Law of Family- Chapter 3 (Patreon)

Chapter 3- Investigation

The door led to a set of stairs which led into the upper floor of the brothel. I came out into a room that was empty. At least it seemed that way at first, but I had to search. My darkvision made it possible to search, but there was still a part of me which would have killed for a flashlight. That stray thought caused me to wonder if there was a way to do that with my KI. I send a little into my mind path and from there to my eyes, but instead of trying to affect the acuity of my vision, I tried to affect produce a light which would illuminate the room for me.

Mistake. Big mistake. Like idiot mistake. I was just glad that Josie wasn’t there to see that. I reeled and covered my eye with my arm reflexively as a throbbing headache settled in behind them. There was a flash of light and then things went entirely dark.

 Error: Your body does not possess the necessary organs for the production of light. Do you wish to attempt an evolution?

Note: This is strongly discouraged until at least B grade.

I snapped a big no to that. I needed to assume that Sativa or whoever set up these messages for me knew more about it than I did. Which wasn’t necessarily saying much since I was completely fumbling in the dark with regard to cultivation and my body core. Right now, though the dark was quite literal.

My eyes had tried to produce light from inside and that had caused pain, but it also messed with how my eyes worked. I cursed myself for a fool. Our eyes bring in light from the outside in order to see. I was certainly not an ophthalmologist or whatever they were called, but I knew that much. So even if I had been able to project light out of my eyes, I would have effectively blinded myself. As it was, my sight was slowly returning.

In the meantime, I enhanced my hearing in order to stay alert. Telepathy was worse than useless for trying to find a person in here. There were something like three dozen minds in here and the various activities they were engaged in sent telepathic ripples. I wasn’t even sure if I would be able to communicate with Josie with all this interference.

Not that I needed telepathy to know what she was up to. Even before enhancing my ears, I had heard the sounds of plates breaking, men screaming in pain and the sizzle of an occasional fireball. Josie must be having fun otherwise she would have really cut loose.

After thirty seconds my vision was back to normal, which was to say I could see about 80% as well in natural darkness as in light. I’d gotten greedy and tried to find another way. It was a good lesson to remember, no experiments outside of a controlled setting. I looked around the room.

There was a bed, a closet full of assorted women’s clothing. A nightstand with a half empty bottle of wine and two dirty glasses. The room had clearly been used recently and I was glad I had not decided to enhance my nose. I pitied the beastkin who had to smell the assortment of scents that must assail them all the time, especially in a place like this.

Up against the wall there was also a dresser. After confirming there was no one hiding under the bed or in the closet, I peaked into the dresser on the off chance that McLean had left something there. I didn’t think a full grown catkin could squish into one of the drawers so it wasn’t like I was expecting to find him.

What I did find made me laugh. The draw was full of… well, I guess toys or maybe intimacy aids would be a better way to put it. This must truly be a full service brothel. I closed the drawer and was careful not to touch anything. Sometimes I had to remember that they relied upon magic or rather primitive techniques for health and healing. They had no idea about the existence of bacteria or viruses and such. To be fair, I was making assumptions. I had no idea how that worked in Olimero.

Anyway, this room was clear, so I moved out into the hallway. In front of the door next to me there was an orc who had obviously let himself go a bit, leaning into an elf dressed in nothing but a negligee. They were kissing with gusto but I had to ask. “Either of you see a catkin come through here a minute ago?”

The orc looked embarrassed to be caught here. My time with Mactosh taught how sensitive orcs could be about their honor. They had some strange concepts about it, but who was I to judge. All he did was shrug but the elf just giggled as she said, “Oh sheriff if you need some pussy you’ve come to the right place.”

I frowned and said, “Just answer the question.”

“Fine, wouldn’t want the high and might sheriff to sully his hands with us common whores. Not when you have those fine whores of your own. Oops, I forgot. You call them clerks and deputies.”

