“Do not look at me so. Today, I merely intend to work quietly.”
The Alliance Leader, who had said he missed his family, returned before night had even fallen.
He complained that the nagging was noisy and so on.
Drinking and grumbling was just the usual Alliance Leader, but.
This was somewhat outside my expectations.
The Alliance Leader quietly looked into my eyes and pointed to the documents piled on his desk.
“......”
Seeing how densely written they were, they certainly seemed to be work-related.
“What I am asking is why you came here to do that.”
Out of all the countless spaces in the hotel, why had he specifically come to the 199th floor, and of all places, to the child’s study room?
“Ahem, Proprietor. Listen well.”
“Yes, my ears are open.”
“Have you heard that environment is important? They say that in a place where an atmosphere of study has been created, anyone will devote themselves more diligently to scholarship......”
His tongue was long.
In other words, to sum it up in a single sentence.
“You have work to do, but you want to see this little one, so you’re going to work here?”
“Ahem, if you put it that way, then again......”
He did seem interested in the little one, but I had no idea why the scales of his heart had tilted so far after he went home and had a single meal.
Good grief.
“Please just do not disturb the lesson.”
“Do not worry.”
If only I could trust those words.
It was true that the Alliance Leader was a good person, but this man was also someone who had become friends with the Heavenly Demon and the Blood Demon.
There was a reason the saying “like attracts like” existed.
“That is how it is, so ignore that old man and focus. Understood?”
“Yes!”
“Is it not a bit harsh to tell her to ignore me?”
“You are being disruptive.”
When I dismissed his complaint, the little one giggled.
‘She was full of wariness yesterday, but she seems a little better today.’
This was why eating together was important.
At any rate,today’s lesson began with one uninvited guest included.
***
<Master, a guest looking for you has arrived.>
The message from No. 100 came around noon.
The lesson had just about ended, and it was also mealtime.
The timing was not bad.
“That is all for today’s lesson. Eat, then review what you learned this morning.”
“Ugh. Yes.”
“You know where to eat, right?”
“The 30th floor.”
“Good. Today, go eat with the Alliance Leader.”
“What?”
“Mm, it is about time to appease my hunger as well.”
The Alliance Leader put down his documents and rose.
There had been his request yesterday, and I had my own work, so perhaps one could call it killing two birds with one stone.
“You’re not coming, mister?”
“That’s right. I have something to do now.”
“Um.”
The little one looked back and forth between the Alliance Leader and me a few times, then gave a small nod.
As a bonus, the Alliance Leader’s expression softened warmly at her positive response to eating with him.
That man was quite the doting father himself.
“Be careful that she does not get involved with any strange guests.”
“If they hear she is a child the Proprietor cares about, no one will touch her. You know that, do you not?”
“There are quite a lot of strange guests.”
“Heh heh, I will be careful. Looking at you, you truly worry a great deal. Now, let us go.”
After leaving behind those strange words, the Alliance Leader headed to the restaurant floor with the little one.
I quietly watched them before heading to the first floor.
“You have arrived.”
“Yes. Where is the guest looking for me?”
“He is over there.”
On the sofa No. 100 pointed to sat a man of imposing build.
I could tell who it was just from his back.
And also why he had called me.
“Haa.”
“I should have handled it at my level. My apologies.”
“No.”
The clones had only been given power suited to their respective abilities.
This was something I had to handle personally.
Now then.
“Lord Blood Demon?”
Shall I have a little interview with our troublesome guest?
***
The Blood Demon, sitting across from me, rolled his eyes this way and that.
I could hear the sound of his mind working all the way over here.
“You came back a little earlier than the promised time.”
Though by “earlier,” the difference was only around an hour or two.
It was surprising that he had walked back on his own feet rather than being forcibly summoned.
“Mm, so I have.”
“Did you bring the overdue lodging fees?”
“That, that is......”
“You did not.”
I knew this would happen.
“G-give this S-Seat more time......”
“That will not do.”
The Blood Demon, who had failed to pay his lodging fees, was no longer a guest from this moment onward.
Therefore, there was no need to show him the courtesy reserved for guests.
“If I give you more time, can you obtain the lodging fees? I do not think so.”
“Urgh.”
“Or how long am I supposed to say, ‘Oh dear, our Lord Blood Demon is having such a hard time. I understand your circumstances, so I shall overlook it a little longer’?”
With each word I added, more sweat gathered on the Blood Demon’s forehead.
Good. At least he knew he was at fault.
“Tsk.”
“I am...... sorry.”
“Enough. That sort of talk is unnecessary, so let us have a more rational discussion.”
What mattered now was not that kind of talk.
It was the matter of his overdue lodging fees, and his lodging fees going forward.
“As you know, the lodging fees accepted by this hotel are objects imbued with emotion. That includes anger and hatred as well.”
The lodging fees brought by guests of the demonic sort were mainly of this kind.
Regrettably, their value was a little lower than other types of emotion, but it was not to the point that I could not handle them.
“Is it difficult to obtain objects like that? There must have been quite a few martial artists who tried to oppose you.”
Surely many people had formed death squads to kill the Blood Demon.
Objects carrying their resolve to fight to the death, and the emotions stained upon them, would be quite valuable.
It was under that calculation that I had granted the Blood Demon the right to revisit.
“I understand what you mean. However...... it is impossible.”
“Impossible?”
“I killed all who defied this Seat’s will. I burned them all away, leaving not even a trace.”
“......”
Right.
This was the problem.
It was not merely that he had conquered the world, but that he had trampled and burned everything, so the reality was that even objects arranged by those who had departed remained no longer.
