Standing tall, Jacob looked up at the reddish-orange haired madam who owned this brothel. She was looking at him with a grim expression on her face.
"Are you sure we cannot come to an agreement? Taking away fifteen girls right away… this will harm both of us."
She told him as she wanted him to take back those words, but the look he gave her told her otherwise.
Jacob informed her that he would be taking all fifteen girls with him, not leaving one behind. She had roughly thirty girls working here, and taking fifteen away would leave her crippled for a while.
While it may not be hard to find more women to replace them, it was much harder to find a partner who kept the girls in check and watched over them. She had her own guards, but they were used for other purposes and could not look after all the women.
Ash was a valuable partner as not only did he make sure to take care of the girls, he also delivered heavy punishments to them if they misbehaved. With him around, she did not need to worry about the girls.
Now that he was no longer working with her, for reasons she did not know she had hoped Jacob would take over his position. However, it seems the little guy had other plans in mind.
"Mostly you, not me."
Jacob chuckled as he replied to her.
Him taking away the girls would harm the madam more than it would tarnish him in any way.
"Yes, but it harms you by pulling them out without any prior notification. This will bring me harm and my customers will be highly upset, which means I'll be upset. We could have a friendly relationship here, but you are making things hard for us."
"Why would I have a relationship with you? What could I gain?"
Bending down, the madam showed off a bit of her cleavage to Jacob. For a normal boy, it would have stirred him up and caused a fire to rage inside, but for Jacob this sight was nothing.
She already wore a red skin-tight dress that clung to her body and showed off her mature body that aged well like fine wine. But, he did not find her attractive at all. Every person had their own preferences, and Jacob had his.
Although she imagined the young boy before her would be tempted by her womanly charms, it pained her when he was unfazed by them. She thought to lower the front of her dress a little more but opted not to do it to hold onto the small pride she had left.
Still, she leaned in closer to Jacob as she brought her face next to his.
"Information."
Her voice sounded sweet as Jacob could feel her breath on his ear.
She quickly pulled herself back.
"It is valuable, some say even more valuable than money."
To that, Jacob could agree.
In his mind, he could already see how this place would acquire information. Men talked, and in the heat of the moment, they would let even their darkest secrets slip out. Still, did he really need information on this city?
Jacob had no plans on staying here for a long period of time, after all, he knew what would be happening soon.
Did his actions so far impact the overall direction of the story? No, he did not believe so. After all, he has only survived the slaughter at the estate and saved Amelia's mother. Those were minor incidents, but the story was much bigger than that.
This was a huge gamble because if his small actions did change things in some form or fashion this city might still have a chance. It was the core, meaning people came and went all the time. Information flowing through this place was basically a gold mine.
Lost in thought for a moment, Jacob decided to put this on hold for now.
"That, I have to agree with, but it does not change my plans."
Before the madam had a chance to speak, Jacob stopped her with his next words.
"However, I do not wish to hurt our relationship over a few women. I'll keep in touch and maybe we can help each other out in the coming times."
Hearing those words, the madam squinted her eyes.
Thoughts raced through her mind all in a moment before she reached out her hand to him.
"In light of a new friendship."
She said.
"I wouldn't say that."
Jacob took her hand and shook it.
"Next time you come here, call me Jenna."
"Let's hope it doesn't come to that."
Jacob chuckled as he waved his hand and left.
Watching his back fade, Jenna's face turned ugly.
"Are you just going to let him leave like that ma'am?"
The rough-looking man from earlier appeared at her side as he asked her about her plans for Jacob.
"That depends, what have you learned?"
Her eyes were still looking down the stairs Jacob went down as she questioned him.
"Ash was nowhere to be found, but from what some polite citizens said one of his men was killed outside of his business. His business was burned down and unless we remove the rumble, I'm afraid we have no way of knowing if he was killed or not."
He explained to her as he watched her facial expression.
Ash was not an easy man to kill, he had some decent bodyguards with him. If someone did manage to kill Ash, then they were powerful and did it without hesitation. His boss knew this, thus took precautions when dealing with Jacob.
"Then we hold, for now, bring me Maximum. That fat bastard was boasting so heavily on his slaves, let's see how good they really are."
"What about your husband ma'am? He stole a hundred silver again to use it for gambling…"
"How much has he lost so far?"
"Around ten gold coins worth."
Hearing that amount, Jenna gritted her teeth but calmed herself down quickly.
"How much does he owe?"
"Twenty gold, ma'am."
"Leave him be, for now, increase the amount of money inside the safe. Once he's in more debt I'll cut all relations with him. This is a loss we can take for now."
Jenna turned around and started to walk back to her office, but stopped as she turned her head around to look at the rough-looking man.
"Have you heard any new information… regarding Sophia?"
Shaking his head, the man watched as his boss looked disappointed and sad. Still, she walked to her office in silence and shut the door.
It angered him, knowing that she was living with that scumbag of a husband. He was no saint, but he could be considered one when compared to her husband.
The knowledge of what he did still caused him to erupt in rage. He did not know how one could sell their own daughter off, just to help pay off their debts. That was disgusting, considering he willingly did it.
If only he could get his hands on that guy… he would be sure to give him a slow and painful death. But, his boss did not wish for that, at least not yet.
Later on that night, Jacob was at the temple in his room alone.
'You are a terrible person.'
Jacob sat on the bed with his eyes closed and legs crossed in meditation, but he could still hear Vulcan.
His voice always echoed in his mind, but Jacob tried not to listen to it. Tonight, he was mentally exhausted so Vulcan's words got through to him.
"I am doing what I must to survive."
'You are turning into one of them! Look at yourself, and think about your actions.'
"You know nothing! You want me to sit around and be bound to this order? Do you even know what that would mean for both of us?"
'It is better to be true to your heart than forget your purpose. If you are truly what I created, then you would know that is what we were taught. Never steal more than what you need, never take from those poorer than yourself.'
Jacob stayed silent, he just stopped listening to the voice inside his head. It hurt him, knowing he was taking something away from Vulcan but it needed to be done.
Every time Vulcan's voice appeared, it felt as if something was dragging Jacob down a deep hole.
Whatever it takes. That is the motto Jacob is living by right now, doing whatever he deemed necessary to survive and see the end. Even if it meant putting up a steel wall, he would do just that.