"No, I can't possibly do that!" [Ash]
"It's alright, just think of it as my way of helping those kids, plus you guys might even just sleep in your new house tonight" [Innkeeper]
"Well, it's only been a day but come and see us again, I'll make something delicious" [Innkeeper wife]
"We will!" [Zerolith, Savel, Charlotte]
"Ash, at times like this, you should just accept those kindness, otherwise you will be putting the innkeeper good intentions to waste, plus don't you think you set a bad example by doing this" [Diana]
"Well... if you said so. Thank you and we will gladly accept your offer" [Ash]
"Now that's what we wanted to hear, well take care and make sure you take good care of them, not that you wouldn't" [Innkeeper]
"Naturally" [Ash]
With that, we secured a room for us tonight just in case we couldn't properly cleanse up the mansion.
Going to the mansion, at first I thought we will take the public horse carriage to move around, but Diana insist that we uses her carriage, and at this point Qis just show a give up face, The older children as usual try to refuse but Singa, Savel and Charlotte charge straight away to the carriage, with Rean and Elise unable to stop them, well, standing around here won't solve anything so I followed those three kid, and the other follow suit
The carriage is quite big, well Savel and Charlotte have to sit in my lap to make some space while Singa on Rean's lap, but it's still comfortable. While on the Carriage, the kid become excited as they never had an opportunity to ride a carriage, well this is my first time as well (third if you count going to and fro from the merchant guild) but I just hide it well since I have my pride as a big brother to them and once we arrive
"Well, this isn't what I imagined when the guild master said a mansion" [Ash]
How to say... it's quite smaller then what I imagined (not like I ever see one before with my very two eyes, even back on earth). Even Diana said it's quite small, but atleast the open field that I requested are big, so I will take it (plus it's free, I just need to pay for the yearly tax, so I get myself a bargain), Though I must reconsider some repairs cost
Well, once we head inside the house
"WHO ARE YOU! GET OUT FROM MY MASTER HOUSE" [Ghost]
A mysterious voice shout at us, while a dark aura fill the living room, I must admit I get scared for a little but it only took me a second to calm down and shield all of us with light mana shield
"Come out Mr Ghost, I just wanted to talk to you" [Ash]
Well, the other become pale when I ask the ghost to come out, except for Elise, she seems oddly calm
"Brother, it won't come out, since there are still strong sunlight outside, plus, your light mana shield is working" [Elise]
"Well, I just thought that it might be a strong ghost as there are reports of the ghost harassing the buyer at noon, but if that's the case, I'll just surround the mansion with my dark magic for him to come out" [Ash]
"Dark magic! You can even use that!" [Diana]
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Huh... I thought that item box magic is a combination of dark and space magic, so she should already knew that I'm capable of such, huh interesting... so they doesn't know that, well nevermind that
"Dark terrain" [Ash]
And my dark magic mana surround the mansion, with the surrounding area filled with dark mana, an old ghost with a nice trim silver sideburns in a butler clothing show itself
"My, what a gentleman look, I must said I'm impressed" [Ash]
"Fool! If you think that will be enough to convince me to let you stay here, then you are wrong, so get out of here right now or else..." [Ghost]
as he said that, multiple white clothing run around us with an eerie and scary laugh, well the kid and Diana are pale as snow right now, but Elise still show a calm face, interesting
"Mr Ghost, I have seen far more scarier illusion, this is nothing, you know what, Diana, Rean and the other, please close your eyes or you guys might pee yourself" [Ash]
And with my illusion magic, I just show all the ghost, zombie and various creepypasta monster from my previous life, and now, Infront of me is a pale ghost and a calm Elise telling the other to open their eyes. Well, since this ghost never harm people, I'm reluctant to kill it with light magic (which is my tricked of sleeve that I mentioned) plus it's quite hard to do so until
"Mr Ghost, can I have a moment?" [Elise]
"?" [Ash, Mr Ghost]
"Do you wish to go to the other side?" [Elise]
"!" [Ash]
"No, I don't want that" [Mr Ghost]
"And why is that?" [Elise]
"Because I love this mansion, and also my master who used to leave here, if possible I wanted to continue to preserve this mansion until the day my master come back" [Mr Ghost]
"But it has been a hundred year since this mansion was last occupied" [Diana]
"My master is an elf who become an awakener of the holy light when the devil attack us, killing his entire family in the process, including me, I know this might sound irrational but I just wanted to believe that he will come back one day..." [Mr Ghost]
Devil attack? Holy light awakener? There hardly any info given to me by the goddess, so is this one of the test Goddess Achalasia mentioned? Well for now let just settle this ghostly problem, plus this ghost right here, he is quite similar to me, wanting the warmth of a family, so I would rather settle this peacefully and if it's still not working, well let just find ourselves a new home
"I see, I'm sorry Mr Ghost, I know what it feels like to lost somebody, and this kid also know it very well, so can I propose something?" [Ash]
"and that is?" [Mr Ghost]
"How about you live together with us from now on? You can become the grandfather to this cutie pie here" [Ash]
"Are you serious, you aren't joking right?" [Mr Ghost]
"I am serious here, while I don't want to kill you with my light magic, or safely send you off to the other side with Elise help before you meet your previous master, I also doesn't want this children to live in constant fear in this mansion, that's why I'm asking you to live with us as a family" [Ash]
Well, there you have it, a win-win situation if you ask me and now it all depends on the ghost answer
"Claude" [Mr Ghost]
"huh?" [Ash]
"Call me Granpa Claude from now on" [Claude]
"Now that's what I wanted to hear, I am Ash, the eldest of this ten brother and sister of mine, it's a pleasure to meet you" [Ash]
"Same here, but I must said while I am happy, I can't help to feel disappointed as I can only interact with you only through voice and illusion magic in the morning, and those kid will be asleep at night..." [Claude]
"Well, I have a solution for that as well" [Ash]
"!" [Other]
I have considered that of course, he is a ghost after all, and while he can manifest himself shortly during sunlight, it will still cost so much burden to his soul and mana, even just by using his magic and shouting at us loudly when we first enter, I can sense a ridiculous amount of mana being spent, something that can be fixed with this
"That's the Behemoth magic core, wait don't tell me!" [Diana]
"That's right, I will use the magic core of the behemoth for the fortress defense magic and set a favourable conditions for Grandpa Claude here" [Ash]