Chapter 94: Imperial Nights

Location: Magicon Empire; Magicon System; Terra; Imperia

We all step into the shuttle. It’s nothing fancy, but it does smooth out our short trip to the city center a lot. Our destination is the central towers, and we reach them about twenty minutes later. The shuttle aims for a landing platform about halfway up at one of the centermost towers. The shuttle sets down and we disembark. “Where to now?” Lucy asks and looks around in wonder.

Before us, the tower is like one big open space. There is a big opening right in the middle reaching from the bottom to the very top. Every floor circles this opening and features all kinds of bars, nightclubs, restaurants, and who knows what else next to each other. It’s a lot to take in, and I have to work hard not to lose focus.

Luckily, Tim seems rather indifferent about the overwhelming stuff around us. Looks like he’s been to more places like this? “It doesn’t really matter… Depends on what you want to do. We could go up toward the top and enjoy the view, though it’s more expensive the higher you go. Or we could go to a dive bar at the bottom and drink until our brains short out.” He shrugs. “It’s your choice.” He looks at me, his gaze seems to search for a reaction? I wonder why…

Lydia opens and closes her mouth a few times. “All this, the whole tower is just for bars and stuff?”

Alina nods. “Yeah, is this your first big city? Pretty much every one big enough has a tower like this. Concentrating all such establishments helps to keep the noise in check, as they can simply soundproof the whole tower which is more efficient and makes happier residents.”

Hmmm, her explanation makes sense but there wasn’t a tower like this in Alburgh… Everything was just at random locations throughout the city. Maybe the Valterions aren’t so keen on uniformity? I guess that’s a question for my parents.

“Crazy…” Lydia replies and looks at me with a raised eyebrow. “So, like Tim said… Where do you want to go?”

Dave, his friends, and Nick all keep their gazes toward the lower levels where the cheaper things are according to Tim. Lucy on the other hand looks upward with stars in her eyes. Tim still has that weird look and stares at me. In the end, I shrug. Sara Green should be rich enough. “Let’s head a few levels up to start things. I really could use something to eat.”

The others agree, some more reluctantly than others. I decide that something like the beginning of the top third of the tower is good enough. We step into an elevator, and I press a random button in the top third. Apparently, I picked something a little bit too high, as Nick blanches. “You want to go that high?”

I nod. “Yeah, it’s my first time here, I want to enjoy the view for a bit as long as I’m still sober. But don’t worry, it’s my treat.”

Nick’s eyes widen, and Tim’s eyebrow twitches before he controls himself. Just what is with him today? “I… No, I can’t…” Nick starts before I interrupt him.

“Stop, I insist. If it makes you feel better, you can pay for our drinks once we’re at lower levels.”

He breathes a silent sigh of relief. “Okay, fine. But I’m just taking a snack!”

Before I can say anything else as a reply, the elevator stops with a ding, and the door opens. What I can see in my limited field of view, screams expensive. There is actual carpet on the floor and the lights look like they are straight out of an old castle. There is even a butler standing opposite the elevator entrance.

“Good evening, my name is Wesley, what can I do for you?” His voice is pleasant, and he smooths out his dark suit after he stops speaking.

Tim was the first one out, so he greets the butler. “Good evening, Wesley, we’re looking for a place to eat but unfortunately, we’re very spontaneous, so we don’t have a reservation.”

He acts like he does this every day… And there is another weird glance over his shoulder in my direction. Just why? That’s it, I’ll ask Grandma Amelia about him the next time. I see her!

Luckily, Wesley takes it in stride. “That’s no problem at all, do you have preferences in which kind of food you would like?”

I step up next to Tim. “No, not really. We’d like a place with a nice view though.”

Wesley nods. “One moment please, let me check.” He starts to stare into open air and taps a few invisible buttons. Then he smiles and looks back at me. “Good news, I’ve found something for you. How does Chinese food sound? The restaurant even offers the best view at this level.”

I look at the others and see only smiles and small nods. “Sounds lovely, Wesley. Please lead the way.”

He nods and turns around. We quickly follow him when he leads us along the open hallway. When I lean over the edge and take a look, I can still see the very bottom of the tower. Wesley stops after we’re about halfway around the tower and points at a sliding glass door to his right.

“Here you go. This is the Golden Tiger. I’ve already told them about your arrival, so just go in and enjoy your meal. If you need anything, just give me a call. I’m right out here.” A notification appears on my interface. Wesley just sent us his contact details.

“Thanks, Wesley,” I call out. “See you later.”

