The First Guest
A guest has arrived.
A real guest had come.
"W-what do I do?"
I was more flustered than I’d expected.
Was someone really here to stay?
Was I supposed to go out and greet them? Or just sit at the front desk?
"Hoo.... Calm down. Just do what I always do. I only need to play the role of the innkeeper."
I didn’t particularly want deep relationships with anyone. I just wanted work to do, and someone to look at.
I didn’t even know what kind of person was coming to see me.
So I’d just do what I always did and receive the guest normally.
"For now... entry approved."
Through the CCTV screen, I could see a woman approaching from this side.
No one had taught me how, but I could use the skill naturally.
The national highway in front of the motel.
Beyond the collapsed guardrail, a woman was walking toward me.
I recognized her as a guest and allowed her to enter the motel.
She looked filthy and was limping, apparently injured somewhere. The strange part was that she had a bag slung over her back that was almost as big as she was.
"Well, I guess this is average."
It had already been more than a year since the world ended. Someone staying as clean as I did was the real stroke of luck.
I held my breath and watched the CCTV monitor for a long while.
The woman was moving slowly, but with purpose, toward me.
Ding-a-ling.
At last, she opened the glass front door and stepped into the motel.
She had black hair and a face that looked somewhat foreign, and unusually, her eyes were red.
"Welcome."
I forced down my trembling voice and gave a calm greeting.
"... Are you the owner here?"
The woman asked in a low voice.
The way her hand kept worrying the hatchet at her waist made it clear she was extremely wary.
"Yes. I'm the owner."
"It said motel."
"It's a motel. And we're operating normally."
"... What, are you some kind of professional or something? I didn't think people still did this sort of playacting."
She sounded incredulous. She had no manners at first sight. Still, she was a guest, and my first guest at that, so I’d treat her politely.
"Would you like a room? You can pay with something other than cash, too."
"..."
The woman toyed with her hatchet and thought for a long moment.
That made sense. This was suspiciously normal-looking place.
It even had electricity to spare, and I, nicely fed and well dressed, probably looked suspicious too.
Unlike me, the woman looked utterly exhausted.
Her eyes were bloodshot, as if she hadn’t slept for days, and the corners of her eyes and lips twitched intermittently.
I waited quietly for her answer, and in the end she made up her mind.
"... Then one night."
"Yes. Payment is in advance."
The woman came up to the front desk and set down her bag.
It hit the floor with a thud, so whatever she was carrying had to be heavy.
"Will this do?"
She took out several cans of food and placed them on the counter.
"Hmm...."
Honestly, it was a little underwhelming. We already had plenty to eat.
Besides,
Old canned food(low value)
the floating text in the air was telling me these weren’t suitable payment for a stay.
"I’m afraid that won’t be enough."
The woman frowned with irritation, one eye narrowing.
I wanted to let her stay too, honestly, but there was nothing I could do. If she didn’t offer something else, I’d have to turn her away.
"Then what about this."
She pulled a small gray bead from her pocket and held it out to me.
Low-grade Mana Stone(appropriate value)
Mana Stone?
Was that the thing they said came from killing monsters?
I had no idea what it was useful for, but the inn skill said it was suitable, so I supposed that was fine.
I carefully took the Mana Stone she handed me.
"Payment completed. Please write your name in the ledger here, and checkout is at 11."
"..."
Without a word, the woman wrote her name in the ledger and took the key.
So her name was Yu Ha-rin.
"Room 201 is a single. Take the left elevator and go up."
Room 201 was the only room currently open. It was the room the system had assigned to the first guest.
"Elevator?"
Yu Ha-rin asked blankly.
"...? Yes, the elevator."
"How does this place have so much electricity? Do you have a huge generator or something? What about fuel?"
"That's a trade secret."
There was no need to confess that it was my skill. She was a guest, but not someone I could fully trust.
"... I see. Only, could you turn off the outside lights? They’ll just attract attention for no reason."
She really did make a lot of requests. Well, that was just how some guests were. I was used to it.
"I hope you have a comfortable stay."
With that, Yu Ha-rin took the elevator up to her room.
"Phew...."
Maybe it was because I’d been handling such a special situation after a long time, but I was tense, just like when I first started doing business.
At the same time, dopamine was surging through me. A strange exhilaration rose in my chest.
It felt just like when I’d first opened the motel.
My first guest seemed rather difficult, but I had the feeling she’d be one of those guests I’d remember for a long time.
***
Ding.
The elevator carrying Yu Ha-rin stopped on the second floor.
"Room 201...."
Staggering, Yu Ha-rin made her way down the hall, searching for the room.
She was heavy with exhaustion. It felt as though she might collapse at any moment.
"Even if I do collapse, at least it'll be somewhere safe...."
With hazy eyes, she scanned the rooms, found 201, and opened the door.
