Re:START/If {Book 1.0}
Chapter 62 : Aswad 9 of 15 “The sad ones from past” (Part 06)

Three hours did not seem to pass when listening to the story and time almost pointed to midnight. Despite having listened to the Madam's past story, Odo still kept a calm expression without the slightest touch or give his opinion on the story. The young man took back the parchment on the table, then checked some financial statements from the funds he gave to the Alms Lilac brothel.

Theodora stared in wonder at the young man, wondering what the son of the Luke family was thinking. Madam herself has known a wide variety of men during her life, more than any other prostitute complex full of maksiat where she lives. But of all the types of men he had ever known, Odo did not fall into any category at all.

“From the beginning we met, Sir is indeed strange ...” Theodora put both of her elbows on the table, propped her head up with the second and again said, “You are not a man interested in power, possessions, women, or even fame. You are also not a pious person and deep in the beliefs of this country, or even a loyal person and have a high sense of idealism ..”

Hearing the remark, Odo only glanced small and continued to check the reports on the table. “Not really,” he said while continuing his work.

“Hmm?” Theodora was a little surprised to hear that.

Finished checking the last sheet of the pile of documents, the young man put the parchment on the table and again said, “I have an interest in women and power, as a man both are things I want to get. I am also a person with my own idealism, then also a follower who is steeped in a belief.”

Theodora let out a slight chuckle hearing that, feeling disbelief and thinking it was just some kind of joke. From his behavior and actions, the young man before him similarly did not reflect what he said. Stop propping your head up and sit up straight, Madam puts on a faint smile and asks, “As a person with a separate idealism, do you have an opinion after hearing my past? Who do you think is really wrong? Why did something like that happen?”

“You are all wrong,” replied Odo without hesitation. Madam Theodora was at a glance speechless in wonder at the answer. Before he asked, the young man resolutely said, “As a Wiskel Porka man is a bastard, then Madam herself as a woman is a trash.”

“Tu-Wait a minute!” Madam got up from the seat, then anxiously denied, “Here I am a victim, why am I also wrong?”

“Wiskel Porka is indeed a bastard man who betrayed his own wife and fucked Madam out of lust.” Odo opened his own right palm, looked at him with sad eyes and said again, “But, Madam is also a trash for aborting a child in the womb.”

The young man immediately changed his expression, he looked straight at Theodora. Raising his index finger and putting it to his forehead, the young man from the Luke family vexedly said, “None of us has the right to prevent a soul from being born into the world, whatever the reason.”

Back sitting, Theodora still refuted, “You heard the story earlier, ‘kan? I pressed them .... He was wrong, they both forced me to abort.”

“Although that is so, still it is not an excuse that justifies someone to kill a child who will be born.” Odo lowered his finger from his forehead, started to lower his face and said, “Madam knows the news that my mother is having a hard time getting pregnant, ‘kan? When I heard a woman abort her womb, honestly it made my ears hot. It's not that I want to blame, it's just that it's my personal view.”

Theodora was a little confused to hear these words. Tilting his head a little, he wonderfully asked, “If you don't like that kind of thing, then why are you bothering to interfere into this brothel complex? Aborting the womb is not uncommon here, even every month is possible. I'm really helped because you want to care about the suburban people here, but still it feels strange.”

“True also ...” Odo let out a long sigh, leaned his back against the chair and momentarily closed his eyes. Returning to open both eyelids and gazing towards the chandelier in the middle of the room, the young man replied, “Perhaps because of the idealism I believe in. The perspective that I believed up to this point made me interfere in your condition ...”

“How to view? Indeed ... what kind of perspective makes Mr willing to throw himself into a place that you do not like?”

Odo was at a glance speechless, immediately sat up straight and put on a sad expression. With a slightly limp voice he replied, “The world is indeed created very cruel, but everyone who lives in it always expects happiness. That's why they believe in tomorrow, strive with all their body soul and keep trying to live.”

Theodora could not laugh at the way that view was. It is not just naive, but the way of view of people who really see reality but still maintain the plain way of view. Putting on a sad smile, the madam wanted to make the young man give up and asked, “If everyone expects happiness, then why can't everyone get it?”

