The Darkness Was Comfortable for Me

“…Those were jokes just now. It is a party of you and me, so let’s just go in the direction of JeanKuro…” (Jeanne)

“It is a bit embarrassing, but not bad.” (Hikaru)

“No…I would like a bit of a spin to it. JeanKuro… Junk… Junk means trash in english, right?” (Jeanne)

I don’t know what’s happening with the automatic translation of Jeanne, but the Junk part, I heard it just as it is. It must be the same for her.

“Junk means trash or defective product.” (Hikaru)

“Hooh, that name fits me perfectly.” (Jeanne)

“Perfectly?! Trash?” (Hikaru)

I don’t know what was the reason for her saying that, but it was also an intimate word for me. Defective product, trash, incompetent… Mother said those words often to me…

I feel like putting that as our party name is a bit too self-deprecating, but if Jeanne says she wants to, I have no problems.

“Then, is Junk going to be the party name?” (Hikaru)

“Let’s add a bit more. Is there no good word? I don’t know much english.” (Jeanne)

How about making it french? -is what I thought, but she probably wants it to be in english for some reason.

“To be more precise, wouldn’t it be ‘piece of junk’? Also, if we add a word before junk, it would change the meaning to ‘Broken X’. Spam mail is also called junk mail after all.” (Hikaru)

“Fufu, I have been troubled by junk mail.” (Jeanne)

Junk mail, huh.

Would the ones I got be considered junk mail too?

Harassing mails from anonymous parties feels like they would be in a different category, but Jeanne being able to call them that makes her strong.

“How about stacking them up and calling it JunkTrash, or Junkie…that one would be bad, huh.” (Hikaru)

“Hm, got it. Battle Junkies.” (Jeanne)

“Battle Junkies?” (Hikaru)

I see. Jeanne wanted to fight, fight, fight, and get stronger.

Battle junkie might fit her just right.

“Then, let’s register as that.” (Hikaru)

Once you get decently famous, your name will be spread around like Crimson Vials, so a haphazard name would end up creating embarrassing moments, and we are a beginner party of bronze ranks. In terms of ability, we are good enough to explore the 3rd Floor, but that’s that.

At any rate, we can change the party name whenever we want. We can just leave it as a placeholder for now.

After we finished the party registration, I cut into the next matter at hand.

“The guild can serve as an intermediary for places to stay, right? We are searching for a slightly spacious property.” (Hikaru)

“Yes, introductions to dwellings suitable for explorers, right? ……Wait, eeeeeh? Living together?!”

“Please don’t retort at every single thing…” (Hikaru)

This female staff member seems to like gossip, or like, she isn’t that serious.

No, room sharing is a notion and culture of Earth, and a man and woman living together does give that impression. Hmm…

“We are looking for a decently big property with two or more private rooms. Ah, I don’t mind the rent being a bit on the high side. I do have the money from before.” (Hikaru)

“I see. Please wait for a bit.”

We can earn quite a bit of money from dungeon exploration, so there’s no problem with the rent.

Depending on the situation, we could also buy it. It would be weird for us rootless grass to buy a property though… Well, whichever the case, I don’t have that much money.

“Oi, Kuro, there’s no need to buy such a big place. It is going to be costly.” (Jeanne)

“No, we would need our own private rooms, and if we are going to go hardcore on exploring, our luggage will grow, so it would be best for it to be spacious. Also, I have surplus money, so leave it to me.” (Hikaru)

“I see. Then, I will leave it to you.” (Jeanne)

I have Shadow Storage, so I haven’t had issues with luggage space.

But no matter how I look, the equipment of Jeanne takes space, and it requires maintenance too.

There’s no need to worry about money for the time being, and we will be able to earn from here on.

“Excuse the wait. I have found properties for couples!”

“We are not a couple.” (Hikaru)

The properties that the female staff member showed us only had written information, so I couldn’t tell how they are.

Well, my conditions are clear here.

It should be in the Great Water Spirit’s territory, close to the dungeon, far from the church, and -if possible- close to the bathhouse.

With all of that, the candidates narrow down quite a bit.

Or more like, it would end up being conditions that would bring me close to my current lodging.

When I told her that, the female staff member made a complicated expression.

“Isn’t that first class land? I do have candidates, but they are crazy expensive, you know? For example; one month is 20 silver.”

“It really is expensive. Even though the inn was pretty cheap.” (Hikaru)

With 20 silver, I can stay in my current lodging for more than 2 months.

It would mean that renting would be more expensive than an inn.

“The inns for explorers have the city serving as a subsidy. This is an explorer city after all.”

I see. It is true that 20 silver is high, but I can understand if that’s the case.

We get an explanation for each one of the properties.

There’s also apartments, but thinking of it as a whole, I would like it to have a garden and be a one story building.

