I mulled over what to do in the coming days as I ate breakfast. My mind went in, and out of whatever was going on around me. The chatter around the table felt like background noise. It was cloudy outside. Looked like it might rain.
A few more targets remain, but I am almost done with my Delaron list.
After that… There's a man with 53333 points in the city, but what interested me more than he is his wife. She's a very important official of the government. Unfortunately, there's no point in approaching her yet because I needed to make a particular type of aphrodisiac first for my plan to work. And for that, I need a lab. I wonder when Bella will finish the renovations…
"Can I borrow the nun outfit?"
Nikola's question forced me out of my mind, "Huh?"
She was serious. "I saw that you weren't wearing it yesterday. So can I use it? Let me use it."
I thought about it for a second and said, "No."
"What? Why not?"
"Not so loud." I looked at the people around us. Even I drew too much attention wearing the nun outfit, there's no way she'd be discreet enough with it. It's Nikola we're talking about, after all. "No, it's mine."
"What? We're sisters; we should share."
I shook my head.
"Okay, then tell me where you got it; I'll get one myself."
Oh, god, she'll ruin it for everyone. "I'll lend it to you when we go to Greinne." It was the solution I came up with. Using it in Delaron, our base… The last thing I wanted was the church turning their eyes on us or some disgruntled wife reporting it to the Internal Patrol. At least if something goes wrong in Greinne, we can run away.
"I want to screw married men, now." She pouted.
"Hmm." Terrie didn't like the sound of that and grunted.
She was being so loud I wanted to grunt too; what if others heard. "Plenty of married men will screw you without the costume," I whispered. It was true, even without the bracelet, if you do them favors, most would be fine with it. Of course, I'm talking about men with less than 100 points. With men over 100 points, you'd probably need to do favors for the wife.
"But they won't open the door." She said.
"Did you try knocking on random doors?" What is she confessing to?
"I think it's their manly instinct." She theorized with a smirk. "I think they know if they open the door, they'll lose to my charm."
"Your charm?"
"What? It is my charm."
I looked at her ears and blurted out nonsense, "Charm ears, floppy mode."
"What?"
I smiled and said, "Nothing."
"Her floppy ears are very charming," Woodie admitted.
She mumbled, "But they're not that floppy." I went back to eating, thinking the discussion was over, but she piped up again, "I want to gain levels now! There are so many good-looking men in Delaron." She licked her lips.
"That's what I'm worried about. You'll cause a big ruckus. Do you want to run us out of town? We just bought a house."
"What? You used it; why can't I?" She was indignant.
"Because you're an idiot."
"Sherrie." Sterling was displeased. "Language."
I raised an eyebrow. Are they going to monitor my every word? Do I have to be polite all the time?
"You're the idiot." Nikola shot back, and Woodie, Dixon, Garth, Sterling, and Otto facepalmed. And I smiled. "I want to fuck men now!"
"Volume," Terrie warned her this time.
"Aren't you mad she's hiding it from us?" Nikola asked Terrie.
"I'm not hiding anything…" Well… I am trying to, but everyone around the table already knew, and I wouldn't be surprised if some people in the hotel had noticed as well. I need to be more careful. Thankfully, most people didn't like getting involved and ignored assholes like me.
"I don't want to use it… I'm not like you guys." Terrie muttered.
"Well, I want it. Sisters should share. Let me borrow the costume."
She was being loud, it didn't look like she'd shut up about it, so I said, "I'll let you borrow the plumber outfit. But we'll talk about it later. Just shut up about it already."
"You have a plumber outfit too?" It seems she didn't know. Though, I thought I mentioned it at the table before for some reason or another. "Okay, when, later?"
"Later in my room later. After breakfast."
"Okay, I'm almost done." She shoveled the last two eggs into her mouth. "Can num we num go num now."
"Don't talk with your mouth full. And let me finish my breakfast too." I said.
Bella showed up at the restaurant just as I was finishing my breakfast.
"Oh, I was just thinking about you," I said when she came to our table.
"Good, you're here." She said. "I knocked on your door, and no one answered."
