The group was walking down the street when EeDechi suddenly stopped. Her head snapped to the right, her brows furrowed, and anger flared in her eyes.
"What's wrong?" Barrett nearly walked into her back. He looked completely bewildered.
He followed her furious gaze and immediately understood.
EeDechi had spotted a brothel!
To be honest, it was an extremely unremarkable brothel. It did not even have a sign. There were no scantily clad women outside soliciting customers, nor any sitting inside waiting expectantly for business. The place was remarkably discreet.
If Barrett's head had not been full of skyships and mechanics, then even with his extensive experience, he probably would have had to move closer and study the building carefully before realizing what it was.
In short, the brothel was exceptionally well hidden.
But EeDechi had found it anyway!
Perhaps, after smashing so many brothels, all her experience stamping out pornography and vice had sharpened her instincts. She had developed a nose for brothels.
Sure enough, EeDechi drew her giant sword and charged inside. She rushed toward the brothel with such urgency that, if she had not been a woman wielding a giant sword, anyone watching would have assumed she was a customer who had been celibate for far too long and was desperate for sex.
"It's time to stamp out pornography and vice!" EeDechi shouted.
Barrett hurriedly wrapped his arms around her. His feet carved two lines into the stone pavement as he struggled to hold her back.
"Captain! Calm down! We have more important things to do! What if you cause a huge incident and the island kicks us out? We still have to find that mechanic!"
EeDechi came to a halt, her grip tightening around her sword. "Damn it! I just can't help myself!"
"I don't understand." Barrett looked helpless. "Why do you always have it in for brothels?"
EeDechi took a deep breath, composed herself, and temporarily suppressed her urge to stamp out pornography and vice.
"Good question!" She turned around and looked from Barrett to Franco. Her expression suddenly became utterly solemn.
"I'll tell you right now why I stamp out pornography and vice!"
EeDechi thrust out her chest and raised her head. Her eyes shone as she gazed into the distance, and she swept her right hand forward.
"I'm doing it for the liberation of all humanity!"
"Huh?"
Barrett picked at his ear. Before EeDechi had spoken, he had imagined countless possible reasons: protecting women, a fanatical obsession with morality, even some personal grudge.
He had never expected an answer so grandiose it was almost suffocating.
"All right." Barrett thought for a moment. "I have a question. Is sexual desire part of being human?"
"Hmm…" EeDechi mulled it over for a while before reluctantly nodding. "Although I hate to admit it, yes."
"In other words, having sexual desires is normal. It's like eating when you're hungry, drinking when you're thirsty, or resting when you're tired. It's normal for people to have sexual desires, and it's normal for them to want those desires satisfied."
"Um…" EeDechi hesitated. "The logic is sound."
"So if people are to be liberated, their sexual desires must be liberated too."
Barrett pointed at a passerby. The man had one crippled leg and walked with a pronounced limp. His face was covered in ugly wrinkles like dried tree bark, and the sour, musty smell of destitution hung about him.
"What is this man supposed to do if he can't satisfy his sexual desires?" Barrett asked.
"Then he can go to a bro—" EeDechi caught herself just before the word left her mouth. "Hold it!"
"Then he can go to a brothel, can't he?" Barrett said with a smile. "Poor, ugly, elderly men like him have no chance of attracting the opposite sex. No matter what they do, no one will want to sleep with them. But they still have sexual desires that need an outlet. Prostitutes are the people who provide that service."
"Don't say prostitutes. Say sex workers," EeDechi corrected him.
"All right. Sex workers."
EeDechi knitted her brows and thought for a moment.
"I admit that what you're saying makes sense. But human freedom and liberation cannot be built on harming other people or interfering with their freedom. Someone might desire wealth, for example, so he robs people at gunpoint and hurts them. That can't be called freedom."
"Have sex workers been harmed?" Barrett asked.
"Of course they have!" EeDechi straightened her back and spoke with righteous conviction.
"The sex trade oppresses and exploits women! It spreads sexually transmitted diseases and disrupts social order! Wherever the sex trade flourishes, darkness and depravity fester!"
"Wait a moment," Barrett said. "Whenever people discuss the sex trade, they only talk about how miserable women are. That isn't gender equality. Men can be sex workers too. When women have sexual desires, they can seek out male sex workers to satisfy them. The profession has no gender restriction."
