Raid
Hostile forces are approaching.
Unlawful occupation, looting, threat to guests, and disruption of business are expected.
Do you authorize entry?
"Hostile forces...? Then entry is obviously denied."
It seemed the lights had drawn them in.
"I should’ve turned them off after all."
They were on anyway, since the place was fully booked.
Either way, a powerful sense of something bad about to happen rose up inside me.
Knock, knock.
Before long, the group in raincoats had reached the inn and was pounding on the front door.
Honestly, I was scared.
They were armed with axes and crowbars and the like. The man who looked like their leader even had a large greatsword slung over his shoulder.
But standing there and staring back at them felt like a bad move.
"Who is it?"
I stepped up to the entrance and faced the man through the glass door.
"We’re looking for someone. A woman with black hair and red eyes. Is she here?"
"Sorry, but I can’t disclose information about guests."
"Hmph. So she is here."
His face was obscured by the hood, but he seemed to be wearing a predator’s expression, one that had finally found prey.
"Open the door. We’ll handle it quietly and be on our way."
"Are you here for lodging?"
"What?"
"If you’re not here for lodging, then you’re not allowed to enter."
"Ha, haha! That’s a funny one. Fine, then. We’ll lodge. How much for a room?"
The man laughed heartily and fumbled in his pockets.
"Unfortunately, we’re fully booked at the moment, so we can’t accept any more guests."
"..."
Angry at this ridiculous exchange, the man clenched his teeth.
"Well... this place doesn’t seem bad. Might be better than what we’re looking for. Smash it."
He gestured to the man behind him.
The man pulled out a massive sledgehammer and brought it down on the glass door.
Thud!
It was a blow so strong the floor itself seemed to tremble.
And yet the glass door didn’t budge.
"Huh...?"
The man with the sledgehammer looked flustered.
He tilted his head and struck the glass door again and again.
"Even if you keep at it, it won’t break. Please go back."
"Sorry, but it’s something we have to retrieve. I don’t think we can go back."
The man who looked like the leader crossed his arms and stood there, showing no intention of retreating.
"What is it that matters so much? It looks like it’s about to rain soon, so wouldn’t it be better to go back first?"
"I suppose some explanation is in order. We were a bit forceful, but we’re hardly violent men."
He cleared his throat and continued.
"We’re called Undertakers. We collect the belongings of those who die in dungeons. The item that woman took is one of ours, and her funeral procedures aren’t even complete yet."
So now he was trying to talk his way through it. He was a pretty sly bastard.
"That woman is a thief. That item was supposed to be one of our collected effects. It’s something we should be handling ourselves. Have you heard of cubes, boss?"
"Cubes?"
"Right. They’re things that come out of dungeons. The contents vary by grade, but there are valuable items inside. That woman stole our cube and ran. A silver-grade cube, too."
I didn’t know exactly how valuable a silver-grade cube was, but it seemed to be something with considerable worth.
"If you hand the woman over quietly, we could even split what comes out of the cube with you. Something like a 7-to-3 split."
Hand over Yu Ha-rin and get 30 percent of the proceeds. That was a tempting offer.
"I refuse. The safety of our guests is the most important value in this motel."
"I see. So that’s how you want to play it. I don’t know what skill of yours built such a solid wall, but there’s definitely a weakness somewhere."
The man smiled thinly.
"You did say she was a guest. Then what happens after her stay is over?"
"..."
That was a point I hadn’t considered.
"It sounds like you take some kind of payment in exchange for lodging people, but what if there’s no payment left to take? You said this motel only admits guests. Am I wrong?"
"You’re not wrong, but I could also hire someone as an employee."
Kindly, the System provided the information.
"That expression tells me you’re lying."
What an infuriating bastard. So this is what they meant by someone sharp-minded...
"In the end, all we have to do is wait outside until that woman comes out. Isn't that right, boss?"
"Fine. Wait all you want. See whether she comes out or not."
To be honest, I couldn’t be sure either.
I didn’t know how far the System’s definition of a "guest" extended.
It wasn’t certain whether it would even recognize someone who was completely penniless and had nothing to pay with as a guest.
