It had been nearly twelve or thirteen years since the Heavenly Demon first visited the hotel.
At that time, the moment he encountered the Martial Alliance Leader, they fought a life-and-death duel.
Thanks to my appropriate mediation, no conclusion was reached.
But I could not simply leave them alone.
If I had, both of them would have died.
That was how evenly matched the Alliance Leader and the Heavenly Demon were in skill.
That was why they had reached their current state of respecting and acknowledging each other.
“As I always say, the Heavenly Demon Divine Art is a martial art that has awakened the principle of defying heaven. Is it not only natural that it is superior?”
“Heh heh, is following the natural order, and accepting and understanding the rules of the world, not the true essence of martial arts?”
The competitive spirit between the two men had not completely disappeared.
It had merely been put to sleep.
It seemed that, with this opportunity, it had manifested.
In the form of teaching martial arts to the little one.
“It is not a bad proposal for the child, either. To survive, one needs strength, does one not?”
Well, that was more or less true.
To survive in a harsh world, learning only basic magic would be far from enough.
I had been wondering whether I should teach her that sort of thing as well.
“I understand your opinion, Lord Heavenly Demon. What are your thoughts, Alliance Leader?”
“I think similarly. If that child were to go somewhere and return hurt, my heart would not feel at ease. And I, too, have wanted to settle things with the Heavenly Demon once.”
As expected of the strongest people in their Murim worlds.
What magnificent competitive spirit they had.
“Whatever your true thoughts may be, the outward reason is good. However, unconditional permission is impossible. You know that, yes?”
There were many different guests staying in the hotel.
There were strong ones, and there were also weak ones.
Because knowledge could be passed down, it was also possible for the strong to oppress the weak.
Therefore, in such cases, my mediation was always required.
“The intentions of you two are important, but the child’s intentions are important as well.”
She had to express of her own will that she wanted to receive instruction.
What if she refused?
Then it would be treated as if nothing had ever happened.
“That is why I brought this up to you, Proprietor.”
“We, too, have stayed at the hotel for quite some time now. We know at least that much.”
“I am glad you understand. Then I will go confirm it right away.”
As I rose from my seat, the two blinked at me.
“Right away?”
“Can you not go slowly after having a drink?”
“The sooner these things are done, the better. It will not take long. Please drink together in the meantime. Ah.”
I gestured to the clone tending the tavern and had him bring out a bottle of liquor.
“Hoh, what is this porcelain bottle?”
“It is the work of a master artisan.”
“It is fire wine made by capturing the breath of a Red Dragon. The taste is unique, so I take it out and drink it from time to time. Please enjoy this while I am gone.”
They were men who loved alcohol, so with one bottle of this, they would lose track of time.
“I will be back soon.”
“Take your time.”
“Alliance Leader, hurry and pour. Oh, the fragrance is mysterious.”
“To think such fiery heat can be felt from the scent alone.”
They no longer even cared that I was leaving.
‘Is it really all right to entrust education to men like them......?’
A small doubt arose, but in any case, what mattered was the little one, Yun Hye-rin’s will.
***
Knock, knock.
“Mister?”
The little one, whose hair was still full of water, opened the door.
“It’s mister!”
“How do you know who it is, throwing the door open like that? How careless.”
“Hehe, I knew it was you.”
“As if. What are you going to do if you catch a cold, leaving your hair like this?”
“Hehe, I like it because warm water comes out.”
“You have to dry it properly.”
“But I don’t have any clothes.”
“Why would you need clothes...... No, never mind. Right.”
One more piece of apocalypse common sense had been added: wiping away water with clothes instead of a towel.
“There is something I need to discuss with you. May I come in for a moment?”
The little one tilted her head, then soon nodded.
“Umm...... Yes!”
The room I entered was not greatly different from the scene I had seen before.
I had told her how to change the room’s scenery.
Even so, if she had left it as it was, that must have been her own will.
“What is it?”
“There is something I need to tell you, but first, sit here.”
Seeing her damp hair bothered me too much.
I created a chair and seated the little one, then lightly stirred the wind from my hand.
“It’s warm.”
“It is basic elemental magic. You add heat to the wind. The key is combining two different mana properties.”
“Mm, it’s hard.”
“You will come to understand it as you learn, so for now, just know that such a thing exists. As soon as you wash your hair and come out, dry it with a towel.”
“Not clothes?”
“That’s right. A towel.”
“Hehe, okay.”
I dried her hair while teaching her basic common sense from a world that was not an apocalypse.
Considering how roughly she had lived, her hair texture was rather good.
I could give it some nourishment later.
“After taking the lessons, how do you find them? Are they bearable?”
“Mm, they’re hard.”
“That is natural.”
“But it doesn’t feel like I really can’t do them. Ah, look at this!”
What did she want me to look at?
The little one raised her hand and squeezed her eyes shut.
Then her fingertips trembled.
“Huh?”
Fragments of blue light gathered.
This was unmistakably mana.
‘She has already awakened to mana?’
Sensing mana was similar to creating and moving a third arm that had never existed in one’s body.
Even if one understood the knowledge, if one lacked the sense, it was an area one could not handle.
That was why talent was important.
“This is right, isn’t it? Mana.”
“Yes, that is right.”
This was not enough to describe as talent.
It might be more accurate to call her a genius.
“How did you do it?”
“You taught me this morning, mister. You said to squeeze my eyes shut and feel what’s flowing around me.”
“I did say that, but I did not think you would manage it in a single day.”
“Hehe.”
The little one made a V sign at me.
I smiled faintly.
How cute.
But,“Ugh, ah?”
I knew this would happen.
The mana flowing at the little one’s fingertips quickly disappeared, and she slowly collapsed from the chair.
