Chapter 46: the receptionist
Just as they arrived at her front, the receptionist faked a smile and said;
"How may I help you customers this lovely evening." She sounded like she had practiced saying this more times than she blinks in a day.
"We would like to know how much it would cost to rent a room." Andrea smiled and said to the receptionist.
'Just a room? For the 4 of you? Well, it is just the first day of school.' The receptionist thought.
"For a night?" she inquired. "No, for the session," Alex answered this time. He stepped forward and leaned his body on the counter. The woman arched an eyebrow in surprise to their tenacity.
'A whole session, wow. I hope you don't get anyone pregnant.'
"I doubt you would be able to afford the cheapest room for a session, so let us be civil and reasonable here. Tell me if you want to rent a room for the night or not."
Alex snickered at her reply. "Tell us what we want to know. Isn't that your job? Old lady. Such poor customer services." He snapped at her.
It was clear that the receptionist had dealt with many situations like this, she didn't flinch or get mad at Alex for the way he addressed her just now. She barely gave any kind of reaction.
"Okay. For the cheapest room, 100 LD-ECs for a night, and a session, it's 12,000 LD-ECs." The receptionist said nonchalantly. She was expecting Alex to be thrown off by the price but unfortunately, her expectations weren't met.
'This kid is good at pretending, he didn't even blink after hearing the price.'
"Just that? That's not what I was expecting." He said with a frown.
['That's cheap, I thought it was going to be something unreasonable. Maybe I should go for something more comfortable.']
['something more comfortable? What the hell are you thinking of Alex, if it has anything to do with using my – our money then I'm pleading with you, don't do it.'] Al panicked.
Andrea who was standing by the side was shocked when she heard the price for a session. She looked at Alex's facial expression from the side and saw that he was frowning.
'As I thought. That is too much weight for his pocket.' She sighed and was about to speak when she was interrupted by Alex.
Alex smirked. "How much is your most expensive room, it should be a penthouse or a presidential suite right?" He asked.
"You should leave here and save yourself the embarrassment of being sent out by the security. Even if you had a million blue LD-ECs, you still wouldn't be able to pay for it," The receptionist cautioned Alex. She was starting to get frustrated by his presence.
"What if I have 2 million HD-ECs?" He asked with his smirk still present.
"You have ridiculous dreams kid." The receptionist scorned. "A man can dream can't he?" Alex said immediately in response.
"Even if you had 2 million HD-ECs you still wouldn't be able to afford it. We only Accept Purple ECs for the presidential suite." She snapped back at Alex.
Seeing the receptionist expression Andrea knew that she was getting pissed off by Alex. She knew that most of the staff in the academy were strong cultivators and this woman in front of her was strong than she.
"Alex I think you should stop taunting the receptionist, we should leave here," Andrea said. "You should listen to your friend boy because if any word comes out of your mouth again you would be waking up in the infirmary." The receptionist threatened.
"Oh, then will this be enough." He brought out a single purple HD-EC. The woman stood up and was about to attack Alex but stopped in her tracks when her eyes landed on the purple EC.
"Will this be enough?" He asked once more. The receptionist looked at the expressions on Camron's and Arabella's face. They were passive about this like they knew that he had a purple EC with him. She looked at Andrea's face and saw the expression of shock on her face.
['No!! I thought you said that you weren't going to use the purple ECs.'] Al screamed at Alex when he saw what was in his hands.
['Yeah I said that I wasn't going to use it to cultivate. Didn't say that I wasn't going to spend it.']
['You conniving rat, despicable, hypocrite.'] Al threw insults at Alex.
['You forgot ignorant.'] Alex added.
['I hate you!!'] Al cried.
'Who are these kids, one in a black uniform, and one in a red uniform, two without uniforms? New students?' The woman thought.
"Will this be enough?" Alex asked for the third time with a frustrated tone this time.
"Eh? Yes, this is more than enough. I'm sorry, I apologize for my immature and rude antics. Please excuse my unprofessionalism." She bowed and apologized.
"No problem. I didn't take any offense from anything you said." He shrugged it off. "So who's going to take us to the suite?"
"Oh, the steward will do that. But there's an issue. We don't have enough Purple LD-ECs to return to you. The price for a session is 60 purple LD-ECs, we don't have 40 purple ECs on ground. Would you prefer it if I gave you a gift card worth 40 purple LD-ECs, you can use it to purchase anything that has the EC price tag on it in the school's ground?"
"Alright. I'll take that."
"I will be right back." She took the purple HD-EC and walked down to the end of the hall, she went behind a corner.
"What?" Alex asked when he noticed Andrea staring at him weirdly. "Nothing. Just surprised that's all."
Not long after, the receptionist came back carrying a silver tray with a purple card resting on top of the tray. "Here, take the card and let a bit of your blood on it."
['What's with this world and its people that have a fetish for blood?'] He complained.
"Alright." Despite his complaints he still did it. He bit his thumb and let his blood drop on it. After the purple card absorbed his blood, a purple-like neon glow appeared on it. Written on it was '40 LD-ECs' the glow disappeared.
"Now you would be escorted to your room." Just as soon as she finished saying that the steward that they met at the entrance appeared behind them. "This way please." The steward said. He leads the way and they followed behind.
They walked down the hall and made a turn to their right, then they walked down that hall. From the 3rd hall that they walked through they started seeing doors of different sizes. They made another turn and walked through the hall. They did the same thing for about 2 minutes. Then they arrived in front of a white-colored wooden door with a golden doorknob.
The steward brought out a token. "Your school badge please." He requested politely. Alex handed his badge over to the man. The steward used the token on his hand and pressed it on Alex's badge, then he handed it back to him.
"Your badge will be the key to your room." The man said shortly after handing the badge back to Alex. "Can I get another key, I mean I need my friend to be able to access the room too when I'm not present," He pointed at Camron.
"Okay, hand your badge over." The man said to Camron. Camron handed it over to him and watched as he did the same thing that he did to Alex's badge, to his. "Now the two of you can Access the room, you can go ahead and open the door." He stepped aside to give way to Alex.
Alex did as he said and open the door. They were mesmerized by the exquisite beauty and fabulous panoramic view of the suite, everything looked so high-end. "This is a large apartment-like layout with fully furnished living areas, three bedrooms attached with bathrooms, a dining area, a fully stocked kitchen, a bar, and a patio."
Although, it seemed like they weren't listening to what the steward was saying, because they were still caught in a trance trying to take in the intricate beauty of the suite – but in fact, they were listening, they just didn't have an expression and reaction to spare.
"I shall leave you to your selves now." He made a short bow and excused himself.
['You're lucky this suite is worth the money, if it wasn't I would have killed you, Alex.'] Al mumbled.
['You wouldn't have been able to do shit Al.']
['Hmph']
"This place is really…" Andrea paused, she did not know how to accurately describe it. "It is wonderful. I have to admit that I'm jealous of Camron at the moment." She said with all honesty.
"True," Arabella uttered.
Alex walked over to the patio, it had a few chairs and tables by the side, and grass as the carpet. There was a glass railing as demarcation at the end of the patio.