Fresh air freshener scent rushed out at once.
It was something she could never have imagined outside, in the ruined world. No one wanted to attract smell-sensitive monsters for nothing.
"What the hell...."
She couldn’t make sense of it at all.
How could a place like this exist?
She had seen a perfectly healthy man drink filtered rainwater and die from disease.
Not long ago, she had also seen twelve people freeze to death huddled together in a shelter after the heating failed.
She had seen buildings they’d hidden in collapse under monster attacks, crushing people to death before they could even scream. Even when they had a decent place to stay, they could still starve to death without finding even spoiled food.
That was what the outside world was like.
And yet the bed and bedding here were spotless, without a single stain, and the refrigerator that hummed softly held cool water and drinks inside.
"This is insane...."
To rent out a place like this for a single low-grade Mana Stone, no less. And what was with these amenities? Was the owner out of his mind?
She had those thoughts, but then the pain spreading from her abdomen dragged her back to reality.
"Ghk...!"
She hurriedly took a first-aid kit from her bag and headed for the bathroom.
Then she sat on the floor as if collapsing and checked the state of her torn abdomen.
It was bad.
For an ordinary person, it would have been a fatal wound long ago.
But her body was still holding on.
That was thanks to the body that had grown absurdly tough after awakening.
"Hss...!"
She injected painkillers into her thigh, disinfected the wound, and then began stitching her own flesh together.
She might have superhuman physical ability, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t feel pain.
It hurt just like any other injury. Still, she clenched her teeth and endured it to live.
"Haah...."
When the final needle passed through her skin, she let herself go limp with her back against the bathroom wall.
What a relief.
One more day outside, and she would have been unable to hold out and died.
As a last hope, she had come looking for a lit building.
And, figuring she had nothing to lose, she paid the strange man who claimed to be the owner.
In truth, it didn’t matter how much she paid.
If she had to, she could kill that man and take it back.
It was the worst choice, both as a merchant and as a human being.
But her own life came before rules or morality. If her life was in danger, she could grit her teeth and do ugly things.
Yet after seeing this impossible sight, her mind changed.
If this man truly had the ability to run a facility like this, then trading with him would be far more profitable than killing him or robbing him.
And to offer such services at the absurd price of a single low-grade Mana Stone....
"Am I hallucinating?"
Laid up in pain, she found herself wondering if that might be the case. Or maybe she had died and come to the afterlife.
"Haa...."
Yu Ha-rin rose and walked to the sink.
Then, out of habit from before the world ended, she turned on the faucet.
"...?"
Water came out.
Completely ordinary, clean water came out.
Outside, a single bottle of clean water could save a life.
"What...."
She waited for a long while with the tap running, but no rust-colored water came out, and the pressure never weakened.
"This can't be...."
Shocked, she buried her face under the stream of water.
She gulped it down and washed her face, not even remembering when she had last washed properly.
"Haa...! Haa...!"
She drank water like a madwoman until she was gasping for breath at her limit.
"Kh....!"
Tears welled up to the point of spilling over her chin.
There was electricity. There was water.
Those were trivial things, but they were more than enough to stir up all her pent-up bitterness.
"This isn't the time. I need to do what I can, quickly...."
Afraid the water might stop, she hurriedly opened her bag and took everything out.
Laundry, showering, washing medical tools, even topping off bottles with water.
As though someone were chasing her, she used the water for everything she possibly could.
And after thinking for a long while about what else she could do with it, she came out of the bathroom.
Weariness and exhaustion came crashing down on her.
Before she knew it, she had gone to the bed and collapsed onto it.
It was soft. And clean. The bedding carried a crisp, fresh scent.
"Th... ngh...."
She couldn’t even remember the last time she had lain down and slept. Most nights, she had slept in brief snatches with her back against a wall and a weapon clutched in her arms.
She couldn’t resist the drowsiness sweeping over her and fell asleep where she was.
So deeply that she didn’t even dream the nightmares she usually had in hell.
***
"Hmm, very nice."
Seeing the words floating before my eyes warmed my heart.
It wasn’t an act of kindness without return, but having someone see what I’d provided and be satisfied was still a considerable joy.
"I really did make the right call accepting guests."
It was very small, but it felt like a number of things I hadn’t been able to fulfill until now were finally being filled in.
Just a few lines of customer service, and it felt like the loneliness I’d carried all this time had been washed away.
Because I was excited, I could barely sleep. I sat at the front desk until late, keeping an eye on the guest satisfaction meter.
That was when it happened.
Unfamiliar figures were caught by the CCTV watching the road.
They were a group in black raincoats with their hoods up, looking downright menacing, and they were clearly walking this way.
Ding.
An hostile force is approaching.
Unauthorized occupation, looting, guest intimidation, and interference with business operations are all expected risks.
Would you like to permit entry?