Which Wizard's Hotel (2)

Rurin stormed out of the lobby with determined steps. The Count stared blankly at her retreating figure before turning his gaze back to Sereina.

Sereina resumed scolding the Count with a menacing expression, her face already showing signs of amusement.

“If you’re not going to hand it over…you can leave the hotel before I throw you out. Our esteemed Count?”

‘What kind of bandit den is this?

Endure, endure!’

Resolving to survive and later subjugate these people to turn them into slaves, the Count reluctantly removed his ring and handed it to Sereina.

It was a ring embedded with an expensive diamond, so he regretted it deeply.

“Wait a minute!”

“What now!”

The Count clicked his tongue and was startled.

“Take off that belt, too. There’s a jewel on it.”

“No, not this. My pants will drop!”

“So what? There’s a rope over there; tie it around your waist or get lost.”

“You…you insolent…”

“Find your insolence in the afterlife.”

Thud.

In the end, Sereina punched the Count in the face. Blood spilled from his nose as he rolled across the red carpet once again.

It was the third time already.

“I’ll keep hitting you until you hand it over.”

“N-no…I’ll give it to you! Here!”

Not wanting to be hit again, the Count quickly removed his belt and handed it to Sereina, then tied the rope she gave him around his waist.

“Alright, thank you. Now, I’ll give you your room key, sir.”

Only after taking all the jewels did Sereina flash a welcoming smile. She returned to the front desk and tossed the room key onto the Count’s body.

“It’s Room 205, so find it well. Be sure to find it well, okay? Hoho, have a pleasant stay.”

Leaving behind some ominous words, Sereina stretched lazily, seemingly satisfied with her loot, and disappeared somewhere.

‘Crazy people. Crazy people!’

The Count cursed Sereina’s retreating figure countless times in his mind before looking up at the second floor.

He decided to endure just for today and spotted the stairs. He stepped onto them, eager to get to bed quickly, and began to climb.

But soon, he realized something was wrong with the stairs.

‘What is up with these stairs!’

The stairs seemed endless. He should have already reached the second floor, but there was no end in sight.

‘Why do these stairs never end? They definitely said it was the second floor.’

The Count thought something was wrong and decided to turn back.

But the path down was just as endless, as if he was trapped in an infinite maze.

He was sure he had descended as much as he had climbed, so the lobby should have appeared.

But the stairs kept going down without end, so the Count finally gave up and sat down, cursing again.

‘Am I dreaming right now?’

He pinched his cheek several times, but the sensation was all too real.

Just then, he heard a voice from above the stairs. A growling voice.

It was that crazy woman from before.

‘Is she up there?’

As the voice reached him, the stairs suddenly began to collapse.

Below the stairs was nothing but darkness.

“What the hell is this!”

The Count frantically sprinted upward, every cell in his body screaming that falling into that darkness would be bad.

Sweat poured from the Count as he ran upward, higher and higher. But still, there was no end in sight. He was getting tired; his body felt heavy, and his pace slowed.

And because of that, the stairs beneath him vanished, and just as he thought he was falling into the darkness…

The world flipped, and the woman in the dragon costume appeared before him.

“What are you doing? Are you an idiot?”

“Huh?”

Snapping back to reality at her words, he looked around. Somehow, he was already on the second floor.

‘What’s this? A hallucination?’

The incomprehensible situation continued.

He looked down the stairs. Below was no longer darkness.

The lobby he had been in earlier was clearly visible, with traces of where he had rolled on the floor still there.

So had this crazy woman experienced the same thing he had? Curious, the Count asked Rurin.

“Did you…did you also come up by the stairs?”

“Don’t call me ‘you’!”

Thud!

Naturally, what resulted was a punishment. Rurin kicked the Count again.

“Aaah!”

With his exhausted body, the Count rolled across the second-floor hallway.

“Stop hitting me! You bastards! Stop hitting me!”

The Count shouted as he shielded himself with his arms. Usually, he was the one doing the hitting and killing, but now the tables had turned.

“That’s why you shouldn’t speak to me so carelessly.”

Rurin dragged the Count’s body along the floor.

“But I’m kind, so I’ll answer your question.”

“Huh?”

“Hehe, I came up by that thing!”

Rurin pointed to a door where she had dragged and tossed the Count.

At that moment, the door dinged open.

Two young boys appeared from behind the door.

“Mate, let’s go that way! Woof!”

“Brother, I think that’s a good idea. Woof!”

For some reason, the two brothers were also wearing costumes. The already cute brothers were dressed in dog costumes, waddling like ducks as they stepped onto the second floor, then hurriedly walked past Rurin when they spotted her.

“So there was something like this. Why didn’t they tell me!”

The Count angrily entered the door. It seemed like some kind of device that transported people from the first to the second floor. Perhaps slaves were using pulleys to pull it up from above?

Since the Count was used to making slaves do all sorts of work at his manor, he naturally assumed that as he stepped through the door.

But there was no floor where it should have been. Even though the two boys in dog costumes had just come out of it.

“Aaah!”

The Count desperately grabbed the edge of the second-floor hallway, narrowly avoiding falling down.

