[Spirit of Lust 2] Chapters 470 & 471. (Patreon)

Chapter 470: One final talk before a decision.

I suspected it, but considering how quickly Mr. Allen arrived, I was then sure he’d been close by, probably watching us through a camera or something. It was probably also why Ms. Jennifer made that half-hearted attempt at seducing me. And speaking of…

“Mr. Brooks, I’d like to apologize,” he said the moment he sat down across from me. “I was watching your conversation with Jennifer. And while I didn’t agree with the decision to try to test you, I also didn’t oppose it. That was disrespectful of us.” Mr. Allen bowed his head. “I apologize.”

The headache this time came with a faint ringing of my ears. My vision blurred for a split second, but I sensed the honesty behind Mr. Allen’s apology. 

“No, my own request to talk to her was pretty suspicious to begin with. I expected something like this, which was why I suggested a public place of your choosing,” I told him.

“Was Jennifer able to satisfy your curiosity?” he asked me.

I nodded. “I think she was being honest with me.” I didn’t know if Mr. Allen could tell some of my own powers had worked on Ms. Jennifer and were apparently working to a lesser extent on him, but I’d keep that card close to me for now. You know, for insurance. “I’m also sorry for being suspicious of you, sir.”

Mr. Allen sighed heavily, arms crossed. “I’ve been told I don’t inspire the most confidence in people who are just meeting me for the first time. But even without that, I think you SHOULD be suspicious of people like me. You and I aren’t the only ones with power, and I’d be willing to bet we’re some of the very few who actually show some restraint in its use.”

I thought back to Julian. The very moment he got his hands on supernatural abilities, he tried to use them to trick Mila. We got lucky he got impatient and tried it before developing his powers. 

“I’m aware there are others,” I told him. “I don’t know if I want to dig deeper into it. Not sure I’m fit for that world.”

“Now that you’re aware of its existence, running into the supernatural will be inevitable. You’d already seen it before you met me, and even if we hadn’t met, someone else would’ve come along. Maybe someone else WILL come along.”

“...” I knew he was right. Frey kept warning me about it.

“Let me restate my offer, Mr. Brooks,” Mr. Allen said. “I’d like you to work with me in the manufacturing of a lust potion. An elixir that, in theory, should provide a temporary boost to sexual performance and enhance pleasure. In return, I will pay you the amount of money we have already discussed. Not only that, but I will provide protection for you and yours, much like I do for my closest employees. I would also be willing to teach you what I know of the supernatural, assuming you wish to learn and that there is some common ground between your powers and mine. What do you say?”

“...” I took a deep breath, then firmly met Mr. Allen’s gaze. “Before agreeing, I’d like to request three things. Is that okay?”

Mr. Allen nodded. “Go ahead.”

“First, I’d like to be involved in the manufacturing of the elixir. I’d like to learn how it’s made and where my… powers are going. If possible, I’d like to learn to make it myself. I don’t want to simply give you magical energy and ignore everything else.”

I saw Mr. Allen’s eyes shine as he smiled. “You wish to have a backup. In case our partnership falls apart, you’d take the knowledge with you.”

“Correct.”

“Denying that request would be awfully hard without risking the newfound trust you’ve placed in me. Very well. You will be a proper member of the manufacturing team.”

 Mr. Allen didn’t hide the pride in his smile, but I also felt his shock. He did not expect me to have thought that far ahead.

“Thank you. Next. Remember when we talked about the way we would handle payment? You said I could be hired on paper without needing to do anything else.”

“Yes, I remember.”

“That’s my second request. I’d like to be put to work.”

Mr. Allen’s eyebrows shot up in further surprise.

“I don’t care what it is. I can sweep floors, clean bathrooms or whatever, but I want to have a proper job. I don’t want to sit on my thumbs. Besides, actually showing up to work would make it more believable, right?”

This time, Mr. Allen eyed me more carefully. “Do you have any work experience, Mr. Brooks?”

I nodded. “Some. I’ve been working at a coffee shop for the last seven months or so.”

“What do you do?”

“Practically everything since we’re only two people. I wait tables, clean the shop, wash dishes, prepare coffee, even handle the register.”

Mr. Allen smiled and stroked his chin. “Oh. So you have some experience in the service industry.” He then narrowed his eyes, deep in thought. “Hmm. This is harder for me to agree to. You’ve likely heard, but I hire people based on skill and their ability to work well with others. A single rusty piece can slow down a well-oiled machine. I have standards I need to meet, you see. That goes for everything, even cleaning.”

“Y-Yes, I understand.” Alright, I admit I might have gotten ahead of myself, but I just wanted to continue honing my skills, any skill. I felt like I’d grown so much from waiting tables. I wasn’t above doing things like cleaning bathrooms and bedrooms.

“Oh, but don’t misunderstand me. I admire your resolve,” Mr. Allen said. “So how about this? How would you feel about training under Diana at our bar? She would teach you the ropes, and if she believes you are fit for it, then you can continue working there.”

Working with Diana? I admit, I liked the sound of that. I liked it a lot. However… “I-I’d like to ask her, first. The last thing I want is to make her uncomfortable at her job.” Especially because this meant a lot to her. To Diana, running the bar at this hotel was valuable experience for when she opened her own.

Mr. Allen nodded. “Very well. And your third request?”

“Ah. Um… Please, just call me Oliver from now on. I appreciate the formality, but it’s a little uncomfortable.”

He chuckled. “I see. I will agree to that on one condition of my own.”

“W-Which is?”

“That you call me Luke. No mister, no sir. Just Luke. We’ll be partners from now on. It’s only fair.”

Calling someone older by their name always felt odd to me, but then again, I was growing used to it with Maria and Diana, so… “Alright… Luke.”

