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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“Yes, thank you.”
I greeted the departing guests with a smile, a fresh-faced couple. The woman looked at me and asked.
“Where did the grandmother go yesterday?”
“Ah, she’s resting, so I’m covering for her.”
“Are you her grandson? That’s commendable.”
The man said, leaving a little extra tip, which I accepted with an even brighter smile.
After the couple left, I counted the money, finding it surprisingly substantial.
“Maybe I should give up being a Sherpa and just go into business?”
It seemed like an easy life if I could just earn enough money to buy a building.
“But to do that, I guess there’s no choice but to…”
I went behind the counter and faced a hefty safe. It was a hassle, but thinking I might as well take what I could, I drew my sword and split the safe in two.
Then, a man’s voice came from behind.
“You crazy fool… there was a key…”
The three men who had tumbled down the stairs and knocked themselves out yesterday were tied up, bearing the marks of my handiwork.
“Ah, right? Sorry, this was just more convenient.”
Why bother finding the key and fitting it into the lock when swinging my sword was easier?
The safe was filled with cash, an amount that made even me whistle in astonishment.
“Wow, they’ve really made a fortune, haven’t they?”
Knowing this couldn’t have been earned just from hotel management, and seeing some of the money slightly stained with blood, I felt my grip tighten.
“Excuse me, grandma? Have you seen our friends?”
“A black-haired boy is missing from his room.”
Rin and Hayun’s voices came from outside.
With a smile on my lips, I went out to greet them.
“Now, I’m the owner here.”
“Huh? Why are you coming out from there?”
“…What did you do this time?”
Rin was confused, and Hayun looked at me suspiciously.
I explained everything, pointing to the three men and a spider-human tied up behind the counter.
Though I couldn’t really call it a spider-human anymore, since its legs were all cut off.
“They call it a Murder Hotel. Apparently, they planned to attack not just us but also other guests staying here last night.”
“I thought that kind of thing was just an urban legend.”
“…!”
While Hayun was speechless from shock, Rin calmly asked what I planned to do next.
“Are you going to hand them over to the guards?”
“No, I got curious about something and wanted to dig a bit deeper. But these guys are tight-lipped.”
As I scratched the back of my head, the men, excluding the unconscious old woman, unanimously decided to speak up.
“We’ll talk!”
“No, we’ll tell you everything! Please, just spare us!”
“Please save us!”
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Punching their faces to silence them again, I shrugged at the girls in the now somber atmosphere.
“See, they won’t talk.”
“…”
“I’ve felt this since the Zavalanco case, but you can be quite frightening at times.”
“These guys are just stubborn.”
If they asked why I was doing this, it was because of the horrors I had seen in this hotel last night.
The basement was filled with corpses as if some experiment had been conducted, and the secret passages reeked of old blood.
Even the fingernail scratches left on the walls by those begging for their lives.
I just couldn’t forgive them easily.
“All the guests have left, right? We’ll close the hotel today. Can you two watch over this place? I need to step out for a bit.”
“Where are you going?”
Hayun asked, and I simply responded while untying my hands.
“To the guards.”
I was off to find the guy who recommended this hotel to us, and with that, I left.
***
After Daniel left, Rin and Hayun decided to prepare a simple breakfast.
They found some bread available and started to explore the hotel, but the sight of the basement made them so nauseous they had to spit out the bread.
“…”
Especially Rin, who, after seeing the horrors of the basement, clenched her fists and went upstairs without saying a word.
Sensing the strange atmosphere, Hayun followed with a sense of unease.
“I need to talk to those people for a bit.”
“Huh? Uh, okay.”
Rin locked the counter door and went inside.
Watching her back, Hayun couldn’t help but think they weren’t just childhood friends.
Once inside, Rin looked at the four conscious people, said they were lucky, and cast a healing spell on them.
At that moment, the four were certain.
All they had to do was to appease the child.
“Little one, look at this grandma. I had no choice but to do such things, even undergoing forced modifications!”
“Please, spare us. It’s not like we wanted to do these things!”
“That’s right! There’s actually a bigger scheme behind all this. We were just forced into it!”
“Miss, please speak well of us to your boyfriend! We beg you!”
“Boyfriend?”
Mulling over the last statement, Rin smiled softly, and the four, who had survived on wits alone up to this point, promptly began to shower her with praises.
“I’ve lived long enough to know when people match well together, and you two are a perfect match.”
“Yes, boyfriend! A match made in heaven!”
“Are you two planning to marry? You’d be so happy together!”
“If you have children, they’d be so beautiful, both of you being so attractive!”
