[Room 311]
Soliette and Elise surveyed the double room they had reserved.
"It's warm. That's a relief."
A twin bedroom of a decent size. It was surprisingly clean, and above all, warm.
"Indeed."
Elise, having deactivated her Magic Body, glanced at the room's clock. As expected, time was flowing eight times faster.
"It seems the key is to keep earning coins and hold out in the room."
"Yes. It seems so."
Elise lay down on the bed.
The side effects of Magic Body seemed to be creeping in. Her entire body felt languid and soft. After all, the One Belt, Four Lines type of Magic Body was not a technique that a high school student could master. Operating it for 1-2 hours would lead to exhaustion.
To Elise, Soliette asked,
"You'll be busy soon."
"Huh?"
Elise slightly lifted her head while lying on the bed. Soliette added,
"I'm talking about the election."
"Ah."
The re-election was not far off. Precisely one year and three months away.
However, the behind-the-scenes work and power struggles were already in full swing, and when the election season arrived, Elise herself would have to help with the campaign.
"We're not a family of the Round Table."
Elise said so, smiling a meaningless smile.
The families of the Round Table refer to the 'thirteen families guaranteed by the parliament.' They inherit the Senator's position semi-permanently, but can be replaced if they lose a 'challenge.'
"But Petra is a family likely to challenge."
But the qualifications and conditions for this challenge are too stringent. It must be a family that has served three terms in one generation and must receive the consent of more than eight of the thirteen families of the Round Table.
"Well."
Elise only raised her eyebrows.
Her father's goal was, of course, to be a family of the Round Table, but it wasn't a topic she particularly enjoyed.
"Remember when you called me."
She naturally changed the subject.
"When I called?"
"After the college board at the mine. You asked about Shion Ascal."
Elise looked at Soliette, moving only her eyeballs while lying down.
"Why did you ask?"
"…Well."
Then Soliette stretched out. She sat in the chair as if lying on the bed. It was strangely sensual.
"It was nothing. Why do you ask?"
"Simple curiosity? I'm curious why you would be interested in such a trash-like person."
Trash-like person. Soliette slightly widened her eyes.
"A pitiful man who dreams of being a dog of Libra."
Elise knew. She knew that Shion Ascal was the son of a low-ranking knight who had grown up in the Libra Orphanage and devoted his life to Libra.
Was it because of that?
He harbored the grandiose dream of being a 'Knight of Libra,' and even spoke about it openly in front of everyone.
"It seems like you really dislike Shion Ascal, Elise."
"…"
Elise's lips trembled slightly.
As she said, she couldn't deny it honestly now.
She disliked Shion Ascal. It was a primal disgust, so much so that she didn't even want the fact that she disliked him to be discovered.
The more he didn't fail at the college board, the more he stubbornly survived day by day and showed his face, the deeper the 'hatred' became.
"...It's mutual. That trash might even think of me as trash. In this world, only that trash would think so."
Shion Ascal also, likewise, dislikes her.
Of course, she had heard a bit of a 'horrible' conversation in the Recordark, but it must have been Shion Ascal's low-quality joke.
"Mutual… does it mean you both dislike each other?"
"That's right. So, what about you?"
Elise sharply shot back.
"Soliette, you can't possibly like that person either."
"Hmm..."
Soliette pondered for a moment and then nodded.
"Yes. I don't like him either."
She neither dislikes nor likes him. She only considers him as a tool.
After all, it's just a contractual relationship tied with 'money'.
"Besides, would you like to get some sleep? It's already been three hours."
Soliette pointed to the clock. It was suddenly 1 a.m. In real time, not even 30 minutes had passed.
"...Are you okay not sleeping?"
Elise is getting sleepy. No, she's been sleepy for a long time. The side effects of using too much mana vary from person to person, and in Elise's case, it's sleepiness.
Of course, among the side effects, it's the best kind. It's much better than vomiting blood, damaging organs, or developing malignant tumors.
Soliette pointed to the cigarette.
"Yes. If you let me smoke this, I'll be fine."
"Do as you wish."
"Thank you."
She lit the cigarette as if she had been waiting. She took a big puff. The taste of the tobacco was breathtaking.
"Huuuu..."
She exhaled the smoke and looked at Elise. She was already asleep.
Soliette looked at her smartwatch.
[28 : 13 : 05]
In this place, where 3 hours is a day, the day is almost over. Elise's sleeping time is only 1 hour-
"...Eek!"
Suddenly, a loud moan echoed. Soliette turned around in surprise. Elise was awake. Her whole body was drenched in cold sweat.
Soliette calmly asked.
"What's the matter?"
"Haa, haa..."
Elise, with a blank face, was panting and murmuring.
"I had… a bit… of a nightmare."
"It seems so."
The hotel itself is indeed creepy. The walls are all blood-red, as if soaked in blood.
"It's a tough task. It seems like we won't be able to sleep properly for 30 hours."
"...That's right."
Elise, lying on the bed, massaged her temples as she spoke.
"We'll have to go monster hunting again soon."
"Yes. To rest properly, we'll need to catch at least five."
______________________________________________________________________
[24 : 14 : 35]
I'm still walking down the hallway. The temperature kept dropping, but thanks to being fully armed, it was bearable, and instead of resting in the room, I searched around the hotel and found clues.
I occasionally ran into a few seniors, but they all fled. Was it because of my intimidating appearance?
[Holents Hotel Safety Rule No.1: Please refrain from going out between 10 PM and 6 AM.]
[Holents Hotel Safety Rule No.2: Do not be surprised if the layout of your room suddenly changes, or if the person next to you disappears. It's a natural phenomenon.]
[Holents Hotel Safety Rule No.3: Do not touch anything that appears to belong to the deceased.]
