Princess:

I entered the inn. The first thing I saw was a woman standing tall behind a counter, her hands overlapped on the surface. She wore a white dress with short black hair. What was most unsettling was her smile; she smiled with her eyes closed, her grin so wide it showed all her teeth, as if she had been like this for hours. I approached her and spoke softly,

"I'd like to get a room here for two weeks, please."

She just stood there, presumably looking at me, though she hadn't opened her eyes. After a while, she began to speak without opening her eyes.

"Of course, that'll be 1 copper coin," she said in a melody that lulled the senses into a deceptive serenity. It flowed smoothly, like a gentle stream whispering over smooth pebbles, yet there was something unsettling lurking beneath its surface. Each word was carefully enunciated, dripping with an eerie sweetness that seemed to crawl under the skin, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

There was definitely something wrong with this inn. Not only was the innkeeper making all my senses scream to run, but the room for two weeks costing only one copper coin was absurd. I wanted to just get out, feeling as if I were being watched by hundreds of eyes, yet seeing only the innkeeper. I shook my head, took out one gold coin, and placed it in the innkeeper's outstretched palm.

"I only have gold coins, if that's alright?" I said.

Her smile instantly vanished and her eyes open into a predator state she looked at her hand with the gold coin, then said in a tone that I perceived as threatening and aggressive,

"Hmm, I do not have any change to give you," then looking up at me, still without a smile.

"Yes, that's alright. I just want a room, preferably one in the middle section," I said, pointing upwards.

Her smile returned as she placed the gold coin under the counter. Then pulled a key from under the counter and reverted to her creepy voice,

"Room 237, on the second level."

I took the key, nodded at her, and started to make my way up the stairs until she began speaking again. She did not look at me; she just kept staring straight ahead and said,

"I recommend staying in your room at night, as there have been sightings of creatures roaming. We are currently trying to figure out what they are but no guarantees that we will catch them. So, if you hear things at night, just know that it's those creatures. Safe staying," she said with her eerie voice.

Nothing made me want to leave more than my instincts, which were telling me to run as far away as possible. However, I had to complete the mission for William's sake; after all, I owed him a lot. So, I made my way up to the second level. The inn didn't look creepy; it actually looked very clean and expensive. The floors were made of some of the most beautiful and clean marble I had ever seen, and the walls were adorned with beautiful pieces of art everywhere. If it weren't for the creepy feeling of being watched and the eerie innkeeper, I would actually like this place.

Upon entering the second floor, the first thing I noticed was the length of the hallway. There were doors on both sides, and one piece of art repeating crossing all the way down both sides of the walls, reaching all the way down so you couldn't even see the end of the hallway. The art was of one giant eye looking straight ahead, with bodies beneath it against a background of fire, and a single hand reaching towards me from where I stood, indicating the exit. As I stepped inside, all the eyes in the painting instantly looked at me, and the feeling of being watched intensified tenfold. Now, the eyes felt as if they were right in front of me, examining my every move. I stood still for a moment, paralyzed by fear, but then managed to shake it off slightly, though the sensation of being watched lingered.

This had to involve some kind of magic; I just didn't know which kind. From the moment I stepped into this building, the sensation of being watched wouldn't dissipate, indicating someone within using magic to monitor everything. That person should be my first target; otherwise, I wouldn't be able to find the entrance underground. I began walking down the long, narrow hallway, feeling the eyes in the paintings tracking my every move. The doors all bore the same two numbers, 13 and 666, repeating one after the other. To hasten my pace, I activated my wind mana, propelling myself forward with wind under my feet. However, no matter how much I walked, it seemed I made no progress.

Looking behind, the exit appeared neither too close nor too far, despite my walking for at least ten minutes. What kind of magic was preventing my advancement or retreat? I activated my wind mana again and employed a technique my mother taught me as a child. Gathering a large amount of wind mana, I formed a circle around myself and then rapidly expanded it throughout the hallway. This technique allowed me to detect any magical presence, and indeed, magic permeated the hallway, especially within the paintings of eyes.

When I expanded the wind, the eyes closest to me closed. Approaching the nearest painting, I fired a condensed wind bullet, destroying it. With each painting I destroyed, I felt a slight loosening on my body, making progress down the hallway. After demolishing most paintings, the end of the hallway came into view. Reaching room 237, I used the key to enter.

The room was a small cube with a bed in the center and a painting of an eye above it, similar to those outside. Quickly, I destroyed the painting with a wind bullet and collapsed onto the bed, exhausted from the journey from the old drunk's bunker. As I drifted towards sleep, something felt amiss. It seemed as though an external force was inducing my sleep. Desperately trying to stay awake, my eyelids forced shut until I mustered the strength for one last action: creating a small wind bullet, which I released into my thigh. The pain jolted me awake, breaking the spell.

Realizing the source of the magic was the bed itself, I levitated off it onto the floor, staring at it in frustration and fatigue. This inn was endlessly aggravating; even a moment of peace was too much to ask for without the inn attempting to end me. If I had succumbed to sleep, I might never have awakened. Fueled by anger, which eradicated any remnants of tiredness, my only desire now was to uncover the perpetrator, locate the council member, and escape this place.