While I was working, Yuna and Noa came into my office.
It seemed that there was something to be discussed.
After hearing that story, I wanted to hold my head.
A fairy?
I had heard that it was out there somewhere, but this was the first time I had actually seen it.
The fairy's name was Prim.
At Prim's request, she asked to search for her sister. In order to find her sister, she needed the help of Yuna and my daughter Noa.
Yuna's mana was required to be able to see fairies. And in order to find her sister's whereabouts, she needed Prim's sister's handkerchief, which had entered Noa's body.
I couldn't refuse the fairy's request.
If I refused, I would never know what will happen.
There were good stories and bad stories about fairies.
I didn't want to do anything dangerous to my precious daughter, but I also thought that she would be safe if Yuna was with her, so I gave her permission.
Yuna might have a strange appearance, but she was highly skilled as an adventurer. She cared about my daughter more than anything. I thought Yuna wouldn't let Noa do something dangerous with her and she would protect her.
How many adventurers can single-handedly defeat 10,000 monsters, Black Viper, Black Tiger, and Kraken?
Moreover, this kind of experience was not something you could have even if you wanted to. I was sure it would be a valuable experience for Noa as well.
But one problem remained.
It was the mansion that Yuna was asked to investigate.
I said I would take care of the matter with the Adventurer's Guild, but I could never say that there was a fairy in the mansion.
If I said that, there would be a big fuss. That was not good for fairies or Crimonia.
The next morning, Noa came over.
"Then, father, I'll be leaving." (Noa)
"Ah, I think it's okay because Yuna is here, but be careful." (Cliff)
"Sure" (Noa)
Noa left the house to look for fairies.
She looked like she was having fun, but I was a little worried.
She was not a selfish girl, but when it came to bears, she didn't know what she would do. But now I had no choice but to believe.
After a while, I also left the house and headed to the Adventurer's Guild.
When I entered the Adventurer's Guild, the adventurers were discussing what kind of request they would receive.
It was still a noisy place.
I headed to the reception.
If I remembered correctly, the receptionist was named Helen.
"Can I have a minute?" (Cliff)
"It's Cliff-sama! Yes, it's fine. Maybe, Is this a request?" (Helen)
The receptionist asked nervously.
"The other day, I think Yuna received a request to investigate the mansion, about that." (Cliff)
"Is this a request from Yuna-san? Yes, Yuna-san did investigate a mansion that was said to be haunted, but..." (Helen)
"I came to report that on Yuna's behalf." (Cliff)
"What about Cliff-sama!?" (Helen)
The receptionist was surprised.
"Oh, it looks like a child has broken into that mansion." (Cliff)
I thought about it for a day and then explained.
I couldn't say there were fairies. Moreover, if it was a thief, you had to catch him. In that case, to keep things calm, I would call it a child.
"Is that true?" (Helen)
"What? You don't believe my words?" (Cliff)
"No, that's not true. But...the lights, the voices..." (Helen)
There were a lot of suspicious points for a child's prank, so I guessed she was doubting my words.
"If it's a ghost, don’t worry about it." (Cliff)
"However, this is a request from the commercial guild…" (Helen)
Even the Adventurer's Guild wouldn't be able to handle it properly.
"I understand. I guess I should go to the commercial guild and report it." (Cliff)
"No, Cliff-sama, you can't do that..." (Helen)
"It would be faster for me to tell them. I'll go now." (Cliff)
I couldn't help but feel troublesome.
This was also to make Crimonia a peaceful city.
If it were known that there were fairies, people would come to catch them, people would come to see them, and it would be a commotion.
Even so, there were more people coming from and going to Town of Mileela than before.
These people were good because they drop money into the city, but when it came to finding fairies, they were nothing but a hindrance.
I didn't know what kind of person would come.
"Then I'll go with you." (Helen)
"You don’t have to come." (Cliff)
"No, I'll also need to confirm with the Adventurer's Guild. I don't want to have to go through the trouble twice, so I'll go too." (Helen)
Helen, the receptionist, asked another receptionist to leave the Adventurer's Guild with me.
"Cliff-sama, did you come by yourself?" (Helen)
"I don't need an escort to walk around my town." (Cliff)
The receptionist was surprised by my words.
Even my daughter Noa was out on her own.
If I was just going out, I didn't need an escort.
There were also security guards patrolling the city. The safety of residents was protected.
I started walking towards the commercial guild.
The receptionist looked nervous and followed me from behind.
From behind me I heard "Yuna-san, you idiot" and "Yuna-san, why did you choose Cliff-sama?"
"I'm sorry about Yuna. I just asked Yuna for an urgent favor and she's not in town." (Cliff)
"No, Cliff-sama never apologizes." (Helen)
"It would help if you said that." (Cliff)
When I said that much, the receptionist fell silent.
Yuna might be putting a lot of effort into it.
And then we arrived at the commercial guild.
Since it was too troublesome, I asked the receptionist to call Mylaine.
"Cliff? Why are you here? And Helen-san too?" (Mylaine)
"I have something to tell you." (Cliff)
When I said that, she let me go to the Guild Master's room in the back.
"So, what happened? Isn't the combination of Helen-san and Cliff rare?"
"I will report that to you."
The receptionist told Mylène about the haunted house.
"Ah, about that mansion."
