Wolf awkwardly smiled while apologizing to the girls. Rona giggled, then led him out of the room. As he closed the door behind him, the young man couldn’t help but notice that Moly and that other woman relaxed now that he had left.

While Wolf’s mind was in disarray, Rona pulled his arm to follow. However, the young Mage was nervous and didn’t play along. Rona grunted and inwardly cursed as her back hurt from the unexpected weight.

“Relax Young Master Wolf. Rona will take care of everything,” she said with yet another fake giggle as she tried to help the stiff young man relax.

Focusing on his situation, Wolf started moving the way people would expect him to. With the load suddenly disappearing, Rona stumbled. However, Wolf swiftly grabbed her hips and hugged her, so she wouldn’t fall over on the stairs.

A moment later, he realized he’d nearly buried his face in a woman’s buttocks and swiftly backed away.

“Sorry,” he said in a hushed, embarrassed tone, causing the woman to giggle sincerely.

“Young Master should wait until we get a room,” Rona said, then turned to check how Wolf was doing.

His face was as red as an apple, and she kind of felt sorry for teasing him.

“Thank you, I almost tripped,” she added after a moment of awkward silence.

“You’re welcome,” Wolf whispered, casting Subtle Featherweight.

The pair reached a long corridor lined with doors. The soundproofing was quite good, but nowhere nearly as good as for the main hall.

With his senses, Wolf could hear everything. Wet slapping sounds, moans, grunts…

The young man blushed, feeling embarrassed, and yet excited. He looked forward to what was to come.

“We’re here,” Rona said, opening the door.

Five minutes later, the woman’s bare chest was steadily rising and falling as she lay on the bed, pretending to be asleep.

He’s just a beginner, she thought, thankful she had an easy customer tonight.

Meanwhile, her customer lay next to her, staring at the ceiling.

This isn’t what I expected, he thought, feeling disappointed. It’s nice, I guess, but in illusions created by the sixth column it lasted for hours or days, not a minute.

Wolf paused for a moment. Wait, I could try and practice the art Lonely Eagle used. Mother called it evil, but if I explain it properly, and only use it on willing women, it shouldn’t be bad. Right? I mean, unlike elves, humans rarely die of soul decay.

“Hey, Rona,” he said and shook the woman who pretended to sleep.

Wolf accidentally grabbed her breast and shrunk back timidly. Then a moment later, he replaced his hand, intentionally groping.

“Rona, I would like to try something,” he said. “I know this magical art that—” That what? Allows me to take a part of a woman’s soul and grow my own? Mother said even Lonely Eagle didn’t dare spread the word of that art.

“Allows me to last longer. And, and I think women can’t get pregnant for a year if we do it that way,” he said, not believing what kind of horrible nonsense he’d come up with.

“I’ll pay you double,” he added for good measure.

Rona stretched, pretending to wake up, and pretending she didn’t notice the uncomfortably groping hand.

“I don’t mind, Young Master Wolf,” the woman said with a sweet smile, thinking how doubling nothing still left her with nothing.

“Do you want me to go on top again?” she asked, already moving to straddle the youth, but Wolf got up and shook his head.

He was supposed to close his eyes and focus on the flow of Soul Force. He couldn’t do it with a woman looking at him.

“How about you go on all fours and…” Wolf began a very complex and overly detailed explanation of ‘bend over’.

***

Half an hour later, Rona’s bare back was rising and falling in a steady rhythm as she lay on the bed fast asleep. This time, she wasn’t acting. She had a faint smile on her face and felt dead tired, her soul deceived into believing it had done something important.

Wolf smiled, sitting cross-legged on the bed.

Success, he thought while examining his Mind Palace. I’ve gained nearly two days’ worth of Soul Force in twenty minutes.

The amount Wolf got might not seem like much, but he was a First Order True-Namer. For Rona, this was nine whole months’ worth of Soul Force.

It’s a shame she wasn’t a virgin, he thought. If she were, the effect should’ve been several times greater. And what happens when the woman is a True-Namer? This is amazing!

