Those who had received Ryu Hwi-jae’s warning moved elsewhere.
It was for a reason born from experience: once they had been marked, it was best to stay as far away from the true body as possible.
The place they moved to was the 69th floor, the sky lounge.
In truth, they knew that even the conversation here would all be heard by Ryu Hwi-jae...... but the psychological comfort that came from not being visible was rather great.
Those gathered around the table chewed over Ryu Hwi-jae’s words.
“Has Master ever called a guest important until now?”
The first to speak was Beelzebub.
He was the ringleader of this stalking incident, and the one who had held the greatest question.
The answer to the question that came so naturally was the same from everyone.
“He hasn’t.”
“He has not.”
“He did say each and every guest was special, but that was just courtesy.”
“This is the first time he has kept a guest so close.”
“Hmm.”
Beelzebub, who rubbed his enormous legs together, shook out his wings and shook his head.
“I feel like she would be useful if handled well, but that would not work, would it?”
“Give up.”
“I have no intention of being annihilated yet.”
“Is this a new kind of suicide method?”
“......I was just saying it.”
Although they were called problem children, they never crossed the line.
Why?
Because though they had faced Ryu Hwi-jae many times until now, he had not revealed his full strength even once.
Since everyone here...... was someone who held up one axis of a dimension, there was no fool who would try to break concrete with an egg.
“Phew, I’m going back to my nest and resting. Whenever I meet the innkeeper, all my energy gets sucked dry.”
“Won’t you go to the casino? How about a round of poker?”
“Oh my, oh my, oh my.”
Just as the atmosphere naturally shifted toward dispersing,“It has been a while. Brothers and sisters.”
A head covering that concealed even a single strand of hair, and a nun’s habit that covered the whole body.
At the faint sacred aura flowing from her entire body, Beelzebub naturally narrowed his eyes.
If he stood on the axis of evil, she stood on the exact opposite axis of good.
So whether he liked or disliked her, it was inevitable that he would feel a basic rejection toward her.
“......Saintess.”
“Brother Beelzebub, it has been a while. Are you in good health?”
“Why are you here?”
“I came to catch my breath for a moment.”
The Saintess was also a regular guest of this hotel, so he had seen her a few times in passing, but the places he had mainly seen her were not like this.
“And while I was at it, I wanted to see all of you.”
“Us?”
“Yes. I heard you were scolded by Brother Proprietor today.”
“Ahem.”
“H-has the rumor already spread?”
“This hotel has many eyes and ears, after all.”
They had been scolded in the middle of the restaurant floor, so it was only a matter of moments before the rumor spread.
“The fact that you came looking for us means you must be curious about what happened then.”
“That’s right. According to the rumors I heard, Brother Proprietor has gained a little sister he cherishes.”
Beelzebub thought.
This Saintess.
“Could it be true?”
The eyes she had raised slightly were faintly crazed.
***
There was truly a mountain of things to teach the little one.
Mana theory education alone could take half a day in an instant, and I had to add basic common sense on top of that.
Thanks to that, the schedule was tight...... but even so, the one thing that could not be omitted was survival training.
“......Mister.”
“What?”
“What...... is this place?”
“What do you mean, what is it? It is the outdoor experience area where we will hold the afternoon lesson.”
I thought schools in the old days called this something like outdoor experiential learning.
It was not outdoors, but the environment had been arranged that way, so perhaps it was close enough?
The place I had brought the little one to was the 200th floor.
It was a virtual dimension created based on Yun Hye-rin’s memories.
Broken buildings lay scattered everywhere, eerie sounds came from somewhere,and blood and corpses were strewn about in various places.
For this sort of thing, vividness was important, so quite a bit of effort had been put in.
Of course, not by me, but by No. 103.
Because of the command I gave overnight, No. 103’s face had become even more haggard, but all clones were systematized to maintain optimal condition.
There would be no lying down because they were sick.
“Ugh, I don’t like this......”
The little one looked at me with pleading eyes.
She made it clear with an eye attack that she wanted to leave this place somehow, but.
“This is all for your sake.”
“How is this for my sake?”
“Because you cannot stay in the hotel forever.”
The lodging fees the little one had paid were considerable, so she could continue staying at the hotel for a while.
However, that did not mean it would always be so.
Someday, she would have to check out and return to her original dimension.
‘I do feel as if I am making a child face reality too much.’
It was cruel for a young child, but reality was cold.
To survive in an apocalypse world, one needed to become somewhat sharp as a blade.
“That is why I will teach you survival methods for when you return. How you can survive longer, and what you should do.”
“......”
“You do not have to do it if you do not want to. But I think this is something you need.”
“Mister.”
“Why not learn it?”
The little one clenched her tiny fist tightly.
Seeing it tremble, it seemed her heart was still surging, but even so, she quickly steadied herself.
“Yes. I’ll do it......!”
“You made a good decision.”
After stroking her head once, I first walked through the space together with the child.
“Basically, this place has been reconstructed based on your memories.”
“I remember that place. I hid from the rain there. Huh, but......”
“There may be parts that are not perfect. Those parts were arbitrarily built based on the surrounding environment. Keep that in mind.”
Memories tended to weather quickly, after all.
There was no helping the fact that the details were lacking.
As for the somewhat awkward parts, No. 103 had handled them well on his own.
“Today, you will walk through this space and carefully remember what you missed, and what might be usable as lodging fees for our hotel.”
This was truly an open-book test.
A test where even the answer sheet was fully distributed, practically telling her to receive an A+.
Ah, of course, the “fully” here included dangerous situations too.
-Grrrrr.
“M-mister?”
At the low growling sound, the little one stiffened.
It must have been fear engraved into her instincts.
I did not reject the hand that naturally took mine, and held it.
