Nox really needed to rest now. His body ached, and that whole mana awakening thing had taken a lot out of him. Besides, he was pretty much broke. The money he'd saved up over the years was almost gone after paying for their food and the new clothes. He figured they needed a proper place to crash, at least for a few hours.

He led Serian through the streets of District 7. It was getting darker, and fewer people were out. He scanned the buildings, looking for a hotel that didn't look like it would cost a fortune. 'Can't be too picky, but man, I hope I have enough,' he thought.

He spotted a small place with a flickering 'Hotel' sign. It looked old, maybe a bit run down, but clean enough from the outside. "This might work," he said, more to himself than to Serian.

They went inside. The lobby was small, and an old guy sat behind the counter, looking bored.

"Need a room," Nox said.

The guy looked them up and down. "Just one night?"

"Yeah."

"That'll be fifty," the guy said, not even cracking a smile.

Nox blinked. 'Fifty? For this place? Damn.' He knew prices were probably nuts now with everything going on. He pulled out the last of his cash. It was just enough. He handed it over, his wallet now officially empty. 'Well, there goes everything. Hope this princess is worth it.'

The guy gave him a key. "Room 203, up the stairs."

They headed up. The hallway was dim, and the carpet looked like it had seen better decades. Serian was quiet, just following him, her eyes taking everything in. He unlocked the door to 203. It was a small room, just a bed, a small table, and a tiny bathroom. Nothing fancy.

He tossed the key on the table. "Alright, it's not much, but it's a bed." He looked at Serian. "You can take it. I'm good with the floor." He really was. After sleeping in a collapsed building, a floor was practically luxury.

Serian looked at the bed, then at him, then back at the bed. She didn't say anything for a moment. Then, before he could even start looking for a vaguely clean spot on the floor, she moved. She walked over to him, grabbed his arm, and just pulled him towards the bed.

'Uh, what's she doing?' he thought, surprised by her sudden action. Her grip was pretty strong for an elf princess who looked like she weighed next to nothing.

She didn't let go until they were both right next to the bed. Then she just sort of… guided him onto it. He was too surprised to really resist. One minute he was offering her the bed, the next he was sitting on the edge of it, and she was sitting right beside him.

'Okay, this is… new,' he thought. He wasn't used to this kind of close contact, especially not with someone he barely knew. Especially not with an elf princess who was apparently level seventy.

"What are you doing?" he finally asked, looking at her.

"The floor is not a suitable resting place for a warrior," she said, her voice still having that formal edge, but maybe a bit softer. "And you are injured. Rest is paramount for recovery."

He wanted to argue, to say he was fine, but honestly, he was exhausted. And the bed did look a lot more inviting than the dusty floor. "Uh, okay," he mumbled. He wasn't going to fight her on it.

They both just sat there for a second. The room was small, and the silence felt a bit awkward. He could hear the city sounds faintly from outside.

Then, Serian just lay back on the bed, pulling a thin blanket over herself. She didn't kick him off or tell him to move. She just… made space.

'Is she serious?' he thought. 'We're just gonna… share the bed? Like it's no big deal?' His experience with girls was, well, zero. His experience with people in general was mostly them trying to make his life hell. This was definitely not that.

He hesitated for a moment, then figured, what the hell. He was tired. The bed was there. He lay down too, on his side, facing away from her, trying to give her as much space as possible on the small mattress.

The bed wasn't super comfortable, kind of lumpy, but it was still a bed. He closed his eyes, trying to relax. But it was hard. His mind was still racing a bit from the day, and now there was an elf princess lying next to him.

He could feel the warmth from her, even though they weren't touching. He could smell something too, a faint, clean scent that wasn't the usual city grime or monster stink. It was… nice. Different.

His heart started to beat a little faster. 'What is this feeling?' he wondered. It wasn't fear, not exactly. It was… something else. A kind of nervous energy, but not in a bad way. Her body, even just the idea of it being close, felt soft. It was a strange and surprisingly comfortable sensation.

He tried to push the thoughts away. 'Just get some sleep, idiot. You've got a princess to deliver.'

But the feeling lingered. It was warm, and weirdly… safe. He hadn't felt safe in a long, long time. He hadn't expected to feel it lying next to a pointy-eared royal in a crappy hotel room.

He must have been more tired than he thought, because despite the strange situation and the lingering ache in his body, sleep started to creep up on him. The new, comfortable feeling, the quiet hum of the city outside, it all just lulled him. He let out a slow breath, his muscles finally starting to unwind.

Before he knew it, he was out, drifting into a sleep that, for once, wasn't filled with nightmares.

The princess however could not sleep, she was a lot more nervous than she led on.