NOVEL NEXT Chapter 86: Croft
After speeding through the terrains, Aria safely reached the aforementioned meeting place with the help of her GPS tracker.
XXX Hotel, Afternoon.
Aria entered the building cautiously, attracting the suspecting gaze of what would be a frightening bodyguard to normal people. Of course, to Aria, he wasn't a big deal.
However, the problem wasn't that.
"Excuse me, Miss, might I ask for your credentials?" The bodyguard stopped her from coming in further.
Aria looked at the man with a displeased gaze, but quickly hid it away. Just by looking at the building before entering, Aria could already perceive the atmosphere this hotel brought. The hotel she was at right now was actually a high-ranking, prestigious one, so naturally the security would have to be upped. The bodyguard did not detect any dangerous object from her, but her identity still had to be checked.
This is where Aria began to panic and regret that she had not planned her arrival further. She should have called Alena right before she entered so the girl could pick her up, but she didn't.
She was not used to interacting with people on a regular basis even after adapting to the current world. She rarely went out for shopping or buying stuff alone precisely because of this trait of hers.
How should she explain her arrival?
"..I am here to see an acquaintance," Aria said.
"And the name is?" The bodyguard raised a brow at Aria's fidgety behavior.
"Her surname is Croft," she answered.
"...Let me check with the receptionist first," The bodyguard's expression stiffened after Aria mentioned the name Croft. It seemed like Alena's surname was exceptionally powerful, to be able to make him act like this.
Aria waited for the response while hurriedly taking out her mobile phone and unlocking the screen, opening up the contact list.
Right then, the bodyguard came back with a stern face. "None of the Croft family signed in today,"
His answer implied that the Croft family was a customer in the past, but aside from that, this meant that Aria was in trouble right now.
Aria furrowed her brows.
This was what Aria suspected, something she wished wouldn't happen. That the little girl, Alena, could possibly be using a fake identity.
Listening to the child's words, Alena's family did not seem to be the purest of all, but was definitely powerful. If Alena wanted to hide her moves, then she should indeed falsify her identity.
Aria sighed and looked at the bodyguard straight in the eye, trying to look as sincere and convincing as possible.
"...Let me call her right now, I might have made a careless mistake. I am not too familiar with this acquaintance, but she requested for a meeting here," Aria spoke, correcting herself.
How could one get the surname wrong? The bodyguard certainly got suspicious.
The bodyguard hesitated, but let her dial Alena's number.
The call was picked up after just two rings.
"Ao, are you here, big sister?" Alena's voice rang.
"Alena, are you sure it's the XXX Hotel?" Aria acted as if she was skeptical and lost.
"It is~" Alena's coy voice came from the other side of the line.
"Then, could you help me out? I'm at the entrance, the bodyguard stopped me,"
"Eh, they did? Let me send my assistant down, please wait a minute!" Alena's tone changed as it hardened and sounded more serious. She spoke in a foreign language to someone who was in the room with her before coming back to speak with Aria. "I have sent my assistant, he will be there soon,"
"Alright, but... Never mind, I will ask later," Aria coughed, stopping herself.
She wondered what was Alena's extensive identity.
Since Aria was about to enter a cooperative relationship with Alena, she certainly wanted to find out more about the family behind the girl. She will receive support from that party, after all.
After just a couple minutes, one man came downstairs wearing a tight black suit. He conversed with the bodyguard, slipping short phrases. That was all it took for the bodyguard to change his attitude. He ended up letting Aria in, even bowing his head before Aria departed for the elevator.
Aria was escorted to Alena's room by this silent assistant, who unlocked the door for her and left for a different direction right after telling Aria to enter.
Aria entered as told and finally saw Alena sitting on the couch watching television while holding a bag of chips in her hand. She stuffed the snack inside her mouth continuously, not even noticing Aria's arrival due to her low perception and the loud noise coming from the device.
"Alena Croft!" Aria called out the girl's full name, which attracted her attention.
Alena hurriedly fixed her position and welcomed Aria with warmth. "Big sister, you are here!"
"Alena, did you use a fake identity to check in this hotel?"
"No, I used my assistant's identity so I won't get found out. To tell the truth~ this hotel is my family's property, but I just did not want my presence here to be noted down by the database," Alena said.
"Then why didn't you inform the security..." With a tired look, Aria sat down on the couch beside Alena and took some chips from Alena's cradle.
If a stranger came upon this sight, they would guess that the two individuals were siblings or something of that type.
Even so, Aria had a set of complicated thoughts revolving around her brain.
The Croft family. Since she was someone who did not know much about the world, how could she know which families were powerful except for the ones who stood out like giants?
Just now, Alena revealed that this gigantic hotel actually belonged to her family, which made Aria even more curious on what exactly the extent of Alena's power was.
She was curious about it, but worried if it got too personal once she asked.
She gulped before mustering up the courage to ask.
"Alena, it's okay if you don't answer this, but who exactly are you?" Aria questioned, trying to sound as unbothered as possible to lighten up the mood.
As long as their cooperation went smoothly and each party received their benefits, Aria honestly wished to ignore all the other perks.
However, on Alena's matter, Aria just felt like something wasn't right.
Alena lost her smile temporarily upon hearing the matter being mentioned. She seemed reluctant to answer.
"It's alright if you don't want to speak about it, I was just wondering," Aria hurriedly tried to retract her question.
"No, it's not that I don't want to talk about.. my family, but it's not exactly a pleasant background to have. At least, it's not something that I would brag about, so I have always stayed away from associating my identity with them," Alena sighed. "They aren't fond of me anyway, so it doesn't matter,"
Her relationship with the family seemed to not be so good, but she was still treated well in terms of livelihood by the sound of it. She was given the flexibility and freedom to command her 'subordinates'.
"The Croft family is.. double sided. One side is the one the public sees, a large pharmaceutical company that spans all around the world. Whereas the other side is a lot more wicked, we deal with the underground business and borderline illegal things at a regular basis. Keeping up two pretenses at once, I really don't like it," Alena described in short.
"Big sister must be asking to form trust.. right? You are probably wondering why you have never heard of my family despite.. it being this large. Don't worry, my family won't get involved with our dealings. They don't like the Hunter industry, but the resources I have on hand is independently mine. It is my share," Alena said. "Although I can't mobilize the entire family resources, I am still strong enough to support you, big sister, so... can this be counted as the answer?"
Aria pursed her lips. Although it sounded like Alena answered a lot, she was actually just circling around and not getting to the details.
She sighed, admitting that it wasn't time to discuss about these intricate matters yet. She only needed to know that she would not get negative perks.
"Alright, it counts," Aria replied. "Let's throw that aside, like I said on the phone, I want to form a real cooperation with you. For the time being, I have extricated myself from [Golden Insignia],"
"I know, big sister. My power foresaw some of the things you did, and one of them involved you with engaging in a serious conversation with the group's leader, so I have been expecting you," Alena admitted as she got off the couch and dragged a suitcase from the floor and carried the weight up to the table.
She then opened up the object and revealed stacks of paper inside the thing.
"These are the information I am able to promise you. You came here just at the right time, actually. I have received new intel on the Tower event, and it unlocked the other <Players>' identity file," Alena handed a particular sheet of paper to Aria.