RISE OF EROS

Despite Erick's surprise when he noticed Candice's flushed face, he didn't say anything, he's an intelligent man and although he doesn't know the reason, he does know his boss and also knows what topics he can investigate and what he can't.

A little later the carriage arrived at the Mansion of Flowers and as always when they came to visit, they had to wait for one of the guards to notify their arrival and for one of the lords of the mansion to approve the entry.

Fortunately for Candice, she didn't have to wait long, so she was able to enter the grounds of the Marquis Valoid. At the entrance of the mansion, she was received by a butler who guided her to the kiosk in the back garden where Teresa usually stayed.

After accompanying Candice and Erick to where Teresa was, the butler withdrew, leaving the three of them in the kiosk. Normally, they wouldn't allow Candice alone with Teresa, but since the incident with the former Earl Gistaly, Candice had been listed as trustworthy by the marquisate, so she had the privilege of not being watched.

To be more exact, she could talk to Teresa without visible surveillance since Raven was watching everything in the shadows. Certainly, Candice was trustworthy, but in this world, there are many strange abilities, and the existence of one that controls the mind or allows transformation would be dangerous.

Candice had no idea that there was a watchman in the shadows Erick didn't know either, however, that wasn't important, even if they knew they would perfectly understand the reasons.

Erick remained silent behind Candice as she talked to Teresa. Candice didn't start talking about her request, that would be too rude, but Teresa knows her too well.

"Candice, I know you have a great appreciation for me, but surely you won't come to my house 3 times in less than a week just for that, what do you want to ask me for?", Teresa said as she took a sip of tea.

Upon hearing it, Candice could only laugh ironically, because Teresa had been right in her assumption, so Candice did not want to dwell on that matter and declared her intentions.

"Teresa, since the situation of your attack, I have felt how weak I am and would like to strengthen myself, but I don't know of any way," at that moment Teresa interrupted, "So you want help to make your subordinates stronger, right?".

After Teresa's intervention, Candice only nodded her head. The place fell silent and after a few seconds Teresa spoke again, "I can ask Donald to help you as a token of thanks for helping me last time."

When Candice heard Teresa, she was pleased and was going to thank her when she heard Teresa say, "However, it will only be for the two you sent that night, besides, if Donald doesn't agree, I won't push."

The fact that the proposal was just for Erick and Vala didn't bother her, but the fact that Teresa wouldn't press the matter was different. Candice knew that no one was willing to teach a foreigner their strength and that Donald would very likely refuse and if Teresa didn't push him, it was practically like not helping.

Teresa, seeing her friend depressed, spoke again, "I know what you think, but put yourself in my place. Currently, the capital is not calm, and opening the doors of our house to foreigners, even if you are my good friend is not wise, so if Donald does not accept, I will not push him".

It wasn't that Candice didn't understand the position Teresa was in, it was just that for some reason she felt an invisible pressure crushing her, however, with no other options she accepted saying, "Okay, I understand."

While Candice was negotiating with Teresa, in the Heavenly Palace things were moving very quickly. Carolina, Helena, and Oliver moved quickly handling the tasks that Andrew had given them.

Oliver was meeting with Marie and Aki in one of the rooms of the establishment where there was only an old but robust wooden table and a set of chairs.

The lighting in the place was good, and a complete map of the city was spread out on the table. "Marie will take the left region and Aki the right, find out as much as you can and report any findings, if there is nothing to report still report here every three days," Oliver said as he paused before continuing.

"If you don't report in three days, I'll assume something happened, so don't be late, also, don't be reckless, your safety is the priority, especially you Aki ", even though Oliver seemed to be giving Aki special treatment, Marie didn't get upset, it was normal, after all, Aki is now Andrew's wife.

On the other hand, Oliver only called Aki by her name when they were in this environment because if he does it in public, he is always respectful and uses the "Young lady", like when he addresses Carolina and Helena.

On the map, you could see the location of the Heavenly Palace marked out and a large circle was drawn around it divided in half. Oliver had ordered Marie and Aki to divide the Shadow members equally and check each of these halves for information.

There was no specific guideline, Oliver just wanted to know if there was any threat hiding in this region. The highlighted area on the map is the region previously held by Debos and the other four thugs.

Now that they were gone, the Heavenly Palace was without a doubt the leader of this area, but Oliver knew that he couldn't let his guard down and believed that they were safe.

As a former general, his thinking is always focused on caution, because a bad decision on his part and life would be lost. He wanted to properly check this red light district region and make sure it was safe and enshrine the Heavenly Palace as the head of the area.

Andrew had not asked him to do that, but he had given him the freedom to act as he saw fit to help the Heavenly Palace and Oliver was clear that influence was necessary to advance and the perfect example were the 5 previous bosses in this area.

Gaining recognition as a zone boss had its drawbacks like being highly visible making you prone to getting attacked, but the gains outweighed the demerits.

Oliver remembered the night they took down the previous bosses. They were really small characters in the grand scheme of things, but with their dying connections, they even managed to get the city guard to come in to investigate.

That was what Oliver was looking for, better connections and it was clear to him that the only way to achieve them was to increase the status and power of the Heavenly Palace, it is not for nothing that it is said that the great pleasure houses of the city were as powerful as the nobles.

While Oliver was finalizing details with Marie and Aki, in the office Carolina and Helena were reporting on what was needed for the Heavenly Palace when it was finished.

Andrew had already told Helena the vision he had for the Heavenly Palace as he had told Carolina long ago and she was committed to helping him complete it and so she had worked diligently.

"I think we shouldn't get more courtesans for now, but diversify the entertainment as you mentioned before, I think we should get some dancers," Helena said seriously.

When Helena said getting dancers instead of courtesans, she didn't mean literally. What she wanted was some girls who could dance erotically to entertain the customers and if the latter liked them, they would take their service.

In other words, the dancers were still courtesans, only they were limited to dancing for the clients, while the current courtesans focused on accompanying and chatting with the clients, but in the end, both would sleep with the clients who could pay for their services.

Andrew had had this idea ever since he bought the Heavenly Palace, taking inspiration from the nightclubs in his past life. Even if the music and culture were different in this world, he did not doubt that this would work. Also, it wasn't like it was a new concept, as many pleasure houses do it, however, no one has a cheat system like him.

He doesn't know how to train dancers or similar things, but dancing is a form of seduction and it's erotic, so the system had its ways, the problem was that he didn't have points, but soon Aki's scar would disappear and he could go crazy with his three wives, so he didn't worry.

"How many do you think we should have?" Andrew asked as he shook off thoughts of having sex with Aki, Carolina, and Helena. "Well, they can't dance all night, so around 10 would be good. Also, more clients will arrive soon and if there are so few courtesans it will be a problem", Helena replied.

"Okay, the problem will be where to find these dancers", Andrew said as if thinking aloud and upon hearing him Helena interrupted, "My love, that's not difficult, the houses of Madanes have girls of that type, they're just more expensive".

"Really? I didn't know, I've never entered the exclusive areas", Andrew said, but Helena interrupted him again, "My love, I think you know very little about this industry, I'm surprised you got to this point without knowing that", to which Andrew was surprised and puzzled he asked, "What do you mean?".