A week later, after Kars had forcefully recruited Elsa and Ghislaine to his service, which ended up becoming quite a gossip in the city and a concern for the council members, alas, no one was willing to be the first to raise a question against the uncrowned underworld boss of Jinkai, so they could only grumble quietly to themselves.
At the present, inside the manager's office of the Blood Fund in the morning, Sophia could be seen sorting through the stack of paperwork behind her desk as she glanced at her recently assigned bodyguard, the Sword King Ghislaine, who was slouching on the couch with her eyes closed.
"You still put up a resistance, right?" Sophia organized the documents into a neat pile as she asked while staring at the feline woman with a slightly suspicious look.
"...I am." Ghislaine opened her eye and replied curtly as she glanced at Kars' concubine with an annoyed look, since it's always these kinds of things that seem to be coming out of this woman's mouth. It's honestly making the feline woman consider doing the opposite just for spite.
As for how this dynamic came to be, it's because Sophia had heard from Siesta about how the feline woman barely resisted her wild instinct and managed to escape from Kars' grasp when she first arrived, so now Sophia has been encouraging Ghislaine to try her best to keep resisting Kars' advances since then.
"Mmh, good, good..." Sophia nodded with a satisfied expression after hearing that, but she would still make sure to remind the feline woman again in the evening just to be through. "I hope you carry this attitude through your time of service, Miss Ghislaine."
"..." Ghislaine wondered if she should have just mated with Kars since this woman is being quite frankly annoying, but thinking back to how she kept avoiding Kars for the past week as he tried to subtly molest her many times, Ghislaine is very reluctant to entertain the idea since she feels like she would lose to him or something.
"If Kars is being too forceful, you can reject him harshly. Do you understand?" Sophia crossed her arms on top of her desk as she reminded the feline woman that she is not an actual slave that can't refuse orders. "That man will not get angry even if you do, but you shouldn't go too far since you will end up provoking him to attack instead..."
"Right..." Ghislaine wanted to sigh as Sophia started her sermon on how to handle the encounter with her hubby again for the second time today. She now slightly envied Elsa, who already did it with Kars and was spared from this headache.
The assassin, on the other hand, is having a much easier time compared to the feline woman with her superpower of shamelessness, as Elsa is doing the complete opposite of Ghislaine and keeps throwing herself at Kars without caring about his concubine's opinion.
This frustrated Sophia to no end, but she can't do anything about it other than make her displeasure known to Kars, who would just ignore her complaint and molest her instead.
Well, Sophia doesn't mind that he did molest her, though...
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"Boss, welcome!" The foreman in charge of the Kolosseum construction greeted Kars in a hurry with a nervous sweat running down his forehead as Kars walked into the construction site with Mei Mei beside him.
"Mm, how's it going?" Kars nodded to the foreman as he looked up at the magnificent structure that was almost complete with appreciation since it looks just like the one back on his world but 25% bigger and with a more fancy architecture style.
"Ah, yes, the construction progress is roughly 95% done! We only need to clean up and fill the place with decorations and furniture, so I think everything should be ready by the next week, Boss!" The foreman reported before he secretly sighed with relief since everything was going smoothly.
"Yeah, you guys did good, and tell everyone that they can look forward to the bonus." Kars said with a small smile as he looked back to the foreman, who smiled wide with happiness after hearing that he was going to get pay more.
"Thank you, Boss! I'll tell everyone of your generosity!" The foreman laughed heartily as Kars and Mei Mei walked past him to the Kolosseum, while the foreman skipped back to his tent, already feeling richer than before.
"Your project is coming along nicely, I see." Mei Mei looked around the vast hallway of stone and marble, her narrowed purple eyes calculating the potential revenue such a venue could generate and finding her answer optimistic. She held her chin with her fingers, a small smile on her cherry-red lips as she leaned closer to Kars. "The anticipation in the city is high as people are very curious about your fighting arena, Mr. Kars."
"I'm sure they're going to love it since there's not much entertainment around here." Kars hummed as both of them stepped onto the main arena floor, the sound of their boots echoing against the polished stone while the air still smelled faintly of mortar and sawdust.
Kars looked up at the tiers of seating, imagining the thousands of spectators filling those gaps, their screams of excitement blending into a singular roar as the fighters desperately tried to defeat their opponents on the sandy ground.
"Mmmmn, just imagine how many coins can be generated here... it's already making my heart race..." Mei Mei murmured with a little blush as her gaze drifted toward the VIP boxes where the wealthy people would soon be perched and spend their gold to fill her—no, she meant their pockets. She then shifted her position closer to Kars, her hip brushing against him as she looked up at him with a glimmer of greed and appreciation. "The ticketing and merchandise alone could fund us for a long time, and that doesn't even count the betting... ahh, what a money-printing machine you created."
"Mm, the true value of this business is not only this Kolosseum itself but the lands near it as well," Kars revealed, his voice echoing in the open space as he already imagined the lands around the Kolosseum would soon sprout several inns, shops, and many facilities to take advantage of the new traffic of people. "The venue is the heart, and the veins are the businesses that we will take full control of before anyone else could. The food, the drink, and the place to rest... the council won't even be able to do anything when they realize they have lost the opportunity since they are only focusing on the Kolosseum itself."
