When he got behind the [Front Desk], several screens appeared. One showed how much he was charging as an entrance fee, how long one could stay within the territory without paying it, and so on.
Another screen listed the rooms, the names, the upgrades done there, as well as how much he was charging for them.
Finally, there were some preference set-ups, including where the money paid would go to and in what form. For convenience, he chose the money to go straight to his space and/or wallet.
According to Pang, there was an upgrade wherein even if there was no one behind the counter, people could check in automatically— provided that he properly set up every parameter, of course.
For now, the [Upgrades] button was greyed out, and this meant he still hadn’t met the condition to do so.
Meanwhile, the elf obediently stood at the other side, mostly looking at him, though he’d sometimes catch her looking around as if to study the surroundings.
"Now...time to register your name," he said, opening his panel and clicking the Front Desk under [Rooms].
Technically speaking, he could do this without going behind the Front Desk, but he was still unsure how much he could show in this world that could be considered normal.
When he was looking at his panel, it was visually hidden by the counter, too. However, from the corner of his eyes, he saw the elf looking straight in the direction of his panel.
He flinched. "Do you see this?"
She shook her head. "I just feel a magic signature. Is it a grimoire?"
"Er..."
He had no idea. He wanted to ask Pang, but he was already lounging in the verandah.
That guy sure liked to sunbathe...
He cleared his throat. "How long are you planning to stay?"
"Only until today."
"...I see..." he said, disappointed that they’d be alone again. "That’d be 2 gold for you," he said, and she took a few coins of gold and handed them to him.
[Received! +2 Gold]
As soon as the gold coins entered his palm, he received this notification. He was curious and placed it down the table.
[Lost! -2 Gold]
Heh.
So basically, the ’cash’ money had to always be on him, while the ’digital’ money was automatically in his system. Fortunately, he could put money in his tiny space as well. Otherwise, he’d feel too vulnerable.
Anyway, putting this aside for now, he clicked on the Front Desk panel, and there appeared a list of the people within the premises. The contents were as follows:
[Name | Arrival Date | Status | Action | Assigned Room]
For Syl (he came up with a nickname by himself), her [Status] was [Unregistered Guest].
Under [Action] there was a choice of whether the person was to be checked in or checked out, and then he’d assign a room to her.
A drop-down sort of thing appeared to show his options, which were really just one of the two remaining bedrooms.
After that, he was asked to assign the default charging for the room, and he assigned the 2 gold for now. He could increase the price later as needed. It was more important to get customers for now.
[You have successfully assigned the Guest to Basic Bedroom 1.]
He quickly peeked at the [Guest Log] that would finally receive information for the first time.
It wasn’t because he just wanted to know more about the stoic beauty or anything...
Anyway, under the [Guest Log] were two tabs. The first one was a table, and the other was a history log, which was obviously empty, probably until the guests checked out.
He took a look at the long table now visible to him.
[Name: Sylwen Thariel | Race: Elf | Age: 25 | Level: Resonant Stage Tier 3 | Class: Mage | Affinity: Water, Wind | Status: Recovering | Room: Basic Bedroom 1| Duration of Stay: 1 Night | Mood: Neutral | Needs: Hungry | Status: Unmet]
Needs: Hungry
Looking at her unchanging expression, he wouldn’t have had any idea if not for this interface!
"You’re hungry?"
She blinked and looked at her stomach with a stoic expression.
"Did it make noise?" she asked, genuinely concerned.
"..."
And he burst out laughing.
...
Syl looked at him oddly, unsure what he was laughing about. Finn forced himself to calm, afraid of offending the guest, and he just flashed her a handsome grin while chuckling.
She flinched a little, taken aback, but shrugged when she realized he would not explain why he was laughing in the first place.
He walked out of the counter with a smile. "I’ll check if our dinner is ready," he said, heading out to check on the traps he had set up before.
Sadly, the cage didn’t have anything. Even the jam he was so proud of was untouched.
He squatted next to the empty cages and turned to look at the Panda. He mentioned he went to check it earlier, didn’t he? "You didn’t eat them?
"Of course not, la!" Pang yelled, obviously offended. "They were probably scared away by the amount of energy from the mobs, even if they were just carcasses now."
"I see."
Syl was curious and saw him looking troubled. "Is there anything wrong?" she asked, voice neutral, and stance graceful but still.
Finn felt embarrassed. He was so confident earlier that he’d be able to feed her. "I was trying to catch hornedhares for food," he said. "Our dinner might take a while."
She looked at him oddly. "But those animals can only fill a person up for a few hours," she told him. "Why not take monsters? Most of the monsters around here should be edible."
He blinked. And Pang blinked, too. They had been so self-sufficient for so long ( cough , two days, cough ) that they had forgotten that they could depend on other people!
"Will that be alright?" he couldn’t help but ask. "It’s been a few hours now. I wonder if the meat was spoiled."
"Awakened monster meat can last a day without any treatment or processing," she told him. "However, they are not tasty and a bit difficult to chew, especially for dormants..."
Finn didn’t care about that. He’d find a way to make it edible! He put his pride as a chef!
Anyway, would they finally be able to eat beast meat?!