Haunted Motel Mara

I wanted more improvements. Engineering a real light bulb takes special glass, tiny wires, and fancy machines. This would be way too complex of an investment. But with my new [Ability: Denki Bath]? Do-able.

The gyaru-oh Wizard with the earrings, white hair, and big Wizard hat, helped me figure out how to use this sparking power to light up our new resort hotel!

Well… ‘hotel’ might be pushing it. Right now, it was more like a fancy motel with two floors. The lobby looked great, and we had a few rooms for brave guests to try.

Word spread fast that we would welcome any species in our spa, even ones that buzzed with electricity!

Many didn’t believe it at first. Monsters, Demon-kin, and Humans relaxing together? Unthinkable. They were supposed to be fighting, not soaking side by side!

History has proven this time and time again!

This attracted the human capital of Gremy. A Human was soon to be dispatched by order of the King to claim me, the Dungeon Core, for humankind, once and for all, before public opinion overtook this place and made it into a permanent spa!

If the public loved this place as a publicly accessible resort open to everyone, there was no method for the Human kingdom to monopolize this natural wonder. King Gremy would not have independent mini-countries being formed, especially when they were associated with those damn Demon-kin attacking the Port City!

The Demon Lord was on the same train of thought. He found it insulting that Demon-kin were relaxing and soaking up flower-scented baths. However, he was much more curious about the Spa due to his lack of intel compared to King Gremy. The Demon Lord was also considering dispatching trouble.

Not that we knew. I was too busy counting Gold towers and thinking about how to get my human body back.

Meanwhile, our spa was thriving, but there were still some locals we hadn’t reeled in yet.

So: improvement dive! A survey with a prize. All great gacha games have them, and the best actually listen!

The question was simple: ‘What does the Adventurer’s Guild or Tavern have that we don’t?’

The answers were mixed. A restaurant? On the bucket list. Classy hotel suites? That’d take longer. “OH!”

MUSIC!!

That’s right! Of course! Nothing says ‘vacation’ like a great tune. Jingles stick to your brain and turn memories golden!

Even animals love a good song! I remembered a viral video of a farmer with an accordion who attracted more cows than fresh hay!

And what did we have tonight, as our music?

“WAAAAAHHH!!”

Yes, like that! A hotel guest screaming in fear.

What?! Guests screaming in fear?!

“Rin! Add music to the priority list! There’s urgent trouble!!”

“It was terrible!!” Cried the hotel guest. “I never wanna see that again!”

“Oh no! We can’t have our first-ever large investment facility plummet in reviews!! People avoid 1-star locations like the plague! It’s these very first clients who are the most important!”

Sharlotte slithered away like this didn’t concern her.

“Since when were you into hoarding Gold? That’s my thing, you useless Angel!”

“They’re shiny!! I love to sleep on them too! You should be thanking me for the cost savings!”

“Where’s the cost savings in haunted furniture?!”

It turned out that a Capital oligarch had moved into the village to be closer to our Spa. In the process, he had an unused vacation mansion renovated. The furniture was going to be thrown out, but it was in incredible condition and of significant quality, so Sharlotte had flown in to snag it for cheap Gold.

“Sharlotte, we’re spending the night at the haunted hotel.”

“Please, no! Take Rin instead!”

“I’ll ask Rin when Rin is wrong, but now it’s your turn to take responsibility for your own failure! Show me the Sharlotte who flew proudly to the human village!”

Dead of night.

My Core bounced off the polished haunted halls decorated with furniture Sharlotte had thrifted, enchanted with terror. I peered at portraits that definitely followed me with cold, painted eyes.

“They were practically free!” she had bragged. Of course, they were free; the Ghosts possessing them were living rent-free.

Behind me, Sharlotte tiptoed along. Her halo kept tapping the walls every time she flinched.

“Cozy!!” I suddenly blurted cheerfully.

“Cozy?! Scare me one more time, I’m sealing you in this hotel solo for the night!”

Somewhere down the hall. “WAAAAAAHHHH!!”

A wail that was definitely not Human. Or definitely too Human to be comfortable.

