The sky outside was already turning pale, and the first rays of morning sunlight streamed through the estate's dust-covered stained-glass windows, falling across the floor of the hall.
As the last stubborn resentful doll dissolved into smoke to the sound of Aqua's nearly lifeless mutter, "Just... disappear already... you bastard...," the dark clouds that had hung over the estate all night finally cleared away.
The air, which had been bitterly cold, instantly turned fresh and calm, as if the chaotic farce of ghosts running wild last night had never happened.
"It's... over... This Goddess... finally... won..."
Aqua collapsed into the Holy Water array in the center of the hall like a puddle of mud. Her once gorgeous goddess robes were now wrinkled beyond recognition, her long blue hair was a bird's nest, and her whole body gave off the ashen aura of someone who had completely burned herself out.
Just then, an incredibly rich aroma drifted over from the kitchen, strong enough to bring the dead back to life and make ghosts cry.
It was a blend of browned premium butter, the rich fattiness of fresh meat, and an aggressively spicy fragrance released in an instant by fire.
"Phew... all done!"
Kōichi pushed open the kitchen door carrying a huge silver tray, with Megumin following behind him wearing a look of pure admiration, her staff still smoking.
"Everyone! Sorry to keep you waiting! Kōichi's special Explosion Fried Chicken with Golden Holy Water Egg Fried Rice is ready!"
On the tray, golden, crispy pieces of fried chicken were piled up like a small mountain, every piece glistening with irresistible oil.
It was Kōichi's masterpiece, made by using the Cooking skill he had just leveled up, together with Megumin's precisely controlled trace amounts of fire magic, though she had nearly blown up the pan, to seal the juices into the meat with an instant burst of high heat.
Beside it was the egg fried rice, each grain perfectly coated in egg and gleaming in the sunlight like grains of gold dust.
"Meat... that's meat..."
Aqua, who had looked like she was on her last breath, suddenly jerked her head up. Her eyes burst with an even brighter divine radiance than they had during last night's purification. She came scrambling toward the tray on all fours, so fast she practically left afterimages behind her.
"Give me some! Hurry up and give me some, aaahhh!! Kōichi, you devil! If you don't feed me right now, I'm going to use your Adventurer Card as a chew toy and bite it to pieces!!"
Kazuma forgot all about keeping up appearances too. Tossing aside the empty wine bottle, he lunged forward. "Hey! Save some for me! Kōichi, this cooking of yours... this isn't cooking anymore, it's basically magic! I can literally feel my HP and MP recovering in real time!"
Darkness also came staggering over from the end of the hallway. A few strands of doll hair were still hanging from her armor, and the flush on her face had yet to fade, but the moment she caught the scent, her stomach let out an astonishingly loud rumble.
"This... this feeling of having my body forcefully filled by the ultimate deliciousness... mmh, it may not be the same as being ravaged by monsters, but this humiliation of being conquered by food... isn't bad either..."
Watching this pack of problem children swarm the tray and fight over the food, Kōichi nodded in satisfaction.
The estate's sinister aura had completely vanished. In its place was the warmth of something called home, even if that warmth came with Aqua shrieking over a stolen drumstick.
"Alright, alright, stop fighting. There's still another whole pot in the kitchen." Kōichi clapped his hands, then turned to look out the window at the mansion that would soon be his. "Now that the Exorcism is done and everyone's eaten, Kazuma, we'll head to the Adventurers Guild in a bit and turn in the quest."
"No problem!" Kazuma replied through a mouthful of fried chicken. "Starting today, the kings of Axel's mansions are us two!"
The morning sunlight fell over the group. They all looked an absolute mess, but every face was full of anticipation for their future life as shameless nobles.
That was, of course, assuming Aqua never brought home any more weird things.
...
The doors of Axel's Adventurers Guild were shoved open with a bang, and the morning sun slanted into the tavern, lighting up the adventurers who were either still half-dead from hangovers or getting ready to pick up quests bright and early.
Leading a bizarre party that looked like it had either just crawled out of a swamp or stumbled out of a carnival, Kōichi strode straight to the counter.
