Content Warning: Very brief mention of kidnapping and rape by monsters. Sorry for the very late warning.
A day after the waterside negotiations, I and Nellie went to the guild to turn over the sea dragon’s heart and the killer orca’s dorsal fins as bounty proofs.
After that whole fiasco, all the water in the harbor had been frozen for hours and the monsters’ remains were all trapped in one huge iceberg. We couldn’t wait for them to defrost as then they’d sink to the bottom of the sea, so we had to struggle to cut them free from the ice without damaging the bodies any more than we already had.
Sometimes, having infinite magical power was more trouble than it was worth.
Michaela was pretty upset with us. “For two people to risk their lives fighting A-ranked monsters…” she muttered as she processed us.
Still, we got 7 gold coins out of it, plus our guild ranks have gone up to B and C for myself and Nellie respectively.
I went to work on the [Rescue Water Spiders] afterward and two weeks later, I completed my contract with the Commerce and Industry guild. (The actual crafting took just a few days, the rest of the time I was thinking about the future.)
The guild was still shocked to find out I’d managed to finish the contract that quickly, though: that sort of production speed was far from the norm.
Anyway, with the 30% discount from the contract and the money from the sea dragon’s heart, I purchased that old mansion near the adventurer’s guild without any other hitches. “Right, let’s go see my new property!” I said.
There are still abandoned houses around the neighborhood and the greenery around it would be wild and overgrown but we could clean that up little by little as we worked our way toward the mansion.
“This… is much more of a fixer-upper than I expected,” I said, standing at the entrance to my new land with Nellie.
The place was the size of a baseball field and was totally overgrown and in ruins, with bushes and debris scattered everywhere. A magnificent fountain was now half-destroyed and what was left looked like some kind of alien artifact filled with muddy water. The fence around the property was broken in a number of places, making it easy to go in and out.
And at the center of it all: what used to be a noble mansion, two stories, white brick, and a third-of-the-way collapsed.
“Ah… seems like it’s going to take a lot of time to clear this land…” Nellie muttered as she looked around.
I continued looking around and noticed something strange: a section of the bushes had very recently been trampled over. I followed the trail and saw it seemed to lead into the mansion. I wondered if there were people that had been coming and going here recently…
“Hmm, let’s find out,” I said as I and Nellie headed into the mansion.
It was darker than I’d expected because the windows were covered with ivy or the bushes. “Nellie, a light, please?” I asked.
“Right away,” Nellie said. “[Light].”
A ball about the size of a fist appeared 3 meters ahead of us and 2 meters off the ground, as bright as a modern light bulb.
Light magic didn’t exist in Sengoku Online, so I can’t use it myself. Thanks to Nellie being a Luminous Maid, however, I didn’t need to worry; she’s learned a lot of useful skills to compensate for all the terrible ones she had in her base class.
Off the top of my head, there was:
- [Cure Wounds] which consumed healing items to give 3 times the original effect.
- <Novice Light Magic> which gave her (Light, Sustained Light, Holy Light)
- [Item Effect +] which increases consumable’s effects by 1.5 times, and
- [Magic Item +] which increases magic items effects by 1.2 times.
4 incredible skills, especially when you combined [Cure Wound] and [Item Effect +] and got the same potency as intermediate recovery magic. The only downside was that Nellie was only level 20 with 3 skill slots, so [Cure Wound], [Novice Light Magic], and [Item Effect +] were the only ones near-permanently slotted in.
“This is all… useless,” Nellie said as examines the lit interior. “The whole place looks like it’s about to collapse.”
“Yeah… we’re going to have to demolish the whole building,” I said as I looked at the entrance hall, heavily cracked and crumbling in places.
I tried to go further in.
Wait.
I heard a buzzing sound, caught with my left-hand something that was aimed at my head: an egg-sized stone. “Hmm… nice shot,” I said. “You’ve got some steady hands.”
I meant it genuinely but my attacker looked offended.“Tch… who are you two? This is our territory!” said a slim, red-haired boy in his early teens as he came out from a shadowed corridor. (Now that he was in the light, I noticed he wasn’t that thin, his armour was just very well-fitted to his body.)
“Funny you should say that when I’m the owner,” I said.
“Liar,” he spat back. “The nobleman who lived here should have died years ago.”
“Which is why I bought the deed,” I said. “I’m the new owner.”
The boy gazes at me like he’s trying to find signs I’m lying. “I don’t think you’d want to live in this monster mansion…” he said. “I don’t want to say anything more, just know it’s better you get out of here right now.”
“Monster mansion?” I repeat.
“What, you bought this place and you didn’t know?” he asked. “Blade Bats, Giant Clams, and Giant Slugs make their territory here. Why are you doing wandering about?”
“Hmm…” I hum.
“Don’t just go ‘Hmm’!” the boy yells. “Those are real, F-rank monsters!”
“Hmm…” I continue, ignoring him and looking at Nellie. “Hey, Nellie, I think I can handle them, can you?”
“Yes, I think so as well,” Nellie replies.
