Chapter 72: Chapter 70: The House in the Woods
I rushed up the stairs with Lily while the other two took the rooms downstairs.
"The roof is surprisingly holding strong, huh?"
Shaped like an Atrium with the top of the second floor well visible from the entrance, the wooden house that was no less than a villa on its own was very sturdy, though full of dirt. An empty chandelier hung from the center of the roof with dozens of spider webs sticking out around it.
Lily ignored everything and walked right past the squeaking floorboards and checked out the rooms.
"Oh! They're huge! And there are beds!"
"The kitchen and other rooms down here are big too!" Maria shouted back from below.
Keith on the other hand pulled out his sword and stared at the couch in the room. It didn't seem worn down, just dirty. I leaned on the railings of the second floor while watching the idiot swing his sword all over the couch, getting rid of a layer of furniture and dirt with it. When he was satisfied, he nodded and plopped himself on it.
This bastard.
"Ah!"
Suddenly, Maria's gasp reverberated through the place.
I hopped straight down to the lower floor and rushed toward Maria.
"What is it?" I asked, swinging a door open.
In front of me was Maria's back, and a giant bathroom. The ground of the bathroom was dug out and replaced with stones to create an artificial pond inside.
"What the hell..."
It was a bath.
A huge bath.
Lily and Keith both came behind me and peeked in, their mouths left agape.
"Y-young master...!"
"Young masterrr!"
Even Maria turned to me with her palms pressed together in a plea.
I wasn't going to refuse them in the first place.
"Let's clean this place up! We'll wait the rain out here."
"Yay!"
The three gave me a quick cheer of joy and set off right away. Lily pulled out some brooms and feather dusters from our luggage and handed them to Keith and Maria. I too rolled my sleeves up and picked up a broom.
Thus began the major cleaning operation.
***
The already passing day had completely left and the night had taken over the skies by the time we finished with the cleaning. Unfortunately, the rain showed not a sign of letting up.
The dark house was now illuminated by the magic lights we had found while cleaning up, brightening the entire place like a lighthouse.
We sat on the couch with a table in front while letting our bodies rest a bit.
"Young master, there was a tank on the roof for plumbing—"
"Took care of it."
"And... the bath?"
I smirked. "That too."
Lily dived on me and wrapped me in a hug. "Young master, you're the best!"
I pushed away my materialistic, demanding maid and sat her on the couch.
"Seriously, what's such a place doing in the middle of nowhere?"
"What do you think?" Keith asked back. He started cackling like an idiot as he raised a box in his hands.
"And what's that?" I asked, crossing my legs.
Keith opened the box and revealed over a dozen pills inside. Mana flowed through the insides of the box, keeping the pills optimal with a small magic stone attached at the top.
"I found them cleaning. Contraceptives, highest grade..." Keith laughed louder as he took a look at them again. "Preserved like one's lifeline!"
"This was a rich person's love nest, then?" Maria asked.
"Bingo!" Keith snapped his fingers and closed the box, slipping it back in his pockets. His laugh didn't seem to want to stop at all. "Seriously, to think someone would be so thorough! That guy must have one hell of a wife!"
I ignored Keith's ramblings and leaned my head back on the couch.
"It's too late to take a dip in that bath... huh?"
All of them stopped moving at my words and lowered their heads.
We could go in whenever, but I doubted anyone was in the mood to. But if the rain lets out, we would be missing out on the indoor pond.
"Let's just sleep for today and stay here another day, however the weather is..." the words slipped out of my mouth and all of them raised their heads with a smile. "We'll figure out the carriage situation after resting."
This time, all three of them dived on me and wrapped their arms around me.
"Young master! You're the best!"
How did I end up with such materialistic followers...
Poor me.
***
The lights of our 'nest' had been turned away.
I was currently in the room on the upper level with the best view. I say the best view, but no view was really visible in the first place. The room was the widest one, though, with a giant bed facing the windows and the drapes. The windows themselves were made of stained glasses and ebony frames that went well with the wooden floorboards of the room.
Red and blue carpets and wallpapers filled the rest of the simple room, setting up just the perfect view.
After replacing both the mattress and the sheets, I laid down on the bed. Surprisingly, I could stretch my arms over my head without being pushed out of the wide bed at all, I even had a lot of space to move with.
It was when I was about to roll around and close my eyes, the door to my room squeaked open.
A white apparition stood on the other side, staring down at me. It's dark eyes were unmistakable in the night.
"Ghost!?" I screamed and swung a ball of fire at the door. The ghost straightened up at once and ran out of the place.
"Stop right there!!"
I didn't let it go, though. Jumping down the bed, I ran toward the door and swung it open, but the apparition wasn't around anymore.
Disappeared, completely.
It wasn't easy to escape my senses.
It seemed... we had a problem on hand.
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