Chapter 355: A sharp contrast of class
=Huh, that’s…new. Did you know she could do that?=
=I…actually didn’t know that. Good to know.=
=Oh most definitely.=
=We’re in a port city, right? A whole mess of big ships coming in and out from all over the globe for the sake of trade and supplies?=
=Probably the former with an added twist of nasty, I’m thinking tools and maybe.
=Both.=
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“Rock, paper, scissors! Yes!”
“Dammit!”
“Oh dear gods, they’re finally done,” Zhen Yue sighed in relief.
Twenty-two minutes.
For twenty-two minutes straight, Zhen Xing, Zhen Feng, Zhen Guo and Zhen Tai had played a game of 2v2 rock paper scissors just to decide which tavern they were going to go to.
Zhen Liu was going to interject at some point, so were Zhen Hai and Zhen Yue. But the fact that their cousins just kept going for so long was just…weirdly fascinating.
It was like staring at a pinwheel, it was quite pointless but it was just…mesmerizing.
“Alright!,” Zhen Guo declared as one of the winners of this rather inane game alongside Zhen Feng, “we’re heading to the Drunken Prawn.
“Finally,” Zhen Hai sighed, “y’all honestly took so long I want to eat something. Think they have a dish called drunken prawns?”
“I’d be sorely disappointed if they didn’t,” Zhen Yue added.
“Would they be prawns fried in alcohol or boiled in alcohol?”Zhen Liu mused.
It didn’t take them too long to enter the Drunken Prawn, and the moment they did, the smell of spices, booze and frying oil assialed their nostrils like calvary charging into a formation’s backline. The group ended up involuntarily drooling.
“Welcome to the Drunken Prawn,” a serving wench greeted while giving a customer his order of what appeared to be either deep fried shrimp or deep fried giant crawdads, “feel free to grab a table wherever and the menu’s on the board over the bar.”
“This place smells delicious!,” Zhen Feng exclaimed as he took a deeper breath of the tavern’s atmosphere.
“It does, but…the decor could use some work,” Zhen Guo noted.
“I don’t know about that, it feels cozy,” Zhen Yue added.
The inside of the Drunken Prawn reminded Zhen Liu of a British style pub, granted it did have a few more decidedly mystical elements to it, like giant prawn head trophies, funky turtle shells with arrays carved into them and a rusted trident that appeared to have a handle from the fang of some giant sea monster.
In essence…this place was awesome.
“Let’s go sit in that booth over there.”
“Ooh, good eye.”
As the group moved to seat themselves, Zhen Liu decided to check in on his kaijin’s progress.
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‘Have y’all located Donovan yet?’
[We’re in the middle of doing so milord,] Nepherage answered, [We’ll be sure to inform you if the situation suddenly changes.]
[On a side note, we did find some adorable beggar children,] Hurricroak chimed in.
‘Uhh…okay.’
[Darnedest thing though maestro, they had the same vibe you got. No aether flow!]
‘That’s…huh…’
[Think we’re…here…]
[Oop! Gotta go maestro, we’ll be sure to tell you if they’re bastards.~]
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“Why am I not surprised that this guy was staying in the fanciest part of town?,” Nepherage commented to the others.
“Are…are you sure this counts as fancy?,” Razor Maiden retorted.
Going by Hurricroak’s tracking abilities, the kaijin had managed to track down Donovan Wolfe to a place called the Royal Reef Hotel.
As the name implied, the hotel appeared to be made of several giant pieces of coral and shells lashed together into a impressive looking tower that seemed to radiate grandeur while maintaining a colorful yet playful facade. It was clashing but it worked to capture one’s attention…at least to anyone who wasn’t a kaijin.
“Is this the first time any of us seen a hotel before?,” Hurricroak asked her companions.
In response, they all nodded.
“I think this is the first time we’ve seen one in person,” Razor Maiden corrected, “well, one of this world anyways.”
“Big,” Spring Brawler noted while measuring with his arms.