Thinking along those lines, Wolf finally understood how high the cost of creating a life really was, and how crippling sex was to a female Mage’s soul. If Anna got pregnant, she'd never advance her Mage Order again.

The books stated that later conceptions wouldn’t have as much of an effect as the first, assuming the Mage had given up on practicing magic.

They said Earthmother designed living beings with the ability to multiply freely. The wound on the soul would naturally heal in a year. The only ones who suffered adverse effects were people whose souls couldn’t heal the damage.

Mages went against the natural order. By using the abnormal strength of their souls, they manipulated the material world. However, this came at the price of causing minute damage to the soul on a daily basis, which prevented healing and constantly opened up the wound, unless the practitioner refrained from using magic for several years after the pregnancy.

Night with a woman like this can’t cost more than a couple of gold coins. If I hire several women every night, Wolf started thinking about benefits he’d reaped and how cheap they were compared to a potion which cost a thousand gold pieces.

After coming up with this idea, Wolf put on his clothes and went back to the private room. Moly and the other woman, whose name Wolf didn’t catch, weren’t there. In fact the room was already cleaned up and spotless. So, Wolf went out to the main hall.

The sounds of merriment had toned down, but there were still people going strong, despite the late hour and gods know what they’d drunk. Wolf was about to sneak a glance when Lola walked over to him.

The woman looked at him with a professionally fake mischievous smile.

"Is everything fine, Young Master?" she asked.

“Um, yes. Everything is good. I just, um, I just want another girl,” Wolf said, his face crimson. A wave of embarrassment instantly drowned his excitement.

"Is Rona not enough for you, Young Master?" the hostess asked with a teasing smile, feeling genuinely amused by Wolf’s awkward expression.

"Um... Yes? I mean no. She's sleeping. So, I wondered if I could get a couple more?" Wolf felt truly embarrassed now.

He could tell that this woman was poking fun at him. He wanted to turn around and run away, but since he was already here, he should make the most of this opportunity.

"You want a couple of girls?" Lola asked, shocked enough that her polite facade cracked for a moment.

"Yes, how many free girls do you have?" Wolf nodded, his cheeks bright red.

“We have seventeen girls left tonight,” Lola said without thinking.

"I'll have five please,” Wolf said, acting as if buying apples on the market.

He tried to play it nonchalantly, but the audible gulp gave and the nervous glances to the side away the true state of his mind.

Lola hesitated for a moment. From the way Wolf spoke, it was obvious he wasn’t a noble. Yet, Young Master Wayde had already thrown a bunch of expensive liquor on this person. Giving him a dozen girls, or even all of them, would cost less than a single bottle of Dorrian’s Red, which this midget chugged as if it were water. But money wasn’t the only issue. If another customer asked for company when the girls were all occupied, they might lose a customer.

“I'll have to speak with the owner,” she said after the brief pause.

Lola was about to leave and check with Madam Northshield, when Wolf asked another shocking question.

“Oh, right. If you have any virgins, I'll take as many as you have,” he said as an afterthought, nearly causing the hostess to give him a disgusted look.

"Young Sir, our establishment isn't famous for virtuous women,” Lola said formally, giving Wolf a disdainful look even though she tried her hardest not to. "If you’re looking for virgins, you could try purchasing young girls in the slums.”

The woman left, inwardly disgusted after seeing Wolf actually consider her snarky words.

That's not a bad idea. Wolf mulled the idea over. Wait, is that what those sackers were doing all those years ago?

The youth stood in the passage between the private room and the main chamber, thinking about the morality of purchasing children, growing them into women and harvesting them for Soul Force.

He definitely rejected the thought of sacking them, but if everyone was fine with it, then why not? In the meantime they could clean and cook and… And I first need an estate to employ them. Should I…

For a moment Wolf considered revealing his status, but dismissed the thought, remembering his father’s wishes.