EeDechi raised a palm. "I don't disagree with that. Sex workers aren't exclusively women. But the market demand for female sex workers is greater than the demand for male sex workers."
"Oh? And why is that?"
"Research has shown that, generally speaking, men have stronger sexual desires than women. When men seek sexual services, they're usually looking for purely physical release. To put it simply, a man wants to get an attractive woman into bed, pull down his pants, fuck her, and come.
"Women, on the other hand, place more importance on emotional connection. Compared with sex itself, they have a greater need for conversation, companionship, and emotional and psychological comfort. That's why men are more likely than women to seek sex workers who provide direct physical services."
Barrett thought about it. "All right. I don't disagree with that point."
EeDechi continued.
"Now add the fact that most societies are patriarchal and that men are generally physically stronger than women. In the sex trade, women are therefore exploited and oppressed in most cases. But in the interest of gender equality, you're right that we can't talk only about women. Oppression and exploitation are extremely common throughout the sex trade. That's why I stamp out pornography and vice, destroy brothels, and rescue sex workers!"
"You've got it backward."
Barrett shook his head emphatically.
"The exploitation and oppression suffered by sex workers are consequences of criminalization and social condemnation, not inherent features of the sex trade. Society bans the sex trade legally and condemns it morally, forcing sex workers underground, beyond the protection of the law.
"Without legal protection, criminal organizations naturally move in. They force people into prostitution and take exorbitant cuts of their earnings. Because sex workers are afraid of being exposed and facing social pressure, they don't dare visit hospitals openly for examinations.
"You could say that the refusal to legalize the sex trade is what allows sex workers to be exploited and oppressed. Moral condemnation is also what contributes to the spread of sexually transmitted diseases."
"For example," Barrett continued, "I once visited a country where the sex trade was legal. The sex workers there had formed a union and worked together to protect their rights. They were protected by the law, and when they encountered organized crime, they could call the police without fear. No one could exploit or oppress them. They received regular medical examinations, and any illnesses could be discovered and treated promptly."
"It's not that simple," EeDechi said, shaking her head. "Even if you overcame every obstacle and legalized the sex trade, society would still despise sex workers and look down on them."
"That's a problem with society's attitudes, not with sex workers."
Barrett spread his hands. "I don't discriminate against sex workers. I think they're admirable. They provide sexual services, satisfy other people's desires, and reduce sexual harassment, infidelity, rape, and pederasty. If priests were allowed to visit prostitutes, it would definitely cut down on little boys getting molested. What we need to do is change society's attitudes."
EeDechi shuddered as if a chill had run down her spine. "I can't imagine how corrupt and depraved a society would become if it neither discriminated against nor despised sex workers. A society that considered the sex trade perfectly normal, that treated selling one's body as a respectable occupation… Such a society would be on the verge of destroying itself!"
Her voice rang with conviction. Every word was firm, righteous, and absolute.
"So," Barrett said with a smile, "your traditional morality is built on discriminating against and despising marginalized groups? You just said you wanted to liberate all of humanity."
"I…" EeDechi was briefly at a loss for words, but she quickly recovered.
"It doesn't matter. We just need to intensify the crackdown and eradicate the sex trade completely. Once the sex trade has disappeared, there won't be anyone left to discriminate against or despise."
"Can it really be eradicated completely?" Barrett sighed. "Sexual desire is one of humanity's most basic desires. There will always be people whose desires go unsatisfied, and there will always be sex workers. Harsh crackdowns and outright bans will only force them to work underground, out of sight, without legal protection or access to medical care."
He continued, "Besides, I don't think sex workers are 'selling their bodies.' That's a needlessly ugly way to put it. They're selling sexual services. It's no different from a nurse being paid to bathe a patient."
"That's an inappropriate comparison." EeDechi wagged a finger at him. "Just because two things involve physical contact doesn't make them morally equivalent. Nursing is a form of medicine and care, while sex has long been bound up with intimacy, love, loyalty, and reproduction. Those things can't simply be bought with money."
Barrett shook his head. "Sex doesn't carry all the important meanings you're talking about. As you said yourself, men who pay for sex only want to stick it in, thrust, and ejaculate. Apart from a handful of idiots, no one goes to a brothel looking for love."
