Yves thought long and hard on what his first business venture should be, and ultimately decided on a way to aide the fight against crime.
From his drone's reports, crime is rising at an alarming rate. The gangs somehow started to get their hands on enchanted guns, something that only the military were able to get. Now the police are losing ground, and are getting overwhelmed. He flew his car to where the country's Head of Law Enforcement office is.
The thing with this world was, there was no states. Everything was together, but there was different districts like in the Hunger Games with one major city in them and multiple towns. District 1, where he was headed, is where the capital is located, where the Royal Family lived, where you first go to get your citizenship, and where the Heads of the various branches of government are.
Landing in an open parking space, he exited his 1969 Ford Mustang, not that Ford existed there, and walked to the building where the Commissioner worked.
-
James Stacy grew up in a loving home with a laborer father and a waitress mother. He got good grades, and graduated with honors from school. He then joined the military so that he could earn enough for his parents to live comfortably. He felt they earned that much.
Unfortunately, they were both killed by an up and coming gang that demanded a protection tax from civilians in their territory. His parents couldn't afford the "tax", so they were killed.
He almost went on a revenge driven crusade, before realizing that his parents would never approve of such behavior. Instead, he went to the Police Academy. He diligently trained and memorized the code of conduct that he needed to abide by. Once he graduated and had enough experience, he manufactured a "coincidental" confrontation between him and the gang.
He alone took down the entire gang, a group 50 strong, all without killing them. He sustained a lot of injuries, but he survived and got them all thrown into jail.
Now here he was, decades later, a half-demon with a succubus mother and a human father, sitting in the prestigious position of Police Commissioner. There was some grumbling from the nobility, but no one wanted to be outed as a racist, not in this day and age.
"Just what in the Nine Hells am I to do?" He grumbled to himself in frustration.
The gangs are somehow getting their hands on enchanted weaponry, and the police are unable to truly fight back. He couldn't ask the Crown for enchanted weapons for the police, because it would just lead to a war on the streets, putting civilians at risk.
A knock on his door shook him out his frustration. "Sir? There's a man here to see you. He says that he has a potential solution for the growing power of the gangs, and that he's willing to wait for you to be free."
That brought him up short. The bold notion that one man has the solution for a growing problem intrigued him. "Bring him in."
The door opened, allowing in one of the most talked about topics in Libertonia. A former Prince from another nation making his home in a formerly haunted mansion. The young man walked in with a nice looking suit, better than what's sold, and a briefcase. James wondered just what this young man could do.
"Good morning, Commissioner. I apologize for not making an appointment beforehand, but I just finished my project, and I felt you needed to know immediately." The young man greeted, hand outstretched for a shake. "Yves Saint Laurent. Pleasure to meet you, sir."
James obliged, and received a firm handshake that had his mustache twitching. "James Stacy. You as well. So, what is it that you can provide?"
He sat the briefcase down on the chair next to him, opened it, and pulled out what looked to be an enchanted gun. "This is what I'm calling a Taser. Completely nonlethal. This end fires an electric based projectile that locks the target's muscles up 60 seconds to three minutes before needing to be hit again depending on which setting it's on. This doesn't adversely affect the target in any way, and allows the officer to handcuff the perpetrator while they're incapacitated."
James stared in growing hope as he held what was possibly the saving grace the force needed. Then he watched as the young man pulled out what looked to be a watch and a small curved instrument.
"This is my magic communicators, or M-Coms for short. With these, officers can communicate with each other and their precinct instantly."
James was completely and utterly gobsmacked at what he was hearing. As Yves continued to explain the function of the device, James imagined all the ways that these devices will boost the efficiency of the force. As Yves expounded on a bit of his future plans, he realized the job opportunities that will be created in the future.
-
Yves was in the mage tower he built for his inventions and experiments.
It's been months since he began selling the tasers and the coms all over the country, and the letter James recently sent him was filled with excitement about how effective they were, and how many arrests were made thanks to the police being able to fight back.
Yves already knew that whoever was building and providing the gangs with enchanted weapons would either make armor that repelled the electric shocks, or they'd make stronger weapons. He already made prototypes of assault rifles, grenades, and crowd control devices.
He's already risen to multimillionaire status, and he quickly went to work buying quite a few of the dilapidated properties all over the district. He practically bought the entirety of the slums, once again making the realtor think he was a fool.
He had a plethora of apartments built, and furnished them with appropriate furniture for the various people that his drones counted. He currently had an army of clones out in force while in different disguises to recruit the homeless and desperate. He planned on creating a security force, a construction company, a talent agency, and other businesses that could provide them income.
