"I-I know of a place that you can stay. If, of course, you don't mind me taking you there."
"Saves me the trouble of looking for it myself."
While Kurt and Amy were discussing amongst themselves, Emelie was deep in thought.
'Who is this man? I've never seen him before.'
She looked at Kurt and searched deep in her memories but to no avail.
'He has an eyepatch with a decent looking face so you'd I'd remember something but no. Nothing comes to mind.'
'Then there's also the fact that he came out from where the cultist was supposed to leave. And… he smells of blood…'
"You've been staring at me for a while now. Like what you see?" Kurt tried teasing her.
*Gasp!* Amy held her hand to her mouth, "THE Emelie Herst is taking interest in a man?! Has spring finally come for you."
"Don't flatter yourself, eyepatch. And you," She flicked her finger at Amy's forehead, "Stop trying to make up fanfics to fuel your perverted brain."
"Ouchie!" Amy whimpered.
"That's the perfect segue for me to introduce myself. The name's Kurt. Not eyepatch."
"Oh! I'm Amy! And I'm a second-year student at Future Academy. Nice to meet you, Kurt!"
"Ha ha. You too, Amy."
"And this is…" Amy led on.
"I'm Emelie Herst. Third year at Future Academy." She introduced herself in a deadpan voice.
".... Right…. Nice to meet you too, Emelie."
"Don't mind her Kurt. She's not used to talking with strangers."
"Clearly."
"What was that?"
"Oh, would you look at the time? Amy, can you show me to the hotel? It's getting late you see and I'm a bit tired."
"You're right! I'm sorry I didn't mean to keep you. Come on, let's go! It's actually near the place we first ran into each other." Amy tugged on Kurt's arm
"Really? How convenient." He smiled.
"You coming, Emelie?"
"No. You two go on without me. I need to get this to the principal." She waved the box.
"Alright then! Thank you again Emelie for your help. I owe you one as well."
"Buy me a soda when you get back to the dorms."
"Ok! See you later!"
Amy waved her off and Kurt gave a quick little nod as they left.
"Say, did you know that Emelie is one of our Academy's representatives for the upcoming tournament?"
"Really? That sounds awesome."
Once the two were out of sight, Emelie turned her focus onto the alleyway.
*meow*
"You're still here?"
*meow*
"Shall we go in together?"
*meow *purr*
The cat rubbed itself on Emelie's leg and walked through the gate.
Once she made sure that no one was looking, she stepped through the gate and locked the handle bar behind her.
The sun was beginning to set as she walked through the dark alley and it was eerily quiet.
With the only sound heard being her footsteps.
'I don't like this.'
After walking the straight path, she finally reached the corner turn where the cat could be seen sitting on top of a dumpster.
Emelie hid. Back flat against the wall as she peaked round the bend.
'The robbers or that cultist freak could still be here. Not that they'd stand a chance against me.'
'But then again….' She thought back on Kurt and the way he smelled of blood.
Rustle *meow*
The cat jumped down from the dumpster and ran around the corner.
"Wait-" She tried to reach out but it was too late.
Exposing herself to a potential threat, she readied herself for a fight but what she found instead surprised her.
"... Nothing."
There was nothing.
No signs of a fight.
No blood marks.
And no robbers nor cultist.
The place was empty.
.
..
…
"This is the hotel!" Amy showed Kurt.
The hotel had a historical charm to it. Standing proudly at five stories tall, it had a beautiful outer garden where guests could relax. Its walls were painted in white and had artistic wooden balconies running across them, giving the room attendants a scenic view of the city.
"Woah…" Kurt admired it. "I've never really been to one of these places before."
"I'm glad you like it!" Amy clapped
'Looks expensive though. But with the money I recently 'acquired' it shouldn't be a problem.'
"Thanks again for showing me the way."
Kurt looked down the street and recognised a certain diner.
"It's even near Sophie's Diner. Very convenient." He nodded in approval.
"You know the place? Maybe we can go eat together sometime?" She whispered shyly.
