read before from any other person was only making him more uncomfortable. Just as he was approaching his limit, a sharp voice interrupted the three of them.

"What the hell are you three doing here!?"

The one who said this was a girl in her late teens. She wore an elegant dress which added to her grace. As Sesha observed her, he concluded two things; one, she was quite beautiful and two, he already knew her!!

"Oh! You are the boy from earlier aren't you?" She too recognized Sesha instantly.

"Ananya, you know this boy?" One of the girls asked her.

"Yeah, he helped me earlier in the market." She answered the girl, "But that's not the point! Why are you three harassing him? Didn't mistress say that you are not to harass a.. customer? Boy, what are you doing here?" As if remembering something, she hastily asked Sesha.

"Erm.. I was just walking.. and then somehow I ended up here." Sesha's reply, although true, did not sound very convincing to her.

"Anyways, you three, leave him alone or I will complain to the mistress." She growled to the women.

"Hmph! You little pet, always mistress this and mistress that. Let's go sisters." The three left the scene which made Sesha sigh in relief.

"Thanks for your help." Sesha offered his gratitude.

"Nah, it is me who should be apologizing. The three of them can be quite aggressive at times. But hey, did you really just walked right into here? Or did you come for..." She did not complete her sentence.

"I was just walking about really." Sesha once again repeated.

His reply somehow made the girl visibly relaxed, as if she a great worry lifted from her mind on his answer.

"So.. Why were you walking about at this time of night? Shouldn't you be at your home already?"

"No reason really.. Besides, I don't have a home. Not in this city anyway."

"Oh, you came to watch the tournaments? Where are you staying?"

"I don't really have a place to stay."

"Really??"

"Yeah."

Sesha's reply made her a bit surprised. After taking a while to think something, she said as if deciding on something,

"The city's Inns are already full due to the tournament. Say, would you mind sleeping in a stable?"

"Not really. In fact, I slept in one the other day."

"Ehh!?" She was surprised again. "Why would a good boy like you sleep in a stable?" She asked him with a worried voice.

"That's a long story."

Seeing that Sesha didn't want to answer her, she didn't probe him further.

"Fine then young boy, come with me. I will arrange a sleeping place for you."

"Is it really okay?" Sesha asked. After his encounter with Sophie, Sesha didn't want to impose on others so easily.

"Yeah yeah, the stables at our place is quite empty and I'm sure mistress won't mind you sleeping there. By the way, what is your name?"

"Sesha."

"Oh! What a cute name. My name is Ananya by the way."

"Nice meeting you Ananya." Sesha greeted her to which she replied with a smile. Immediately after that, Sesha remembered his master's word and said,

"By the way Ananya, you are a pretty girl."

Sesha dropped this out of nowhere but Ananya took it gracefully.

"Why thank you Sesha, I think you too are a charming lad. No wonder those three were fighting for you. Now let's go to our place, the night is ripening and a good boy like you shouldn't be staying too late."

"Okay."

Ananya led the way and Sesha followed her into a nearby building.

***

"Ooh, so you are searching for a job?" Ananya asked Sesha in an excited voice.

"Yes."

The two of them talked about various things as they entered the building. Sesha told her about his purpose for coming to the city.

This building that Ananya had led Sesha to was quite luxurious. The hall of the building was spacious with stairs on the both sides to lead towards the upper floors. The tiles of the halls were made entirely of pure white marbles and the hall itself was illuminated by various light crystals placed around the hall in decorative fashion. There was a huge chandelier hung at the top of the building which not only illuminated the hall but also added to its grace.

As Sesha followed Ananya through the hall, he saw that the hall was quite vibrant. There were many people; both men and women scattered around it talking and flirting with each other. Not only that, Sesha could also hear all sorts of things: laughter, music, people talking to each other and some distinct sounds of men and women which he could not tell if they were of pain or pleasure. Ananya, on seeing Sesha listening so intently, decided to interrupt.

"You know what, tomorrow morning, I will ask mistress about it. She has a lot of connections inside this city so she can probably help you out."

This somehow sounded familiar to Sesha.

"You really don't need to. It's already enough that you are giving me a place to sleep. Anymore and your mistress might not like it." Sesha gently refused her.

