RISE OF EROS

While all this was happening, Andrew, Oliver, and Castor arrived at Star City. Unlike the other cities in this world, this city did not have a wall to surround and protect it.

This city was initially founded by the barbarians and since they live outdoors in the desert, they are not very good at construction, since they are a nomadic race and live in tents.

In the beginning, this was not a city, but a space where the barbarians met with the dwarves and elves of the mountain ranges to exchange goods. In short, it was a large market, but little by little it evolved and became this city.

Since the barbarians are not good at construction, they ask the dwarves to help them with the construction, so although the barbarians are the dominant race in this place, the dwarves also have a special prestige.

Although this city is not run like other cities, it is still under the control of the barbarians, but no one in this place can be underestimated and that was what Oliver was reminding Andrew and Castor again.

Although his warnings were annoying for the other two, Oliver did not skimp on reminding them, since he lived it from his own experience. This city, although it has laws and even guards that deal with the problems in the city, is no different from a nest of criminals.

Once they entered the city, Oliver guided them to an inn that didn't look attractive at all, but since he was the one who knew the place, they just followed his example. It turns out that the external appearance of the inn had nothing to do with its interior.

While it wasn't the most luxurious inn, it was comfortable and cozy, not to mention not very expensive. Quickly, they rented rooms and went up to them to rest from the long trip.

After a bath and a short nap, the three of them went down to the dining room to have dinner. They ate large quantities drank a few mouthfuls of wine, and went back to their rooms.

However, this time, they did not go to their respective rooms, but instead they all entered Andrew's room because they had to talk. Once in the room, Andrew began by asking, "So, what do we do now?"

"Young master, setting up a business in this place is not much different from other places. Although there is no merchants guild, you just have to go to the town hall and buy a place in the red light district and then register it there," Oliver responded.

"I see. Do you have any idea about the prices and stuff?" Andrew continued to ask and Oliver responded, "I don't know the exact amounts, but I understand that the fees and taxes in this place are more expensive."

Upon hearing this, Castor got into the conversation, "Where do the taxes go, anyway? You have always said that this city is dangerous, so they don't go to safety."

This chapter upload first at NovelUsb.Com

Oliver smiled bitterly and replied, "Well, taxes are nothing more than profits for the governor of this place. As you say, security is only for some with connections and money and the infrastructure arrangements are minimal, so yes, the barbarians pocket those taxes."

Castor and Andrew couldn't believe their ears. They knew that any government is corrupt to some extent, but they had never met one so brazen as to steal all the taxes and do nothing for the city's people.

"I don't understand, how has this city survived?" Castor asked in surprise and Oliver replied again, "Well, this city has a guardian deity," to which Andrew and Castor repeated at the same time, "Guardian deity?"

"Yeah. I don't know the details well, but I once heard that one of the most powerful demigod-level experts of the barbarian race lives, controls, and protects this place."

Andrew and Castor were surprised, but after talking for a bit, they dropped the topic and focused on what they needed to do. They quickly made plans to go to the city's red light district the next day to evaluate how everything was operating.

After discussing various topics, everyone returned to their room and slept until the next day. Since Andrew and Castor wanted to see what the city was like, they went out to explore it under Oliver's guidance.

Although Oliver had told them many things about the city, stories were one thing, and seeing it with your own eyes was another. Also, all of Oliver's stories were from about a decade ago, so many were outdated.

Since there were only the three of them, they couldn't investigate everything. They just limited themselves to seeing the city and its normal day-to-day operations. Andrew and Castor kept being surprised by how similar it was to the other cities they knew.

Find exclusive stories on empire

While Oliver had sold the idea that this city was dangerous, so far they had only seen that it was no different than other cities. Despite that, they did not let their guard down.

They were not stupid enough to believe that from the little they had seen, Oliver's warnings should be ignored and fortunately, they were careful because, in less than 2 hours, they had tried to rob them 3 times.

The famous pickpockets abounded in this place and were mostly humans since any other race would be too suspicious. The point is that these thieves chose the wrong enemies since all three of them are experts, so they wouldn't be robbed so easily.

What they didn't know was that these 3 thieves belonged to the same group and having defeated them, raised the anger of this group, so, on the way back to the inn, Andrew, Oliver, and Castor noticed that they were being followed.

Thanks to their strength, they were able to discover those who were following them, and seeing that there were not many of them and they were not very strong, they simply entered a lonely alley to fight them.

Like the typical thugs in any marginal neighborhood, about 15 robust men appeared, carrying weapons and with menacing looks. The one who looked like the leader said with an evil smile, "Do you know what you did? If you want to live, give me the money."

Andrew couldn't help but sigh when he heard the stupid line of a third-rate thug and taking a step forward he said, "Oliver, Castor, don't intervene, I'll take care of it myself."

Although these two nodded in understanding, they would not take risks. It's true that with Andrew's strength, defeating these guys shouldn't be a problem, but Oliver and Castor didn't let their guard down, to avoid any chance of Andrew getting hurt.

Fortunately, nothing extraordinary happened and Andrew was able to defeat all the assailants with relative ease. In fact, he could have subdued them with his aura alone, but Andrew wanted to fight, as it served as his training.

After that incident, no other mishap occurred, so the three returned to the inn and after a light dinner, they went out again, as they were going to inspect the red light district.

Unexpectedly, the red light district of this city was not as large as that of the capital cities of the Cannaris Empire and the Dunnas Kingdom, but it was still not small.

Its operation was no different from the red light districts they already knew, but they did notice that the atmosphere was much more lively. Perhaps it was because different races could be seen walking on the streets and serving inside the establishments.

There are brothels aimed at men and women, although the former are more numerous and the liveliness felt was greater than any of the other places Andrew and the others had visited.

This surprised them a little, especially seeing brothels where elves offer sexual services since it is known that this race is quite prideful. Furthermore, the elves that could be seen in the city are the forest elves, which are not so different from the light elves, the color of their eyes and hair changes are some of the differences.

Light elves have porcelain white skin, and golden hair, as well as their eyes, and are experts in the use of light magic and archery. For their part, the forest elves also have white skin, but the color of their hair and eyes are green and their specialty is plant magic and archery.

Like all elven ethnicities, their pointed ears are what identify them. After touring the red light district for a few hours, they returned to the inn to rest.

Although they wanted to try the services of some establishments, to see what they were like, Oliver had already committed himself, through the lovers' ritual, to only being with Marie, so he could not participate in these acts.

On the other hand, Andrew was afraid of what his wives would do to him when they found out, so he decided not to take the risk. Since Castor didn't want to go alone, they simply returned to rest.

The next morning, Andrew, Oliver, and Castor didn't waste any time and after breakfast, they went to the town hall to see if they could find a property they could buy and honestly, it wasn't difficult to find one, because this city was always expanding, so there was always land and establishments available.

Without delay, Andrew bought a 3-story building in a good area of the red light district that had a similar layout to his Heavenly Palaces. The only thing that bothered him was when he made the payment and registration because it was too expensive and this without mentioning what he would have to pay in taxes.

At that moment he understood, that the barbarians who run this city are just thieves in disguise.