Strictly speaking, I was just a service provider.
I had no obligation to take responsibility for what happened after a guest checked out.
Judging by their talk of theft, Yu Ha-rin didn’t seem entirely innocent either.
Still, I didn’t want to see my first guest die like that.
Watching her get checked out the moment the clock struck eleven and then get murdered en masse by those men... as someone who still carried the sensibilities of the world before the apocalypse, it was a deeply unpleasant image.
More than that, I didn’t want to lose someone who might even become a regular guest.
"There’s no need for that."
Just then, the elevator doors opened, and Yu Ha-rin stepped into the lobby.
She had a hand axe in one hand and a dagger in the other.
"Please open the door."
"I can’t do that. I have a duty to actively protect my guests."
"This is a mess because of me. I’ll handle it, so open the door."
Judging by her attitude, Yu Ha-rin seemed to be a pretty serious fighter.
There was something about her that gave off the air of a battle-hardened warrior.
"So you finally showed yourself, Yu Ha-rin. I never thought you’d break through a den of monsters and run away. Thanks to you, we lost a few expensive men. So a cube alone won’t be enough. I’ll take your bag, and your life, too."
"That isn’t something for you to seize as spoils. It’s a contract item I’m entitled to receive. It’s the payment I was promised for supplying the rescue party. I’m not handing over even a speck of dust to the likes of you."
"Fine, do as you please. Come out and put your neck on the line, then."
"Right. Try me if you can."
Just as Yu Ha-rin was about to open the front door and go out, I called out to stop her.
"Wait."
"What is it?"
"Are you planning to fight them?"
"Yes. That’s correct."
"Then fight them from inside the front entrance."
"...?"
"I’ve got a way. Trust me on this. Isn’t it more advantageous for a guest to fight while using the door as cover?"
"Well... I suppose that’s true. Very well."
I manipulated the System.
Lock range can be configured.
Unlocked area: Lobby
Click.
The front door opened.
At the same time, the men in black rushed toward Yu Ha-rin.
"Hup!"
Thwip!
Yu Ha-rin darted into the man’s chest in a flash and drove her dagger in.
"Ugh!"
It struck true, straight through the heart. It was so fast I could barely follow it with my eyes.
And then the head of the second man charging in was smashed by Yu Ha-rin’s axe and lost all recognizable shape.
Realizing they couldn’t handle her, the men forced their bodies into the narrow doorway and tried to surround her in numbers.
But Yu Ha-rin didn’t look troubled at all. On the contrary, she accepted the situation with even colder calm.
Smack!
Another man’s head split under the axe.
Yu Ha-rin, however, wasn’t unscathed either. Blood was streaming from her abdomen every time she moved. If this dragged on, it would be dangerous.
An attack came in from behind her. She probably wouldn’t be able to dodge that one.
[Eviction-eligible trespassers (lobby): 3]
"Evict."
I manipulated the System and evicted the man behind Yu Ha-rin from the motel.
His body vanished abruptly in midair. Then it reappeared outside the motel.
Whenever the tide of battle turned against us, I issued an immediate eviction order, and each time the men were launched out of the inn.
I adjusted the whole board so Yu Ha-rin could fight as close to one-on-one as possible.
Whenever a dangerous situation arose, I kicked them all outside, and Yu Ha-rin cleaned up seven men in no time at all.
And as for the leader who remained alone, after a few exchanges he had his knee shattered and was forced to retire.
"Yu Ha-rin.... What trick did you pull? Did you open the silver cube and gain a new ability?"
"Shut up."
Wham!
Her hand axe crushed the leader’s head.
"Haaah..."
Yu Ha-rin, covered in blood, wiped her face with one hand.
She was terrifying. Honestly, enough to make me tremble a little.
"Boss."
"Y-yes?"
"There’s still time left before checkout, right?"
"Yes..."
"I’m going to take a shower."
Leaving those words behind, Yu Ha-rin rode the elevator back upstairs.
Eight cooling corpses, and a floor slick with blood, came into view.
"...But who’s supposed to clean this up?"
