Chapter 108 - Wiping the Floors
Sorry, I'm late because I was writing N-Star!
I think I can update one more chapter this week!
Having equipped our headscarves properly so our hair wouldn't get dirty, we focused on patting the ceiling with our feather dusters. When we did, countless specks of dust fell down.
"I thought I didn't need a headscarf, but it's better to have one when cleaning the ceiling," Toak said.
"Thinking about all this falling dust getting on my hair or skin is pretty stressful," I agreed.
I had thought it would be fine as long as I washed later, but seeing the dirt right before my eyes changed that feeling. Even if I knew it would come off with a wash, I wanted to stay clean if possible.
"If we're going to clean, we want to do it comfortably," Flora said, smiling brightly as she listened to the conversation between Toak and me.
Her ponytail peeking out from the blue headscarf was extremely cute.
"The headscarf really is good."
"...You're saying something different than you were earlier. Move your hands already," Toak scolded me as I muttered deeply while looking at Flora.
I reluctantly took my eyes off Flora and continued to pat the ceiling with the duster.
After the three of us cleaned the ceiling and walls like that, the room became filled with dust, so we exited and waited for it to ventilate.
Since it would be a waste to just stand around in the meantime, we charged into the next room and knocked the dust off the ceiling and walls in the same way.
"...Two rooms left."
"Ugh, there are still two rooms?"
"And they're both large rooms, aren't they?"
It seemed even Toak and Flora were getting fed up with the vastness of Kurune's mansion.
"Why are noble houses so pointlessly large? My wrists hurt from moving the duster too much," Toak complained.
"My neck hurts, probably because I've been looking up the whole time," Flora added.
Since we had been moving our hands while looking up, our wrists and necks were stiff. If we were to do two more large rooms in a row from here, muscle pain tomorrow was a certainty.
"Let's take a little break."
"Yes, let's."
Doing the large rooms in our current state would be a bit tough both physically and mentally. We should rest our bodies and recover our spirits before tackling them.
While we were resting in the hallway, rotating our necks and shoulders, Kurune and Aisha arrived.
It seemed the rooms Kurune and Aisha were in charge of were finished.
"Are you done over there?"
"No, we have two large rooms left. We're taking a break because our bodies reached their limit before that."
"Ah, the large rooms here are quite spacious. Then, I'll just do those rooms with magic."
"Seriously!"
Toak, who had been slumped over, reacted instantly and happily to Kurune's god-like words.
"As expected of the great mage Kurune. You're reliable!"
"I wish I'd heard lines like that when we were in a party together—"
When I praised her on impulse, Kurune gave me a sidelong glance, perhaps because it was too blatant.
"Eh? Did I not say it?"
"You said it, but it was blunt. I wanted you to praise my hard work more from the heart—"
I broke into a cold sweat at Kurune's dissatisfied tone. This was the pattern where she was holding a bit of a grudge.
"Sorry, sorry. I didn't have much room to look around back then. But it's a fact that I was saved by Kurune's magic and relied on you."
"...I wonder if that's true?"
"It's true."
I answered with a firm attitude to Kurune, who looked up at me somewhat suspiciously.
The reason the past me could move around so freely was that I trusted Kurune, who was an excellent mage. No matter how much confidence I had in close combat, I couldn't keep defeating numerous monsters alone.
It was only because of Kurune, who provided accurate support, and my other companions that I could demonstrate my true worth.
"...Well, whatever. Anyway, Aisha, let's finish the rest quickly."
Kurune looked at me for a while, then turned away with a red face and headed toward the large room.
"Ehh, our part is done, so we don't have to do it, right?"
"You're having a much easier time thanks to my magic, so work hard for at least this much."
Aisha groaned lazily behind her, and Kurune encouraged her.
"...Those two have become quite good friends, haven't they?"
"I think so too."
Watching Aisha and Kurune's backs like this, it looked very natural.
"Well, it only looks like Kurune is babysitting Aisha in Ina's place, though," Toak noted.
◆
When the break was over, we similarly patted the ceilings and walls of the first-floor rooms with dusters. We met up with Kurune and Aisha halfway through, and by working together with everyone, we somehow managed to finish.
After that was the sweeping. We swept with brooms starting from the back room on the second floor toward the first floor.
Then we swept the stairs and swept from the back room on the first floor toward the exit.
Once we finished sweeping all the floors in the house, we slumped down in a place like a living room.
"Haa, my neck hurts. This is the end of today's cleaning, right?"
"There's still the floor-wiping left," Flora answered with a wry smile to Aisha, who spoke in an exhausted voice.
"Kurune, do the floor-wiping quickly with magic too."
"There's a limit to my mana too, you know!? Manipulating multiple objects consumes a lot of mana!"
Moving multiple things simultaneously required quite a bit of mental strength because you had to do several things in parallel. Even for Kurune, who performed the cleaning easily with magic, there would be a sense of fatigue from the mental consumption.
"Even so, wiping this wide floor on top of everything else..."
Wiping floors was a task that really strained the lower back. Doing it on this wide floor would make the fatigue several times worse than usual.
At this point, everyone's spirits seemed about to break regarding the floor-wiping. In the midst of that, Toak stood up.
"Complaining won't help. Let's finish quickly and take a bath."
"...That's true. This kind of thing gets harder if you take small breaks. Let's finish it all at once and get in the bath quickly."
Aisha, who I thought would hate it the most, also stood up, agreeing with Toak's way of thinking.
"You're right. I want to take a bath too. Let's work hard for just a bit more."
"Yeah."
