Speaking as someone who had lived through several thousand years, three days was a length of time that passed in the blink of an eye.
It was a momentary span, barely enough to achieve even a small accomplishment.
Even so, those three days did not simply flow by.
“Arrow!”
The little one achieved a certain level of progress in the Mana breathing method,and in the end, succeeded in learning one basic spell.
If the mages of the Mage Tower or the elves of the World Tree heard this, they would be shocked senseless.
That was how fast her achievement was.
“Hehe, mister!”
“Well done. But you must focus.”
“Huh? Uh, ah!”
She became excited and hopped up, and the Arrow quickly scattered.
It was fortunate that she absorbed all the Mana she had spent.
Otherwise, she would have collapsed again.
“With magic, you must not lose focus for even a single moment from activation to casting.”
“Uuu, yes.”
“If you make a mistake and the Arrow fires into your own foot, that will be even more dangerous. You understand?”
The power of Arrow was roughly equal to two 5.56mm bullets.
As a surprise attack one could produce barehanded, it was powerful enough, but it was nowhere near sufficient to fight the monsters of that dimension head-on.
Furthermore, with the little one’s Mana, she could only use it once.
“You must use it only when you have no other choice while fleeing.”
“Uu. I understand.”
“Given the situation, it will be natural for your focus to waver while activating magic. Condensing Mana will not be easy either.”
Even if one had perfectly learned the theory, reality was cruel.
“Do not panic. Move the Mana one step at a time, and calculate its amount thoroughly. The more you are a mage, the more cold and rational your calculations must be.”
“Yes!”
“......I am worried. Truly worried.”
To think I had to send out this little one, who still fell far short of being called a mage......
“Do you have any intention of changing your mind even now?”
The contract was ready.
If she only wrote her name, the contract would be complete.
Even one second before she left, the situation could still be turned back.
But the little one was firm.
“Dad said this. Moments when you can tie up loose ends don’t come often. So when you can, you have to tie them well.”
“......Did he?”
She remembered difficult words quite well.
Then again, in an apocalypse where one often had to abruptly send off or lose someone,perhaps it was only natural to treasure such moments.
“Phew, all right. I understand. Then I will not say any more.”
Anything beyond this would be overprotection and meddling.
After dragging a hand down my face, I approached the counter.
“No. 100.”
“Yes, Master.”
No. 100 handed me the bag.
I had already told him in advance, so various items necessary for survival had been packed inside.
‘......I put in too much, so the lodging fee increased by around two days.’
Since it was a matter directly connected to survival, having them was better than not.
The little one could easily gather two days’ worth of lodging fees in her dimension and still have more left over.
“Come here.”
“Okaaay.”
I put the bag on the little one, who came pattering over.
“Is it not too crude? Perhaps a character bag would have been more childlike?”
“It is an apocalypse world, so something like that suits her better. Something too bright would only draw attention.”
“True.”
Even though perception-reduction magic had been cast on it, it was better to have no unnecessary additions.
Therefore, instead of changing the design, I only adjusted its size to fit the child perfectly.
“I taught you how to use the bag, yes? Put your hand inside and think of the item inside.”
“Then it comes out?”
“It will be grasped right in your hand. You only need to pull it straight out.”
“That’s amazing.”
At the endless possibilities of magic, the little one nodded vigorously.
I stroked the little one’s head and rose from my seat.
Now, it was time.
“Dear guest, did you have a comfortable stay at our hotel?”
“Yes!”
“I am glad you had a happy time. Our hotel will always await your return.”
Along with my greeting, the firmly closed front door of the hotel opened.
Beyond it lay a place I could not go.
The little one’s dimension.
“I sincerely hope you survive safely and return.”
“Mister.”
“Yes.”
The little one stared at me, then beckoned.
It seemed she wanted me to lower myself.
When I bent down to match the little one’s eye level, she wrapped her arms tightly around my neck.
“......Oh. You have gotten stronger.”
“Dad liked it when I did this. Do you like it too, mister?”
“Well, somewhat?”
“Hehe.”
I lightly patted the tiny child’s back.
Be strong.
Cheer up.
You can do well.
Having received my encouragement, the little one released her arms from my neck.
Then,Kiss.
“......Little one.”
“Hehe, I’ll be back, mister.”
The precocious little one, who had kissed my cheek as she pleased, waved her hand and stepped through the front door.
Clack—
The door, which had been filled with bright light, swallowed the little one and closed.
“Go carefully and come back safely.”
I could only look at the closed door.
There was nothing else I could do.
***
I had made one great mistake.
If I had thought a little more calmly and coolly, I would have known.
“Why is she not coming back?”
I should have told the little one in advance how long she should stay before returning.
I had forgotten how abstract the word “soon” was.
“Could something have happened?”
“Master.”
“Oh, No. 100. What is it?”
“It has only been one hour since Miss Yun Hye-rin returned.”
......Why was this bastard suddenly saying something correct?
Did he want to be hit?
“One hour is far too little time for Miss Yun Hye-rin to finish all her business. Would it not take at least two or three days?”
“Even if it is longer, it should only be about a week.”
“Yes, so I do not think you need to worry so much.”
Worry.
