CH 197

Chapter 197 : Returning To The New House

After we finished our dinner, I decided to go home to my new house.

「I’m going home now. See you tomorrow.」(Mark)

「Wait, Mark… Are you really sure?」(Celine)

「Hm?」(Mark)

She must be worried if I’ll be able to live on my own or not.

「Don’t worry. I can take care of myself.」(Mark)

「If you say so… See you tomorrow then~」(Celine)

When I nodded to Celine and was about to turn around, Nicola suddenly jumped off her chair and waved her hand to Celine and Eclain.

「Celine onee-chan, Eclain Mama, see you tomorrow~!」(Nicola)

Hold on…

『Hey, you’re not staying here?』(Mark)

『Nope. I was planning to stay in your house from the beginning. I’ve already told Celine, by the way.』(Nicola)

『Eehh…?』(Mark)

I don’t know what her reason is, but anyway, we left Celine’s house and walked to my new house.

When I looked up at the night sky, I could see the dazzling bright moon, but its light was blocked by the trees, so it was a bit dark.

It would be dangerous walking through the woods like this, so I made a light ball to illuminate our path.

While walking, I talked with Nicola.

We talked verbally because no one was around.

「I thought you were going to stay in Celine’s house. Didn’t you want to sleep with Celine or Eclain every day?」(Mark)

After I asked that, Nicola sighed and shrugged her shoulders. Somehow, it annoyed me a little.

「Onii-chan, you’re such an ignorant. You know, a certain evil superhuman once said that you shouldn’t eat just the meat, but you should also eat the cabbage in between.」(Nicola)

*/TL : It’s from the line spoken by Sunshine, one of the antagonists and a former member of the elite team of the Devil Knights, in the second volume of “Kinnikuman Second Generation”.

*Eating in a place like this and having small talk with other people is not bad once in a while. You know, if you eat only the meat you will get heartburn. It’s not good for your body. So, you should also eat the cabbage in between because cabbage can prevent heartburn.

TL: It’s a bit confusing but you guys probably know what it means. If you do something you like over and over again, you will sometimes get bored of it, so you need a refreshment once in a while.

「So you say… Staying in my house is ‘the cabbage’?」(Mark)

「Exactly. If I continue to cling to Celine and Eclain Mama all the time, I will eventually get used to that luxury. So, in order to enjoy clinging to them with a fresh feeling every time, I think I need to stay away from them from time to time.」(Nicola)

Nicola puffed out her chest as she explained.

Is that how it works? I really don’t understand the way she thinks…

「Besides, I don’t want you to get used to living by yourself.」(Nicola)

「Huh? What do you mean?」(Mark)

「I’m planning to leech on you in the future, so of course, I will be living with you. Someday, I will make you say, “I don’t feel comfortable if you’re not at home. You don’t have to work, so please stay as long as you want.”」(Nicola)

「Uhh… Do you really think I will say that?」(Mark)

「Moreover! Since you and Ester have become friends, she will occasionally come to your house to play. That means the more reason to stay in your house.」(Nicola)

「Ah, speaking of her, she said she would bring me flowers to decorate my house tomorrow.」(Mark)

「 That’s great!」(Nicola)

「You will work at her house starting tomorrow, so you will see her almost every day anyway.」(Mark)

「No, no. Working and playing are completely different things! She has a sharp intuition, so it will be a bit tough to approach her, but it seems that she will completely trust you once you become her friend after seeing her holding your hand when you both were sleeping. Aahh~ I can’t wait to be her friend too~!」(Nicola)

Nicola was grinning while saying that.

It looks like she is really looking forward to getting closer to Ester.

However, she had no idea about the bitter truth.

「Ah, Nicola, it seems that the maximum number of friends she can have has reached the limit.」(Mark)

「Huh?」(Nicola)

「I know it’s weird, but it looks like she is not used to having many friends. Two friends, Celine and me, are more than enough, it seems.」(Mark)

「So that means…」(Nicola)

「Yeah. She didn’t want more friends for now.」(Mark)

「…Seriously…?」(Nicola)

Her bright face turned into a blank expression.