"No no! It's not like that. Mistress is a kind person really and I am quite sure that she would want to help you. Besides, if you don't even let me do this much then how can I repay you for earlier? Do you know, the purse that you helped me recover contained a very precious thing that mistress personally instructed me to pick up. Ahh, if you had not helped me, mistress would have definitely been disappointed at me!!"

There was a tinge of fear in her voice when she said that last sentence which made Sesha think that Ananya really valued her mistress' trust. This caused Sesha to be curious about Ananya's mistress.

"Little bird, there you are."

A voice interrupted the two of them from behind as they were walking through the hall. Both Sesha and Ananya turned around to see a man dressed luxuriously smiling at both of them. Rather than saying both of them, he was actually only looking at Ananya with a very lewd look as if he was swallowing her whole in his mind. Ananya visibly flinched after seeing his unrestrained lust but somehow managed to calm herself down in an instant.

"My my, I didn't know that we were graced with Baron's presence this night."

"Somehow I don't believe your words little bird." the Baron flashed a brilliant smile. Actually, he wasn't a bad-looking man but due to the look of lust in his face, when he smiled, it only looked creepier.

"Little bird," the Baron said as he observed Sesha at her side, "all this talk about how you are not yet initiated and now you are already taking a boy to your bedchamber? Don't tell me that you lied to me?"

His voice was not gentle when he said this.

A look of irritation flashed in Ananya's face when she heard these words from him but as before, she managed to calm herself down.

"How can this lowly me lie to the Baron? He is only a worker boy who we have hired recently." She lied to avoid suspicion.

On her words, the Baron visibly relaxed. His angry face gone, it was once again filled with lust as he began to ogle Ananya. He notched his creepiness up a level as he openly began to gently stroke his nether region, which had already become quite active.

"Say little bird, how long do you want to play this game of cat and mouse? Won't you agree to my request already so that we can together play a different game in your bedchambers?"

This was the limit. Not only was his words filled with unrestrained lust, he was also stroking his *thing* all the while that he was speaking. All her calm now gone, Ananya was now unable to hide the look of disgust that was rapidly surfacing on her face. Somehow she managed to control her volume as she replied,

"I've already told you Baron that I do not want to. Please don't force me."

She had uttered her every single word with a lot of effort. Behind them were seething rage which was not hidden from Sesha.

Whether the Baron didn't hear them or he acted like so, he completely disregarded her words and moved closer to her, intruding on her personal space. He extended his arms swiftly and firmly grasped her little chin. A look of pain and anger flashed on her face as she glared daggers at him but once again, he conveniently disregarded it.

"Do you know little bird, I have been with many a girls in my life but none of them had lips so beautiful as you. From the moment that I saw these rosy lips of yours, they have haunted me every night little bird. I want nothing more right now than to bite them."

Ananya trembled at these words, whether of fear or anger or perhaps both, but struggle as she might she couldn't free her of his grasps.

Meanwhile, Sesha was only observing from the sides unsure of whether or not to take an action. On one hand, his newly made friend was visibly distraught and on the other hand, he didn't really want to break the man's hand by doing something reckless like before.

While Sesha was struggling with his predicament, the Baron moved close to Ananya's face to bite her lips, his hands still holding her chin. She began to struggle more violently but unexpectedly to her, the Baron was quite strong and nothing she did could shake him off. A tear streamed down her face as she closed her eyes in fear.

`Ahh whatever, the worst case, he loses some teeth.` Sesha finally decided to act.

"STOP!"

But before he could do anything, another voice reverberated around the hall which instantly stopped the Baron.

"Baron Gidha, what are you doing?" This voice was sharp and domineering. Accompanying this voice was a woman who was in her late thirties who was descending gracefully from the stairs. This woman had a figure that was lean and slender. Her hips were curvy and she had good proportions. Her mature face had a refined look, as if carved by someone with extreme care. All in all, she was quite the beauty! Well, except for her eyes. Her eyes, although beautiful, were full of anger.

Seeing the woman appear, the Baron instantly released his hands from the girl and took a step back.

"Oh, it's the mistress of the Scented Rose herself." The Baron named Gidha remarked.

"Answer my question." Her voice was not kind.

"Nothing really, I was just admiring a beautiful little flower." He forced a smile again.

"Not only you hurt one of my girls, you also dare lie to me you lowly cur?" She spat.

"Hold your tongue bitch.. You dare insult me for a petty little whore?" Gidha too became enraged.

"A cur is a cur, what's there to insult?" She retaliated.

