Chapter 11 Part 2

They walk over to the counter and wait for Zoey to see them. Every now and again, Zoey would power walk past them, serving her customers. With her establishment being bigger, Zoey has designated a portion of the bar and dining area exclusive to her inn customers. Roughly ten minutes later, she rushes in from the kitchen and talks to our favourite trio. "alright! How can I serve you today?"

"quick question before that. Why aren't there other people servicing the bar?" Haider asks.

"I like to be hands on with my business! Keeps me humble, and I hate not being busy. Although I had to train more people in the kitchen to keep up the pace of serving our food. Does that answer your question?" Zoey answers.

"that's perfect. I believe we have a reservation?" Haider says.

"name please?" Zoey asks.

"it should be under the name Longstaff." Haider says.

Zoey's head immediately pops up and went to start fangirling, but Haider stopped her. "please don't associate us with our dad Heddwyn. We want to make our own name for ourselves, and our dad's reputation ruins that."

"oh. I can do that. But your dad really is an amazing person. Did he tell you what he did to earn his status?" Zoey asks.

"no, he just said that he was famous here from being an adventurer." Heather says.

"well, that's a story for another day. I see that the lad behind you has a different name that your dads. Is that the name of the church priest who took you in?" Zoey asks.

"y-eah. How did you know that?" Christopher asks.

"just a hunch. Engilram never told me his last name. he's a dick for that." Zoey says.

"I'm sure it was on the letter he sent." Christopher says.

"it just said Engilram Priest of Dungannon." Zoey replies.

"you know what? It sounds like the pervy old man." Christopher laughs.

"oi! You know he stopped that when Sister Helga passed." Heather yelled.

"can you stop bringing her up! I relive almost killing dad when you do that!" Christopher whined.

"Then stop saying rude things about him!" Heather yelled back.

"so yeah. You'll be dealing with him. He can be kinda rude, blunt, and arrogant. Don't pay him any mind. He will get better at talking to you when he gets to know you. God, I'm getting sick of explaining this to people... sorry I got side-tracked. What were we talking about?" Haider says.

"oh, nothing that important. I think Engilram is a good man. He said he's suppressed his masochistic side in a letter recently." Zoey states.

"that's, good?" Haider says.

"let me get you to your rooms. They're the three extra large rooms on the 5th, 6th and 7th floors. On the reservation, it was suggested that Haider and Heather may want to share a room. Is that statement still valid?" Zoey asks.

"hell no! I want to sleep in a warm room for once." Heather yelled.

"oh, c'mon sis. It's been that way since we were kids! Let's keep it that way." Haider teased.

"sod off Haider! I want to feel warm for once! Our room at home always felt like an ice cube because of you." Heather bites.

Haider giggles, and Zoey smiles, enjoying their banter. "let's get you to your rooms." Zoey walks over to the stairs and gestures for them to follow. "come! They've been ready for years. Ive been preparing for this day ever since Engilram left. It's given me tons of time to make changes and set them up to meet the fancy lifestyle. just so you can stay comfortable till you become adventurers."

The trio follow Zoey up to the fifth floor. She pants as she gets to the top of the stairs. "*huff* I fucking hate these stairs."

"you good? Don't say it Christopher." Heather says.

"you know I'm getting sick of you predicting what I'm going to say." Christopher says.

"yeah I'm good. being big doesn't equate to having lots of stairs. It gives me major cramps. It doesn't help that I ran the first four flights. I'm fucking knackered. This is Heather's floor. The door in front of me is the entrance. If you go up to the next floor, it will look the same as well as the 7th. After Heather's floor, it's Haider, after that is Christopher." Zoey says.

"thanks Zoey! Make sure you take a break!" Haider gives Zoey ten silver.

As she stairs at the coin in her hand, she says, "what the fuck?"

Heather laughs. "he likes to donate money to people who do good hard work. He gave our driver enough gold to buy the carriage she wanted."

