Spirit Hotel

Translated by satellite of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

"That"s right, so what?" Feisha was completely baffled by the rather complicated stare he was being given.

Beelzebub turned and looked at the elevator control panel.

Isefel helped answer. "Since Noah"s Ark was first established, you"re the first."

So he created a miracle? Feisha allowed himself to feel a little smug about it.

In the silence, the elevator doors opened.

"You don"t look particularly special." Beelzebub said.

……Jealousy, it must be jealousy. If he wasn"t special, how would he have been the only one in so many years?

Feisha"s good mood remained completely unaffected. Lalala……

"One can see how low Noah"s Ark"s standards for recruitment are." Beelzebub adjusted his sleeve cuffs and stepped slowly out of the elevator.

"……" Feisha looked over at Isefel woefully. "Do I really have to stand this in silence?"

Isefel stepped out of the elevator and spoke at Beelzebub"s back. "Changed those old habits yet?"

Beelzebub"s whole body suddenly shook, his hair stood up like a hedgehog"s, and his hands clenched tightly. A pair of pure black wings suddenly spread from his back, the root of each feather standing stiff in fury.

But during the entire time, his back remained turned to them.

Feisha shrunk back into Isefel arms, struck dumb by the sight. "What is he doing?"

"He"s throwing a tantrum." Isefel replied.

"……" Would this kind of tantrum be considered awkward or cultured?

After a while, the black wings slowly receded and his hair softened and fell back down. Beelzebub loosened his fists, readjusted his cuffs, then continued walking forward at a steady pace as if nothing had happened.

Feisha pulled at Isefel, waiting until he had walked quite a distance away before quietly asking. "What"s his old habit?"

"He"s got a nickname, the King of Flies."

King of Flies? So the habits would be referring to habits of flies? Which would be… "Blood sucking? Or the other kind?"

"The other kind."

So it was the stinky kind of thing then? Feisha automatically imagined what Beelzebub would look like perched like a fly on top of a ma.s.sive, reeking pile of garbage. "……No wonder he Fell." A place like Heaven probably wouldn"t be able to fulfill his desires. His mind formed the image of rather gloomy Beelzebub in a clean, white room.

Beelzebub stopped at the entrance and opened the door. A ma.s.sive wave of cheers sounded out from within. Feisha believed that it definitely wasn"t a tape recorder in there. That had to be a whole stereo sound setup.

Beelzebub stepped to the side. "Welcome."

Feisha whispered to Isefel. "Don"t you feel like his hairline receded a bit just now?"

Just as he said that, he felt Beelzebub"s gaze flash towards him. Isefel guided him inside. This time it wasn"t a tape recorder. It wasn"t a stereo system either, but instead, several thousand real spectators were sitting in the audience cheering on the people gorging themselves on stage.

"The Eating Champion of the cow-headed men is currently facing off against the third place food master." Beelzebub said.

This cow-headed man was five or six times larger than the ones Feisha saw just before. And he was about the same width all around, a truly spherical shape. In comparison, his opponent was basically a toothpick, liable to be blown away by a gust of wind, but the rate he was stuffing food into his mouth was definitely not slow.

"What race is he?" Where did all that meat he was stuffing down go?

Beelzebub replied. "Abyss demon."

The abyss demon seemed to overhear their conversation- his ears twitched and he glanced over in their direction between bites.

Feisha shivered. Were those supposed to be teeth? They were basically saw blades.

Isefel frowned and said. "Doesn"t the abyss demon live below the blood waterfall in the ninth circle?"

"Recently Lord Lucifer hasn"t been in a great mood, so they escaped up here."

Feisha scratched his head. When Abaddon appeared in Genesis, he also heard that Lord Lucifer wasn"t in a good mood. In fact, he hadn"t ever heard of Lucifer being in a good mood before.

"That"s right, how"s Houllier?" It seemed like Abaddon was only dragged back because Lord Lucifer was in a bad mood. If Lord Lucifer was in such a bad mood that even the abyss demon were forced to move, then…the image of the Ten Tortures suddenly filled his mind.

Beelzebub thought it over for a moment before replying. "He"s living in the ninth circle."

Regardless of how it went down, the two of them were acquainted after all. Feisha prayed sincerely for him.

Isefel asked. "Can we place bets?"

Beelzebub replied. "If you"re betting on the abyss demon, the payback isn"t very high."

"If I put in ten thousand, could I win one hundred and one gold pieces?" Isefel asked.

"One thousand will do, you can consider the last gold piece a gift from me."

Although Feisha hasn"t been to Macau or Las Vegas, but he was quite into soccer so he still understood this. He asked, "Won"t you guys end up losing a lot that way? Normal people wouldn"t bet against the abyss demon right?" The ox-headed man might have an enormous stomach, but that paled against the bottomless pit of an abyss demon.

Beelzebub replied. "Every casino has its own way to keep a steady profit."

If soccer had corrupt officiating and fake plays, then this must have… Feisha suddenly began to understand. Just then, the winner was already being decided on stage.

The ox-headed man finally couldn"t hold it back any longer, and the meat began spilling out from his oxen mouth. "Ugh…"

The sound of him vomiting was quickly drowned out by cheers. The abyss demon stood up slowly, and pa.s.sed his bright red tongue over his teeth. Bits of meat were stuck between his teeth in a sort of indescribable disgust, at least to Feisha. In the eyes of the audience, he was an endless money-making machine.

"You said he was in third place? Then who"s in first and second?" It was hard to imagine someone with an even more bottomless stomach than the abyss itself.

Isefel replied. "First place is standing right next to you."

Beelzebub"s lips finally moved, forming a smile.