As a general rule, I didn’t like to hit a woman, and I wouldn’t in this circumstance, but that didn’t keep me from taking a step towards here. She shuddered and tried to get behind the orc, but he was having nothing to do with it. He threw his hands up and said, “I’m no paying for this trouble.” Then he stormed down the stairs.

Before she had just been snarky, but now, the elf got a positively furious look on her face. “Look at what you went and did. He better not be asking for a refund.”

“Catkin? Did you see one come out of this room?” My face was stony. Apparently, I was getting a reputation for violence, at least among certain elements of the town. That was a problem I’d have to think on later, but for now I wanted to use it to my advantage.

Finally, her anger gave way to the fear and she said, “Look, I just get paid to tickle a man’s worm. Part of doing that is making him think he’s the only man in the world. I weren’t looking around for another man. But all the windows on this floor are covered with bars. So, he wouldn’t be getting out unless he went downstairs.”

I thought about it for a second. I had a pitiful amount of information about the current leaders of the Back Street Boys. I knew that McLean was one of them and that there were three others. Apparently, their fifth member had been killed a couple weeks ago by parties unknown. That was just another aspect to my investigation.

What I had to decide was if McLean was more likely to try and hide up here or to make an escape downstairs. He clearly wasn’t one for a straight up fight. In the end, the continued crashing downstairs made me decide to check there first. If he was there or someone had seen him escape, I didn’t want to spend my time barging in on these rooms. People had a right to live how they wanted to as long as they didn’t hurt others. At least that was how I saw it.

When I got downstairs, I found a very angry Madam facing off an equally angry deputy. Josie was striking as always. I shouldn’t think like that while on the job, but what can I say, I was a man. Besides, I had decided to stop denying myself.

“For the third time, I run a perfectly legal business here. All the girls are here of their own free will. You won’t catch me breaking the Law of Freedom,” the madam said. She was a very petite bunnykin. I’d guess that she was middle aged, but it was hard to say. People in Olimero rarely showed any sign of aging until they were past sixty and even then, many could pass for thirty on Earth till, they were eighty years old.

Josie fired back ,”And what about the Law of Family. How many families are you upsetting here.”

“I’m sure I don’t have any idea what you’re insinuating. It isn’t like I ask my guests if they are married. I simply provide a service for a reasonable fee. And might I add that if something wasn’t missing at home then no married man would be here. You might even argue that my business contributes to domestic peace.” The bunnykin was a full six inches shorter than Josie but not backing down. She raised her voice to match Josie’s pitch.

“It’s still disgusting to get paid to…” Josie began.

“Oh no. I know you didn’t say that. Everyone knows that deputies and clerks are simply Sativa sanctioned whores,” the madam said as her foot thumbed against the floor rapidly.

Josie lunged forward and the two guards next to the madam pulled her back just in time before Josie could grab her. This was getting out of hand. While it was always fun to watch Josie go off on anyone, I drew the line at anyone calling her a whore.

“That is quite enough of this,” I called out as I finished descending the stairs. I used a point of KI into my heart channel which allowed me to expand my lungs and project my voice almost as well as a megaphone. Instantly all eyes were on me.

I quickly took stock. There were four guards on the floor nursing injuries. Some broken furniture, scorch marks. Someone might as well have hung a sign that read, “Josie was here.” Then there was the bunnykin madam and her two heavily muscled orc guards. Lounging around the room were half a dozen employees of the brothel in various states of dress or rather undress. Four were bunnykin, one elf, and interestingly enough a massively endowed cowkin. It didn’t take much imagination to figure out what fetishes her clients possessed.

“We can talk about social issues later. Right now, my deputy and I are here on official business. I need to know if anyone has seen a catkin. He was wearing a hat with a feather in it, a vest but no shirt, pants and leather ankle braces.”

One of the girls called out, “Dearie, there aren’t many men in here with their pants on.”

The madam turned towards me and said, “Thank Sativa you are here, sheriff. My business has been attacked and my property destroyed. I demand that you punish the perpetrator.”