Tim leads the way and walks toward the sliding glass door. It opens once he’s close and we all follow him through. When I cross the threshold, I feel a weak magical pulse. Did they scan us?

A smiling Chinese woman greets us. “Hi there, and welcome to the Golden Tiger. Let me lead you to…” Suddenly she frowns and trails off. “Excuse me, one moment, please. I’ll be right back.”

I glance at Tim as he is probably the most experienced one. He notices my glance, but he just shrugs. Dave on the other hand looks rather uncomfortable. I look at him with a raised eyebrow. “What is it?”

He sighs. “I was hoping this wouldn’t happen, but I guess Mr. Junbun still has it out for me…” He turns to his friends who share his resigned expression. “I guess we’ll just leave so that you can enjoy your evening.” Without waiting for my response, they all turn around and leave.

What the hell? Why would they leave? And what has it to do with that Charles dude? “Clara, call Dave please.”

Stolen novel; please report.

“Done, waiting for him to pick up… Rude! He just ignored my call.”

Dammit, why does Dave give up like this? Grandma Amelia said they are in the process of giving his parents their company back. I’m about to go after him when Tim’s hand on my shoulder stops me. He looks at me with a curious expression. I sigh as well. “He’s got a problem with one of the Nobles in our year… It’s a long story, but the Baron messed up and screwed over Dave’s family. They went to court and the Baron lost, now the grandson, Charles Junbun hates him with a passion.” I stop for a moment and watch Tim’s face. It goes through various expressions of anger. Then I continue. “Uh, and I might have interfered a bit when I joined Dave’s team as a Space Mage and pretty much insulted that Charles guy…”

Tim takes a deep breath. “Well, shit…”

Before he can continue, the woman comes back. Followed by two very big men with angry scowls on their faces. They look directly at me though. The woman clears her throat and looks at me as well. “Unfortunately, you got flagged by our security scan. You are not welcome here, I’m sorry. Please leave, or my friends here have to help you out.”

One of them shows us a cruel smile and cracks his knuckles. I gulp and Tim scowls right back at them. “May I ask why?” He asks and the woman nods.

“That is your right, yes. Your friend,” she points at me, “has been issued a city-wide ban due to immoral behavior. Now leave please.”

Tim seems to be on the verge of saying something else, but then he just sighs. “Fine…” he turns around. “Let’s go guys. We’ll try our luck somewhere else.”

We follow him outside, just before the door closes, I hear one of the two big men chuckling. “I wouldn’t be so optimistic if I were you.”

Now back outside I have time to sort my thoughts. I’ve got a city-wide ban? The hell? And immoral behavior, really? Tim looks at me again. “Just what have you done?”

I shrug. “Well… I think I insulted him as I didn’t use his title. Then I called him pretty much a moron and teleported him out of the room when he threatened me...”

Tim facepalms and groans. “Oh my god. That’s basically the worst you could have done.”

I shrug again. “Can’t help if it was true. That guy is an idiot and who cares about third-class Barons?”

I catch another glimpse of Tim’s weird expression before he’s back to normal. “Well, if it’s true what the woman in the restaurant said, then we’re pretty much banned from every establishment in the tower except for the bottom-floor dive bars. They don’t care about anything.” He’s silent for a short moment. “I could make a few calls and try to get us cleared.” Another moment of silence, then he clears his throat. “Err, at least for the normal restaurants and bars. Nothing upper class like this here, but at least better than bottom floor.”

That does sound good. Though now I wonder even more if he’s more than he pretends to be. Also, his weird looks all the time. Yeah, I’ll definitely ask Grandma Amelia about him! That also reminds me of what she meant with I have to face the consequences of my actions. But she also said I could call Chris…

“Good idea, please do so. I’m also going to make a few calls.” I turn to the others who stayed silent so far. “Can one of you try to call Dave again and tell him it isn’t his fault? Maybe try his friends if he doesn’t pick up. Oh, and maybe Wesley as well and see If he can catch Dave or something?”

Lucy nods. “Yeah, we’ve got you. Make your calls and if nothing works out, we can still take your ship and jump somewhere?” She grins after her suggestion. And Tim’s eyebrow twitches again. Then he steps to the side to make his calls.

I also take a few steps away from the others, then I cast a normal Communication spell and aim for my brother. The spell finds him here in the city and connects quickly. “Sara? Nice to hear from you. Do you need anything at college?”

Hi Chris,” I start, then I remember that I can also communicate without speaking. “I need your help, actually. Probably… Not at college though. More like in the city. You see, I messed up a bit and Grandma Amelia said you could help me.”

I hear a soft chuckle over the connection. “What would you need my help for? I don’t have a connection to FBC, and even if, what about your disguise?”