Right now, he was putting the finishing touches on one of his two familiars. Turns out, various parts of a creature, especially a magical one, counts as crafting material.
With an unprecedented amount of excitement, he felt a spark as his creation sparked to life. With an exhilarated trill, his phoenix flamed awake with his wings spread wide and majestically. He was entirely white with gold flames flickering at the tips of his feathers.
"Well aren't you handsome." Yves cooed as he rubbed the plums of feathers on the bird's chest. He trilled happily as he fluffed his feathers, the action making the gold flames glisten more. "Your name is Lux. Welcome to the world."
The newly named Lux trilled in happiness as he flew to the premade perch while Yves went to creating the second phoenix.
According to many different sources, phoenixes went into hiding centuries ago due to many different people trying to either bind them, or use them as a source of power. When he came out as having not one, but TWO phoenixes, his prestige would skyrocket.
"Hello, gorgeous." He greeted the deep black firebird that also had gold flames flickering on the tips of her feathers. "Your name is Nox."
She trilled in a higher tone and made her way to the other perch.
With them created and settled, he went to check on the world's first brothel.
He designed the main entrance to be the same as the Rosa in Fiore in Assassin's Creed. The inside was a match to Rome's most popular brothel during the Renaissance. The gorgeous steps lead up to three floors of doors that were lined next to each other with only a foot to separate them. Usually, that'd only be enough space for a closet, but with magic, it was expanded to comfortably fit a king size bed, a foldable changing wall, a clothing rack, and other things. One wall had a large enchanted window that showed the streets, despite it being unable to open.
There was two stairs on the sides of the main entrance that both went down. On the left, it was a communal bathhouse designed to match the Bathhouse of Alexandria from the Assassin's Creed Origins mission. There was a locker room to put your clothes right before entering with just your towel. The plants were real, and there was several rune etched stones that simulated sunlight on the ceiling. The water was enchanted to keep everyone calm and relaxed, and he planned on having ladies in maid bikinis walk around serving drinks and fruits. The water also had a cleaning enchantment, that would clean who sat in it, and the filth would be dissolved. The ladies' section was further down, where they had there own locker room and communal baths. It was the exact same as the men's section.
On the right of the main entrance will be the private baths. There was a long hallway that numbered doors that were near each other, just like the upstairs doors. The inside had a small locker room, then a shower room that had a comfortable seat. If you so choose, a lady will scrub you with a sponge, removing any excess filth of the day, then lead you to the hot spring. He designed the hot springs to look like the ones in Japan.
Standing before Vincent exactly on time was a contingent of ladies. There looks ranged from average to kinda pretty, something he could easily change.
As the ladies finished walking in, they marveled at the beautiful entrance of the bordello. He waited patiently for them to finish then spoke up. "Welcome ladies to the House of Passion. Here you will be able to continue to use your talents in a much safer environment, as well as get a steady salary for your work. The rooms provided will be yours, both for your work, and for you to live in."
He handed out rings that had numbers on it. "These rings act like keys. So long as you remain employed here, the rooms are yours. When someone pays for your services, you will get 80% of the total while the House gets the rest. Follow me."
He led the group down the stairs to the communal baths. "This is the men's bath. The women's look exactly the same, just reflected. When we open, your schedules will alternate between walking through here handing out drinks and fruits, and in your room providing pleasure. Your task is just to look sexy to rile the men up enough to want to spend some money."
One of the ladies spoke up. "Will we get to use the baths?"
"Of course. Whether you're on break, after your shift has ended, or on your day off, all of you are more then welcomed to the baths." The ladies murmured happily at that. He brought them back to the entrance, then showed them the private baths before returning to the entrance.
"From this day forth, ladies, you are no longer prostitutes. You are courtesans. Now, we're going to the infirmary where you all will be healed up fully, then you may explore your new home while I wait for more of your coworkers to arrive."
-
The Silver Laurel was done being constructed, and one of Yves' clones were training suitable chefs. It will be a high class, fancy-shmancy restaurant that was seven floors tall. Top floor will have an office for whoever he chooses to run it in his absence, if not himself. Sixth floor being for the employees, one side had stalls where they could change into their uniform and lockers for their clothes. The other side having tables for their breaks. Of course the employees get free food for their breaks. The other floors, and the roof were for the customers.
