RISE OF EROS

Carolina was amazed at Andrew's vision for the Heavenly Palace. Although Andrew constantly said that he would turn the place into the best house of pleasure in the world, the reality was that no one believed him.

It wasn't that they looked down on him or anything like that, but that it was a hard road to walk. They had already experienced difficulties when Debos was attacking them and were forced to be on the defensive site.

While it was true that they never suffered during Debos's constant attacks, it was also true that they had no way to fight back and Debos is just one of the many thugs in the red light district of Catnar City. This world was much deeper than that.

It was not unknown that the best pleasure houses in the city have great powers. Some are even more powerful than some nobles, so Andrew saying that could only be seen as madness, they didn't believe that the Heavenly Palace would become the best pleasure house in the city, let alone the world.

Even Carolina didn't see it as likely, but after hearing everything Andrew wanted to do, she had to admit that it wouldn't be easy, but it wasn't impossible either. It obviously wouldn't be something they could get the way they were now.

Despite that, she knew that there was no business in the world that would achieve the impossible from one day to the next, it would take years to achieve what Andrew wanted, but now she was convinced that it was possible.

Carolina had not realized that her business thoughts had changed at this point in her life. When she first came to the Heavenly Palace, she only wanted to test her worth as a manager, she wanted them to see her ability and not just her body.

However, she now only wanted to make the Heavenly Palace progress as if it were her business, which was not entirely wrong. For an Eros god, possessions are only material for his women, so even though Andrew was just a candidate the mentality is the same.

Andrew and Carolina talked for several hours about the future and what they needed to get to that future and when they realized the sun had gone down and the red light district had come to life, it was open for business.

Seeing that they had already opened to clients, Carolina withdrew and began her work, while Andrew remained in the office thinking about the future. He was envisioning it and devising plans on how to reach it.

While the Heavenly Palace was going about its business as usual, across town Johan began to move to promote the rejuvenating cream.

Johan is an experienced trader and knew that the rejuvenating cream was meant for the wealthy and powerful, it was not something that the common citizen could buy even if the price was not high and they could afford it.

For this reason, he visited all his contacts in this category in the city, especially the noble ones. As an experienced salesman, he gave away samples of the cream even at the expense of losing money because he knew it was an unknown product, but he also knew that once powerful and noble women tried it, the money would follow.

Andrew didn't care how Johan conducted business. In their cooperation agreement, they only agreed that he would produce the cream and sell it to him for 5 small gold coins and Johan would take care of the transport and sale, not exceeding 10 small gold coins.

That week passed without any particular event. The Heavenly Palace conducted its business as usual and with the increase in prices the profits increased. They also began to make some renovations and decorations to the establishment.

Andrew and Carolina had been very excited and their bed was a witness of it, because every night, they were intertwined with each other in flourishing lust. On the other hand, Candice hadn't touched the creams Andrew had given her.

Being a businesswoman, she was very cautious and for this reason, she first investigated more about the cream. for that reason, she knew that Johan was promoting the cream among the nobility.

She also tried to spy on the Heavenly Palace and Andrew through her spies, but the heavy surveillance of Oliver and the other slave guards made it impossible for them to learn any relevant information which surprised Candice, not to mention that her interest had risen considerably.

Then when a week passed, all the free samples that Johan had given away to the nobles took effect. Certainly, a week would not see a drastic change, but for women who care about their appearance, it was different.

Many ladies of high society and the nobility began to notice the subtle changes. Most of them were middle-aged women, so various age ravages were starting to show on their faces and the rejuvenating cream had shown them great changes, and that ignited the fire of desire for that product.

Johan had sent his men to pick up this week's batch of products very early in the morning because he knew that if his plan worked, that day would have countless visitors and he was not wrong.

His pharmacy hadn't opened yet and three visiting noble carriages had already arrived. Being a noblewoman, Johan did not dare to let them wait and quickly invited her to his office.

"Mr. Johan, this cream is wonderful, I would like to buy a product for a year of use", said one of the elegantly dressed women, and before Johan could answer, another lady spoke, "I understand the Baroness, it is a blessing, I would like the same amount", and when it seemed that he would be allowed to speak the last lady spoke, "Certainly great minds think alike, I would like the same amount".

Johan smiled bitterly upon hearing the requests of the three ladies and taking a deep breath, adjusted his mood and said, "I am sorry to inform you of this my ladies, but it is impossible for me to comply with your demand".

The three noble ladies immediately scrunched up their faces at Johan's comment and were about to start coercing him when Johan spoke again, "Ladies, it's not that I don't want to, it's just that it's not possible. You have to understand that this is not an easy product to make, both the materials and the master who makes it have their limitations".

Listening to Johan, they understood the situation and decided not to attack him. They remained silent, allowing Johan to explain the situation and noticing that Johan began.

"I'll be honest with you, currently only 500 jars of rejuvenating cream can be produced a week, so your order is not possible, however, I have a proposal for you."

When the women heard that there were only 500 bottles, they looked at each other as enemies, because with so few units, they were no longer friendly customers, they were competition, but they calmed down when they heard that Johan had a proposal, so Johan continued.

"I can't sell you products for a year, but I can guarantee them", Johan paused and one of the ladies asked, "How?", then Johan explained, "It's quite simple, I'll sell you the product on request, I can not sell you a year of products now because I don't have that inventory, but I will have 500 jars every week, so I can secure four jars for each one every month, that way you will have a year's worth of product."

As noblewomen, they weren't stupid. They certainly weren't the smartest, but being nobles they knew how to do some business and understood what Johan was proposing to them, but still one of them asked to confirm.

"What it means is that we would sign a commercial contract for 4 bottles of rejuvenating cream that would be delivered every month for a year?", at that moment Johan smiled, because he knew that he had achieved a successful negotiation, although no deal had been closed yet.

"You are right, Baroness," Johan replied, but immediately another of the ladies said, "But you have 500 bottles every week, why not increase the number?"

The other women nodded in support of the lady who spoke, but Johan did not lose his cool and said, "My ladies, you will understand that you are not the only noble ladies who have received this benefit."

Johan paused and assessed the expressions of the women and seeing that they seemed to disapprove of his method, he continued, "I knew from the beginning that I would not have the capacity for the demand for this product, so I specifically selected the ladies to provide them with this benefit".

He paused his explanation again and seeing that the ladies still did not seem convinced, he decided to be more firm and said, "This product will not be hidden for long, do you really think that countesses, marquises, and even royalty will not want these products?"

When Johan asked that question, the three women scrunched up their faces in disgust, not because Johan threatened them, but because they knew he was right. A product with such an effect would not be hidden from women in the upper echelons of power in the kingdom and they would not be able to compete against them.

Seeing that the ladies got the point, Johan finished by saying, "It is better to secure a small but sufficient supply than to be greedy and antagonize those ladies."

The nobles remained silent as if considering the matter, but it was not long. They were clear that Johan's proposal was enough, so they accepted. Johan signed a contract with them and they left with their first batch of content products.

In the course of the day, many carriages of noblewomen visited the pharmacy wanting to buy large quantities of rejuvenating creams and Johan had to repeat the same conversation he had with the three baronesses who had arrived first.

Fortunately, they all accepted and in this way, Johan ensured that 70% of the products would go on pre-sale and he would save the other 30% for when the rumors spread and new customers arrived.

Furthermore, he also hoped that Andrew could increase the amount produced shortly, for a while his plan might work, but it was not a long-term solution, so he decided that he should visit the Heavenly Palace.