The Legendary Monster Layer!

Ari could tell when Madam Iris had inspected the bottle, because her refined composure faltered. The raised eyebrows weren’t a pointed statement of amusement, but a genuine reaction of surprise, this time.

“Dear?” she asked Ari. “What … in the world is this?”

Ari had, of course, prepared a backstory. She could hardly go around claiming she’d earned the lewd materials by wrestling with monstergirls. However, coming up with something reasonable was tricky, too. The good news was that any odd explanation would be reasonable, contradictory as that was … because items bizarre as the ones she’d be offering Madam Iris would have to have a weird origin. Aphrodisiacs and lubricants hardly dropped from regular monsters.

“I’m hoping I can trust your discretion?”

Madam Iris paused, seeming—though well hidden—almost offended at the question. “My livelihood depends on discretion,” she said plainly, though making the perceived insult clear. “Yes, dear. You can rely on it.”

It was one of the reasons Ari had felt comfortable doing this. She still felt uneasy with revealing her class, and anything peripheral to it, to anyone, so she’d been wish-washy on whether she should sell the excess lewd items she was collecting. But a bordello owner of decent repute … who else could Ari trust with not sharing her secrets, if not her?

Not that Ari would be sharing the truth behind things. Rather, she’d be employing vague allusions and refusing to give much more than a general—false—backstory.

“I … don’t want to get into the details,” Ari said. “But that item isn’t a one-off. I earned it from my adventures. There’s a … sort of monster I’ve found. Unlike most.” She blushed, and it wasn’t even feigned. She dug into her backpack and placed an aphrodisiac, this time, onto the table—another thin vial, of darker material, unlike the clear translucence of the lubricant. “The effects are different for each.”

Perplexed—and interested—Madam Iris picked up the newest bottle, eyebrows raising as she inspected the item. She shot a glance at Ari, as if looking at her in a new light.

“Some people would pay … good money for items like these,” Madam Iris said cautiously.

“That is why I’m here,” Ari said, giving a sheepish smile. “Because, you know, I can only use so much of it myself.”

Madam Iris paused, and Ari blushed.

“Erm, that was a joke.” Except it wasn’t. But it’d been meant as a joke.

It really wasn’t fair how flustered Ari was, right now. Madam Iris’s stunning beauty, combined with the oddity of the situation, had her tripping over her feet.

Madam Iris saw through Ari. “Was it, though?”

“Yes,” Ari said firmly, blushing deeper. “But, um, back to the point. It’s valuable, and I know it is. Your establishment, especially, could make great use of it. So. We’re here to talk business.”

Madam Iris set the bottle down. She folded her arms onto the table, leaning forward, a more serious demeanor replacing her amusement. “Talking business, then.”

Ari wasn’t a beginner to haggling—it was necessary for just about everything, back at Tark, and only slightly less common in Molehill—but she’d never especially been good at it. In fact, a healthy partnership was what she was hoping for, here, not a cutthroat business connection… even if it might be naive to hope for things to work out that way. But, better to put her cards on the table and be honest, she figured, than trying to beat an  experienced businesswoman at her own game.

“Like I said, there’s more coming,” Ari said. “And I’m an adventurer. I’ve always been kind of bad at haggling. I’m hoping you’ll give me a good offer. You could probably swindle me if you wanted.”

Madam Iris tilted her head, obviously not expecting the … inspired choice of tactics. But Ari thought honesty would serve her well. It was, hopefully, a lucrative arrangement already. Madam Iris wouldn’t want to burn any bridges by squeezing out every last coin she could.

“A ‘sort of monster’, you said?” Madam Iris finally asked.

Ari adjusted to the swerve in conversation. “Yeah. Sort of. It’s … well, I’m sure you can see why I want to keep the details a secret.”

She accepted that explanation easily, as Ari had hoped. “What else do you have?”

Ari laid out a few more items. She wasn’t selling the most interesting things she’d gotten from her adventures, just the excess. Even so, magical lubricants and aphrodisiacs—even the less interesting—were only uninspiring to Ari herself, because of familiarity. To most people, they were a fascination. Likely, even Madam Iris hadn’t seen anything similar. Probably. Ari wouldn’t know.

Maybe alchemists could make something similar? By Madam Iris’s intrigued expression as she inspected Ari’s goods, she doubted it. As a brothel owner, she’d be the one to know.

Or maybe similar products did exist, but weren’t feasible to obtain. Too expensive or rare. Specialist alchemists perhaps could make them. Though those sorts of people were more likely to be found in a capital city like Azure rather than Molehill. It took an impressive supply chain to reach the upper levels of most crafting classes.

Ari was just making guesses. But that Madam Iris was interested was a given by her expression.

The two of them worked out the details of the arrangement. The profit didn’t come out to any eye-watering amount, but Ari had plenty of the stuff, and she wouldn’t be making use of it anyway.

Finally, details settled on, Ari broached another topic, a peripheral mission she’d come to the Velvet Rose with.

“And, erm,” Ari said, working up the nerve. “I’ve got a side question, if that’s fine.”

Over the course of the negotiation, Madam Iris had relaxed. She had, as Ari had hoped, appreciated Ari’s straightforward nature—or maybe the easy, lucrative arrangement they’d set up. “Let’s hear it, dear.”

“If someone were wanting to … buy a specific sort of item …” Ari took a breath, rallying her nerves. Why was she playing coy about it? For all her experience, she could still be a disaster when talking about these subjects. Just, it was so embarrassing. “Toys,” Ari finally said firmly. “If someone wanted to buy toys, where would they go? I’m new to Molehill, so I don’t know.”

Obviously, that sort of store didn’t blare its merchandise with neon lights. Ari had kept her eyes open at the market, but hadn’t found anything.

“Hm,” Madam Iris said, leaning back in her chair and considering the question. “How old? Toddler aged or younger?”

Ari was briefly horrified, before realizing she was being teased. She huffed and glared at the older woman.

Madam Iris only laughed. At least she didn’t keep the act up, forcing Ari to spell out her question explicitly. “Well,” she said. “I know a place you could check out. Anything especially interesting will need to be imported … but Nyla will handle that, for a price.”

“Perfect,” Ari said, still blushing. “It’s … I’m not looking for anything crazy. I just couldn’t find anywhere in the market.”

“Would you like the directions?”

“Yes, please. Let me write it down to be safe.”