Chapter 72 — After the Fire

Chapter 72 — After the Fire

I opened the window to let the smoke clear out faster. Hopefully the hotel staff wouldn’t notice anything…

Knock-knock-knock-knock.

Damn. I walked toward the door. Please don’t let it be the hotel staff… Let it be someone who got the wrong room. Let it be Sherial or Rem. Anyone — just not the personnel.

With a heavy sigh, I opened the door.

"Sir, is everything alright?" asked a man around forty years old.

Damn… A hotel employee.

"Yes, I’m fine. Everything in the room is fine too," I replied quickly.

"I’m afraid that’s not the case, sir. May I inspect your room?" he asked calmly.

He noticed the smell… Damn it.

"I’m busy right now. Maybe you could come back later?" I tried to brush him off.

"No, sir. I insist."

I had to step aside and let him in.

He entered silently and began examining the room. His gaze lingered on the wall, blackened by fire and soot. Then he looked toward the window — where the curtains should have been hanging, but now weren’t. After that, he walked toward the bathroom. Half a minute later, the man returned.

I braced myself for the worst.

"Sir, you will need to pay compensation for the damage to hotel property," he said in an even, professional tone.

…That’s it?

Not the reaction I expected at all. No shouting, no threats — just the cold efficiency of a true professional.

"Sir, are you refusing to pay compensation for the damage caused?" the employee asked.

"No-no, of course I’ll pay for everything," I answered quickly.

"Very well. A specialist will arrive shortly to assess the damage, and the repair cost will be added to your bill. A new room will also be prepared for you soon. Someone will escort you in a few minutes," the employee said.

"Ah… no, I don’t need a new room, this one is fine…" I said uncertainly.

Honestly, I didn’t care. The damage happened because of me. I was already grateful that this man didn’t yell at me or throw me out of the hotel. Everything could be solved with money — and that was enough.

"No, sir, we cannot leave a guest in a room like this," the man replied calmly. "And one more thing. Please do not use combat magic or skills that could damage hotel property in the new room. If this happens again, you will be added to our blacklist and banned from staying here."

"Have a pleasant evening," he added, then left the room.

I was alone.

Maybe I should’ve explained that it was an accident?..

No… I think this is fine. I’ll just be more careful from now on.

--

Lying on the bed in the new room, I replayed everything that had just happened. And I realized I had acted incredibly stupidly. Not because I couldn’t stop the magical sword… not because I couldn’t extinguish the flames. But because — what the hell was I thinking trying to drag it into the bathtub?

I could’ve just teleported into the training room.

There’s plenty of space there. All the walls, ceiling, and floor are made of stone. Except for a small area, there’s nothing there that could burn at all. And I… like an idiot… stood there slowly backing away, aiming the stream of fire at the wall and trying to carry the sword to the bathroom.

I didn’t even remember the training room.

If I had simply teleported there the moment the sword started burning — none of this would’ve been a problem.

Well… nothing catastrophic happened anyway. I’ll just have to pay more money — that’s all. Though I still don’t even know how much this “fire” is going to cost me.

No… not my fire.

The fire of that damn magical sword.

I need to learn how to use it properly. I’ll do that… tomorrow.

Today I realized something important. Talking to people exhausts me a lot. Yeah, it was always like that, but after spending time alone in the forest, that part of me seems to have gotten worse. Right now I feel more tired than after training for fifteen hours straight without rest. Physical exhaustion I can fix by just drinking a health potion… but this — this is mental exhaustion from dealing with people. A health potion won’t fix that. And today I talked too much. Alright… I’ll just sleep.

--

When I woke up in the morning, I was surprised — my room was completely fine, without the slightest trace of fire. For a moment I even felt relieved, thinking everything with the magical sword had just been a dream. But then I remembered that I had simply been given a different room on the same floor, almost identical to the previous one.

"Apple pie isn’t that bad," Sherial said.

