ALL NOVEL The Owner Of Linc Pleasure Station
We were instructed to wait in the room until the door opened, revealing a very attractive woman accompanied by a similarly handsome man standing at the doorway.
The woman clapped her hands together, "Congratulations dear participants!"
"You are the winners of this week's Battle Royale!" The man finished, prompting the both of them to pop streamers into the room.
The four of us just stared at them silently.
The guy chuckled at our lack of response, "Ahaha! Tough crowd we have this time eh? No matter! If you would just follow me! Mister Linc is waiting for you upstairs in his reception room!"
"Please, right this way!" The girl continued.
Both of them stepped aside from the door to gesture towards the corridor at the same time.
Are these two siblings or something? I actually wouldn't be surprised if they turned out to be siblings with how coordinated they are.
Otherwise… I guess they must have done this a lot of times.
Also… I guess the name of the station should have given away the name of the owner as well…
I looked at my companions and they gave me the same look as well. I guess we should be following them then.
I led the way and I gave the two supposed siblings a nod, showing that we would be following them.
For some reason, I noticed that the guy and girl shared a look and I had a feeling a silent message was passed between them before they moved. The woman chose to walk in front of us while the man took the position at the very back.
They then led us towards another lift that was located at the very end of the corridor. In fact, I didn't even realise that it was a lift until the wall slid open, revealing a hidden passage behind it.
I guess this was intentionally made so that only the champions of the event would know about this place.
We were escorted into the lift that was big enough to fit a truck before it started ascending.
Just like the previous lifts, there were no buttons that we could press and it moved on its own as though someone else was controlling it.
I thought it would bring us directly to our destination but that was not the case as it stopped at what looked like a security checkpoint of sorts.
Several armed guards including drones and even guards in power armour were scattered around the room, all of them watching us as we stepped out from the elevator.
Our guides didn't even spare them a glance and simply guided us through the security checkpoint.
They had to do another scan of us to make sure we had no weapons and walked through a machine that supposedly would disable any combat implants and also scan for any genetic modifications we had on us.
Interestingly, that was how I found out that none of my crew members were even modded to begin with.
I was so sure that they had some kind of modding done to themselves and I would have thought the machine only scanned for combat related modifications but that was clearly not the case when it showed I had modded myself to be a futa.
So that meant the other three were completely unmodded which was definitely a surprise for me.
"You're all unmodded?" I asked aloud.
Amber shrugged, "Mods don't work well with me."
Lea shook her head, "I have no interest in them either."
Ries poked her fingers together, "I… Never actually had the spare Credits to mod myself even if I wanted to."
Ok, I guess I can understand all that.
Anyway, we were brought to another lift at the end of the security checkpoint which made me wonder just how many lifts this guy has in this goddamn tower. Like seriously…
At least this one seemed to be the last one because when the lift came to a stop, we found ourselves stepping out to a rather plush sitting room with white marble floors and a uselessly high ceiling.
To our left was a small bar stocked with several bottles of alcohol, which was obviously there to serve the person in the leopard print suit seated in the very centre of the room on a couch big enough to seat ten people across.
"Hahaha!! If it isn't the courier!! Looks like you lost, Midori!" The owner of the station laughed.
My attention shifted to the only other occupant of the room who was standing behind him.
It was a woman in a black suit with her black hair tied up in a ponytail and her eyes hidden behind a pair of half rimmed sunglasses. She gave off the air of a professional secretary and was even standing at attention with her hands behind her back.
She sighed slightly at his words, "So it would seem."
The man then stood up before opening his arms wide in a welcoming gesture, "Welcome, champions! I have to say, that was a brilliantly good fight you've put on for us! I was at the edge of my seat for quite a number of your encounters, I'll have you know! And to think this is even your first time participating! Simply extraordinary!"
He then snapped his fingers and a smaller couch appeared from the ground in front of him.
"Come, come! Sit, sit! I have a lot of things I want to talk about! But first, drinks! What would you all like?"
Our two guides immediately went over to the bar and I panicked a little. I don't even know what kind of alcohol there is and would it even be wise to reject his offer?
I know for a fact that some people would see rejecting their offer of alcohol as rejecting their hospitality so it would be nice to at least accept it.
I turned to the girls and Amber came to my rescue, "We'll just have whatever you're having, thanks."
Err… Is that even a good option?
The man grinned at her, "In that case, make it the Olivia Seneschal Platinum!"
The two supposed siblings immediately set to work while our host gestured at the couch in front of him.
"Now come on! Take a seat! Don't stand on ceremony now!"
We moved over to the couch and I waited for him to sit before I did.
His grin widened a little, "I suppose I have not introduced myself have I? Linc Farhar! Though I will have others call me Mister Linc, I shall allow you all to call me Linc as your reward for giving us such an entertaining fight!"
"Ah… Err… Thanks? I'm Tera and they are my companions. Amber, Lea and Ries."
The three girls waved at him in response to my introduction.
"Ahahaha! There's no need for you to be nervous! You're not here to kill me right? If you are, I'll have to ask you not to try because that would be such a shame if Midori had to kill you for it!" He laughed.
I looked at the girl behind him and I realised she wasn't just a secretary but his bodyguard.
Our drinks soon arrived and interestingly, the woman was the one who brought us our drinks while the guy went to give Linc his.
I also noted that she bent at the waist to hand me my glass, which had gave me an unobstructed view of her cleavage.
Even after I took the glass from her, she hovered there for what felt like a second or two longer than necessary before she straightened herself again.
When I turned back to look at Linc again, the station owner was smiling at me.
"So, Miss Tera! Do you know why you are here?"
I shrugged, "I thought we would be here to collect our prize or something?"
"Ahahaha! That is certainly one of them! And one of your prizes is spending time with me! Aren't you glad?"
I had to hold myself back from blurting out 'No' and simply settled for a shrug instead.
"Oh my! Seems like you're still nervous, aren't you? You don't need to be! Let me just tell you that one of the things I love the most is the thrill of making bets and the raw emotions that come from the struggles of human survival! I specifically brought you here so that I could talk to you about them!"
I blinked at him, "The struggles of human survival?"
"Yes! When you put people in a situation where they have to kill or be killed, isn't it fascinating how different types of people would have different types of responses to that? That's why I love watching this Battle Royale the most!"
Eh?
I don't really understand how that has anything to do with human survival since that barely has anything to do with that…
If he wanted to watch something related to 'human survival', I'd say that he'd have more fun watching some people struggling on a deserted island or something…
While I was wondering that, he took a sip of his wine before leaning forward with a predatory glint in his eyes.
"That's why… Would you like to make a bet with me, Miss Tera?"
…
Why did I feel a sudden chill down my spine?