The Noblesse Room and a Night of Illumination
The private elevator operated solely by keycard and connected exclusively to the top-floor Noblesse Room. The interior featured a duplex layout spanning two full floors. Excluding the living room, bathroom, and toilet, there were five separate rooms in total. The second floor housed a private sauna along with various other amenities, while the spacious terrace included a personal pool where guests could enjoy the view through floor-to-ceiling glass windows.
True to the City of Art, the interior had been designed by renowned designers. Focused on comfort and coziness befitting a luxury hotel, each room was filled with exorbitantly expensive furniture—from the beds to the massive wall-mounted TVs. This was, without question, the pinnacle of high-end accommodations: the Noblesse Room of Vivaldi.
Even the bathroom was extravagantly luxurious. Arina’s keycard granted access to a bathtub so enormous it could easily accommodate swimming, stocked with every variety of bath salts imaginable. The ceiling, pierced high with glass like the terrace pool, made it feel like an open-air hot spring where one could stargaze at night. Beyond the glass lay a panoramic view of Vivaldi itself—the highest building in the area offering a sweeping vista of the entire city. The colorful, vividly dyed landscape looked like a painting come to life.
It was the ultimate bourgeois fantasy.
“Uwaah?”
The sheer excess of luxury short-circuited Arina’s brain. Beyond simple admiration, she let out strange, indescribable noises while frantically turning her head this way and that, completely absorbed. Objectively, the Elemental Royal Palace where she had stayed not long ago was far more impressive by rank alone. But back then she had rarely left Marily’s room, so subjectively, this felt far more overwhelming.
If her racing heartbeat could be scored, it would rival the moment she stood before the King of Raymond or the Majoan himself. Though she came from the moderately wealthy Grant Trading Company in the provinces, her heart remained that of an ordinary commoner. The flood of opulence left her utterly unable to regain her composure.
“If you require anything at all, please contact us using the room phones provided in each suite.”
While Arina remained in her broken state, Kain sent off the general manager with an indifferent nod after a single glance around the room’s interior.
“Well, not bad.”
For the price, the inside was decent enough. He had worried it might be gaudy and flashy like the city outside, but fortunately the hotel hadn’t forgotten its fundamental purpose as a place to stay.
She’ll need some time to pull herself together.
Arina wandered through the Noblesse Room, inspecting everything with wide-eyed curiosity. Occasional distant clicks suggested her excitement wouldn’t die down for at least another hour or two. Kain let out a yawn and, as if drawn by some invisible force, naturally drifted toward the sofa in the center of the living room. As always, he flopped down onto it and quietly closed his eyes.
This is definitely nice.
The sofa back home had been chosen with some care on his part, but it couldn’t compare to a high-end hotel piece. The enveloping plushness and the way it tickled the skin were on another level. It was so cozy he briefly considered replacing the one at home with something better the moment they returned.
“……”
His breathing gradually settled into a steady rhythm. Perhaps it was because waking up at lunchtime every day had become a habit. His body was that of an absolute being for whom sleep was technically unnecessary if he willed it, yet drowsiness kept washing over him. Most importantly, Kain had zero intention of fighting it off.
And so he slowly sank into the swamp of slumber without even realizing it.
“Uncle!”
Arina noticed his condition fifteen minutes later. She had gone up to the second floor, come back down unable to contain her excitement, and only then realized he wasn’t answering her calls.
“……”
Was he sleeping again? He had slept the entire train ride here. Seeing him act exactly like he did at home even after arriving at their travel destination brought a faint wave of disappointment. Still, she quickly shook it off and approached to wake him.
Then, as if a thought had suddenly occurred to her, she stopped, raised her smartphone toward him, and smiled.
“Travel memories are made of photographs.”
She recalled what Marily had said at the tteokbokki restaurant before the trip. Unlike Marily, Arina would never forget these memories, but ordinary human recollection had its limits. No matter how wonderful an experience, one couldn’t remember every detail. That was why triggers were needed—something like photos or videos to bring those memories back to life.
That was exactly why Arina had been taking what seemed like an excessive number of pictures ever since the train.
Click.
She captured Kain lying on the hotel sofa, storing yet another memory. Then she sat beside his sleeping form and checked the restaurant list on the table.
What should we eat for dinner tonight?
There was no need to rush. The time her uncle had prepared for her was more than generous.
One of the universal truths that pierced through the world: in this damned world, bad premonitions came true far more often than good ones. A certain mage with far too much free time had even proven it statistically. The leading hypothesis linked it to human survival instincts—people reacted more sharply to crises, producing such results. But right now, the only thought filling Kain’s head was that this world had been very poorly designed.
Whether that was because there were no gods or because the operation of the world had been left to some ego-less system, he didn’t know.
“……”
It was far too accurate. He had told himself not to go out at night if possible, yet here he was, dragged outside the very same evening. Or more precisely, he had been caught by Arina before they could even return to the hotel after dinner. She had insisted they watch the Illumination show first.