The servers were given knowledge in occlumency, because he knew just how grating on the nerves customer service really was, especially the wealthy customers. It would be good for the servers to have control of their emotions. They were all given bracelets for each wrist and ankle that would increase their balance, diminishing the likelihood for accidents. Current, Yves had had an army of clones packing the restaurant and henged as various rich snobs to train the server's occlumency.
The kitchen had several work stations where his current top level chefs were training hard to live up to his extreme standards.
"HOW?! HOW THE HELL DOES HE DO THIS?!" One shrieked in horror as the overly-delicate tiny cherry tomato she was supposed to peel using the giant and super-heavy butcher knife in her hands got squished into a pulp the very instant her hold on the knife faltered.
The current training was about 'learning to have a delicate and still fast handling of both knife and ingredients', and all of the chefs had to ashamedly admit they underestimated the exercise when they saw Yves peel a cherry tomato as small as a pinkie finger with a knife just as massive and in just a couple seconds.
They also forcefully ignored the scary addendum that the butcher knife Yves uses for his own training weighted far, far more than theirs.
"Honestly? By keeping his cool, for starters." Another chef, actually going through her third cherry tomato, answered without ever lifting her narrowed eyes from the very tiny vegetable she was working on.
"He jokingly called them 'frail tomatoes', I should have known it was a damn understatm-GODDAMNIT!" A third started saying, before the second tomato he was working on became pure sludge as soon as his knife slipped off a mere millimeter and pierced the fruit's body.
"But you have to admit, the Ingredients we work with outside of training are damn incredible, even just the oil he uses to fry, that stuff is insane." The first admitted. "He has access to the most incredible ingredients I have ever seen."
"Thank you!" Yves said, entering the kitchen with a kind smile.
"THANK GOD!" Third said in relief and dropping the knife onto the chopping board with a loud and echoing thud. The sound was apparently so strong every cherry tomato they were working on instantly broke into sludge instantly.
"GODDAMNIT, TOSHIO!" Every chef yelled in rage in chorus.
"It's fine, just collect the tomato sauce, we'll use it today for cooking. Now rest your hands a bit, next time I will show you how I expect you to prepare the dishes on the normal Menu of this Restaurat instead of how to train." Yves said, chuckling. "We have a lot of people to feed to celebrate the opening of this restaurant, and I plan to let our guests try every dish on the menu if we can. You ready?"
"Yes, Chef!"
"Perfect! Each one of us will have to work hard since I don't want my Guests to wait ages between dishes."
"Yes, Chef!"
"Good! For our 'Opening Act' we will start with a dish made with Beef Meat prepared in three different ways, and since we are in the more Elegant and High-Class side of the city, we'll need to add an extra layer of class to it as well." Yves said, preparing a wide porcelain plate blinding-white in color and decorated by finely engraved leaves along its rim. "I will show you how to prepare the "Étoile Brillante" dish, and I expect you to first learn how to properly make it, then to learn how to make it fast. You ready?"
"Yes, Chef!"
"Perfect, let's start!"
-
She was slammed on the ground again, her frustration mounting as the match was called.
Eva Smith was one of the few women who made it to Eagle rank. She was a whore by necessity, one of many, and lived in a rundown apartment with a fat old demon. She was often shortchanged by customers, but there was usually nothing she could do about it. The old demon she lived with would rape her when she was short on rent, then beat her if she fought him. She fought him every time, because she could take the beating, not the shame of just taking it.
Then, Yves appeared from nowhere, offering her a position in his Security Company. She was breathless at the thought of this former royal personally offering her a job. Before she could speak, her roommate and rapist tried to stop them. As he struggled to rise, Yves simply handed her a bottomless bag and told her to pack whatever she needed while he had a small word with her roommate.
Terrified she'd lose her chance if she hesitated, she quickly took the bag and rushed to her room. A glance back showed Yves give the fat bastard a light push that was hard enough to force him back into his seat. By the time she finished, she came out to find him smiling softly by the door, while the fat bastard looked pale and paralyzed with fear.
It was a look she treasured even months later.
Yves trained her and many others various fighting techniques and magic with such clarity that they all grew strong quickly. Using various ranked rooms Yves dubbed the Danger Rooms, they all went through different missions with different objectives in order to rise through the ranks.
Now, the current group was there for promotion exams. The first group to possibly earn the highest rank. Yves saw potential in her, but she felt like she giving a poor showing by the constant losses to her peer.
Matted in sweat, she couldn't look at her savior as he approached. "Why did you lose?"
