Chapter 297: The Housewarming party.

"All of us?" Kael repeated.

He had only agreed to let his mother redecorate the house. Somehow, the conversation had already turned into him spending an entire day helping with it.

He opened his mouth, intending to point out that decorating the house wasn’t exactly something he was interested in.

However, when he looked around the table, he noticed that all three ladies seemed rather enthusiastic about the idea.

Seeing their expressions, Kael swallowed whatever objection he had been about to make.

"Well, I guess I can’t be a buzzkill now, can I?" He sighed lightly before smiling. "I’m in, I guess."

"Yay!" Lyra exclaimed happily.

And just like that, Kael found himself involved in something he hadn’t expected.

Before he knew it, the conversation around the table had shifted completely.

The three ladies began discussing how they wanted the house to look, what needed to be changed, and the various decorations they could buy.

At first, Kael tried to follow along.

However, it didn’t take long before he realized that he understood almost nothing about what they were discussing.

There were names of colors he had never heard before, different types of furniture, decorations, fabrics, and all sorts of other things that apparently had something to do with making a house look better.

Some of the names sounded more like monsters that had crawled out of a Gate than anything related to home decoration.

And yet, the three ladies seemed to understand one another perfectly.

Kael listened for a while, occasionally nodding whenever someone looked in his direction, but eventually decided that he had reached his limit.

After excusing himself, he left the planning to the three of them and headed upstairs to his room.

Once inside, he turned his attention to the preparations he could actually handle.

Since the housewarming party was now scheduled for the day after tomorrow, he needed to send out invitations and contact the people he intended to invite.

Fortunately, there weren’t that many.

Despite having made more connections after his regression than in his previous life, Kael still didn’t have a particularly large circle of acquaintances. There were only a handful of people he considered close enough to invite to something like this.

As a result, reaching out to them didn’t take very long.

He sent out the invitations, confirmed a few details, and made sure everything on his end was taken care of.

By the time he finished, it was already getting late.

With nothing else requiring his immediate attention, Kael decided to call it a night.

He lay down on his bed, closed his eyes, and soon drifted off to sleep.

---

Time passed.

Before Kael knew it, he was being woken up by Lyra the following morning.

Apparently, it was time to begin their decorating plans.

And unfortunately for him, those plans involved far more work than he had anticipated.

Throughout the day, Kael found himself running errands almost constantly.

One moment, he was being sent to purchase a particular decoration. The next, he was returning to the store because someone had decided that another color would look better.

Sometimes, he would barely make it back home before being handed another list of things to buy.

There were even occasions when he had to visit the same store multiple times.

Kael genuinely couldn’t understand why they couldn’t simply decide on everything they wanted before sending him out.

But whenever he brought up the idea, there always seemed to be a perfectly reasonable explanation for why something else needed to be purchased.

At least, reasonable according to the three ladies.

By the time afternoon arrived, Kael had already made more trips to different stores than he cared to count.

And that wasn’t even the end of it.

He still had to help move furniture, arrange decorations, and occasionally move the same piece of furniture again because someone had changed their mind about where it should go.

It was certainly not his idea of a fun day.

In fact, Kael was beginning to think that fighting monsters in the Tower might have been a more relaxing way to spend his time.

However, whenever he looked at Lyra, Hannah, and Ezra, he could see just how much they were enjoying themselves.

His mother in particular seemed delighted to finally have the opportunity to do something so ordinary with her children.

Seeing that, Kael found it difficult to complain.

So he simply endured it.

After all, if running a few errands and moving some furniture was enough to make them happy, then he supposed it wasn’t such a terrible way to spend a day.

And just like that, the day passed.

By the time evening arrived, the house had undergone quite a transformation.

The furniture and decorations were no longer arranged solely for appearance. There were now personal touches scattered throughout the rooms, and the entire place felt noticeably warmer than before.

Kael had to admit that the ladies had done a pretty good job.

Although he still couldn’t understand why it had required so many trips to the store.