“Whoa!”
A colossal dragon made of light climbed the outer wall of their reserved hotel. On the opposite building, a pure-white tiger of comparable size roared fiercely at the ascending dragon. The desperate battle between two legendary monsters once said to have inhabited the Fan Empire, separated only by a single passageway between two towering buildings, perfectly illustrated why the phrase “dragon-tiger clash” had ever been coined.
Needlessly high-quality magical effects turned the brilliant lights into a full sensory assault. Though there was no actual sound, every collision between the two beings was replaced by the crowd’s cheers. Watching Arina grow just as excited as everyone else—filming the scene furiously with her phone—Kain opened his mouth wide and yawned.
It does have a certain intensity, I suppose.
Just how much money had they poured into a mere hotel marketing campaign? What stretched across the building’s exterior wasn’t some simple illumination. It was 3D holographic modeling using light refraction. The technique went beyond flat art, creating the thrilling illusion that objects were leaping right in front of your eyes.
As expected of a hotel built directly by the Vivaldi Group, the so-called godfathers of the art world. But once you understood the trick behind the magic, the wonder faded. Kain saw through every technique at a glance and refused to be fooled by such parlor tricks. Instead of the dazzling, majestic visuals, what caught his eye first was the crudeness hidden within the magic formulas.
It’s so pathetic I can barely stand to watch.
The black mage’s technique that had turned the computational domain into an inner world a few months ago had been far more novel and convincing. Of course, the person who created this show had probably designed it this way because it was aimed at ordinary people. To truly impress Kain with mere illumination, the Majoan himself would have to come and make it.
“……”
The dragon soaring into the sky, the white tiger chasing after it by stepping on clouds in hot pursuit. Kain glanced at Arina as she happily watched their majestic battle, then quietly stepped back. He walked over to a strangely shaped bench behind him, sat down, and settled in.
There were so many people that simply moving back a little caused the crowd’s heads to completely block the view of the hotel below. It was a sight that clearly explained why everyone chose to stand with aching legs rather than sit on the benches. Since he had no intention of watching any longer anyway, Kain pulled out his smartphone with an indifferent expression.
“Tsk.”
He frowned. Maybe because he had used it all night long yesterday—the phone had died again.
I should have charged it right after we arrived at the hotel and slept.
But there was no problem. This time he had definitely packed a spare battery in his subspace. The moment he took it out with that thought, however, Kain’s face crumpled once more. The rarely used spare battery was completely drained, as if it had gone days without food, informing him it had zero remaining charge.
Nothing ever goes right.
At times like this, he resented his own sloppy personality that lacked even the slightest bit of preparedness. He should have checked the charge before leaving home and stuffed it into subspace.
When is this thing going to end?
All he could do now was wait for the performance to finish quickly. He draped one arm over the back of the bench, crossed his legs, and sat in a slovenly manner, staring straight ahead with clear displeasure. He had gone through the trouble of making a reservation, yet he couldn’t even go inside. Gazing at the still excessively brilliant lights of the “Illumination de Vivaldi” that continued to blaze after so much time, Kain let out a deep, heartfelt sigh.
“……”
Then something caught the eye of the usually indifferent Kain behind his thick glasses. It was a man. The kind you could find anywhere on the street—someone he normally wouldn’t have spared a glance. But what made Kain notice him was the deep sorrow on his face as he watched the illumination, completely unlike the awestruck expressions of those around him.
In his arms, the man held a photograph. It showed a small girl smiling brightly. The sight of him gazing at the illumination while clutching that photo made it immediately obvious that the man carried some heavy story.
And for some reason, Kain felt like he already knew what that story was.
“Tsk.”
The reason Arina had wanted to come here was because her sister had said it was a place she absolutely wanted to visit before she died. And the sister who had passed away before ever setting foot in this city. Perhaps he felt a sense of kinship with the man. Kain frowned and stood up from the bench.
This is such a pain in the ass.
He slowly walked back toward where Arina stood.
“Uncle?”
Had she already guessed why he had slipped behind her? Arina looked puzzled that he had returned to her side instead. Kain lightly stroked her head and gave a small chuckle.
“Keep watching. I won’t leave your side anymore.”
Regret always comes too late. Just like the man with the photograph earlier. Just like Kain himself after sending his sister away. This trip was entirely for Arina. So he wouldn’t have to regret not doing more for her later. Otherwise his sister would nag him endlessly from beyond.
“……”
He had suddenly disappeared somewhere, then come back saying he wouldn’t leave again. Honestly, Arina didn’t fully understand the meaning behind his words. But somehow she could feel the heart behind them. At that realization, she smiled brightly without thinking and took a step closer, pressing herself against his side.
The same grand and brilliant illumination as before. But unlike before, Arina now felt warmth in that light. And so, signaling the pleasant start of their first day of travel, the night in Vivaldi Territory slowly grew deeper.