“No. 100.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Have I ever worried about a guest like this before?”
“Mm.”
No. 100 chewed over his memories.
“You worried when Lord Blood Demon was overdue by around sixty days’ worth of lodging fees.”
“Ah, I did.”
“You said he absolutely had to return alive.”
I had sincerely worried that he might die somewhere as a guest before I could ruin him with my own hands.
“There were also many other guests you worried about. Though all of them were related to lodging fees.”
“Was I that obsessed with lodging fees?”
“You are similar even now. You are merely maintaining a certain degree of composure. However, I believe the matter of Miss Yun Hye-rin is an exception.”
Even if it was the same worry, it was different.
No. 100’s words pierced the situation precisely,and I acknowledged it as well.
“Well...... I hope she is not hurt.”
“Who taught her? She will be fine.”
“And I hope she does not get deceived by strange people.”
“You strongly told her about that as well, so she will be fine.”
“She needs to eat properly.”
“We packed various kinds of emergency rations. They should be similar to the special meals she eats at the hotel.”
No. 100 answered each of my complaints one by one in order to ease my worries.
It was not really something I should say, but the position of No. 100 truly was a difficult one.
Perhaps because of that,“If you stay here, it seems you will only worry. How about walking around a little instead? It would be good to have a drink with the Murim people as well.”
“I am not in the mood to drink.”
No. 100 offered various suggestions to shift my attention.
The unfortunate part was that not a single one appealed to me.
Then, suddenly, he reached one.
“Then how about changing the unused floors?”
“Changing them?”
“Yes. There are several floors that have been left unattended for the past few years, are there not?”
If this had been a hotel in reality, they would have long since undergone remodeling.
But our hotel had so many floors.
Rather than tearing down and repairing unnecessary floors, it was more efficient to raise new ones, so I had left them alone.
Some guest might encounter them out of curiosity.
Well, not having them would be a problem; having them was not.
“I think those places should be maintained soon.”
“Mm...... Is there any need? It seems better to change them all at once when around one hundred floors pile up.”
“......By then, it will be far too difficult to handle. Most of all, if we clean them up now, would it not be safer when Miss Yun Hye-rin comes later?”
“Safer?”
“Because there is a torture chamber too.”
“Ah.”
Right.
There were several places made thanks to the requests of evil-aligned guests.
Naturally, they were places that would not be very helpful to a child’s mental health.
“Tsk, true. We should fix them a little.”
This hotel did not aim to be rated for all ages, but I should clean up floors that might be threatening to the little one in advance.
“Then I will call No. 103. He should have designs prepared in advance.”
“Yes, let us replace them. Ah, No. 100.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Thank you.”
He had listened to my complaints and worked hard to ease my worries.
Recently, he had probably worked harder than anyone.
He smiled faintly and tilted his head.
“I am grateful that you recognize it.”
“I always know.”
“Then could you perhaps reduce the work you dump on me?”
Mm, that would not do.
Because having you here is truly reassuring and convenient.
***
I looked up at the sky where ash drifted.
At the hotel, I could see clear skies and the blazing sun whenever I wished.
Sometimes dark clouds formed too, but even those could be removed whenever I wanted.
Unlike this place.
“The hotel is nice.”
It was a good place.
She did not know why such fortune had come to her.
But she thought she must not easily let go of this opportunity.
However, in order to grasp this opportunity, there was something she had to let go.
“Heave-ho.”
She pushed through the debris of collapsed buildings and passed by.
Because she had already seen it in advance on the 200th floor, she immediately recognized paths she could take.
Reading the presence of monsters, she walked while making as little sound as possible.
While gathering objects here and there that might become lodging fees, she passed through the ruins.
“Phew.”
She reached a certain place.
A place she had never come to with the mister, and a place she had intentionally tried not to visit.
“Dad, I’m here.”
The place where she had to send Dad away.
Strictly speaking, this was not where Dad had died.
But she had made Dad’s grave here.
“You know, Dad, I met a strange person.”
Before the grave made with a wooden stick planted into the ground, she told him everything she had experienced at the hotel.
The day she first met the mister, the day she learned magic, the day she talked with the Murim grandpas, the day she ate delicious food.
Just telling the story made one day, then two days pass.
When she grew tired, she slept in a nearby hiding place. When she grew hungry, she took emergency rations from the bag and ate.
Even as she wet her throat, she continued the story.
Even if all the many things she had experienced were only a dream,they were stories she definitely wanted to tell Dad.
“So that’s why I came back now. Hehe.”
By the time she finished the long story, three days had already passed since she had arrived at the grave.
Because she had not wanted to leave out even a single thing,it took quite a long time.
“Dad, that mister really resembles you a lot. Sometimes, he really feels like Dad.”
The way he looked at her with worry, and his warmth.
“I want to see you again, Dad.”
She wiped the tears filling her eyes with her sleeve.
Her chest felt like it would burst apart,but she held it in.
“So, Dad.”
She put her hand into the bag.
What she searched for was a small shovel.
It had been put inside because it might be needed.
After taking out that shovel and holding it tightly,“I’m sorry.”
Yun Hye-rin drove the shovel into Dad’s grave.