EeDechi could not think of an immediate rebuttal. She crossed her arms, turned her head aside, and snorted. "Hmph!"
Barrett continued. "Besides, two adults have the right to consent to sex with each other whether you approve or not. Everyone has the right to decide freely what to do with their own body. Preventing people from using their bodies to provide consensual sexual services violates that right."
Just then, another passerby went past. He was an old, hunched man leaning on a cane, his face covered in scars.
Barrett glanced at him, then looked back at EeDechi. "Does an old, ugly, poor man not have the right to satisfy his sexual desires? Sexual desire is an innate part of being human, and the freedom to satisfy it is part of bodily autonomy."
EeDechi's brows drew tightly together as she lowered her head and thought.
Unable to outargue Barrett, she grew frustrated. Blood rushed to her face, leaving her fair cheeks slightly flushed.
"All right. I admit you're eloquent, but you haven't convinced me." EeDechi said, "Let's approach this from another angle: the family!"
She paced around Barrett as she spoke.
"The family is the smallest unit of human society. Society is made up of individual families. Only when people are rooted in families can society develop in a stable manner.
"If we analyze Christianity, Islam, and Confucianism, we find that, despite their outward differences, their core purpose is the same: to confine men and women within marriage and the household, bind them to one another, and ensure that each generation produces the next. This also provides society with a great deal of stability.
"That's why these ideologies were welcomed and promoted by ruling classes throughout history.
"Especially in ancient agrarian societies, a larger population meant more labor, manpower, and productive capacity. Since men were physically stronger than women, these ideologies placed men above women and demanded that women obey men.
"To encourage people to marry and raise the birthrate, homosexuality was made a crime because it could not produce children. Any sexual desire outside marriage was considered dangerous. Even masturbation was a sin. Any erotic literature capable of satisfying people's sexual fantasies was harmful. The sex trade was even more unacceptable. All sexual gratification was supposed to be confined to marriage!"
She pointed at Barrett.
"Think about it. If all men were like you—without a respectable job, refusing to settle down, never marrying or having children, and wandering around the world all day with a sword strapped to their backs—what would society become?"
Barrett thought about it, then involuntarily sucked in a breath. "My God. That society would definitely collapse. It would be filled with violence, bloodshed, and chaos."
"Exactly. That's how important the family is."
EeDechi sighed, her eyes filled with worry.
"And the importance of the family is directly tied to the birthrate. No matter how great a civilization or race may be, and no matter how glorious its achievements, without a sufficient birthrate and the normal replacement of one generation by the next, its decline and eventual extinction are inevitable."
"So you believe the sex trade must be suppressed in order to preserve the family?" Barrett asked.
"Exactly."
EeDechi nodded seriously.
"If the law and morality permit sex only within marriage, then people will be forced to form families with members of the opposite sex in order to satisfy their sexual desires. Usually, men will be forced to court women, after which they'll form families and have children. The children will then force them to take responsibility, turning them into mature and dependable members of society and allowing civilization to continue."
"To put it simply," Barrett said, curling his lip, "you use human sexual desire to chain men and women inside a cage called the family, all to maintain social stability."
"If you insist on looking at it negatively, you can understand it that way." EeDechi patted him on the shoulder. "Therefore, in order to preserve the family, both the sex trade and infidelity must be harshly suppressed and banned. They must be completely rejected, both legally and morally!"
"Didn't you say you wanted to liberate all of humanity?" Barrett smiled slyly. "But it seems to me that this family system of yours only benefits the ruling class, while the common people are all bound inside their families. How can that be called liberation?"
"You…"
EeDechi was momentarily speechless.
"You don't understand! A stable society doesn't benefit only the ruling class. It benefits the vast majority of its members as well.
"No one wants to live somewhere filled with crime, chaos, and uncertainty.
"No one wants to visit the butcher's shop one day, only to discover the next that the owner has decided to travel the world because he's single and has no responsibilities tying him down.
"No one wants the delivery driver bringing them food to quit without warning. If the delivery driver has a family and needs money to raise his children, he'll keep working no matter how difficult the job is.
"People need a stable, predictable future. Because they have families, people are willing to endure drudgery, stay in line, and carry out their assigned social duties. People need order!"
"Do people need order," Barrett asked, "or do you simply like order? And you said you wanted to liberate all of humanity. If you succeeded, what would society look like after everyone had been liberated?"
