For the third time ihay four hours, Natalie was murdered by a dungeon monster.

  She was being rather desensitized to the whole process, to be ho. Sure, feeling a bde gh her neck was definitely odd, but if there was anything she was good at, it ting to violence. Kinda the erstone of her career. Magical death and resurre was just a spicy variation of it.

  She rematerialized in the ter of the Arena, whole and uninjured. Orienting to her sudden ge in positio smming, but healthy and energized—she pced a hand absently on her neck as the exit gate swung open. In previous runs, there had been a stake to plete before she could leave. Not this time.

  Because the stake she'd accepted assive effect. For the wenty four hours, anything she wore would be invisible to people she sidered acquaintances.

  Oh dear. Maybe she should've gone for the three-heart stake. The vibration one. Or even the—

  Well. No. That one would've been too much. And the four-heart stake paid better thahree. So it was the obvious choice.

  Her heart skipped a beat imagining her meeting with Vaa, who she would be heading to shortly. She'd promised—well, not promised, but suggested—to show up and, ah, patron her. If she was ied. And since she wasn't sure how long she had before the assig reset came, she o get there expeditiously.

  The stake's effect worked ooo, Natalie discovered. Looking down, she was o her own eyes. She felt the metal of her armor cradling her body, but visually, there was nothing. It was iing; she felt her chest, sliding fingers across the metal and the invisible force-field that prevented her from toug skin to skin. The armor was there, but she couldn't see it. Like any of her teammates wouldn't be able to.

  Hm. Expnations were going to be awkward. Better than having to—deal with that five-heart stake, though.

  At least it wasn't real exhibitionism. While her cheeks colored as she strode out onto the streets—which were filled with people, the 'daytime' cycle having arrived—nobody gave her a sed look, despite appearing o her own eyes.

  That wasirely true. Some people did give her a sed look. But no one saw a nude woman walking around; they just appreciated her stily as they had previously. Which was to say, she was more than aware of the ogling, since her armor was revealing, and she knew her body was easy to appreciate. But nobody was gawking as if a woman was striding naked dowreet. Especially oh extra equipmeween her legs.

  She tracked down the Bordello. It was aablishment with a gaudy exterior made of the same marble as the rest of the city, but with a lot of decorative features. It wasn't nearly as rge as the Coliseum, Arena, or Pace. Of the primary buildings, it was the smallest, and it was tucked off to the side of the city ter, away from everything else.

  Walking inside, she was hit with the pleasant but overp sts of perfume—no doubt to mask all the other smells that came naturally to su establishment. Fitting the trend, there was an automaton servig a receptionist desk.

  There was a clear sightline deeper into the Bordello. A dang stage with plush sofas and chairs hosting ts caught Natalie's eyes in particur. And there were ts—lots of them. Plenty of people had accepted their Bordello assig for the day, it seemed, and even more had e to participate. Natalie fought a flush from creeping up her neck. While she had plenty of sexual experience, bordellos and their like weren't included on that list. She'd been in red-light districts … twice? And just passing through out of curiosity.

  "Hello, miss," the automatoed. "Here for a show, or a private enter?"

  "I'm, uh, here for a friend."

  "Of course!" came the chipper reply. She shared a knowing look with Natalie, and she almost opened her mouth to say 'it's not like that'—but it was. Literally. She'd e here looking for Vaa so that they could … she didn't know what yet. But not have a friendly versation. "he automaton asked.

  "Vaa. Vaa—I don't actually know her st name."

  "No problem, miss. If you take a seat, we send her down to you."

  "Great. Um. Thank you?"

  "My pleasure!" She beamed at Natalie. "The entry fee is five tokens."

  She unbuckled her poud scooped them out. "That's just for entry, right? How's payment work for—services rendered?" Natalie realized she was being awkward, but she was out of her element.

  "Our fine men and womeheir own prices," the automaton said, tone chipper. "Tips are enced for public shows—please be siderate of their hard work and show your support." Her expression turned apologetic. "And nuisances will be escorted off the premises, or worse. Keep your hands to yourself unless you have permission. And, of course, in the private rooms, rules are set by the workers. We have a zero tolerance poli that regard."

  The warnings set Natalie at ease. Like the rest of the City, there were basic decy rules in pce. "Uood."

  "Be right back, then, miss. Feel free to take a seat and enjoy the show in the meantime."

  With the automaton scurrying off to fetch Vaa from who knew where, Natalie tentatively walked inside, curious despite herself. The Bordello was dimly lit and smelled strongly of jasmine, vender, vanil—other perfumes, all mixing together and fogging her head. Her attention gravitated to the show oage. There was one girl up there, though scattered throughout the spacious first-floor lounge were a number of men and women giving their, ah, affes to various ts. Nothing too lewd; p dances, mostly, and clothed o that … if stily dressed, 'clothed' in only a nominal sense for some of them.

  Acacia's brief overview of the Bordello had described how the atmosphere became more sdalous the higher a person asded the Bordello, and Natalie was only on the first floor. She had no doubt there were far more bawdy things happening in the lounges above. Not to mention the private rooms.

  There was music pying from a presumably magical source, distragly loud, masking the noises ing from the higher floors. Since she assumed there did have to be noises ing from above. She almost thought if she strained her ears, she could hear the moaning and creaking of bed frames. Maybe it was in her head though.

  Natalie settled into a free chair a safe distance from the stage, eyes trag the rhythmig of the blonde woman on stage. People were tossing or flig Tokens of Eros to ence her impressive use of the metal pole installed into the ter of the stage. It wasn't all that unusual of a sight, Natalie knew, for simir establishments back at Aradon. But again, she had little experien such things, so she was somewhat enraptured by the dispy. The woman really knew how to dance. She had to have do before.

  "Don't stare too hard, Natalie," a dry voice said. "Your eyes'll fall out."

  Natalie twitched, attention flig to the source. It was, of course, Vaa, who had beeched quicker than she'd expected.

  Her mouth was already opening in a retort—but it froze ihroat when she saw what the irl was wearing. Gone was her servative leather armor: she was dressed in a flimsy see-through dress and cy bdergarments. Lingerie, the showy sort, though they kept her modesty in a strict sense.

  Gray eyes slid away from Natalie after a few seds of speechlessness. A ha up to cover her chest, even if nothing was teically showing.

  "S-Shut up. Say anything about it, and I'll kill you," she growled. "It's part of the assig. And you're oo talk. You wanna tell me why you're sitting there naked?"