The hotel manager was starting to get enough of this. He had been thinking that for years, but now he meant it. Running a hotel was one thing. Running it with your worst enemy was another. The prospect of having to run it with one of the residents, who were pretty prone to violence, was on a whole other level.

And then the part where the residents needed to vote. If Odin would have picked the most competent person to run the hotel alongside the manager, it would have been bearable. He trusted Odin just enough to pick a competent leader (Odin had picked him, after all). But having the einherjar pick probably the worst out of their own ranks to rule? No, no, no. But then, the worst of the worst that made everything else fade in comparison: he had to set up the voting booths.

That is why the manager of hotel Valhalla was setting up small booths and a big box in front of the table where he would be sitting. He already knew there was no way he could monitor everything and he had to admit it made him a little apathetic. Somehow, someone was going to commit fraud and get away with it, at least one person was going to get crushed to death and at least three were going to fight each other or themselves or both each other and themselves at the same time. With a deep breath, he sat down. He looked at the red button on the desk - the button that would open the mechanical doors and allow everyone into the voting hall. How long would he be able to put of pushing it until Odin would come tell him to do it? He played with the idea of trying it out, until he took a deep breath and pressed it.

A group of cheering teenagers dressed in animal hides and jeans ran into the room. 'Ferg for manager! Ferg for manager!' They chanted in between cheers. The manager swallowed. Please not Ferg, he prayed to the gods. He took another deep breath - Ferg was not that popular outside of his crazy friend group. There was a slim chance he would actually become assistent manager.

The teenagers had been a quick bunch. After them, there were no(t yet) waves of people coming into the hall to bring out their vote. A couple of old people came in, followed by someone who looked like they did not sleep at all and they might as well go and let their voice be heard, followed by a couple of bored looking gamers and someone with a sword that was just as big as their body. It stayed quiet after that. The hotel manager sighed happily. He knew opening the votes at 3 A.M. would make sure that he did not immediately lose his mind and that he could pretend that it had been alright for the first few hours.

Magnus felt something pinching him. 'Magnus.'

'Is there a midnight ghost hunt to the death that I was signed up for without consent?' He inquired, sounding half asleep.

'No,' the pincer answered. Magnus noticed they sounded an awful lot like Mallory. 'No, there are no ghost hunts, sadly enough. That would be cool. Beantown, it is 5 A.M., I was up to get a pre-breakfast snack and then I noticed that the election for assistant hotel manager has started. Now we have to go.'

'Assistent... what... when do the votes close?'

'No idea, Mag! That is why we have to run before James Damien Peterus Fred the III gets voted or they elect Ferg!'

Magnus slid out of his bed. He hated to admit it, but Mallory had a point.

'Who can we elect?' He asked, while they were walking to the elevator. Their floormates were still dressing themselves, something Magnus had flat out been too lazy for. He had hope - and he already felt with every fiber of his being that it was nothing more than hope - that he could simply vote and crawl back into his comfy bed.

Mallory shrugged. 'No idea. I think you can elect who ever, as long as it is not yourself.'

'You cannot elect yourself? That honestly sounds very anti-Valhalla.'

Mallory shrugged. 'I guess they still have some common sense here.'

'Not the common sense to let people do talks or something to convince people to vote for them a few days prior, however.'

Mallory looked at Magnus. 'I can guarantee you that if the voting takes longer than say, 6 A.M., people will start preaching their beliefs anyway.' Magnus sighed and pushed on the right elevator button. 'I am afraid you are right. Now let's get this over with.'

When they were downstairs, they realised there were already people preaching their own greatness in the hallways. Some looked like they had been talking for at least an hour. Magnus and Mallory danced past the people pushing swiftly made flyers and dangerous lollipops into their faces (man, those tango classes had been good for something at least) and scurried into the voting hall.

It was starting to fill up now. The hotel manager seemed annoyed, as if he had expected it to stay quiet until at least 7 A.M. Or something of that jazz. Now he had to make sure a few jazz players did not vote for the same person thrice.

'Who are you going to vote for?' Magnus whispered to Mallory. She shrugged.

'I am debating between a few people. Not Daniel from floor forty, I know that for sure.'

Magnus shrugged. He had no idea why Mallory suddenly had such a distaste for Daniel from floor forty. Daniel was not a bad guy. Maybe he killed Mallory during the scavenger hunt from last friday.