“Do not worry. I am beside you.”
“I’m scared......”
“You have to get used to it. Those things will always be beside you.”
From the place where the growling had come, that was, between the gaps of the buildings, it revealed itself.
It resembled a wild dog, but things that looked like crab legs were strangely attached to its body.
‘It really is bizarrely made.’
The way it writhed was quite grotesque.
At the behavior of the monster dripping saliva, more strength entered the hand holding mine.
“We have to...... run away.”
“Yun Hye-rin, watch carefully.”
“We’ll die!”
“We are not going to die.”
“Everyone died!”
-Roaaaar!
The monster, which howled like a rabid dog, kicked off the ground.
After closing the distance in an instant, it thrust forward the legs attached to its body and its sharp teeth.
From the perspective of an unarmed ordinary person, it was threatening enough.
However,“Go.”
Flick.
“Yelp!”
At my light gesture, the monster was flung back into the alley it had come from.
No matter how threatening it was, here, it was nothing.
“H-huh?”
“If I am beside you, you will not die. So now, carefully observe their movements.”
This was something she could not do after returning to her dimension.
Because it was now, she could properly learn their behavior patterns and think of countermeasures.
“Mister, are you strong?”
“You only realized that now?”
“Waaa...... Then can I become strong too?”
“Of course. If you learn a little more magic, this sort of thing will become possible.”
To show her the level I wanted her to reach before she returned,
I opened my palm and created an arrow made of Mana above it.
Basic magic, Arrow.
It would not inflict a fatal wound on a monster like that, but it had sufficient stopping power.
“You can do this too. If you learn, you will be able to grow stronger.”
“Stronger.”
The little one clenched her fist tightly, her eyes shining.
“I’ll get stronger!”
“That is a good thought. To do that, first, you should not be afraid of them.”
A mage, by nature, had to be able to make cold calculations in any moment.
“Grrrrk.”
“Krrk, krrk!”
Dozens of monsters like the one from before surrounded us.
One alone was threatening, but when such creatures roamed in a pack, they could only become even more threatening.
“Even now, stay calm......”
“U-ueeeh...... Save me, mister!”
......It seemed there was still a long way to go.
***
Fortunately, perhaps?
After I cleared away the monsters and we walked around a few more times, she quickly overcame her fear.
Perhaps because she had already experienced many deaths, her core was rather firm.
Later, she even reached the point where she could observe a captured monster from right beside it.
It was about time to move on to the next step.
“Now. From here on, the monsters will not be able to see you. Walk around alone and keep thinking.”
“Uu...... What should I think about?”
“Where you will go, and how you will survive. Your homework is to write down what you think and submit it.”
In a sense, it was homework that killed two birds with one stone by allowing us to work on Korean language education as well.
The little one looked all around her, then nodded.
“Yes! I’ll be back!”
“Good. Wander as far as you can. Call me if you need anything.”
“Okaaay!”
The little one kicked off the ground and ran between the debris.
Her emotional state still looked complicated, but seeing her trying to overcome it bravely moved even me.
Then...... let us see.
“You may come out now, Saintess.”
Shall I meet the guest who had quietly come here?
The moment I spoke, the Saintess, who had been hiding herself among the debris, revealed herself.
“Oh my, how did you know?”
“Your aura was leaking out. How could I not know?”
Furthermore, there was the halo floating above her head.
There were many guests with halos, but among the current guests at the hotel, the only halo flowing with white sacred power belonged to the Saintess.
“Hoho, that is true. Ah, have you been well, Brother Proprietor?”
“Yes. But what brings you here?”
If the Saintess had come all the way here, it meant she had come looking for me.
Tsk, I could roughly picture it.
“First, I would like to make the request I always make. Would that be all right?”
“Of course.”
At the Saintess’s words, the halo flashed violently.
It was as if it were explaining that the Saintess’s will was wrong.
“Lord God, please trust Your servant. There will be no act that opposes Your will.”
The Saintess slowly soothed the owner of the halo, but the halo still blinked and flashed.
I understood that it was trying its best to persuade her, but regrettably, the guest of our hotel was not you, but the Saintess here.
“Brother Proprietor?”
“Understood.”
I simply prioritized the guest’s will above all else.
I placed my hand on the halo and lightly added strength.
The halo resisted by violently emitting sacred power, then soon vanished.
Of course, I had not erased it completely. It was closer to briefly putting it to sleep.
“It is done.”
“Phew.”
The Saintess removed the head covering that had completely concealed her hair.
The Saintess shook out her hair in a hearty motion.
“Now I can finally live a little.”
Without caring whether the hem of her clothes grew dirty, she sat down on the debris.
That appearance contrasted greatly with the benevolent and sacred appearance she had shown until just now, and I had been rather flustered the first time I saw it too.
But this side was closer to the Saintess’s true appearance.
Her real self, not her manufactured appearance.
“If the Lord God sees this, I do not think it will end with a single word.”
“I can negotiate properly through prayer. To begin with, a Lord God who stalks me twenty-four hours a day is not sane, don’t you think?”
“That is not something you should say from the position of a Saintess.”
If the people of your dimension heard that, they would faint and collapse.
It was also the sort of thing that would have caused a witch trial for blasphemy.
Even so, this place was the Dimensional Hotel.
At least here, no one would say anything about this Saintess.
There were plenty of guests who had strayed further than this, after all. Far more than none.
“But if it was a problem with the halo, No. 100 should have been able to resolve it, yes?”
Because there was a regular guest called the Saintess, I had taken measures so that No. 100 could also use his power in this regard.
Coming to find me simply to sever the connection with a god?
That was absurd.
“What brings you all the way here?”
Therefore, there was one thing I could be certain of.
The Saintess had another purpose.