Intrigue : Satiety

With Yaoyao eventually giving up out of frustration, Paul made it up to her by carrying her back to her room like a princess. She rejected his offer at the start, but it didn't take long for her to accept her fate after Paul picked her up regardless.

Following Yaoyao's directions, Paul soon found himself in one of the few sections of the underground compound he was familiar with. There were tiny, alphanumerical placards located at the ends of each corridor, so he quickly realized they were heading in the direction of his room.

Since it wouldn't be strange for the girls to be living in the same section of the compound as him, Paul didn't immediately call Yaoyao out. This ended up being the correct choice, as, rather than turning down the hallway that led to his chambers, her directions brought him to a handless door in the adjoining corridor. The curious thing about this was that the door was part of the same 'block' as his room, indicating they were side-by-side.

Though he knew it wasn't, Paul asked, "This is your room?" in a curious tone. In response, Yaoyao immediately replied, "No." before shifting in his embrace and adding, "And you can let me down now."

Resisting the urge to simply drop her, Paul set Yaoyao down and awaited her explanation. Instead, she placed her palm on the door and whispered, "Here our spirits commune, mind and body, for the sake of two worlds..."

Reacting to Yaoyao's words, the door's surface lit in a manner uncannily similar to the Intersection of Fate. However, instead of opening to a sea of clouds and mysterious stone pillars, the interior resembled a dressing room on one side and a strip club on the other. There was even a catwalk leading to a circular stage, complete with a pole in the center...

If the setting wasn't surprising enough, Paul was even more surprised to find that the room wasn't vacant. Xinyan was styling Xiangling's hair at one of the cosmetic stations while Jean and Barbara were in the process of changing into costumes that were little more than bikinis with cat ears and a tail. That would have been the most eyecatching thing if not for the fact that everyone in the room was sporting lingerie, including Eula, who, as far as Paul could tell, was teaching Razor, Ghislaine, Ei, and even Qiqi how to strut down the catwalk like a supermodel...

As the door lit up and produced a soft ringing sound when opened, Paul wasn't the only one caught staring like an idiot. The moment he entered, everyone in the room shifted their gazes to him before promptly freezing in place like a bunch of statues. The only notable exceptions were Xinyan, Ghislaine, and Eula, the former waving what appeared to be a rudimentary curling iron as she hollered, "Hey, it's about time you showed up...!" in her characteristically bold and cheerful tone.

Though he raised his hand by pure reflex, Paul's expression was still one of bewilderment as he looked down at Yaoyao and asked, "What's going on here...?"

While struggling with the clasps of her frock-style tunic, Yaoyao dutifully replied, "This is something Ningguang came up with to try and strengthen everyone's bonds. It was originally just a place where we could hang out, but it eventually turned into this after we took into consideration the type of person our Master is..."

After loosening her dress enough that she could pull it off, Yaoyao did precisely that before throwing it at Paul's face and adding, "Some of us were worried that you would have trouble choosing girls to sleep with. To that end, anyone who enters this place is effectively giving you an open invitation to invite them to your room. If that isn't an option, there is also a 'red' and a 'black' room in the back."

Though her face was bright red by the time she was finished, Yaoyao still managed to remove her tube-top style bra, revealing diminutive yet well-shaped A-Cups. This left her wearing little more than a pair of pure white knickers and stockings as she half-turned away and said, "I'm gonna go find something to change into. You should head over to the bar and read the rules..." before scurrying over to a circular rack filled with some very skimpy-looking outfits.

"..."

Noticing that people were watching but not approaching him, Paul shook his head and made his way over to a small yet fully stocked bar. It had all the fixings and equipment to indicate a bartender worked the counter, but it was currently empty. That wasn't too surprising, considering Diona was probably still asleep in the next room.

Upon reaching the counter, Paul noticed that the board on the left listed twenty-six rules while the one on the right displayed the names of various cocktails. Most of the rules only applied to the girls, mentioning things like wearing the provided clothing and staying in groups of three or more, but a few were set aside, specifically, for him.

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1: Touching is permitted, but it must occur over the clothes.

2: Kissing is permitted, but it must involve all members within a group.

3: If you have sex with someone in the showroom, you must accept responsibility for everyone present at the time.

4: Service acts within the showroom should be for educational purposes only.

5: There is a registry hanging outside of the Red Room. If possible, please refer to it before deciding whether or not to make use of its facilities.

6: The Black Room is Off-Limits without qualified medical personnel and a supervisor present.

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Though he got goosebumps reading the last rule, the others weren't that big a deal. He imagined it would be pretty uncomfortable for the others if he suddenly started making out or fucking someone without some kind of stipulations involved.

Looking to his left, Paul noticed a dark hallway he previously believed to contain bathrooms. It probably did, but the thing he focused on were the red and black doors located on either side of the hall.