We were sitting in the hotel cafeteria on the first floor. Breakfast was already over, and they served us dessert — apple pie and a glass of fruit juice. It seemed to be peach juice, but much juicier and richer than the kind I drank back on Earth. And still, the taste felt strangely familiar, even though I hadn’t tried peach juice in this world before.

"What happened yesterday?" Rem suddenly asked.

Does she… know about the fire? I really hope not.

"What do you mean?" I asked carefully.

"There are rumors that on the fourth floor some idiot, drunk out of his mind, tried to set his room on fire. Your room is on the fourth floor too, right? Do you know who did it and why?" Sherial asked.

"I wasn’t drunk! And I didn’t try to burn my room, it was an accident," I blurted out quickly, trying to justify myself.

Who even started spreading this nonsense? How did yesterday’s accident turn into a drunken incident overnight?

Rem and Sherial stared at me silently.

"What?" I asked, feeling extremely uncomfortable under their gazes.

"So why did you start a fire?" Sherial asked calmly.

"I told you, it was an accident. Remember yesterday you gave me some magical items? That sword was among them. It suddenly ignited and started releasing a stream of fire. I didn’t know how to stop it. Because of that everything almost turned into a real fire. But I managed to put it out in time. There wasn’t any real fire," I said.

"What magical items?" Rem asked, turning her gaze toward Sherial.

"It’s related to my new skill," Sherial answered calmly. "Among a pile of old weapons, I managed to find several magical items. They were only Rank 1 and very old, so they looked like ordinary junk, and apparently no one paid attention to them. Even if someone noticed, old Rank 1 magical items are almost useless."

She shrugged.

"So I bought them for almost nothing, knowing that our friend here has a skill that can upgrade them. And as you can see, everything worked even better than I expected. The sword that was only supposed to slightly warm your hand in winter turned into a weapon capable of spewing flames."

"So you knew what this sword could do?" I asked, feeling slightly annoyed. Why didn’t she warn me?

"How could I know?" Sherial replied calmly. "I only understood that it was a magical sword. When I tried using it, it just became a little warm. Very convenient in winter, in the cold. I never imagined it could turn into something dangerous."

Yeah… maybe she was right. How could she have known?

"What about the other items?" Sherial continued. "Did you notice any special effects?" she asked, clearly curious.

Special effects… I thought about it. "No, nothing like that. Though… I accidentally tore one of them, but the tear healed on its own, even without my help."

"That’s a shame," Sherial said quietly. "I was hoping they’d have some other interesting effects."

"Can I ask something?" I said after a pause. It had been bothering me for a while.

"Of course. Go ahead."

"If these items can regenerate, why did they look so old and rusty before?" I asked.

"Before you upgraded them, they were only Rank 1 items," Sherial replied. "Even if they had magical properties, they were too weak."

"But even weak effects should’ve at least preserved their appearance…" I argued.

"Maybe they simply didn’t have regeneration at Rank 1," she said thoughtfully. "Maybe that effect only appeared after you raised them to Rank 3."

I nodded. Her words made sense.

It seemed that at Rank 1 these things were almost ordinary items, and true self-repair only unlocked after reaching Rank 3.

Sounds plausible.

"Hey, can I borrow your fire sword? I want to try using it," Sherial said.

"You can take it, but I don’t think it’s safe to use it inside the city… especially not in the hotel," I replied.

"What about your training room?" Sherial asked.

"Well… yeah, I guess it would be safe there," I nodded.

"Perfect then. Rem, are you coming with us too?" she asked.

"Why would I go?" Rem frowned.

"You need to train your new skill too and develop it. Since it’s not safe to use here, it’s better to do it somewhere spacious. I think Alisar’s training room is perfect," Sherial explained.

"Yeah, you’re right… Alisar, you don’t mind?" Rem asked, turning toward me.

"Of course not. You can train there as much as you want," I answered.

I really didn’t mind. In fact, I was curious about what kind of new skill she had obtained.