Five days have passed since we began digging. We’re not completely done yet—even though the pillars are in place, the stone tiles have been polished, and everything…

Today, we all worked on the base since it was near completion—faster than I expected!

Still, it lacks furniture and more. We have a mare 50k lech…a tragic tale…so I wanted to say, but we were all a bit busy to sell our hunt.

“Isak, Freja, go on a date!” I said assertively out of literal oblivion.

Both had dumbfounded looks on their faces.

“Umm…what?” Freja asked.

Isak frowned a little. “It means “Get out. I want some alone time with Teach and Step-sis!” or something,” he chuckled with a smug grin.

Julia and Hilda, as if something got stuck in their throat, began to cough violently.

Isak you ass! You know that’s not it!

“*Ahem* I mean, go and sell the hunt. Also, buy some useful furniture…”

Both Freja and Isak stared suspiciously at me and the girls. ““Sure sure,”” they both replied with blank looks.

I know they’re joking, but it hits way close to home…

“No, seriously, as much as I want to save the fur, feathers and whatnot, it would take some time for me to make something out of it; hence, better buy stuff for now.”

“Yeah~yeah~ Any essentials?” Isak asked.

He already had a pen and paper at hand...

“Yeah, a generator, mana lamps, fans, lubricant, a kitchen—”

“Wait, wait, wait! Some stuff made sense, but a whole ass kitchen!?”

I tilted my head. “Well, I figured we’d at least get 50k from the hunt—pretty good for a few days of hunting, I’d say. Also, making a stove, oven, and refrigerator would be impossible… So…”

“—and a shower isn’t?” Isak asked while facepalming.

“I’ll manage!” I exclaimed.

“Yeah, sure, be smug about it…” he replied.

The girls laughed at our small banter. Still, I made a lengthy list, and I sent the two on a mission/date. It’s pretty far away, but I think they’ll manage to get back by the end of today… I don’t expect them to find everything on the list, but it’s worth giving it a go, no?

Anyhow, as for us? We continued with the base. Hilda was almost finished with the water and ventilation system. Considering the intake, exhaust, and air pressure in each room, I think it should be fine, and there probably won’t be any conflicting forces… I hope. We only made a simple one, hoping for the best while doing the same for the water system...

There’s also insulation; my head is spinning from all of this stuff! The more I think about it, the more obstacles appear; not only that, someone always mentions something we forget! Wood shavings? Is that good? Sawdust?

…we’re not going to burn up the place, are we…? Should the kitchen be just stone?

After frying my head over things, I decided to just YOLO it. I mean…they say magic is magic, right? So…building with magic is also magic, right? Right!?

 

— :::: —

 

Quite some time passed, and a guild staff member came by. We purchased this area, after all, and they wanted to see how things were going. I explained our plans and whatnot, and he seemed pleased to hear about it.

“Oh, seems to be going quite smoothly,” Zelion commented while stroking his beard.

This guy right here was an elf and someone from the guild’s inspection department. Quite well known, actually. I’m pretty sure he was a B-Rank back in the day. If I remember correctly, that is.

I nervously chuckled, “Well… I sure hope so,” with a nervous remark.

Amused by my reply, he hummed. “Is it going less smoothly than expected, then?”

“You could say that… Anyhow, will you join us for dinner?”

Surprised, Zelion uttered, “Oh? Is that fine?”

“What do you mean…?” I tilted my head.

“Ahh, you see, to be invited by such a beautiful young girl for dinner… it makes me sort of nervous…” he shyly confessed.

““…..””

Both Julia and Hilda were staring daggers at him, but I knew he was joking. We’ve met before, after all. I lightly hit him on the shoulder, saying, “Quit teasing the two, you old geezer…”

“Hohoho! I’m not that old! Just a little past 100!”

I sighed. “In my eyes, that makes you old…”

“I feel deeply hurt, you know…? I’m like in my mid-50s in human age, you know?” he sadly said with a teardrop in his eye.

“Still kinda old if ya ask me.”

“…what a rude boy, then again, you’re just seventeen and don’t understand! Hmph!”

A sulking old man…well, to be fair, he doesn’t look anywhere close to 50, let alone 100! Sure, he looks mature, but maybe in his 30s?

After our short little encounter, Zelion left. Now that I think about it. We don’t really interact much with the natives, are we?

“Aska, what’s wrong?” Julia asked while I waved Zelion goodbye.

“Oh, it was just that he could’ve stayed for dinner.”

Surveying my face, she suspiciously asked, “That’s all?”

I placed my palm on her head, gently stroking her hair, “Got caught, huh?” I sighed a little. “Well… A thought just crossed my mind. That is. We don’t interact much with the locals, do we?”

“That’s true…” Julia replied.

Then… Hilda tugged on the hem of my shirt.

That’s cute…

She was a little taller than me, but looking down shyly like that wasn’t fair; the same goes for Julia; shyly looking up like that wasn’t…fair.

Ahhhh, dammit all!

I patted the two of them, and after dinner, we continued working on the base.

Shouldn’t Isak and Freja be back by now?

 

— :::: —

 

I figured we’d be back by the end of the day. I somewhat had a hunch that that wouldn’t be the case… With my girlfriend being a lich and all. Of course, something was bound to happen at some point.

“So you’re telling me that this lich is safe and has Saint Amethely’s protection?”

That’s right… Freja was currently behind bars, and I was being interrogated… just a fantastically great date, ey?

Ahhhh, dammit all!

“We even have Hero Chely’s insignia. Shouldn’t that be enough proof? That we’re somewhat related?”

I showed them the insignia Hero Chely gave Freja; at first, Saint Amethely was the one to give her an insignia, but Chely found it to be more appropriate that she should be the one instead since Freja was going to be her sister-in-law.

The inspector looked even more suspiciously at me, and another one walked inside the room. “Sir, this seems to be a genuine insignia from The Ilis Main House.”

“…the main house has only four members, which means…he’s telling us the truth…”

What…he believed me? Not even questioning it? I’ve been here for hours waiting for this!? Well…not that I complain, but Freja probably has it worse… wait?! Then that’s more of a reason to complain!

The investigator named Si’Chrone sighed. “Look, did you really get this from the Hero? She hasn’t filed it missing, and the Ilis family is notorious for their irreplicable magi-tech.”

…I didn’t know that!

“It might be difficult to believe, but The Hero has a fiancé now, right?”

“Why’s that difficult? Pretty much everyone knows, but what?”

“Freja is Noel’s sister.”

“…..”

Both the investigators stared at one another in silence.

Hey…I’ve been trying to tell you that, okay?

“And I’m her lover, makes sense?”

As if being struck with the biggest headache, one of them left as Si’Chrone sighed deeply. “Maaan, fuck. This job is ridiculous sometimes…”

Wow…very professional cussing…relaxed tone and all.

A few more hours passed, and they had the guild master, who knew of this, confirm that he had indeed heard about it from The Saint and The Hero. With all of that done, Freja was officially released. Even the authorities came to apologise and paid for compensation.

Yeah… I’d do the same now that I know just how high their status was… You know… I feel a little bad for them. They were just doing their job…after all.

I couldn’t exactly refuse the money either since Freja had been traumatised and was still sobbing in my arms.

 

— :::: —

 

“So, yeah. Freja went to jail, and I was interrogated for hours…”

As soon as Isak and Freja arrived at the base, we planned to greet them, preparing to tease them about spending the night out. And then he dropped that bomb?

What the hell?! How?!