Chapter 154 – The black market.

As Roland stepped in through the wooden doors of the brothel he was already happy that he had brought his new mouthguard along. People couldn’t really see it under the fabric but it was made from metal and had several runes inscribed on it.

The strong smell of cheap perfume, sweat, and something unfamiliar made him quickly inject a small amount of mana into this mask. It was a filtering rune that quickly dispatched the awful smell and filled his lungs up with fresh air.

This facemask covered both his nose and mouth. It was specifically made for the sole reason to hide his real voice and filter out poison. He was going into a place filled with rogues and he knew that those types liked to employ various poison gasses.

There were even classes that made these poison attacks more potent. The best and easiest way to protect someone from this type of attack was a gasmask. He made a smaller magical variant for himself that didn’t require him to wear an oxygen tank.

On the inside, he could hear a lot of chatting and laughing. He could see many beautiful women of various races talking to various burly-looking adventurers. There was a stark contrast between them as the men clearly didn’t bother to dress themselves well.

“Welcome weary traveler.”

While the cat lady that greeted him at the building’s entrance went away, another beauty approached him from the front. This girl looked elvish in nature but the ears were somewhat shorter. Her hair also had an uncharacteristic red color which made Roland think that she was probably a half-elf instead.

“Dear customer, you look confused, could it be your first time here? Do you wish for me to explain the rules?”

This was indeed Roland’s first time in such an establishment. Due to the amount of skin that was being shown his eyes did trace to a couple of the scantily clad women. With his new parallel thinking skill, he was actually able to get a good look at all the goods even while talking to this woman.

“Ah… not that won’t be necessary… I heard that you had a pub here?”

While this was mainly a brothel there was a smaller pub inside of it. That was where he was heading as the entrance to his destination was there.

“Would you like one of the girls to accompany you? I’m sure that such a handsome man as you would love to have some company!”

The elven woman got closer. Roland was on the taller side so while looking down he had a clear view at her rather exposed cleavage. If he had to compare the women from this world and his old one, it was obvious that the ones here outranked them by several points.

To this moment he had never seen a bad-looking elf or half-elf. Even the average human would be above average if they visited his old world. He had to attribute that to the stats like charisma that probably made everyone somewhat more attractive if they leveled up.

“No, that’s fine, I just need something to drink.”

After a little back and forth he had managed to shake the half-elven hostess and arrived at the bar. Inside of it, he could see some patrons having their drinks poured to them by beauties. It was hard not to notice one of these clients as he stuck out like a sore thumb.

“You’re so strong, Armand~!”

A catgirl was poking Roland’s favorite idiot friend’s biceps while he was flexing without a shirt. His face was flushed red so it was clear that he was fully drunk and probably under the effect of some of the aphrodisiacs.

Luckily for him, he was far too busy with what he was doing to notice Roland walking in. After passing some of the drunks he arrived at the bar counter where he sat down.

“What will it be, honey?”

“…”

He looked over to the ‘bartender’ he needed to do a double-take as the person behind him was quite the muscular man. This wasn’t the reason why he was taken aback, the reason was that this man had an awful large amount of makeup on his face. Rosy cheeks, red lipstick, and fake eyelashes.

Then to top it all off he was wearing a one-piece dress with open shoulders. His arms were thick as a tree trunk and he could give the adventure guild master a run for his money.

“Oh, are you a shy boy? I love shy boys. What will it be?”

The bartender giggled like a little girl while leaning in. The moment he did Roland could notice his five o’clock shadow.

“Ah yes… I’m not really here to drink… I seek the passage below…”

“Passage? What do you mean cutie? I’m not sure I understand.”

Roland was not beginning to doubt the letter that he received but it was hard to turn back now. While the bartender ‘lady’ was playing dumb she could have just been warry of people that would come to disturb the guild. This is also why he leaned in so that no one else would hear the password that he was supposed to say.

“…the password is Schwertfisch…”

He felt a bit silly saying it while trying to not stick out. But this was all according to the guild master’s instructions along with the crumpled-up paper. He was supposed to get the password and just tell it to the bartender in this brothel. If this turned up to be some elaborate joke, on the other hand, he would probably have a bad day.

“Oh, haven’t heard that one in a while, do you have the entry fee, sugar?”

Luckily for him, the exchange was going through just as the guild master explained to him. The password that he was given identified him as a newbie black merchant, not as a guild member. It was more of an introduction to the guild and he would need to pay the price to enter inside.

“Of course.”

He placed five small gold coins on the counter and the large person quickly swiped it. Roland wasn’t sure where his gold disappeared to but it was apparent that this bartender was not simple.

This fee was steep but it identified him as a potential black market merchant. The actual thieves that wished to join the guild would go through different testing methods. He on the other hand would be seen as a potential business partner. The coins were there to show that he actually had enough money to use their services.

“Rica, take over, I’ll be back in a moment.”

The bartender was replaced by a tall lady with long white rabbit ears while the man in the dress started leaving. Roland followed behind him and the two entered the back room of this pub.

Stolen story; please report.

There was a long corridor through which he went through. There were several tired-looking women smoking cigarettes and putting on various lingerie inside. It looked like this was the dressing room for the working ladies and it reminded him of the backroom of strip clubs from his old world.

At the end of the corridor was a door and before it stood a somewhat imposing-looking man. With the bartender leading him there the man just stepped to the side and both of them descended into this room.

The inside was dark and the smell of booze-filled his nostrils. It seemed that they had entered a wine cellar as there were many bottles and barrels with alcohol everywhere.

“Now listen sugar, I’m not sure who gave you the invitation but you’ll be on your own when you go inside, try not to start trouble or you might regret it~”

Roland nodded as the large man in a dress gave him some pointers. The two arrived at the end of the wine cellar and after pushing one of the bricks in a mechanism was turned on. The wall started to slowly spin and another path was revealed to him.

“Well, good luck~”