Cliff, with his Head in the Sand

Cliff’s POV

While I was working, Yuna and Noa came to my office.

They had something to discuss with me.

After hearing what they had to say, I wanted to bury my head in the sand.

Fairies?

I had heard that there were fairies somewhere, but this was the first time I had actually seen one.

The fairy’s name was Primme.

She requested that I help her find her sister. To do so, she needed the help of Yuna and my daughter Noa.

She needed Yuna’s magic power to allow others to see her as a fairy. And to find her sister’s whereabouts, they needed Primme’s sister’s handkerchief, which had entered Noa’s body.

I couldn’t simply refuse a fairy’s request.

If I refused, I never knew what would happen in retribution.

There were both good stories and bad stories about fairies.

I didn’t want to put my precious daughter in danger, but I knew that she would be safe if Yuna was with her, so I gave my permission.

Yuna may look strange, but she was a skilled adventurer. Above all, she cared about my daughter. I knew that Yuna would not let Noa do anything dangerous and would protect her.

How many adventurers would be able to defeat 10,000 monsters, black vipers, black tigers, and krakens all by themselves?

Besides, this kind of experience was not something that someone could simply have, even if they wanted to. It would prove a valuable experience for Noa.

But one problem remained.

Yuna had been asked to investigate the mansion.

Although I told Yuna I would take care of the Adventurers’ Guild, I could never say there was a fairy in the mansion.

That would cause a huge uproar which would be good for neither the fairies nor for Crimonia.

The next morning, Noa came in.

“Well, then, father, I’m off.” (Noa)

“Yeah, I’m sure you will be fine with Yuna, but be careful.” (Cliff)

“Yes.” (Noa)

Noa left the house to look for the fairy.

She seemed happy, but a little nervous.

Noa was not a selfish girl, but I couldn’t predict what she might do when it came to anything related to bears. But for now, I have no choice but to trust her.

After a while, I left the house and headed for the Adventurers’ Guild.

When I entered the Adventurers’ Guild, I found the adventurers quarreling among themselves about what kind of requests they would receive.

The place was as noisy as ever.

I headed for the reception desk.

I think the receptionist’s name was Helen.

“May I have a moment?” (Cliff)

“This is Cliff-sama! Yes, yes, it’s all right. Are you asking for me, sir?” (Helen)

The receptionist asked nervously.

“The other day, Yuna-san received a request to survey a mansion, I believe.” (Cliff)

“A request received by Yuna-san? Yes, indeed, Yuna-san was asked to investigate a mansion that is said to be haunted…” (Helen)

“I’m here to report on that, on Yuna’s behalf.” (Cliff)

“Cliff-sama is going to report for Yuna!” (Helen)

The receptionist was surprised.

“Yeah, it seems there were some children who entered that mansion without permission.” (Cliff)

I thought about it for a day and decided to go ahead with this excuse.

It was not as if I could mention that there was a fairy in the mansion. And if I said that there were thieves, we’d have to catch them. So, to keep things quiet, I just said that the children were in the mansion.

“Is that true?” (Helen)

“What? Don’t you believe me?” (Cliff)

“No, that’s not true. But…. The light, the voice…” (Helen)

My story had a lot of loopholes, so she must be suspicious of my words.

“Even if there was a ghost, you don’t have to worry about it.” (Cliff)

“But it was a request from a Merchant’s Guild…” (Helen)

Even as the Adventurers’ Guild, I guess they could not handle it themselves.

“Okay. I should just go to the Merchant’s Guild and report it, right?” (Cliff)

“No, Cliff-sama, that’s not…” (Helen)

“It will be faster if I go and tell them directly. I’ll head there now.” (Cliff)

It was a pain in the neck, but it had to be done.

This was all for the sake of keeping Crimonia a peaceful town.

If it had been known that fairies existed in Crimonia, it would have obviously caused a huge commotion, with people clamoring in frenzy to catch them or see them.

Regardless of that situation, there were already more people than before coming and going out of the town.

Those people brought money to the town, which was fine, but if they ended up looking for fairies after hearing rumors about them, they would end up as a hindrance.

You never knew what kind of people would come.

“Well, then, I’ll go with you.” (Helen)

“You don’t have to come.” (Cliff)

“No, they will end up confirming it with the Adventurers’ Guild as well, so I’ll go with you.” (Helen)

Helen, the receptionist, asked the other receptionist to replace her and followed me as we left the Adventurers’ Guild.

“Cliff-sama, are you alone here?” (Helen)

“I don’t need an escort to walk around my town.” (Cliff)

The receptionist was surprised at my words.

Even my daughter Noa was used to moving around the town on her own.

I didn’t need an escort either, if I was just going out for a walk.

There were guards patrolling the town. The residents remained safe.

I started walking toward the Merchant’s Guild.

The receptionist followed behind me with a nervous look on her face.

Behind me, I heard “Yuna-san is an idiot” and “Yuna-san, why are you making Cliff-sama do this?”

“Sorry about this, and you don’t have to blame Yuna for this, I am just doing a quick favor for her since she is not in town.” (Cliff)

“No, Cliff-sama has nothing to apologize for.” (Helen)

“I’m glad to hear you say that.” (Cliff)

I said that much, and the receptionist went silent.

She may be having a hard time dealing with Yuna’s shenanigans.

Then we arrived at the Merchant’s Guild.

It was a hassle, so I asked the receptionist to call Mylene.