"You.. You.. I will fucking kill you.. You whore!" In his fury, Gidha completely forgot everything else and took out his sword from scabbard. With a sword now in his hands, he charged towards the mistress with his eyes full of murdering intent.

Sesha instantly became alarmed as he started to intercept him but unexpectedly, Ananya, who thought highly of her mistress, was quite calm and collected. This perplexed Sesha and he unconsciously stopped.

As it turned out, Sesha's assistance was not required at all because as Gidha stabbed towards the mistress, not only did she swiftly avoided the blow but she elegantly countered it with a powerful kick to his temple. He was instantly incapacitated.

By now, quite a people were drawn to the commotion caused by the Baron. They couldn't help but cheered at the mistress' superb fighting skills.

"Yeah mistress!! Beat him to a pulp!"

"Mistress' kicks are the best!"

"What an idiot, picking fight with our mistress."

One by one the girls began cheering and exclaiming at their mistress' feats.

"You guys," she motioned to two men who were at the corner of the hall, "take your Baron outside and when he regains his senses, tell him that he is never to come here again or I won't be so gentle with him again."

The two turned out to be the Baron's men. In response to the mistress' words, they hastily went up to him and carried his limp body outside.

After only a short while, the entire hall calmed down and people went about their business as earlier. The mistress faced Ananya and said,

"Are you hurt child?"

"No mistress.." Ananya said.

"You need not lie to me you know. Go and apply the healing balm okay?" She gently stroked her cheeks.

Ananya nodded weakly in response as she struggled to keep her tears in check.

After consoling her for a while, the mistress finally looked at Sesha

"Ananya, who is this boy?"

"Umm.. Mistress, he is the one whom I told you about earlier. The boy which stopped that thief. He did not have a place to stay so I offered to let him sleep in our stables." She explained.

"Oh, you are that boy huh? Ananya already told me about how you helped her. Thanks again young boy." She faced Sesha and offered her gratitude to which Sesha replied with a small smile.

"Okay now Ananya, take him to the stables and you too, get some sleep. It has been a rough night for you." She instructed her and began climbing up the stairs.

"Okay mistress." Ananya said to her mistress and then turned towards Sesha and said, "Let's go Sesha."

"Sesha?" The mistress stopped right in her tracks and turned back towards them.

"Ananya, did you call this boy Sesha?" She asked Ananya.

"Yes mistress, that's his name, Sesha." Ananya replied.

Upon listening to Ananya, the mistress approached Sesha. She observed him from top to bottom for a long time, as if forming some conclusions and finally spoke up.

"Ananya, take this boy to one of the empty guest bedrooms. Give him a nice meal to eat and arrange for him to sleep there okay?"

"Huh.. Why??"

So surprised was she by her mistress word, she unwittingly said something to her mistress that she would never had said at other times. And her surprise was justified too. Guest bedrooms were usually reserved for special guests and they were usually never accessible even to the customers. While she knew that her mistress would definitely agree to offer a sleeping place to Sesha at the stables, never did the thought cross her mind that her mistress would actually allow Sesha to sleep in a guest bedroom!!

"Haha, no need to be so surprised silly girl, He helped you earlier didn't he? It would be strange if we did not take care of him. Now go already." the Mistress didn't mind Ananya's earlier words at all as she instructed her again.

Ananya was not going to let her mistress repeat the same thing thrice. She instantly led Sesha up the stairs to one of the guest rooms. After they had gone, the mistress muttered to herself,

`A handsome young boy with the name Sesha.. Could it really be..`

***

"Here we are Sesha."

Ananya and Sesha arrived at a room which could only be described in one words: lavish.

This room was decorated with various luxurious items. A faint scent permeated the atmosphere which was pleasing to the senses. It contained various furniture which were top grade items that money could buy. It also contained a huge bed which easily allowed four or five people to sleep comfortably side by side. Light crystals were placed at various places, which upon activation, illuminated the room brightly. The room itself was rather isolated from the rest of the place as if it were made to provide extreme privacy to the one who used it.

Overall, it was a room made for the very special guests and although Sesha didn't really seem to mind it, Ananya on the other hand was really surprised due to this turn of events. In fact, her surprise overwhelmed the trauma of her earlier incident regarding the Baron.

"Aah.. Even I don't get to sleep here.. I wonder why the mistress allowed you this room?" She asked Sesha.

