An Immortal's Retirement: To Achieve Peace [Volume One Finished]

Mackie quickly learned one thing about Cultivator Town, and that was that he didn't exist.

Not like a person should. A lot of these cultivators were decent, some of them could even be called nice, but most just looked through him.

The mortals here were still almost nothing to them. Yes they couldn't be harmed but that was because of the immortal. The mortals themselves were nothing more than protected beasts, pets of an immortal.

He had seen this out in the regions. Some mortals were favored by cultivators. Concubines, servants, some families dedicated themselves to waiting upon cultivators and got high respect among mortals for it.

And cultivators would see those mortals as nothing more than mere possessions of another cultivator, and that's what he was here.

Mackie shrugged. In his experience, there were two things that cultivators respected, one was power and the other was power in a more liquid form, otherwise known as resources.

Another reason to pursue wealth.

He headed into the biggest building there was, which in this case was a brothel.

"Hold on," said a half dwarf lady. "You a married man? Because if you are, you have to bring your wife in to approve. Last time we let a married man in here, the wife threatened to kill him with a branding iron. And she would have to if we didn't stop her."

"Uh, no. I'm not a married man, I was simply hoping to talk to the person in charge of your finances if possible."

"Why?"

"Curiosity!" Mackie replied. "I'd love to invest here if at all possible. And I could help you attract more customers and increase revenue but that's if we come to some kind of agreement. If not, I completely understand!"

"We're not looking for any of that right now Mister…?"

"Mackie, Mackie Vest."

"Vest? I know a Vest."

"Yes, its an old family here in the village. I'm Medin's cousin, if you knew her."

"Yes, I remember her. Well, sir, if you're not here to buy then I'm afraid we can't help you."

"I'll buy," Mackie smiled.

"You will?"

"Yes. What are the prices?"

"Well, prices range from person to person but generally the rank is important as well as the--"

"The lower the rank the less expensive the experience, yes?"

"Yes, and--"

"The more wanted the man or lady the more expensive they are?"

"Yes--"

"Do you have a menu? A portrait of every available person, perhaps? You know I went to a brothel in the Raging River's capital city, Floodscape City and they had a full page portrait of each person along with their personalities and specializations. Wouldn't cost much to get that done. I'm assuming you have specializations as well?"

"Specializations? Well we have people who can do things--"

"No, not just do things but enjoy doing things, you understand. Some want to push, others want to be pushed. The brothel in Floodscape City was called the Bursting Dam--"

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"You went into the Bursting Dam? I thought they only served cultivators there?"

"Yes, I visited not as a customer but as a supplier. You see I had some wonderful ointments straight from the Hidden Vipper and they were very eager to try them out. But that's besides the point. What I'm wondering is how are your sales? Your returns? Do you build profiles for your customers? Do you schedule? How about health? You should have at least a second rank alchemist here concocting cleansing pills and what not. What about cleaning? Fluids? Maybe three alchemists then. And how are the beds? The lighting? I'm sure you have a myriad of rooms available to the varying needs that people have."

Magney, the half dwarf, just stared at the man, eyebrow cocked and mind racing.

She was at the fourth rank. She had seen scammers, thieves, despicable merchants, and a myriad of inscrutable fellows.

"What are you on about?" She grumbled.

Madame Rose suddenly appeared from around the corner.

"Hello there Mister Vest. I've been listening in on your conversation, did you say you had been to the Bursting Dam?"

"Yes."

"And they did all these things?"

"Well not all of them. But yes, they did most of these things."

"Well, I know some of the people working there, but I wonder, how did you learn about all of this? It seems strange for you to know their inner workings while only being a seller to them, no?"

"Yes. Well, I did pay a bit for the information. I had a first rank fellow buy himself a night and ask one of the women about it."

Madame Rose's face tightened.

"Yes… but why?"

"Curiosity."

"Really?"

Mackie nodded and continued to inspect the place.

"Yes. Now I assume all the people here are willing? I don't think old Bill would allow anyone to be forced into this type of job."

"Oh, yes. Everyone is willing. Some leave, some come, but we never have a violent moment. I will make sure of it."

"Good, now do they have preferences?"

"Preferences? Well everyone is fairly capable of playing whatever role--"

Mackie shook his head.

"No ma'am--"

Madame Rose's eyes twinkled at that word.

"I mean preferences in terms of what they'd like to do. You see, if you create characters and roles that your people like, then you can market them better and have regular customers. And while I don't doubt your hygiene, if you had an alchemist here that could make a good gas disinfectant, then you could market yourself as the cleanest brothel in the region."

"I see, yes. But why? We're the only brothel within this town and I don't think--"

"Yes, but you aren't the only brothel within the region and I assure you, higher ranked men would come to see a brothel that had region wide renown. And with the soon to be bustling growth this town will see, its only a matter of time before a region wide opinion of this place is made. They might say, 'Oh the brothel in the Oasis Sect? Its nice, but it doesn't even have a name.' You have to get ahead of these kinds of things ma'am."

"Yes," Madame Rose said with a tinge of desire.

Magney couldn't believe her eyes. This man, this strange merchant man who came in and suddenly started giving them advice, had seemingly piqued the interest of Madame Rose, in more ways than he knew.

Madame Rose grabbed him with a look Magney had never seen before.

"Yes, I'm sure we can implement all of that, but what about you? You're compensated?"

"Well, what about ten percent of all new profits I bring in for half a year after the costs of renovations have been paid for?"

"Only?"

"Yes, well I would only be helping with the initial changes but you can probably keep things running afterwards?"

"Can I?"

"You're a fairly capable woman I think, why wouldn't you be able to do it?"

A small elf girl approached Magney.

"I don't believe it," She whispered.

"You think she's just trying to get him to lower his prices?"

"No, the price is fair, more than fair. He's underselling us because we're cultivators."

"But then why--"

"I mean look at her--"

"She looks lovestruck."

A small crowd gathered and watched as the merchant tried to negotiate a fair price, but the Madame seemed to want something more.

They kept talking for sometime and Madame Rose kept giving him the googly eyes. Eventually, a settlement was struck.

"Well then," Magney said to Madame Rose. "What was that about?"

"What? He's smart, understanding, and business oriented."

"Yeah, but if it was only that you would have gotten a merchant man ages ago. Dao knows most of them want you."

Madame Rose smiled.

"I'm not in the business much anymore and I suppose I'm just comfortable with the idea of love now. It was different back then."

Magney nodded. They were comfortable here, more comfortable than they had ever been.

"But why him? Why a mortal?"

Rose shrugged.

"He called me ma'am."

"And?"

"He meant it, Magney. He meant ma'am in that old respectful tone. He knows what I am and what I've done. You know how people see us, don't you?"

"Yeah, but surely--"

"It just felt nice to have to-- work for it, I suppose."

"Well that one is as blunt as an anvil about that stuff."

"Oh, yes. Maybe. But that's what makes it more fun!" Rose smiled.

Magney just watched as her old friend and boss headed back to her office.

"Love? For a lady of the night?"

They normally settled down with each other. Regardless of how much people wanted them, they rarely saw them as anything more than entertainment.

Magney shrugged. Love rarely made any sense, anyways.