Chapter 98

““Insomnia City”?. Why don’t you just do whatever you want?”

“Oh… I honestly didn’t think it would be so easy to get your approval.”

On the afternoon of the same day that she received the proposal from Sofia, Yuri visited the highest class brothel in the “Tourist Resort Section” of Ulysses and consulted its owner, Aurence.

Contrary to Yuri’s expectation, Aurence readily agreed to the plan to turn the city into an “Insomnia City”. Yuri has already learned that when Aurence says, “Do what you want”, can be interpreted as ‘yes’.

“There are many types of merchants. Some timid merchants hate change and seek conservative profits, and some greedy merchants see change as an opportunity and seek further profits.

I’m more of the latter kind of old lady. You can do whatever you want with this city, however you want to do it. We’ll make a lot of money off of it.”

“That’s bold. ―――I wonder if your youthful body has rejuvenated your spirit.”

Aurence refers to herself as an ‘old lady’. The old age that was there when first met is nowhere to be seen in Aurence’s current appearance.

It seems that Aurence is making good use of the [Ochimizu] that Yuri is giving her.

“Yes, I suppose that’s part of it. The [Rejuvenation Potion] you’re giving me is amazingly effective… But if you’re saying my mind is rejuvenated, it’s more likely because of the cosmetics you brought me.”

“―――Oh, you’ve been using them, haven’t you?”

“I’ve been using it for a while now, and it’s been working for me. I’m not the only one.

When I use it after I wake up and before I go to bed, my skin, which has become flaky from old age, becomes fresh and revitalized. It also rejuvenates the spirit as well.”

“I’m glad you like it. I’m sure Rupia, who developed it, will be pleased.”

To tell the truth, the ‘cosmetics’ were not so well received in the Yuri Empire.

The only ones who praised it greatly were the children who usually work in front of the fire and do production such as ‘cooking’ and ‘blacksmithing’. The others generally responded that they would use it if they had it, but that it was fine without it.

This is probably because everyone in the Yuri Empire is a game character and has no connection to aging.

After all, the main purpose of cosmetics is to ‘prevent skin aging’ and ‘hide skin aging’, so it is hard to feel the benefits of cosmetics for children who never age.

Yuri uses it every morning and evening, but that’s only because she follows the habits she had when she was living in Japan. The truth is that Yuri’s body, which is also the body of a game character and never ages, does not need cosmetics.

That’s why it’s great to hear from Aurence about how it feels to use the products.

The cosmetics are not sold to the general public but are only given privately to the people of the Hayes Trading Company who work in the “Tourist Section”.

Yuri was thinking of starting the sale of the products in the Tourist Section today or tomorrow.

Yuri consults with Aurence to determine the price of the high-quality cosmetics to be sold in the “Tourist Section”, and then later determines the price of the general cosmetics to be sold in the [Labyrinth Dungeon] of Ulysses and Yuritania.

“People will buy it anyway, even if it’s expensive”

“If that’s what you’re saying, then that’s what we should do.”

Based on Aurence’s advice, we set the prices of our products for the general public at a reasonably high level.

I’ve heard from Pope Altorius that the current economic situation in Yuritania is good, and the situation in the cities of the Holy Land of Nimun is not bad either.

Cosmetics are not so heavily consumed, and the market might be more receptive to them if they were sold at a slightly higher price.

Incidentally, we decided to set the price of the ‘luxury cosmetics’ at a very high level, literally.

Even so, if the wealthy and aristocratic people who use the tourist zone are eagerly begged by their wives and daughters, their purse strings will be loosened easily anyway.

“By the way, how is the brothel doing?”

“Do you have any idea how many outside visitors are coming to this “Tourist Resort Section” right now?”

“Haha. I’m sorry, I’m asking knowingly.”

Even though it has already been a week since the city of Ulysses opened its doors to the public, there have only been four groups of visitors to the “Tourist Resort Section” so far.

All of them are families of wealthy and noble people who were brought here by the curious head of the family.

“Well, I’ve boned all four of the male guests staying in this section, the head of the family and the heir apparent, in this brothel.”

“Oh, scary.”

As Aurence chuckles, Yuri also chuckles in response.

If you are a curious man, you might want to take a look at the most luxurious brothel building you’ve ever seen in the “Tourist Resort Section”.

“In particular, some old nobleman from the Holy Land of Nimun seems to have taken a liking to Eirene. He’s been coming over to hug her every night for a while now.”

“Oh… Eirene is the most expensive girl in this brothel・・right?”

“I’m getting exactly 200,000 Beth per night. Thanks to you, we’ve been making a lot of money since we started.”

“What, you say you don’t get many customers, but you do make a lot of money.”

“Hehe. Who says I’m not making money?”

The total number of customers itself is not a problem, since the unit price of a high-class brothel is high.

It is important to know how to attract specific individual customers.

