They had arrived in the Republic of Padokea.
Abandoning the airship, the Spiders planned to rest in the nearest city before switching to another form of transportation.
They had no choice!
In a normal society, especially a relatively developed one,
who would allow unidentified flying objects to brazenly fly around overhead?
They had only been able to land the airship on a nearby hillside before because that little town was so remote.
Then they had made their way there on foot.
Now that they were heading to a big city, they could only abandon their stolen airship for the time being to avoid drawing attention. It was better to keep a low profile and obediently fly with an actual airline.
By the time the group arrived outside a five-star hotel, every Spider except Feitan had somehow changed outfits.
Having missed her chance to see the leader's eight-pack abs, A Luo honestly felt a little disappointed!
Meanwhile, Chrollo, who had transformed into a polite young man, took Lola from Feitan.
Then he rested a hand on the shoulder of the little girl, who barely reached his waist, and walked straight to the hotel reception desk.
The beautiful young woman at reception greeted them with a sweet smile:
"Welcome to the Pearl Grand Hotel. Please show us your identification so we can check you in."
Chrollo returned her smile with gentlemanly courtesy, then looked down at the little girl tucked against his side.
"A Luo, hurry up and take out Mommy and Daddy's IDs!"
A Luo: "?"
Seeing this, the pretty receptionist smiled at A Luo too.
"Sweetie, you shouldn't play with grown-ups' IDs, okay? Give them to me so I can check you all in."
Completely bewildered, A Luo launched into a furious internal rant:
Wasn't the Phantom Troupe from Meteor City? Where the hell would they get IDs?!
The next second, Chrollo put on an angry expression, keeping up his act.
"A Luo, stop playing around. Take out the IDs."
A Luo: Take them out? Take what out? You haven't given me a damn thing! What am I supposed to produce out of thin air?
Seeing the little girl standing motionless with a blank expression, the pretty receptionist turned back to Chrollo.
"Sir? Perhaps you could get the IDs back from your child first?"
Chrollo played his part so convincingly that it seemed real. He looked down at A Luo and scolded her loudly:
"A Luo, don't tell me you really lost Mommy and Daddy's IDs!"
The receptionist had no desire to see a farce involving parents beating their child unfold in the lobby.
After a moment's thought, she hurriedly offered a compromise with a smile:
"Sir, there's really no need to worry. Under our government's regulations, it's all right even if you've temporarily lost your identification. We can help verify your identity online."
At that very moment, Feitan, who stood behind them, had just finished a call to Shalnark.
Once the receptionist logged into the website, Feitan stepped forward and gave her their ID numbers one by one.
Then A Luo watched, dumbfounded, as the two pretty receptionists actually found these Spiders' identity records.
After that, they quickly checked everyone in and handed over the key cards.
"Mr. Chrollo Lucilfer, we hope you enjoy your stay."
A Luo was utterly stunned. She couldn't figure out what was going on.
On their way upstairs, Feitan lowered his voice and spoke to Chrollo.
"Boss, Shalnark said on the phone that he'll have our IDs delivered to this hotel by eight tomorrow morning."
The moment A Luo heard Shalnark's name, everything clicked.
Bingo! Right, they still had Shalnark, their expert forger and computer whiz.
With Shalnark around, hacking into an official website and falsifying identity records would be a piece of cake!
The leader nodded and turned his head slightly toward Pakunoda.
"Remember to pick them up from reception tomorrow."
Pakunoda nodded.
Then the Spiders divided up the key cards and returned to their respective nests.
Only A Luo remained with Chrollo.
Wanting a room to sleep in herself, A Luo shamelessly held out her hand to Chrollo, asking for a key card too.
Instead, Chrollo picked her up and carried her into his room.
A Luo: "..."
Chrollo said, "Back on the airship, you said that from now on, you'd serve my soup when I ate and stand guard when I slept. Today, I'll give you your first chance to stand guard... Are you happy, A Luo?"
A Luo froze.
She had never imagined that the flattering nonsense she had spouted on the airship to coax Chrollo would now be used against her.
But faced with Chrollo's unreasonable argument, was there anything she could do?
No!
The little cook could only grit her teeth and mutter inwardly, You're asking if I'm happy? I want to bite you to death right this very second! What do you think?
On the outside, however, she put on an expression of immense honor and addressed the head of the Spider with insincere enthusiasm.
"That's wonderful! It's an honor to have a chance to prove myself, Boss! But what position do you like sleeping in? Do you need someone to hum a lullaby? Would you like a bath first?"
After lowering her head to think for a moment, A Luo, who was temporarily disguising herself as a sycophant, said cheerfully:
"I'll go run your bath first!"
Unexpectedly, Chrollo's expression darkened at once.
He bent down and leaned close to A Luo's ear.
"Do you know how incredibly fake you look right now?"
A Luo: "..."
Chrollo said, "I preferred the genuine emotions you showed when you were cursing earlier. Apart from our first meeting, that was the first time you exposed your true self in front of us, wasn't it? A Luo, prying open that snail's shell of yours really isn't easy!"
A Luo: "..."
Having said his piece, Chrollo watched A Luo's shifting expression with interest for a while.
Seeing her bite her lip and stubbornly hold out, refusing to admit anything, he chuckled and stopped there.
There was plenty of time ahead, after all. One day, he would get this girl to willingly reveal every secret she kept.
With that thought, he stopped making things difficult for A Luo. Instead, he pulled a thick book from somewhere and settled into the sofa in the corner to read.
Seeing this, A Luo let out a quiet breath of relief.
Did he think keeping this little secret was easy?
Besides, I'm doing this for you fictional characters! If you found out this place was actually a manga someone drew, wouldn't the whole world fall apart?
That night, time slipped by unnoticed as A Luo watched Chrollo and Chrollo read his book.
Uh.
Fine, A Luo admitted sheepishly, lowering her head.
In truth, it hadn't taken her long to abandon Chrollo and drift off to dreamland.
She couldn't help it. Her body was still a little kid's!
Children needed lots of sleep. Of course she couldn't stay up all night.
So A Luo never knew that after she fell asleep, Chrollo put down his book and watched her for the entire remaining half of the night.
Not until dawn broke did the man rise and head into the bathroom to wash up, then get fully dressed and go out in search of food.
A Luo slept soundly through it all. By the time she opened her eyes, she had long since been the only one left in the room.
Before you continue