---

The following day finally arrived.

It was the day of the housewarming party.

Since the party was scheduled to begin later in the day, the morning and early afternoon were spent handling the remaining preparations.

There was still quite a bit to do.

Food and drinks needed to be prepared for the guests, the dining area had to be arranged properly, and there were a few final decorations that Hannah and Lyra wanted to put in place.

Fortunately, most of the difficult work had already been completed the previous day.

With everyone helping, the remaining preparations progressed smoothly.

By the time everything was ready, the house looked completely different from how it had when Kael first moved in.

The atmosphere was warm and welcoming, and the smell of freshly prepared food filled the air.

Kael took one last look around, making sure nothing important had been forgotten.

Satisfied that everything was in order, he finally allowed himself to relax a little.

And not long afterward, the first guests began arriving.

The first two were familiar faces.

Zoey and Adam.

When Kael received word that they had arrived, he headed toward the front door to welcome them.

"Hey, thanks for coming," he greeted them with a smile.

"Thank you for inviting us," Zoey replied politely.

Adam, on the other hand, was considerably more enthusiastic.

"Hey, buddy!" he exclaimed, looking around with obvious amazement. "Man, this is such a nice house!"

His gaze wandered past Kael toward the spacious interior before moving back to the surrounding neighborhood.

"I didn’t even know a district this beautiful existed around here. Seriously, how did you even get a house like th—"

"Ouch!"

Adam suddenly flinched as Zoey pinched him hard in the back.

He turned toward her with a confused expression.

"What was that for?"

Zoey ignored his question and turned back toward Kael with an apologetic smile.

"Sorry about him. You know how he is."

Kael couldn’t help smiling brightly.

"It’s fine, I’ve gotten used to hanging out with a certified Tower villain."

Adam’s expression immediately changed.

"You..."

He pointed at Kael, clearly preparing to defend himself against the accusation.

However, before he could say anything, Zoey raised a hand, and two items appeared.

In one hand was a small box roughly the size of a human head, while the other held a much longer rectangular box.

She gestured toward the longer one first.

"This is a gift from Grandpa. When he heard that we were coming to your housewarming party, he asked me to give it to you."

She then indicated the smaller box.

"And this one is from Adam and me."

"Oh, thanks," Kael replied, looking at the two gifts with some surprise. "You really didn’t have to bring anything."

"It’s the least we could do," Zoey said with a smile. "Anyway, your house is beautiful. Congratulations."

"Thanks."

Kael accepted the two gifts and casually stored them in his Inventory.

He would take a proper look at them later.

Meanwhile, Adam, who had apparently recovered from being interrupted earlier, stepped forward with a wide grin.

"Seriously, though, congratulations, man. You’ve become quite a big shot, haven’t you?"

Kael raised an eyebrow.

Adam continued before he could respond.

"I still remember when we first met during the Hunter examination. Back then, you looked like a lost puppy, all scared and everything."

He shook his head with an exaggerated expression of nostalgia.

"And now look at you. Living in a place like this. Man, I’m proud of you!"

Kael stared at him.

Lost puppy?

He wasn’t quite sure when he had ever given Adam that impression.

However, before he could say anything, a sharp smack landed on the back of Adam’s head.

"Ow!"

"Come on, you idiot," Zoey said, lowering her hand. "Let’s head inside and make room for the other guests."

And indeed, another guest had already arrived behind them.

Adam rubbed the back of his head before turning toward Kael again.

"Alright, man. We’ll head inside first. Anyway, make sure you find some time for us to spa—"

"Come on!"

"Ow, ow, ow! Zoey, my ear!"

Before he could finish his sentence, Zoey grabbed him by the ear and began dragging him into the house.

Adam protested the entire way, but she showed no intention of letting go.

Kael watched the couple disappear inside, unable to stop himself from chuckling.

"They’re still the same as always."

Shaking his head with an amused smile, he turned back toward the entrance.

After all, there were still other guests waiting to be welcomed.