I’ll leave this for later, he decided. Who knows what the future holds and whether this would be a valid form of advancement for him.

While Wolf considered the feasibility of purchasing people, Lola returned.

“Lord Mage, the owner said that you may pick whichever five girls you like,” the woman said in a considerably more respectful manner.

“I don’t need to pick,” Wolf said, not wanting to cause any more trouble for the hostess.

The woman nodded and led Wolf down a corridor. She stopped in front of a door and knocked on it.

“Moly, could you take four more girls and go to room twelve?” Lola asked, then faced Wolf.

“Lord Mage, I’ll escort you to the room. You said Rona fell asleep?” she asked, inwardly cursing the slacker girl for pretending to sleep to get out of working.

“Um, yes? She’s sleeping,” Wolf squeaked.

He didn’t know why, but this whole situation made him feel like asking Earthmother to swallow him.

How can he so brazenly ask five girls for an orgy and then stutter a moment later? The innocent air put Lola off. Most customers were lechers if not outright perverts, so she wanted to test something.

She bent over, her lips next to Wolf’s ear.

“Is Lord Mage trying to say that he,” Lola whispered, deliberately blowing hot air into Wolf’s ear. “… pounded lil’ Rona until the poor girl fainted.”

Wolf’s body shuddered from the erotic sensation.

“Um, well, technically yes.” Wolf couldn’t say Rona fainted straight after he’d stolen an inordinate amount of her Soul Force.

Even if they tried waking her up, she’d stay out cold for at least a couple of hours.

“Amazing.” Lola let out a fake giggle. “If my girls can’t satisfy Lord Mage’s… cravings… I’m afraid I’ll have to take the field personally. And if you beat me, who knows, maybe even the owner could try and stand up to your challenge.”

“Nonononono!” Wolf exclaimed, waving his hands in front of himself, as if trying to shoo away such thoughts.

“Hahahahaha!” Lola laughed and pulled Wolf to follow.

“I was teasing you, Lord Mage. Owner retired years ago. She has to think about Young Master’s future and his image.” The woman paused in front of a door to an unfamiliar room. “This is your room for tonight, Lord Mage. Your company will be with you shortly.”

She led Wolf into a bigger room than the one he shared with Rona, then left. Her amused smile disappeared as soon as the door closed.

I’ll pull Rona’s ears out! I already told the girls that they had to keep Young Master and his friend entertained. Damn it, I only have a dozen of them left. I guess some will have to pull double shifts tonight.

***

When the sun rose five girls softly snored on the bed, arranged like fish on a market stall. Wolf was done with them in less than two hours and then regretted not asking the hostess to bring him all the girls she had.

But even from six girls alone, the results were decent. After practicing the Conceptual art, as Wolf named Lonely Eagle’s secret technique, he’d taken a total of nine days’ worth of Soul Force from six women.

The youth put on his clothes and left the sleeping women alone, then headed into the private room where he and Wayde drank last night. Just like last night, the room was empty. Wolf felt for a moment that someone was watching him, but the feeling was immediately gone and five minutes later Wayde entered the room.

Wolf’s roommate looked like crap. He held a hand against his head and swayed as he walked. Those baggy eyes stared at Wolf, who beamed a cheerful smile, as if he was some kind of monster.

“So what are your plans for today?” Wolf asked with enthusiasm.

“Not so loud, please. My head hurts,” Wayde said in a hushed voice. “I’ll go to my room and sleep. What about you?”

Wayde’s dispirited answer perfectly matched his worn out face.

“I’m gonna go have lunch with Big brother. See you later!” While Wayde flinched at Wolf’s very loud words, Wolf turned around to leave. Before taking the first step, he turned around and looked at Wayde seriously.

“Not a word to Anna. I mean it,” he said sternly. “She’ll skin me alive if she finds out about what happened tonight.”

“I won’t say a word. What do you take me for?” Wayde rolled his eyes at something so obvious.

But really, you could’ve gone easier on them on my account. Aunty Lola said you’ve really been holding back a lot.