"Yeah, just having breakfast."
"Okay. Well, we found something… Few things… You might want to come take a look."
"Few things?"
"Yeah." She nodded.
I didn't know why she was being cryptic, but I nodded. "Okay, I was just about done." I put the last morsel of food in my mouth. "Let me get changed first." I was in my casual clothes.
"Okay, the carriage is waiting. I'll wait outside." Bella said and left the restaurant.
Nikola followed me up to my room. "Didn't you hear her? Something just came up. Can't you wait till later?" I opened the door to my room.
"No, I want to level up today." She said. "I've been eyeing this guy for a few days. I want to fuck him."
"If you've already been eyeing him… Wait, have you been stalking some guy?"
"No." She pursed her lips and looked to the side.
"How would the plumber outfit help if you've already been stalking him?" I didn't understand what she was trying to do.
"Oh, you're right." It looked like she didn't understand it either. I just shook my head and started changing into my formal clothes. "Okay, that doesn't matter. I'll get him some other way. I still want to try the nun outfit."
"I'm not giving you the nun outfit." I took out the plumber outfit from the closet and handed it to her. "Please, please, try to be discreet."
She snorted. "Have I ever been not discreet?"
My eyes could only twitch. I didn't know how to respond to that. How can anyone be this un-self-aware? "Okay, I don't have time for this. Bella's waiting outside. Just don't do anything stupid."
"You keep calling me stupid." She shook her head. "I admit you might be as smart as me, but I was one of the smartest people in my village. My friends were always jealous of how smart I was."
"Okay." I shook my head and pushed her out of the room. Finished with their meals, Sterling and Otto were walking toward us. So I left the door open and said, "Guys, I have to go with Bella. I'll be back after doing… whatever it is that she wants me for. I don't know."
"Okay." They said.
"Yeah, even the village granny was impressed by me and took my side when the neighboring chief came screaming." Nikola was still talking about her village.
I just shook my head. What she was saying made more sense if you replaced 'smart' with 'slut,' probably. "Do you want to come with me to Castle Xeneon?" I had to ask.
"No." She said and walked away with the costume.
"Maybe I should've asked Terrie," I said.
"She doesn't want to go. No one wants to go to that place!" Nikola shouted as she entered her room.
"Haa," I sighed, "You two are being melodramatic." I shook my head and walked downstairs.
***
When I came out of the hotel, I saw Petra's rickshaw and Bella's carriage waiting by the curb.
First, I went to Petra. She stood up and saluted me and asked, "What kind of costume is this, big sis?"
I first commanded her to not call me 'big sis.' "Don't call me 'big sis,' call me Sherrie." Then I said, "This isn't a costume; this is a green suit. A regular suit." Can't I wear a regular suit?
"Oh." She nodded, trying to turn the rusty gears in her head.
"I don't need you today. I'm going with that carriage." I pointed at the carriage beside us. "Come back tomorrow," I said.
"You're not going to collect points?"
"No," I said and walked away from her. I knocked on the carriage door, and Bella opened the door.
"Wait, let me come with you," Petra shouted.
"What? No." I climbed into the carriage and closed the door. Bella knocked on the little sliding window, and the driver drove the horse forward.
***
"So what's going on? When will the renovations be finished?" I asked as the carriage rolled through the streets of Delaron.
"It'll be done by the third week of July." She said. "I've planned out everything."
"What? It's going to take that long?" I wanted to leave for Greinne by the end of July.
Bella smiled. "That's fast in our business."
"Well, it's not fast enough."
"You can start moving in, in a week. I think we can finish 3 bedrooms by then, and- You got to take a look at it first."
Her uneasiness suggested something had popped up in the middle of her plans. "Why are you dragging me out there now, anyway? If it's about what color paint or… I don't care. You should talk to Terrie or the boys or something."
"No, it's not that. Stace already laid out the design for your mansion. No, we found a hidden space."
"Hidden space?" I asked.
"Well, you'll see it. I think the old owner used to have a safe there, but it's empty now."
