It took them 30 minutes to return with the address book. I sat with my legs crossed (ankle-on-knee) on the room's armchair and asked as they entered the room, "What took you guys so long?" I've been bored, waiting, with nothing to do.
"The receptionist kept hitting on us," Otto said.
"The guy?" The receptionist was a guy, if I remember correctly. Is there a guy actively trying to level up? That's so rare, and one that's open about it.
"No, not the guy." His tone was telling me I had asked a stupid question. "It was a woman."
"I don't think she was the receptionist, Otto," Sterling said. "She was part of the staff. We're not sure about her job."
"Oh, what did she offer?" I wondered out loud.
"Why, you're going to share us?" Otto asked.
"Ah, it depends; what did she offer?" I asked again, curious.
"I think a week's pass for the buffet," Sterling answered. "She was kind of vague. I got the feeling she just wanted to grope." By that, he meant she didn't think she'd get them either.
"Oh," I said, feeling disappointed for even asking. But I wondered, "Would you guys do it if I wasn't here?" With a smirk.
"For a buffet pass?" Sterling's eyes twitched.
"What? No." Otto looked disgusted that I'd even ask. "The pass isn't even worth a silver. Does she think I'm that cheap?"
I burst out laughing, "Hahahaha!" I don't know why I suddenly thought of men from Earth, but the reaction was just so different from what I'd expect from men on Earth that I had to laugh.
"What the hell's the matter with you? What's so funny?" Otto asked. They both looked at me like I was an alien. "Wait, you aren't thinking of… for the pass?" Their eyes doubted my sanity.
"No, no." I waved off the idea. "I wouldn't do that." They sighed in relief. I could kind of understand their reactions. If we go by the standards set by the brothels, Otto would be worth… Well, I forget the exact amounts but more than a few silvers. And Sterling might even be worth a gold or two. Pimping them out for a buffet pass would be the same as telling them they were worthless trash. "Now, give me the address book." They were holding two books; it looked like they were copies. "Why do you have two?" Otto handed me one.
"She gave us two," Sterling answered.
"Oh, okay." I opened it up and started looking through it. There was a pen and pieces of paper on the bedside table. I made the pen stand using [telekinesis] and wrote down names and addresses that interested me.
Sterling sat down on the couch adjacent to me and looked bored. Otto collapsed on the bed and looked through the address book.
What is he looking for? I wondered, so I asked, "What are you looking for?"
"Nothing, just seeing what's in it." He said.
I smiled. "Okay."
After a bit of curious browsing, Otto put the address book away. And Sterling looked as bored as ever.
I continued to look for people I'd need and jotted down their addresses. Real estate agents, the Delaron newspaper office, boat captains, etc.
Delaron is composed of West Delaron, East Delaron, Port Delaron, and the Delaron River. I'm currently in East Delaron. I can travel north to the Demon territories and south to Beast territories using the river. And, of course, after you get into the ocean, you can go anywhere on the continent. It is one of the best cities in the Minkin Queendom for this reason and more.
Since Sterling looked so bored, I got off my chair and went to the couch. I laid my head down on his lap and continued to read through the address book. He smiled and stroked my hair. I was happy that he looked just a little less bored. Seeing what had happened, Otto came to the couch too. He put my legs on his lap, removed my socks, and massaged my feet. I smiled but continued to look through the address book for potential agents and jotted down my findings on a piece of paper using [telekinesis].
Sterling broke the mood by asking, "Shouldn't we take a shower?"
"You guys go ahead. I'm going to look through this a little bit more." I said since I was recalling many things by looking over the address book, and I didn't want to stop. I was afraid if I put down the book, I wouldn't be able to get back into this state of mind. Just him talking had already somewhat disturbed my thoughts.
"Should we go in together?" Otto asked.
"Guys, please don't talk. I'm trying to think." I said, getting off both of them and walking back to the armchair with the book in hand.
Otto sighed. "Fine." Then grabbing Sterling's arm, he said, "Come on, she's working." They knew from the short time they'd stayed with me in the capital that I tended not to have time to play with them while working. So they left me to work and went into the hotel bathroom together. I heard the shower go off.
At this point, I wasn't jotting anything down. I had already jotted down everything I really needed. Now, I was going through the address book, thinking things like, "When did I encounter this woman, again… I know there's some quest… Was that the time I played as a Dream Magician? Hmm…" Also, looking through the address book more closely, I felt like I had missed so much while playing the game. I also saw some companies that I know will be worth a lot in 4 years. Companies I needed to invest in.
The boys came out of the shower and said, "It's almost 7."
"Why don't you guys go down," I said without looking up from the book. "I'll come down as soon as I take a shower."
"Are you going to shower with the book?" Otto asked.
"You're so funny," I said sarcastically and looked up from the book for a moment to give him a stupid smile. "Both of you can go find us a seat."
"Hm," Otto grunted.
They put their clothes back on and left the room.
