We go to the reception and briefly look around. Above us stretches a screen that is once again powered by illusion stones. I look up and see a normal house with two floors, and there is already minimal interior furnishing. Since I used anti-forgery magic, I know that the images shown there are real. I then look at the three girls who are staring at the house with shining eyes. I smile and turn back to the receptionist.
"Hello, we would like this house," I say and place five gold coins on the counter.
The house seller nods with a smile and then turns around. He searches the key wall for the key. He finds it in the top row. He turns back around and walks closer to us. He places the key on the counter. I take the key, and we turn around at the same time and leave the building.
In the city, many giant buildings rise up, probably five to ten floors high, where five to ten people could live, but in my house there are only the four of us. I see a shop with a sign that says "24/7" on it. I look at it suspiciously, but I don't think long and head over since food can be seen through the display window. I enter, a bell sound rings, and the door closes by itself.
"こんにちは," says the woman at the register.
The four of us look at the woman at the counter as she bows politely, even though there is no reason to. What is that? I think and continue looking at her while the three girls are already looking around the store, apparently wondering what kind of building this is. I walk up to the shopkeeper, and she bows again.
"Um, what does that mean?" I ask the shopkeeper."Oh, sorry, that's Japanese and it means hello," the shopkeeper says.
I look at her briefly and then move on to the goods in the store. I see a strange long dough in a package with "YumYum Noodles" written on it. I look at it and then pick it up. Next to the shelf, I see a basket. I take it and put the noodles inside. I walk down the aisle while the three girls are looking at sweets in a corner. What are sweets even supposed to be? I think and take a closer look. They are small, ball-shaped sweets with "Sugar Bons" written on them. I take one of those as well and put it into the basket. I then come across even more YumYum, but in different flavors. I pack a total of ten more and then go to the girls.
"Are you three coming?" I ask in a more relaxed tone than usual."Yes, we're coming," the three girls say in unison.
Lui, Mori, and Sür follow behind me as I go to the counter. I place the items on the register table. The shopkeeper looks at the goods and then enters numbers on strange keys, which appear on a screen powered by illusion stones. I watch it and am slightly amazed that illusions can be used for something like this. I place eight silver coins on the counter, but the cashier shakes her head and takes something out of the register.
"You need this here," the woman says with an annoyed sigh.
I look at her while Lui has gone outside and comes back with bills that the cashier is also holding, with a large number written on them—1000—and a strange symbol next to it: "¥". I place the amount shown on the screen in front of her, which is 5000 ¥. The cashier takes the money and immediately exchanges all of my remaining money into ¥ as well. But why wasn't it a problem when buying the house? I think as I walk back to the girls while counting the money. With wide eyes, I count a total of 100,000,000 ¥. I put it into my pocket, which is almost too small and now looks heavily bulged. I take half of it out and put it into the other pocket, which now looks normal. Then it occurs to me that I could also put it into a dimensional hole. I create the dimensional hole, which is completely black, and place the money inside.
After that, we head to the location where the house should be, walking through streets filled with people and light. All our items are in a bag. We stop in front of the house I bought, and I go to the door. I unlock it and open it. A beautiful house appears, filled with wonderful light activated by electro stones. I stop, and the wardrobe is directly at the entrance. I take off my cloak and hang it on the hook of the coat rack. I place the dagger on the cabinet and then enter the entrance hall, which has a sofa and a lot of decorations. I sit down on the sofa and practically sink into it.
Lui is already unpacking the noodles and sweets into a cabinet next to the sofa. I stand up and take a look around the ground floor first. There are two hallways—one right next to the double staircase and one directly next to the sofa. I first go through the hallway next to the stairs, where the doors to the bathroom, bedroom one, and the kitchen are located. I go back and walk through the other hallway, where the dining room, bedroom two, and the toilet are. Then I go upstairs and see the last bedroom and another toilet. There is nothing more upstairs, only a large room meant for parties.
I go back downstairs and see Mori already putting the noodles into boiling water. I look over and then sit down again.
"Hey, the chili noodles smell good," I say to Mori."Yeah, do you want those?" Mori asks with a smile on her face.
I nod and then go to the three of them standing in the kitchen, which is just barely visible from the sofa. I stop next to them and look at the four bowls of noodles. Each one is mixed with a different soup: the chili noodles in red soup, the vegetarian ones in green soup, and the other two in yellow and blue soup. The noodles slowly soften, and Mori puts them into soup bowls. I take mine and grab a fork from the drawer under the stove, which is powered by fire stones. Everything unusual here is powered by magic stones.
I start tasting the noodles, and with the first bite my eyes begin to sparkle. I go to the dining room, and the three girls follow behind me. I sit down at the dining table and start eating the noodles. The girls do the same, and after twenty minutes we are finished.
"Well then, I'm going to sleep. Good night," I say with a smile.
The girls nod and smile softly in return. While Lui clears away the bowls, I go upstairs to my bedroom, which is about the same size as the one back in Lagoon. I lie down on the bed and fall peacefully asleep.
In the middle of the night, however, I have a dream. A village appears with various inhabitants—beastmen of all kinds and humans. A beastman girl approaches me with a smile. Tears form in my eyes and run down my face. I walk toward her, unable to think properly anymore.
"Lisa, you're here," I say in a crying voice.
Of course, I know it's only a dream, but no matter how much I try to understand it, I'm simply happy. Even though I know it's just my wish to meet her again, she hugs my dream body, and in the real world tears also flow. She wipes away my tears and keeps smiling.
"Min, you've become powerful, but you are far from the strongest. You will learn that soon, because…" Lisa says and then stops mid-sentence."What is it? What will happen soon?" I ask hastily and slightly tense."Time is up. What a shame," Lisa says as she becomes transparent.
I walk toward her and try to grab her almost completely transparent body, but it doesn't work, and she disappears. I look into the air, and the village slowly fades away as well. The tears remain as I stand in complete white, seeing and hearing only myself. What did she mean by that? What will happen soon? I think as I sit down on the white ground and strike it with my fist.
I wake up from the dream, startled, but silently—without screaming or anything else. I am flooded with tears and sweat. I look out the window and see that it is already getting bright. I stand up and sit down on the chair next to my bed, breathing heavily. I wipe away my tears, sit there for five more minutes, then stand up and leave the room.
I go into the bathroom and undress. I see a towel, and above it is written: "Men wrap this towel around their waist." I do as the sign says and enter the water, which is pleasantly warm and automatically filled using fire and water stones. Something like this is called a hot spring. After ten minutes, I get out and sit on a stool beneath a showerhead powered by water stones. I wash myself and then get dressed again with new clothes from the dimensional hole.
It is 09:32, as shown by a clock powered by illusion stones. The ideas here are unbelievable, I think as I leave the bathroom while the water refreshes itself. I go downstairs while Mori, Sür, and Lui are preparing food they bought fifteen minutes ago when the supermarket had just opened. I watch them in the kitchen as they prepare bread rolls and decorate them with various toppings. Breakfast is ready, and we begin to eat.
"This tastes delicious," I say with shining eyes.
The three smile and blush slightly at the compliment. We finish eating and then go to the kitchen to wash the dishes, which I do. Lui, Mori, and Sür relax a bit by going to bathe. When we're finished, Sür and Mori change clothes and come back out of the bathroom. All of us are now standing in the living room.
"I would like to take on quests," I say to the three girls."Yes, we'll come with you," all three say in unison while nodding.
We leave the house as I put on my cloak and dagger. We step outside with smiles and see streets filled with people. Beastmen also live happily alongside humans—a dream that never existed in Lagoon, no, in Limbora. We walk down the street and arrive in front of the guild.