"So, I asked Yuna-san to investigate, and Cliff-sama was here to report on it."
"Why Cliff?"
It was a pain, but I would say what I said at the Adventurer's Guild again.
"That's suspicious. So why did Cliff come to explain it instead of Yuna-chan? And if a child got in, there must have been some evidence...?"
Mylaine looked at Helen.
"Such reports..."
It was troublesome.
"Anyway, there's nothing wrong with that mansion." (Cliff)
"That can't be the case. If the person who purchased it later finds out that a ghost appears, it's a trust issue with the commercial guild."
"Okay. I'll buy it." (Cliff)
"Are you serious?"
"Ah, then there should be no problem." (Cliff)
"Yes, but what are you going to do with buying a mansion like that?"
I remembered that there had been some worrying reports recently.
Due to the lack of inns, an increasing number of people are wandering around the city at night, sleeping in horse-drawn carriages, and pitching tents in deserted areas without permission.
"I'll make it an inn." (Cliff)
"Inn?"
"Ah, you guys must know that there aren't enough places to stay these days." (Cliff)
"Yes. It's true that I've been asked to introduce inns where merchants can stay, and although I do introduce a few, it's becoming more and more common for all of them to be booked." (Mylaine)
"Yes, even in the Adventurer's Guild, adventurers from other cities are increasingly renting out rooms in the adventurer guild because they can't stay there." (Helen)
"That's why we'll use that mansion as an inn." (Cliff)
"But isn't it too grand to be an inn? If you're going to turn that mansion into an inn, you'll have to price it a certain amount, right?" (Mylaine)
"Do you have a floor plan for that mansion?" (Cliff)
"Floor plan? Of course there is." (Mylaine)
Mylaine had the staff prepare a drawing of the mansion.
The staff immediately brought in a drawing of the mansion.
The drawings were then spread out on the table.
This was the mansion where he lived, where he had embezzled money from the orphanage and other things.
I actually wanted to demolish it, but the building itself was not bad.
It was spacious, and there were many rooms on the first floor that were thought to have been used by servants.
I pointed to the first floor.
"It's just as I thought. There are many rooms on the first floor that were used by servants. We should lower the price of these rooms so that even ordinary people can stay there." (Cliff)
There was also a kitchen and a storage room, as well as a place to store ingredients.
Next, I turned my attention to the second floor.
"There are a lot of guest rooms on the second floor. The rooms are spacious, so I think it would be a good idea to raise the price a little here." (Cliff)
It was two to three times the size of a servant's room.
There was also a reference room, but I couldn't imagine that those idiots were using it.
Maybe they just prepared it to show off.
However, he had given instructions to send anything that could make money to relatives in the capital, so it might be empty.
Well, I guess I'll have to check again to see what's left in the mansion.
Then, I turned my attention to the floor plan of the third floor.
There was a room that seemed to be his room, and there was also a bath in the next large room.
"This large room will be released as a top-class room." (Cliff)
I didn't want to stay in this room, but no one from other cities knew that he lived there. It would be nice to let rich people stayed there.
"It certainly seems possible if we decide the price for each floor."
"If there is a disturbance at the inn and a ghost appears, I will be responsible for dealing with it." (Cliff)
"There's something suspicious about it. It's like you're absolutely sure that no ghosts will appear..."
"So you're saying it was just a kid playing."
Fairies appeared in fairy mirrors. That fairy mirror was taken by Yuna to her own house.
Fairies (ghosts) never appeared in the mansion.
"Ah...I understand. If you are responsible for the purchase, then there is no problem for the Commercial Guild. Is that okay for the Adventurer's Guild as well?"
"Yes. If the Adventurer's Guild and the Commercial Guild agree that there is no problem, we will consider the request complete and process it."
The mansion was okay now.
"So, can I leave the rest to Mylaine?" (Cliff)
"I don’t think so, but are you planning on throwing your whole life at me?" (Mylaine)
"That's your job, right? Calculate the cost of the accommodation from the staff, cooks, maids, cleaning staff, the number of people needed at the inn, and their salaries, and report back." (Cliff)
"Would you consider that as a job?"
"Basically, I'm not going to interfere. I'm fine with 20% of the profits. I don't mind if the rest goes to the commercial guild." (Cliff)
"20%..."
"I want to recover the money I paid for purchasing the mansion in the long run." (Cliff)
"Isn’t it the lord’s job to show us how big his pockets are?"
"It’s small but it’s fine." (Cliff)
Mylaine seemed to want to complain, but she started thinking about how she could make a profit.
As expected, it was sturdy.
Finally, Yuna returned the mansion key to Mylaine, and this matter ended.
Author's Note
Yuna isn't bad, but Cliff always cleans up after herself.
Translator's Note
I have improved my translation assist tool and my efficiency has increased greatly. Now I have doubled (almost tripled) my capacity. I can now translate 2 chapters per day on weekdays and almost 4 chapters per day at weekend (although sometimes I can only do 1 or none at all in a day). My current plan for Kuma is to publish 7 chapters every week at one chapter per day at fixed schedule by translating more chapters in advance when I have time and publishing them later with a scheduled publish.
From now on, I will publish Kuma chapter at 03:00 am UTC. It may take up to 1 hour for the cache to update.
Thank you for reading my translation.