Setting the Scene (3)

After taking off from the pawn shop, a bit more dirty than I would’ve liked, I made my way over to the hotel the man recommended. It wasn’t hard getting there, just a few blocks down the street, but the vibrant sky from the setting white sun captured my attention, causing me to slow my pace. As usual, the brown sun still hung in the sky, unmoving, blacking out the nearby stars like an ill omen. Still, since no one was reacting, I assumed it was an everyday occurrence.

Ding-a-ling.

The hotel itself was quite unexpected though. It felt less like a hotel and more like an inn at a campsite. Almost everything was made out of wood, save for a few key stone pillars holding up the above floors. It even had a few potted ferns placed around, giving the room a more natural feel. The front desk, meanwhile, had a more modern aesthetic with its granite countertop, which was immediately undercut by motel safes and keys lining the back wall.

And then there was a hostess.

“Welcome to the Atmeneti Hotel! Room for one, I presume?” I had no idea how to describe her. Objectively, she was a rather plain woman. She had no assets to speak of, nor did she really stand out in any way. Her casual clothes were a bit too large, obscuring any semblance of a figure. While she did seem to have a cheery personality, with that clean greeting and welcoming smile, her body language betrayed her true annoyance as if she was trying to shoo me away.

However, in spite of all that, she somehow had an alluring quality. Almost enchanting, mesmerizing, magnetic. You know, the kind all celebrities have, both trusting and indecent.

Basically, a bombshell. You had to see her for yourself to understand. Maybe it was from mana, or maybe it was something else – she quite literally didn’t make sense.

“Yes, if you have any open,” I responded, tearing my eyes away from her body.

“Oh? You’re actually a customer?” She seemed oddly surprised by that. Honestly though, I understood. With that juxtaposed nature, there were probably a few guys – and maybe gals – that stopped by only to ogle her.

“Yep, I’m looking to pay for about a month.”

“W-wait one moment!!!” The hostess scurried back behind her desk, pulling up a binder. As she speedily thumbed through, she made some conversation. “You’re staying until the queen’s birthday celebration, right? Hope she manages to make it. Ah! There we are. Are you okay with a mid-sized room? It’s a hundred reale per day with meals included.”

“What about the other sizes?” Mid-sized indicated there were smaller ones, so I was a bit surprised I wasn’t offered one of those, especially with my illusion still active.

“Well, there are small rooms for fifty reale and larger ones from five hundred reales, but the hundred reale is the best bang for your buck given your stature.”

“My stature?”

“Yeah. Given the quality of your clothes, you’re a rather wealthy individual. Then there’s the dirt on your arms, meaning you probably only gained your wealth recently–”

“Wait a moment… What did you say about my clothes?”

“That they’re of high quality? Though I can’t tell what they’re made of.”

Huh??? How the hell can she see through the illusion?!? She doesn’t even seem to be using her mana.

“...are you some sort of mage?”

“If I was a mage, I wouldn’t be working at a hotel,” the hostess snapped back.

“...I’ll just take the mid-sized room then,” I monotone, fed up with trying to make sense of things. I knew that how my and this world handled mana was different, but it seemed like a more fundamental divergence that I originally thought. It was like someone here saying 1 + 1 = 3 just because it is. I just don’t understand this world at all…

“That’ll be two thousand reales.”