Or more like, there’s quite a lot of houses.

“How about this one? It is close to the guild. It is a bit cramped, but it has a garden. Its building years is decent and it has almost all necessary spirit tools. It is a property suitable for high ranked explorers.”

“Sounds good. What’s the rent?” (Hikaru)

“28 silver a month.”

That’s 28 colored Spirit Stones of Ogres. It isn’t an impossible price.

When thinking of it in that way, dungeon exploration really is a job that you can earn a lot.

Well, it comes with the risk of dying, so you could say that’s natural.

“Then, if there’s no problem in showing it to us first, we would like to consider that one.” (Hikaru)

“I will be guiding you then.”

We follow the staff member, get the key from the real estate agency that is close to the guild, and we go to check out the property.

The guild itself is close to the dungeon, but the aforementioned property is at a place just 3 minutes away on foot. It certainly is close.

A stone 2 story building, and just as she said about the building years being low, it is really pretty.

The inside of the house is also cleaned. That’s a high class property for ya. It is not like I know this world well, but the place I was staying at is an inn that’s somewhat expensive, and yet, it was dirty as a whole. I didn’t have the leeway in my heart to clean it up, so I have been living just like that, but when I compare it like this, this place really is on the clean side.

This property also has a lot of rooms. The 2nd floor has 4 rooms, the 1st floor has 2 rooms.

Having 6 rooms in total is probably assuming a full party living here.

In Earth terms, it would be 6 LDK.

It even has a garden, so 28 silver might even be cheap.

…No, if I were to convert it to yen, it would be 400-500 thousand yen, so it is by no means cheap, huh.

“Kuro, this is way too big no matter how you cut it. If we don’t hire a maid, we won’t have enough hands for the cleaning, you know.” (Jeanne)

“Just hire one then.” (Hikaru)

“Hoh, so the talk about all Japanese people liking maids was true. I know about this. French maids are depraved, right?” (Jeanne)

“…No comment.” (Hikaru)

I have things I would like to keep a secret too…

At the time when I went to a maid cafe with Celica and Karen, in order to maintain my dignity as a brother, I kept a normal face, but my heart was racing quite a bit there -though there’s no need to say it out loud here.

By the way, I also think French maids are depraved. 邪道>

Well, it is true that there might be the need for help from a maid.

If it is possible with our pockets, I don’t mind thinking about it, but as Jeanne says, it is indeed too big.

“Are there no other properties close that are a bit more moderate?” (Hikaru)

“Aside from this one, it would be pretty far away. Or more like, there’s only big properties for clan houses, or cramped apartments, and the other ones left would be really far out the city, you know.”

“Will there be other costs aside from the rent?” (Hikaru)

“No, only the advance payment. If you are a registered member of the guild, we can be the guarantors. We actually don’t become guarantors for bronze ranks, but you have your accomplishments, Hikaru-san, so this is a special exception.”

If it were the government office of Japan, just being bronze would already rule you out, but it looks like they are not too adamant about that, or like, the authority of a simple staff member is pretty strong.

In this world, the only use for money is equipment, explorer consumables, food expenses, and rent. There’s no communication costs, and the guild is already accounting for the tax.

In that case, there should be no problem with costing a bit of money.

“Then, this place please.” (Hikaru)

“Alright. Are you fine with it being from today on?”

“Let’s see…” (Hikaru)

I have already paid the inn enough for the end of the month, but that should be fine.

If there’s no better properties than this one, there’s no point in pondering about it. I just have to earn our share.

If I wanted to, I could earn stably in the 2nd Floor. There’s no problem at all.

“Kuro, you seem to be going all out here.” (Jeanne)

“There’s no point in wasting time hesitating here after all. Also, I was thinking about ending my inn lifestyle soon.” (Hikaru)

“Hmm.” (Jeanne)

And this is how my new lifestyle in this world started.

With Nanami now back alive, my heart has become lighter to an extent it surprises even me.

It is not to the point where I stop worrying about the viewers, but there’s Jeanne by my side who has more viewers than me having a face as if nothing is happening, so I might be pulled by that too.

I still have a whole 10 gold coins.

“Kuro, we are going half-half on the rent. We are room sharing here after all.” (Jeanne)

“Yeah, let’s do so from next month onwards. I will pay this month. Think of it as my thanks for the gem.” (Hikaru)

“That was something requested by your little sister, so there’s no need to mind it though… Well, fine. I will pay it back some other time.” (Jeanne)

“Hm? Okay, do that.” (Hikaru)

There’s no way I can just be fine with it just because it was requested by Celica.

That was something I wanted to obtain even if I had to gamble my life after all.

If she is going to conquer the dungeon, I will back her up till the end.

That’s my only way to pay her back right now.