"I don't know Ananya. Besides, is this room really so special?" He said innocently.

"Of course it is! I remember one time there was a Count who visited this place and even though every rooms were occupied, mistress didn't allow him to use a guest room. In the end, he had to wait before another room was free. I heard he was quite pissed off about that but even so, he couldn't really do anything." She explained to him.

"Speaking of which, Ananya, the mistress seems to be really strong. Is she a warrior?" Sesha remarked as he remembered her earlier feats. At that time, Sesha could distinctly see that she was not a cultivator but even so, the ease with which she defeated that Baron, who himself was not really weak, made him doubt himself.

"Yeah.. She is extremely strong! And no, she is not a warrior or at least she says that she is not but to be honest, I myself doubt it very much. One time there were hoodlums making a fuss about something and mistress ended up beating each and every single one of them to pulp. You know Sesha, our mistress is also the cause that we do not employ any guards here." Her voice was filled with pride as she said these words.

"Wow, she seems to be an amazing person. I wonder how she is that strong."

"It's not only you who wants to know that. Every single girl in this establishment including me want to know that but every time we ask her, she just says that she has a strong body and that's it. To be honest, I have never even seen her practice any fighting techniques. I wonder whether she really just has a strong body

"Anyways, wait a while okay Sesha, I will go and fetch you something to eat."

Ananya went out the room. After she had gone, Sesha assumed a lotus position and engrossed himself in meditation. With the Sun nostril he would inhale and hold the breath and with the Moon nostril he would exhale, alternating the inhaling and exhaling nostrils with each complete rounds. Continuing this exercise in a rhythmic fashion, he began cleansing his meridians from impurities.

It had already been quite a time since Sesha had parted ways with his master and during these weeks his cultivation had slowed down. When he was in the forest, he would always cultivate for at least four hours at the start of each day. But after he had arrived at the city, even his four hours of cultivation had stopped. Actually, it had only been a day since he arrived at the city but to someone like Sesha, even a day's worth of cultivation had an extreme importance.

Since his master had instructed him to not lose himself in cultivation while he was out in the world, Sesha would definitely not do so but even so he thought that he must at least continue to set some time apart for his cultivation. As Sesha was pondering on these things, the doors to the room instantly opened and Ananya came inside.

She had a tray on her hands which was filled with various types of foods and a cup of wine. She placed this tray on a table before Sesha.

"Here Sesha, eat them up!"

"Thanks Ananya."

Sesha began eating the dishes. Meanwhile, Ananya was intently looking upon him with warm eyes as he ate the dishes that she brought.

"You know," after finishing the dishes Sesha said, "you shouldn't have brought this much food for me.. Teacher says that I shouldn't really eat more than required."

"Hehe.. You already finished them up and now you complain?" She teased him.

"It's not really like that.." Sesha said.

"Hehe, you need not explain. As to why I brought this much, mistress specifically instructed me to treat you to a nice meal, how could I disobey her?"

"But still, this much really is"--Sesha picked up the cup of wine and took a gulp--"Hey, this is really good. What is this?"

"Ooh.. Turns out you have a good taste. This is the finest amongst the wines that we have: Red Nectar."

"Finest? Aren't you taking your mistress' words too seriously Ananya?" Sesha inquired.

"I am not! By giving you this room, she has already implied that you are her valued guest. Any guest of mistress is someone respectable to this entire establishment!" She exclaimed proudly.

"By the way, you keep calling her mistress so I forgot to ask, what is her name?"

"Her name too is quite exotic, just like her."

"Really? Now I am curious.. What is it?"

"Her name is Nagini."

***

Author's Note:

Hello everyone, author here,

I just want you all to know that I've read your comments about the slow chapter release schedule. I am sure you guys can understand how tough RL can be so I implore you to exercise a little patience.

Having said that, I want to assure you that I will increase my efforts towards this fiction (since you all seem to like it) and although I can't promise a dramatic increase in release speed, I will try my best.

Another thing, last time I edited the past chapters (Chapter 2 and Chapter 3). While the edits were mainly due to correcting grammatical mistakes (specifically of dialogue punctuations), I also ended up adding some details about the skill "Eyes of Petrification" that Nagini teaches to Sesha. Although it doesn't change things much, you may want to check it out.

As always, please leave your suggestions / errors / criticisms below. Until next time then.