“Meh, could be bigger…with an arcade and a water park…”
“Hurricroak…,” Nepherage warned in a stern voice.
“I’m not going do anything…now…”
“I’d prefer…a…hot springs…inn…,’ Frosttusk mildly sulked.
“Maybe we’ll find one in Roaring Tide,” Hurricroak comforted.
“Hopefully…”
Whether it was due to their lord’s knowledge being bestowed to them or all of the pop culture stuff they consumed with Pathos, but the kaijin all had distinctive ideas of what would constitute as an ideal hotel.
Nepherage preferred something akin to a “grand hotel”, something one would find in the 1920s of a certain blue planet, a place where one could conceivably spend an entire vacation or even months on end in due to quality service and entertainment. That and a deep dark desire to perform a grand musical number on a hotel stage, but that was neither here nor there.
Frosttusk on the other hand, preferred a hot spring style hotel. Simple rooms, simple food and a lovely hot springs he could soak in until the cold finally got out of his bones. Granted he wasn’t entirely sure if he had bones, but the idea of soaking in hot water just sounded nice to him.
Lastly, Hurricroak didn’t want any plain old hotel or a simple food, she wanted the place to be like the “theme parks” she read up on. While she had no idea what it actually felt like to be on a rollercoaster, the idea of travelling high speeds on a giant metal monstrosity sounded amazing, especially when it comes with a photograph at the end. She never took one of those before.
Razor Maiden and Spring Brawler didn’t have much of a preference, as they were still trying to figure themselves out.
That said, Razor Maiden did think she’d like a small cabin moreso than a hotel…as long as it was somewhere with an ice rink, she wanted to try something.
Regardless of where they wanted to be though, the kaijin needed to now get inside a hotel that just radiated the word, “exclusive”.
“So do we just walk through the front door, sneak into the side,” Razor Maiden asked the group, “what’s the gameplan here?”
“Well…”
While the kaijin were used to following Zhen Liu’s orders when it came to delicate matters of subterfuge, they were still able to come up with plans on their own.
Granted, their plans were rather skewed towards their own personal preferences.
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*Bing-Bong*
The writer of this work would like to take this moment to give the readers an opportunity to guess what each of the kaijin are going to suggest as a plan to get inside the Royal Reef Hotel.
Their plans will be listed after this pause, but the speakers will not be specified.
*Bing-Bong*
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“Hmmm. It looks like this place’s entrance has a some kind of restriction gate in place . ‘Aether Masters and above only, unless accompanied by the former.’ We could just walk straight in, fight if we have to, those guards look like massive pushovers.”
“Looks like there is a performance tonight by a…Madam Venus? She’s apparently an opera singer from the Dozing Salamander continent. We could try and sneak in and pretend to be an opening act, maybe we can steal the top billing. Y’all know how to sing and dance, right?”
“Can’t we…just…shrink down…and go through the windows and pipes?”
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*Bing-Bong*
For clarity’s sake, the order of kaijin suggestions went: Nepherage, Hurricroak and Frosttusk.
*Bing-Bong*
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Razor and Spring for their part just sat off to the side and waited for the “proper” kaijin to come up with a plan that didn’t involve violence.
The two sat in relative quiet, allowing their minds to zen out, until Spring suddenly jumped Tina standing position, shocking Razor Maiden.
“Huh? What’s wrong?”
“Something off. I hear familiar. Voice.”
Spring Brawler darted his head back and forth before pointing in a direction.
“Over there.”
“What are you…oh. Oh no…”
Once Razor Maiden could confirm what she was seeing for herself, she called to the other kaijin, but not verbally.
[Guys, quit your arguing, we have a situation to handle.]
[Wait, what? What situa-oh no.]
Once Nepherage, Frosttusk and Hurricroak determined that all three of them were seeing the exact same thing, all three of them proceeded to bolt towards a dark alleyway directly opposite of the Royal Reef Hotel.
They may have been sent to this place on a scouting and blackmail mission, but it appears the parameters had rapidly changed into that based on rescue.
