“What do you mean…” Tinryss asked, frowning.
“First of all, how do you like the food and wine here?”
Hearing Lathel’s question, Tinryss confidently said: “It’s very delicious.” The chef here used to work in a high-end restaurant that catered to aristocrats.”
“Besides, the wine here is also a famous wine transported from a winemaking village 200 miles away.”
“All in all, this table of food is worth more than 100 gold coins, Duke Lathel.”
Lathel shook his head and smiled. He did not answer but took out a rather large ceramic vase from the system’s storage space.
He opened the lid, and the scent from the jar spread throughout the room, startling Tinryss.
Lathel poured some soup from the jar onto a plate, then pushed the plate towards Tinryss: “Try it!”
Tinryss frowned, looking at the plate of soup in front of her. Although it felt confusing, the scent emanating from it stimulated her appetite.
For the first time, she felt that her stomach was growling from the soup in front of her.
Tinryss used a spoon to gently scoop up a spoonful of soup and put it in her mouth. Just then… the taste seemed to explode inside her mouth, causing her eyes to widen.
Tinryss lowered her head to look at the plate of soup. The soup sparkled like a galaxy, and the chopped mushrooms and carrots sunk inside, making her feel that this plate of soup was a work of art.
She couldn’t control herself anymore and kept eating until the soup plate was empty.
“Well… is it good?”
Tinryss glanced at Lathel, nodded, and said: “Very delicious. Since the time I was born, I have never eaten any food as delicious as this.”
“How does it compare to the dishes your chef makes?”
Tinryss looked at the dishes on the table and sighed inwardly. At first, she felt these were the tastiest, most expensive dishes.
However, after eating Lathel’s soup, she felt that, compared to it, the dishes here were all like hay, without any flavour.
“There is no comparison.” Tinryss answered briefly, but it was enough to know how big the difference was between Lathel’s soup and the dishes here.
“Think about it… If this soup were sold here, what price would you set for it?”
Hearing that, Tinryss rubbed his chin, thought seriously, and said: “About 50 gold coins, no, maybe 70 gold coins.”
“Hahahaha…” Lathel laughed loudly: “If I said that… the ingredients to make this soup cost less than 2 gold coins, what would you think?”
“What?!” Tinryss frowned, and she immediately looked at the soup plate again.
In fact, there was nothing special on the soup plate—just a few mushrooms, apples, carrots, and a little meat.
“Do you want to cooperate with me on the soup business?” Tinryss raised her head to look at Lathel, and a bit of interest appeared in her eyes.
Lathel shook his head, then said: “Good! Let’s get to the main issue. I feel like you care a lot about the other prostitutes. You also know that they don’t have much time to do this job, right?”
Tinryss nodded, her eyes still fixed on Lathel.
Lathel continued: “Your business method is not bad, very good, but there is a problem… It seems that your business is only based on the bodies of the prostitutes here.”
Hearing that, Tinryss sighed. She wasn’t angry at all; she just said tiredly: “Even though this place has an extremely beautiful name, Spring Palace, Spring only comes to those with money.”
“Not all of the women here want to be prostitutes; they all have their own stories.”
“Some of them were young ladies of big families who were lost in war, raped, and then sold into this place.”
“There are some people who were once strong warriors but were cut off from magic, becoming normal people.”
“There are some people who were deceived and lost everything and think that this is the only place they can go.”
“Each person has a story; each person is suffering. Maybe there are some people who want to sell their bodies for a few gold coins…”
“But there are also some people who feel this is a dirty thing but still have to do it.”
“They want to die but don’t have the courage to die, so they continue to live as sex dolls to satisfy men.”
Listening to Tinryss, Lathel smiled: “So… I think you have to cooperate with me even more.”
“What do you mean, we will cooperate to sell this soup?” Tinryss smiled and said: “I admit this soup is very delicious and wonderful. But… a soup cannot save the lives of many girls here.”
“I sense your goodwill, Duke Lathel, and I respect you as well. If you let me run this soup business, I’ll take 40% of the profit while you take the remaining 60%, okay?”
Lathel laughed: “Pfff! Hahahaha… Tinryss, you misunderstood what I meant.”
“Hmm?!”