"Right."
Wash our dust-covered bodies and relieve our fatigue in the bath. Under the common goal of everyone taking a bath, we stood up again.
Once our morale was high, our actions became swift.
We put water in buckets with Kurune's [Skill: Water Magic], wet our rags, and began wiping the floors in our respective areas. As for me, I took up a position at the end of the long first-floor hallway and got on all fours.
Then, Toak came over next to me.
"Aldo, it's a match."
"Fine by me. The one who wipes to that wall over there and comes back first wins."
"Got it."
This wasn't bad either.
Toak and I positioned ourselves with enough distance between us so we wouldn't collide.
"Are you ready?"
Aisha was nearby before I knew it, and Flora and Kurune were also watching us with amusement.
If we wanted to finish quickly, we should have just worked silently without doing this, but this kind of play was also necessary.
When Toak and I nodded, Aisha clapped her hands.
"Start!"
""Uooooooo!""
Hearing Aisha's signal, Toak and I started at the same time.
We charged down the long hallway while shouting. I kicked the floor desperately with the leg strength I'd trained during my adventurer life and pressed the rag down firmly with my proud strength.
Then, reaching the end of the hallway, I turned quickly and dashed back. I ran all the way to the goal in one go.
Then, I touched the starting wall, which was the goal, and looked to the side; Toak wasn't there. When I looked back, Toak was coming toward me, looking exhausted.
"It's my win."
"Dammit, you're too fast!"
"Aldo-san, you were very fast!"
"...As expected of an A-rank adventurer. That's some impressive leg strength," Aisha remarked.
It was nice to be praised, but being called an A-rank adventurer for this was a bit complicated.
"Then, I'm next! Since I can't beat Aldo if we do it normally, let me start from a bit further ahead."
"Hey, hey, this is a back-to-back match for me, you know?"
"Compared to Aldo's stamina, one time is negligible."
As expected of someone who knew my stamina, she wouldn't let her guard down.
I took my position at the end, and Kurune got on all fours at about the halfway point of the hallway.
...However, while Kurune's outfit wasn't a skirt, it was something like short pants, so when she got on all fours, it was quite precarious. Her rounded buttocks were clearly visible in my line of sight. They weren't plump like Flora's, but they were a very nice shape.
"...Aldo-san?"
Was it because I had such wicked thoughts? Perhaps noticing my gaze, Flora let out a slightly low voice while smiling brightly.
"I'm not looking! I'm not looking at anything!"
"What do you mean by 'anything'? I only called your name, though?"
Hearing Flora's words, my face turned pale. I had been brilliantly trapped by Flora. While Flora was usually refined and kind, I knew that she was strict and a bit jealous in situations like this.
"Hey—? Is the start signal not ready yet?"
"Start!"
Just as I was thinking that, Aisha gave the start signal.
For now, it wouldn't be too late to apologize after the match was over. To avoid making Flora any angrier, I started wiping the floor while looking strictly straight down.
This way, I shouldn't be scolded for looking at Kurune's buttocks again. After that, I just had to win and apologize to Flora, and everything would be resolved.
Thinking that, looking down the whole time must have been a mistake. While dashing and wiping the floor while looking straight down, I suddenly bumped into something soft, and my vision went blank.
"Kyaa!"
Hmm? What is this soft thing that smells sweet? I feel like I heard a voice?
Feeling puzzled, I shifted my body, and the soft thing in front of me jumped with a start.
"W-Wait, Aldo! Where are you sticking your face!?"
When I pulled my face away after being told that, I realized I had buried my face in Kurune's buttocks.
"Eeeh!? W-Wait, why are Kurune's buttocks there!?"
"I-I don't know! You're the one who charged into me, Aldo!"
No way! Because I was looking at the floor too much, I strayed from my path and charged into Kurune's buttocks? However, looking back, I had been charging straight from the starting point.
"No, I came straight. Didn't you drift into my path, Kurune?"
"E-Even if that's true, you'd normally avoid me, right? There's no way you wouldn't know when I'm right in front of you!"
Even though I pointed it out calmly, Kurune argued back with a red face, probably out of embarrassment.
Ugh, that's true, but it's a bit hard to argue against. I can't say that I didn't notice because I was looking at the floor to avoid looking at Kurune's buttocks and getting scolded by Flora...
"Well, Kurune was at fault for drifting, and Aldo was at fault for not looking ahead. It's both of your faults," Toak said.
I felt truly grateful for Toak's words in my time of trouble. Ah, as expected, a true friend is something to cherish. That said, it was certain that I had been rude to Kurune, so as a man, I bowed my head and apologized.
"Sorry, Kurune."
"I-It's fine, it was my fault for drifting from where I was running..."
Then, Kurune forgave me while averting her eyes slightly. Good. It seemed she wasn't truly angry. As I felt relieved by that, Toak put his hand on my shoulder from behind and whispered.
"The next opponent is a tough one."
When I looked where Toak was pointing, Flora was silently wiping the floor with a rag, not even looking this way anymore. Her appearance seemed normal at first glance, but an aura of displeasure was drifting from her. Making Flora sulk like this was the first time since the time I hadn't told her I was Aldred in the past.
"...For now, I'm going to go apologize profusely."
After that, as a result of continuing to apologize profusely until the floor-wiping was finished, Flora's mood somehow returned to normal.
Volume 6 of the novel 'I Want to Live a Slow Life in the Countryside After Being Reincarnated' will be released on November 10th! You can also pre-order it on Amazon, so please check it out if you're interested. It would make me happy.