Right. He was the founder, the boss, the originator of sin. Feisha nodded. "And second place?"

Beelzebub"s smile froze on his face. "Borja."

"……." Nepotism really was everywhere. He"d not believe within an inch of his life that Borja"s tiny stature could outeat the abyss demon.

Beelzebub continued. "Because nothing good can come of anyone that wins against him."

So Borja wasn"t just a rich, prodigal son, he was considered actual n.o.bility, His Highness, a prince. (1) Feisha finally understood how dangerous his previous behavior towards Borja was.

Beelzebub said. "Want to give it a try? If it"s you, Isefel, you can challenge him immediately."

Feisha couldn"t even begin to imagine the ever graceful Isefel going up there and gorging himself ravenously.

"Borja"s methods waste too much time." Isefel replied.

"……"  Some people would always hold tournament rules in contempt.

"Then come have a taste of all the delightful food of the third circle. We have delicacies from across the Nine Realms." Beelzebub said.

"Including rotten eggs?" Isefel asked.

Beelzebub suddenly rushed into the corridor, his wings spreading and his hair standing up like a hedgehog again. Blue veins popped visibly along his neck and arms.

Isefel pulled Feisha along, walking past him. "Let"s go have a look on the fourth circle."

If the second circle could be considered luxurious, the fourth circle in comparison was extravagant to the extreme. There were neon lights were made of crystals, and a colorful gleam shining from precious gemstones. Tall buildings were all gold and silver, and if there was anything black visible at all, it must have been black crystals.

Feisha looked upon the rows lined with glittering diamonds, his eyes glazing over at it all. "Are you sure what we got from Mammon was valuable?" Compared to the scene before him, why did it feel like it was just a tiny drop in a vast ocean?

Isefel replied. "All these are artificial. They look nice but don"t hold any energy and aren"t worth much."

That made sense. Otherwise there definitely would have been chunks missing left and right. Speaking of energy, Feisha couldn"t help but think back to the Black Star Stone. He sighed and said, "Mammon was too stingy, out of all those gifts, there wasn"t a single Black Star Stone."

Isefel"s hand suddenly tightened around his, and he stopped mid stride.

"What"s wrong?" Feisha turned and looked at him, surprised.

When he thought of how his chest had once been pierced straight through, he always felt a little out of breath. "There won"t be another Black Star Stone."

"Huh?" Could it be that the Black Star Stone was in such short supply that it"s already completely extinct? That really was a pity. It felt quite trendy to carry around the ability summon an angel to your side.

"No matter where you go, I"ll always be with you." Isefel gaze remained fixed on him, a promised made within that stoic expression.

"……" He never thought Isefel could say something like that. Feisha felt his heart melt at how sweet it was, and he couldn"t help but grin secretly to himself. "Ah, wait a sec, where are you going?" He could at least give him a moment to indulge in it instead of walking away so fast.

On both sides of the street were windows that stretched fix or six meters up from floor to ceiling. Inside were clothing, jewelry, carriages, trunks…all sorts of products, and the only thing they had in common were the gleaming gemstones embedded in them that made it impossible for anyone to tear their eyes away.

Feisha was complete dazzled by it all. "Goes without saying, most of these stores were definitely opened by Mammon." This was absolutely the touch by the richest man. Wine, s.e.x, avarice, and temper…even if you were to head east, Mammon"s sin would still be great. (2)

Isefel nodded. "Mhmm."

"That"s right, you said the bracelet was not the most valuable item there. So what exactly was the most valuable item?"

"The trunk of the tree of knowledge."

"What?"

"Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge and thus obtained knowledge of good and evil. Thus G.o.d burned the tree of knowledge down, leaving only a burnt piece of the tree trunk."

Feisha was a bit stunned. "So the trunk of an apple tree is worth more than all these gemstones?" The value of things here seemed a bit distorted. He decided he would go down to the human world and bring back a ma.s.sive truck full of apple trees.

Isefel asked. "Does eating apples make you smarter?"

"No." He paused. "But taking melatonin probably won"t either." (3)

"So although the fruit from the tree of knowledge may look similar to an apple, it"s not an apple." Isefel said. "Because it grants intelligence. When fallen angels first arrived in h.e.l.l, many of the races had IQs that weren"t nearly high enough, including the ox-headed men, the ram people…it was very difficult to order them about. Thus Mammon sc.r.a.ped off a bit of the charred wood from the tree of knowledge, dissolved it in water, and boiled it into a broth for them to drink."

Feisha asked in disbelief. "So they became smarter?"

"Like they are now."

Feisha was quite annoyed as he spoke. "Ah, if I"d known I would"ve asked for that." Hmph, he"d been just one step away from an Einstein Stone.

"It can only be used to grant intelligence to undeveloped species."

"……Then why is it worth so much?" Was there anyone who just happened to be rich and also had an underdeveloped brain? Wouldn"t you just be able to swindle them?

"There are people who would buy it."

Feisha didn"t understand. "Why?"

"It"s an antique."

"……That makes sense." It"s just like humans and dinosaur eggs.

—

Translator"s Notes

1. In Chinese, Feisha says Borja is not a "二世祖" but instead a "太子爷." The first is sort of a derogatory slang term that refers to a second generation (kids) that were born into money and just spend their time living off their inherited wealth, lounging about, etc. The second is a derogatory term referring to the son of n.o.bility- it literally translates to something like "His Highness" in reference to a prince, said sarcastically.

2. I believe this is a reference to Journey to the West, where the East is the land of sin, hence the Buddhist sutras must be brought back from the West.

3. Melatonin is called "脑白金" in Chinese, which literally translates to "brain platinum." With a name like that, there"s plenty of old wives" tales about taking melatonin to become smarter.