The sight of Shion hanging her head and murmuring into the ground was baffling to him. At a complete loss as to what to do, he turned his attention to Rona, who watched the proceedings in the seat beside Shion and made no attempt to involve herself. With evening approaching, there would soon be an influx of people looking to eat dinner. More people meant more eyes, and he didn’t want weird rumors popping up about how he made a girl at his table act like her world just ended.
“Hey, you have any idea why she’s like this?”
“Don’t you have an inkling?” Rona questioned him back. In response, he tried searching through his memories, but nothing came to mind.
“Nope. Sorry, I’ve got nothing.”
“Shion’s worried that now that you’ve bought your home, you’re going to disband the party.”
With Rona’s tip, the pieces in his mind finally fell into place. When Shion had first asked him to join her party, he accepted and told her it was because he needed money to buy a permanent place to reside. At the time, she suggested that if they bought a home, the whole party could live there together, but he put off the matter, claiming they could discuss it when the time came. Apparently, Shion had been thinking that if they lived together, then she could keep the party together after he acquired a place to stay. Thanks to him shelving the discussion for later, however, he instilled in her the concern that he would leave the party once the time came.
“Since when did she take to me so much? I have no recollection of this ever happening.”
“Well, let’s see. You’re a veritable one-man army, you can cook, you have a decent personality, and you look all right. You care about your friends, and if they need money, you might as well be a walking coin purse to them. I’m pretty sure that puts you squarely in the eligible bachelor zone. In fact, can I get in on the action, too? You can have both of us for the price of one,” said Rona, her casual tone at complete odds with the sheer lunacy of what she just proposed.
“You’re not stray kittens, damn it,” answered Renya with a grimace. “I’m not going to just pick you up and take you home, okay? Also, I’m pretty sure I already said I’m all about the money.”
“Oh, yes, of course. You certainly demonstrated that when you gave half your bounty to Azu without batting an eye.”
“That was… totally justified! Azu was entitled to—”
“Objection. At the time, Azu’s party was officially entitled to only 12 gold. The remaining 38 was comprised of exactly half the reward for the core’s destruction, the profits from its sale, and the payment for assisting the guild. All your earnings, Renya.”
He had no answer to Rona’s sharp retort. There was no doubt that normally, it was only sensible for him to share the earnings with his own party members, Shion and Rona. Though it was an act of sympathy, he couldn’t deny that he felt a little guilty about giving away half their reward to Azu’s party. Words failed him, and as he awkwardly fumbled for a response, Rona grinned.
“There’s nothing wrong with being generous with your money; that’s a good thing. And it’s not like I’m scolding you, so cheer up already. Now, let’s move on to more important matters, like doing something about her.” She pointed at Shion, who did not seem to hear a word they said. “I trust you know what to say?”
Would there ever be a day when he managed to take a point off this woman? He wasn’t really sure. With such thoughts swirling in the back of his mind, he turned to Shion and said to her what he hoped was the correct answer to Rona’s question.
“It’s the place our party’s going to call home. Since we’re all going to be living there together, do you want to come take a look as well, Shion?”
“Huh?”
Shion looked up at him with empty, lifeless eyes. They wandered a little before settling in his direction. A period of silence ensued, during which the meaning of his words slowly sank in. Then, color returned to her face and her dead eyes flared back to life.
“Live… together… R-Right, of course. It’s where our party’s going to call home, after all.”
“Yeah, so it wouldn’t make sense for me to go alone. You should come along. Do you have some time? I’m going there right after this.”
“No problem. I have time. I’ll make time. We’re leaving soon, right? Since we’re staying a night, I’ll go prepare my things. Wait for me.”
She leapt to her feet and dashed off toward her room to pack her luggage. He watched her giddy form disappear into a doorway, noting that the despondent, empty-husk-of-a-human Shion he saw moments before had all but disappeared. Now, she gave him the distinct impression of — an impolite thought, certainly — a puppy about to be taken on a walk.
“What about you, Rona? I assume ghosts and stuff fall under the specialty of the priesthood.”
“As long as you’re there, it’ll probably be fine. I find the thought of staying a night at an abandoned house extremely unappealing, so count me out,” she said, looking away with a hmph.
Renya narrowed his eyes and kept them trained on the side of her face. She glanced back in his direction and, when she saw him staring, hurriedly looked away again.
“What’re you scheming?”
“Nothing… On a completely unrelated note, you know how they say a man and a woman are more likely to have feelings for each other when they’re standing on a suspension bridge or a battlefield? Do you believe that?”
“Damn it, what’re you getting at? Hey, stop turning away! Look at my eyes when you talk!”
He grabbed her shoulders and tried to get her to turn around and face him, but she adamantly refused, craning her neck as far as she could the other way. Their tussle continued all the way until Shion came back with her set of sleeping gear.
Rona never did look him in the eyes.
“A night with Renya… Just the two of us. I like where this is going,” Shion said to herself quietly.
Renya and Shion were making their way toward the storied property. Rona had refused to come, and Renya didn’t know where anything was in Kukrika, so Shion naturally took the lead on their journey. Shion did not don her usual battle wear; instead, she was dressed in men’s clothes that were navy blue from top to bottom. When Renya asked why she wasn’t wearing something like a skirt, she curtly replied, “Because it doesn’t suit me.”
She had brought a longsword for insurance, but she was otherwise lightly equipped, carrying only a sleeping bag and a pouch that held her personal effects. As for Renya, he also had no intention of gearing up just to check out a property in town, so he wore a brown top and brown bottom fixed by a sword belt with the katana attached. He had stuffed all the other luggage into his inventory beforehand, so matters of food and sleep were already taken care of.
“It should be somewhere around here…” murmured Shion as she came to a stop, her eyes still on the map they got from the real estate office. “Maybe it’s… that?”
She pointed at a tall fence, beyond which they could see the corner of a building. As they approached for a better look, the structure gradually came into view, dimly lit by the fading evening sun. The surrounding fence, so tall that they needed to tilt their heads back to see the top, was covered by myriad dark forms, long and snakelike. On closer inspection, it was revealed that they were the vines of some unknown plant, which had grown so dense that they hid the fence itself from view. The gate at the entrance, long since untended, was in a state of rusty disrepair. Renya inserted the key from the real estate office into the lock and pushed. Slowly, the gate swung inwards, grating noisily against the ground the whole way.
A cobblestone path led from the gate, flanked by the garden on both sides. Long years of neglect had taken their toll here as well, as weeds grew wildly throughout and filled the space with a vibrant but messy collage of green. Trees dotted the lot. What might once have been proud displays of well-pruned beauty now stood strong and untamed. Their long branches grew freely and haphazardly, unimpeded by the will of man.
“This… looks like it’s going to take some work before anybody can move in.”
“Well, it comes with the price, I guess.”
Renya sighed. The outside being in such terrible shape suggested that the inside would fare little better. Purchasing the house and land was only the beginning. This place was going to need a lot of repairs and renovation before it was habitable, and that was going to chew through a lot more money. It was clear that he wasn’t going to be living the high life after buying the house; he was going to be working his ass off trying to make more money. Shion seemed to share his thoughts, but contrary to his gloomy expression, she wore a look of sheer glee.
“Just so we’re clear, I’m not basing my decision to keep the party together on the amount of work this repair job is going to take.”
“I never said you did.”
“Huh… All right, then.”