“Is that an Elita? Eliveta? Elevator? Whatever it’s called, I don’t really like it…”

“Hey! Rurin, come here. Were you the one who…”

As the Count hung on for dear life, a man’s voice came from inside.

“Huh? Did you call? I’m coming! Hehe.”

Then Rurin, with a face completely different from when the Count had called her, almost like a melting snowman, ran off in the opposite direction.

“What did you do with the snacks for Linte and Mate’s guests?”

“Hey! Don’t teleport out of the hotel to escape!”

“These bastards… There’s a person hanging here… Aaah! Someone save me!”

“I don’t know. I really don’t! The Red one said it. And I’m doing what you told me to! So I don’t know!”

Rurin, who had teleported ahead of the Count to escape, shouted her excuse loudly as she looked back at him. There was definitely a bit of cake cream on her lips, but the Count was in no state to notice such things.

“Is that fun? It doesn’t look like much fun.”

“It’s not fun! Save me now! Why are you just watching! I’m a guest!”

“You’re annoying, ordering me around. But I’ll let it slide.”

As Rurin blinked, the Count’s body was lifted into the air and thrown back onto the second-floor hallway.

“Hehe, since I saved you, go to your room quietly. I need to run away after eating the cake. I’m busy!”

With that, Rurin said her piece and bounced away towards the first floor, the costume flapping as she went.

The costume flapped as she waddled away. Despite how oddly cute the bouncing costume looked, it meant nothing to the now mentally and physically exhausted Count.

The Count crawled his way to Room 205. He finally managed to stand and open the door.

“Thankfully, it’s a proper room.”

The Count, looking as if he might finally survive, entered the room. A large king-sized bed. A luxurious carpet. It was a lavish room, and he was somewhat satisfied as he lay on the bed.

‘Yes. In this strange inn, everything will be fine once I sleep.’

Thinking this, he lay down on the bed. It was very soft. But someone interrupted his rest once again.

Knock knock.

Someone knocked on the door.

“Be quiet! The service here is a mess! A complete mess!”

Knock knock.

He shouted and tried to close his eyes, but then the knocking came again.

It wasn’t a loud banging, but a very cautious knock. Yet, it continued persistently.

It was so annoying that the Count couldn’t sleep, so he opened the door with a scowl.

“Didn’t I say the Count is resting now! Wha…?”

“I-I-I’m sorry! But…it’s time for dinner, Your Excellency.”

A blonde elf bowed her head.

The Count’s eyes started to gleam. The crazy woman in the dragon costume and the red-haired woman at the desk were clearly beautiful, but they didn’t elicit any reaction from him. However, this woman was different.

His heart began to beat normally, and his usual lust, a core element of his character, began to fill him.

The Count’s eyes widened as he scanned Elena, then he changed his tone.

“Is that so? Dinner, huh? Yes, I suppose I should eat.”

“I’ll guide you to the dining room.”

Moreover, she was polite. She was treating him with the proper respect due to a noble like himself.

Smitten by her beauty, and with his body already exhausted, the Count momentarily forgot how strange this inn was and obediently followed the blonde elf, Elena.

But why was she wearing a costume too? It was a strange animal costume. She waddled even more awkwardly than that crazy woman from earlier. Because of it, he couldn’t see her figure at all, which made the Count very displeased.

“Here we are. Please go inside.”

Penguin Elena pointed to the dining room. The Count cleared his throat as he entered, still exuding the arrogance he would have at his own manor.

“Did you bring him?”

“Yes, yes!”

Then, once again, Rurin appeared in front of the Count.

As Penguin Elena bowed, Rurin nodded the head of her dragon costume. That is, Rurin’s face emerged from the mouth of the dragon, with the rest of her face covered by the costume’s head.

Elena thought it looked cute, but of course, she didn’t dare say it out loud.

“Now, I am hungry. So, cook.”

“What? I was told there would be food, so why should I cook…?”

Thud!

Before he could even finish speaking, Rurin’s kick came flying in again. The Count, hit by the relentless Rurin, hurriedly shouted.

“Wait, wait!”

Only then did he realize that he had been mesmerized by the woman in the penguin costume and had done something crazy. He barely managed to get up and speak.

“I-I’ll go back. To my room…”

“You can’t go back. It’s locked. It’ll be unlocked after the cooking competition is over.”

“What cooking? I’ve never cooked before!”

“Don’t worry, neither I nor Penguin Elf over there has much cooking experience either, so it’s very fair! Hehehe.”

“What does that…”

“Or do you want to get hit again?”

“I’ll do it! I’ll do it!”

The Count had no choice but to nod furiously to avoid being hit again.

“Good. Then wait. For now, that dish is 10 points!”

Rurin suddenly held up a scorecard with 10 points written on it and shouted.

“How is that a dish? It’s just ingredients!”

The Count shouted desperately. No matter how you looked at it, what Rurin was pointing at were just ingredients.

“El said they’d make the dish later~ So those ingredients are already 10 points. Even if El’s cooking doesn’t taste good, it’s still delicious. So it’s 10 points! Isn’t that right, Elf?”

When Rurin sought Elena’s agreement, she nodded enthusiastically.

“That’s right. Just the fact that El decided to make it means it’s already 10 points!”

‘These lunatics? That woman is crazy too? They’re all crazy. All of them.’