That was an obvious trap. “You aren’t listening. Catkin? Was there a catkin matching my description. He would have come through here a few minutes ago now. I need to know if he is still here or if he left then which way he went. In case any of you know him, his name is McLean and he is a member of the Back Street Boys.”

The expressions on more than one face told me they knew something. The question was how far would I push them to get that information. Finally, the madam said, “If you do something about the intruder, I will arrange a private room where you can… uh… question my girls till your heart is content. I’m sure they will give you all the information you need.”

I wracked my brain trying to remember her name. I had never met the madam before but she was an affluent and influential citizen in Yonderton, so I had learned her name. Ah yes, it was Olivia. “Olivia, don’t test me. I promise to address your concerns, but if you are harboring a wanted man, then there will be hell to pay.”

Her mouth opened based upon the flippant expression she wore, I knew she was gonna say something to piss me off even more, so I interrupted. “And the price will be paid in Blood.” The emphasis I put on that last word left no doubt what I was referring to. I had learned just how much the Law of Blood was feared. Reincarnation still seemed like a strange thing, but I guess it would be pretty terrifying to think your soul would be destroyed or even tormented for eternity if you went astray of the fourth law. That more than even the violence I handed out was the source of fear in the sheriff.

Olivia clearly took my meaning. Her face grew pale and her ears laid back against her rich brunette hair. “Yes, Sheriff. McLean is an investor in this business. I can’t deny him access. It would be business suicide. But I can tell you that he came bolting through here like he’d just seen his mother’s ghost and was out the backdoor just as fast as he could.”

I tried to listen to her heart. It was beating fast, but then again bunnykin hearts always seemed to be beating fast. And frankly, I still wasn’t good enough at augmenting my hearing to use it as a lie detector test. It was an idea worth developing but I wasn’t read. I watched for any indicators of deceit on her face, but as far as I could tell she was being straight with me.

“Fine, I’ll believe you, for now. I suggest you board up that room upstairs. It has a passage into the building next door. You wouldn’t want any of your guests creeping out without paying,” I said.

Olivia looked at me deeply. I could see that she understood I was serious but she simply said, “Coin up front or no fun, but like I said, I’d make an exception for you want to question some of the girls, or maybe you even have some questions for me. Never had a human but judging by the noise some have reported coming from your roof at night, I expect you might be worth exploring. For science, ya know.”

“That won’t be necessary but we may be around tomorrow to take witness statements from you and any of your employees who heard anything.”

“Just not to early. We tend to work very hard and sleep in late. But now, what are you going to do about the injuries to my employees and destruction of my property.”

I shrugged and looked over at Josie. “Deputy Josephine, did these men try to interfere with the performance of your official duties.”

Josie wasn’t one for these type of games, but I gave her a look. She sighed and must have decided to go along with it. “That they did, Sheriff. I was about to ask what punishment we should deliver to them.”

“Well, you seem to be fine. I wouldn’t say it rises to the Law of Blood, so perhaps a fine.” Then I made a show of rubbing my chin with my thumb and index finger. “Hmm… I have just the thing.”

I walked over to the four guard who were still laying on the ground. Cuts, burns, and maybe some broken bones were in evidence. Josie was definitely thorough in the performance of her job. “I sentence you to pay for the repairs to Madam Olivia’s fine establishment. Well, let’s be fair. Let’s say you four pay half the cost of the repairs and I sentence McLean, the investor to pay the remainder. Next time maybe you won’t get in my deputies way.”

I walked up to Josie and offered my arm, which she took. I wanted to make a statement of unity as we left the house.

Olivia called out, “You can’t do that. She was violating the law.”

I looked back at her. “Exactly which law was she violating. It looks to me like she exercised the Law of Strength and didn’t impinge on anyone’s family or freedom. So, count yourself lucky. You are correct of course, under Sativa’s laws your business is perfectly legal but you need to figure out which side you want to be on.”

As we walked out one of the girls could be overheard saying, “She must have him whipped.”

Another answered her, “I wouldn’t mind trying a piece of that myself.”

I just smiled. I was quite content with my current situation but it was always flattering a woman talk about you like that.