"Yo, Luna-san! We're back to turn in the quest!" Kōichi flashed a brilliant smile, one that practically reeked of money, and slapped a stack of Exorcism reports onto the counter, damp with Aqua's tears and stained with fried chicken grease.
Behind the counter, Luna rubbed her sleepy eyes. The moment she got a clear look at the group's miserable state, the quill in her hand nearly dropped to the floor. "Huh?! Kōichi-san? You... you actually made it back? And all of you survived? Even high-ranking Crusaders were helpless against the Ghosts in that estate!"
"Of course! Do you even know who this Goddess is?!" Aqua, pale-faced and unsteady on her feet, still forced herself to lean over the counter and frantically wave around her now nearly transparent Adventurer Card. "I stayed up all night and sent every single Ghost there off to meet Eris! I even scrubbed the sinister energy out from between the floor tiles three times! Hurry up and give me my reward! I'm going to buy the most expensive sparkling wine they have! I'm drinking till dawn!!"
Kazuma, standing beside her with his usual dead-fish eyes, mercilessly exposed her. "Hey, Aqua, was it really for the reward? You were clearly giving it everything you had for that dragon meat bun meal. Luna-san, please ignore this idiot and verify the quest results as soon as possible. We urgently need that money... and the legal proof of ownership for that house."
Luna looked at them suspiciously for a moment, then called over an appraiser to inspect the exorcism evidence Kōichi had brought back, a purified fragment of a Ghost Knight's helmet that was now gleaming brightly.
A moment later, the appraiser nodded.
Luna's expression gradually shifted from astonishment to a polished professional smile, though there was still a trace of helpless disbelief in it, the kind that said these people had absurdly good luck.
"Confirmed. The evil spirit activity at the haunted estate has completely disappeared. Congratulations, Kōichi-san, Kazuma-san. Here is the agreed reward for the quest. 500,000 Eris."
Luna pulled out a heavy money bag from beneath the counter and dropped it onto the table with a thud. In the quiet guild hall, the clinking of gold coins sounded especially sweet.
The surrounding adventurers all shot them crazed looks of pure jealousy.
"And this is the deed to the estate." Luna solemnly handed over a sheet of parchment stamped with the lord's seal. "From this moment on, that luxurious estate on the outskirts of town is officially registered under the names of Kōichi-san and Satou Kazuma-san. However... since it is a haunted property, the follow-up cleaning and repair costs may be rather high."
"Repairs? Leave that to Aqua and Darkness. Manual labor is what they're best at."
Kōichi snatched up the deed, and the moment he felt its solid weight in his hands, the huge burden in his chest finally eased.
"Money! My money!!" Kazuma threw himself onto the money bag like an octopus, his face glowing with unhinged delight. "Brother Kōichi! We're rich! We're really rich! 500,000! With our previous savings on top of that, we're officially the richest Adventurers in Axel!!"
"Hey! I worked for that too! Give me half! No, two-thirds! I want to buy that solid gold staff!" Aqua tried to grab the money bag, only for Kōichi and Kazuma to skillfully pin her down by the head with one hand each.
Megumin hugged her staff and watched them fool around, a faint smile curling at her lips. "Now that we have a big house, does that mean that after I cast Explosion Magic every day, I won't have to sleep in a damp stable anymore, and can sleep in a huge silk-covered bed instead?"
"Of course." Kōichi smiled and patted Megumin's hat. "As long as you promise not to practice magic inside the house, you can sleep wherever you want."
Darkness, meanwhile, stared absentmindedly out the window and muttered to herself,
"To think I've really become the owner of a mansion... this overwhelming sense of contrast, going from a down-and-out Adventurer to a landowner... ah, if only I could be dragged away by the guards for failing to pay property taxes, what a wonderful experience that would be..."
"Don't ruin the mood at a time like this, you perverted Knight!" Kōichi shouted, then raised the deed in his hand and announced to the entire guild, "Tonight! We're throwing a housewarming party at our new home! Drinks are unlimited! Of course, for our friends only!"
Amid a chorus of envious, jealous, bitter grumbling, Kōichi led his Party proudly out of the guild.
From this moment on, Kōichi and Kazuma's noble life in this other world officially began.