Yu Ha-rin, you little bastard.
***
After gathering all the useful items from the bodies into one pile, hauling the corpses out of the motel with great effort, and mopping up the blood that refused to disappear no matter how hard I scrubbed, a freshly cleaned Yu Ha-rin came back down to the lobby.
"Ah."
She seemed to realize she’d made a mistake.
"I-I’m sorry. This was caused by me."
"No. Hygiene management at the motel is entirely my domain. You don’t need to worry about it."
"Boss, are you really... sane?"
"Excuse me? I’d appreciate it if you refrained from making personal attacks on staff."
"No. I mean this pricing is ridiculous. Hot water, a bed, a refrigerator, and a safe zone, all for one low-grade mana stone? You don’t know the market outside?"
"No. I don’t."
When I answered with complete confidence, Yu Ha-rin pressed a hand to her forehead as if the room were spinning.
"How do you even make a living running a business like this?"
"Well... usually ramen or instant meals."
"That’s not what I meant!"
Yu Ha-rin shot me a sharp glare.
"Anyway, there’s still time before checkout, so why not rest in your room or something?"
"...I’ll do that."
But instead of going up to her room, Yu Ha-rin sat down on the lobby sofa and made herself coffee.
"Sweet..."
She sank into the sofa and spoke in a dazed voice.
It was cheap instant coffee, but it seemed enough to move her heart.
She also seemed to have properly learned how to use the motel.
While she refilled her coffee several times, checkout time came around.
"It’s checkout time. Thank you for using our motel. We look forward to your next visit, Ms. Ha-rin."
"I made good use of it. But I have one request..."
"Yes, go ahead."
"Would you mind storing this for me? I’ll pay the fee."
Thud.
She took a silver cube about the size of a person’s head out of her bag and set it on the counter.
"That’s the cube from earlier?"
"Yes. At the very least, I think there’s nowhere safer than here for storage."
"Then why don’t you open it?"
"A cube can’t be opened just anywhere. People have died trying to force them open."
"Died...?"
"A cube isn’t just a treasure chest. It’s something like a condensed essence of the power and rewards of the dungeon it came from. You know that much, right?"
"No... I didn’t know that."
"The moment a cube is opened, the pressure packed inside is released all at once. That can trigger dimensional pressure, erosion, explosions, and similar phenomena. If the space isn’t stable, the reward can be ruined, or worse, the released erosion can leak out and harm the surrounding area."
Hmm. So there was a set place where you could crack it open.
"That’s pretty vicious..."
To think she’d wanted me to store a time bomb like this. I was a little stunned.
"So I’m going to find a place where it can be opened safely and come back."
"Understood. I’ll keep it safe. The storage fee... one low-grade mana stone should be enough."
At that, Yu Ha-rin emptied a handful of mana stones from her bag and placed them on the counter.
"...What is this?"
"I underpaid for the room. This is to cover the difference. Let’s call it a tip for good service."
"A tip. Very good. I look forward to your next visit."
"Yes. Thank you."
It was just as I finished seeing her off after the farewell exchange that it happened.
Lv. 2 basic permissions have been unlocked.
Shop function has been unlocked.
1 additional room has been unlocked.
"Oh. A shop."
I’d heard that before the internet went down, there were Awakened individuals who had shop functions.
Depending on the person, they dealt in all sorts of different things.
But the problem was the next message.
The guest’s satisfaction is at the highest level.
Special reward: Unlock one facility one tier above the current inn level.
Next unlockable facility: Restaurant, Infirmary, Armory, Dimensional Stabilization Room....
"...Huh?"
Everything else looked normal enough.
An apocalypse, so even an Armory made sense.
But what was this Dimensional Stabilization Room supposed to be?
Dimensional Stabilization Room: A special space that blocks dimensional pressure, contamination, erosion, and spatial distortion. It can be used as an erosion-response shelter, an erosion treatment room, and for opening cubes.
"What."
A space where cubes could be opened?
"Guest!"
I called Yu Ha-rin back before she could leave the entrance.
"Yes?"
"The cube... I think I can probably crack it open."