[Holents Hotel Safety Rule No.4: There are no rooms in our hotel that contain the number '4'. If you happen to find one, please ignore it and do not enter.]
Starting from these strange warnings.
[Holents Casino, which has attracted the attention of the local community and residents, is finally completed]
[Opening ceremony conducted with the tribute of General Manager Gellock…]
[…Multiple murder cases detected inside the Holents Casino…]
[Holents Hotel turned into a hellish landscape in an instant…]
To the snippets of newspapers related to the Holents Hotel.
"…Holents."
The word is unfamiliar yet familiar. It seems like I've seen it somewhere, but it's vague.
Anyway, I found the elevator while walking. There was a floor guide written next to the button.
[30th floor: Suite Floor]
[21st ~ 29th floor: Guest Rooms]
[20th floor: Guest Rooms: Front Desk: Swimming Pool: Party Hall]
[5th ~ 19th floor: Guest Rooms]
[There is no 4th floor.]
[2nd ~ 3rd floor: Guest Rooms]
[1st floor Lobby: Front Desk: Casino: Restaurant: Cafe]
"Maybe I'll go to the casino."
I pressed the elevator button. Ding-! It arrived as soon as I pressed it.
I carelessly stepped beyond the opening door.
Sob… sob…
"Huh?"
But there was a child inside. A child who was crying with his face covered by his hands.
Sob… sob…
The sound of crying echoed in surround sound. Was it an elevator phantom?
I approached the kid.
"Hey, why are you crying?"
I tried to soothe him and put my hand on his forehead, but suddenly the child raised his head with a jerk-!
"…."
He had no eyeballs. The sockets were completely empty, and tears of blood were streaming down.
I looked straight at him. There was no need to avoid him.
This kind of thing is everyday life in the underworld.
"…Cute."
I murmured and put my hand on his forehead. He seemed startled and disappeared the moment I blinked.
Ding-
In the meantime, the elevator door opened again.
It was the 1st floor, the casino.
"There's a lot here."
Slot machines were lined up in the empty space, and there were various tables for card games, roulette, etc., but there was not a single person.
…Ah, there's one.
"Ah, Ahhhhhhh!"
One senior. But he wasn't wearing an Endex uniform.
He was flailing about in the empty casino, screaming.
"What, what is this! How, how did this happen, don't, don't come! Don't come closer!"
I wonder what he shouldn't touch. He was fluttering around like a butterfly in the empty casino, almost frothing at the mouth.
"I give up! I give up, I give up!"
He smashed his own smartwatch.
He disappeared somewhere at that moment. It must have been a forced transfer.
"…What the hell is he doing?"
I looked around the casino. A desk for currency exchange caught my eye on the other side. There was a silhouette of a person behind the opaque glass window.
Knock, knock- I knocked.
"...Is anyone there?"
—Yes. There is.
"Can I use this casino too?"
—Yes.
"Really?"
—Yes.
A smile formed on my face without me realizing it.
The old me quite liked addictive things, and one of them was gambling.
"How do I use it?"
—You need to exchange coins for chips.
"Mana coins?"
—Yes.
"You mean, exchange the mana coins in this smartwatch for chips?"
—Yes.
"How much?"
—You can exchange 10 coins for one chip.
"Then I'd like to buy about ten chips."
100 mana coins. It's the fortune I earned while searching for information about this Holents Hotel.
—Please tag this reader.
There was a reader right in front of the desk.
"Is there anything I should be careful about?"
—Yes.
"So there is?"
—Yes.
"Can you tell me?"
—Yes.
"Can you tell me if there is?"
—Yes.
"Can you say it?"
—it.
"...Can you tell me the precautions?"
—the Precautions.
"Ah, what is this?"
My head hurt for a moment, but I decided to think of it as the limit of an AI that is still underdeveloped.
I tagged my smartwatch to the reader.
"Please exchange 100 coins."
100 coins disappeared from my watch, and the counter put out ten chips.
"Thank you-"
—However, there is a precaution. Once you touch this chip, you can never go back to the way it was before.
"Oh?"
—It's a precaution.
"...So, what can't I go back to?"
—You can't go back to before you touched the chip.
"..."
It's somewhat philosophical.
Once you touch the chip even once, you're already in a 'touched state', so you can't go back to an 'untouched state'.
"Ah, never mind. Thank you."
I held the chip in my hand. The texture was quite peculiar. It seemed like it was made by mixing mana stones, or was this entirely a mana stone?
Fascinating.
I turned around with a beaming face, ready to do anything in the casino, and was taken aback.
"What the…"
It was suddenly filled with people.
Wasn't the casino completely empty just three seconds ago?
I stood still and scrutinized their faces.
They were pale enough to see their veins clearly, but like mannequins, they had no veins, and their hands and feet were definitely there, but they were blurry.
They were at the casino's bar, at the slot machines, at the tables, sitting in front of the roulette, doing something, but no voices could be heard.
Only silence.
The sound of cards being shuffled, the roulette ball bouncing, the slot machine spinning, echoed chillingly, but there was no human voice.
The wind brushing against the clothes was chilling.
"..."
I walked silently to a table. Six phantoms were playing hold'em.
Gulp-
I swallowed and asked them.
"...Is there a seat available?"
At that moment, everyone in the casino turned to look at me.
Ching-ching-ching- The slot machines spun, and the roulette ball spun- amidst all this, hundreds of phantoms were looking at me.
Without a single one missing.
I waved my hand and said.
"Just keep doing what you were doing."
I asked the dealer at the table again.
"Is there a seat?"
The dealer didn't say anything.
"I asked if there's a seat?"
Thump- I lightly tapped the table with the handle of the axe in my hand.
Only then did one of the phantoms vacate a seat, and the other phantoms also focused on their gambling.
I put the chips on the table and said.
"Deal the cards."