While Rin could rightfully be considered a beauty of unmatched elegance, Daniel’s case was a bit more complex.
Daniel, at 28, bore the marks of a rough life, with scars that lent him a rugged masculinity, but at 18, he still retained the timidity of his younger years.
Of course, his features, like his eyes, had sharpened, but even then, Daniel at 18 had a rather ordinary appearance.
“Could that be?”
Rin blushed, unsure of how to react.
Honestly, for them, praising Daniel, who had beaten them up and stabbed them, was a gut-wrenching task.
But what could they do? Survival was paramount.
Rin thanked them and healed all of their wounds, then cast a spell at the entrance of the counter.
“What kind of magic is that?”
“I don’t know. How would I know?”
Suddenly, the gang, who were murmuring among themselves about Rin’s use of magic, weren’t overly concerned, comforted by the thought that Rin had overcome it all.
Suddenly, a sphere of fire flew towards one of the men, igniting him instantly.
“Arghhh!”
His body was consumed by flames.
As commonly known, there’s perhaps no greater pain for a human than being burned alive.
The man writhed in agony, begging for his life, yet he did not die.
What was this situation?
Despite smelling the burning flesh, the remaining three looked at Rin with puzzled expressions, as a dark aura emanated from her body, her eyes dead as she looked down at them.
“I’ve seen the basement.”
“……!”
“Sorry! But we didn’t intend to do that to you!”
“Right! We were forced!”
“Whether you wanted to or not, whether you intended to harm me or not. It doesn’t matter to me.”
Another barrage of fireballs.
This time another man twisted in agony, screaming in pain, but he too did not die.
Rin’s cold voice was clear even amidst their screams.
“But I cannot forgive you for attempting such things on Daniel.”
Another fireball descended on the third man.
Now, only the old woman was left.
She sensed something was off.
Why were they not dying, only screaming in agony within the flames?
Normally, they would have died by now. Although their bodies were burning and they screamed in pain, they didn’t actually suffer any burns.
“You shouldn’t have done that to Daniel, right?”
As a fireball approached her, the old woman realized.
The two were fated to be together from the very beginning.
***
While Rin was exerting her power over the forces of death, albeit weakly, Daniel was also holding another man by the collar.
“Hey, you. What’s with you? Why did you recommend that hotel to us yesterday?”
The guard, who had been on alert until late the previous night and thus started his day late, was taken aback by the sudden confrontation with the young man.
‘What’s this? Such a presence.’
He felt an intimidating force he hadn’t even sensed from his captain.
‘Can such a murderous intent really come from a boy?’ he wondered, but had no time to admire it.
He feared for his life.
Believing a misstep could be fatal, he quickly spoke up.
“It was just something I said because I’ve often heard guests saying they liked that hotel!”
“……”
Daniel stared into the guard’s eyes as if trying to discern the truth.
Then, letting go of the guard’s collar, he nodded.
“Do you remember what the guests looked like?”
“There were so many guests…”
“……”
“What’s the problem? Is there an issue with the hotel?”
“It’s closed down now. Don’t recommend it to anyone else.”
After issuing a mild warning, he turned away.
From the guard’s reaction, it didn’t seem like he was lying.
‘So many people recommended that hotel?’
From my perspective, it seemed unlikely anyone who entered that hotel came out alive.
‘I’ll have to ask them.’
If my guess is right, the hotel might be connected to ‘Tudogs’.
Just like Hare’s use of a Cockatrice’s illusion magic, or the man possessed by a Doppel Slime that came with her,
The hotel’s owner, the old woman, had the body of a Devil Spider, a demon beast living in the demonic forest.
‘What are they up to?’
It made sense that they were extending their reach using the resources and demon beasts from the demonic forest.
If they could harness even a bit of the power from there, it was certainly feasible.
But the important thing is, in my previous life, I had no knowledge of an organization called ‘Tudogs’.
‘If they were active in the demonic forest, it’s impossible I wouldn’t have known.’
Of course, it’s possible I wouldn’t know about their activities in the last 3-4 years. After all, I was struggling daily at the edge of the forest at that time.
But once I moved deeper into the forest and started living properly, things changed.
‘So, did they disappear within 5 years?’
If so, it makes sense.
If ‘Tudogs’ vanished within that time, it’s not strange I didn’t know about them.
‘Hmm?’
A glimpse of white hair on the rooftop.
“She doesn’t take a break, does she?”
The girl from the Chokugen Faction, who appeared to be chasing the ‘Tudogs’ more than anyone, was looking down at me from the rooftop.
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