The guard led us towards the door and let out a shout, "New challenger!"
That got the attention of quite a number of people as they swivelled their heads around to look at our direction.
"Wait, seriously? When was the last ti there was a challenger?"
"Oh you didn't know? Just last week actually."
"That one doesn't count since that person was a scam right? That guy ended up getting his limbs broken for trying to scam them."
"Huh… You think this person is a scam too?"
"I don't know, but that's a big group isn't it? Who's the challenger?"
The guard turned to at that mont as though that comnt reminded him that he hasn't asked who it was that would be challenging their bartender.
He opened his mouth but I just went ahead to point at myself before he could even ask the question.
He snapped his mouth shut before narrowing his eyes at to look up and down.
His gaze then switched over to the other girls and frowned at them, "And these ones?"
"My companions. Are you going to tell that they aren't allowed to enter with or sothing?"
"Why would we let non-challengers enter? They can wait outside for you."
"Mmm… But I would perform better if they were with though… It's not like they would be getting anything from you if they follow right?"
"They'll be a hindrance."
"Well, would you rather we all go in together as a group or risk disappointing Valiea because I wasn't able to perform at my best?"
"Your best is being watched by your companions?"
"Yes."
"You're not serious."
I said nothing and simply stared at him and that seed to satisfy him as he eventually turned back to beckon all of us to follow him, leading us past the other guards who were watching us with mixed expressions.
So of them clearly thought we were scams with how they glared at us while the others were smirking at us in a mocking sort of way.
They probably thought we stood no chance in beating that Valiea girl.
Well.. To be honest, while I was sowhat confident that the taste of whatever I mixed would taste good, I would definitely lose to her if they took into account the flairs since I don't know how to do any.
We walked past everyone and went through the entrance, stepping into the building.
As soon as we stepped past the doorway, the music got even louder and we were greeted with the standard counter where we would be expected to disarm ourselves.
Since this wasn't the first ti we had to do sothing like this, we went through the process relatively quickly before we had to step through a scanner that would disable combat implants if soone had any.
The guard seed quite surprised that the scanners showed none of us had any combat implants but did not comnt on it.
We finally moved past the security check to enter the club proper, the door leading us to the dance hall of the club.
The place was just as we saw it in the video Amber played except it was now filled to the brim with people bobbing to the beat of the music being blasted through unseen speakers throughout the club.
He turned and led us directly to the stairs that would bring us up to the second floor, walking through the crowd that parted for us to walk through.
When we got to the second floor, the music of the club below suddenly got noticeably softer so I assu they must have so kind of sound dampening or sothing present on this floor, though I have no idea how that might work.
On this floor, everyone seed to be gathered around the bar counter which I realised was several tis bigger than what was shown in the video.
It seems like when they shot the video, they hadn't expanded the bar section yet and now, the bar area took up pretty much a quarter of the entire floor and was elevated on a platform so even we could see the bartenders working at the counter despite the crowd around it.
The person I was ant to challenge was quite easy to spot as she was standing in the centre of the bar counter while shaking two different shakers in both sets of arms.
It was a rather surreal sight for sure, watching a four ard bartender preparing drinks like it was normal I an.
Although she wasn't the only bartender here as there were also several others working on the smaller bars beside the main one. The difference was that these other bartenders weren't mixing the drinks manually and simply getting so kind of machine to prepare the drinks instead.
I'm assuming the smaller bars are for people who only wish to grab a drink or maybe to order a drink from the four ard woman was much more expensive than normal.
The guard then escorted us towards the bar counter which got the attention of most of the patrons there as he called out to the four ard bartender.
"Miss Valiea? You have a challenger."
The four ard woman's hands stopped shaking the cocktail shakers and she looked down from where she was standing, "Who?"
The guard stepped aside and gestured towards .
She turned her gaze to before she popped open the cocktail shakers and poured the mixture inside it into two different glasses.
The glasses then seed to be lowered into the table itself and a compartnt opened up below to reveal the two glasses in front of two different patrons, both of them taking the glasses with great enthusiasm.
She then leaned on the counter and narrowed her eyes at , "You believe you can beat in mixing drinks? Do you even know how to mix drinks?"
I nodded, "I have experience with mixing, yes. To be honest, I'm not very sure whether I can beat you or not but since you made it an open challenge, I thought I might as well try?"
A number of the patrons let out barks of laughter at my words.
"Hahahaha! She really thinks she stands a chance?"
"Does anyone even know this girl?!"
"You're just trying to get free drinks aren't you?"
"Oh man, we're going to see another beating today aren't we?"
The female bartender slamd one of her fists on the counter and glared at the crowd, "Quiet!"
Everyone actually quietened down obediently. Seems like she has a lot of influence in the club huh?
She turned her gaze back to and nodded, "You are a challenger and I will treat you with the respect of one until you've proven that you don't deserve that respect."
I raised an eyebrow at her, "That's quite nice of you."
She scoffed, "I am rely doing to others what I wish others to do unto . I believe that I am not the best yet and there is always sothing for to learn, even from frauds."
Huh… I guess that's how she managed to reach her position here?
She then nodded at the guard, "Send her up and clear a space, we will be broadcasting the challenge."
I paused, "Broadcasting?"
She huffed, "This will obviously be a spectacle and we're not going to miss out on this for publicity. Did you not see the terms of the challenge? You would have to agree to having the challenge broadcasted throughout the club and have the video used for promotional purposes."
Right… I guess that sounds reasonable… Fine then.
I nodded to show that I agreed with the terms and the guard brought to the side where a panel slid open to reveal a set of stairs leading up to the bartending area, allowing to climb up to reach her.
She waited patiently for to step beside her before asking, "Do you know the rules?"
I shook my head.
She jerked her head in the direction of the crowd, "Both of us will be mixing drinks for an hour, the crowd will be our judge. Any drinks we make will be sent down into the receivers down below for anyone to try and at the end, the crowd will get to vote through their personal terminals on who had better drinks and who had better mixing skills."
I frowned at her, "Wouldn't this be quite biased and skewed in your favour since your fans might just go ahead and support you no matter what?"
She huffed, "Didn't you also bring your own supporters as well? And I would say that this is my ho field advantage which I'm not obligated to give up. Besides, I will also be watching you and we'll taste each other's drinks at the end. If I find that you are definitely better than I was, I will also admit defeat even if the votes say otherwise. Fair enough?"
I suppose that's the best that I can get…
"What do I get if I win or lose?"
She made a face at , "You really didn't see the terms of the challenge? Win and you get free VIP access here for life and I'll be your personal bartender anyti you're here. Lose and you pay for every single drink that is served today. And I an the entire day, not just during our challenge."
Oh, that doesn't sound too bad… Then I rembered I would be agreeing to let them use our recording for their personal purposes anyway so they would already be benefiting from this challenge anyway.
Alright then, let's get this started.
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