Grab.
“Be careful.”
If I had not caught her, she would have fallen over just like that.
“Ueeeh...... Mister, I don’t have any strength.”
“The power to handle mana is like a muscle. If you move a muscle you have never used before all at once, you cannot help but be exhausted.”
“It feels strange.”
“That is normal, so do not be surprised. If you were fine, that would be more surprising.”
I blew a little mana into the little one, whose eyes were spinning.
It would not restore her completely, but she should feel a little better.
“Are you all right now?”
“Hehe, yes. But I want to use it better.”
Looking closely, I could see a small spark in her eyes.
Some called it competitive spirit, while others called it the desire for achievement.
As a change in the little one, who had said she would die as soon as she left here, I rather liked it, but.
It seemed I needed to set an appropriate guide for her.
“If you want to use magic well, you have to train your body steadily just as much as you have to handle mana well.”
“Train...... my body?”
“It means your body has to become sturdy. If your body is weak, mana will devour you.”
And what would happen then?
She would become a glass cannon.
The disaster of casting one spell and then fainting from exhaustion would occur.
“From now on, we will exercise together as well, and in truth, there is something I need to tell you related to that.”
The main subject had been pushed back a little, but this was better.
It connected to what I had just said.
“You remember the Alliance Leader, right? The person you ate with.”
“Grandpa?”
“......Did he tell you to call him that?”
“Yes.”
“What a sly old fogey. At any rate, he and one other person say they want to teach you martial arts.”
“Mar...... tial arts?”
If they had martial arts novels in her dimension, explaining this would be easy, but since they did not, how should I put it?
“It is a method of making the body sturdy. The two of them are experts in that field.”
“Really? Grandpa is?”
“It is hard to believe, but it is true.”
Though he looked like an old man on the outside, he had already undergone bodily rebirth.
He was only taking his current appearance because he wanted to, and his physical abilities were not greatly different from his prime.
“That is why I came to ask your opinion. If you permit it, the two of them will teach you when they return.”
“Mm.”
The little one swung her feet and rolled her eyes around.
If it were a guest who knew anything about the Alliance Leader or the Heavenly Demon, they would not even think of refusing, but this child was different.
Because she had lived in such harsh circumstances, wariness had become ingrained in her body.
Most of all,“But mister, why would Grandpa teach me that?”
She knew that there was no goodwill without reason in the world.
Though she was not even ten years old, she had learned of the world far too quickly.
“Because he is worried about you. He said he does not want you to get hurt.”
I gently buried the worldly reason of a competition in raising a disciple.
There was no need to go so far as to tell her that.
“That’s all?”
“Yes. That is all.”
“Umm, that’s strange.”
The little one muttered several more times that it was strange, then sharply looked back at me.
“What about you, mister?”
“What about me?”
“Would you learn from Grandpa? Or not?”
“Me? From those two?”
“Yeah.”
“I would not.”
If anything, I would be the one granting instruction.
Even if the two of them were absolute masters, they were still far from reaching my realm.
“Why?”
“Because I’m stronger.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Then I won’t learn.”
Wow, what was this little one saying right now?
“Really?”
“Yes! Instead, I’ll learn from you, mister. Because you’re stronger!”
......Could it work out like that?
Thinking about it, it could.
The areas those two could teach were things I could teach even better.
From her perspective, there was no need to choose another teacher while she had a better one in front of her.
“And I want to do more magic.”
The little one thrust her hands out this way and that.
“I only want to learn how to use magic better. I don’t like other things.”
Wow, if guests who were not mages heard that, it would likely get under their skin.
Especially the Alliance Leader and the Heavenly Demon. I could clearly see them emptying a bottle of liquor before returning and rattling off the merits of martial arts.
The little one’s judgment was not bad.
If she learned this and that while she needed to establish the basics, it would become messy.
‘It would be better to dig into just one thing.’
However, it would also be a shame to miss the opportunity to learn martial arts from Murim people.
Therefore,“How about this?”
“What?”
“I will teach you as much as possible, but there will be times when I cannot. At those times, the two of them can substitute for me.”
In a sense, they would be assistant instructors.
“The broader your experience, the more it helps with magic, so I think receiving a little instruction from the two of them would be good.”
“What does experience mean?”
“......Trying many different things.”
“Ah, then is it better to learn?”
“To some extent?”
Not professionally, but just enough to add a slight scent?
The little one rolled her eyes, then nodded.
Seeing how she accepted it when I said it would help with magic, she might become an archmage in the future.
“Then I will convey your will to them.”
“Yes! Are you leaving now?”
“That’s right. The two of them will be waiting.”
The amount of liquor I had taken out for them was rather large, but with those two heavy drinkers, they might have emptied it quickly.
“Sleep well, and tomorrow......”
“Ah, mister!”
“Hm? What is it?”
“Ah, well, um, that is......”
It seemed she had something to say, yet did not.
The little one’s eyes rolled around.
As I quietly listened to the sound of her eyes turning, I could roughly understand.
Good grief.
I created another chair and placed it beside the bed in one corner of the room.
Then I sat gently and looked back at the little one.
“I will stay for just five more minutes.”
Perhaps my words were unexpected, for the little one’s eyes widened. Then she pattered over and lay down on the bed.
“Yes!!”
Because she lived in a harsh place, she was quick-witted and wary.
But even so, a child was still a child.
***
Click.
No. 100 raised his head.
“......Why is that?”
The source of the sound he had heard not long before was the dimensional clock above the hotel’s front door.
That clock, which had only moved when a new guest entered, was moving now.
The hotel had operated for roughly 7,823 years.
Something that had never happened before was taking place.