This Hero is Sleeping!



On the ground lay a long eared being. Covered in what seemed to have been a long cloak, the girl with platinum blonde hair lay still, her sleep tranquil as a flower.

"Ghost!" Elric said again.

Footsteps rang behind as Erika and Gustavo climbed up too.

Claude stepped ahead and kicked the head of the girl.

"HEY!"

"EH!?"

"STOP YOU!"

Three voices screamed in his ears as the ghost rolled away.

"What?" Claude snapped and asked, his voice threatening all the ones that spoke to him. "I was just checking if it was a ghost."

"I am scared of ghosts," muttered the Lord of Shadows. "And even I could obviously tell that she isn't. We should go and tell the mayor"

"Ah, um… that person doesn't seem like a ghost." Gustavo said too, slightly spooked by Claude's nonchalance in kicking away a downed person.

"Oh, do you sell people with your houses now?" Elric asked. "We definitely should go to the mayor. To get you cuffed that is."

"No no no! That's a misunderstanding! I don't sell anyone with the houses."

"Tell that to me when we take both this ghost and this house for free."

Elric's vile intentions leaked right out. The boy was pulled away by his friend as Erika now went over to the girl and slowly lifted her up.

Claude, had a bad feeling about all of this.

Someone looking for someone. And then them finding someone. There weren't many ways this could go in now, could it?

He was almost certain in his heart that this being was likely the person that Hidden guy was looking for. But now, a bigger issue had presented itself to him.

"This girl… She's an elf!"

This.

"E-elf!? That's an elf!?" Gustavo fell on his back, and the floorboards below creaked out loud forcing him to stand back up in fear of them breaking down.

Gustavo tried to peek over at the elf that was still asleep on Erika's laps. The girl looked over the elf for any injuries and took her pulse. She seemed as normal as a person could be, except for a slight swelling on her back, courtesy of foolhardy Claude and his kick.

"Um, excuse me," Gustavo spoke up, gritting his teeth. "It would be best to bring that elf to a safe place. If she's really an elf from the deepest parts of the country then there could be a lot of circumstances in play. Going to anyone like this would be problematic."

Gustavo's logic burnt just as bright as his annoyance and merchant spirit, but even brighter was were the raging flames of his kindness.

"A safe place, huh?"

"I'll… let her stay in one of the places you saw."

"Sounds good," said Claude as he pulled the elf and carried her over his shoulder as if she was just baggage.

"Um, moving outside like this will bring a lot of suspicion."

"Fine, fine, let's keep her here then."

Gustavo nodded in relief. Thankfully for him, Claude was in a similar mindset right now. He knew that things were complicated, and he had already faced a person looking for someone in robes just like the elf's.

There was a danger, and it was more than possible that Hidden might have been a decent human being in a gang of scumbags. He didn't to risk it.

"For now, we'll rent this place then."

"Oh, it's not like that. You can always pick a different one whenever you want."

Gustavo truly was kind.

"We'll consider it. For now, I like this one. It's thrilling to think if it will fall down the cliff overnight."

Gustavo didn't even want to argue with this crazy.

"Then, let's do that… You should probably the elf on this bed right here—"

"Bed!"

Elf had to take the floor.

***

Gustavo stepped out for the day after telling them he will handle the paperwork required for them to move in so that no one would suspect things. And then promised to return with some dinner or to even invite them over if he would be able to.

"What a kind man…" Erika muttered as he left.

"I feel kinda bad for letting Elric, Elric him."

"Me too, me too."

Claude placed a hand on his waist and turned back to the room. Corvids still pecked the windows and spiders still scuttled on the walls.

"Let's clean this place."

And off they set.

The pushed the windows open after checking the outsides for nests of the birds. Then, with fresh air finally coming in, they picked up their brooms and dusted the place down.

Starting from the ceilings was always the best.

"Hm, it would have been nice to have enough space for the horses too, right?" Erika said.

"Maintenance would have been a hassle. It's great that the adventurer guild is looking after them," Claude answered.

She moved over to where Claude was and the boy turned away in perfect sync as the tackled the walls and the ceilings in unison.

Dry cleaning was all they needed to do.

"There don't seem that many adventurers here…" Erika said.

"There aren't. We'll likely be asked to help if something happens."

"The pay…"

That part was annoying to think about. They just needed to hold out anyway, they could always travel some more and explore more quests and come back to a home. It would bring about normalcy that he quite liked, in fact.

"Ah!"

Claude stepped back as one of the crows in a bedroom fluttered inside.

"Catch it!"

"Hap!"

A crow chase broke out. Erika would shrink away every time the crow came close while Claude would jump around to get his mitts on it. In the end, the crow shat on the floor and left by itself.

"…"

"…"

"Whatever, all of that will be gone."

The two of them ignored that bit and continued sweeping up the house. Claude went a step further and also cleaned up the outside.

Once the long, hassle some work was done, it came time to wash the place down and bring it back to new.

For that, they pulled out their pressure washer.

"Let me sleep you cunts! I will end you! I will end you!!"

"Clean things up and then go sleep."

"You should just do it, Elric."

"Damn you! Damn you to hell straight! How can you do this to a poor man?"

Erika then created a small blob of water, and Elric had no choice left but to clean the place up. In his rage, he made sure to exterminate the dust from every single nook and cranny of the building.

The many hours long work was completed in the blink of an eye thanks to Elric's cleaning and drying work.

"We might not need jobs. Let's have Elric run a clean up business," said Erika, wiping her fingers over the now clean walls. Not a speck of dust remained.

"Grrr!"

Elric growled at her words.

Finishing it all, he slumped down on the couch and yawned.

"I wanted to sleep more…"

"Sorry about that," said Claude. "Also, I think that the Hidden guy was looking for this elf."

"Hidden was? How do you know?"

"I overheard him, it was suspicious too."

"Um. We'll have to wait for this girl to wake up then, huh?" Erika muttered, her vigilance going a notch up.

Letting the elf be like this could be dangerous.

Whether they should be helping her meet someone or helping her escape or even helping her get captured, that would only be revealed when she wakes up.

"Huh? Why would we bother with that?" Spoke Elric. "That's such a hassle."

"She is sleeping in our house. We brought this hassle upon ourselves."

"Don't worry, I know just the way to fix this up."

"And how would you do that?" Claude asked at Elric's cryptic words.

"Let's throw her out of the house."

The other two were left speechless.

"She would be ruining our sleep anyway. It's best to just let her be. We'll throw her in a ditch and have ourselves some good ol sleep!"

Thinking on it now… keeping an elf was a hassle.

"Still, it is dangerous. Let's keep the elf here for now, no matter how much you want to throw her out, Elric."

"Tsk."

"You just don't want to share the bed, right? We weren't gonna let you anyway."

"You mean I'll have to sleep on the floor?"

"Nope. On this couch."

Elric was shocked, but that was better than sharing his sleeping place. Claude was just messing around though and would let him have his room later.

The sun had started to go down, they had nothing much left to do.

Almost on time, Gustavo returned to the house with food brought along for everyone. The group indulged and Gustavo returned saying that his wife told him to keep bringing some meals till everyone adjusted.

He was truly a kind man. His wife was kind too.

The night passed quietly.

It was the next morning, when Elric decided to throw the elf out the window anyway.

"… Who… are you?"

Did he find her awake.

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