Chapter 149: Tomorrow

Senar

“…Kass is better than Alemeri; the depth he could give to his character is much better than Alemeri. On the other hand, Kass is better at developing the world around his characters.” I said to the blond man in his early forties.

We are sitting in a busy hall, where people could be seen talking and laughing at every table.

Though it is busy, it didn’t feel crowded. Despite the number of people doubling in the hall, everything is running smoothly.

It is all practice, as Madam Margaux says.

I still remember, when we first started, things were not smooth. While no server had tripped, there was not this smoothness in working that could be felt now.

“I disagree. Alemiri’s characters had more depth than Kas”

Clap!

He was just talking when suddenly, a loud clap rang out through the hall; signaling the end.

“It had been a pleasure, miss Senar,” said the blond man and kissed the back of my hand, which flushed my cheeks. Even after the weeks, I couldn’t get used to the gesture.

“Likewise, Carl,” I replied.

He smiled and walked away with the rest of the actors; I watched him leave and turned to Master Silver, who was talking with the acting company’s leader. With Madam Carla and Madam Margaux on his sides.

Behind them are three assistant madams standing behind him; I heard they will work, despite their elevation.

It is not surprising; I had heard about the money the three of them make. Especially Lola, who is the top earner. When I heard how much she makes, I couldn’t really believe it.

It is not from the hours she makes it but from the gifts. She received many gifts; I saw the necklace she received two weeks ago; it was beautiful.

The girls said it costs over a hundred thousand crowns.

Tomorrow we will debut, and I am excited as I am nervous. I will finally be able to earn money and I hope I do, but I still fear, I might not be able to. People will see me and think of me as an abomination.

Like they did in the Owlspring.

Elah said it will not happen, but I still worry despite the big changes that had happened to me.

“The practice is over,” he said before his expression turned serious.

“Tomorrow, you all will debut and it will be defining moment of your lives. A step toward a better life, but remember, there is always a choice.”

“Whether you want to work. Whether you want to do certain things, a patron asked you.”

“The choice is yours,” he said, looking at all of us in the eye.

For a moment, there was silence, before the loud claps rang out. I found tears pouring out of my eyes and I am not the only one who had it; nearly everyone had it.

As these words were not a lie to inspire them. So, they would work themselves to death for the establishment.

They have a choice. She had seen from her very eyes.

When Ginna didn’t want to go back to the rooms with the patron, she said it directly.

It had made the patrons angry, and he tried to force her, but less than a minute later, they arrived with Madam Margaux and escorted the man out, and banned him from the establishment.

It had happened many times and all the time. The patrons have been escorted out and banned.

Master Silver left with Madam Carla, while Madam Margaux turned to us with a smile. “You have done very good girls, I am proud of you all,” she said, looking at all of us.

“Now return to changing rooms and rest. Tomorrow is a big day for you all,” she added.

I got up and walked out of the hall toward the changing room, assigned to my group. Usually, we change in the studio, but changes happening to it; I heard they are making it even bigger.

“Senar,” said a familiar woman, and a second later, she appeared beside her. “Dina,” I said to the ginger-haired woman, who is shorter than me, but seemed to contain all the energy of the world.

She is a new girl like me and my roommate.

“Have you seen the new dresses?” she asked excitedly. “I have not,” I replied. I heard they arrived yesterday, but they are very secretive about them.

“Well, I have been able to catch a glimpse of some earlier, and let me tell you, they are amazing!” she said, bubbling with such excitement. That, I feared, she might start to bounce off.

The dresses they are wearing now are amazing; far beyond something she had dreamed of wearing, but she heard the new dresses were even better than this, and with Dina’s words, it seemed to be right.

“Really?” I asked, and Dina nodded excitedly. “Yes. They are something out of the dream,” she replied swooningly.

“I heard they are amazing too; Lenore had high praises for them,” said Mina, the beautiful brunette and one of the girls I admire the most; especially her hair, they are wonderful.

She is from the first batch and even interviewed for the position of assistant madam.

She was also at Level 20 and had her own personal room.

“I really wish I could see them for more than a few seconds,” said Dina and sighed, which brought a melodic laugh from Mina and a hint of jealousy from my heart.

I wish I could laugh like that. I have taken lessons and could never seem to get well as some girls.

Mina is the best of all.

“You only need to wait for the day, girls. Tomorrow, we will see our new dresses and amazing things Sister Carla and Eudo had brought from Namdar,” she said with a smile and turn to her changing room.

“I wish I could go to the Namdar. I heard it is a beautiful city, with the sea surrounding it,” said Dina, with a dreamy look in her eyes.