Ugh, now I have to tell him. That’s so embarrassing. “Well… I pretty much insulted the grandson of some random Baron, and now I’m banned from everything in the city.”

“The hell?” Chris replies. “Give me a second… Huh, you really are. Sara Green, to be kicked out of every establishment upon entry because of immoral behavior… But that’s not something a grandson of a mere Baron should be able to do... I’ll look into it. You good with a reply tomorrow? I’m actually out eating at the moment.”

“Yeah, no problem. And say hi to Aria from me.”

He makes a weird sound. Almost like he just spit out his drink. “How do you? Fuck! They know… Ugh… I call you tomorrow. See you, Sara.”

I almost burst out laughing. Just what is it with my brothers trying to hide their girlfriends? “Bye, Chris!”

I cut the spell and start walking back to the others. Tim has already finished his call and looks at me expectantly.

“What’s so funny?” Nick asks when I’m back in earshot.

“Nothing really… I just embarrassed my contact.” I clear my throat. “But I don’t have much news… They can only look into it tomorrow, so for today I guess it is dive bars. Or did your thing work out, Tim?”

He grins. “Yeah, I’ve got good and bad news. First, I did manage to get you off the list for pretty much all the normal restaurants or bars here in the tower. The rest of the city is another story, but everything in the lower third here should be fine. Bad news is, that your ban really is city-wide, so we’re stuck here in the tower.”

I sigh. “Yeah, I figured… My contact told me as much. I wonder how Charles managed all this… His family should be in trouble right now after their idiotic stunt with Dave’s parents’ company. How can he issue such a ban?”

He shrugs. “Don’t know yet… Nothing we can do right now anyway. Let’s head down a few levels and try again.”

We all agree and start walking back to the elevator. Lucy nudged me. “I got a hold of Lena and explained the situation. She said she’d talk with Dave and call me back. That should be any minute now.”

I nod and thank her. Two minutes later we arrive at the elevator. Wesley wears an apologetic expression. “I’m really sorry that this didn’t work out. If I knew about the ban, I wouldn’t have let you to the Golden Tiger.”

I wave him off. “Don’t worry, Wesley, we didn’t know about it either. But we’re working on clearing my name, so maybe we’ll see you again next week.”

He smiles. “I look forward to it. Take care!”

We step into the elevator and Tim presses a button at the lower third. The elevator starts moving and Lucy taps the air. That must be her call. A minute later she’s finished. “That was Lena, she managed to calm Dave down and they’ll meet us at the lower levels.”

“That’s great, thanks, Lucy.”

When the elevator arrives, there is a stark difference. All the luxurious decorations are gone, and there is no trace of a butler like Wesley, just the normal walkway around the open middle of the tower. We meet up with Dave and his friends shortly after, then Tim leads us to a restaurant. This time it’s a barbecue, as we all don’t want to have Chinese food anymore after our experience at the Golden Tiger.

So, when we enter Peter’s BBQ, there is another faint magical pulse, but this time no bouncers appear. Looks like Tim’s call was effective. I wonder what kind of connections he has. I mean sure, Chris was occupied with his date, but I don’t think he would have fixed it by snapping his fingers. So who does Tim know?

Anyway, we all enjoy our food and talk quite a lot. Especially Nick and Fabio seem to hit it off, as they’re both big fans of the same Gravity Ball team. I talk a bit with everyone, and the others do the same. A few hours later, we exit the restaurant with full bellies. Then we move down another few levels and enter one of the nightclubs there.

This is even more fun and we laugh and drink a lot. After a while, Lucy has enough of Nick discussing sports with Fabio. She grabs him and pulls him out on the dance floor. Nick grins and is suddenly in his element. He twirls Lucy around and dances like a real pro.

Tim looks at me, and I nod, then we both join them on the dance floor. It doesn’t take long until everyone else joins as well. We are all a lot worse at dancing than Nick though.

When we’re finally finished, it’s almost morning, and I’m completely wasted. I can’t even walk in a straight line anymore. I don’t even know when I drank that much… Alina and Lydia look like they are about to pass out. We gather close to one of the elevators. “Ugh, how do we get home?” Kylie manages to half speak half slur.

“Clara?” I ask in desperation.

She sighs. “Just this one time… Here you go.”

Coordinates lock in, and I don’t even check where they are. I somehow manage to throw the spell together with a LOT of assistance from Clara, but it works. I trigger the spell and we arrive in the living room of my dorm. That’s also where we all just lie down and pass out.

What a night, despite all that Noble bullshit in the beginning…