A/N: Starting today, it is the beginning of the 3rd Arc.
Best regards.
âWhy is Lily here âŠ?â
ăIt was a situation I would have never imagined, so my mind went blank.
ăWhat Esther and I entered was a house given to us by the lord.
ăAfter our accomplishments from the recent disturbance, I was asked by the lord what I wanted.
ăItâs a good thing that we were allowed to say what we really wish for.
ăI have been staying at the inn until a while ago, but I couldnât practice in the morning because the innâs guests would be disturbed.
ăAlso, my nightly magic training was forbidden too.
ăNo matter how many skill boards I have, I need to train to be able to effectively use the power I have acquired.
ăUnlike Japan, Eargard is a world filled with monsters.
ăIf youâre not easy, you will lose your life easily.
ăIn such a world, creating an environment where I should train was an urgent task.
ăThis is where the house comes in.
ăOnce I have a house, I can train freely.
ăI thought this was a rather unreasonable wish, but surprisingly our wish was readily accepted.
ăGood thing my achievement was a big deal for Finlis.
ăThe timing was right, the Lord had given us a house, and now it was time for me to get started.
ăWhen I entered the house that was given to us, for some reason I found Lily, the owner of the magic shop.
(What does this mean �)
ăLily opened her sleepy eyes slightly and pointed her hand towards me, while I was completely blanked-out.
ăI feel some signs of magical power moving from the tip of her hand.
âIntruders.â (Lily)
âNo, no. No! This is the house I got from the lord.â
âNo excuses.â (Lily)
âWaiââ
ăWhen I opened my mouth to try to explain, Lily released the magical power that she had been channeling.
ăI hurriedly hold out my hand in front of me.
ăThe magic released by Lily clashed with my hands.
ăIt was at that moment.
ăââă
ăThere came a void of sound.
ăSilence saturates the room and white noise filled the air.
ăBefore sound came back again.
âOh, my goodnessâŠâ
ăI almost collapsed on the floor with relief.
ăI was able to counter her magic.
ăThe magic that I released clashed with the exact same magic.
ăI couldnât guess the magic that Lily released just by looking at it.
ăBut â fire magic would burn the house down, and water magic and earth magic would be hard to clean up after release. If she wants to use a spell inside the house, wind magic is the most likely candidate.
ăâYes, I got it right.
ăThen, in an attempt to counter the magic that she released, I deployed a spell with the same power and scale.
ăThe canceling technique used by me is the same principle as active sound muffling. [T/N: Active sound muffling is the technology used by some modern headphones. Google-sensei has lots of headphone brands and models using this technology. It isnât cheap though.]
ăActive sound muffling is a technology that can cancel out noise by using opposing frequency.
ăIt is used for noise canceling in Japan. It is a technique familiar to me.
ăHowever, I didnât know if the same thing could be done with magic.
(It might have gone the opposite, but Iâm glad I succeededâŠ)
ăIn front of me who has just been relieved, Lily is channeling her magical power again.
âWa-Wait, wait!â
â⊠Why do I have to wait?â (Lily)
âTalk! Letâs talk!!â
ăAt this point, they would only be attacked unilaterally and the situation would not progress at all.
ăI desperately asked Lily to talk before fighting.
ăI managed to get the aggressive Lily to sit around the table for a discussion.
ăI immediately explained my side (about the reward we received from the lord).
ăBut Lily shook her head.
â⊠funny. I bought this house, so this is my house.â (Lily)
âBut we got this house from the lord.â
âIt was probably a different house?â (Lily)
âNo, no, no, I used this key to get in, so Iâm sure of it.â
ăWith that said, I showed Lily the key to the house.
âKeys can be duplicated.â
âThatâs right. But I donât think the lord gave us a duplicate key.â
ăIf an adventurer, who has been rewarded for his work, were to receive a duplicate of someone elseâs house key, it would affect the reputation of the lord.
ăA decent aristocrat would never allow themselves to do such a thing.
ăSimilar to me, Lily also owned a real key.
ăShe had bought a new house after her house was burned down in an earlier disturbance.
âBut this is my house. No doubt.â (Lily)
âHmmâ
ăNow that there are few houses left, the amount of money to buy a house has jumped significantly.
ăThere are tons of buyers for the goods, so the merchants are driving up the price.
ăLily was stubborn because she was forced to buy an overpriced house.
ăBut that doesnât mean I was going to give it away either, saying, âYes, I see.â
ăThis house is a reward given by the lord. Itâs a good idea to be able to have a good idea of what has happened.
ăEven though we are speaking to each other, we are not connecting at all.
ăSo I proposed.
âLetâs go to the guild for the time being.â
ââŠâŠguild?â (Lily)
âThis time around, we have the guild as the intermediary when we receive the award from the lord. If we go to the guild, youâll know that we got this house legally.â
ăI decided to reinforce our own claim for now.
ăWhether Lily was convinced or not, if she went to the guild, we would have a witness.
ăBesides, I was curious about the cause of this situation.
ăItâs only after the cause is determined that the house may be owned by either party.
ăOtherwise, there would be a lot of trouble left unresolved.
ăWe arrived at the guild and immediately explained the situation to the receptionist, Marie.
âSuch a thingâŠâ (Marie)
âIs the key you gave Toru wrong?â (Lily)
âNo. This is definitely the key given by the lord.â (Marie)
ăMarie answered Lilyâs question.
ăThis proved that the key was not given by mistake.
âThen why âŠ?â
âThatâs right. In this case, would it be okay to have a guild step in?â (Marie)
âUmmmâŠâŠâ
ăI thought about Marieâs offer.
ăItâs a different story if the guild prepared the house, but it was the Lord who prepared it.
ăThe guild is not directly involved in this case.
ăJust because you visit a lawyerâs office for a free consultation does not mean that they will accept the job for free. There is always a commission fee.
ăIn the same way, does having the guild come in between cost us a fee?
ăI felt uneasy, but Marie shook her head softly and winked at me.
âToruuu?â (Esther)
ăA slimy, black object stroked my neck.
ăEsther, who was releasing a poisonous aura at the edge of my field of vision, is glaring at me.
(I donât know. I donât know anything!!)
ăToru muttered in his chest many times, âI donât know, I donât know,â as if he was chanting a Nembutsu to a ghost. [T/N: Nembutsu/Nenbutsu is a Buddhist prayer used in many rituals. Probably to save him from the green-eyed demon possessing Esther. But heâs pretty dense so it might be to save his soul.]