"What was that?"
"O-oh N-n-nothing. I didn't say anything! Nope, nope not me ahahaha!"
'Sorry Amy but I've already got my eyes set on somebody else.'
"Well if that's everything then this is where we part ways. I still have to book a room."
"Book a room? Y-yes of course! Don't let me keep you."
After finishing their greetings of departure, Kurt entered the lobby of the hotel and was blown away by how elegant it looked.
Antique furnishings covered the area that was wrapped in a marble floor finish. To the side was a small fireplace which was lit in what seemed to be the lobby's chill area and up front stood the reception desk.
'Very cozy.' he thought when walking to the front desk.
"Good evening sir," The male receptionist greeted, "How may I be of service?"
"Good evening. I would like to book a room for an extended period of time."
"Of course, sir. What do you have in mind? We offer weekly and monthly pay plans."
"Hmm, I'm still new to this place so I'll take the monthly plan. How much would that be?"
"The initial pay would be three gold coins, then at the end of every month would be twenty-five silver."
"Hmm.." Kurt furrowed his eyebrows and saw the name tag of the receptionist chest read Darwin.
"Darwin?"
"Yes, sir?"
"This might sound embarrassing but can you give me the quick rundown for the currency of these coins? Like I said, I'm new here."
"That's no problem, sir. Are you familiar with any sort of money system?"
"Do cents and dollars count?"
"Wow, talk about ancient! I love history so this will be much easier." Darwin beamed with excitement.
"So, you know cents and dollars work right? Now look at this,"
He took out a notebook and drew three rectangles. Inside of each rectangle, he drew five circles neatly lined up next to and inside each circle he drew the numbers 1, 5, 10, 20, 50.
"Each coin, that being copper, silver and gold, is divided numerically like this. The higher the number on the coin the more value it has. 1 silver equals 100 copper and 1 gold equals 100 silver. Additionally," He drew another rectangle. This time with two circles.
"Additionally there is another tier above these three, but you'll hardly ever see that."
Inside the two circles he drew the numbers 1 and 5.
"These are platinum coins and only the extremely wealthy carry these coins. 1 platinum equals 10 gold."
"I see." Kurt followed along.
"I get the gist of it. Thanks Darwin."
He reached for the pouch Willy gave him and paid the amount needed.
"You're welcome, sir." He took and put the money inside of a dog tag using magic.
'What the hell? Is that thing like a wallet or something? Which reminds me…'
"By the way Darwin, do you know of any banks around? I would like to set up an account tomorrow. I can't be seen walking around with a pouch, know what I mean?"
"Ah yes. I was wondering why you took out your money like that ha ha. Just give me one second…"
He took out a box of keys and asked, "We have rooms available on the third and fifth floor. Which one would you like?"
"The third floor. Preferably one with a balcony that has the view of the city."
"Very well. Room 15 it is then."
He then tore out a page from his notebook and quickly drew a map that points the way to the bank.
"These are your keys and this is a map to the bank starting from our location." He handed the items over to Kurt.
"Thank you, Darwin."
"I'm only doing my job. You can take the elevator to the third floor. And thank you for staying with us." He bowed.
Kurt entered the elevator and pressed the button to the third floor.
While going up he wondered, 'From what I've seen so far, there's no form of electricity. I wonder what powers these things? Magic maybe?'
Ding
The elevator doors opened.
He walked along the corridor and looked for his room.
'Room 15… Room 15…. Ah there it is.' He entered the key and opened the door.
Click Shut
The room, as expected, was also beautiful. From the elegant furnishing to the rich fabrics, everything about the place screamed luxury.
Kurt walked to the glass panels and opened it, stepping on the balcony.
"What a view…" He thought while leaning on the railing.
'Although my old world is lost to time, at least this one has something going for it. Isn't that right you cultist scum. Also...' he looked in the direction of Sophie's Diner, 'There's also you, mystery beauty. I can't wait 'til we meet again~'
'But for now,' he pushed himself off the railing, 'It's time for some R&R.'