"Where was it?"
"In the main bedroom."
"Main bedroom?" I forgot which one that was.
"We also found a cellar."
"Cellar?"
"Yeah, it was in the garden. I don't think it was intentionally hidden, but I think they stopped using it years ago."
"Hmm."
"We could fill it with sand if you want?"
"Let me see it." Isn't that why we're going there in the first place.
"Alright."
***
"Okay, here it is," Bella said as we walked into the main bedroom.
"Oh, the walls look brand new." I was impressed.
"Yeah, one of the girls noticed it while they were painting it." She said and went over to an old lamp mounted to the wall. She pulled on the lamp like a switch; it bent 45 degrees and clicked. Then Mechanical magic on the wall activated, and the wall slid open. Revealing an empty space the size of our hotel room. "It was filled with webs when we found it, but we cleaned it out."
"Hm. Okay."
"What do you want us to do? I think a huge safe used to be here, but obviously, the previous owner had it removed."
"Why do you say that?"
"It's just a guess. Either way, this room was made in secret. It wasn't in the plans."
"Why would they sell it to us without disclosing it?"
"I don't know about this house, specifically, but we see this with many old places with old blueprints that the original owner hasn't owned for decades. It's gone through the bank to some agency, then you have no idea who's owned it in the middle. Rooms and passages get added in without the blueprints being updated… It's a mess." She sighed. "You'd be surprised how many places don't match their blueprints."
"Hm. Okay."
"So, what do you want to do with it?"
"Can you install another safe in it? I do need somewhere to store my sensitive documents and stuff."
"Oh, sure. We can get a mechanical magician to create the lock system, and TT can reinforce the walls with steel."
"TT?"
Bella shook her head. "She's good with metal."
"Okay." I didn't know who that was. "Yeah, then just add that to the cost. And if you can install a security feature for the wall too, that'd be good." Just having it open when someone pulls the lamp wasn't reassuring.
"Security feature?" Bella didn't understand.
"Maybe just get rid of the lamp and instead install a magic passcode lock or something. I just don't want the switch for the wall to be so easy to fumble over. Maybe make it something like you have to pull the lamp 45 degrees, turn it 90 degrees, and twist the top 20 degrees for the wall to open. Or something. You know."
"Oh, I see. Okay."
"Yeah, just in case." That way, hopefully, they won't find the safe to begin with. Bella nodded. She crossed her arms, pumped out her chest, and thought of what to do with my suggestions. I broke her out of her thoughts by asking, "So what's next?" I wanted to see the cellar.
"Right, I have to show you the cellar." She said.
"Okay." I nodded.
***
She took me to the overgrown garden, and hidden behind vines and weeds were a pair of doors leading to an underground cellar.
"Why is it so detached from the mansion?" I was annoyed that I had to walk through overgrown grass.
Bella shrugged and pried open the doors. "Ah, I should've brought light."
"Don't bother," I said and activated [energy manipulation, telekinesis, lightning]. I activated all three because I wanted to create a near-perfect light ball.
"Oh, you can use light magic," Bella said.
It wasn't light magic, but I didn't correct her. Instead, I walked down the creaky stairs, down into the dark cellar. Bella followed me in. There were a lot of wine bottles down there and barrels too. I picked one up and appraised it using [look-a-look]. It had amazing stats and could've been sold for a few gold coins if it hadn't already gone bad. The skull and bones symbol was present on the information window and some words about its poison status. "They've gone bad."
"Yeah, we thought as much. But what do you want to do with the cellar? Should we fill it with sand?"
"No, restore it." I think this property was previously a vineyard. I'd like to make some wine too, and if I find the time, I'll do it. So I wanted to restore it.
"Oh. Then… We'll have to replace… everything. The structural integrity of the walls and beams… We shouldn't even be standing in here." She says after we are both inside. Now I felt scared looking at the walls and beams.
"How much will it cost?" I asked. Then before she could answer, we heard another pair of footsteps coming down the creaky stairs. We looked over and saw Petra. "What the hell are you doing here?" I asked her immediately.