Sharlotte squeaked. “That wasn’t the wind, was it?”

“Could be. Or it’s your new furniture earning its keep. Gahaha! Think of it, free atmospheric sound design. We’ll charge extra for the authentic haunted experience!”

Sharlotte swatted at my Core with her wings, the blows so pitiful they barely made me wobble an inch. “I’m not sleeping here alone! I hate horror! I hate moving furniture and sudden drafts!”

We reached the grand double doors at the end of the hallway, polished mahogany gleaming under chandeliers that flickered as if on cue. The handle twitched. Once. Twice. All by itself. We froze.

Click. Nothing. CREEEAK–

The door shifted open an inch with theatrical menace, velvet curtains billowing from within, though no wind stirred.

“Well,” I said cheerfully, trying not to sound like my gem casing was rattling. “This is where we split up. You take this wing. I’ll handle the right–”

Sharlotte latched onto me so tightly my crystal rim dented. Her feathers puffed into a pathetic ball of panic fluff. “Don’t abandon me! Let’s come back in the morning! Take Rin! Take Borkas! Take literally anyone else!”

“Where’s that proud Sharlotte who boasted about stealing treasures from the bureaucrat? Where’s the fearless Angel who stormed the noble’s dusty mansion like she was storming Heaven itself? And now you’re cowering from–”

“I’m an Angel of Light, not an Angel of Horror Real Estate!!” Her squeak shot down the pristine hallway like a tea kettle shrieking on the edge of boiling.

“Fine, fine,” I relented, easing her pried fingers off my gem one by one. “Two rooms. Separate beds. You sleep here. I’ll take the suite where the terrified guest ran screaming from. It’s only a few doors down.”

She whimpered, but burrowed into the room anyway, halo wobbling like a scared lantern.

My suite was exactly as Sharlotte had designed it: cavernous, elegant, and with every piece of furniture just a bit too ornate. Velvet curtains stirred in this windless room. A grandfather clock crouched in the corner, its ticking grotesquely loud, like a heartbeat counting down the last moments before doom.

I hovered onto the bed, trying to look dignified as the mattress groaned.

A few rooms over, Sharlotte buried herself beneath three mountainous blankets, only her trembling halo poking out like the world’s most pitiful nightlight. “I can’t believe I’m stuck here,” she sniffled. “I should be polishing my wings, not fighting poltergeists! Everyone knows the Bed Sheet Barrier is absolute! Humans, Monsters, Demon-kin, no species can penetrate it! You hear me?!”

Somewhere down the corridor, the walls vibrated with a sudden, “WAAAAAAHHHH!!”

Sharlotte squeaked again, shoving her halo so deep under the covers that the canopy tent glowed faintly like a burial shroud.

The grandfather clock in my room chimed twelve, each clang dragging out like a hammer against my nerves. I heard the same spooky scream and flinched, slowly regretting not having a sleepover with Sharlotte. “Yeah, well. Nothing a little shut-eye won’t fix,” I muttered, trying to convince myself. I dimmed my glow, letting the curtains swallow the room, and drifted off…

Cold.

I jolted awake as an icy shiver crawled across my core. Hovering above me, where the ceiling should have been, gaped a pitch-black door, a jagged slash in space itself, seeping void like ink bleeding from a hemorrhaging wound. It had no hinges or frame. Just a trembling, crying rift opening right above my bed.

An enemy?!

My gem flared hot with panic. “[Ability: Holy Geyser—Level 20]!!” I barked, trying to launch a torrent of divine water through the window straight at the darkness!

Nothing. What!?

Not a single droplet escaped.

I couldn’t move.

My whole body froze in place, locked in petrification.

Sleep paralysis?! Nooo!

“Sh-Sharlotte!!” I squeaked. My mind screamed.

I forced every drop of mana left in me. [Float]! [Float] awaaaay!!

My Core popped free, and I rolled, half-dreaming, half-fleeing down the hallway.

I burst through Sharlotte’s door just as she popped her halo above the covers.