"thanks a ton! This will go into paying the rest of the building fees." Zoey yells.

Heather and Haider head into their rooms, leaving Christopher with Zoey. "wait who was your driver?" she asks.

"um. It was something like kale? Karl? I don't remember it. All I remember is that she's cool. Thanks for putting me on highest floor I guess." Christopher head's up the stairs leaving Zoey behind, who is now sitting down on the top step catching her breath.

"who could have been their driver? Bastards got me curios." She says, walking back down the stairs.

(narrator) let's get back to Christopher. We really haven't been with him much recently and this damn story is about him. It's my own damn fault. He's already going in, let's ge-. That bastard closed the door on me! Oh, right. Walls like this don't affect me.

On the other side of the door is an extremely extravagant living space. I think they call it an appertmernt in your world. There is a living space to relax, a dining area, an on-suite bathroom, a simplistic version of a kitchen. Instead of an oven, it has a drop chute elevation platform thingy. I've never seen one of these before. I'm not sure if I know how to explain it. It looks like a platform with a rope attached to it; I guess.

There is some sort of cold box in the kitchen too. Wait, could this be a tiny fridge! Yeah, it is. All places that serve food require a massive cold room by law in Stocaea, and I think the King called it a fridge. Food regulations, I believe the law is called. I never knew they could be made so small. How does it work?

"curious. The rune for ice is in here. It would be too expensive to buy the mana for these to run all day. Crystals wouldn't work either. She would need to buy too many, also too expensive." Christopher speculates.

Christopher leans against the kitchen island to think. A few moments of silence later and he comes up with another thesis. "could it be a mana syphon? That could work. All the guests she gets throughout the day would definitely leak more than enough mana to supply the establishment with the consumption needed. And it's a one-time purchase too, so it's affordable. What a clever lady!" He complements.

Christopher looks around at his open plan living room kitchen combo and says, "to fit my fancy lifestyle my ass! This place looks so much better than that rose wood coloured mansion dad made. The inside of those iron wood trees is rancid. I think she overdid it with this place. Nice white painted walls. The voile curtains and the nice glass table give it such a new era feel."

(narrator) what is it with everyone talking to themselves! it's creepy!

Christopher slowly takes in his surroundings. Sliding his hand along the marble kitchen island. His eyes appreciating the artistry of the unfamiliar and rare style. He heads to the bedroom, and the room is empty. It's roughly the size of his old room at home. Suddenly we hear a scream, then two sets of feet whizzing up the stairs. The entrance to Christopher's room slams open and it causes him to fall over in shock. Christopher quickly picks himself up and comes eye to eye with Haider.

"would it kill you to knock first!" Christopher yells.

"Fuck knocking! Get my bedroom stuff out of your pocket dimension! There was a letter in the bedroom saying that we can put our stuff in there!" Haider yells back.

"please bro! it doesn't need to be neat, as long as you don't break anything." Heather pleads nicely.

Christopher sighs and pulls out his wizard's staff. He places the bottom to the ground and opens a portal directly above Haider's belongings. "I haven't practiced this bit much. If you really want your things, you got to know that they could all be destroyed if move my portal over them." Christopher warned.

"oh shit, ok. I'll stay silent then." Haider backs off.

Heather patiently waits her turn as Christopher pushes the runes down with his hand. He closes his eyes as he does this to help him see when to stop moving the portal.

Christopher deactivates the spell and releases his breath. "*huff* ok. It all went through, but I have no idea if any survived."

Haider run off down back down to his floor to check his belongings. He taps on the ceiling twice to signal that everything is in perfect condition.

"thank god. That's the first time that I've ever moved my portal over that many items." Christopher admits.

"when can you safely do my stuff?" Heather asks.

"if you give me at most a couple weeks, I should have it down well enough to have a 40% chance of success. I don't want you to wait too long." Christopher says.

"I'll just have Zoey give me a single bed for now. When you get close to mastering it, please let me know." Heather requests.

"not a problem, sis." Christopher says.