I’d be lying if I said I don’t feel sorry for her.

「Well, it’s not that you don’t have a chance at all to become her friend, right? Anyway, I will let you stay in my house, so cheer up.」(Mark)

I don’t mind if she wants to live with me. Her ability to sense enemies’ presences is better than mine, so she will surely be helpful.

「Really? Yaay~!」(Nicola)

Her face turned bright again and she started running around me, expressing her joy.

What a busy girl.

After walking through the woods for a few minutes, we reached the walls I made surrounding my house.

I touched one of the walls, made a hole so that we could pass through, and then fixed it once we were inside.

「That’s right. I forgot to ask. How did you and Celine pass the walls when you came here? Did Celine use earth magic?」(Mark)

「Nope. Just like Ester when she left, Celine jumped over these walls while carrying me.」(Nicola)

「Hee… I knew Ester was very agile, so she could do that easily, but I didn’t know that Celine could do that too.」(Mark)

「No, unlike Ester who used her own physical strength, Celine used wind magic to help her jump.」(Nicola)

「Ah, that makes sense.」(Mark)

I wonder if I can jump high like she did if I practice wind magic more often. Maybe I can even fly in the air, but I feel like it will be very hard to adjust the force of the wind to keep my body floating steadily.

While thinking about practicing wind magic, I headed to the field before going to my house and then took out a watering can from my Item Box.

「I’m going to water the field first. It won’t be long.」(Mark)

「Alright. By the way, why did you make a footbath?」(Nicola)

「I was going to use the remaining hot water in my Item Box to water the field. I made this to cool off the water at first, but then it reminded me of footbaths.」(Mark)

「I see. Whose remaining hot water was this?」(Nicola)

「It was Celine’s.」(Mark)

「Oh~! So this water contains Celine and Ester’s sweat!」(Nicola)

As she said that, Nicola looked passionately at the water for some reason.

「Oi, oi. Don’t even think about it!」(Mark)

「Think about what?」(Nicola)

「You’re thinking of drinking it, aren’t you?」(Mark)

「I’m not! What kind of person do you think I am?」(Nicola)

「A pervert.」(Mark)

「Ugh, I admit I’m a pervert, but I won’t do that! I’m just thinking that the vegetables that will grow here will contain Celine and Ester’s sweat. I bet their sweat will make the vegetables taste better!」(Nicola)

「Uhh… Did you forget that I also put my feet into that water?」(Mark)

「Aa… Gaaah! Your feet ruin everything! If the vegetables taste bad, it will be your fault!」(Nicola)

「Alright, alright… Anyway, wait for me here. I’ll make it quick.」(Mark)

I ended the conversation with the pervert and put the water in the footbath into my Item Box.

Then, I put it into the watering can little by little as I watered the field.

I can only see the soil for now, but the buds will sprout after a while. I hope I can produce a lot of delicious vegetables here. Just imagining the field covered in green makes me feel happy.

Based on my experience so far, it takes a week for tomatoes and cabbage, three days for cucumbers, and half a month for Segilia Grasses to grow before I can harvest them if I keep watering the field with water containing mana. It’s way faster than using normal water.

After I finished watering the field, I approached Nicola who had been watching me working while crouching down on the ground.

「I’m done. Let’s go. I’ll show you my house.」(Mark)

「Okay~ Say, Onii-chan, you should stop grinning while watering the fields. Ester would think that you were a weirdo if she saw it.」(Nicola)

「Eh? I was grinning?」(Mark)

I didn’t realize it at all.

I was grinning perhaps because I was imagining my field would be full of fresh grown vegetables.

When we reached my house, I opened the only entrance to the house and invited Nicola in.

「Welcome to my sweet home~」(Mark)

「…What is this? A prison cell?」(Nicola)

Ugh, she is rude as usual, but…

There are no windows… No decorations… Only a table, a chair, and a bed… On top of that, the gray wall makes the atmosphere feel a bit gloomy.

I have to admit that I kinda agree with her this time…