The days began to finally move into a routine. Every morning, we'd get up, make breakfast, and then go out securing one home after another. There were no more attempts to ambush us after we got rid of the Eldritch, and the ghosts seemed to be on the run. One house at a time was claimed, sanctified and any ghosts were quickly dealt with. If we encounter a group of more than four or five, we might create a spirit fire circle and send them running.
"Master… I found more ectoplasm!"
Furthermore, the ghosts dropped the item ectoplasm, another ingredient in alchemy. In the past, we had ignored the bluish goo that spawned after a ghost fell, thinking it to just be left over monster mush. Well, when Miki announced it was an expensive ingredient used in many recipes in the books she was going through, suddenly I felt like an idiot for throwing all of that coin away.
Speaking of which, our main goal from the beginning had been to acquire wealth. In that respect, we already ransacked about fifty gold coins worth of money from shops, bedrooms, and stashes. We wouldn't even need to enter the mansion before we acquired all 100 gold coins necessary to pay off our debt.
Ectoplasm wasn't used in any potions we really needed to make right now. However, I wasn't going to let coin be lost. We could still sell it and make a profit when we could afford to leave for the capital city for a while. Before we made that journey, I wanted my storage ring back though. Still, ghosts were usually rare, which meant ectoplasm was rare and thus valuable to sell. The only problem was the collection process.
"Eh!" Miki cried out and slipped on a puddle, landing where a bunch of ghosts had just been slain.
"Miki, are you okay?" I asked, running over to her.
"M-master… it's all over." Miki said tearfully.
Ectoplasm was really sticky and viscous. The collection took some time and if you weren't careful it got everywhere. That was Miki's case right now. She had blue globs all over her body and dripping down her hair.
"It's slimy, Master…" She cried.
"Hehe…" Lydia giggled. "Miki looks like a girl who accidentally gotten eaten by a slime!"
That was an expression in this world. An adventurer who accidentally got eaten by a slime is like calling someone a novice or a newb. In this case, it had the double meaning that she truly did look like a slime had gunked all over her. Lydia turned over to me and stuck out her tongue. While she had her back turned to Miki, Miki's mischievous smile flared.
Miki casually scooped up some ectoplasm, pulled on the back of Lydia's pants, and then dumped it down her crack.
"Ahhhhn! It's cold!" Lydia screams. "Master… punish her!"
"She started it!"
"Ahh… it's going lower, it's all over, Master, it's gushing…" Lydia looked like she was about to cry now too.
I sighed, used to these kinds of things happening during our daily trips. "Let's claim the bathhouse next. I'll clean you girls up."
According to the map, the bathhouse was only a few streets over. The girls were especially motivated, and it took almost no time at all to clear out the ghosts. I filled the bathtub and we even managed to get the heater going so that the water was hot. After that, we found some soap and I managed to clean the girls thoroughly.
They were right, it really did get everywhere. I had to get in especially deep in some places to remove all the gunk. I ended up getting too excited and after we were done, I had to wash them again. Life is funny that way.