C-rank monsters are no trouble for myself and Nellie at our current levels. F-rank monsters are effectively kittens to us.
“Take this seriously!” the boy continues. “I’m not lying! It’s just that for some reason, they never leave this place which is why the city guards don’t know!”
Doesn’t this all sound very suspicious?
“Why don’t you go outside and look around yourself?” I counter. “No giant clams nor giant slugs crawling around nor bat blades flying around!”
“Ah… ahh… back at the fences, I killed them all with a few others…” the boy says. “But you’ll see them again before you know it, swear it!”
“Hmm… if that’s the case, why are you all living in such a dangerous place like this?”
“… We don’t have anywhere else to go,” he muttered. “At least we’ve got shelter from the wind and rain, and if we steal from the markets the guards don’t bother chasing us this far.”
“Haa…” I sigh, “I don’t want to be accused of harboring criminals on my property…”
“… Are you seriously siding with the guards?!” the boy snapped. “There are other kids abandoned by the adults living here… so if that’s the way you want this to be, then you leave me no choice,” he said as he pulled an old dagger from behind his back and gripped it with both hands.
“Wow… did you even think to maintain that?” I asked as I looked at his weapon. “The blade’s almost all rust.”
“Shut up! Just get out of here!”
“What to do…?” I thought. “Do I give him a 2-hour taste of the power of [Shadow Bind]?”
The boy charged at me.
“Oh…!” I said as I turned 20 centimeters to the right and dodged his blade completely. “Good thing I’m a combat veteran.”
I whipped out my [Iwakiri Kodachi] and parried his blade.
The “Clang!” of metal-on-metal rang out.
“Ha… how?!” the boy sputters as he looks at his broken dagger, a clean line where the blade had been severed. “How did you just do that?”
It was inevitable as my [Iwakiri Kodachi] had [Blade-breaker] as its special ability. And yes, my [Namiki Kodachi] has [Armour-breaker] as a complementary ability. Most of my soloing in Sengoku Online, it was these two in my hands.
“You…” the boy mutters. “Are you a noble…?”
“What do you mean?” I ask back. “I’m just an ordinary person…”
Behind me, I hear Nellie mumble, “Like Lady Shino could ever be called ‘ordinary’…”
“You just bought the land this mansion is on and you brought your maid, too!” the boy counters.
“Hmm… I consider myself more an ‘upstart adventurer and merchant’, really” I said.
“Hu… huh…” the boy mutters. “Well in that case: I’ll no longer consider you an enemy… but could you please think about the othe–”
“GROAAAARRRR…!”
“Kyyaaaaa…!”
Our talk was cut short by a ruckus from the second floor.
“Laurina! Mavin!” the boy yells as he dashes up the stairs by the front door.
“Wow…” I mutter as I watch him go. “What passion. Nellie, let’s help him!”
“Of course, Lady Shino,” Nellie says before we run up the stairs after him.
The door to a room on the second floor was busted wide open, we heard the boy shouting, “Hold on, Laurina! Die, you fucking goblin!”
We hurried onto the scene, found the boy holding his broken sword at a Goblin Imp, two girls cowering nearby. How old were these kids? They barely looked 10.
More importantly, why was there a goblin here in an abandoned mansion in the middle of a major city? They often kidnapped females of other species to breed but they never went this far. And the boy only mentioned blade bats, giant clams, and giant slugs earlier.
Where did this thing even come from?
I caught sight of a terrace further into the room, the doors long broken, a large tree’s branches growing right into it; it seems it came from this mansion but not this room, thankfully.
“Here I come…!” the boy shouts as he recklessly rushes to the goblin and the girls’ rescue.
Unfortunately, it only encourages the goblin to attack.
“Nellie, secure the girls,” I say as I prepare to move. “Make sure nothing happens to them.”
“Yes, Lady Shino,” Nellie said.
Nellie disappeared from my side, was soon between the goblin and the girls. Their clothes were still intact, which meant the worst hadn’t come to pass, at least.
At the same time, I struck out at the goblin’s neck with both swords.
Its head went flying off instantly.
Goblins are E-rank monsters; with such a stark level difference, a Critical was inevitable.
“Wha…” the boy mutters as he stares at us, stunned. “What the hell… who are you two?”
For the moment, I cleared out a safe place for the girls by using [Gale II] and [Divine Wind I] to sweep away dead branches and cut the tall grass. Then, I picked out a [Pavilion] and pressed [Build] while I stood on the empty plot.
This was originally a feature of the player housing system, as the most basic model available. I used this together with my main house as a rest area by a Japanese garden. This time, it was for the girls to sit and calm down.
“This is amazing!” the boy cried, his eyes bright. “What did you just do? How did you just do that? Hey, hey, did you just use magic? You just changed clothes in an instant! You’re not a hero, are you?”
I sigh and say, “I’ll explain later. Let’s take a break for now.”
Nellie and the girls are just as astonished as I invite them into the pavilion. When I was sure everyone was inside, I closed the screen doors behind us.
“He-Hey, what are you doing?” the boy sputters.
