“If that’s the case, then I’d prefer to move in here, even if I had to force the issue…”
If her fairy instincts forced her to prioritize preserving the state of the house and she kept trying to drive them out, he could shoulder his way in and overpower her again like he did this time. Once he settled down here, he’d become a resident whom she could help. That might cause her to come around. This idea, however, was met with a shake of her head.
“You still want us out?”
“No… I tried once, and I lost. And you expressed your intent to live here, so the desire to preserve the house’s current state is gone.”
“So, that means all I have to do now is actually move in?”
“Mm-hm, but…”
She looked at Renya and hesitated. The gesture made him grimace on the inside, wondering what else was a problem.
“Will you…” she said timidly, “really come live here? In a creepy place like this?”
“I sure wouldn’t if it was up to me,” Shion blurted out before a glare from Renya caused her to shrink back. Meanwhile, the tiny victim of Shion’s remark looked to be on the verge of tears.
“Well, we have one more friend,” said Renya, trying to placate the distressed fairy, “and we still have to discuss it with her. Chances are, though, we’ll end up living here.”
“Really? I await your arrival, Master!”
The fairy burst into a radiant smile. Shion smirked for some reason. Renya, for his part, wasn’t quite sure what to think. With an awkward expression on his face, he patted his new Silkie friend on the head.
Afterwards, neither Renya nor Shion felt like sleeping, so they waited the night out and headed back to the inn at the crack of dawn. They explained the situation to Rona, who told them that as long as the two of them were happy with it, she was fine with whatever. With Rona’s disinterested but approving response in hand, they quickly made their way to the real estate office, whereupon they shocked the agent by showing up in perfectly sound condition, albeit wanting to sleep. Choosing to not mention the fairy, they simply announced that they didn’t see any ghosts and were going to buy the place. The man immediately glowed with delight, explaining that every client who had shown interest in that property so far had, without exception, ran into ghosts there. As a result, the property had become an unsellable defect. The man let out a sigh of relief and mentioned that Renya’s purchase was a weight off his shoulders.
Renya did not let the man’s remark go unnoticed. He pounced on the opportunity, reminding the agent that the proverbial lifting of weights should be a mutual endeavor, and began to haggle. Shion looked on with mild awe, wondering how he still had the energy after an all-nighter. An intense period of verbal dueling followed. Eventually, the agent caved and agreed to Renya’s proposal: a one-time down payment followed by periodic installments to be paid back whenever he could, whenever he wished — no badgering.
Renya retrieved the money from his inventory, gave it to the agent, signed a contract, and placed the contract in his inventory. Then he took the keys to the house and dashed back to the inn with a tired Shion behind him. On the way back, her sleepiness got the better of her and he ended up giving her a second piggyback ride. Upon returning to the inn, he stopped only to announce the conclusion of the purchase before departing again for the house, this time with Rona at his side as well. Along the way, Rona questioned his hasty decision-making, to which he answered that there was a reason for his rush to get things done.
He wasn’t sure if the same was true of fairies in this world, but the term “fairy” had always evoked a sense of fickleness for him. While the Silkie had been willing to acknowledge him as “Master,” he couldn’t shake the feeling that if he took too long, she’d decide to start their relationship over from the very beginning. As soon as he arrived at their destination, he introduced the fairy to Rona and officially declared that they were moving in.
“All right. First order of business, get rid of all this old junk and buy new furniture. Are you up for it?”
“Mm-hm! Leave it to me!”
It turned out that his fears were unfounded. The cheery grin on the Silkie’s face signaled to him that he could declare this part of his mission complete. He appreciated the feeling of having a load taken off his shoulders. All that remained was the load on his back, which was happily snoozing away…
What came next was a string of events during which Rona and the fairy displayed their competence while Renya and Shion gaped from the sidelines. First, Rona produced a retinue of merchants and workers seemingly out of thin air. They quickly emptied the house of old articles, sold some, scrapped the rest, and took new orders. A storm of activity engulfed Renya. As detailed discussions of the whats and wheres of interior decor took place, he stood in the middle of it all, bewildered and lost. By the time he came to, new furniture was already lining his spacious new quarters, their prices negotiated and payment method finalized. Since he was strapped for cash, Rona dug into her own savings to foot the bill for the time being.
“I’m moving in as well, after all, and if I’m going to live here, then I’d prefer to live comfortably… while racking up some favors along the way,” she said before adding in a whisper, “You owe me one now.”
In that instant, Renya felt a chill like nothing before.
The fairy also pulled far more than her fair share of weight in their extensive remodeling project. Originally, Renya had been worried about her being seen by the merchants and workers moving in and out of the house. However, as soon as it had been decided that the three of them were living here, the fairy’s appearance changed; she now looked like a normal little girl, ten years old or so, who was dressed in a maid uniform. Apparently, she used to have the stature of humans with the looks to match, but the long years she had spent living in an abandoned house drained her strength and caused her to shrink.
“Doesn’t that mean you were in a pretty dangerous spot, then?”
“Mm-hm. But I had yucky food. I ate it and it kept me going.”
He raised a curious eyebrow. What did fairies eat?
“For the most part, food for us fairies is mana. We bond to homes so we can slurp up the mana that leaks out naturally from the residents.”
“…I think I know where this is going, and I’m not thrilled to hear it. What exactly was that yucky food you mentioned?”
“The malicious ghost of the person who was apparently put to death in the garden.”
Shion’s face turned pale at her words. Rona smiled weakly.
According to the fairy, when she’d first woken up, she discovered the merchant’s soul in a corner of the house, halfway through the process of materializing as an evil spirit. Despite its allegedly awful quality, it was nevertheless a handsome hunk of mana, so she quickly got her hands on it. Thus was the ghostly merchant subject to death by slow and systematic mastication, ultimately perishing a second time.
“I guess you might call that karma?”
“Whatever. I don’t care enough about dead serial killers to pray for their souls,” said an apathetic Rona. “Maybe it should be glad it got eaten. It can’t go to Hell if it no longer exists, after all.” It seemed a questionable statement coming from one of the priesthood, but Renya chose to not pursue the topic further.
The newly-invigorated fairy proceeded to summon a mighty gale that swept through the house and blew all the dust and trash out into the garden. Then, at her command, blades of wind sliced through the rampant weeds and branches outside to trim them down.
As for Shion and Renya, their contributions to the effort consisted of standing, gaping, and marveling at the proficiency of their comrades.
At the end of it all, a small mountain of garbage had accumulated in the yard. Shion walked over and set it aflame. In the meantime, Renya was digging a hole in a corner of the garden. Once the great garbage bonfire sputtered and died, they swept the pile of ash into the hole, covered it with earth, and wrapped up. Total time taken: a mere two days, counting from Renya’s initial decision to make the purchase.
Their job finished, the three adventurers dragged their tired bodies into the living room down and laid down on their new leather sofas. Within seconds, they were fast asleep. Eventually, their miniature maid appeared as well, having diligently prepared tea and dessert for the slumbering residents. She approached Renya.
“Master! Your work isn’t done yet!”
“Wha… What’s not done?” he asked as he was shaken awaken by the shoulder.
“My name! Give me a name, please! I don’t want to be ‘fairy’ all the time!”
“A name…”
A few names surfaced in his sleep-addled mind. He immediately dismissed them. “Coco” or “Daisy” definitely weren’t going to do; she wasn’t a pet. Through an effort of will, he managed to extract from his sluggish thoughts a certain name. When he posed it to the fairy, she approved it with a gleeful smile.
Thus did Renya gain a house, a workshop, a garden, and the companionship of a home-protecting, chore-doing fairy named Frau Verde.