"… he's too strong-"
"Do you really believe that strength has anything to do with whether you win or lose?" He interrupted coldly. "You will always be weaker. You will always be smaller and at a disadvantage." His gazed was fixed on her as he rotated her stiff frame. "He is beating you because, you are allowing him to define the terms of the fight. You want to win?!" He barked.
"Yes sir." She replied resolutely.
"Change… the terms." He insisted harshly. "Improvise. Adapt. Cheat! Lean into your strengths, not his!" He moved in close, and got right in her face, forcing her to look him in the eyes. He then enunciated something that would forever stick with her. "Fight like a girl."
He moved back, allowing her to stand back across the arrogant jerk that kicked her ass all day. "Begin!"
She immediately rushed forward, dodging the punch he threw and punched his armpit. Then she chopped him in the groin, followed by a uppercut to his chin. As he staggered, she took advantage and delivered a spinning kick to his temple. He crumpled onto the ground fully unconscious.
"Well done. You all have an hour break before we move to the Danger Rooms for the last bit of your Promotion Exams!" He called out to the room.
"Yes, sir." They all chorused as Yves tossed a white ball of magic into the unconscious agent. The man awoke with a gasp as Yves walked out.
'Fight like a girl.' Eva thought as she clenched and unclenched her fists. Her already strong resolve steeled into something unbreakable.
The entire break, that phrase dominated her mind, and essentially became her mantra as she meditated. When the break ended, she joined her fellow promotees to enter an assigned Danger Room to complete their missions.
-
She hated the disorder of the slums. One would think that a half-demon would revel in the chaos that was the slums, and they would be racist to think so.
Children homeless and starving. Women and men kidnapped, drugged, and forced into prostitution. Gangs constantly at war, terrorizing the citizens, and forcing "protection taxes".
She was pretty enough to be a target, but also strong enough to keep her enemies at bay. She interfered when she saw people getting mugged, and took down a gang stronghold every once in a while, but they're quickly replaced with another gang.
The police rarely made appearances, so the slums were truly a lawless zone.
Then, he came along.
The whispers ran rampant. In one night, the worst of the gangs were beaten to an inch of their lives while the simple grunts, or those forced into gangs were spared, and the sex slaves were freed. Then, he appeared in the morning, offering legitimate jobs, some with room and board.
Zani joined his security forces out of suspicion. Since when did the nobles care about the plight of commoners? Yves was suspicious in her eyes, so she joined in order to find out more.
While receiving personal training, she had a glimpse of just how strong he was, and he was helping others growing in strength as well instead of hoarding it. Gradually, she grew to trust him more and more due to her asking for more training from him, becoming one of his personal students.
-
"I thank you all for attending the inauguration of my restaurant, the Silver Laurel. I'd also like to give a special thanks to our Royal Family for attending this event, gracing us with their presence." Yves stood on a small stage in his restaurant with a practiced smile on his face. He waited a moment for the applause to die down before continuing. "The dishes are free of charge for tonight, but the prices will still be visible on the menu for future use. The drinks are as free as the dishes, but only two glasses of wine is free, you'll have to pay for more. Now, please enjoy your evening, and thank you again for attending."
With that, the waitstaff heard their queue to deploy and take orders. The Head Chef came out to personally take the orders of the Royal table.
Yves made his way to his first benefactor in this new life. "Good evening, Katerina. You look especially ravishing this evening."
"Hello again, Yves. Thank you for the compliment. I'd like to introduce you to my daughter, Natalia. Say hello, dear." Katerina introduced.
"It's a pleasure, Lord Saint Laurent." Her voice was a seductive purr that went straight to his dick. She had long and straight bright red hair that cascaded down her back with a long bang covering her left eye. Her strapless black dress also brought attention to her ample chest.
He lightly grasped her hand and placed a delicate kiss on it while still looking into her eyes through his eyelashes. "I assure you, Miss Romanova, the pleasure is all mine. And please, call me Yves."
"Only if you call me Natalia." She insisted.
"Natalia it is." He directed his smile back to Katerina. "May I presume that dear Natalia is to be my future bride?"
A manicured brow rose. "Oh? So you did take my offer seriously?"
"Of course. I told you I'd consider it, did I not?"
"That you did." She smiled. "So, are you here to discuss the details of this arrangement?"
"With my Lady's agreement, I would love to." He smiled at Natalia.
"From what I hear, marriage with you would be very enjoyable." Natalia purred. "Let's discuss the details, yes?"
They hashed out the details during the dinner while they ate. Cursory glances around the restaurant confirmed that this venture was a success.