Strongest Mage with the Lust system

Chapter 821: Upgrading The Rooms

Soon after, though, he put a smile on his face.

If Max had noticed him looking down on the desolate regionʼs people or hadnʼt noticed that he was an Emperor mage, he wouldnʼt have bothered to be nice to him.

But since he had, he reckoned having an amiable relationship with him might turn out to be beneficial while they were in this town.

”Seeing that the old sir doesnʼt have many guests—sorry, customers—and therefore isnʼt earning much, I have decided to upgrade our two rooms from the second floor to the third floor and help you out a little,” he said, putting the two silver badges on the table.

While the badges were needed to enter the room, if someone was already inside—like Esther and the others currently were—they wouldnʼt need the badges to come out. This was why he didnʼt ask them to empty the room immediately when he came down and just took the badges instead.

The grey-haired man didnʼt react to his words and calmly nodded.

”That can be done, dear customer. But be informed that because you have already occupied the rooms for around an hour now, a fee of 50 mana stones will be deducted from your deposit.”

Max nodded. ”I understand.”

”Alright. Then please pay 700 High Grade Mana Stones,” the grey-haired receptionist said.

Max nodded. As he took out the bronze badge of the room on the first floor and the mana stones, he asked, ”How do I address you, old sir?”

”You can call me Mr. Dylan,” the man said after hesitating for a bit.

”So, Mr. Dylan. Will you charge 50 mana stones if I want to cancel the reservation of the first floorʼs room?” Max asked, putting the bronze badge on the table.

”No,” Mr. Dylan shook his head, causing Max to smile lightly.

Since he was renting two rooms on the third floor, and they had no upper limit on occupants, he planned to take one of the rooms with Esme, Ella, Rima, and Maria, while the rest would stay in the other.

Normally, the ladies would find it awkward to sleep in the same room as Noah, but given the situation, they wouldnʼt mind.

Well, even if they were to mind, he could do nothing about it, because if he were to rent another room for him, they wouldnʼt have enough high-grade mana stones to rent the rooms for another day.

Hm? There wonʼt be enough left even if I rent just two, he thought, realizing that after paying these 700, he would have only 500 left.

I had 3000 high-grade ones in total before entering the central plains. Then I paid 12001 as the entry fee, paid 100 to Ling Han, and 500 to rent three rooms, which left me with only 1200.

I need to find a way to either earn more or convert the mid and low-grade ones I have on me into high-grade ones, he mused.

Just as he was making his calculations, he heard Mr. Dylan say,

”The inn doesnʼt return the money if you want to vacate the room prematurely.”

The corner of his lips twitched in annoyance. Really, old man? Was there really a need to pause there?

Mr. Dylan acted as if he didnʼt notice his expression and asked,

”So, are you going to keep the room for the rest of the day or vacate it?”

Max took back the bronze badge, telling him his decision.

Though he wasnʼt going to use it—because he didnʼt know if John would send people to attack them today or at night—but since he wasnʼt getting any mana stones back, he would just keep the badge in case he needed to use it.

Then, he gave him 700 high-grade mana stones to upgrade the rooms.

After storing them away, Mr. Dylan gave him two golden badges with room numbers engraved on them.

Max took them and asked,

”Where can I exchange low and mid-grade mana stones for high-grade ones?”

”There are small merchant shops in the townʼs center,” Mr. Dylan said before sitting down in his chair and picking up his booklet.

Max nodded and left. He would go there after settling everyone in their new rooms.

…

”Are you alright?” Max asked Ella, who had regained consciousness a while ago.

”Yes, thanks to Lady Esme.” Ella nodded, glancing at Esme who sat on her other side.

”Good. Now, letʼs go. We are changing the room,” Max said, and knowing they would ask why, he explained to them what had happened.

”Heng! This will be the last time he can act so wantonly if he really dares to target us.” Esme snorted, dark murderous intent flashing in her beautiful eyes.

Seeing this, Max smiled.

…

A short while later, Max left the inn, alone this time, and headed toward the town center.

The moment he had left the inn, he had felt someone watching him, but the feeling was extremely faint, making him doubt himself. But as he walked through the streets, he became certain that he was really being watched.

His expression didnʼt change, but a cold glint flashed in the depths of his eyes.

A short while later, he arrived at the town center and was immediately stopped.

”Entry fee is 10 high-grade mana stones,” said a man who stopped him. He was dressed in an earthen-colored uniform—the same as the ones worn by the mages guarding the town entrance—meaning they were the town lordʼs people.

”When did you start charging for allowing people into the market?” Max asked as he took out the required mana stones and handed them to him.

The man smirked,

”Ever since you people started migrating in large numbers.”

”I see...” Max nodded and entered the market.

Soon, he found a shop with ʼConvert Mana Stonesʼ written on a plaque in front of the entrance.

”Hehe, welcome, customer,” a fat man greeted him and pointed at a board on the wall.

”There are the conversion rates and the fee we charge. Read them and tell me how many low and mid-grade mana stones you want to convert.”

Max glanced over at the board and immediately his expression frosted over.

[A/N: I made a mistake in the previous chapter. There are twelve people in his group, not nine—Esther, Anna, Nyra, Noah, Esme, Gene, Maria, Ella, Ellie, Garima, Rima, and Max. So, he paid 1200 mana stones in entry fee, not 900 as I had mentioned before. I have corrected it. My apologies for it. Also, did none of you notice it? Lmao!]