“They focus too much on the process ..” Odo opened his hands and stared flatly at the empty palms, then limply replied, “They are teaching too much something that can make them happy, but in the end, they forget what happiness is for them. People who lose such direction will be spiteful to those who manage to find happiness, and then begin to seize what makes others happy. Because I thought it could make them happy.”

The words really reflect a person with so much experience of life, that even Theodora could not believe it came out of the mouth of a child not even a decade old. The way the young man looked was not like the naive people he had met and quickly collapsed after seeing the reality in society, what the young man holds is very genuine and not everyone can defend it despite having seen the cruel realities the world presents.

Taking a deep breath back taking the cigar from the table, the Madam said, “You chose a steep path, yes ..”

“I know, because I myself walked this path ...” Clenching both palms on the table, the young man stared intently with unanimous determination and said, “But, that doesn't mean I'm going to let go and give up. Such options are not available to me.”

“Why?” Theodora did not understand that, she wonderfully asked, “Don't you have many options? You are a child of a great nobleman, ‘kan?” In Madam's deepest thoughts, she began to expect Odo to accept reality and give in to that view.

Odo looked away, then refused to tell the truth and quibbled, “Many situations that I can't stop, one of them might be a war that might happen in the near future.”

“War, yes ..?” At first glance Theodora remembers her past while still living in the Mascal family. Putting the cigar down on the table without sucking it, the black haired woman said, “Compared to the time when I was a teenager, instead of now more peaceful? You can entrust everything to an adult and live as a child in general. Much has changed since peace came ..”

“Madam ...” Odo stared intently when he heard that, causing Theodora to gasp and tremble. With anger reflected in the blue eyes of the young man, he firmly said, “The ones waging war are the old men, but the victims are even young women, women and children! I'm not going to give it to them and just shut up! The immature adults who make this condition, in the name of truth and honor .... They are the ones who indirectly force me to do things like this!”

Theodora put on an anxious face, then once again revealed reality with her mouth, “Kelak Tuan will also become an adult, is it fine to say that? Are you sure it won't be like with them?” The woman was really staring and hoping that Odo would not hold a way of looking that could bring destruction to herself, like a worried mother to her son.

“I won't be like them!” answer Odo firmly. At first glance he turned his gaze, slowly muttering, “Again, I will also not live until then.”

“Hmm?” Theodora faintly heard his sentence and felt anxious.

Before the woman asked, Odo picked up one of the parchments and changed the subject with the question, “So about the funds for this renovation, why has not started until now? Madam already sent her money to the artisan union, ‘kan?”

“Terus why hasn't it started yet?” Odo went back to checking the documents, then thought about it once more and said, “On the matter of books for the women here is no problem at all, many old unused books from the merchants who came here and the city library. This problem is just looking for teaching staff who want to come. If I need to, I also teach. Clothes and allowances also run smoothly setting, all of it can certainly open their perspective a little...”.

Odo looked flat at Madam, then again asked for an explanation, “Then why for the renovation even there are obstacles? Isn't this the easiest of getting basic books for women or splitting funds?”

“Soal it ...” Theodora looked a little confused to explain. Turning his gaze and sighing uneasily, he looked back at Odo and asked, “You know that this place is not the only brothel in this place, right?”

“What other places are blocking?”

Theodora nodded. He pointed his index finger forward, then with a puzzled expression said, “In this place has three large brothels. Other than this Alms Lilac of mine, there are also Jasmine and Daisy. Of the two, Daisy's house chooses to be neutral and says it will follow the final decision. But for the house Jasmine ..”

“Jasmine?” Odo soon remembers the woman who teased him before reaching Madam Theodora's place. Curious about it, the young man asked again, “What is the reason why Jasmine's house refused? Do they benefit if this place does not change?”

“That's the problem ..” Theodora again leaned her back against the chair, then in a tired voice she replied, “Different from my place and the house of Daisy, Madam Irea, who became the founder of the place, has been affected by the disease since last year and her speech is no longer fully listened to by her employees. The place is now held not by one person, but by middle-class prostitutes who raised their names after their Madam was no longer actively serving men.”

