“Too bad my magic doesn’t help with organizing things. Ugh…there’s so much stuff,” I groan.
I can use magic to clean, but I have to use my own hands to put stuff away. I have no idea what belongs to who or where it goes, and to make things worse, I’m super uncoordinated. The best I can do is separate everything into piles and wait for the three of them to come back so they can take over.
After planning everything in my head, I get myself pumped up again. I fold my arms in front of my chest and fly through the mansion. After all, flying is faster than walking! I can’t fly around in the middle of the city, but it should be fine in here where no one can see me. Plus, the mansion is so big!
I start with the bathroom, then the living room, and finally, every empty room I pass by, cleansing each, one by one. Finally finished, I head toward our bedroom.
Maybe Claire’s all done?
I fly up the stairs and knock on the door to the immediate left while calling her name. “Claire?”
“Come on in!” Claire answers almost immediately.
“How’s it going? Whoa! It’s so big!”
“Right? I was surprised, too! I never expected a room this big! It’s definitely big enough for both of us.”
Ektor had said there were enough rooms for us each to have our own, but honestly, one room here is more than big enough for two people to fit comfortably. There’s more than enough space for another bed, too. I would definitely feel weird staying in a room this big all by myself.
“You brought the cabinet in by yourself? Wasn’t it heavy?” I ask.
“It wasn’t a problem. I brought it in from the room next door, and it’s empty, so it was pretty light. We just need to bring in one more bed, but I can’t do that by myself.”
“Okay, I’ll help. But first… Light magic! Cleanse!”
With the room nicely organized, it’s so clean, it seems brand new! Even Claire seems overjoyed, complimenting my magic skills as her ears twitch happily. She’s so cute!
“Okay, Claire. Time to get the bed!”
“Once we do that, we can start getting dinner ready.”
Giggling to each other, we step into the neighboring room. I’d already cleansed this room, so the bed’s all fluffy and ready to go. There’s nothing better than a clean bed to sleep in. Cheering each other on, we manage to get the bed into our room before breathing a sigh of relief. The room seems a little smaller with two beds in it, but the lack of empty space makes me feel a little better.
“Perhaps I have too much of a tendency to worry about money?” I say.
“That’s normal for commoners,” Claire responds while laughing.
“You can say that again!”
We sit in the room for a moment before heading back downstairs toward the kitchen.
“The bathtub is pretty big, too,” I tell her.
“Really? I guess we can use it at the same time, then.”
“It might be big, but I’m not a kid anymore!”
Claire still likes to take baths with me. For being so mature and grown-up most of the time, she still acts like a little kid sometimes, but that’s what makes her so adorable. Considering we’d just arrived and how worried she’s been this whole time, the least I can do is take a bath with her.
Honestly, I was, and still am, a little worried myself. If nothing else, I can always ask her to join me in the bath. Actually, now that I think about it, is it normal to take baths here? Claire started the practice in our small village, and now everyone does it there. But maybe Ektor and the other guys might get weirded out if I start filling the tub with hot water.
“I’m sure it’ll be no problem!” Claire suddenly holds up her index finger, as if struck by something.
Huh? What is it? I cock my head to the side quizzically as she snickers almost evilly. C-Claire…
“I have a feeling Ektor is used to taking baths. Maybe we can use that information to determine if he’s a Reborn from the same place as me!”
Taking a bath was normal in Claire’s past life. If Ektor has the same habit as Claire, that could mean they’re both Reborns, and possibly from the same country.
“If we’re both familiar with the same game, that makes the possibility even higher. There’s a lot of worlds out there, so it’s impossible to know for sure, but maybe…”
“If Ektor is the same as you, then wouldn’t he also assume we’re like him?” I ask.
“Oh…”
“Wouldn’t he be equally suspicious of us? And yet, he doesn’t act like he suspects anything,” I point out, and Claire folds her arms in thought.
“I really want to take a bath, though…” she mutters to herself under her breath. “If anyone asks, we can say it’s a thing everyone does in our village, or something like that.”
“I guess that’s true…but Claire, you’re the one who started that trend.”
“He doesn’t have to know that!”
I guess so… It’s just like Claire to take a risk because of her love of baths. And it’s not necessarily a lie. I hate to do it, but sometimes white lies are important.
We continue chatting together happily as we begin prepping ingredients for dinner.