"Hmm, such insight." Mei Mei let out a soft hum as she appreciated Kars' foresight to take advantage of everything that could generate something of value that would benefit them.
"By the way, I heard your recent recruits are quite the talk of the town," Mei Mei added, her voice trailing off with a playful tone while she cast a sidelong glance at him, her eyes shimmering with curiosity. "The Sword King and the Bowel Hunter. The city is buzzing with rumors about how you managed to tame them. I wonder if they are actually tame or if you are just playing a dangerous game of rearing a viper..."
"Heh, I do count on their defiance at first, but it seems they are not that stupid," Kars answered with a smirk on his lips as he walked toward the center of the pit, where the sand was already being leveled by a few remaining workers. "The Sword King is a proud and surprisingly chivalrous woman. That feline woman won't cause trouble as long as I don't make her do something she hates. As for the assassin, she is simply a lunatic, and apparently she has decided that being the hunter in my bed was more fun than wandering around for her next prey..."
"Oh my, you sure know how to keep women 'chained up,' don't you?" Mei Mei chuckled as she stepped even closer to him, with her shoulder rubbing against his as they walked through the center of the pit. "I wonder if I am going to be 'chained up' by you any time soon?"
"Haha, we'll see..." Kars laughed while he glanced at her with a smirk before he wrapped his arm around her shoulders intimately as they reached the edge of the arena where another gate was located.
The two of them left the building while looking forward to the open day of the Kolosseum, thinking of how the people of Jinkai would react to the first fight inside the arena with anticipation.
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Meanwhile, in the living room of Kars' mansion, there's an odd scene currently happening as Elsa is sitting elegantly on the couch with a serene expression while Kruri is lying on top of the assassin's lap with her cheek pressed against Elsa's thighs.
The two of them had met in the hallway without any other person present with them for the first time, and arbitrarily, the smaller girl decided to get to know the assassin better as she followed Elsa around like a little duckling, much to the bewilderment of the woman.
"Will you be my mommy?" Kruri suddenly asked as she looked up at Elsa with an innocent curiosity. The two of them have some familiar features that can pass as a relative, so the dupe girl was quite enthusiastic about the idea.
"Mmmnnh~? Maybe~?" Elsa glanced down at the strange girl on her lap with an amused smile, but on the inside she was quite confused with this girl who was deciding to stick close to her today and even wanted her to be her mother for some reason.
"Is that a yes~?" Kruri asked, her voice spoiling sweet as she blinked her wide, purple eyes before she shifted her body to snuggle close into Elsa's lap as if a snake coiling around its prey.
"Oh my, I don't think so~?" Elsa let out a soft giggle, but her fingers subconsciously reached down to brush a stray lock of black hair from the girl's forehead. The assassin felt a strange, unfamiliar maternal warmth blooming in her chest as she interacted with Kruri. There was something about the girl that appealed to her. "I think your actual mother wouldn't appreciate me stealing you away, and besides, being a mommy sounds like a lot of work for me."
"Nuh uh, I don't have a mommy, and since you and Daddy already fucked, you can just be my mommy." Kruri declared with a shrewd smile, her cute face clashing violently with the bluntness of her words.
"Eh, ah—ahahahaha...!" Elsa froze for a heartbeat as her gentle expression turned into a look of genuine surprise before she burst into a fit of laughter. She leaned back against the plush fabric of the couch, her chest heaving as she looked down at the girl with renewed interest. "You certainly have a way with words... I suppose that makes us a family of sorts, doesn't it?"
"That's right. Spoiling me, you should." Kruri smirked slightly as she rolled over on Elsa's lap before she looked up at the assassin with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Since you're my mommy now, you have to gift me things... like snacks, toys, and whatever. Daddy and the others always denied my right of being spoiled, you know?"
"I could see now why they don't spoil you..." Elsa murmured as she glanced down at the Kruri with narrowed eyes, but she couldn't hide her fondness for the girl. Elsa then shifted their position as she pulled Kruri to sit on her lap, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her close. "But since you have bestowed me the title of mommy, I suppose it would be in your best interest to help your mommy get close with your daddy, right?"
"Mmh? Oh, you mean you want me to help you get more attention from Daddy? I can do that... for a price." Kruri tilted her head with a blink before she understood what Elsa wanted as she made an exaggerated nod, already calculating the cost and the reward of her cooperation as she leaned lazily against Elsa's body.
"I like the way you think, little one. We shall make a deal." Elsa smiled, a cunning glint entering her eyes that mirrored the dupe girl's own shrewdness as she let the girl's head rest against her large chest. "You help me out, and I will make sure to spoil you with the finest sweets and trinkets the market can offer..."
"Mm, deal..." Kruri purred with a look of pure satisfaction, as she could already imagine their future success in their collaborations. "You are the best mommy ever, Mommy."
÷×÷×÷×÷×÷
"What is this...?" Juri, who was peeking at them outside the living room, mumbled with a strange expression, as she didn't know how to feel seeing the unholy ally that just formed between Elsa and Kruri...