“Disease?” Odo was fixated on the word. Back to remembering that one of his employees, Ritta, had worked in a brothel and showed symptoms of infectious venereal disease. Intrigued by this, the young man of black hair again confirmed, “What is venereal disease?”

“Hmm, according to the women here it is like that.” Theodora seemed a little anxious about this. Rolling back the unraveled hair into the lap and styling it, the woman clad in black dress again carried her hair with a konde skewer. “They said it was a sexually transmitted disease, so far he said there were five women in the place who were infected,” he said with fret.

“What is the source from the customer there?” ask Odo.

Theodora raised both sides of her shoulders, then replied, “I don't know. One of the procedures of the three large brothels in this place is to keep the privacy of its customers secret. Even if it were to leak, it would probably just be a rumor that quickly disappeared ...”

From the answer, Odo can know that the source of infectious venereal disease comes from upper-class people who become customers. Most of them come to hide their identity and go to the brothels by ordering so that not many people know. Want to get more accurate information, Odo again asked, “What Madam knows since when the disease began to spread?”

“Hmm, it looks like since last summer. The prostitute who first showed signs was a middle-class prostitute there, then the madam and spread to other prostitutes. The examining physician said, the disease has no cure and cannot be cured. Some say it's a curse for dirty women ..”.

“It's not a curse,” Odo said quickly. Slightly turned his gaze away, he again said, “That's a disease from a virus, one of the ways of transmission is from body contact.”

Theodora was a little surprised when Odo said something almost similar to the healer who examined the disease. “What can you cure it?” ask with high hopes.

Odo at a glance put on a flat expression, then after sighing he replied, “Can be it. But it depends on the rate of infection .... Then, the way of healing can also be said not too I like.”

Theodora got up from her seat and bowed her body to the table, until both her breasts were pressed against her own. “What is the way?” asked the black-haired woman curiously.

“Once a person has contracted the virus, it will be difficult to get rid of from the body.” Odo only gave a flat look. He raised both index fingers, then while gluing both ends he explained, “There is also a virus that even eats away at a person's antibodies and makes it unable to recover forever. The only way to cure venereal disease is by removing the virus from the body of the sufferer. Then how to ...”

Odo put on a look of disdain, opened his right palm forward with all his fingers stretched out and said, “I have to reach into their genitals, then manipulate the virus and turn it into a substance that can be absorbed by the body.”

“E—? Score?” Madam Theodora instantly sat back down, staring in fear upon hearing that and again making sure, “One hand comes in?”

“Ya, one hand in,” Odo replied. The young man lowered his hands on his lap, breathed in in confusion and said, “I have to make direct contact into the body of the person with the disease through the entrance of the virus comes.”

“I think ... it's too ...” Theodora was a little bitter at the thought, her body goosebumps and a glimpse of eyes turned away from Odo.

For a moment the atmosphere became a little quiet because of the conversation. Understand not having much time to stay in the brothel for a long time, Odo immediately continued the conversation, “Yeah, we set it aside first to the conversation later. After all, the women were infected with the virus also because their own fault was not careful.”

“Be-True also ...” Theodora looked back to the front, then with a slightly paled face she said, “Bada with my place or Daisy belonging to Madam Nisla, he said, health check-ups for guests of upper-middle class prostitutes at Madam Irea's premises are lax. Not even strange it was equivalent to a medium and low prostitute ..”

“Back to the cap, Madam.” Odo picked up a parchment paper containing financial statements, then confusedly asked, “According to Madam Theodora herself, so that they would agree about what should be done?”

“According to myself ...” Theodora gave a goosebumps again as she imagined a fist coming into her genitals. With trembling, he gives advice, “Indeed the problem of infectious diseases it. If Madam Irea as the owner of Jasmine's house can be cured, I am sure she will also agree in the development plan of this place ...”

“Akh, the edges of it ...” Odo leaned against the chair, sighed groaning and complaining, “Honestly I don't like it very much, touching such things.”

After that, their conversation continued until midnight. In addition to talking about the problem of infectious diseases, they also discussed the customers who came from the empire and outside the city. Odo was specifically informed that they were mostly merchants, not finding a single person from the empire who bore the title of nobleman or officer.