Paying In Advance

Clack!

Genken's crowbar did a fine job opening up the box. As always, Locus didn't question where Genken got it from.

"Whoa, that's a lot of money."

Indeed, when the cover of the box came off, a golden light began shining. This common-looking crate contained a small fortune.

"How much is this?"

"Looks like a year in our hotel to me."

"So that's it? We did it? Just like that?"

"It seems so."

Genken touched Locus' shoulder and the box of gold to teleport them back to the hotel.

"What now? Do we hide the box and always take something out when we need to pay for our stay here?"

Genken had a bright smile on his face.

"Do you want to do something fun?"

This was obviously not a good sign.

A few minutes of walking down a lot of stairs while carrying a heavy box later, the two of them stood in the hotel lobby at the reception.

"Good morning, miss."

Genken set down the opened box right in front of the receptionist.

"We'd like to pay in advance for our stay here."

Locus just watched and murmured stuff to himself.

"This guy can't be serious..."

The young and attractive receptionist looked a little overcharged.

"May I have a look, sir?"

"Of course. Suit yourself."

Genken took his hand off of the box and went a step back. The woman closed the box and took a close look at every one of its sides.

While Locus was watching her, he noticed that the color of the box had changed just a tiny bit since he had opened it. Locus whispered something to Genken.

"Genken, did you swap the box?"

"Sure did."

"Why?"

Genken turned around.

"If you would regularly carry boxes that are filled to the brim with gold, what would you do with those boxes?"

Locus didn't understand what Genken meant.

"What?"

Genken didn't answer. A few seconds later, Locus realized it.

"There is a sign of ownership on the box!"

"Well, there was."

Locus hadn't thought about this possibility for even a second. This was one of those moments where he was really glad that Genken was around.

"Let me go get my manager really quick."

Locus was panicking.

"Did she find something? How?"

Genken raised his eyebrows and made a face like the answer was obvious.

"Obviously. She found a box of gold. You really need to learn to think like other people do. Someone who is new to a job gets handed a crate that is worth several years of work. Of course she'll go get her manager."

An old man with a wrinkled forehead, short, gray hair, and a bald patch who was wearing a tuxedo came out of a back room. He put on a small pair of glasses.

"I heard the gentlemen would like to pay in advance."

"Yup."

The man carefully eyed the box, opened it, and looked at the gold.

Locus was completely shocked at how calm Genken was.

No, calm was the wrong word... Genken enjoyed it. He called it 'having fun'. How could anyone be so confident in this situation?

After the old man took a brief look at the box, he turned back at Genken and Locus.

"Alright, thank you very much for choosing to stay with us."

"We're the ones who have to thank you."

Genken did a little bow.

"Have a great day."

"Have a great day, sir."

Genken turned around and walked away from the wooden desk, right through the bright-shining hall and past the different seating accommodations in the lobby. Then he just walked up the stairs like nothing had happened.

Locus quickly followed him.

"That was such an impressive deception. How did you manage to do that?"

Genken laughed.

"You call that an impressive deception? I didn't deceive them. You know I never lie. Still, in this case, I didn't even have to make them believe anything. That's why it was so fun."

He turned his head to face Locus.

"I didn't have to put any big effort into anything. True fun means succeeding without trying to."

Locus just hoped that one day he could do what Genken did.