The capital wasn't far from where I now lived so it didn't take much time for us to get to the place. It only took us 20 hours to get inside the capital.
"Why the hell is this taking so long, we didn't ride for 21 damn hours to get stuck in this traffic!" Jacob complained.
Correction – It took us 21 hours to get inside the capital.
The reason why Jacob was complaining because it was night time and somehow there were still a lot of traffic at the streets. It already took quite a few minutes for us to get inside the capital and now we were stuck on the road.
Even at night, there was a lot of bustle on the streets with many newcomers arriving to this place. I had expected something similar to this happening but didn't think it would be to this extent. The novel and real world comparisons couldn't come close to the truth.
"Hey, how long is it going to take us? Why don't you speed up a bit!" Jacob quite frustrated by the situation banged the walls, asking the rider.
"Umm… sorry, sir. But there's a lot of people moving about, if I tried speeding up, the carriage might hit someone." Fresh chapters posted on ɴovelfire.net
"Shut up Jacob!" Alice said, "We all know that your frustrated but that's not how to do this."
"Besides you aren't the only one who's exhausted, this guy's been driving the carriage for a whole day, give him a break." Alice said before taking out a bag of water and giving it to the rider.
The rider appreciated by the kindness and beauty of Alice, thanked her, "Thank you for this, my lady."
Alice smiled, "You're welcome and I'm not a lady… yet." Her eyes looked through the corners glancing at me which I expertly avoided.
Jacob grumbled at the situation, "Why is it ?"
"It would have been weird if it weren't." I opened my mouth after a long time, "This is not only any competition but one that might give the normal folk a chance to get the silver ladle, they'll be stupid not to participate in it."
"But who knew it'll be this many people." Jacob shook his head.
"Tell me then, if you knew about something , wouldn't you have taken the chance to at least participate in it?" I said and Jacob thought for a moment before nodding.
"Yeah, I would have."
"And that's exactly why their here." I said glancing at the long crowd and whispering to no one, "Even if they have no chance."
"What do you mean, there's no more room?" Jacob slammed his hand on the receptionist's desk causing the girl to shake in fear.
"I'm sorry sir, but all the rooms have been taken." The receptionist girl said.
"Not even one room?" The girl shook her head.
"Well damn it. This is the third motel that's full."
"Sir, the problem's that, you came the day before the competition, of course it'll be full before something so big." The girl tried to calm Jacob, but it only angered him.
"Are you saying that it's my fault!"
"No- No, that's not what I meant."
Seeing no solution, I went towards the desk and pat Jacob's shoulder, effectively shushing him, "Miss, is all the motel's full then?"
"They probably are." Finding me sensible, she spoke nicely.
"Alright" I thought for a moment before a glint flashed in my eyes, "And can you tell which is the best closest to us?"
"The best motel?" She had a confused look on her, "It's Haven but that place costs a lot of money."
I smile, "I understand, can you point it for us?"
"Alright you take a right from the door, go to the dark alley then jump in the big pile of shi-"
After a moment, we stood before the place.
As expected the place looked grand with its fine walls colored red like royal and the huge sign colored brightly by lamps.
"Man this place just oozes money." Jacob said as his eyes glazed over the rich aura emanating from this place, "But it'll probably be full as well."
"Still," I interject, "Let's check for a moment."
Then as we walked inside the place, I gave a subtle nod to him as he understood and left.
The inside of the hotel, looked magnificent with its gold style and vintage wooden standard. There were already a lot of people here, but most of them were talking with themselves inside the huge hall. They were the rich people that already had a room.
Then there were the middle class people, that were refused instantly and were walking out of the place with dejected looks.
Ignoring them, I and Alice go to the receptionist who was unsurprisingly not a guy.
"Hello, gentlemen. Welcome to Haven, how may I help you today?"
"I want a room, no actually three rooms."
The receptionist did a face like I missed it by a second as she said, "I'm sorry sir, but our last room just got booked a second ago. There's no other rooms left."
I would have gotten sad hearing that but I didn't.
"Oh, I'm sure that's not the case. Why don't you take a closer look again."
"I'm sorry sir, but truly there's no room lef-"
Suddenly a guy with a bald spot and professional aura came behind her, "Lauri, can you explain to me what's happening."
Seeing the man behind her, she sighed in relief, "Oh manager… i- it's nothing. Just that the respected sir before me isn't understanding that there's really no-"
"It's okay." He stopped her, "Let me take care of this."
"Alright sir." She nodded and left as the man stood in her place now.
"Good evening sir, my name's Folay, the manager of this fine place. What can I do for you?"
I smiled, exactly the type of man I was looking for. I slide a few pound notes to him, "You see I wanted some rooms for a few days but the girl from before kept telling that there's none left."
The man quickly took the money and replicated my smile, "Now that can't be true. Why don't I see if there's any room left or not?"