“Cliff? And you, Helen?” (Mylene)

“We need to talk.” (Cliff)

I said, and she took me to the Guild Master’s room in the back of the building.

“So, what’s up? Isn’t it unusual to have Helen and Cliff together?” (Mylene)

“I’ll explain.” (Helen)

The receptionist then told Mylene about the haunted mansion.

“Oh, it’s about that mansion.” (Mylene)

“So, I asked Yuna-san to investigate it, and Cliff-sama is here to report on the investigation.” (Helen)

“Why Cliff?” (Mylene)

It was tedious, but I once again said what I had told Helen at the Adventurers’ Guild.

“That’s suspicious. So why is Cliff coming to explain on Yuna-chan’s behalf? And if some children had entered the house, there must have been some sign of it…?” (Mylene)

Mylene looked at Helen.

“A report like that would be…” (Mylene)

She smelled trouble.

“Anyway, there’s nothing wrong with that mansion anymore.” (Cliff)

“That’s not how it works. If the people who bought the mansion later find out that it’s haunted, it will hurt the Merchant’s Guild’s credibility.” (Mylene)

“Fine. I’ll buy it.” (Cliff)

“Are you serious?” (Mylene)

“Yeah, I’m sure this way it won’t cause you any problems.” (Cliff)

“That’s true, but what would you do with a place like that?” (Mylene)

I remembered that there had been some alarming reports recently.

There needed to be more inns to accommodate the growing number of people wandering around town at night, staying in horse-drawn carriages, or pitching tents in empty places without permission.

“I’ll turn it into an inn.” (Cliff)

“An Inn?” (Mylene)

“Yeah, you know what I’m talking about. Lately, there aren’t enough places to stay.” (Cliff)

“Yes, merchants are indeed asking us to introduce them to places where they can stay, and we often introduce them to several places, but they are all occupied.” (Mylene)

“The Adventurer’s Guild also increased the number of rooms to rent out to adventurers from other towns who can’t find a stay.” (Helen)

“That’s why I decided to turn that mansion into an inn.” (Cliff)

“But isn’t it too grand to be an inn? If you are going to turn that mansion into an inn, you’ll have to charge a reasonable price, right?” (Mylene)

“Do you have a blueprint of the mansion?” (Cliff)

“Blueprint? Of course, I do.” (Mylene)

Mylene asked the staff to bring plans of the mansion.

The staff member immediately brought them.

The drawings were spread out on the table.

It was the mansion where that man used to live, the man who had embezzled the money from the orphanage and other places.

I really wanted to tear it down, but the building itself was not so bad.

It was spacious, with many rooms on the first floor that the servants probably used.

I pointed to the first floor.

“Just as I thought. There are many rooms on the first floor that servants used. We can keep the price of these rooms down so that ordinary people can stay in them.” (Cliff)

There was also a kitchen and a storage room with a place to keep food.

Next, I turned my attention to the second floor.

“There are many guest rooms upstairs. These rooms are bigger, so we’ll just have to raise the price a little here.” (Cliff)

Those rooms were two to three times larger than the servants’ rooms.

There were other rooms as well, such as a conference room, but it was difficult to believe that those idiots father and son were using it.

Maybe they just had it built to make themselves look good.

However, since they were given instructions during the clean-up to send all the valuables left in the mansion that could be used for money to their relatives in the royal capital, nothing of value might have remained.

Well, it would be necessary to check what was left in the mansion again.

Then, I turned my attention to the layout of the third floor.

There was a room that appeared to be that guy’s room, and in the large adjoining room there was a bath as well.

“This large room can be used as the most expensive room.” (Cliff)

I doubt I would ever want to stay in this room, but no one from another town would know that that guy had ever lived here. Why not let the rich people stay there?

“Yeah, we could do that if we set a price for each floor.” (Mylene)

“If we turn it into an inn and there’s a ghostly commotion, I’ll take care of it.” (Cliff)

“Something is fishy here. It’s like you’re convinced that it won’t be haunted…” (Mylene)

“I already said that it was just some kids playing pranks.” (Cliff)

The fairy appeared because of the fairy mirror, which Yuna had already relocated to her own house.

Thus, fairies (or ghosts) would not appear again in the mansion.

“Huh…okay. If you say you will purchase it and be responsible for it, then as the Merchant’s Guild we don’t have a problem with that. And as the Adventurer’s Guild, would you be okay with that?” (Mylene)

“Yes. If the Merchant’s Guild is okay with it, then we will process the request as complete.” (Helen)

With that, this matter should be over.

“So, can I leave the rest to Mylene?” (Cliff)

“I don’t think so…you’re really just going to leave dealing with this to me?” (Mylene)

“That’s your job, isn’t it? I want you to calculate the number of people who will be working at the inn, cook, maids, cleaners, and the number of people who will be needed at the inn and their wages, and report back to me the cost of the inn.” (Cliff)

“Are you asking the Guild to treat this as a job?” (Mylene)

“Basically, yes, I’m not going to interfere with the inn’s operations. I’ll simply take 20% of the profit. The rest is yours to keep for your Merchant’s Guild.” (Cliff)

“80% for us…” (Mylene)

“I would like to recoup the cost of the mansion eventually.” (Cliff)

“I didn’t expect the Lord would be so generous with his money.” (Mylene)

“It’s not much.” (Cliff)

Mylene wanted to complain, but then she started thinking about making a profit.

She was very clever.

Finally, I returned the key to the mansion that Yuna had given me to Mylene, and that was the end of the matter.

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