“Young man, I need to see the injuries under your clothes,” Nellie said. “I promise I won’t gaze anywhere inappropriate.”
“No…! Don’t look!” he yells as he turns red and storms out of the room. He stops, and says, “Um, and my name is Walter.”
“Got it,” I say. “Oh, and Walter?”
“… What?” he asks.
“Charging in unarmed just to protect your friends… that was pretty brave of you, don’t you think?” I said.
Yeah, he was a good kid. I gave him a free smile as a reward.
“Bah…” he mutters, blushing even more. “Don’t do anything stupid, just look after them…”
“We will,” I said.
After an examination, we found the girls were scratched in places but nowhere critical. Nellie’s [Cure Wounds] would make it so it was like they never got attacked in the first place. I, on the other hand, went to go investigate the corner of the garden where Walter and the others said they saw monsters.
… Was this a magic circle in the dirt? It looked pretty ancient. “Doesn’t this seem suspicious?” I mutter.
For the moment, I tried stepping onto the circle…
Shoom.
… And the next thing I knew, I was in a stone labyrinth.
As you might expect from a veteran MMO player, I wasn’t so reckless as to explore a dungeon without any prior information, so I looked around me to see if there was an exit. Lo and behold, there was a magic circle that was the same as the one outside.
So this was how they were getting onto the property…
I stepped back onto the circle.
Shoom.
I was back on my land, safe and sound.
“Hmm… if I don’t get to the bottom of this, monsters will continue to appear on my property…” I thought. “What do I do from here?”
I decided to gather everyone into the pavilion and hear out their sides of the story for now. “Let’s have formal introductions, everyone,” I said after we were all sat down. “My name is Kagura Shino, a rank-B Kunoichi with the Adventure’s Guild.”
“I am Nellie Savan,” Nellie said. “I am Lady Shino’s servant, a rank-C Luminous Maid.”
“My name is Walter,” Walter said. “These two… Laurina, Mavin, introduce yourselves. And, hey, are you really B-rank…? That must mean you’re super strong.”
“I’m Laurina,” the short girl with light brown hair said. “Uhm… thank you very much, Miss.”
“I’m Mavin,” the little girl with shoulder-length blond hair. “Thank you very much.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you all,” I said. “With those out of the way, why don’t we all eat? There’s plenty to go around,” I said, gesturing to the chabudai table1 in the center which I’d already filled to the brim with famous foods from Japan.
“S-Sure…” Mavin stammers.
“Thank you for the food!” Laurina said.
Since I laid them out the food, their eyes were locked on them, especially the sweets; it seems they can’t resist the allure of the persimmons and the sweet steamed buns.
“Oh… this… is so good!”
“I’ve never seen anything like this before, how is this so sweet?”
“Dummy, it’s not sweet, it’s full of juicy meat!”
According to Walter (who kept eating the entire time), it seemed there were some strange happenings from the nobles who used to live here. Children often went missing, with only a monster’s roar as evidence. Then about two years ago, the former owner died and disappearances stopped, so the neighbours assumed they had been kidnapping them for some mysterious purpose.
What a story.
“Because of that, nobody bothers to come here anymore, so we made it into our little fortress,” Walter finished.
“I see.”
“Um… we don’t have anywhere else to go, so please don’t kick us out…” Laurina said.
“Because Big Sister’s now the owner… please, please, don’t kick us out,” Mavin continued.
The two of them are giving me the full force of their puppy dog eyes. Come on, you two, this is just cheating.
“Nellie, isn’t there an orphanage in this town?” I asked.
“There are such places…” Nellie muttered. “But they often end up as fronts for slave traders. There used to be Beast-men like me who were bought from orphanages.”
Huh, they weren’t run by the kingdom’s or their town’s governments?
“Big Sis, I know it’s too much to ask… but…!” Walter starts.
“Walter,” I say, cutting him off. “I bought this land with the intention of building a new mansion atop it.”
“Ah… oh.”
“It will be fairly large and I’ve yet to hire more servants for it.”
“Oh? I see.”
“I can’t have you three squatting here, stealing from the people in town…” I started, “but I can offer you jobs as cooks, gardeners, and other essential servants?”
The three orphans’ eyes brighten up. “Oh… in that case, we’ll be those, Big Si… I mean, Ms. Shino,” Walter said.
I still have to do something about that magic circle on my property. I’ll definitely need to talk to the Adventure’s Guild about it.
“For now, I think we could all use a bath and a change of clothes,” I said.
As the three orphans smile and hug each other, I thought to myself, “There was a [Goemon Bath]2 item in the player housing system, after all..”
- Chabudai tables are short-legged tables found in traditional Japanese homes. The occupants kneel or sit on their legs around it.
- Goemon Baths are large metal bathtubs that are oftentimes heated with fires or other sources below. The history is pretty dark, so I’ll leave that to you to find out yourself.
Translator’s note: Because I’m lazy, I’m only relying on the categories and pages to link back to the main index. Back and Next buttons are the only ones left on the actual chapters.
ruff Translations 
Thank you very much
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