episode_0032

A prostitute?

At those words, Tia’s steps faltered.

The young man snickered.

“Didn’t you know? It’s a long-standing tradition of the Tribute Parade. Trashy bitches who follow the procession, selling their bodies, and then go into the brothels of Deseo, just waiting to be designated by nobles.”

“Yeah, fuck it—they’re cheap cunts with nothing to offer, but they act all high and mighty when you ask them to put out. Fucking bitches.”

“You, young lady, clearly don’t seem to belong with them. Did you really come here to sell your body?”

“……”

The torrent of vulgar curses and eyes raking over her body.

Hearing the shocking identities of the women she had felt a sense of camaraderie with, Tia held her breath.

When she was in Breezedon, she had never experienced such unfamiliarity, crudeness, and raw brutality.

Everyone there was kind and naive.

She had only ever heard the word ‘prostitute’ when her aunts used it as a contemptuous insult.

The ‘red-light district’ where prostitutes lived was on the northern outskirts of Teildon, so she never even had a chance to see it.

Tia suddenly realized just how unfamiliar the world she had entered was.

A horn blared!

Just then.

A horn blared from the front, and the procession slowly began to stop.

The men raised their heads.

“Oh. Is it evening already?”

“Move quickly!”

Suddenly, as if on cue, people began to move diligently.

Each of them pulled out shabby camping gear from their luggage, set up their spots, lit campfires, and sat around in groups of 5-6.

Then they brought out large brass bowls and lingered near the knight’s tent.

Soon, she understood why.

Every evening, the knights and soldiers enjoyed a feast prepared by a chef in a large tent.

After the meal, the servants ate the leftovers, and what little remained was thrown outside.

The ‘rats’ waited, drooling, to get even those scraps.

“Ahahahaha!”

“I got some!”

People got their hands on pig bones with almost no meat left, then added water and excitedly began to boil them into stew.

Seeing their almost barbaric appearance, Tia was speechless.

Live like that for half a month?

Although she had always dreamed of being an adventurer and was prepared for hardships.

Seeing it with her own eyes was too shocking.

“……”

She ended up not fitting in anywhere, sitting on a baggage cart and filling her hungry stomach with cheese.

From the deep shadows, a woman approached.

“Oh my. A cute young lady has joined us-. Where are you from?”

It was the voice of an older woman.

“Hello. I’m from Breezedon.”

“Aha- I’ve heard of it. The Dragonez next to Teildon?”

“Yes!”

Meeting someone who recognized her hometown for the first time, Tia’s voice brightened slightly.

“What brings a mountain girl like you to Deseo?”

“I’m looking for something. I heard it’s only available in Deseo.”

“Oh my-. That sounds like an interesting story. What kind of item is it?”

“Ah, it’s a medicine called Dienbus-.”

“Diem- sorry. That’s a difficult pronunciation. Is it, like, an elixir of immortality?”

“It’s not that, but……”

The woman chuckled and gestured.

“That’s fine. That’s fine. If you can only get it in Deseo, it must be a good medicine. More importantly, it seems like your first time traveling this path. Did any men bother you?”

“Hmm… a little bit.”

“You need to be careful, young lady. The men here are different from the naive village youths you lived with. Especially because they’re men trying to go to ‘Deseo’.”

When Tia gaped her mouth, not understanding what she meant, the woman sighed deeply.

“Oh dear- what a disaster. If I had left you alone for just one more day, something truly terrible would have happened. I’m so worried, my heart keeps aching for you. Young lady, you haven’t had dinner yet, have you?”

“I have some cheese, but……”

“How will you walk tomorrow if you just make do with that? Come with me. I’ll share some with you.”

Though she felt a slight aversion after hearing the word ‘prostitute’ earlier, she didn’t seem like a bad person.

The truth was, she was hungry, so Tia decided to follow the woman.

“Here we are.”

The place she was led to was a small tent, not far from the knights’ quarters.

Opening the entrance and going inside, she saw other women eating bread and chatting loudly.

Most were around their mid-20s, similar in age to her aunts.

The woman said.