He smiled and extended his hand to me. “I’m looking forward to working with you, Oliver. I promise you won’t regret this.”

Considering the clandestine nature of the whole thing, that handshake sealed the deal more firmly than any legal document.

************

Chapter 471: And now just chatting. 

After pulling our hands away, Luke let out a sigh of relief and the most genuinely tried chuckle I’d heard from him. “I learned a long time ago not to take things for granted, but I can’t quite express the satisfaction I feel right now. I’d been looking for years for someone like you, Oliver. I thought that my contacts with the supernatural underworld would lead me to someone eventually, and yet…” He shook his head. “This world of ours works in strange ways.”

“I admit, it was… eerie how timely your offer was,” I told him. “It came just when I needed it most.”

“Oh?” Luke smiled with a raised eyebrow. “Oliver, you remember what I said before, correct? If there is anything specific you want, I can help you acquire it. At the end of the day, money is nothing but a tool to join the forces of people without the need to share an ideology, a tool to make the exchange of goods and services easy and smooth. If you don’t mind me asking, what is it you need money for?”

There was no harm in telling him, right? We’d sealed the deal already, and… Honestly, I could use the help of someone with experience in this stuff, seeing as I had absolutely none.

“A few things, but the main one is a house,” I said.

“A house?” He narrowed his eyes in worry. “Are you having issues with your current home?”

“Ah, n-no, it’s not that. We’re not renting or anything like that. My mother owns the house and it’s fully paid for. It’s in good condition, too. No, the reason I want a house is… Well, I’ll be graduating high school soon. I want a place to live with… my girlfriends.” Why was I getting embarrassed all of a sudden? I guess it was because Luke was fully aware of the nature of my powers and desires. But then again…

His eyes shone and he snapped his fingers. “Hah! Like a playboy mansion! Wonderful!”

“Uh… We… Um… We mostly just want to stay together,” I said. “If I have a house for us, we won’t have to move to different places to study.” Yep. It was mostly that. Mostly.

“Ah, I see. Hmm. How many people are we talking about?” Luke asked, stroking his chin.

“Seven, counting me.” And counting Diana. She had her house, yeah, but I’d still like to have a house with space for her if… Well, for the future, let’s say.

Luke nodded. “Then what you want is a house for ten people. Maybe twelve.”

Hah? “N-No, I’m…”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk.” Luke shook his head and moved his finger from side to side. “Oliver, I know of desire and greed better than most. With the world as vast as it is and its inner workings continuously proving to be so far beyond our comprehension, do you really believe you will not meet another woman to stir your heart?”

“I…” I was about to say it wasn’t up to me, but while that was kind of true, it also meant it was up to my girlfriends. And let’s not forget the whole reason our group exists is because they encourage me to be with more girls. “I suppose that’s… possible.”

“Preparations now will save you complications in the future. And extra rooms can only be a plus. Guest bedrooms, for example. And if seven people will live there, you’ll want to accommodate everyone’s desires to some extent.” Luke looked up to the ceiling with an excited smile, a finger quickly tapping his lip. “How about… a personalized room for everyone? Not a bedroom, of course, but a room they each wish to have. For example, Cecilia has an art room in all of our 12 houses. She’s a painter, you see, so she needs her space. Natalie still makes clothes, so she has her sewing rooms, too.”

12 houses!? And here I was worrying about one. Like always, I just can’t picture what being filthy rich is like.

“Hmm. I don’t want to overstep my boundaries, Oliver, but please let me give you some advice from someone who has been living with three women for the last 10 years. I think that, regardless of your abilities, the magic will wear out eventually.” Luke blinked. “I mean the honeymoon phase, not the actual magic. I’m sure you will all be excited to be living together at first, but soon everyone’s presence will be normalized. That’s the real test of your relationship, and I believe the key to success here is a good balance of group-time and alone-time.”

I nodded for him to continue. Whether his advice was useful or applied to us or not, I’d be a fool not to listen to someone with more experience than me.

“Have spaces for everyone to have time to themselves, then gather in the common spaces later in the day. I can only imagine the challenges a big group like yours poses, but everyone needs time to themselves once in a while.”

I let that sink in. To a point, I think that sharing every aspect of life with each other is what it means to live together or get married. At least, in my years, I’ve seen that couples that do everything together stay together longer than couples who go their own ways and get together every so often. I suppose that might be anecdotal evidence, but even if it was true, my relationship with the girls was different.

We were seven people. Not counting Diana for obvious reasons, I saw the others at school five days a week, but not every weekend. We had privacy and time away from each other at our homes, and as they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Maybe part of why our relationship worked was that we didn’t see each other all day every day? It made us look forward to the moments we did. But then again… I loved being with all the girls, even if we weren’t doing anything special. hanging out with them didn’t exhaust me like talking to other people did. Was that the balance Luke was talking about? If so, maybe he had a point, maybe having personal spaces even in our own house would be beneficial.

“That would mean… building a house from scratch,” I muttered.

“I said I would help, didn’t I? I can introduce you to the team that built this very hotel. Extremely talented workers that make quality and speed their greatest selling point. Tell their architect your requests and he’ll draw you a perfect plan. With what you’ll earn working with me, you’ll be able to afford them and the house. Ah, you’ll need to buy a plot, too. Hmm. Where are you planning to live? In this city?”

“Ideally, yes.”

“A house that big would need to be on the outskirts… There’s not much space left in the residential districts. The price of the land around here is…” Luke went quiet for a moment as he made all the calculations in his head. When he was done, he smiled. “Yes, this is more than doable. You could have your own house in the next two months, Oliver.”

My jaw dropped.

Two months? My own house in two months?

…

Suddenly, something that was little more than an idea and a wish was starting to feel real.