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“Is that… really enough, Rose?” Mika asked her.

Would merely preparing her to become independent and make food for her be alright?

Rose gazed at us with gloomy eyes, as if to show her displeasure.

“No matter how many a time thou maketh Us say. ‘Tis what We want.”
“Alright… If you say so, Rose,” Mika relented.
“You’re right… we’ll simply support you with all we have, okay?” I agreed.

Providing her with the support for her new life is my area of expertise. Since I have Item Master, right?

“Hrm, We thank thee for saying so. We are planning to leave here, as We become an adventurer.”
“Yeah… understood. If that’s what you really want, there’s no other way. You know, your wishes have priority, Rose. In that case, we should prepare first, alright?”
“Aye, We should,” Rose placed her hands onto the sofa and nodded briskly.

“Then… what should we do first? Since you’ll be here for only today… you probably don’t us need to show you around the mansion, I guess?”
“Nay… We want to pay thee visits, once in a while. Prithee, give Us a tour.”
“Hm, gotcha. Shall we do that first, then?”

I tidied up the dishes in an instant, and we then spent around two hours touring our expansive mansion with Rose. Each time we entered a different room, Rose’s eyes lit up, but apparently there were also quite a few rooms that Mika hadn’t seen before, so she said it was a fresh experience for her. Finally, we showed Rose the guest room… In other words, the place she’d be staying for just today.

For a moment, Rose gasped for air.

“Sayeth, Alim. Dost thou know, there exists a proper way to describe this room?”
“What would that be?”
“‘Tis needlessly extravagant… ‘twould be what We might call it.”

Hm~, is that so…? I merely based the room on the most important guest room in Mephilad castle and what I could remember from ultra high-class hotels¹.

“Moreover… We were thinking, since We were in that room for the two of thee.”
“What is it?”
“‘Tmight be since We were a dungeon ruler… We can see it, by some chance. This residence itself… ’tis a treasure trove of absurd proportions, nay? Take that glass window and those curtains… and the clothes We are currently wearing, also,” Rose said, as she pointed at a window in the corridor.

Really, she can tell the value just from intuition…? Sure, from the perspective of someone who knows how valuable the things here are, it probably looks like a mountain of treasures, doesn’t it? At any rate, everything except for consumables and clothing is legend grade.

Normally, Mika and I were fine with using enchantments to temporarily lower the value and effects of all these items, which also saved power… Take the bed for example. If we were to turn off the power save… It’d probably feel as if you’d never used a proper bed before, and after sleeping there only once, you might never get out of it again².

Well… Almost all the items in the mansion would have this effect, you know.

“Oh, you can see that? Most of the items are legend grade. Well, this mansion itself is an item of legend grade, you see. Though since our normal clothing is visible to other people, I deliberately stopped between supreme grade and national treasure grade there…”
“H-Hey, Alim. It kind of looks like Rose’s soul has left her body…”
“Ah, you’re right.”

Her mouth stood open, and she had fainted while still standing³.
I see… does that happen with normal people, when they accidentally learn the value of this mansion?

For the time being, Mika and I placed Rose onto the bed of the guest room, we had planned for her to spend the night in, of course with the bed’s effects reduced. When she didn’t regain consciousness even after 20 minutes, I ended up using an item to forcibly wake her up.

“Wha-…!? By Our fay…”
“You got startled… Rose. You suddenly lost consciousness.”
“Our apologies for this. We feel as if We had a nightmare,” while rubbing her eyes, she gave an exasperated laugh.
“Oh, what was it about?”
“There was treasure scattered around all over, as if that was normal.”

Apparently, the shock had been that big, she ended up losing her memories!

“Hm? That wasn’t a dream, that’s just our stuff, right?” Mika told her. “Oh, but no telling others, will you? It would be a problem, if thieves came here… though they likely wouldn’t manage to break in.”

Rose put her hand to her forehead and sighed.

“Why… so, ’twas no dream… What dost thou mean to say? ‘Tis insane, no matter what one thinks. Even if We were to tell this to someone, they might never believe Us… So? How might that even be possible? Hast thou gone through more than 500 labyrinths, by chance?”

I feel sorry for leaving her in this confusion, so I think I should tell her about the power of my skills… But I better discuss that with Mika in advance.

Since I currently couldn’t afford to whisper, I sent her a message.

With that being said, I explained to Rose the abilities of my skills. While I was talking, Rose was constantly surprised.

“‘Tmight be as that master skill allows thee to create things freely, thou lost sight of those things’ power. Still, We would prefer to call thee a liar for stating thou art able to make legend grade items freely… but naught but that might explain this treasure trove, that be thy mansion.”
“Ah-ha-ha, that’s how it is! By the way, the magic bag I gave you is also legend grade, and I’m pretty sure most of the things I’ll give you in preparation to stand on your own feet will also be legend grade, alright?”

When I told her that, Rose fell completely silent. After a short while, she took a big sigh and looked at us.

“We do not… A mere smidgen for preparation might be enough, dost thou not see that? If thou only let Us borrow 5000 bells, We might… Of course, We shall return them the moment, Our living has grown stable…”
“Eh, if you want us to give you money… Mika?”
“That’s right… We can give you around five billion bells, so…”
“Wha-…!?”

This time, Rose was audibly startled.

“Dost… dost thou… dost thou have any though of the value of five billion bells?”
“One billion bells times five⁴?”
“Right on… Wait, that was not what We meant… Why do ye lasses – though thou might be SSS-Rankers – have that kind of fortune? Thou likely art not lying. Might those five billion bells, you plan to bestow upon Us, only be part of thy funds?”
“Well… we have our reasons,” Mika replied with a faraway look.

She’s right, describing it as ‘we have our reasons’… is probably the best way, isn’t it?

“…We comprehend thee less and less. Just… who art thou?”
“When you live in the royal capital, you’ll find out, whether you like it or not. Isn’t that right?”
“It sure is!”

Mika and I both agreed, while grinning with our heads tilted to the side.

It was one of the gestures that captured the hearts of many fans during those one and a half months. At the start, I had absolutely no idea, what was so great about it. However, after Kyme showed me those pictures, I couldn’t help understanding its effect.

But for the time being, Mika was cute as always.

“We… We see… ‘Tis fine, then, even should thou not tell Us this day.”
“Well, yep. Then… in the end, in preparation for your life… would you rather have items or money?”
“So, ‘thas already been decided, that thou wilt bestow something onto me…”
“Yep!”

Rose showed an expression of resignation, and after a few minutes of deliberation…

“In that case… We request items.”
“Understood!”

…she chose items.

TL notes:
Even a former SS-Rank dungeon boss, likely as strong as a normal SSS-Ranker, cannot stand up to Alim’s craziness. And as all before her, she ultimately resigns herself to the fate of merely smiling and nodding as any common sense evaporates around her.

1. Of course he did, though I guess most of us would, if given the proverbial sandbox that is Item Master + Dark Matter.
2. That sounds more like a trap than furniture.
3. Aw, they broke the dragon…
4. The original is 100’000’000 bells times 50. That’s because Japanese counts in 10’000 steps instead of the 1’000 steps we use (1, 10, 100, 1000, 10’000, then 100’000’000, 1’000’000’000’000 and so on…).