Silva, Cynthia, and Mel appeared concerned. They noticed that Liam's mood suddenly soured. Only when the elevator stopped did Liam manage to adjust his mind. But his smile still looked somewhat forced.
Liam followed behind Silva. They passed a spacious shared office where multiple engineers worked hard to design the future of Falva Star.
This was no exaggeration. Colville Construction was responsible for most buildings on Falva Star. Although there were some competing companies who did well, they were far from affecting the behemoth.
Noticing the four young people who had suddenly appeared in the office, the employees were first surprised before instantly greeting enthusiastically. Recognizing their young CEO everyone wanted to curry favour.
Two months ago, Silva's influence had begun to sore rapidly. Now everyone regretted that they failed to build a close relationship before.
But even if the workers felt Silva was out of reach, maybe it was possible to impress the people arriving together with her.
Although Cynthia, Mel, and Liam were so young, someone who could be personally brought in by Silva Colville was certainly an influential person.
"Good evening, boss."
"Good evening."
"Boss, good luck with the dungeon!"
Silva answered the enthusiastic employees with a polite smile.
An older man who had just greeted Silva returned to his desk when he noticed his colleague, who hadn't stood up. He came closer and tapped his colleague on the shoulder, reminding him in a subdued voice:
"Dan. Hey. Even if you don't like to butter up your superiors, you can't completely ignore them. What are you doing here, staring at your phone?"
Being questioned by his colleague, Dan took a deep breath and showed him his phone.
"Here."
"What?"
The older colleague didn't really care. He browsed through the article Dan showed him. But suddenly he froze on a picture. It was a group of ten people in a fantasy setting.
The older man suddenly raised his head and stared in Silva's direction.
"Quite similar, right?", asked Dan in a low voice.
"Yes... it has to be them!"
"Bleary Mirage, Cyclone, Balm! Who would've thought that we would be lucky enough to meet four members of Hotpot! As far as I know they have almost no public appearances!"
"Damn, I need to ask for an autograph. My grandson won't let me off otherwise."
"Right. My daughter is a big fan as well!"
"But... would it be presumptuous to ask now?"
Similar conversations were going on in multiple places. Gradually a heated atmosphere spread. But no one dared to step forth directly.
Silva realized what was going on but as none of the employees spoke up she naturally wouldn't take the first step. Who would be bold enough to ask others if they wanted a signature from them?
"Hey, I just overheard your talk. Do you want me to sign something for you?"
Silva's mouth twitched as she turned her head and saw Cynthia stare enthusiastically at one of the employees close by.
The young woman's eyes shone brightly. She was actually the most excited. She took it as an honour that even these older men and women with stable jobs and lives recognized her and considered asking for autographs.
The man who was stared at by Cynthia appeared dumbfounded, but he quickly came back to his senses. He chuckled as Cynthia's lifelines reminded him of his own daughter. He nodded his head with a gentle smile.
With Cynthia setting an example, Balm also began offering signatures without getting embarrassed.
It was as if an invisible wall had been broken. Suddenly the employees came forward one by one. Even those who were neither enthusiastic nor had children approached the friends for an autograph just to make sure that they wouldn't displease their boss.
After ten minutes of signing whatever was placed before them, a door at the corner of the office opened.
The door belonged to a large, separate office, which obviously belonged to an important senior engineer.
An older woman past her fifties in good health stepped out. Her posture was confident and her clothes professional.
When Silva noticed this woman, she smiled apologetically:
"I'm sorry for making you wait, miss Ellford. I know our appointment was ten minutes ago."
Silva quickly addressed the other employees:
"Everyone, we have more time later. Miss Ellford took the time to meet us on short notice. We have to go now."
"Of course, boss."
"It was our mistake."
"My apologies."
The employees quickly made way for the friends to head to the office. But instead, it was Miss Ellford who approached, her face showing a rare embarrassment:
"Miss Colville, please don't misunderstand. I don't want to urge you! Instead, I... wanted to ask for your signature. My daughter is a big fan."
For a moment the office fell silent. The employees stared at their superior in surprise. But no one dared to comment.
Luckily Silva and her friends reacted quickly, responding positively, which cleared Miss Elfford's embarrassment.
Afterwards the friends didn't stay much longer. They followed Miss Ellford into her office. It was of the highest quality, all the walls made from glass. A beautiful view over the city unfolded below.
Miss Ellford closed the door and pressed a button. The wall separating her from the rest of the office turned a milky white, allowing her and her clients the necessary privacy.
From this moment on, Miss Ellford transformed back into an experienced engineer. She had already prepared all kinds of plans on a large desk.
Miss Ellford begun explaining the planned layout slowly, her precise words easy to understand even for laymen. She went through the different floors, talking about the experience centre in the lower floors to the apartments, training facilities, living facilities and more.
Although Miss Ellford did her best to keep her explanations short, it still took more than an hour. The friends did their best to follow her words, but their heads were dizzy, nonetheless.
Unfortunately, it wasn't over yet. Next, a man and a woman joined them. They were the leading architect and interior designer.
The two newcomers laid out their ideas and went even more into detail. After another hour and a half, the friends finally had a rough image of the future gaming house in their minds.
Now it was time for the friends to give their feedback. Liam never forgot about Serena's request and insisted on a bigger kitchen. Miss Ellford reluctantly agreed, knowing that she would have to change the layout of an entire floor.
Cynthia and Mel also had smaller ideas. They wanted to adjust the trophy case to a more prominent position where fans could take pictures. On top of that they insisted that its size had to increase.
Miss Ellford tried to explain that her their design already contained the biggest trophy case out of any gaming facility on Falva Star and didn't need to be changed.
But the two guild leaders remained stubborn on this issue. Eventually the engineer and her collagenous could only give in.
But Cynthia was confident that her insistence on this issue would turn out to be wise. She had already received a message from the newly created Ministry of Virtual Reality that they would send trophies to Falva Star.
The ministry decided to design trophies for everything which could trigger a global announcement in the game. Additionally, trophies would also be given out for special achievements like a good placing in the federation tournament or being the first in the entire federation to achieve something.
Cynthia already had the trophy case in front of her eyes, dazzling and filled with evidence of Dream Avenue's glory.
For the rest of the conversation Cynthia had a dreamy look in her amber-brown eyes. She found it difficult to continue listening. But maybe she was just tired.
When Cynthia and Mel let out suppressed yawns everyone decided to end the discussion for now. The friends praised Miss Ellford and her colleagues, knowing that their guild headquarter was in the capable hands of professionals.
The construction would probably advance slower the more input the players gave.
When the four friends left Miss Ellford's office, there were not many of the employees left. Only those who were really eager for a signature had stayed behind to wait for the young stars.
The friends felt touched and sincerely gave out the last signatures before leaving the company. The same car as earlier brought them home.
When Liam arrived at the apartment, he was dead tired. After a tasty meal he almost fell asleep in front of the TV and went to bed early.
The next day Hotpot met in Crunaboul, looking refreshed and ready to challenge whatever the dungeon would throw at them.
"Rarf!"
Fellfell was happy that the players finally returned. He ran around the party before pointing down the street with his nose.
Bloody Edge immediately felt his eyes tear up. A few suppressed chuckles rang out.
The thief cursed inwardly as he took the lead and strolled down the street. Silent Acacia quickly followed to scout for traps.
Finally, the rest of the party advanced together with Fellfell.