Chapter 100

It was a holiday, three days after Aliénor finished her study abroad and departed.

True to the spirit of a day off, I was cleaning the house. To mark the occasion, I had recently splurged on a high-end broom.

“Man, brooms with magic settings really are efficient! It keeps gathering dust into clumps so quickly; it’s actually rewarding!”

One of the most important elements of doing anything is a sense of accomplishment. When you can see that you’ve achieved this much today or that something went well, your motivation goes up and you feel like doing it again.

This broom provided exactly that. Cleaning the room—where it was usually hard to tell just how much cleaner it had actually become—was now, in a word, “visualized.”

“Individual homes don’t get incredibly muddy, so it used to be hard to see the effects of cleaning… But with this, the dust balls keep getting bigger, so it feels like a game. Well, it is a bit of a shock to see just how much dust there is even when it looks clean…”

I handled the sweeping, Mary handled the wiping of windows and surfaces, and Cerulia handled the bathroom.

Since Cerulia doesn’t wear much to begin with, she’s suited for wet work where things often get soaked. It’s the right person for the right job. Also, though I haven’t asked for too many details, she apparently feels that “it’s a Succubus’s workplace, so it must be kept pristine.”

“You look unusually happy, Franz. You’re like a high-performance male maid,” Mary remarked. She didn’t look particularly thrilled about cleaning, but she helped out diligently.

“There’s no harm in enjoying cleaning, is there? We’re on a good pace, and we’re almost done with the last room, the dining area. Let’s finish up quick and head out to eat.”

We had already finished cleaning our private rooms.

“Wrong, Franz. There’s still one room left. The one that girl Aliénor was using.”

“Ah, right… that one is still there…”

It was the room President Kelkel had added out of nowhere for Aliénor during her mini-study abroad.

“Hey! You didn’t just get the blues hearing Aliénor’s name, did you? I don’t want to see you acting like you’re reminiscing about an ex.”

“No, no, no! I wasn’t even dating Aliénor in the first place!”

Mary seemed to have a bit of a hang-up regarding Aliénor. It wasn’t that she hated or resented her as a person, but I sensed a mysterious sense of rivalry. Aliénor was much more blatant about calling me her “rival” over and over, but what Mary felt seemed to have a different meaning entirely.

Mary still looked dissatisfied.

“Hmm. So you aren’t ‘dating,’ but you still do ‘those things.’ You really are the model of a Dark Mage.”

“That was… just the flow of the moment, or rather, the momentum…”

“Sigh… Well, maybe I’ll look for some underwear that creates that kind of ‘flow’ when we go to the capital today.”

“D-don’t say weird things. Mary is cute just as she is!”

“Wh-what are you saying, Franz… Even though we’ve done it too… And then you go and say something like ‘cute’ all of a sudden…”

Mary’s words were still aggressive, but her face was beet red.

“B-but, I guess I’m somewhat happy… Thanks…”

“Because it’s obvious that you’re cute, Mary…”

Maybe I should look into some dark magical method that allows a person to marry multiple people in the future.

The cleaning of the room Aliénor had occupied proceeded at a high pace. It was a simple room, and none of her personal belongings were left behind. Mary was thoroughly picking up stray hairs from the floor; I just hoped she wasn’t planning to cast any curses.

Furthermore, Cerulia joined in to help once she finished the wet work. I think the room ended up looking like a suite in a high-class inn.

“It’s very beautiful now.”

“Yeah. But it feels like a waste to leave it as an unused room. Even if we leave it alone, dust will still pile up.”

“I think we should ask the President to remove it. I don’t really like having an extra room beyond mine anyway.”

Certainly, if one had a housemate with many hobbies who needed storage, extra rooms would be a blessing, but for our current family of three, it had little utility.

“Shall we go shopping in the capital then? I’d like to enjoy some fashion for the first time in a while.”

“Got it. Cerulia, your fashion changes are actually a bit hard to notice… but I think clothes that cover more might look good on you for a change.”

“That is quite difficult for a Succubus.”

The path of the Succubus is deep. However, if anything, I wanted her to enjoy fashion in a broader sense. Plus, I personally wanted to see Cerulia in different kinds of clothes.

“But look, showing sex appeal in clothes that aren’t revealing is actually higher level. Showing it in erotic clothes is, in a way, expected, right? I think you should move on to the next stage, Cerulia.”

“I understand! I shall step up my game for your sake, Master!”

Great, now I get to see a new side of Cerulia!

That day, I decided we’d buy clothes for Cerulia and Mary without worrying about the cost. Money isn’t just for saving; the economy doesn’t turn unless you use it. And the reason I could use money with peace of mind was thanks to our company’s stable management and the good salary they provide. Long live the Necrogrant Dark Magic Company.

Man, today was another good day.

But—the day wasn’t over yet.

As we were heading home in the evening after enjoying our holiday, I saw something unusual further down the quiet street.

Someone was collapsed on the ground!