Furthermore, the Blood Demon had been invited here after quite some time had passed since he had conquered that world.
Finding the remains or possessions of the dead was a distant prospect.
I lightly pressed my throbbing temple and changed the direction of my thoughts.
“Then what about those who follow your will? You could receive objects from those people.”
“All they have to offer this Seat are their hearts and lives.”
“......”
“That is the logic of our Blood Cult.”
“What do you mean, logic? It is simply a psycho group mad for blood.”
“Ahem......”
What should I do with this psycho bastard?
While I rubbed my eyes at the irritation rising within me, the Blood Demon thought for a moment before opening his mouth.
“What about the hearts of cultists?”
“Yes. A corpse is an object too. I have no intention of doing that while sane, though.”
Their emotions at the moment of death would be thick, so unexpectedly, they might be full of value as lodging fees.
However.
“Blood Demon. Listen carefully. If you offer the hearts of your cultists as lodging fees, I will accept them. But I will revoke your right to revisit.”
“Why? Is it not enough for the Proprietor to receive lodging fees?”
The Blood Demon’s question was reasonable.
The most important thing to me was turning the dimensional clock.
And to do that, lodging fees were important.
Even so, was I rejecting it because my morality was spotless?
No, it was not for such a clean reason.
To begin with, what evil-type guests offered as lodging fees were often skulls, hearts, or someone’s entrails.
My own path had not been clean enough for me to feel repulsed by such things.
The reason I said I would not accept them was simple.
There was no long-term merit.
This was also a part that aligned with my pursuit of healing for every guest.
“After you rip out the hearts of all your cultists, then what? Whose heart will you rip out next? Your own?”
“......”
He could cover the lodging fees for now, but the Blood Demon’s dimension would slowly wither and die.
The outcome of causing more people’s suffering was a path I, who had lived in a ruined dimension, did not want to choose, even apart from lodging fees.
“I see...... Then what must I do? It seems this Seat has no options left.”
He truly was a bastard who had walked the path of slaughter and destruction all his life.
To think his head worked this poorly.
“First, there is one thing I should confirm. Do you want to keep coming here?”
The Blood Demon crossed his arms and raised his head.
Then, after staring at the giant hourglass hanging from the lobby ceiling, he slowly opened his mouth.
“I knew nothing but killing others and growing stronger. But after coming here, I made friends and learned the joy of eating and drinking.”
A simple barbarian had learned of the benefits brought by civilization.
“When I return, those are things I cannot enjoy there. This Seat finds that displeasing.”
“Then?”
“What should I do?”
His will had been clearly conveyed.
Now then, it was time to present a solution.
“I can solve it for you, but in return, you will have to follow my words well. No matter what they are.”
Flinch.
The Blood Demon’s body trembled greatly.
Judging by the way his pupils shook, it seemed he was recalling the pain of paying with his body.
How could he be this afraid already?
“If you lack confidence, leave.”
“Ahem, this Seat knows no fear.”
“So you will follow me?”
“......Speak first.”
“First, your overdue lodging fees. I will take that price in blood qi.”
“You mean this Seat’s inner arts?”
“Yes. I will process it into the form of a spirit pill and draw it out.”
“How could that......”
“It is possible.”
Would I, who had entered the ranks of transcendents, be unable to do something like that?
I could even separate body and soul.
The Blood Demon looked down at his own hand.
He must not have been pleased by the thought of losing the blood qi he had cultivated.
“I will not draw out all of it. About one quarter of the inner arts you possess.”
“That is a considerable amount.”
“I know. I am saying this knowing that.”
If he lost that much inner arts, the Blood Demon’s position might be greatly shaken when he returned.
The Blood Cult had been established solely on the logic of power.
The bishops beneath the Blood Demon might raise the banner of rebellion.
Perhaps feeling burdened by that, the Blood Demon racked his brain and offered a compromise of his own.
“Can I not replace it with physical labor?”
“No need. To begin with, your unpaid lodging fees are far too high. If you want to settle it that way, you would have to work for more than a year. Why would I do that?”
There was a price I could receive, so why would I bother?
The useless Blood Demon, for a year?
Unnecessary.
“Hoooo...... Understood.”
The Blood Demon breathed out at length and gave a small nod.
“You made a good choice. For your information, this is also necessary for what comes after.”
“Necessary?”
“Do you think collecting overdue lodging fees is all there is? There is also the matter of future lodging fees.”
This is all for your sake.
I took an artifact from the storage.
The extremely elaborate sphere was densely covered in divine words I had engraved myself.
“Take it.”
“What is this?”
“A purification device. More precisely, an ambient water purification device.”
With this, any dirty water could be converted into drinking water, and even in regions without water, it could create water.
Some would call this a miracle.
However, the Blood Demon stared at the device with a thoroughly sullen look.
“What am I supposed to use this for?”
“......Right. What was I expecting from you?”
This fool did not know the merit clean water could bring.
That was why he had simply beaten and killed everyone he found.
“Make this a sacred treasure of the Blood Cult. Then continue providing water to the people, calling it the mercy of the Blood Cult.”
In the Blood Cult’s memories, many people had even struggled to find water.
If clean drinking water were provided to such people?
Not only would the number of those dying from dehydration decrease, but the quality of agriculture would also rise to another level.
Most of all,if this water were processed well, it could also be used to create spiritual medicines.
Spiritual medicines would be mass-produced while he simply sat still?
It would become a world where there was no need to take blood to grow stronger.
“This will become the first stepping stone that changes the future of the Blood Cult.”
Forget the Blood Cult of the past.
“The Blood Cult will be transformed into a revolutionary organization that stabilizes the people’s livelihood and saves the world.”