How did the Sugar-Baby System work, you ask?
It was, actually, pretty simple. For each person I slept with, I would earn an amount of gold coins equivalent to that person's wealth.
So if I slept with a Baroness, I'd suddenly be as rich as a Baron. If I slept with a Countess, I'd become as wealthy as a Count. If I slept with a Duchess, I'd be as rich as a Duke… and so on.
You get the idea, right?
The Captain of the Valkyries had already counted as my first conquest in the system, so I was already as rich as a knight order captain.
Which, unfortunately, wasn't all that much.
But combined with everything Methew had already earned over his life as a gigolo, it was more than enough to buy my freedom.
Yes, I wasn't free.
My mother had been a courtesan, which meant I was born and raised in a brothel. And under the laws of the Kingdom of Astorias, since my mother was property of the brothel when I was born, I belonged to them too.
Methew had two dreams before he died: to buy his own freedom, and to buy Lilian. And I intend to honor his memory by doing exactly that.
Who's Lilian?
She's one of the courtesans at the brothel. A succubus with green hair and green eyes, big breasts, and wide hips. She was the one who taught Mathew everything he knew about the art of giving pleasure.
Just thinking about those lessons gets me hard.
I like to think of myself as a pretty honorable guy; after all, I'm making the dreams come true of the man whose place I took.
But let's be honest: I'm doing this more for me than for him.
I was going to get out of that damned brothel one way or another, and taking a hot succubus with me to be my assistant? That's just a bonus.
"What are you doing here so early, Mathew?"
The grumpy voice that greeted me so warmly belonged to Victoria. The owner of the brothel.
Damn, she was hot.
If I could sleep with her, I'd make a fortune.
That woman was one of the richest people in the city. But she had never given Mathew even the slightest chance, no matter how hard he tried.
Something about not betraying his mother's trust.
"I finally did it, Old Lady,"
'Old Lady' was Methew's way of teasing Victoria. She hated it.
"Did what, you brat?"
She was always in a bad mood in the morning.
"With the generous tip from the Captain for last night's services…"
"What tip? She didn't mention anything to me."
"She told me not to tell you. Said she'd deny it if anyone found out."
Yeah, I was a professional liar.
"But she liked my performance so much, she gave me a generous bonus."
"So you finally did it."
At that moment, she shifted in bed, spreading her legs just enough to show off her thighs.
"Are you sure you really want to leave?" she asked, giving me a provocative look.
Man, I always got hard when she did that. But it was just to tease me.
"I can't wait to get out of this dump."
My voice didn't sound as confident as I wanted. And my attempt to provoke Victoria didn't have the intended effect either.
A dump? That was one of the most luxurious brothels in the entire kingdom.
"Alright, as promised, that's 500 gold coins for your freedom, and 5,000 for Lilian."
What did you expect? That a scrawny guy like me would be worth as much as a hot succubus like Lilian?
Just for comparison, one gold coin was worth about 1,000 American dollars from my old world. So my freedom cost $500,000, and buying Lilian would set me back $5 million.
A low- or mid-ranked noble family in the Kingdom of Astorias could live comfortably on a single gold coin per day.
Which meant I was about to spend the equivalent of almost 15 years of a high middle-class family's budget just to buy my freedom and Lilian.
But that investment was worth every damn coin.
I spread the 5,500 gold coins across Victoria's bed. I think that was the first time she ever looked at me like a real man, not just a boy.
Unfortunately, her loyalty to my mother wouldn't change that easily.
Victoria had already summoned a servant and asked him to prepare everything for us to sign the contract. She also sent someone to fetch Lilian.
Just a few minutes later, everything was ready, and Lilian had just arrived.
"Madame Victoria, how may I be of service?" Lilian entered the room.
Her mere presence already drove me insane.
"Your little boyfriend finally managed to keep his word."
Lilian looked confused at first, but when she saw me and had a second to process what was happening, she jumped into my arms without hesitation.
And in that moment, with those two soft balloons pressed against my face, I knew those 5,000 gold coins had been very well spent.
"You really did it, Mathy."
Wasn't it cute the way she called me that?
"Now we can live together forever, just you and me."
Correction, my dear, me, you, and any rich lady we find along the way.
"Let's just sign the damn contract before this pathetic scene makes me sick."
You can say what you want, Victoria, but I know deep down you're proud.
We left right after signing the contract.
Lilian and I had been slaves in that brothel our whole lives, so we didn't have much—just a few changes of clothes and enough supplies for a few days, all stored in our storage rings.
"What are we going to do now, Master?"
If she kept calling me Master like that, we were going to end up locked in a room for a few days.
Unfortunately, I was broke. The fun would have to wait.
"All I've got left is 11 gold coins, and some loose change in silver and bronze."
Yep. Just another poor bastard again. I needed a plan, fast.
"That could sustain us for months... if we lived modestly."
She said it, but she knew damn well that's not what I wanted.
"It won't last a week," I replied.
"I could do…"
She started to say something, but I cut her off right away.
"Not a chance. From now on, you're mine. No one else lays a hand on you."
Man, the way her face turned red when I said that...
"Everyone knows me in this city. We need to go somewhere else, somewhere no one recognizes me. It'll be easier to put my plans into action."
The truth? I didn't have any damn plan.
But for a compulsive liar like me, the worst thing that could happen was staying in a place where everyone knew me.
No one would believe a word I said here.
"For now, let's find an inn. Somewhere we can stay for a few days."
And so, my journey began. Now, finally, as a free man.