I looked up at the clock and saw that he was right; it was close to 7… I put down the address book and got in the shower with a sigh.
***
As I was going down the stairs, I ran into Terrie and her men. I noticed how burly Theo was while walking right beside him. He was almost 7 feet tall. He looked… too much. I already felt small when I was alone with Otto and Sterling. If I get another boyfriend, I want him to be about my height, maybe even a little shorter, to have someone more relatable. I kind of regretted letting Nikola take Garth, but it was too late now…
We arrived at the restaurant, and everyone else was already there. Otto and Sterling had found us a big table.
I sat down and asked, "Did you guys order anything yet?"
"We were wondering whether you'd buy the pass or not," Woodie said.
"Hmm. Okay, we'll buy the pass. How much is it?" I asked.
"It's 2 copper for a day," Garth said.
"That's a bit much, isn't it?" I asked.
"But it's 12 copper if you buy a week pass," Garth added.
"Per person?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, buy 11 week passes then," I said, looking through my pocket. "Do they have magical swipe machines?" In 4 years, more stores will have magical swipe machines, and it'll be a lot easier to pay with your bank card, but at the current time, very few places have that convenience.
"No, I don't think so," Garth said, shaking his head slightly, unsure of himself.
"Alright," I said, disappointed, and took out the small pouch I usually carried and gave him 2 silver coins.
"I'll get the change, master." He said and went to get our passes.
"It looks like they have custard pudding," Benard said. "I love custard pudding."
"Are you sure I don't need to pay?" Terrie asked.
"Yeah, it's fine," I said, waving it off.
"It looks like they have…" Everyone was hungry and went on about the various eatables the restaurant had.
Garth returned with the pass, and everyone grabbed a plate and happily went to the buffet.
Garth gave me the change, and I stuffed it in my pocket. I hated dealing with coins. I wish they'd make the bank cards easy to use like in the game already. It wasn't just the inconvenience of carrying around the coins; the queendom got rid of the small copper coins a few years ago. Leaving only the regular copper coins for trade. And everyone took the opportunity to hike up the prices and rounded everything up.
Technically, the financial situation of the queendom is a little bit more complicated than that… Still, the banning of small copper coins did cause a stupidly absurd amount of chaos.
The bank cards and magic swipe machines fix that problem in the future… a little bit.
***
As dinner came to a close, I said to Garth, "Go get us a bottle of wine."
"I don't think that's covered by the pass." He said.
"What? I have to pay extra for that?" I complained.
"Hey, me and the guys want to go out tomorrow." Nikola butted in. "Tour around and see the city. So, give me some money."
"Oh, we should join you," Sterling said.
"No, I can't do that. I have to go talk to a real estate agent." I said. "And don't plan anything the day after tomorrow. We'll be looking at houses."
"So we're not going to see the city?" Sterling asked, disappointed.
"You guys can go with them if you want," I said.
"Hey, didn't you hear me? I need money." Nikola said.
"Didn't I already give you this month's allowance?" I asked.
"No, you didn't." She said.
And Garth added. "And master, didn't you promise her 5% of the group's profits?"
I clenched my fist. I wanted to yell at him for bringing it up. "Yeah, where's my 5%!" Nikola asked. "How much is 5% of 150 platinum?" She asked Garth.
"Look, that money's going towards our base. It'll be our adventurer group's house. We're reinvesting, so that doesn't count; it's the whole group's. We'll talk about the 5% after we buy the house. We'll calculate from what's leftover, fair."
"What? No." She moaned.
"Look, how much do you need for touring or whatever you're doing tomorrow. I'll give you that." I said. I certainly didn't want to give her 5% of our profits from the auction. That's way too much for her.
"Ahm… Okay." She agreed.
"Good." I relaxed. "How much do you need for tomorrow?"
She thought for a second, tapping her finger on her chin. "50 silver."
"Why do you need 50 silver?" What was her plan for tomorrow that she'd need 50 silver?
"What? You can't even give me that much. You promised 5%-"
"Okay. Okay." I put up my hands and agreed right away. "Fine. Fine." I felt up my pocket and said, "I don't have that much with me in change. Come to my room later."
"Okay." She said.
"By the way, we agreed on that 5% with the condition that you'd have to prove yourself." I didn't want to bring up this point, but she was getting way too comfortable with spending money. "Do you really think you earned 5% of it? Do you think you even earned 1%? Huh?"
"Ah, hm. Well…" She became a lot quieter and mumbled, "We should go adventuring more, then I'll… I could… I'll do it."
"What are you saying?" I shook my head at her. Then turning to Garth, I gave him a silver coin and all the copper coins I had. "Here, go get us a bottle of wine. Actually," I pulled out another silver coin and gave it to him, "get us two." Then as he was about to leave, I said, "Actually, get…" I shook my head, "Nevermind, yeah, just get 2. We'll get more if I feel like it."
"Okay, then I'm going to go, master." He looked at me, annoyed, before leaving the table to get us our wine.