“Alright, I’ve brought the little lady. Is this the girl you were worried about?”

“Yes! That’s right, Madam! The red-haired girl!”

The women rushed towards the hesitant Tia.

“Kyaa-! Look at this! She’s so pretty and cute!”

“Her skin is so fair, she looks like a princess.”

“She has a sword? Can she really use it?”

“What’s your name?”

Her head went blank under the barrage of questions.

“Th-that is…”

In front of the women staring at her with curious eyes.

Tia ended up having to tell her story for a long time.

She didn’t bring up Ritsu.

She only explained that she had to urgently find something in Deseo and was therefore traveling alone out of necessity.

Besides that, how old are you, when did you start learning swordsmanship, what was village life like, and so on…

The questions were endless, and Tia happily chatted while eating the bread she received.

This time, the women in the tent introduced themselves.

“You’ve probably figured it out by now, but we’re prostitutes. The woman who brought Tia is the Madam. How does it feel? Is it strange?”

“No. It’s just one of the many professions in this world.”

“Oh my-! She speaks so cutely-. She’s wonderful.”

“Ahahaha…”

Tia gave an awkward laugh.

The prostitutes were more innocent than she expected.

They didn’t give off the ‘vulgar and dirty’ impression her aunts used to curse about at all.

They were just normal.

Likers of tasty food, lovers of dressing up prettily, and fond of chattering.

They were ordinary women.

While they were chatting comfortably, an awkward question suddenly flew her way.

“Tia, have you ever had sex?”

“……Huh?”

It was too embarrassing a question to hear with her perfectly fine ears.

As her embarrassment showed without her being able to hide it, the prostitutes burst into laughter and chattered.

“You haven’t yet? Are you really a virgin?”

“So you’re keeping your purity until you marry your husband-. That’s romantic, even if you’re not a noble.”

“But isn’t that normal?”

“Well-. I don’t think my hometown was like that. All the kids were so brazen, they’d start doing it from a young age.”

“That’s because your village is strange-.”

“Tia. Do you have a man you like, then?”

Tia blushed.

“Yes… I do.”

“Kyaa-! It’s starting- it’s starting! The pounding-heart love story of a country girl! What’s his name? How old is he?”

“He’s two years older than me…. His name is ‘Ritsu’.”

“Ritsu? Oh my- even his name is cool! If someone as cute and pretty as Tia falls for him, how handsome must he be?”

“I’m jealous-. Introduce him to me too!”

“Th-that’s not possible……”

Tia’s shy resistance only made the hearts of the love-starved prostitutes burn even hotter.

“Look at her blushing! Haa-. So fresh and innocent-!”

“I had a time like that too. Hehe! It makes me remember the old days.”

The conversation didn’t stop until deep into the night.

Once the women’s chatter began, it showed no sign of stopping, and the atmosphere was similar to when she talked with her aunts, so Tia quickly blended in.

How much time had passed?

Night deepened.

The Madam made a sleeping spot for Tia inside the tent.

“Tia. From now on, let’s stay together until Deseo. After hearing your story, you’re so admirable and kind that I just can’t leave you with those ‘rats’. It’ll be much more comfortable if you travel with us. What do you say?”

“Um… I’m sorry, but still……”

“Hm?”

“I have someone I like… so ‘that’ is absolutely not……”

“Oh my, oh my-! Ahahah!”

The Madam and the prostitutes laughed.

“No! We won’t make Tia do that. You just have to be with us. Oh, right. Sometimes if weird men bother our girls, you just have to scare them off with that sword! That’ll be enough.”

“Really?”

“Of course!”

“Then… I’ll travel with you, unnies. Thank you……”

Her tension slowly dissipated.

Tia fell asleep the moment she lay down.

Watching the pretty girl sleeping soundly, the Madam tucked a blanket around her.

“Sleep well, Tia.”

***

From the next day, Tia no longer had to walk strenuously.

For some reason, women were allowed to ride on the baggage carts.

The knights and soldiers didn’t say anything particular about it.

Something about it being ‘chivalry’ that respected the weak, or so they said.

Anyway, they said that as long as she didn’t cause a disturbance, they would just leave her alone.