"I don't know," EeDechi answered bluntly.
"You don't even know, and you still want to liberate them?" Barrett covered his face.
"What's wrong with that?" EeDechi said righteously. "Could people living under slavery have imagined what society would look like under capitalism? Don't overthink it. Just do what you believe is right."
"So the sex trade has to be suppressed for the sake of the family?" Barrett snorted. "You know, I've seen plenty of marriages where the woman provides sex and housework while the man provides the income. That's not so different from the sex trade."
"I admit that situation is common," EeDechi said, "but at least marriage can produce children, while brothels can only produce sexually transmitted diseases."
EeDechi let out a long sigh and gazed into the distance, her eyes full of worry.
"Humanity's birthrate keeps falling. Merely banning the sex trade is no longer enough. In the past, people were driven by romantic longing and sexual desire to meet members of the opposite sex, pursue them, fall in love, get married, start families, and have children.
"But now, all kinds of merchants and capitalists are profiting by selling consumers romantic and sexual fantasies. Boy bands, girl groups, idols, virtual idols, AI companions, otome games, monetized anime-style mobile games, and so on. On the surface, they're selling fictional characters. In reality, they're selling romantic and sexual fantasies.
"People call these perfect, untouchable figures their 'husbands,' 'wives,' 'husbandos,' and 'waifus.' They fantasize about dating them, having sex with them, and even marrying them. These completely unattainable images satisfy people's romantic longings and sexual desires.
"In the past, a boy driven by romantic longing and lust had to enter into brutal competition with other men. He had to work hard to earn money, spend it generously on women, rack his brains trying to figure out what women were thinking, and do everything he could to please them before he could earn even a grudging scrap of their attention.
"But now, all he has to do is call a virtual character his 'waifu.' He can watch pornography, fantasize about having sex with her, and jerk off. That's enough to satisfy his romantic longings and sexual urges.
"On top of that, these idealized virtual images of the opposite sex have drastically raised people's expectations and standards while reducing their desire for real people.
"If this continues, humanity's birthrate is going to collapse completely!"
EeDechi clenched her fists, her expression solemn.
"So, in addition to banning the sex trade, we should launch a merciless crackdown on the capitalists who sell romantic and sexual fantasies! We must wipe out all boy bands, girl groups, idols, virtual idols, AI companions, otome games, and monetized anime-style mobile games!"
"Um…" Barrett pondered for a moment. "So you think people don't want to have children because someone is selling them fantasies, rather than because their lives and jobs are too stressful or because they can't afford a decent home?"
EeDechi was rendered speechless again. She thought seriously for a while before helplessly nodding. "All right. I admit that may be the main reason."
"But no matter what," she continued, spreading both hands wide before clenching them into fists, "we have to clamp down on both fronts—and clamp down hard!"
Barrett thought for a moment. "You say you want to liberate all of humanity. Liberation means giving people more freedom. But I can't help feeling that you're planning to liberate humanity by tightening your control over it."
EeDechi wagged her index finger. "Never underestimate how quickly humanity can degenerate, and never overestimate humanity's self-control. Humanity needs my discipline. I will never allow it to fall into depravity!"
Barrett looked at her, his gaze soft. "You're always talking about how important families are, calling on people to marry and return to family life. So why don't you do that yourself? Instead, you're always out adventuring and fighting for your cause."
"I…" For once, a faint flush touched her cheeks.
Her eyes darted away. Looking embarrassed, she stammered for a long time before finally saying, "All right. I admit I'm a hypocrite. I have double standards, and I say one thing while doing another."
"But!"
Her tone grew heavier.
"Just because I fail to do what's right doesn't mean the thing itself is wrong. I'm not a role model for family life. I'm the person responsible for protecting other people's family lives."
"No matter what, you always find a way to insist you're right," Barrett said with a smile.
EeDechi snorted and turned her head away. "I admit I can't outargue you. But I still stand by my position."
"All right, all right. I never expected to convince you anyway." Barrett glanced at the brothel. "We've been talking for so long that my mouth's gone dry. Let's find a tavern and have a drink."
"No!"
EeDechi turned toward the brothel, her gaze as firm as steel.
"I will never allow humanity to continue down the path of depravity!"
With that, she raised her giant sword and charged into the brothel.