“Well, you should have been part of the first or second batch, then. They get all opportunities,” snipe Avina as she walked past us.

Dina sighed again and with her, me.

It is the truth, the first and second batches of girls receive the most opportunities. Which is not surprising. They were first, and it is said, Master Silver knew them before coming here.

Aside from them, only sister Caena had the favor of Master Silver. Well, she is a healer.

Soon, they have reached the room, where some girls already getting out of their beautiful clothes.

There are two young girls present in the room Elah and Lorena, who are taking the clothes and jewelry from us and folding it carefully before giving us our own clothes.

I smiled at the young girl, who is trying to get as many jobs as possible.

There is fierce competition for them; even I get scared, seeing the intensity with which these young girls compete with each other for the little jobs.

I removed all my clothes and took and took my old dress from Elah and wore it, before walking out of the room with Dina.

Soon, we were in our room, on our beds.

I closed my eyes, and an interface appeared in front of me; I still can’t believe it. I was able to advance so much in a few months. Especially in base class, when I didn’t work.

When I came here on the first day. I had heard about the fast level up, but not truly believed it till I had experienced it myself.

I have leveled up twice in my base class; I was a little confused. Since I didn’t work, and it is common knowledge, that only by working in the trade, one will level up.

Thankfully, Madam Margaux had cleared my confusion.

She said, what we are learning is for our trade and thus making progress in it and our class had awarded those efforts with the levels.

I have got two attribute points from level up, and I have used them on charm, as Madam Margaux had suggested.

I also gained the class and even got two skills; both of them very useful. Especially Quote.

When Madam Margaux got to know about it, she brought me a special teacher. He trained me to use this skill in the right settings; he said, it is the best skill that will make one seen cultured and learned.

“From tomorrow, we are going to work,” said Dina, in an unexpectedly calm voice. “Yes,” I replied, as I opened my eyes.

“I am a little nervous,” she said. “Me too,” I replied, after a few seconds of silence.

“I want money. I want to earn so much that when I leave after my contracts expire. I could live off it for the rest of my life,” said Dina.

“I don’t think you are going to have a problem with that,” I said. I have seen how much the girls earn. Even if she earns one of the lowest, she will still have enough to live the rest of her life in comfort.

Not to mention, she is learning the trade that will help her. She is training to be a spa therapist.

I had heard Miss Maeve praising her, even saying. If she keeps improving at this speed, she will let her work on the girls in a few months.

She already got a class for it and if she earns levels in it, by the time she leaves. Then, even without the money, she will be fine.

Unlike her, what I had chosen was not that good. I tried many things, but nothing seemed to interest me, and returned to it. Thankfully, Master Silver and Madam Margaux excepted it.

I have chosen art, literature to be specific. It is interesting, but not enough. Still, it is something I am good at, and even the teacher praised me, for my insight to see what others couldn’t.

I even got the class for it and earned three.

A few minutes passed when Dina got from the bed. “Where are going?” I asked. “I am going to the spa,” she replied.

Her reply is surprising me. As today is a break. Even the establishment had closed for a day.

The spa is also closed for today, seeing they have already finished with treatments and everything they needed for their debut. Thus, the break, to rest before we start working tomorrow.

“Isn’t it closed?” I asked, and she nodded.

“It is, but Miss Rona had said she will teach me when I asked yesterday,” she replied, and I could see she was very excited about it.

She waved and left.

I watched the door closed, before picking up the book. It is one of the books the teacher asked me to read and write a short thesis; I finished the four other books and this one last.

I begin to read it and enjoyed it, but there is no deep passion as I had seen in Dina has messages and many others for their things.

I wished I had found the true purpose.

I am worried about it, but not too much. I know, as long as I keep trying things, I will find it eventually.

What I am worried about most is tomorrow.

I am orc blood; one-sixth of it runs my veins, and it shows, if one looked clearly at me.

The spa treatments, hair treatments, and other treatments had brought an enormous change to me physically, but they didn’t hide the orc blood features. They had enhanced it like they enhanced my human feature.

They didn’t want to change me. They wanted to enhance the beauty; I already have.

I had never considered myself beautiful, nor had I heard it from anyone, but since I had come here, I had heard it hundreds of times.

It gives me hope, but most of the time, I feel dread. Fearing, I will hear the same insults I had been hearing since my childhood.

I pushed those thoughts away and focused on the book.

Tomorrow is the test. I will either soar in the sky with hope and happiness or will be buried in the ground with dread and helplessness.