"Oh, you guys were so fast," Petra said. "Give me a second. I'm still catching my breath. Why is it so dusty in here." Then she began to cough. "I saw you. I was shouting the whole time. Didn't you hear me?"
"What the hell are you doing here?" I asked her again.
"I followed you guys." She said, smiling. "I ran the whole way."
"Yeah, why?"
"Well, I asked if I could come, and you didn't say anything."
"Yeah, I said, no. I said no."
"Why not?"
"Who's she?" Bella asked.
"Nice to meet you. I'm her sister."
"Oh, I didn't see you the last time." They shook hands, and Bella turned to me and said, "So, you added another person to your adventurer's group."
"Ah…"
"You're an adventurer?" Petra asked. Now Bella was confused. Petra scratched her head and mumbled, "I don't like dungeons."
"Then why did you join a sisterhood of adventurers?" The confused Bella asked.
"I didn't know she was an adventurer." She scratched her head and mumbled, "I thought she was a pimp or something."
"What?" Now Bella was really confused. Question marks were crawling out of her face.
"Just ignore her!" I told her. "We were talking about the price? How much will the renovation cost when you add this and the safe?"
"Oh, ah…" She thought about it and said, "1 or 2 gold for the safe, and probably 5 for this cellar."
"Oh, that's expensive."
She shrugged. "I could make it more expensive, but I think you want the cheaper option, right?"
"Yes," I nodded. "I want the cheapest."
"1 or 2 gold? What's going on, big sis? I was wondering why we came to this place." Petra asked.
We didn't come here; you followed me. "Call me Sherrie."
"Right, sorry… Sherrie."
"Your new member is… funny," Bella said with a smile, trying to be nice.
"She's not… Nevermind. Let's go outside." I said.
We talked some more about the details as we walked to the carriage. Petra followed us, listening to us and picking up hints here and there…
Bella said, "So, I'll just add everything to the final bill," when we got to the carriage.
"Yeah…" I didn't like the sound of it, but it couldn't be helped.
"Then I'm going to go back inside. The driver will take you back." Bella said, looking up at the carriage driver.
The driver nodded.
"No, I can take you back, big- Sherrie." Petra, butt in. "My rickshaw is right there." She pointed at the rickshaw parked on Castle Xeneon's private gravel road.
"Oh…" Bella had a hard time making sense of what was going on. Why is a rickshaw puller claiming to have joined an adventurer's group? And why would an adventurer's group want a rickshaw puller?
"I'll give you a ride back." Petra insisted.
"Fine." I looked up at the driver and said, "I'm going with her. That'll save you a trip."
"Oh, sure." The driver nodded.
Then I changed the topic and asked, "So we can move in in a week."
"Yeah, we can finish the bedrooms and the entrance first so you guys can live in it while we do the other rooms."
"Okay, then can you finish the lab within a week too?" To me, that was the most important part. Everything else can take its time.
"The lab? Oh, right, the building in the back. We were going to do it last, but we can bump it up on the priority list if you'd like."
"Yes! Bump it way up!" I exclaimed. "Make it priority number one."
"Oh." She was shocked. "Okay."
"Good. Good." I calmed myself down. Then silence descended on us. "Okay, then I'll head back."
"Okay, sure. I should get back to it. Keep an eye on the girls." Bella said.
"Alright." I nodded.
***
As I sat on the rickshaw and watched the dark clouds gather, Petra asked, "Is that your mansion?" She'd heard us talk and was curious.
"Yeah, we just bought it," I said.
"So you're an adventurer. So how many people are in our group?"
"There are two others," I said.
"Oh, so I'm your 3rd sister."
"I guess."
Then there was silence again before she asked, "Are you going to fuck more men today?"
"Hmm." I guess there is time today to hit a few homes. Well, there were only a few homes left… I might still be able to finish the whole list today. "What about you? Are you free today?" I don't know why I asked, of course, she was free.
"Yes, big- Sherrie." She nodded.
"Okay, then wait for me outside the hotel. I'll get changed and come out." I said.
"Yes!"