“Nooo!” She saw me. She saw the black line that slithered in behind me and squealed. “[DIVINE LIGHT LEVEL ONE MILLIO–] Gaah!” She winced as her spell broke due to today’s earlier events! “Kazuki!! [DIVINE LIGHT LEVEL 1]!”

She rushed out of bed and blasted it with a bright flash that bleached the ugly wallpaper. The darkness exploded, revealing a bandaged lady, half-Shadow, half-Human, and a gentle beauty, floating like a ghost about to kill us.

The black floating mummy flicked a hand, and ribbons coiled tightly around Sharlotte, closing in on her like a burrito.

“Sharlotte!!”

Bound and meeting her eyes, “Just have sweet dreams!!” She shrieked.

Sharlotte’s eyes closed, and she collapsed on the spot.

Oh no. This was a mistake! One that I didn’t know if I could ever take back!

“[Ability: Healing Flo–! Ghh!”

Too late. The lady drifted close. She booped my Core with a wrapped finger. My glow fizzled, and I slid under sleep like a plug pulled from a denki bath.

Dream.

Her magic garbs set me in bed beside the snoozing Sharlotte.

As she approached the bedside, I was defenseless, free to be claimed.

And I fell asleep to see…

I cracked open my vision inside the same fancy bedroom, cozy, warm, and bright. Sharlotte sat next to me on the guest bed, halo sideways, tears streaming like waterfalls.

“Waaaah!!”

I bonked her. “What did you see?”

She wept. “I saw–, I saw–, that my blessings all worked! Everything I ever worried about just worked! The perfect Angel! The perfect– Spa worker–!”

“I saw myself in Japan, living a full life.” I muttered. “Then it turned into me being here, everyone cheering on our Sacred Spring like we were celebrities, except I was in my human body.”

I turned to the floating lady, clear as day now. She was a mild, spooky woman in drifting black wraps, appearing as if she had finished a meal.

“You don’t show people bad dreams, you show them impossibly good ones! How cruel!”

Mara smiled faintly. “I feed on the sweet taste of regret and embarrassment. Good dreams that never were. Very soft. Very warm.”

“Hmph. Regret isn’t always bad. And embarrassment can lead to improvement. But next time, dial that sweetness down! Show them reachable dreams! Make our guests shoot the stars, not fifty black holes! And no more sleep paralysis! They say, ‘No thanks,’ it’s a no. Got it!”

Mara floated an inch closer and bowed politely. “A fair trade.”

I poked Sharlotte. “You alive, feather ball?”

She sniffed. “You said something very boss-like for once.”

I puffed my Core, smug again. “You did too, Sharlotte. Thanks for trying to protect me.”

“Eh? Hm?” She blinked, confused. “What did you say–”

“Shut up. Also… your entrance was terrifying.”

“We’re fixing that too.”

Sharlotte flicked a wing at Mara. “Way too terrifying. I’ll ask Rin this time, but I’m thinking triple curtains. A doorbell. Better rift geometry–”

Mara nodded once, calm as ever. “Understood.”

“Not just the door! The whole vibe! Haven’t you seen idol concerts? Mara! Redo that entrance until I say it’s worth money!”

Mara blinked. “…How?”

I jabbed my Core like a megaphone. “Walk out! Catwalk! Vogue! Give me drama!”

She stepped through her pitch-black rift like a final runway queen, long bandages swirling, one pale thigh peeking, sleepy eyes like a ghost’s cold kiss.

“Strike the pose!! Marvelous! Mess it up again and I’ll lock Sharlotte in a room with you until she flashes this hotel with Holy Light!”

Sharlotte squeaked from her comfy blanket burrito. “No way! That was the scariest customer we’ve ever hired–”

“Gahaha! Back to the spa! We’ll charge double booking for the haunted wing starting next week! Mara, Chika’s going to slap a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on your dream gate and teach you how to make a nicer dream world. And you.” I poked Sharlotte’s tangled feathers. “Go take three showers. You can take yesterday off.”

“What does that even mean?!”

“You can take today off. But tomorrow we need more furniture.”

New [Ability: Bind]!

New Sign: The Haunted and Counseling Wing!