'I think I will be voting for Mags from floor eight hundred. She always seems like a wise lady.'

'Didn't she kill someone with a crocheted blanket once?'

'If we start to think like that, we can vote on literally nobody. And didn't you use origami to kill someone during the weekly brawl once upon a time?'

Mallory shrugged. 'Maybe.'

They literally just had to write the name of their choice onto a small piece of paper. For a moment, Magnus wondered how they were going to count those votes in a time frame that did not take more than ten years, but he quickly decided it did not matter. Tomorrow or ten years later, what did it matter for an assistant manager who would probably leave within two days?

They dropped their ballots into the voting box and were immediately ushered out of the room. 'It surprises me that the voting box did not explode in our faces,' Magnus said with a yawn. The comment was immediately followed by a loud explosion. 'Alright, spoke to soon.'

They thought they could just walk back to their rooms. Yeah, no. Even though they had already voted, the campaigning folks still jumped at them from left and right. 'Go back and vote again,' one girl hissed at Magnus when he said he had already voted. He did not know how quickly he had to foxtrot away.

There were more campaigners out and about than fifteen minutes prior. But not only where there more of them, they had also become more aggressive. There was not a single campaigner without a sword or other weapon by their side. Magnus started walking slower. 'What are you doing? We have to get out!' Mallory hissed. Magnus narrowed his eyes.

'Yes, we do, but I am too curious.' He pointed at someone who was carrying three different lollipops. 'I think there is something with those lollipops. Just wait until he gets out from voting again and then we can leave, alright?' Mallory rolled her eyes, but obliged.

The guy came walking out of the voting hall and it took three seconds for him to collapse onto the ground, foaming at the mouth. Magnus sighed deeply. 'I think there is something in those lollipops that kills you if you do not vote for the person you got it from,' he explained. Mallory rolled her eyes again. 'That would not surprise me. Now let's get out of here, because while you were playing watchman I have fought of ten different people already.'

When they walked into the elevator, they passed their floormates. 'And?'

'You guys took long. And do not eat the lollipops,' was the only answer they got. Magnus took a deep breath while they were going back upstairs. 'Can't wait until I am back in my comfy bed,' he told Mallory, who gave him a gross look.

'What are you doing? You have just made our chance of getting impaled ten times higher!' she screamed, before a group of vikings walked into the elevator and they were both accidentally impaled by their spears.

'So, you are eating a lot,' Alex commented when she saw Magnus' plate the next day. He growled.

'I missed breakfast yesterday. I deserve a portion that is twice as big today,' he answered. Alex shrugged. 'I can't argue with that logic.'

When they sat down, the hotel manager got to the front of the room. He looked extremely tired, as if he had not slept in three days or so. 'Alright. The all-seeing people above me have counted the votes and we now know who the assistant hotel manager is going to be.'

'That was quick,' Magnus commented. Alex shushed him.

'Shh. I want to know how bad our lives are going to be,' she told him. Magnus stayed quiet.

'I thought you all would elect some loud mouth, or the person who gave the tastiest lollipops or something. Well, no, you did something that surprised me even more.' He sighed deeply. 'Without further ado, the new assistant hotel manager is our trustworthy art teacher, Bob Ross.' Everyone, even the people who had been adamant about someone else, began to cheer while their art teacher came onto the stage. 'Hello hotel Valhalla! Thanks for electing me - I have come specifically out of vanirheim to help you all. I am sure it will be a wonderfully happy time!'

Magnus' mouth hung open. '... That did not go... as I was expecting, but you do not hear me complaining or anything.'

The manager took over the microphone again. 'I think you all might find it nice to hear that the runner up was Piper Mclean, who is also not an official inhabitant of hotel Valhalla. When I look at the list, the first actual resident is somewhere around place seven and it is me, which, honestly, thank you guys, I appreciate the gesture. If anybody wants to see the official poll list, it will be posted on the bulletin board. Do what you want with that information.' The manager gave the microphone back to Bob Ross and walked off stage.

'It could have been worse,' Magnus said with a shrug. Alex nodded, before taking a big bite of sausage. 'Welp. I guess there are still people around here who know what is good for them,' she answered. She couldn't care less, honestly.