It all depends on the skill of the prostitute.

“But if she’s coming to the brothel every night, won’t she be bending her crown?”

“The wife of a nobleman doesn’t get upset about such things, because it’s nothing compared to having a concubine or having the head of the family frequent a brothel.

And―――we’re taking good care of them there.”

“… Care?”

“To put it simply, I make sure to inform the mistress when the master is here, and I explain to her that we don’t do ‘subcontracting’ in our brothel. If there is no such thing, she can rest assured that she won’t have to worry about any of the prostitutes that the owner is so fond of coming to the house as concubines.

In addition, a prostitute who requires help will visit the wife, take her to a place in this section that looks good and have fun with her. I’ve even lent her some of the cosmetics you gave me, so she’s more than happy to go to the brothel.”

“Oh, dear. ―――Are you that concerned about one customer?”

“The higher the price per customer, the more room you have to take care of your customers. The main reason men stop going to the brothel is because of their wives or daughters, so if you can negotiate with them in such a way that they don’t become an obstacle, they will lose their stopper and go straight into the mire.”

“Scary. It’s like an anthill.”

“Hehe!”

Seeing Yuri’s reaction, Aurence laughed with genuine amusement.

If the business is doing well from the start, it’s a good thing.

“By the way, there’s something I wanted to tell Yuri-sama.”

“Oh, what is it?”

“You know those ‘ex-slaves’ from the principality who are looking for work in Yuritania? Would you mind if I hired about sixty or seventy of them to work in some of the brothels we run?”

“I don’t remember telling Aurence about it, but… you know it well, don’t you?”

“You can’t run a brothel unless you’re well informed.”

Aurence laughs, her lips twisting at the edges.

Well, Yuri didn’t tell the ‘ex-slaves’ anything in particular, so it wasn’t difficult to find out.

Of the slaves that Yuri had kidnapped from the duchy’s capital, Dellane, all the children were sent to live in a newly established orphanage, and the adults were to be provided with living expenses for four months.

The idea is to let the adults find jobs on their own while the living expenses are paid.

There are more than 2,000 adults in total, and most of them are women.

If you can take on even a small part of them, Yuri, as the administrator, will be grateful.

“I’d appreciate it. Of course, you can’t force a woman into a brothel if she has no intention of becoming a prostitute.”

“Don’t worry, I don’t want to do anything inefficient like that either.”

Yuri personally has no prejudice against the profession of a prostitute.

With the sudden increase in the number of female job applicants, the city of Yuritania is becoming somewhat of a ‘buyer’s market’. In such a situation, it would be a pleasure if some of the stores run by the Hayes Chamber of Commerce would be in the running for employment.

“I just want to make sure that the girls who work for us think it’s a good place to work with good benefits. You can expect a generous donation of ‘cosmetics’ to be passed on to the new girls.”

“Hmmm… In any case, Aurence, why don’t you take care of the sales of cosmetics in Yuritania and Ulysses?”

When Yuri suggested this, Aurence looked slightly surprised.

“I don’t mind if you do, but are you going to sell them in a brothel?”

“No, I’m not. I’m suggesting that you run a cosmetics store in your business association in addition to the brothel.”

“… You want me to go to the trouble of setting up a specialty cosmetics store? I don’t think there’ll be any problem if the Rubetta guy is not around to distribute the goods to Rostine’s general store.”

“If possible, cosmetics should be sold in specialty stores.”

As someone who has used cosmetics in modern Japan, Yuri thinks so.

It is true that, as Aurence said, even in Rubetta’s absence, if you ask the vice president of the Rostine Chamber of Commerce, you can get your products sold in general merchandise stores and drug stores.

However, Yuri wants to make sure that each customer who comes to buy cosmetics is given a patch test, even though she knows it will take a lot of time and effort, and that the results are confirmed before the products are sold.

The quickest way to ensure this is to distribute cosmetics only to specialty stores.

If the cosmetics you distribute cause skin irritation or allergies to the people who use them. If possible, I don’t want to see such problems.

When Yuri explained this, Aurence nodded her head in agreement.

I explained the necessity of the patch test to her when I gave her the high-grade cosmetics for the brothel, so she already understood.

“We indeed want cosmetics to clean our skin, but it would be a shame if they ruined our skin.

―――Well, if you want to do it, I don’t mind taking over the sales at my business association. You’re going to make a profit, right?”

“I can assure you of that.”

“Then there’s no problem!”

Since cosmetics are high-priced products that require long intervals between purchases, it should be possible to make a sufficient profit even if you take the time to respond to each customer.

If you are going to sell cosmetics, it is best to sell them directly to the women who are using them.

Since the main business of the company is running a brothel, the members of the Hayes Business Association are all women who are dedicated to the pursuit of beauty, and in that sense, they are the best people to entrust with the sale of cosmetics.