Part 1: Nightfall – "Something is Horribly Wrong"
After enduring Fiora’s bureaucratic nonsense all day, Fujino collapses onto his bed, face-down.
He mumbles into the pillow, “This noble brat is gonna kill me before old age does…”
Outside, the moon is full. The wind howls ominously. But Fujino ignores it.
“Don’t care. I’m sleeping.”
He closes his eyes.
And then—
CREEEEAK.
Fujino’s eye snaps open.
From the hallway, a strange noise echoes—something scraping against wood.
Fujino sits up, groggy. “...The hell was that? Did that damn noble forget something?”
He gets up, muttering, and shuffles toward the door. He yanks it open—
And nearly screams.
Because floating in front of him is a small girl, white-haired, glowing faintly, with eerie red eyes that pierce into his soul. She’s dressed in a frilly, old-fashioned nightgown, her tiny hands clutching a floating axe.
She grins menacingly.
“...WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!” Fujino yells, instinctively slamming the door.
The girl phases through the door like it’s nothing.
“FOOLISH MORTAL, YOUR SUFFERING SHALL BE ETERNAL!” she declares, her high-pitched voice both eerie and kinda cute.
Fujino blinks. “Wait. WAIT. Is my house haunted?!”
The ghost-girl tilts her head, confused.
“Wait. YOU DON’T KNOW?” she asks. “You’ve been living in a house made from excess mana materialization for WEEKS, and you never noticed?”
Fujino groans, rubbing his temple. “Great. Just great. I quit being a Demon Lord to escape weird crap, and now I have a damn moe poltergeist trying to murder me.”
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The ghost raises her axe and shrieks, “CEASE YOUR PITIFUL EXISTENCE!”
Part 2: The Dumbest Ghost Fight Ever
Fujino barely dodges as the floating axe cleaves into the floor, splitting the wood.
“Oi! Do you have any idea how hard it is to repair magical housing?! This crap doesn’t grow on trees!”
The ghost girl ignores him, floating forward like a horrifyingly smug doll.
“Your soul shall be mine! Despair, wretched farm-dweller!”
Fujino throws a pillow at her. It phases right through.
She laughs. “Fool! Physical attacks do not work on—”
WHAM!
Fujino uppercuts her.
She flies into the wall like a ragdoll.
A beat of silence.
She peels off the wall and glares. “YOU—YOU PUNCHED ME?!”
Fujino cracks his knuckles. “Yeah. Turns out, I still have Demon Lord-level mana resistance.”
The ghost snarls. “That’s CHEATING!”
Fujino groans. “Look, can we not do this? I’ve had a hellish day. First, a noble brat stole my farm rights, then I found out my apples are technically illegal, and now a loli poltergeist is trying to kill me. I’m tired.”
The ghost huffs. “Your suffering only fuels me!”
Fujino throws a bucket of salt at her.
She screeches like a banshee and starts steaming. “ACK! ACK! WHAT THE HELL?!”
Fujino grins evilly. “Oh-ho. You might be a high-tier mana ghost, but you still obey dumb ghost rules, huh?”
The ghost snarls, twitching. “I— I REFUSE TO ACCEPT THIS!”
Fujino pulls out a bag of rice.
She goes pale.
“WAIT, WAIT, DON’T YOU DARE—”
Fujino tosses the rice into the air.
The ghost immediately drops her axe and starts counting.
“ONE… TWO… THREE—DAMMIT, I HATE THIS INSTINCT—FOUR… FIVE…”
Fujino crosses his arms smugly. “Yeah. That’s what I thought.”
The ghost glares while furiously counting grains of rice against her will.
“I swear,” she mutters, “I am going to make your life a nightmare.”
Fujino yawns. “Too late. It already is.”
Part 3: The Agreement – "Fine. You Win."
Fujino plops back into bed while the ghost keeps counting.
After a while, she grumbles. “Okay. Okay. Truce.”
Fujino peeks one eye open. “Truce?”
The ghost pouts. “Yeah. I don’t feel like getting salt-dunked every night. And… technically, this is your house. So I guess I have to listen to you.”
Fujino rubs his temples. “Okay, fine. Ground rules.”
The ghost floats closer, pouting.
“One—no murdering me in my sleep.”
The ghost huffs. “Boo.”
“Two—no breaking my stuff.”
She sighs. “Ugh. Fine.”
“Three—who the hell even are you?”
The ghost straightens up. “I am Noelle, the Spirit of Suffering! Born from the excess mana you left festering in this house, I am the manifestation of all the pain and frustration you have accumulated!”
Fujino stares. “So you’re literally my house’s complaint department.”
Noelle crosses her arms. “More like your misery-made-manifest.”
Fujino groans. “God, this just proves my life sucks.”
Noelle grins. “And I feed off your suffering, so please—continue making dumb decisions.”
Fujino pulls out a second bag of rice.
Noelle flinches. “O-okay, okay, I’ll behave!”
Fujino groans into his pillow. “This is my life now. First a noble, now a poltergeist. WHY CAN’T I JUST RETIRE IN PEACE?!”
Noelle laughs ominously. “Because the universe hates you.”
Fujino moans in suffering.
End of Extra Scene: The Poltergeist Problem Begins!
Now Fujino has two new problems: a bureaucratic noble brat managing his farm… and a moe poltergeist haunting his house for the sole purpose of annoying him.
What’s next? A divine inspector? An eldritch tax collector?
Fujino doesn’t know.
But he hates whatever’s coming.