Thanks to this, she was able to ride comfortably in the cart.

As long as she ignored the fierce stares of the men following behind, she could relax and enjoy the breeze.

Around lunchtime, she chatted with the prostitute unnies.

“As for me- I want to work in Deseo. They say there are many places looking for servants. If I get in, I’ll have a place to sleep and food to eat.”

“Huh? Weren’t you going to a brothel?”

“Of course not. This is just a side job. Being a prostitute for too long ruins your body. We’re just doing this temporarily to earn basic funds to use in Deseo until we find proper work.”

Surprisingly, the unnies had clear goals.

They had all made plans for what they would do in Deseo.

Listening to their stories, all their plans revolved around ‘money’.

That’s because, in Deseo, you can’t do anything without money.

The reason they became prostitutes was simple: they needed money to live.

Hearing that answer, Tia couldn’t help but feel bewildered.

Was money so important that they would even sell their own bodies?

Her aunts had always emphasized purity.

A woman could only give her body to her ‘husband’.

The reason was that if a woman lost her purity before marriage, her ‘body would become dirty,’ and men disliked dirty women, so she wouldn’t be able to marry.

If a virgin offered herself to a man, she should, if possible, marry that man.

Because the moment she lost her virginity, her value as a ‘woman’ was as good as gone.

Therefore, she was always taught to be careful with her conduct and to associate with a wonderful man who could take responsibility for her.

Of course, Tia listened with one ear and let it out the other.

Because she had Ritsu.

She had decided that since she was young. Of course, she would marry Ritsu.

There was no reason at all to worry about men.

But once she came out into the world, people’s perceptions of sex were very different from Tia’s.

The prostitute unnies said that ‘purity’ didn’t make money.

‘Marriage’ was the process of a woman becoming a man’s property.

And ‘love’ was called an appetizer to get to sex.

It seemed like the unnies didn’t have someone like Ritsu.

A ‘lover’ for whom being together was natural, dreaming of a future together, and just waiting until they could marry…

Even so, having been born human, wouldn’t they have felt love at least once?

She suddenly became curious.

“Unnies… you’ve had first loves too, right?”

“Of course.”

The Madam closed her eyes as if recalling old memories.

“My first love was a quiet and wonderful man. He was a carpenter who lived in the neighboring village, strong and easygoing. I happened to meet him at a tavern and fell in love at first sight while chatting.”

“And then?”

“I was young and naive back then, I suppose. When I returned home, I missed him terribly. I wanted to give him a gift and confess my feelings, so I embroidered all night. After finally getting permission to go out, I visited the neighboring village again a month later… but he was already married and living with his wife.”

“Ah……”

“Hahahaha. I cried so much. Thinking about it now, it’s not even that sad-. Haha.”

This time, another unnie spoke.

“My cousin was my first love. Maybe because we lived in the same place and often ran into each other. I seemed to like him quite a bit. He seemed to like me too, you know.”

“Wow. Really?”

Tia wanted to hear more details.

Somehow, it felt like they were talking about Ritsu and her own story.

“He was about thirteen. He went with the adults to build a weir on the riverbank and never came back. A sudden storm had hit, and they said he was swept away by the rapids. I don’t know what happened to him. He probably died.”

“……”

At the conclusion, ‘he died,’ Tia cast down her eyes.

She couldn’t say anything.

Because it was the worst situation she herself had almost experienced just a few days ago.

If she had lost Ritsu back then, how would she be living now?

She couldn’t even dare to imagine it.

“I’m sorry. I asked something unnecessary……”

“No, it’s fine. It’s all in the past.”

All the unnies’ first love stories only involved unfortunate events.

Perhaps it was natural.

Because their love didn’t come to fruition, they didn’t marry, and now they were prostitutes crossing the Meas Road.

Just as a somber mood was about to settle.

Another unnie quickly changed the subject.

“Girls! Let’s talk about something else, not first loves!”

“What story?”

“Everyone will have a lot to say about this-. It’s about…”

She grinned, offering a perfectly fitting topic.

“‘First time’ stories!”