“The bedroom’s finished, Onii-chan.”
Katia puffed out her modest chest, so I gave her head a pat.
Her face went instantly red. “I-it’s not like I reported it because I wanted head pats from you or anything!” she huffed, cheeks ballooning.
But I did not miss the corners of her mouth loosening.
Textbook tsundere, I thought — but saying so seemed likely to complicate my day, so I refrained.
At any rate: remarkably endearing. I nodded to myself with a grin.
“Oh, also, Onii-chan?”
“Hm? What?”
“The full-scale renovation starts now, right?”
“That’s the plan, yeah.”
・Private rooms for everyone
・A huge indoor bath
・Kitchen
・Living room
・Butchering workshop
・Farm-work shed
・A brewery storehouse for making alcohol
・Several multi-purpose sheds
Roughly speaking, that’s the construction docket.
We also need to run a channel from the river for water, and dig the well.
The to-do list is mountainous, is what I’m saying.
“Then we also need to build a forge.”
“A forge?”
“Mm. I brought a decent stock of metal materials, but every time something extra comes up, running back to the dwarf village is a real chore.”
“Hmm… it’s a long project, sure, but isn’t that overkill?”
“But there’ll be MORE to build after this, right? And since Boku’s going to be living here permanently from now on… a forge is essential, obviously.”
Excuse me — a deeply un-ignorable clause just went by.
“Eh? Katia’s living here too?”
At that, Katia’s cheeks flared red again.
“B-b-because…! O-O… Onii-chan is basically Boku’s HUSBAND at this point, isn’t he?!”
”…Eh?”
“Boku may not look it, but I’m the devoted type, you know?”
“Uhhh…”
While I stood there mumbling, Katia wrapped herself around me.
”…I… I… I’m saying I LIKE you, okay?!”
“O… oh.”
“Honestly… making a girl… say that out loud herself? Unbelievable. You’re unbelievable.”
Katia grumbled it under her breath, deeply put out.
Yeah. Genuinely, dangerously endearing, this one.
So — one additional permanent housemate: confirmed, apparently.
This place just keeps getting livelier, huh.
Housemates: Sonya, Maria, Ouroboros, Katia.
The ten elves will presumably go home eventually, but they’ll clearly be staying a while yet.
Plus Arisa drops by twice a week, and the elf queen stays over weekly under the official designation of “agricultural inspection.”
My body genuinely cannot sustain this… what am I supposed to do here.
Not that I hate any of it. Obviously.
I nodded, big and decisive.
“Alright — after everyone’s rooms and the well, get started on the forge.”
“Mm. Got it, Onii-chan.”
Good, good.
The Great Homestead Infrastructure Plan is proceeding on schedule.