“This soup is just to let you know that I can change your entire way of doing business.”
“My way of doing business?” Tinryss said with some interest: “Good! If you give me and the girls here a better future, I am willing to be your woman.”
“You say a pig is an elephant, then I immediately recognise it as an elephant, without refuting or questioning.”
Tinryss smiled as she spoke, making Lathel’s heart beat harder.
‘Luckily, I was able to resist the bewitching magic; otherwise, I’m afraid I would have been bewitched by her.’
Lathel sighed, shook her head, and said: “I don’t need you to be my woman; I just need us to cooperate honestly and not betray each other.”
“Good! Tell me a bit about your business plan. If I feel it is reasonable and has potential, I will definitely cooperate with you.”
Lathel nodded, and he immediately stated his business plan. In this room, there seemed to be a new horizon for the courtesans of the Spring Palace.
After listening, Tinryss felt enlightened: “That’s great; your business plan is so great.”
“This is the first time I’ve heard of a business like this. Did you design this plan yourself or did someone else create it?”
Lathel frowned and said: “In fact, this kind of business method already exists; it’s just not so perfect.”
“I just researched and synthesised it for a more perfect result.”
Tinryss nodded: “You are very humble, Duke Lathel. Until now, I have never heard of any business method like you just mentioned.”
“But… I believe that this method will definitely succeed. However, there are some prostitutes who will definitely not accept this change.”
“They don’t have a choice.” Lathel shook his head and said: “If they just want to keep the traditional business method, they will be eliminated over time.”
“If you want to develop or have a good life in the future, you must accept change.”
“If they have accepted in their minds that they are just prostitutes, then no matter how much you help them, they will still be prostitutes.”
Hearing that, Tinryss immediately felt that Lathel was right. If you don’t have the will to strive, you will be eliminated by time and become trash.
No matter how much help they receive, it cannot make them try to overcome their fate.
In the end, all help will become foam, completely disappearing without any effect.
“You’re right.” Tinryss sighed and said: “Maybe we also need to change our business methods a bit.”
“Even though we have tried to limit our own profits so that people can have more money, we still cannot give them a good life.”
“You really are a good master, Tinryss.” Lathel said, smiling.
“After all, I am a Succubus; I understand very well everyone’s contempt for prostitutes and women like me.”
“But…”
Tinryss glanced at Lathel. Even though she said her identity, there was no contempt in his eyes.
His eyes were as clear as a lake in autumn, so quiet that the person looking into those eyes felt reassured.
“Ah! One more thing.” Lathel suddenly said: “If you agree to cooperate, you must accept one of my conditions.”
Tinryss nodded and said: “Do you mean profit sharing? The business plan is yours, so you get 60%; I get 40%, okay?”
Lathel shook her head: “I don’t need that much money; besides… I don’t want to talk about it either. My condition is… I need you to allow more than 150 Yordles to work here.”
“In particular, they will take on the job of chef in this place.”
“Hm?! Yordle? Are you telling the truth?” Tinryss asked somewhat puzzledly: “They are just a small, weak, and useless race.”
“If their heart is not as valuable as an elemental stone, then I cannot understand why God created them.”
Lathel shook her head and smiled: “You don’t know how much potential they have. They learn very quickly, even though they cannot cook delicious dishes like me, but at least they can recreate it by 50%.”
Yes, Lathel knew this thanks to the time during the second round, when he was inside the Yordles’ territory.
They were not as useless as people thought; on the contrary, they are people with extremely great simulation abilities.
Whether it was sculpting or cooking, as long as Lathel taught them a few times, they could imitate it extremely well.
Even because their heart is like an elemental stone, they can see the flow of natural energy.
Which makes it even easier for them to emulate Lathel’s cooking style.
Lathel also uses the method of combining the flow of energy within the cooking ingredients, so he can cook such delicious dishes.
However, they can only imitate Lathel by about 50%. The reason is because Lathel’s energy is so special, as it can stimulate the hidden potential of cooking ingredients.
Of course, Yordles can’t do that, but they can imitate Lathel’s 50%, which is more than enough.
Tinryss suddenly thought of something and smiled mysteriously. She nodded, stretched out her hand towards Lathel, and said: “Happy cooperation!”
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