Ever the curious individual, Paul pretended not to notice the many gazes following him as he made his way over to the red door. Hanging next to it was a simple clipboard with several sheets of paper resembling a sign-in sheet. To his surprise, the first seven pages were already completely filled in, each line representing a one-hour time slot.

Flipping to the eighth page, Paul wasn't as surprised to find the names of Jean, Barbara, Eula, Ei, Ghislaine, and Xiangling recorded. To get to them, however, he would need to spend nearly three hundred hours having sex.

Assuming he was allowed to skip the names of individuals who weren't present, Paul flipped back to the first page. There, he found that Yaoyao's name was listed before Xinyan, so she would technically be the first if he decided to follow the list.

"Hmmm...?"

Seeing a few names he didn't recognize, Paul muttered aloud, "Who the fuck are Hina, Kaede, and Betty...?"

Though an image immediately popped into his mind when he voiced the name Betty, likely referring to Bennett, Paul wasn't entirely sure who the other aliases belonged. The only thing he had to go on was the fact that Hina and Kaeda both sounded Japanese. If that were the case, the most likely candidates would be Gorou, Kazuha, and Thoma...

Deciding to worry about matters of the future in the future, Paul set down the registry and returned to the showroom. As he did, nearly everyone in the room briefly shifted their gazes toward him before at least pretending to focus on other things. The room was meant to be a social club of sorts, so one of the rules prevented the girls from approaching or crowding him.

Despite feeling as though the rules bordered on bullshit, Paul made his way over to the stage group consisting of Eula, Razor, Ghislaine, Ei, and Qiqi. Instead of joining them, however, he plopped onto the leather sofa surrounding the stage and decided to enjoy the show. He was curious to see how the girls would behave if he just sat and watched them, so that's exactly what he did...at least for a short while...

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After sleeping in well past noon, Diona eventually awoke with the sort of groan commonly attributed to night owls. She had never been a morning person, but the previous night's exertions made her want to sleep in the entire day. Part of that was predicated on the possibility of spending yet another night with Paul, but sex, unfortunately, wasn't the only thing her body was craving.

"So hungry..."

Freeing herself from Amber's embrace, Diona only stared at the former's face for a brief moment before promptly crawling to the edge of the giant bed. It wasn't hard to imagine how Amber had come to be in Paul's room, but, as grateful as she was, Diona had more pressing things to consider...

Having familiarized herself with Paul's room long before his arrival, Diona made her way over to a closet, retrieving a garment similar to a bathrobe before walking over to the nearby bookshelf. Placing a certain number of books on the third shelf caused a mechanism to trigger in the bathroom, revealing a secret tunnel just large enough to accommodate an adult male crawling on all fours.

As she was quite a bit smaller than an adult male, Diona had absolutely no trouble crawling through the passage. When she reached the other side, a ventilation grate blocked her exit, but it was fairly easy to remove so long as you knew the trick.

Pushing up on the grate rather than outward, Diona's ears twitched at the sound of ball bearing hitting the end of a hidden track. After that, she just needed to hold the grate in position for 2-3 seconds before it would pop loose on its own.

With the grate eventually giving way, Diona pushed it to the side before crawling out and bouncing to her feet behind the previously vacant bar. She immediately noticed the presence of several others, but that wasn't particularly surprising. What left her feeling a little annoyed was the fact that Paul had a front-row seat as Ei and Eula seemed to be competing to see who could perform the best pole dance.

Resisting the urge to shout and ask what the hell everyone was doing, Diona poked her head under the counter and slid open a cooler made possible thanks to Albedo's research. It was where Diona kept most of her ingredients for cocktails and, more importantly, where she kept her favorite snack, a type of ice cream produced from a certain blue-haired Adepti's milk.

Though she always felt a little guilty whenever she saw Ganyu's stressing out over the disappearance of her milk, Diona couldn't just let her dispose of it off the edge of a cliff located near one of the Red Dragon Mountain Range's peaks. The quality completely outclassed cow and goat milk, so whenever Ganyu was looking particularly 'tender,' Diona would look for a chance to swipe one or two of the dozen or so bottles she produced each month.

While doing her best to ignore the sounds of people having fun a few meters away, Diona rocked her body from side to side with a gleeful smile on her face as she finished off her current reserves. Fortunately, now that Ganyu was back from her unexpected trip to the North, and with Paul, no less, Diona knew it wouldn't be long before she could replenish her stock.

Others might not notice such things, but Diona could tell that Ganyu had produced even more milk than usual this month. Sleeping with Paul likely ramped up her production, so even though she was a little annoyed that the former was having fun while she was asleep in the next room, Diona's heart and stomach had already forgiven him...

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